#my map

„Aside from the fact that it’s barely half as populous yet almost as large, it still has a distinct lingering elven feeling, even in the noble quarter where the humans live.“

Journey’s End by @dalishious, Chapter 16

  Hey everyone! You liked my map of Halamshiral in 9:39, and I finally managed to complete the second half of this project, which is Halamshiral in 2:01, at the height of the city as the capitol of the Dales in canon. As most of my interest in Dragon Age can be traced back to Journey’s End, it was the sentence quoted above that sparked my interest in reconstructing the Free Elven Halamshiral. There isn’t much canon tells us about the Kingdom of the Dales, truly, so I took the liberty to construct a metric ton of headcanons for it.

 INSPIRATION

The first time I read the Indigenous Coding of the Elves by Dalishious, my immediate thought was that the closest real-world parallel to Halamshiral, the Elven capitol and center of the Dales with extraordinary infrastructure, overrun by a colonizing army just to become (one of) the human state’s capitol(s), might have some parallels to Tenochtitlan. I am aware of the amalgamizing monolithic approach BioWare takes to the coding of the elves, yet I can never help to base some of the headcanons I build on specifically Mesomerican Indigenous cultures. That association also happens to be the reason why I’ve modelled the political and social philosophy of the Elven resistance in my Revolution!AU after the Zapatistan Revolution, the principles of the Permanent Arlathvhen after the CNI and why General Neimena and all of Clan Revanadas are coded as Tzotzil. The reason why this Halamshiral has so many canals, the reason the Lake Quarter centers a large central artificial island upon which the central places of spirituality and assembly rest, and the reason for the prevalence of chinampa fields is that the idea of Halamshiral being partially inspired by Tenochtitlan never left my head. Of course, these aspects are balanced against several other influences and the fact that this is a fantasy city with some fantasy rules, but I still want to acknowledge the source of those named aspects.

 STRUCTURE

Halamshiral was found inside of woodland extremely rich with springs and natural lakes of different sizes and shapes. Enough of these springs exist inside the Lake Quarter, or Vhenandalan (direct translation: Place of the Tree of the People), to permanently support the existence of a large lake, one Elven engineers didn’t have to alter much to take the form of the Quarter. Inside it, the central institutions of Elven culture are housed behind the strongest fortifications in the Dales. Upon the artificial island inside the lake, the entire population of Halamshiral could be housed in an emergency. If pushed towards it via magic and concentrated efforts, the chinampa fields of the Vhenandalan could feed the entire population of Halamshiral as well, though their soil would deplete after a year. The Belladahlan (Place of the Many Trees), or Forest Quarter, is a vast living space for half of Halamshiral’s population in times of peace. Together, the two Quarters form the shape of a circle, which is due to the role cyclicality holds in Dalish philosophies and the weight it has as a symbol in Dalish culture. The streets, paths and walkways in the Forest Quarter are build as to disturb as little as possible of the old trees’ root systems as possible, which is why the streets meander so much.

 WATER AS THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE DALES

The society of Halamshiral and the Dales as a whole is build around water. Water as a means of transport connects Halamshiral to the Waking Sea as well as the rest of the Dales. Canoes, rafts and small ships are used to transport goods and people quickly and efficiently and are vital for commerce. The bridges that connect the Forest Quarter, as well as the long road-like bridges of the Lake Quarter, are tall enough to let all but the largest ships and canoes through.  The Forest Quarter is in itself interconnected via canals and small rivers emerging from the springs that Elven elemental mages and engineers have carefully interwoven to intrude upon the natural flow of the water as little as possible. Extending several kilometers out of the city, these canals connect to local rivers and thereby to all of the Dales. The quays around the canals are the central roads of the Forest Quarter, and designed to be wheelchair-accessible so that transportation via raft is open to all members of the community of Halamshiral. The Basin, an artificial lake and the southernmost point of the Forest Quarter holds both culinary and cultural purposes; as it is only a meter deep for its first one hundred meters, elves of all ages practice swimming in it, and it’s deeper center holds a rich and sustainable underwater ecosystem that provides most of the fish and seaweed consumed in Halamshiral. Water holds a central role in the spirituality of the Dales. Ritual bathing is both possible and common in the small lakes of the Forest Quarter. Elven engineering allows all buildings in Halamshiral to have access to running water, and a separate and well-maintained sewer system makes sure that unclean water is transported outside of the city and allows the water running through Halamshiral to keep consumable quality. The aquainfrastructure of Halamshiral could not be rivaled by any human city of the Dragon Age.

 ARCHITECTURE, COMMUNAL LIVING AND COMMUNAL FIELDS

The walls of the buildings in Halamshiral are all made out of sandstone, between 80 centimeters and a meter thick, keeping the heat during summer and making ovens effective in winter. Sandstone is an ideal medium to integrate mosaics and murals into, which means that both specialized artists and the community itself design the colors and pictures of the cityscape of Halamshiral. The medium of walls as means of expression and art is seamlessly integrated into the cultural memory; murals depict historical events, legends, paintings of close and distant landscapes and many more. Most buildings in which people live also feature sandstones into which everyone who has ever lived there carve their names, and public buildings can feature entire texts carved into the stone. The cityscape of Halamshiral, despite so strongly being based upon sandstone, is therefore extremely bright and colorful.

The housing of the Forest Quarters is dominated by the Varvhenas. Large rectangular buildings of around 20 times 30 meters, with several floors stacked on top of each other, each one of about five meters smaller in both dimensions of the floor plan than the previous, house up to fifty people at once. Those communities in each Varvhenas are often extended families, sometimes two or more in a building, but can also be groups of friends or groups formed out of necessity. The strength of their walls also allow the Varvhenas to be both vertical and horizontal fields; vines can easily climb their walls, and each terrace on new floors can hold a bit of soil to grow more plants. Technically, the structural stability of the buildings would have the capacity to hold full forests on their roofs, in the history of Halamshiral, a few ambitious mages, botanists, engineers and architects attempted to design vertical forests, though it remains more practical to use them as fields. Most of the Varvhenas are surrounded by milpa fields that produce a huge variety of crops at once and do not disbalance the local ecosystems. Every Varvhenas aims to have both botanists and blood mages among their own, for their role is to speed up the crop growth cycle by several times, leading to a harvest once a month. Not only does that make the population of Halamshiral autonomous and self-sufficient, the ability to harvest monthly also leads to the months being called by the best crop to grow in that month. It can be assumed that the reliance of the Varvhenas of having mages among their midst to feed them is one of the factors that later leads to the role of mages in Dalish clans, as not few clans would emerge from Varvhenas communities trying to flee the city together as the human army approached. The Varvhenas communities also happen to be the smallest unit of administration in the Dales, each Varvhenas frequently elects representatives to represent itself both at the Assembly of Halamshiral and the Arlathvhen of the Dales. The Assembly of Halamshiral itself cannot act on a topic without previous referral of authority from a Varvhenas to the Assembly, as per the Dalish political principle of only calling upon higher institutions when necessary.

For those who do not wish to live in a Varvhenas, be it due to personal reasons or because they only temporarily remain in Halamshiral, smaller, more individual buildings can be found all over the Forest Quarter. Representatives at the Arlathvhen of the Dales find temporary residence in the Lake Quarter. Members of the Varvhenas can, as the populations of the Lake Quarter and the Forest Quarter remain at the same order of magnitude, easily switch places with some of the more individual residences in the Lake Quarter, especially if they require easy and frequent access to the institutions found in the Lake Quarter.

 THE LAKE QUARTER – AT THE HEART OF THE DALES

When Dalish Scouts first looked for a place to found a city that would serve as the heart of the Dales, they found a large natural lake with a small island in its center on which grew a giant cedar tree. Estimating it to be over ten thousand years old, one of the first elected Bellrenan of the Dales convinced the newly-formed Arlathvhen to found the city there, for the tree was old enough to connect them to Arlathan. The other Bellrenan, an avid architect, oversaw the planning and construction of the city in a bit less than three years. Since then, many buildings have changed shape and purpose, but the Vhenandal remains as the main place of assembly and political decisionmaking. Some would later speculate that the Vhenandal in the alienages of the Dragon Age can be traced back to seeds from this original Vhenandal.

On the island enlarged around the Vhenandal, one might find the temples for each Creator, though the twins Falon’Din and Dirthamen share one temple together. The temple district is a hub of cultural and spiritual activity. The High Keepers of the Pantheon [lifted from Lydia’s headcanons] all reside in their chambers in their respective temples, except for the High Keeper of Fen’Harel, who is constantly requesting a larger temple. Next to the forest burial grounds in the Forest Quarter, the small woods next to the temple of Falon’Din also house many graves and memorial sites, often of important members of the community. The first two Bellrenan of the Dales have found their resting place there, together, as well.

On the surrounding islands, one can find the central institutions of the Dales. The Dirtharan, or Place of Learning, is the Thedosian center of scientific progress. As much as certain Orlesian Empresses would later want to claim that fame, it was truly the Dalish Elves that formalized the concept of the modern university. The Library of Halamshiral houses hundreds of thousands of books, tomes and artifacts, all accessible to the public. The advancements in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, biology, and magic created and carefully kept by the Dirtharan would be lost when the Library would be burned down on Chantry command to destroy supposedly heretic texts. As of the Dragon Age, human scholars would still play catch-up with the knowledge that was trivial in Halamshiral.

The Keep of the Emerald Knights houses the Dalish Army and the Central Command of the Order of Fade Hunters. Working closely together with the Dirtharan, the Emerald Knights and Order of Fade Hunters see many specialized mages among their ranks. On the nearby sports field, kingdom-wide sports competitions would be held annually.

Healthcare is a public right in the society of the Dales. Working closely with the Dirtharan and centering a balance of non-magical and magical medicines, the Island of Healers was renowned for its caretakers. Even the occasional dwarf was healed there, though the Healers were mostly there for the community. Together with the access to fresh and clean water and a rich and diverse availability of foods, the Healers guaranteed that many elves in Halamshiral lived past a century of age.

The circular islands that connect the large street-bridges of the Lake Quarter act as living space, storage for foods and emergency defensive systems, in case the Lake Quarter was to be breached in a siege.

 THE FOREST QUARTER – URBAN WOODS

The Park, an uninhabited space in the westernmost part of Halamshiral, saw such dense growth in its local woods that botanists couldn’t greenlight building more than dirt paths there. The localized climate created by the dense tree crowns that block most light and trap a lot of humidity has proven perfect to grow several plants of important cultural and spiritual status.

Next to the Basin, the Waterfront District is a center of the arts, inhabited by many of the best elven actors, sculptors, painters, storytellers, singers, and dancers. The Theatre of Halamshiral is renowned throughout the Dales.

Given the low urban footprint, only comprising of the Varvhenas and roads, the Forest Quarter is home to many animals and plants, most notably, a small group of wild and reclusive halla. Many elven children, especially those who want to become hunters, dream of being able to track the wild halla in the forest quarter. The quarter also houses many domesticated halla, being the fourth source of food for Halamshiral, next to the Chinampa fields, the Milpa fields and the aquaculture in the Basin.

 MY WORK PROCESS AND TRIVIA

The food sources of Halamshiral at their current dimensions would IRL be maybe capable of feeding between 3000-5000 people, the great bulk of that coming from the chinampa fields. They alone can, at that size, feed 2000 people IRL, which is impressive given that you can easily imagine how small their area is in this map. Chinampa fields are some of the most productive sustainable forms of agriculture in the world, after all, so it makes sense. Despite the maximum of a couple thousand people this city could feed if lifted directly into real life, this is fantasy, I can just suppose that Halamshiral can feed itself with a population of around 35000 and it still works.

This took about 55 hours to complete from first thought to final product, mostly because I made several sketches that I threw out. Hope it is somewhat enjoyable. And understandable, for that matter. But I do like the aesthetic of the final product a lot. Will do a side-by side comparison with the 9:39 map at some point, as well as an analysis of Halamshiral after 9:40 and a small map of Halamshiral in my AU in fall of 9:34 and 9:38 respectively.

 DEDICATION