A fictitious country somewhere in Middle to Eastern Europe. It is a monarchy, although its history has included a period when the country was ruled by a corrupt and repressive dictator.
The country is landlocked and mountainous with several large lakes. The capital is Dormankc.
In Medieval times, there were rich mineral deposits of precious metals and stones such as gold and diamonds, long since exhausted but it made the royal family, the Johannesjaegervitch dynasty, extremely rich. Several monarchs invested wisely and the fortune remains.
The country is rich in history and legends, mostly concerning its kings and queens. There is a legend which states that the monarchs and their immediate relatives have magical powers. This is not as wacky as it seems, for there is a genetic variance among the family which is apparently dominant. It has been the case for generations that the king or queen has genetic variant powers, namely, the ability to fly and shoot energy bolts from their fingers. This includes the current queen, Jade, her twin sister and her heirs.
I will not go into a detailed history here but will mention the 20th century. King Christopher II was an unpopular king who did not, as previous monarchs had done, use his wealth for the good of the nation, but threw lavish parties while people starved. His son, also named Christopher, studied in England. He planned to change the situation when Christopher II died and he became Christopher III. However, by the time that happened, the republican movement had gained much ground and already planned to massacre the entire royal family. Christopher had married Princess Helena of Austria (a political marriage but the couple did grow to love each other) and she had given birth to twin girls named Jade and Gloriana.
Christopher learned of the plot to depose him and made secret plans to put his fortune out of reach of the republicans, and to make sure his daughters were safe. Helena refused to leave his side, so the twins were smuggled out of the country by Christopher’s old language tutor and brought up in England.
The massacre took place – the royal family were wiped out apart from the twins. It is widely thought Helena was pregnant with a son when she was killed, although if that is the case, she could not have told her husband, for he would not then have let her stay.
For the next twenty years, Galorvia was ruled by a cruel and paranoid dictator named Vladimir Heinstock. He took over the palace and turned it into offices and his own residence. Without access to the king’s fortune, he was unable to make the reforms he’d hoped for. He was aware the twins had escaped and feared their return. He closed the borders and Galorvia had little, if any, contact with the outside world, and most of the population lived in poverty.
Numerous attempts to track down the princesses and kill them failed. In due course, the princesses, their consorts and numerous associates, launched an attack on the palace, ousting Heinstock and re-establishing their position. Queen Jade worked hard to make the reforms her father had planned and to put Galorvia back on the world stage.
One of her major focuses was tourism, attracting people to the beautiful lakes and mountain scenery and the stunning gothic capital of Dormankc. Her sister Gloriana and her husband, Galorvia’s only (to date) Olympic skier, Boris Kostellov, established and built up a large ski resort, Borisville.
Jade had two children, Christopher, the heir apparent, and Helena (Helena had a twin, named Charlotte, who died at birth). Christopher’s consort, Jill Warner, is a qualified doctor who has helped set up a health service in the country.
After a few years, Jade decided to hold a referendum to find out if the people still wanted the monarchy to continue. Despite unsuccessful efforts by the republican faction to discredit her (most notably engaging a hit man to assassinate Helena, in the hope Jade’s likely angry reaction to her death would alienate voters) the people voted in favour of keeping the monarchy. Jade’s goals include Galorvia joining the United Nations and the EU, taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest, and international sporting events.
Julie Howlin Author 