Dannagran Dram (an old description)

Written in early 1984, more than likely

Dannagran Dram, named for ancient explorer Danial Grahané Dramber, is a land rich with culture. Each of her regions is, in a sense, a country in its own right. There are four regions.

• The Crown: Containing the British-Dramite provinces of Southeast Ecksbury, Odenberrie, Saint Laurentia, and Tront.


• The Trilands: Containing the prairie provinces of Dram, Mandét, and Riberfrai


• The Chelsae Coast: Containing only two provinces, Oré and Blayradian Labrador


• The Woodlands: Containing Quinten, Northern Ecksbury, and the Dramite-nord Territories

The Crown, or Crowned Republic as it is sometimes called, is the most important region in all the country. It holds the President and the Royal Family, Parliament, and the Supreme Court. Southeast Ecksbury is oftentimes called "The Pride of Danny Dram" because of the important figures who live there: the Winterland family, and King Bernard and Queen Belinda. The province is also inhabited by the Faerie race, the Iuavi, an old and highly respected people. Odenberrie thrives because of its port Tantre. Tantre City is right at the Sessa River, where the river enters Dannagran Dram from the country of Blayrad. Saint Laurentia is the big politics province of Danny Dram. President Varrialle, Parliament, and the Supreme Court are all based in the city of Jotrich, Saint Laurentia. Tront is basically a mining province whose secondary market is the wool trade. Tront shepherd jokes run rampant throughout Dannagran Dram.

The Trilands are much like the American prairielands. The three provinces deal mostly in farming and cattle. Rimberfrai, Mandét, and Dram were originally colonised by Americans and have stayed virtually American at heart for more than a century. The heliocrafts and copters used throughout Dannagran Dram were invented in Mandét by a young American-Dramite by the name of Robert Jones. Rimberfrai is the province known as the "Rebel Land." The people are always threatening to secede from the republic. Dram is always having to fight back illegal immigrants from Blayrad and Hiverette.

The Woodlands acquired its name from the dark and sinister Oberland Woods in Quinten and the other abundant forests over the Dramite-nord Territores and Northern Ecksbury. Quinten is the province mostly associated with Canada's Quebec. The primary language spoken there is Yofranchaisée, also known as Universal French, because all Gallic people can somehow understand this variant of French. The Germans and Eskée live in the Dramite-Nord Territories, the Eskée on the Nordestfroid Islands and the German-Dramites on the mainland. Their languages, Eskite and Dramma-Deutsche, are almost impossible to learn or speak by non-natives. Northern Ecksbury is a cute little province inhabited primarily by the Irish, Scottish, and Welsh. The Jewish settlement of Tallithin can also be found here, as well as the Rhyllan colonies and the Bandit land of Rhee.

The Chelsae Coast is virtually what Dannagran Dram is all about. When the country was colonised, Oré and Blayradian Labrador, then known as just Chelsae, was bombarded by mostly Canadians, then Americans, Brits, Pure Iyinskiians, Germans, Africans, Yorklulans, Hiverettians, Australians, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, and Mexicans. Together these nationalities created the Constitution of Dannagran Dram, formed the country to be a galactic tourist attraction, and incorporated only the good things that came from their respective former nations. Now Oré is a great mining province and Blayradian Labrador is the tourist capital. Sirius City, the largest city in Dannagran Dram, is three times larger than New York City and Hong Kong put together, but surprisingly has little crime.

Verdin Teofolynn

This was written in 1986 and was heavily influence by the music of Antonín Dvořak, particularly his Slavonic Dances and Symphony #8.

Verdin Teofolynn was born to Belga and Yana Brishen Thlapflynne to years after the birth of Iada Pfehlion. He was descended from Elders Kelda Thlapflynne of Rogreth and Bwaeni Tnaci of Lhihlhithia, was were banished for their marriage across religious lines. They were Verdin's grandparents, and gave their grand son his name which was a variant of an Ecksburian word which meant "innocence." And indeed Verdin had an air of curious innocence about him throughout his childhood, which he maintained for the duration of his life, giving him an advantage when Fool Seeking.

Verdin's father was a Sigano-Lavon, unlike Kelda, who seldom travelled. He knew all the lands save for the obscure Darzhevo lands, which explains Verdin's ignorance of Darzhovia. Belga Thlapflynne was what many called "half breed. His skin was dark, his eyes bi-coloured, and his hair was silvery white. Yana Thlapflynne was a product of the Brishen family, a small clan who had aligned themselves with the Thlapflynne clan. Yana's father was a half-breed Rogrethite-Ahne Baini who wed Northemwoodian Tivia Tonalitus. Both, of course, were ostricised during the Great Banishment. The Brishen family were dark like the Thlapflynnes, but only in hair and eye. Their skin was pale, as was Yana's. Yana had blue-black hair and ebony eyes, both of which she passed on to Verdin. Verdin also inherited his innocent expression for Yana.

Verdin had two sisters and a brother. They were Anna, Ariádny, and Patsim. All three were pale of skin and brown of eye, with coal hair and blond brows. It was Verdin who seemed to be but a shadow within the family. He was always small and everything about him was shrouded in darkness. His skin was dark, his eyes black, and his hair and eyebrows were blue-black. The second child after Ariádny, Verdin tended to be a loner, clinging only to his older sister. His grandfather and father taught him the Arts of Survival, which he learned with uncanny swiftness. Between the two of them, Kelda and Belga taught Verdin every single Sigano trick and ploy known in the Arts.

By the time he was twelve years old, Verdin was a dol-Master, second only to the sage Sigano Masters of Survival. But he was also a fanatic patriot of the tribe, as were three other children of three other Sigano tribes. The Thlapflynnes were the superior clan in his eyes, and their tribe was the superior Sigani.

( More on the Elven Bandits )

(to be continued)

Yellowstone

I doubt I'll ever get to go, but I'd really love to visit Yellowstone National Park. Actually, I'd like to go there, or some other large chunk of wilderness, and just disappear. I probably wouldn't survive because I'm a big ninny, but at least I'd go out on my own terms instead of being a corporate slave with no hope of ever having a vacation to visit Yellowstone. The closest I'll probably get is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I'd be going home if I escape to there and it's so much closer than Yellowstone.

I'm not the only one who's pondered running off to the wilderness when our society collapses. There's a bevy of people around here who have the same idea, so I figure I'll have to fight some assholes for a patch of forest to share with the beasties. Like other good Americans, I guess I should learn how to shoot a gun, a big one, then buy one. A big one.

Being a super volcano, Yellowstone is long overdue for a massive explosion, or so some scientists contend. When it happens, it could render humanity extinct. Maybe it'll blow in 2012. ::rubs hands vigourously::