from Parkstone’s The History of Damensea

The largest of the twelve kingdoms east of Calatini, Varkhora contains all of the human part of the Varkhora Mountains. The people of Varkhora are fierce warriors known for their protective nature, resilience in battle, and patriarchal society. Varkhora’s rough terrain and warrior people are why they are the largest of the eastern kingdoms and how they have kept the massive Tsarkan Empire from invading.

Boys in Varkhora train in warrior arts when they can balance on a pony unaided—around three. Their martial training is as rigorous as the mara clans in Calatini, although with less emphasis on equestrian arts (and girls receive no martial training.) Boys learn riding, sword fighting, archery, hand fighting, tracking, and military tactics. At eighteen, they finish their training and receive their family’s ceremonial weapon from their father, which they wear at all times from then onward. It is a great shame for a family to have no sons, regardless of how many daughters they may possess.

Girls in Varkhora train in domestic arts starting around age three to prepare themselves for marriage. They learn to cook, clean, sew, garden, rear children, and manage households. If they are witches, they typically train as hearth witches—other magic is considered the purview of men. Fathers contract their daughters to marry as young as fifteen, although more commonly around seventeen to eighteen. Subservient to their male relatives and belonged by them, women cannot own property or live independently. (If they inherit while unwed or widowed, they hold their inheritance in trust for their future husband.) It is a great shame for a family’s daughters to remain unwed.

For the past century at the Varkhoran court, ’tis the fashion for gentlemen to possess draklizards and ladies faebirds. The gentlemen train their draklizard to hunt, race, and battle, then they have frequent contests pitting their draklizard against others. They also use their draklizard to fight duels of honor, although swords are still a popular weapon. The ladies train their faebird to sing popular melodies, and they give concerts, although contests between ladies are not permitted. Both gentlemen and ladies rigorously train their magical pet to calmly sit on their shoulder, a challenging feat, then they carry their magical pet everywhere with them, even to balls and other court events. Many become so fond of their magical pet that ’tis common to have their magical pet on their shoulder in their portrait for family galleries.

The current king of Varkhora, King Alessandro Luca Imperiali, ascended to the throne in 1011 AF after his elder brother died childless. Born crippled but known as wise and kind, King Alessandro is married to a powerful hearth witch, Queen Aurora Sofia Imperiali; however, she doesn’t help rule like queens do in Calatini. They have two teenage sons, Leonardo and Marco, but no daughters as of yet.