The Lost City

by Amanda Hocking

  The Tralla horses were the only things strong and hearty enough to traverse through the snow in the winters, allowing the trolls to do some trading with the humans. The only road out of Doldastam leads to Churchill, over twenty miles away, and before vehicles were commonplace, the Trallas were the only way the trolls connected to the outside world.

  Despite the cold winters, Doldastam enjoys a warm summer and a plethora of wildlife, along with one of the best spots in the world to view the aurora borealis. In fact, the palace in Doldastam was built so the King and Queen’s chambers are in the tallest tower to take in the most encompassing view of the beautiful northern lights.

  The current royalty in Doldastam is King Linus Fredrick, son of the Markis and Marksinna Dylan and Eva Berling, cousin of his predecessor King Evert Strinne, great-grandson of the beloved King Erland Strinne, and the eighth monarch of the Strinne Dynasty. He married his bride on the twenty-eighth of June in 2017, Queen Ariel Lynn, daughter of Markis Edwyn and Elsa Nylen, and sister to Marksinna Delilah Nylen.

  Linus Fredrick, King of the Kanin kingdom, Markis of the Houses Berling and Strinne, Ruler of the Frozen North, the Peaceful, is the thirtieth recognized monarch of the Kanin kingdom. He took the throne on the eighth of June in 2014, after the murder of King Evert and the subsequent execution of his murderers during the Invasion of Doldastam.

  Despite his rough start, King Linus has had a rather quiet, peaceful reign, and he plans to continue the prosperity the Kanin are known for.

  Trylle—(symbol Green Vines)

  The Trylle are the second-largest tribe by population, and they are also regarded as the most peaceful. They practice changelings more than any other tribe, although in recent years under Queen Wendy’s reign, the practice has lessened some.

  The Trylle tribe was established in 1510 CE when they split off from the Kanin kingdom. The Markis Aldaril became fed up with the inept Kanin King Harald the Coward. Aldaril went south, taking many wealthy and powerful nobles with him, and in establishing the Trylle kingdom he became the first king. He also founded the city of Förening along the Mississippi River, although he originally chose the town of Köldden to be the Trylle capital.

  A hundred years ago, Trylle royalty grew tired of the extreme winters of Canada and the relative close proximity to the Skojare capital, Storvatten. Queen Constance Dahl reestablished the more southern Förening as the capital in Minnesota, and she built a palace and all of the governing offices there. As a result, their palace and town are rather modern compared to those of the other tribes.

  The Trylle frequently use changelings, requiring them to have many trackers, and therefore the largest army. While the army may not be as skilled as the Kanin’s or as strong as the Omte’s, they are still considered a force to be reckoned with.

  While physically not as powerful as some of the other tribes, most notably the Omte and the Vittra, the Trylle are the most powerful when it comes to psychokinesis. Many of the offspring born to the Markis and Marksinna have abilities that range from controlling fire to moving objects with their minds to precognition.

  Their powers have been dwindling over the years, and many believe that it’s because of their separation from nature. Historically, the Trylle have been the tribe most connected to the environment, but their pursuit of wealth and treasure has caused a growing schism in their culture.

  The current royalty in Förening is Queen Wendy Luella, daughter of the Trylle Queen Elora Dahl and the Vittra King Oren Elsing, and the sixth monarch under the Mógilian Dynasty going back to King Mógil Loren Kroner in the nineteenth century. She is the product of an attempt to align the Trylle and Vittra, making her the only monarch with mixed blood in all the five kingdoms. Queen Wendy was the heir apparent to both tribes after the deaths of her parents, and she chose to serve as the Queen of the Trylle kingdom and allow her stepmother, Sara Elsing, to continue ruling as Queen of the Vittra.

  She married her bridegroom on the first of May in 2010, King Loki Nikolas, son of former Trylle Chancellor Alrik and Vittra Marksinna Olivia Staad. With his position as a high-ranking Vittra Markis, their union further secured an alliance between the Trylle and the Vittra.

  The son of HRM Wendy and Loki, Crown Prince Oliver Matthew Loren, was born on the sixth of October in 2010, and he will ascend the throne when his mother steps down or upon her death.

  Wendy Luella, Queen of the Trylle kingdom, Princess of the Vittra kingdom, Marksinna of the House of Dahl, Ruler of the Riverlands, the Princess of Red and Green, the Mixed-Blood Queen, is the twenty-second recognized monarch of the Trylle. She took the throne on the fourteenth of January in 2010, after the death of her mother and before the execution of her father during the War for the Princess.

  Queen Wendy had a tumultuous beginning to her reign, starting with the War for the Princess against the Vittra in 2010, and allying herself with the Vittra and Skojare for the Invasion of Doldastam in 2014. Despite that, she has been working to increase the prosperity of those she reigns over. She has also been developing programs to alleviate the Trylle’s dependence on changelings and lessen class distinction.

  Omte—(symbol Amber Vulture)

  The Omte are a moderately populated tribe, with numbers speculated to be around twenty thousand worldwide, although the Omte’s secrecy and antisocial nature make it hard to know for sure.

  The Omte split off from the Vittra tribe in circa 1280 CE. Dag, the grandson of the Vittra Queen Bera the Strong, was an ogre, and he thought the Vittra favored the smaller hobgoblins and more conventionally attractive “humanoid” trolls. He took the ogres south, and they crowned him the first King of the Omte when he established the capital city of Fulaträsk.

  The only attachment they have to the Old World is their bearded vultures. Trolls had discovered them after a battle in Europe a thousand years ago. The ogres killed many enemies, and the bearded vultures, who survive mainly on bones, helped to clean up their mess. The ogres found that very useful, and they soon domesticated the birds. When they split off from the Vittra, they took only the ogres and the vultures with them.

  Since King Dag the First, they have had forty monarchs—much more than any other tribe. The high turnover rate among Omte monarchs is believed to be due to their violent lifestyle, compromised immune systems, and lower intelligence.

  Deliberately attempting to separate themselves from the other tribes, the Omte settled farther south than anyone else. While most tribes preferred weather that was like that in their homelands of Scandinavia, the Omte chose the swamps of Louisiana.

  Fulaträsk is the capital and largest city in the Omte kingdom, and it has a population of over six thousand, housing most of the kingdom population in a solitary city. It is hidden deep within the wetlands, where most of the inhabitants live in large tree houses or houseboats.

  Despite their contrary disposition, the Omte still attempt to leave changelings whenever possible. Their appearance is often disproportionate, with oversized heads, unmatched eye size, and lopsidedness, so changelings are chosen from the most humanoid offspring from high-ranking families.

  While the Omte lack the psychokinesis that other tribes possess, they make up for it in brute strength. They are also the only tribe to have ogres, and even the Omte that are more human-looking tend to be very large in stature.

  Throughout their history, the Omte have intermittently attempted to align themselves with other tribes, but it usually ends up in a skirmish or even war. Traditionally, they have been very combative with other tribes, but as of late they have preferred to simply isolate and keep entirely to themselves. The other tribes rarely hear from them, and most invitations to visit other kingdoms are turned down by the royal family.

  The current royalty in Fulaträsk is Queen Regent Bodil Freya, daughter of Markis Boris and Marksinna Freya Fågel, and widow to King Thor Osvald, son of King Draug and Queen Märta Elak. She became Queen when King Thor the Guardian married his bride on the first of September in 2006, and she became the acting mona
rch and Queen Regent upon her husband’s death on the thirteenth of August in 2011. The Omte kingdom uses male primogeniture succession, so Queen Bodil can only rule until the Crown Prince is of age.

  The only son of HRM Thor and Bodil, Crown Prince Furston Thor, will ascend the throne upon his eighteenth birthday, the fourth of March in the year 2028. Since he was only a year old at the time of his father’s death, his mother has ruled in his stead as the Queen Regent.

  Furston Thor, Crown Prince of the Omte kingdom, Markis of the Houses Elak and Fågel, Ruler of the Untamed Swamps, the Child King, the Fatherless Prince, when he is crowned, will be the eighth King under the Torian Dynasty, which began with King Tor Elak the Vengeful during the Omte civil war at the turn of the twentieth century.

  Vittra—(symbol Red Cougar)

  The Vittra were once a great tribe, but their numbers along with their powers have been lessening. Many blame it on the cruel reigns of many of the monarchs of the recent Ottarn Dynasty, but they have also been plagued by idiopathic infertility, with increased frequency in the past century.

  The Vittra are one of the oldest tribes. They broke off from the Kanin around 1200 CE, when feuding brothers Norund the Younger and Jorund the Elder disagreed about staying in the north. Jorund went south, and he established the Vittra kingdom in Ondarike. He took all of the strongest trolls with him, leading to the ogres and hobgoblins in the Vittra population, until Dag the First split off with the ogres and formed the Omte kingdom.

  While the Vittra do possess some psychokinesis, their ability to heal quickly and their superior physical strength are what they are most known for. Despite being the second-oldest tribe, the Vittra have had the fewest monarchs, in large part due to their supernatural longevity. The last king, Oren Elsing, believed himself to be immortal until his execution.

  The Vittra are much like the Omte in many ways, both in their excessive strength and their aggression. Like most of the other tribes, the royal families once relied heavily on changelings. Originally it was done to ensure the safety of their offspring, but over the years it primarily became a means to support themselves with human wealth while living as isolated from humanity as they can.

  While most Vittra trolls are considered very attractive by human standards, more than fifty percent of their offspring are born as hobgoblins, and nearly a quarter of their attractive populations are born with standard genetic dwarfism. Hobgoblins are short, powerful, dim-witted Vittra with slimy skin and a rank stench, an appearance that matches more typical folklore representations of trolls.

  In the last century, the Vittra’s inability to consistently produce offspring suitable for changelings has greatly drained their wealth. As a result, the Vittra grew more violent and warmongering, seeking to take the wealth from other tribes. Their main target was the Trylle, chosen because of their larger kingdom and their proximity, with the Trylle capital of Förening being close to the Vittra kingdom, until the recent alliance between the Queen of the Trylle and Princess of the Vittra, Wendy Luella, with her stepmother, Queen of the Vittra, Sara Adrielle.

  Ondarike is the capital of the Vittra, located in northern Colorado in a dense forest in the mountains. Most of the population lives inside the sprawling mansion compound that serves as the palace, although the hobgoblins do prefer to live in huts in the ground.

  Cougars became the symbol of the Vittra after they settled in Colorado. Queen Bera the Strong, who helped establish Ondarike, was attracted to the power and grace of the cougar. For centuries after that, cougars roamed the halls of the palace like semi-feral guard dogs. They were never fully domesticated, though, and attacks on hobgoblins weren’t uncommon.

  It wasn’t until King Oren the Cruel’s cougar turned on him that that policy changed. He had all the Vittra cougars rounded up and exterminated, and he banned anyone from owning them. Many of the Vittra townsfolk were greatly upset by this, but there was little recourse for civilians under Oren’s tyrannical rule.

  The current royalty in Ondarike is Queen Sara Adrielle, daughter of Markis Luden and Marksinna Sarina Vinter, and widow of King Oren Bodvar, son of King Bodvar II and Queen Grendel Elsing. She became Queen when King Oren the Cruel married his bride on the second of November in 1996. Upon King Oren’s death during the War for the Princess on the fourteenth of January in 2010, his daughter, the heir apparent Wendy Luella, stepped aside and allowed Sara Adrielle to continue ruling as Queen of the Vittra.

  Wendy Luella, the only child of King Oren the Cruel and the Queen of the Trylle, Elora, took the throne for the Trylle kingdom on the fourteenth of January in 2010. She maintains the title as Princess of the Vittra, but she has abdicated from the role in everything but name.

  Sara Adrielle, Queen of the Vittra kingdom, Marksinna of the House of Vinter, Ruler of the Mountainlands, the Light Queen that Follows the Dark, the First of the Sarafina Dynasty, is the twenty-first monarch of the Vittra. The Ottarn Dynasty, which went back to King Ottar the Awful in the year 1800, died with her husband, and Queen Sara has been ruling as a solo monarch since the fifteenth of January in 2010.

  Under Queen Sara’s solo reign, the Vittra have seen a great turn in their way of life. Their close alignment with the Trylle has brought in monetary and social aid, with teachers and healers moving to Ondarike to help with the Vittra children and fertility issues.

  She’s working tirelessly with the Chancellor Ludlow Svartalf, her hobgoblin half brother, on civil rights issues and helping to close the gaps of the caste system and easing prejudices. The Inhemsk Project—an effort to reintegrate trolls of mixed blood and exiled trolls back into society—has largely happened as a result of the Queen and the Chancellor’s zealous work. They realize that their way of life will go extinct if they do not open their arms to all other trolls, regardless of race, orientation, or title.

  Skojare—(symbol Blue Fish)

  The Skojare are by far the smallest tribe, with roughly five thousand trolls left in the kingdom. They are also one of the more isolated tribes, sticking more to the “old ways” than some of the more progressive tribes like the Trylle or the Vittra.

  One of the main reasons for their smaller population is their lack of changelings. They are the only tribe to have never used changelings, and as such, they’ve historically had a much worse infant mortality rate, especially in the earlier years when first settling into North America and medical treatment was scarce.

  While most tribes have powers of psychokinesis and superior strength tied to their higher-ranking bloodlines, one-third of the Skojare have gills. It is that attribute that has helped them survive but has also prevented them from leaving changelings, because humans won’t overlook a baby with gills.

  The Skojare kingdom dates back to circa 1300 CE, when Aun the Blue broke off from the Kanin tribe, heading south from Doldastam for a warmer water source. He took all the gilled trolls with him and established the Skojare tribe and founded Storvatten. He even constructed the beautiful, unique sprawling palace on Lake Superior, where many of the residents reside.

  Since they have a more open area on the water, instead of hidden among trees, they do have specialized guards that help cloak their palace with psychokinetic powers.

  In the past, their cloaking abilities were unparalleled. Legend has it that long ago a Queen was able to enchant a secret magical lake and hide it among the humans, and some Skojare still search for it to this day. Many have claimed to have been there, but few remember the details.

  The most notable feature about the Skojare is their appearance. Other tribes tend to be darker: olive skin; usually brown, green, or gray eyes; brown to black curly hair. The Skojare are pale with blue eyes and blond hair, although their hair is as curly and wild as that of the trolls in other tribes.

  They are a primarily aquatic tribe, relying on fishing to sustain them through the long winters. Fishing was also how they managed to support themselves, by trading and bartering with humans for money.

  Many years ago, the Skojare used to pillage
and pirate to collect resources and treasures, sometimes working with Vikings. In fact, it was the Skojare who originally decided that the trolls should settle in North America after journeying across the sea with the Vikings. All these travels allowed them to build up a stockpile of sapphires and precious gemstones, which is how the Skojare royalty have supported themselves for so long without the influx of riches that comes from changelings in the other kingdoms.

  Now the Skojare are considered very quiet and peaceful, due in large part to their small population and nearly nonexistent army. For the most part they keep to themselves, although they do often host parties in the palace, inviting royalty from all over the troll kingdoms.

  The current royalty in Storvatten is King Mikko Rune, son of King Rune the Iron Fish and Queen Lucia Biâelse, and the fifth monarch under the Rolfian Dynasty dating back to King Rolf of the House of Leif in the nineteenth century. He married his bride, Queen Linnea Lisbet, orphaned daughter of Markis Devin and Marksinna Ola Ahlstrom and granddaughter of Marksinna Lisbet Ahlstrom, on the twenty-second of June in 2013.

  The marriage was arranged by King Rune the Iron Fish before his death, and Queen Linnea was just sixteen when she wed King Mikko, a controversial wedding throughout the kingdoms. While it had once been custom for brides to be chosen as young as fourteen, in the last century most tribes have done away with that practice and insist that bride and groom must be at least eighteen.

  The daughter of HRM Mikko and Linnea, Crown Princess Lisbet Mika—affectionately known around the palace as Princess Libby—was born on the third of April in 2017, and she will ascend the throne when her father steps down or upon his death. The Skojare have absolute primogeniture succession, so Princess Libby will rule as the eldest living child regardless of whether or not the King has a son in the future.

  Mikko Rune, King of the Skojare kingdom, Markis of the House of Biâelse, Ruler of the Great Lakes, the Absolved King, is the twenty-fourth monarch of the Skojare. He took the throne on the thirteenth of September in 2012, upon the death of his father, King Rune.