This Is Me

Lady Willa

The Lady of Berg, the kingdom in the mountains far north of the western lands overlooking the seas separating the empire from the independent kingdoms, reigns over the people of the mountains twelve peaks and those in its valleys between.

A prosperous land of many delights. Wine and chocolate* are among its finest delicacies. It's people are dressed in the modern fashions of cashmere and angora. The towns offer all the best in entertainment with theatre, opera and ballet available to all people. Festivals are also a large part of life in Berg with the Festival of the Moon, Festival of the Seasons, Festival of Sun and the Festival of the Harvest marking the four quarters of the year.

Berg is not dependent upon import but had been self reliant for several hundred years before the first journey of the great adventurer Farin who brought back the knowledge of the world beyond the mountain and with it great strides in technological advances. Not long after Farin's second journey, Lord Reitrik, Lady Willa's grandfathers grandfather, sent a party of ambassadors to start trade with the people in the cities near the seas.

Berg has many natural resources in its land including the numerous Cashmere goats and Angora rabbits, its native Lingonberry, Rapaseed* and the sturdy hardwood forests for which they can export in trade. The mountains are granite and could be sold for quite a lot of gold but as the granite slabs are the foundation of most of the mountains cities it hasn't been done.

During her reign as Lady of the Mountain, Willa has maintained a prosperous and peaceful land while improving the education of the people by building a school in each village, Where as before children who wished to learn had to travel to one of the central cities, not a terrible feat but hard on little ones in the colder months. She also built a college in each city to teach trades and a central University in the capital to teach economics, politics, philosophy, sciences and engineering.

Not only has Lady Willa maintained the several long lasting trade alliances with the independent kingdoms but in the past few years managed to negotiate an alliance with the Empire offering the regions hardwoods and linen in trade for military protection along the trade routes used by Berg.

...to be continued...

*Chocolate was only introduced after Farin's second journey during which he brought cocoa beans and what was then considered chocolate back to Berg from which his childhood friend Fredrik, the son of a cook and a baker, made a new mixture using goats milk and a honey reduction to create the now widely famous Bergian Chocolate Treats.
*Rapaseed is pod plant considered by most as a weed but after a visit from an engineer who informed the residents of the use of the pods to create an oil used in the newly invented steam engines of the imperial capital city the plant became a wildly popular money maker.