The souls of two kingdoms, who reign from opposite ends of the earth, cross paths in the isolations of a dark realm...the Upside-down. Each time they enter this realm, their connection to one another deepens, even when they depart into their own reg...
(Listen while you read: "Weightless Memories" by Ulrich Schnauss and Jonas Munk)
Our kingdom has every right to be feared. We are a medieval monarchy that has spread throughout most of Western Europe. We refer to our kingdom as Francia. Soon we will bring our reign to the large stretches of North America, which we will later rename New France.
My mother and father have been the successful king and queen of this kingdom for over fifty years now. My father, King Derrick Videl rules our people with an iron fist, while my mother, Queen Andrea Videl, handles the issues of our kingdom with grace and patience. My people often say that my father made the right decision to make me the heir of the crown over my brother Lamarr, who was originally the heir to the thrown because he was the next male in our family. But because I inherited my mother's grace and my father's intimidation, I was the perfect child to take the thrown once my father retired.
My family and I reside in Bordeaux, one of France's most luxurious capitals. We would've picked Paris, but according to my father, Paris was too exposed. He wanted the privacy of making deligations and decisions of our kingdom in seclusion. Bordeaux was the perfect option. Luckily it wasn't too far from Paris, so we were still able to make family trips there.
Our kingdom is very industrial, high buildings everywhere and commotion of nearby townspeople are easily heard from our castle, but our family was very accustomed to the noise. Our winters and summers are very much bareable. However, what we lack in snowfall, we make up for in rain. It's generally more cloudy than sunny where we reside.
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As far as interior and styles, our family tended to gravitate towards dark colors. Blacks, grays, midnight blues, etc. The only acception was the color red. And that was only because, to us, it signified blood. Our people weren't shy to the idea of bloodshed. We've led many wars, and always ended those wars with victory at the hands of others' lives being sacrificed.
But we weren't just a people that thrived off of war...as exciting as it might've been for my father to lead our troops into battle. Besides warfare, we were a people of business. Not only are we industrial, but we're the fifth largest metropolitan population in France. One of our most successful businesses is wine.
The vine was introduced to our region by the Romans. The vines they supplied helped us to produce wine for our people, and ever since, there have been wine businesses emerging all over the kingdom. We have an abundance of fresh vineyards, so there's not really a day that goes by where we don't have a glass of wine with our meals. Because I was finally the appropriate age to drink, my mother often poured me my glass at every dinner we held for our army and their families. As ruthless as we were, we had a huge heart and appreciation for the ones who put their lives on the line for our kingdom. And we always honored the ones who were lost in battle.
My family had a Dogue whose name was Lafayette. He was a grumpy little thing. I didn't particularly like him, but I had to find some way to keep myself occupied in this giant place. I've never really been one to like animals that much, so when my parents brought him home when he was a puppy, I tried my best to seem excited. I tolerated him more as he grew, but to this day I wouldn't care if he ran away and never came back.
