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Welcome to the Realm of

Astoria

       The seventeenth Realm of the Domain takes its name from the first and oldest city in the American state of Oregon, Astoria. One of the five Realms sitting along the Ring of Fire (Pacifica, EternalBeauty, Aleutia, and the Dreamtime being the others), living in the Realm is considered a thing both wonderful and dangerous due to the activity and constant volatile potential of the volcanoes of the Cascade Arc: most notably Lawetlat'la(Mount St. Helens) and Tahoma (Mount Rainier)

       And yet, for all its dangers, it is its beauty and the secrets within that draw people to the Realm, which has seen three Rulers in its history: the First Ruler, Lady Athene Airheart; her sucessor, Lady Dame Dena ni Nine Death Storms (deceased); and the current Ruler of the Realm, Lady Dame Dragonfaire ni DarkFyre.

       The Realm's name was one of good-natured contention in its early days. Most Domani felt that the name should have been Cascade: for the Cascade Mountains within the Realm, instead of it going to the Realm's counterpart on the other side of the continent on the shores of the Ocean of Storms: which was founded before it. The First Ruler of Astoria: like the First Ruler of Cascade, saw fit to keep the names as they were. Astoria has since remained Astoria. 

Astorian

Stats and Information

 

Full Name: The Realm of Astoria

Pronunciation: Az-tor-ee-ah

Entymology: Named for Astoria: first and oldest city in Oregon. Itself named for John Jacob Astor: businessman and first multimillionaire in the United States. The name Astor is Franco-Germanic for "goshawk".

Date Founded: December 8, 2002

Demonym: Astorian

Population(current): 2

Ruler(s): Lady Dame Dragonfaire, OA

House(s): DarkFyre

Flag: Earth and Sky - The blue sky is the haven we always have to look up tpo. Even when it is covered by clouds, it is till there. The yellow rays are the sun: the fire which gives us strength and hope.The mountains are green as the verdant forests they represent: providing a stable hone to come to. The river flows down to the sea: returning us to our roots. It splits in two, reminding us that everyone must take a different path in life.

Anthem: "Faith of the Heart" by Russell Watson

Provinces: Merisia (The Puget Sound and Islands, Washington), North Verdania(Northwestern Washington), Verdania (West Central and Southwestern Washington), South Verdania (Northwestern and West Central Oregon), Heyati (Central and Eastern Washington), Wallowa (North Central and Northeastern Oregon), Malheur (Southern Oregon), The Royal Summer Home (Grant County, Washington)

Royal District:  Olympia (Kitsap, Mason, and Pierce Counties, Washington)

Royal Court: Caer Orchard (Port Orchard, Washington)

Royal Home: Orchard Bluff

Astorian Provinces

Name of Royal District: Olympia

Location: Kitsap, Mason, and Pierce  Counties, Washington USA

Population(current): 1

Origin of name: Named for the Olympic Range that lies partly in the West of the District.

Ruler(s): Lady Dragonfaire

Name of province: Merisia

Location: San Juan and Island Counties, Washington

Population(current): 0

Origin of name: Unknown. Thought to be devised from the Latin "mer" for "sea", in reference to the province encompassing the majority of the islands of the Puget Sound

Ruler(s): None at current time

Duchies(to date): None at current time

Name of province: North Verdania

Location: Northwestern Washington

Population(current): 0

Origin of name: The Northern of the three Verdania provinces. Verdania's root word is "verdant", in reference to the Pacific Northwest rainforest that blankets the Verdanian provinces

Ruler(s): None at current time

Duchies(to date): None at current time

Name of province: Verdania

Location: West Central and Southwest Washington

Population(current): 0

Origin of name: The central of the three Verdania provinces. Verdania's root word is "verdant", in reference to the Pacific Northwest rainforest that blankets the Verdanian provinces

Ruler(s): None at current time

Duchies(to date): None at current time

Name of province: South Verdania

Location: Northwestern Oregon

Population(current): 0

Origin of name: The Southern of the three Verdania provinces. Verdania's root word is "verdant", in reference to the Pacific Northwest rainforest that blankets the Verdanian provinces

Ruler(s): None at current time

Duchies(to date): None at current time

Name of province: Heyati

Location: Central and Eastern Washington

Population(current): 0

Origin of name: Possible Arabic for "life" or "my life". Used in arabic as a term of endearment.

Ruler(s): None at current time

Duchies(to date): None at current time

Name of province: Wallowa

Location: North Central and Northeastern Oregon

Population(current): 0

Origin of name: Named for the Wallowa Mountains of the area. It is Nez Perce describing a part of a fish trap.

Ruler(s): None at current time

Duchies(to date): None at current time

Name of province: Malheur

Location: Southern Oregon

Population(current): 0

Origin of name: French for misfortune or tragedy. A name given to many areas in the province, from Malheur County to the Malheur River.

Ruler(s): None at current time

Duchies(to date): None at current time

Name of province: The Royal Summer Home

Location: Grant County, Washington

Population(current): 0

Origin of name: Was set up  by the Astorian First Ruler, Lady Athene Airheart, as a refuge for her and her family. Was kept to serve as such for all Realm Rulers to come after. Mos Eslake (Moses Lake) is considered to be its heart and traditional administrative center.

Ruler(s): None at current time

Duchies(to date): None at current time

Places of Interest, Power, and Enchantment

Mount Olympus

The Hoh Rainforest

Downed Western red cedar

Olympic National Park

       Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier east side. Within the park there are three distinct ecosystems, including subalpine forest and wildflower meadow, temperate forest, and the rugged Pacific coast.


       President Theodore Roosevelt originally designated the park as Mount Olympus National Monument on March 2, 1909. The monument was re-designated a national park by Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 29, 1938. In 1976, Olympic National Park was designated by UNESCO as an International Biosphere Reserve, and in 1981 as a World Heritage Site. In 1988, Congress designated 95 percent of the park (1,370 square miles) as the Olympic Wilderness, which was renamed Daniel J. Evans Wilderness in honor of Governor and U.S. Senator Daniel J. Evans in 2017. During his tenure in the Senate, Evans co-sponsored the 1988 bill that created the state's wilderness areas.It is the largest wilderness area in Washington.

       Within the center of Olympic National Park rise the Olympic Mountains whose sides and ridgelines are topped with massive, ancient glaciers. The mountains themselves are products of accretionary wedge uplifting related to the Juan De Fuca Plate subduction zone. The geologic composition is a curious mélange of basaltic and oceanic sedimentary rock. The western half of the range is dominated by the peak of Mount Olympus, which rises to 7,965 feet. Mount Olympus receives a large amount of snow, and consequently has the greatest glaciation of any non-volcanic peak in the contiguous United States outside of the North Cascades. It has several glaciers, the largest of which is Hoh Glacier at 3.06 miles in length. Looking to the east, the range becomes much drier due to the rain shadow of the western mountains. Here, there are numerous high peaks and craggy ridges. The tallest summit of this area is Mount Deception, at 7,788 feet.


       The western side of the park is mantled by temperate rainforests, including the Hoh Rainforest and Quinault Rainforest, which receive annual precipitation of about 150 inches (380 cm), making this perhaps the wettest area in the continental United States (however, parts of the island of Kauai, such as the summit of Mount WaiÊ»aleÊ»ale, in the state of Hawaii receive more rain).


       Valleys on the eastern side of the park also have notable old-growth forest, but the climate is notably drier. Sitka Spruce is absent, trees on average are somewhat smaller, and undergrowth is generally less dense and different in character. Immediately northeast of the park is a rather small rainshadow area where annual precipitation averages about 16 inches.


       (from Wikipedia)


       It was told to the ur-Lord by Lady Dame Dena ni Nine Death Storms that somewhere within the forests surrounding the mountains that thersse is a portal that wanders through the trees that leads to snother world or dimension. She intended to seek it out, but never achieved the chance to do so before she passed  away. If what she claimed is true, the portal still roams the forests at the feet of the mountains: either waiting to be traversed,... or best left alone.

Lawetlat'lac-Mount St. Helens

        A legend among volcanoes on Turtle Island, the lady locals know as Mount St. Helens has burned herself into the memory of people around the world, and at the least that of those who live on Turtle Island with an eruption that brought vulcanology into more importance than before.

       Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the Indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It lies 52 miles Northeast of Portland, Oregon[2] and 98 miles (158 km) south of Seattle.[3] Mount St. Helens takes its English name from the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver who surveyed the area in the late 18th century.[1] The volcano is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire.


       Mount St. Helens is best known for its major eruption on May 18, 1980: the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. Fifty-seven people were killed. 200 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche, triggered by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake, caused a lateral eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 ft to 8,363 ft, leaving a 1 mile wide, horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was 0.6 cubic miles in volume. The 1980 eruption disrupted terrestrial ecosystems near the volcano. By contrast, aquatic ecosystems in the area greatly benefited from the amounts of ash, allowing life to multiply rapidly. By six years after the eruption, most lakes in the area returned to their normal state.


       After its 1980 eruption, the volcano had continuous volcanic activity until 2008. Geologists predict that future eruptions will be more destructive, since the configuration of the lava domes there require more pressure to erupt. Despite this, Mount St Helens is a popular hiking spot, and it is climbed year-round. In 1982, the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was established by U.S President Ronald Reagan and the U.S Congress.


       Native American lore contains numerous stories to explain the eruptions of Mount St. Helens and other Cascade volcanoes. The most famous of these is the Bridge of the Gods story told by the Klickitat people. The mountain is also of sacred importance to the Cowlitz and Yakama tribes that also live in the area. They find the area above its tree line to be of exceptional spiritual significance, and the mountain (which they call "Lawetlat'la", roughly translated as "the smoker") features prominently in their creation story, and in some of their songs and rituals. In recognition of its cultural significance, over 12,000 acres of the mountain (roughly bounded by the Loowit Trail) have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other area tribal names for the mountain include "nÅ¡h´ák´" ("water coming out") from the Upper Chehalis, and "aka akn" ("snow mountain"), a Kiksht term.


       (from Wikipedia)

The Isle of Avalon

         Named in honor of Avalon by former Lady Athene Airheart, it is easy to see why Lummi Island earned the name from her. Once called Sa nam a o (High Mountain), it is now known by the same name of the people who first named it. But it is its nature as a refuge that stands out.

       Lummi Island lies at the southwest corner of Whatcom County, Washington, United States, between the mainland part of the county and offshore San Juan County. The Lummi Indian Reservation is situated on a peninsula east of the island, but it does not include Lummi Island. The island has a land area of 9.25 square miles and had a population of 822 as of the 2000 census. The population nearly doubles in summer when second-home owners from Canada and the U.S. arrive for the summer months.

       

       Lummi Island is best known for its unique reef net salmon fishery developed by the indigenous Lummi of the area. It has an eclectic population of artists, seascapes, and rural settings. The island's narrow, scenic and winding roads are popular with bicyclers. A trail to Lummi Mountain takes hikers through the Baker Preserve to stunning high views of the San Juan and Gulf Islands. The trail is maintained by the Lummi Island Heritage Trust.


       Facilities on the island include a general store, two restaurants, several bed and breakfast houses, a small library, post office, fire station, a church, a Salvation Army camp, and a vintage 1919 elementary school. The historic Lummi Island Congregational Church has a quiet, wooded cemetery. The Beach Store Cafe is a popular local hangout with a small bar and traditional café fare.


       The Willows Inn, opened in 1910, was upgraded to a fine dining restaurant in 2010 under chef Blaine Wetzel, who co-owns it.[9] Restaurant employees complained about workplace conditions, and in 2017 the restaurant was fined by the United States Department of Labor and required to end its internship program.


       (from Wikipedia)

Astoria

is ruled under an

DarkFyre

administration

An aerial view of downtown

Caer Orchard,

Royal Court of the Realm of Astoria

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