Galla: What's it Like?

[reganofwellam]

What I've figured out:

-Pierce says Tusaine, Maren, Tortall and Galla are based on Medieval European countries without much different between them.
-Maren and Galla's unversities didn't have as good Magical Departments as Carthak and Tortall.
-Galla is mountainous and the capital Cria is on a river.
-Here Galla is mentioned to be French/Scandinavian/Latvian
-The royal family is Det Sanna

Sooo...

Galla. I'm thinking French-Alps but colder (as in the Scandinavian part). I'm looking for help with the idea of their culture and their royalty etc.

I've made Regan's father (Mathias of Wellam) an ambassador and I am thinking Galla could be a placement he might have had. (Oh and Rhys. I love that name. But are we pronouncing it "Righs" or "Reese"?)

[Queen Amedessa of Conté]

The references given here are more than likely unique to our board. I'm not exactly sure what Pierce had in mind for Galla, but from what I remember in the Immortals is that it was mountainous, heavily forested, dotted with villages, paganistic and apparently famous for its mountain ponies.

Since here we correlate Tusaine with French culture and Scanra with Scandinavian/Germanic culture, Galla receives influences from these two countries. The reason we say this is that to us it seems like Galla has been between the two both geographically and politically for most of its history. The Latvian influence I may remove, since I'm not exactly sure how geographically close Galla is to Sarain (who we here label as Russian-like). Naturally, Tortall also influences Galla––it mostly depends on what border you happen to be closest to. I personally like to think of Gallans as like the Finns; different but locked in by Scandinavian culture.

Anyway! If Regan's father is the Gallan ambassador, he would more likely be spending time at court instead of amongst the the commonfolk. I think at court, Gallans would be a meshing of Tortallan, Tusaine and Scanran influence; at this point, I think the Tortallan influence would be strongest as Galla is one of Tortall's foremost allies. The Tusaine and Scanran influences would be more subdued, mostly because Gallans probably would not like to seem barbaric (like Scanrans) and they probably do not approve of Tusaine's revolution all that much as they are still a monarchy.

Another basis for the Scanran-Tusaine thing, in my opinion, is Daine's name. "Veralidaine" seems to me as a name with Tusaine influence in the way it is spelled/sounded; "Sarrasri" seems to be based off of the Scanran-style surname system. "Sanna", the royal house name, is based off of a Scandinavian name.

Climatewise, Galla would have early winters and late springs in the mountainous regions. It would be more temperate to the south and naturally colder to the north.

Is this helping at all? I feel like I'm babbling. xD

As for Rhys... I believe that's your personal preference.

[reganofwellam]

Alright, I'll figure it out. Since I had to change Regan's timeline a bit, Mathias was the ambassador to Tusaine and then recalled after the revolution and was appointed to Galla.

I'm still working on her history now. It's my third version!

[François Valmont]

Rhys is a welsh name and it's pronounced Reese. (Reese is the anglicised version.)

[reganofwellam]

Ah, but it can also be pronounced "Righs." True Story.

It's all that history of sharing names.

[Queen Amedessa of Conté]

Well, personally I pronounce Rhys with a heavier 's' than found in 'Reese'. However, pronunciation of names really isn't that big of a deal.

[François Valmont]

reganofwellam said:

Ah, but it can also be pronounced "Righs." True Story.

Not by any welsh person I've ever met it isn't! Is this some bizzare American prounounciation? Like pronouncing Graham 'Gram'?

[Frederick Hastings]

I've never pronounced it Righs... it's not a common enough name here for me to have heard it that way.... so I can't tell you if it's an American thing. xD

What we South Dakotans have an issue with is that people pronounce our capital "Piérre", the French way. They apparently forget that we're a bunch of rednecks who just pronounce it like "peer".

[Princess Sarafina of Conté]

I've always pronounced 'Rhys' "Rih-s". Like 'miss' but with an R.

[Aislin of Port Legann]

francoisvalmont said:

Not by any welsh person I've ever met it isn't! Is this some bizzare American prounounciation? Like pronouncing Graham 'Gram'?

Wait, is there another way to say it?

[reganofwellam]

ok boooourns

One: I am not american. stereotypes are mean and cause continental drift. (hee hee)

Two: Heard it a long time ago. It's what happens when names of one origin are used in another language.

[Frederick Hastings]

Not all of us are American... Nana here is our resident Brit.

[François Valmont]

reganofwellam said:

ok boooourns

One: I am not american. stereotypes are mean and cause continental drift. (hee hee)

Two: Heard it a long time ago. It's what happens when names of one origin are used in another language.

One: I never said you were an American, I asked if it was a strange American pronounciation. I asked that because I'm English and we don't say it that way over here. Where the hell is the stereotyping in that?

Two: Don't patronise me. I'm nearly thirty and I am most definitely not a moron. I'm well aware of the etymological development of names, I was simply saying that I've never ever, in my life and travels come across that pronounciation.

aislin said:

francoisvalmont said:

Not by any welsh person I've ever met it isn't! Is this some bizzare American prounounciation? Like pronouncing Graham 'Gram'?

Wait, is there another way to say it?

Well in the UK it's pronounced Gray-um, mostly I think because it's a Scottish name and it's old Gaelic spelling is Graeme so we've kept that pronounciation over here.

[Queen Amedessa of Conté]

francoisvalmont said:

Well in the UK it's pronounced Gray-um, mostly I think because it's a Scottish name and it's old Gaelic spelling is Graeme so we've kept that pronounciation over here.

Oh, I've definitely heard the Gray-um way, though when I've heard it it's a bit more of Gray-am with a harsh second 'a'. I always just thought it was the really "hick" version of Gram in that it seemed to add extra syllables... lol. Unless I were exaggerating his name or poking fun at him, I say it the weird American way like Gram, not going to lie.

I tried to find a comparison to how I pronounce Rhys, and it's a bit like the "reas" in the word "reason".


**Edit** Kari, I'm changing the current king of Galla to a fellow named Severin. I finally drew up a tree for the Sannas... Rhys is the Crown Prince now.

[reganofwellam]

Severin, okie dokie. Changing names is easy peasy. (Sorry that it's taking so long but it's the end of the semester and many many essays have appeared! XD )