Menu

The world

Velmarche

A small country of valley and coast, invented for the game: the Orvelle valley and its capital Aubrelieu in the centre, the plateau and fjords of Ostrie to the north, the Golfe d’Ambre to the west and, to the south-east, the Monts Corvins that divide it from Thalberie.

Loading the map

Selected place

Choose a place on the map with the mouse, by touch or with the keyboard (Tab, then the arrow keys to move from a place to its neighbour).

Arrows: move · + and −: zoom · 0: overview · Tab: go from place to place. By touch: drag, pinch, tap a place.

History

Seven centuries in a few dates

A Grand Duchy turned Republic, a fifteen-year Regency that erased people from the registers, and a law that, in 1973, promises to re-register them.

Chronological register · Aubrelieu Archives

  1. 1214 Aubrelieu is founded, a bridge town on the Orvelle.
  2. 1488 The lordships of the valley form the Duchy of Velmarche.
  3. 1602 Treaty of Vellaak: Ostrie, to the north, is joined to Velmarche.
  4. 1811 The Velmarche Charter: a constitutional Grand Duchy, and civil registration by commune.
  5. 1848 Freedom of the press; The Aubrelieu Courier is founded.
  6. 1889 The Grand Exhibition of Aubrelieu: the country shows itself modern, with glass, paper, soap and ships.
  7. 1916–1919 The War of the Passes against neighbouring Thalberie, over the Col de Corvenne.
  8. 1929 The Sorbelle Crash: the country’s oldest bank fails.
  9. 1937 General Destrade’s coup: the Grand Duke abdicates and the Regency begins.
  10. 1938 The Purity of the Registers Act: citizens are struck off the civil registers and declared absent.
  11. 1952 The April Days: Aubrelieu rises up and the Regency ends.
  12. 1953 Constitution of the Republic.
  13. 1973 The Civil Re-registration Act: an Office is charged with giving the absent back their names.
  14. 1974 October. An estate lands on your desk.

Languages

Three languages, one map

Velmarchois, the official language, is rendered in English in the game, with its period turns of phrase: the “common house” of old certificates, the league, the florin.

In the north, Ostrian has its doubled vowels and place names that read like landscapes; a woman’s name takes the suffix -essa. Further off, Thalberie speaks a foreign tongue, with names ending in -in and -ko.

A short Ostrian lexicon

  • vel sea
  • tenn fire, light
  • ok cape, point
  • laak shelter, still water
  • kess stone
  • aar island
  • vik bay
  • taalik messenger

Hence Tennok, “cape of fire”, and Kessaar, “stone island”.

Places

The places on the map

From west to east. In the game, each one opens its own archives.

  • Golfe d'Ambre

    Sea

    The western gulf, with milder waters; amber is gathered on its beaches.

  • Port-Sénane

    Town

    Great port on the Orvelle estuary, on the Golfe d'Ambre: docks, shipyards, the Orvelle Packet Company, the seamen's hospital, a theatre.

  • Cap et phare de Tennok

    Landmark

    North-western tip of Ostrie: white lighthouse with a red band, the keeper's house, the lifeboat house, the post office; offshore, the reef of the Dents de Tennok.

  • Bains-de-Mérande

    Town

    Spa town in the coastal hills of the south-west: baths, sanatorium, the Mérande Soapworks, a girls' high school.

  • Saint-Ormel

    Town

    Cathedral city on the Orvelle, downstream from Aubrelieu: cathedral, notaries' offices, court registry.

  • L'Orvelle et la Clairette

    River

    The river of Velmarche, from the Monts Corvins to the Golfe d'Ambre, and the Clairette, its left-bank tributary, coming down from the Sorbe hills: ferries, bridges, mills.

  • Île de Kessaar

    Landmark

    A rock in the Mer Grise, off the coast of Ostrie: former penal colony (1938–1952), infirmary, small lighthouse.

  • Grisenoue

    Village

    Marsh town north of Aubrelieu: reed beds, mists and charred ruins.

  • Aubrelieu

    Town

    Capital of the Republic, a bridge town on the Orvelle founded in 1214: the Palais des Chartes (National Archives), the Civil Re-registration Office, the opera house, the citadel, the university, the Tanneurs quarter.

  • Forêt et moulin de la Sorbe

    Landmark

    Beech wood between Aubrelieu and Moulinvert; an old paper mill is falling into ruin by the water.

  • Moulinvert

    Town

    Industrial town on the Clairette, at the foot of the hills: the wheels, chimneys and pulp vats of the Varenque Paper Mills, the girls' school, the cemetery.

  • Mer Grise

    Sea

    Cold northern sea, mists and seals.

  • Landes d'Ostrie

    Region

    Heather plateau of the north: standing stones, sheepfolds, stone tracks. Beyond lies Ostrie, its language and its fjords.

  • Lac d'Aulne

    Landmark

    Lake in the foothills south of Moulinvert: summer chalets, rowing boats and alders.

  • Vellaak

    Village

    Fishing village at the head of an Ostrian fjord: harbour, fish-drying racks, and the offices of the bilingual paper Vel Taalik.

  • Hautcorvin

    Town

    Mountain town in the upper Orvelle valley: glassworks, garrison, a paper mill that trains apprentices.

  • Vernezac

    Village

    Village in the upper valley, on the Vèze, a torrent running down from the ridges to the Orvelle: furnace hall of the Hautcorvin Glassworks, inn, church, school, post office, customs post, guides' company.

  • Monts Corvins

    Mountains

    South-eastern range where the Orvelle rises: snow-capped peaks, pine forests.

  • Col de Corvenne

    Landmark

    Pass through the Monts Corvins into Thalberie: blockhouses from the War of the Passes, a cross for the dead.

  • Le Pas de l'Ourse

    Landmark

    A gap in the ridge of the Monts Corvins, south of the Col de Corvenne, on the border: carved boundary stone, iron cross at the hairpin bend; a mountain refuge a little below, on the Velmarche side.

  • Dalvezac

    Village

    Thalbère hamlet of charcoal burners in the Dalva valley, away from the pass road (Dalvica in Thalbère): wooden houses, charcoal stacks, school, cemetery.

  • Brenzac

    Town

    Thalbère frontier town, bilingual, beyond the Col de Corvenne (Brénica in Thalbère).