Soleil

 Soleil is one of the older kingdoms of Norfair, and its sun elf royal family (House Le’joie) claims that their lineage traces back beyond human memory. They are extremely proud of their extensive historical records kept by scribes in their family’s employ, which are available in the Royal Archives of Soleil, housed at the top of a tall spire that stands at the center of the kingdom’s Gold District. Unlike the academies of the commonwealth or the city-states of Selas, Soleil keeps their wealth of knowledge relatively close to the chest. Access to the Spire requires extensive certification with the archivist-monks known tasked with keeping the Archives.

Districts
The Gold district is dedicated to the Spire, buildings of the state, buildings of academia, and the homes of nobles and other elite. The Silver, Blue, and Green districts of Soleil are primarily preoccupied with trade and entertainment, artisan craftsmanship, and agriculture, respectively. The districts are organized like rings centering around the Gold district, which is the smallest, and ending in the Green district, which is easily the largest as it includes many many miles of vineyards and fields of grain. Denizens of the kingdom live in the district most closely correlated with their trade, and if they have no trade or deal in more untraditional business, whichever district they can afford a home in.

Economy
While the great historical knowledge housed in the Archives may be the primary draw bringing people into the kingdom, its primary exports are artisan goods including clothing, jewelry, and beverages such as wines and spirits. The work of Soleilan goldsmiths is known throughout Norfair and even across the Solesti. It also exports a significant amount of grain, especially its famous golden wheat. Soleilan bread is said to be the best in all the Northern Kingdoms and perhaps all of Norfair.

Silver District
One of the chief amusements of the soleilan upper and upper middle class is to promenade--to people watch and be people watched in pleasant leisure zones like public gardens and the like. There's often concerts, dances, and parties in these spaces, which might at first seem accessible and egalitarian in that these gardens and parks are public, but one must be presentable and appropriate in these spaces in order to be seen there.

There are also private gardens in the silver and gold districts, which charge an admission fee or require special invitation to get into, and these gardens are host to events with regular amusements like music, food, dancing, as well as the more unusual--pantomime, magic shows, and fireworks.

Entertainment gardens are often surrounded by boulevards with cafes, restaurants, shops, and art galleries lining them.

Blue District
For the less sophisticate, there's always the street markets of the blue district, at which one can find many interesting artisanal goods as a shopper or window shopper and enjoy some good old fashioned busking.

Green District
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">For laborers in the green district, entertainment options are limited to tavern amusement such as traveling bards or amateur acting troupes.

House Le'Joie
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;" id="docs-internal-guid-11fc791a-7fff-ec4a-2c93-784610ac8b55"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">There are three major noble houses in soleil, and the Le’Joies just happen to be the ones currently in power--only, being elves and all, they’ve been in power since the 11th era. The Le'Joies are most notable for their family project which has spanned many centuries: the Royal Archives of Soleil, colloquially known as the Spire. The Le'Joies have housed within it their personal collection of knowledge, collected by many generations of elves.

House DeRose
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">House DeRose is considerably larger than the other two houses and was in power before House Le'Joie. Whereas House Le'Joie's primary values involve knowledge and wisdom, House DeRose favors the arts and creativity, as well as romanticism. Many DeRose nobles are noteworthy painters, actors, or writers, as this is how they prefer to spend their ample free time.

House Vaillant
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">House Vaillant nobles, on the other hand, tend to be either respected politicians or decorated veterans. They are serious but still charismatic, less prone to flights of fancy than DeRoses and less intellectual and secretive than Le’Joies.

History
<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">From 13,656 until 13,850, the king of Soleil was Aymeric Le'Joie. He and his husband, Septime (a noble of Lorean descent), co-ruled the kingdom through a time of unprecedented peace from 13,703 to 13,850. The pair, Septime especially, are given much of the credit for spearheading the ceasefire between Lorean and the Commonwealth. (While Lorean and the Commonwealth have still not healed their relationship entirely, and most of the citizens of the heartlands are wary of the south, Soleil remains the only heartland kingdom that has not directly warred with the Commonwealth and thus there is a stronger trade and cultural relation between those two nations.) This time of peace and wellbeing came to an unfortunate end when the King and King Consort were both assassinated while on a diplomatic venture to Lorean. (It is only rumor, but many Soleilans suspect the elite of Marcourt are responsible for this clearly politically motivated attack, and so relations between Soleil and Marcourt are tense at the present moment.) At this time, the late Kings' daughter (a mere thirteen years of age at the time) was, in a move widely considered to be controversial, named queen. Queen Lenore is now seventeen years of age and not much is known about her as several other members of house Le'Joie, most notably her three aunts, vie for power.