Probably ought to be called the Queendom. Orca is a matriarchal society, that means that women hold the ultimate position of power instead of men. I chose to do this because that's how it is in killer whale pods. A pod's females are all related to each other, all descendents of one mother. It is the males who will go and visit other pods to find mates.
How did it come by the extraordinarily creative name of Orca? Heh, I'm not really sure. I think one of my editors started calling it that and I just went with it. The Kingdom of Orca is one of the largest kingdoms in this world's seas, its capitol city is a melting pot where all species of mermaids are welcome.
But Erica, I noticed that there are frozen glaciers in one scene and tropical reefs in the next? How did that happen?
Ocean environments are so varied and so beautiful that I couldn't choose just one. So, I took a little bit of creative license and smooshed a few together. Orca is located in the far south of this world, very close to their version of Antarctica. So the surrounding waters are VERY cold. But, the major cities are kept warm by thermal vents on the sea floor. These are sort of like underwater geysers that spew out very hot water from deep in the planet's mantle, close to where the rock is melted. So they are a constant source of heat, and somehow there are enough of them to provide enough heat to allow a great range of creatures to live there.
I don't doubt that the Orcans probably did a little selective breeding to make the hardiest corals they could, but this is why all the beautiful corals don't freeze to death in Orcan gardens.
The Kingdom of Gillenok
Gillenok lies outside of Orcan territory, down on the deeper parts of the ocean floor where nobody else wanted to live. There isn't much down there aside from whale skeletons that have been picked clean by deep sea fish, so the Eels use those to build their homes.
Eels used to live everywhere. They used to live in Orca, until many years ago they were all kicked out for being thieves. For a while they travelled around listlessly, robbing and pillaging whatever they could outside the Orcan borders. Until Unagi's dad came along, that is.
Anago proclaimed himself a king, and united all the Eels together. He forged the kingdom of Gillenok himself, kicked out whatever small communities of other gillfolk were living there and made it his kingdom. He was determined to turn his race into something the other races would respect.
Orcan Architecture
It looks like Art Nouveau was sick all over those buildings.
Yup. I didn't want to just duplicate rock-and-seaweed mermaid shelters from other stories. The Orcans have a specific architectural look comprised of really freakin' giant seashells cut into slices and carved out or cemented together. They don't find these shells by battling giant sea demons to get them, they simply grow them that big in labratories.
It's very important for them to have solid buildings because they need to have air pockets available everywhere. Every single building in Orca has to have a bubble of air up by the ceiling. They are kept fresh by special kinds of seaweed grown indoors. (That's why there's vines all over Azuri's bedroom ceiling!)
There aren't just buildings keeping bubbles of air available for mammalian passerby. There is a type of "tree" that grows in these oceans, they make air inside these big membranes that cover all the branches. There are forests of these weird trees, the membranes grow together and make large natural air pockets.
Orcan Cities
Viridor - capitol city, where the palace is
Greencrest - border city, surrounded by thick kelp forests
Cinebrese fields - wide farmland where fish are harvested
Western Seamounts - borderland shared with other sophisticated gillfolk races, currently sharing a truce
Orcan names
Naming the Orcans was a great source of joy and simultaneous frustration for me. Their culture says that Orcan children ought to be named after a beautiful color of the sea or the heavens, the colors of blue or black.
Azuri - from the word azure, the purplish blue of an unclouded sky
Thalo - "thay-low", pronounciation of phthalo, short for phthalocyanine, a blue (or green) mineral pigment used in paint
Onyxis - from the word onyx, meaning a pure black
Osidian - from obsidian, a usually black volcanic glass
Ebenni - from ebony, a deep lustrous black
Other Character Names
Mica - a type of rock that has shiny flecks
Unagi - the japanese word for freshwater eel sushi
Anago - the japanese word for saltwater eels
Awa - the japanese word for bubbles
Scample - taken from shrimp scampi, an Italian-American seafood dish
Gibbi - from the scientific name gibbiceps, an algae eating freshwater fish
Cinnabelle - cinnamon and belle "beauty" mashed together
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