Kingdom of Bryndol

Kingdom of Bryndol (or simply the Bryndol Kingdom) was a Bryndan kingdom that makes up most of todays Brindleton District in the United Simlands and was founded in 101 BE until it was dissolved by the Brindleton Empire.

Prior to becoming a kingdom, it consisted of petty settlements each ruled by Earls until High King Farkas unified the realm resulting in the first known Bryndan central government. This caused a new era for Bryndol in what is known as the Era of High Kings.

Etymology and language
There are some speculation as to where the name Bryndol came from, but historians believed that the Byr Sea received its name first (Byr = cold) and the locals stuck to naming themselved Bryndans (Bryn = cold, dans = denizens or people) and the region Bryndol (Bryn = cold, dol = land or coast).

This suggests that these terms derived from the proto-Bryndolian language that the people of the Bryndol kingdom spoke very rarely as in contemporary times they spoke old Bryndolian. Examples of proto-Bryndolian versus the kingdom's spoken old Bryndolian:

- Byr Sea = Kaldt Sea (Sea still being referred to by modern Simlish)

- Bryndans = Kjøliginn

- Bryndol = Kjøligkysten

While linguists know that proto-Bryndolian and old Bryndolian differ vastly in terms of idiom, the only samples of proto-Bryndolian we know of are names of landmarks. Despite the Bryndans speaking old Bryndolian; findings show that the locals stuck to naming their kingdom using proto-Bryndolian rather than calling it by their contemporary language which would have been named Kingdom of Kjøligkysten.

History
Farkas became High King of the Bryndans after convincing the Earls of seperate settlements to rule their respective region as Jarls that would then be ruled under a High King who would function as a central body of the kingdom. Scholars are not sure what prompted this change of event to take place but theorized that perhaps the Bryndans were facing famine and stressed a organized central government in order for their citizens to thrive.

It is also believed that because Farkas was from House Ulvgar, one of the three highly respected Houses in Bryndol, the former Earls were more willing be ruled under a king whose name is Ulvgar.

House Kurtis, also one of the highly respected Houses, were more reluctant on Farkas ruling the kingdom monogamously, so instead founded their own settlement known as Overlegen in which they would be the respective Jarl.

Culture
The Bryndans were warrior-minded sims that found glory in dying in battle and respected those who died fighting. While they felt a strong national pride in being part of the kingdom, most were more prideful of their birth settlement and put more emphasis on ensuring the longevity of their familial legacy. This was especially the case if they came from a preeminent dynasty.

Arts and music
Art in any form was not ideal for the Bryndans. Paintings were usually done to paint portraits of the High King and their consorts, Jarls, Huskarls, and Thegns. This meant that painting was done for the purpose of political identification. While paintings for leisure reasons do exists, it was rarely done. Chanties were a common pass time for the Bryndans especially when sailing waters, but like painting, music was just political.

Cuisines
Depending on where in Bryndol the locals lived, they may have ate primarily a seafood diet or a land farming diet. On holidays, they generally ate meals that were parallel to the rest of the kingdom. For example; during Sommerfest, the Bryndans ate fish and on Yule, they ate ham. It's been recorded that the Bryndans seasoned their meals using herbs like basil and parsley.

Sports
Several records have made mention of a few sports that seemed to have been commonly played all over Bryndol for all ages.

Horseshoe toss is a game in which they set up a stick that stuck upwards from the ground and one person tossed a horseshoe and chuck it at the stick to get it inside. A gambling version of the game was a coin tossing game in where each person tossed a gold coin into a tankard or basket and whoever land their coin inside keeps all the coins that didn't make it.

Wrestling was a very common sport among the young men in Bryndol as this tested their strength and was a show of manliness which was important for male Bryndans.

Marriage
Marriage performances were done only if one member was from a prominent House. Marriage among commoners were almost never performed as there were no need if there was no political gain from doing so. This meant producing an heir for the High King or Jarl so same-sex marriage were never recorded to have happened in the kingdom.

Sex
Sex was not considered a taboo activity in Bryndol and most of the time was very casual. However, for married couples, sex outside of marriage had a lot of negative connotation unless the other partner was okay with it or took part in it as well.

Homosexuality between two men wasn't too taboo unless the action involved penetration. It was quite common for young men of a noble House to have a personal ergi but the ergi was always to be the submissive partner. The dominate men, or the one on top, was seen as practicing his masculinity so he did not had any negative connotation to him. Mutual masturbation and giving or receiving oral from another man was also not a taboo practice but only when the partner they were performing these activities with had a close bond.

Two women having sexual intercourse had no negative attachment to them what-so-ever as no penetration was ever involved.

Gender roles
Men in Bryndol were seen as protectors and fighters while women were mostly seen as gardeners and mothers, but were no strangers to raiding and fighting as well. It was generally seen as attractive for a woman to be strong so they were encouraged to know the basics of fighting. But while it wouldn't be impossible for a woman to become Jarl or even High Queen by her own right, they were not taken as seriously by the other Jarls or populous.