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The Light Novel series is the source material for the adaptation of the Anime and Manga series. The information and terminology on the article will be based on the source material rather than the adaptions. |
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Obtain what you desire. Gather the strength required to win. Face the challenge as many times as it takes. Change your technique, change your equipment, but never give up. That is the Dunkelfelger way. | ”
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Archducal crest of Dunkelfelger
Dunkelfelger
Dunkelfelger is a duchy on the southern edge region of Yurgenschmidt and holds the status of a greater duchy. It is currently governed by Lord Werdekraf, the current Aub Dunkelfelger.
Dunkelfelger Cape
Duchy Information
Dunkelfelger's duchy color is blue[1] and their crest features a feycreature that resembles a Hawk.[2]
| Current Rank | Name | Status | Color | Key Crest Component |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Spear[1] |
Borders
The territory is bordered by the following other territories:
- The duchy of Alexandria to the East
- The duchy of Blumenfeld to the North
- The duchy of Neuehausen to the North
- The duchy of Quandtreeb to the Northwest
- The duchy of Losrenger to the West
- Former territory of the duchy of Werkestock (acquired by Dunkelfelger)
- A country gate that leads to an unnamed country
People and Leadership
See: Character Tab
The current archduke is Lord Werdekraf. He is married to Lady Sieglinde, his first wife. They have two children together, Lord Lestilaut and Lady Hannelore. He also has two children with Lady Reichlene, the second wife; Lord Raufereg and Lady Lungtase. Lady Eineliebe is Lord Lestilaut's betrothed.
Archduke's Family
| Former Aub Dunkelfelger |
Branch Family
| Werdekraf's Elder Brother |
| Werdekraf's Younger Brother |
Prominent Knights
Former Citizens
Archduke's Family
| Former Aub Dunkelfelger |
Branch Family
| Werdekraf's Elder Brother |
| Werdekraf's Younger Brother |
Prominent Knights
Former Citizens
The previous Aub Dunkelfelger is still alive and well enough to support his successor with advice and aid in mana replenishment.[4] Dunkelfelger has strong archducal branch families. Werdekraf's elder brother is the father of Kenntrips (second wife) and Rasantark (third wife).[5] His younger brother is the father of Codenest.[5]
Rauffen is Dunkelfelger's dormitory supervisor.[6] Heisshitze is the Dunkelfelger knight who kept challenging Ferdinand to ditter during their shared time at the Royal Academy.[7]
Warrior Spirit and Ditter
The people of Dunkelfelger focus heavily on warrior's spirit and combat prowess. Most of the literature produced in their duchy likewise deals with knights going up against enemies more numerous or powerful than themselves, but keeping on fighting until they eventually overcome their foes, no matter how often they suffer defeat or how long it takes.[8] Likely as a result of this culture and attitude, Dunkelfelger has the highest proportion of knights among their nobles of any of Yurgenschmidt's duchies and even nobles who are not knights tend to have more knowledge of weapons than anywhere else.[9]
One result of this obsession with strength and warrior spirit is a great appreciation for ditter that sometimes crosses over well in the territory of outright obsession, with Professor Rauffen being a very good example of this.
Dunkelfelger nobles are known to be headstrong and independent, seizing whatever they want and securing victory at any cost. They prioritize practicality above all else.[10]
One example of this was a female archduke candidate. To escape her arranged marriage with a noble from a lesser duchy, she ran away and started a romance with a prince, eventually becoming his third wife in the middle of the civil war.[11]
In addition to all this, female nobles of Dunkelfelger also have a reputation for being very manipulative.[12]
Feystone Body Suits
Noble children of Dunkelfelger are usually taught how to create their own feystone bodysuits before this is taught during the second year of the Royal Academy. Unlike in some other duchies, like Ehrenfest, where it is mostly knights who wear these them, in Dunkelfelger, it is common for all nobles to wear these bodysuits at all times, regardless of profession or location. This makes it unlikely to find any Dunkelfelger students in the feystone bodysuit creation class past the first day.[13]
Knights Profession
The majority of noble Dunkelfelger children wish to become knights. This percentage is so high that if all of them were allowed to do so, the duchy would be desperately short on attendant and scholars. To counter this, Dunkelfelger established an exam that lasts from the day of a child's baptism to their enrollment into the Royal Academy. Anyone who falls short of the strict requirements is forbidden from becoming a knight and has to choose another career path. Many of the students who tried and failed to pass this exam end up becoming what is known to Dunkelfelger nobles as attendants or scholars "of the sword." Usually these students favor the sword over the tools of their profession and keep training with the apprentice knights, in addition to their own courses. They also tend to be even more passionate about ditter than the actual apprentice knights. This practice results in attendants and scholars that are quite capable to double as guards should the proper knights be needed elsewhere.[14]
One example of one of these scholars of the sword is Clarissa, who became a scholar after failing the exam due to being too small and physically weak.[12]
Royal Academy and Interduchy Tournament
Practically every single knight of Dunkelfelger, as well as many other nobles who aren't tied down by duties in the duchy itself, to visit the Interduchy Tournament and the annual ditter tournament the event was named after in particular.[10]
Dunkelfelger also has a different order in which they send students to the Royal Academy at the beginning of a term. Unlike the other duchies, Dunkelfelger sends their second years first, followed by the third years and so forth, with the first years being sent last. Like much of Dunkelfelger's traditions, this came about due to their obsession with ditter and fighting in general. The many ditter matches result in the students needing more rejuvenation potions than other duchies, which in the past caused the sixth years to clear out the gathering spot, leaving nothing for their juniors to harvest for their classes or their own potions, necessitating this flipping of arrival order. Furthermore as a duchy of warriors, even the second years are fully capable of clearing the gathering spot of dangerous feybeasts, without needing the help of the older students.
With the recent spreading of the healing ritual this situation relaxed to some degree, but with the ritual itself requiring a lot of mana, it isn't undertaken lightly.[15]
Divine Protections
Dunkelfelger nobles have a much higher chance of obtaining the divine protection of not just Leidenschaft himself, but also some of his subordinate gods, most commonly Angriff, the god of war.
It is tradition for Dunkelfelger knights to perform ritual dances and songs before ditter matches and after a victory to dedicate some of their mana to Leidenschaft and his subordinate gods.
Only quite recently has it been rediscovered that these two things are in fact connected. That they more often and more earnestly pray to those gods increases the chances of students to obtain their divine protection.[16]
Geography
Dunkelfelger sits at the most southern region of the country and is said to have a summer climate for most of the year.
After the civil war, the southern region of Old Werkestock was under its management.
Once the Lanzanave invasion was defeated and Eglantine is crowned the new Zent of Yurgenschmidt[17], Rozemyne redrew the duchy borders and Dunkelfelger merged the portion of Old Werkestock, which its been managing since the end of the civil war, with their existing land[18].
Flora and Fauna
Dunkelfelger is home to an unusually large number of dangerous feybeasts and feyplants. This forced the local population to be far more martial than the denizens of any other duchies and is almost assuredly the reason why this mindset can be found in all aspects of Dunkelfelger culture.[19]
Each summer, a powerful feybeast rises to become the Lord of Summer in Dunkelfelger.[20]
Architecture
Dunkelfelger buildings are generally purpose-built for functionality with few, if any, ornamentations and decorations. Even the archduke's own castle is near enough entirely bereft of decoration, consisting mostly of pure white walls with only the occasional bit of blue to show the duchy's colour. This style naturally extends to the Dunkelfelger dormitory in the Royal Academy,[10] where only the rooms for meetings with other duchies were given a minimal amount of decoration, likely for diplomatic reasons.[21]
Due to it's climate, Dunkelfelger's use of carpets in the corridors of the archduke's castle is the opposite of Ehrenfest's. Their carpets are embroidered with cooling magic circles and only lain out in summer, to combat the heat. In winter the carpets are stored, leaving the corridors naked ivory.[15]
| Spoiler from Fanbook 7 |
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The foundation room key is paired with a bracelet worn by the Aub. When mana is channeled into the bracelet, the key appears, and when the key is touched to the bracelet, it is reabsorbed. Only someone holding the key can safely enter the room, so if the Aub brings their successor, they need to both touch the key, for example in between their palms while holding hands, to pass through the initial teleporter. Once in the entrance hall to the foundation, a plain room consisting seeminly of only unadorned white walls, the key must be taken in the left hand and touched to the left wall, all the while channling mana into it. If another wall is touched, spears will shoot out. Once enough mana was channeled, text in the ancient language appears and tells the person seeking passage to swear to Leidenschaft, the God of Fire, which can be done by writing the correct passphrase with their schtappe, presumably also in the ancient language: "Dunkelfelger is the Zent's sword. We uphold the peace and smite the foes of the gods' chosen." If this is done correctly, the wall will disappear reveal the actual entrance to the foundation magic room, with the usual iredesent film known from various other places in the story, including the entrances to replenishment halls, blocking the view[22]. |
History
According to a book written in Dunkelfelger itself, the duchy existed since the very founding of the country of Yurgenschmidt itself.[8]
After the civil war in the Sovereignty, the territory of the Duchy of Werkestock - located to Dunkelfelger's north - was split, with Ahrensbach being chosen to manage the northern half, while Dunkelfelger was put in charge of the southern half.
They currently hold the second place in the duchy rankings, being surpassed only by Klassenberg.
When Rauffen entered the Royal Academy, he singlehandedly improved the training program of apprentice knights, making the duchy into the dominating force in the ditter sport they are now.[23] After his graduation, Rauffen became a professor at the Royal Academy.
Dunkelfelger has managed to keep this top spot ever since, except for the years during Ferdinand's term, in which they are decimated by his devious strategies.
Story
Recently, they lost a match of Treasure Stealing Ditter against Ehrenfest to everyone's considerable surprise.[24] Despite expectations, the majority of students from Dunkelfelger do not seem to begrudge Ehrenfest for this loss and are quite eager for a rematch, though Lestilaut's sister Hannelore would still like to apologize for her brother's rude behavior in the incident leading up to the match.[25]
Following the Lanzenave invasion and Raublut's insurrection, Dunkelfelger was raised to the first rank in the duchy rankings in recognition of their contributions to defeating the foreign invaders and traitors.[26]
Despite the issues that arose in the wake of Lestilaut's ill-fated bride-stealing ditter for Lady Rozemyne's hand, which almost resulted in his sister being engaged into Ehrenfest as a second wife, and Lady Rozemyne's departure of the duchy, Aub Dunkelfelger still wishes to forge closer bonds with Ehrenfest. He is currently contemplating marrying his daughter Lungtase to Lord Melchior. To increase the chances of Aub Ehrenfest accepting such a proposal in the future, he is beginning to lay the groundwork by trying to marry lesser nobles into Ehrenfest.[27]
Etymology
| Name | Japanese | Romaji | Assumed Etymology |
Assumed Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunkelfelger | ダンケルフェルガー | Dankeruferugaa | dunkel (DE) | dark |
Trivia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook 3 Duchy Rankings
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Royal Academy Stories - First Year. Chapter 6: Hannelore - Cursed with Such Bad Timing
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Hannelore's Fifth Year at the Royal Academy Chapter 3: The Advancement Ceremony and Fellowship Gathering
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 10. Epilogue
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ascendance of a Bookworm. Hannelore's Fifth Year at the Royal Academy. Break Time Breakdown
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 1. Chapter 14: The Fourth Step of Mana Compression
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 7. Interduchy Tournament (Second Year)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 5. Chapter 1: Apprentices and the Temple
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 6. Chapter 4: Schtappe Transformation
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Ascendance of a Bookworm. Royal Academy Stories - First Year. Chapter 16: Hannelore - Ehrenfest's Books
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 4. Chapter 16: A More Private Meeting
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 7. Chapter 15: Hartmut's Marriage Partner
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 6. Chapter 7: Brewing and Recovery Potions
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Royal Academy Stories - First Year. Chapter 4: Rauffen - Wondrous Ditter
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Ascendance of a Bookworm. Hannelore's Fifth Year at the Royal Academy. Chapter 1: Entering the Dormitory
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 1. Chapter 8: Beginning the Archduke Candidate Course
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 11. Chapter 8: Blessings from the Gods
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 11. Chapter 9: The Blessings' Influence
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 7. Chapter 5: Winter Life in the Temple
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Fanbook 3. Q&A with Miya Kazuki
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 7. Chapter 9: Planning for the Tea Party
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Fanbook 7. The Next Aub and the Foundational Magic
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 2. Chapter 15: An Order to Return to Ehrenfest
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 2. Chapter 9: Treasure-Stealing Ditter
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 4 Volume 2. Life without One's Lady
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Hannelore's Fifth Year at the Royal Academy. Prologue
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Hannelore's Fifth Year at the Royal Academy. Chapter 10: Wavering and Resolve