Cordonia

Cordonia is a fictional European country in the Choices universe. It is seen in the Rules of Engagement, The Royal Romance, The Royal Heir, and The Royal Masquerade series.

Geography
Originally thought to be a small country along the Mediterranean Sea, Cordonia is possibly larger as it is shown in The Royal Romance to have its mountainous northern region in the Alps. It is also what was once known as The Five Kingdoms from The Crown & The Flame series, confirmed in The Royal Romance, Book 3, Chapter 2, as modern Cordonia celebrates the Festival of The Five Kingdoms, an event unifying the Five Kingdoms under one crown.

Government
Cordonia is governed by a constitutional monarchy. It was ruled by King Father Constantine until his death in The Royal Romance, and is the home of Queen Mother Regina, European Guy, and King "Liam". Cordonia's capital city is shown to have a large casino district, where the rich and famous, as well as top government officials, gather to gamble.

In Book 2, Chapter 16 of The Royal Romance, it is revealed by Liam that with the knowledge of their spouse, people can partake in relationships outside of marriage.

As of The Royal Romance, Book 3, known duchies in Cordonia are Ramsford, Lythikos, Domvallier, Krona, Portavira, Castelsareillan, and Valtoria. The name of Valtoria can be changed by the player, but it is still the historical name for it. Fydelia is a county of the Duchy of Krona run by the Countess of Fydelia, Madeleine.

The loading screen for The Royal Heir, Book 1 contains several facts about Cordonia, for example it talks about ancient proverb in Cordonia that says that the Apple doesn't fall far before a Cordonian catches it.

In The Royal Masquerade, Cordonia is ruled by Queen Kendra Rhys until her assassination in Chapter 1.

Castelsarreillan
The Duchy of Castelsarreillan (also called the Castelsarreillan province) stands where the Kingdom of Bellmere once stood. It was historically a trade hub, whose citizens were woodworkers and archers. Currently, they are the site of some of the oldest castles in Cordonia. The Castelsarreillan museum is the Castle Thorngate, restored to vibrant condition.

Trivia

 * It is mentioned in High School Story, Book 1, Chapter 14, that Myra Khandaar and Emma Hawkins both keep up with Royal Gossip. This is just one of many examples that show how all series in the Choices Universe are connected.
 * In Chapter 8 of Red Carpet Diaries, Book 1, Cordonia is mentioned when Seth Levine and Your Character bluff their way into the club.
 * Cordonia may be named after cordon, a tree or shrub, especially a fruit tree like apple, repeatedly pruned and trained to grow on a support as a single ropelike stem. This ties well to the kingdom's traditions revolving around apples.
 * Ryan Summers, Cassandra Leigh, and Alyssa Griffin, characters from Most Wanted, all make cameos there in Book 2, Chapter 11 of Rules of Engagement.
 * Your Character's grandmother from Desire &amp; Decorum was from Cordonia.
 * In The Royal Romance, Book 3, Chapter 16, Olivia reveals that children in Lythikos play with flaming arrows, as they are practical cold-weather toy.
 * She also reveals that they have bobcats twice as big as Zahira.
 * In Red Carpet Diaries, Book 2, Chapter 14, Thomas Hunt, Addison Sinclair, Chris Winters, Holly Chang and Your Character (Red Carpet Diaries) get to shoot scenes for The Last Duchess on location in Cordonia. Thomas Hunt mentions having a friend who is an acquaintance of the royal family who helped him with the location. Addison reveals that she once went on a wedding in Cordonia and almost never came back. According to Thomas, Cordonia "offers a wide variety of landscapes, many of which perfectly mimic the Scottish highlands." Holly mentions that Cordonia is the backdrop to many famous movies. At the end of the chapter, Your Character can order local food. If she does, the room service will bring butter-poached Portaviran salmon, some world-famous Castelsareillan wine, as well as a slice of the renowned Cordonian Ruby pie.
 * In The Senior, Chapter 3, Kaitlyn mentions Cordonia, but only if you choose to tell the hostess in the restaurant that the cost for renting a space there is much too low: she makes up a story about how she considered inviting the Cordonian Ambassador to this restaurant.
 * In Rules of Engagement, Cordonia is implied to have been connected to Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. The document that Ex-Fiance tricks Main Character (Rules of Engagement) into signing is written in Greek and is passed off as a visa needed to enter Turkey (which shares land and sea borders with Greece). King Constantine (which is a Greek name) reads the document with no difficulty, and European Guy later suggests that he could teach both English and Greek before settling on motocross as a career. Main Character also says she remembers European Guy telling her that he was from a small island. In The Royal Romance however, nobody appears to be speaking Greek and Cordonia is vaguely implied to be in the western part of the Mediterranean, as King "Liam" is also fluent in French and Lythikos' mountainous region appears to be a part of the Alps.
 * In Rules of Engagement, Rashad says that in Cordonia law, inherited property/finances remain with the person who inherited them in the event of a divorce, and are not subjected to be divided between the ex-spouses.
 * In Rules of Engagement (if Main Character marries European Guy), Regina talks about the Cordonian Apple-cutting tradition normally held at weddings. It is a symbol of the fruit the tree will bear (the bride being the "tree"). While they can perform the ceremony at their wedding, Your Character (The Royal Romance) and King "Liam" forgo the ceremony at theirs (if they wed).
 * In Rules of Engagement (if European Guy is the fiancé), he mentions Cordonia's colors are blue and silver.
 * Also in Rules of Engagement, if Main Character and her husband spend their honeymoon in Scotland, they will listen to the audio tour about the castle they visit. The narrator tells the story of King Varden of Cordonia and Queen Ailsa of Scotland. The two kingdoms were sworn enemies at some time in the past but Varden and Ailsa fell in love with each other. They both suddenly disappeared, leaving their kingdoms behind, which led to speculation by historians that they secretly eloped to be together.
 * Cordonian rules for games differ from American rules. For example,
 * the goal of hide and seek is to surprise people.
 * Cordonian blackjack is played similar to American blackjack (the player must get as close to 21 without going over, and be higher than the dealer), however, doubling down is not allowed, and there are no rules for the dealer standing once they reach a certain score.
 * In The Royal Romance, Book 3, Liam says his great-grandfather abolished the tradition of riding naked on horseback through the city over a century ago.
 * In The Heist: Monaco, Chapter 16, if you unlock the good ending, you can choose the crown jewels of Cordonia as your next target. If you do so, Your Character mentions having heard that the royal family is dealing with some drama and will therefore likely not notice anything, so Miranda will be sent there.
 * In The Royal Heir, you learn more about its neighboring countries.
 * In The Royal Heir, Chapter 10, the men partake in a time-honored Cordonian tradition that is reserved only for those closest to the Crown, the Apple Shoot. With weapons from the royal armory's most historic section (with contemporary blunted arrows and rubber bullets), the chosen person must hit an apple that is thrown in the air. If successful, he is dubbed a Knight-Marksman of the Apple Toss and Honorary Defender of the Realm.
 * In Desire & Decorum, Book 3, Queen Charlotte mentions a former Queen Kendra of Cordonia who gifted jewels to Queen Elizabeth which were then passed on as Crown Jewels.
 * Queen Kendra is a character in The Royal Masquerade which is also set in Cordonia, but in the 1600s.
 * In The Royal Holiday, you visit Lythikos and learn more about its traditions and also get to participate in some of them, such as axe-throwing.
 * Also in Desire & Decorum, Book 3, Chapter 17, Harry mentions to Your Character in a premium scene that Gideon (under the alias of Comte Renard) wrote him about your father's death and claimed to be in Cordonia at the time.
 * In The Royal Heir, Book 2, Chapter 4, the other names of the Great Houses are revealed: House Theron of Castelsarreillan, House Ebrim of Portavira, and House Amaranth of Fydelia.
 * It is also revealed that Thorngate castle is located in Duchy Castelsarreillan.

Real Inspiration

 * Some of the landscape pictures of Cordonia appear to be based on real Croatian city Dubrovnik.
 * The outside of the Royal Palace appears to be based on Wilanów Palace in Poland.
 * The view from Valtoria's balcony appears to be based on the Seven Sisters Waterfall in Norway.
 * Cordonia's gambling district seems to be based on Monte Carlo in Monaco. Its casino is called Casino de la Côte d'Or.
 * As a whole, Cordonia seems to be based on the Principality of Monaco, a real-life European country. This follows a trope in modern fiction of setting modern-day royal romances in tiny European countries that are easily overlooked, often based mostly on Monaco, the most famous real-life example.