Graustark

Graustark is a fictional country in Eastern Europe used as a setting for several novels by George Barr McCutcheon. Graustark's neighbors, which also figure in the stories, are Axphain to the north and Dawsbergen to the south. Graustark is described as a mountainous country with an area of approximately 800 square miles (2,100 km2); there is at least one reference in the books that fixes its location as somewhere in the Carpathian Mountains near Romania. On the other hand, in Graustark it is said to be threatened with reduction to being only 25 miles wide by 150 miles long (3750 square miles) and in Truxton King is said to provide a shorter rail route to Russian territories in or near Afghanistan. Graustark's capital city, Edelweiss, is accessible by train from Vienna. The mountain town of Ganlook is near the border with Axphain, Graustark's traditional enemy. Graustark is ruled as a principality and its unit of currency is called the gavvo, worth $1.40 at the time of the novel Truxton King. Graustarkian is the native language of the people, although American English is universally spoken among the educated classes and is the everyday language of the royal family and court.