Bayala is the name of the kingdom all of Eyela’s adventures take place in. It is a kingdom belonging to elves but also inhabited by many other creatures, magical and non magical alike. It consists of forests, mountains, villages and palaces. There are also different regions related to seasons, a winter area with ice elves, an autumn area with forest elves, a summer area with sun elves, and a spring area with rainbow elves. And a large sea is of course home to the mermaids (Schleich GmbH, n.d.; Jarvine et al., 2019).
Originally a toy line designed in collaboration between toy company ‘Schleich GmbH’ and writer and artist Gecko Keck, the world has grown beyond just a line of toy figurines (Gecko Keck – Autor Und Künstler, n.d.). Bayala has become the setting for a book (Keck, 2008), a movie (Jarvine et al., 2019) and two video games (Nintendo America, n.d.; Steam Store, n.d.). The characters in it have developed into many different versions and iterations of themselves. Overall Bayala has become a complex place with many stories taking place there and each new designer portraying a different style of the same place.
The reason for the kingdom being named Bayala is unsure, the word is not commonly used in different contexts though it can be found to have two different meanings. Firstly, Bayala in Dharug Dhalang, an indigenous aboriginal language, means ‘to speak’. This word is also commonly used by agencies to promote the relearning of native languages and education about history (Bayala – Learning Resources, n.d.). Bayala is also the name of a small village in Nepal. Though it seems neither of these are related to elves and magical creatures, Bayala is not used in any other contexts, therefore it is most likely for this toyline it was picked at random.