Legends Around the Old Kingdom
Baroncliffe Castle
These walls grew up around a small, fortified house that once watched over the trade routes of Taytheon Bay. The home of a shrewd, human baron, as his power grew, so did his castle. The fortified house was replaced with a stronghold; with towers and with dungeons that burrowed deep into the cliffs below the castle. When the grandson of the baron came of age, he inherited the title and, modeled in the image of the grandfather he remembered watching as a boy, set about achieving something greater. Within a decade, he had transformed the castle from that of a mere baron into that of a king. And so it stayed through the reign of many a monarch that followed him. But unforeseen by the first king, who had proclaimed their immortality, his glittering kingdom and his royal castle would not stand in glory until the end of time. When the country was overrun and the kingdom fell, the castle was, for a time, a bastion of safety. Panic reigned, of course, but those who dwelled in the castle tried to maintain some normality. One of those who remained was the Queen Consort of the fallen king. Distraught at the death of her husband, she had his tomb prepared in the castle crypt, but his body was never returned and remained empty. It sapped the last of the people’s hope and slowly, chaos came to Baroncliffe. Supplies ran out. People fled. Fear undermined order and status and ultimately the fabric of the castle. One morning, Queen Arabeth woke and simply found herself alone. Centuries have passed since Baroncliffe was abandoned, but today the crumbling ruins still cut a grand silhouette on the cliff top. Some of the castle has fallen to the sea and much of the roof is gone, leaving rooms exposed to the elements. Where once walked nobles, now wild creatures wander the halls. The sea has worked its way into some of the lowest parts of the castle and the wind has pulled down the stones of the highest, making room for new inhabitants. What is the future of this place? Perhaps the castle will continue its slow collapse into the stormy waters of Taytheon Bay. Perhaps it will have a different fate. Maybe a new monarch will rise and make this historied building a royal seat again. Maybe you, who explore its ruins today, can see yourself here in days to come, safe, warm and the proud holders of the keys to Baroncliffe Castle reborn.
Beaugrey Hall
Before the River Tayth sweeps northward to Port Periwinkle, after its south-westerly charge from the Buzzard Hills, Beaugrey Hall sits on the bend in the river. Once such a prime position – fertile land near the important road at Taythbridge – these lands are now marshy and abandoned. The house, once the grand home of the vaunted de Beaugrey Family, now makes for grim ruins. The shape of the old house is easily discernible, but little of it other than the walls remain. Where once were grand halls – rooms for entertaining, kitchens and courtyards – now nothing. Time and the marshes have taken it all. No more do light and luxury live at Beaugrey Hall. Damp and darkness reign. As the bones of the family molder in their tombs far away in the forest necropolis, monstrous things are reported to live here in the house in their stead. Legends speak of
The Bone Grey which lives beneath the old ruins, where the cellars of the old house remain largely intact – a little flooded in places, a little broken through into the surrounding caves in spots where subsidence and sinkholes have wrought their havoc, but largely intact. The perfect place for
The Bone Grey to hide. What
The Bone Grey is remains a point of contention as past legends compete with current rumors as to his nature and intentions. Only a few people have been unlucky enough to encounter and survive him, but rumors have reached Kingsalter that something terrible lives here, and that something worse lives in the waters. A creature controlled by
The Bone Grey to roam the nearby waterways and fend off unwanted visitors. Circling the marshes and the waters of the caves, if a victim does not spot the creature’s approaching ripples, it is soon too late to escape. Guarded by the creature in the water,
The Bone Grey has been largely left alone in his lair for generations.
Buzzard Hills
The Buzzard Hills are a range of low, rounded hills, bordered to the north by the sweep of the River Tayth. Bleak and resource-poor, they have always been sparsely populated, even in the days before the nearby country was abandoned. As such, their quiet wildness proved the ideal location for a nest of giant ants.
Fallwood
Being the closest wild forest to Kingsalter, the Fallwood is place well-known to be a haven to bandits who prey upon those using the River Tayth or the King's Road, both only a few days walk distant, as a means of transport. Travelers who don't keep their wits about them may find themselves robbed of their valuables, or sometimes worse. Periodically, when the banditry gets too bad, or when some politically-connected person gets robbed, the King's Guard mounts an expedition into the forest to clear out bandits and wildlings. This always results in a satisfactory end to banditry for a period of time before the cycle starts back up again. The Fallwood is home to many forest-dwelling type wildlings though uplifted avians are fairly uncommon. In the Autumn the Fallwood is truly a sight to behold as the mixed deciduous forest puts on an incredible visual display of nature's favorite colors.
Forest Necropolis
Many generations ago, when the Old Kingdom was reputedly stronger, more regionally powerful, and led by younger, more ambitious nobles, the Gright Woods used to be a Royal Forest; managed hunting country studded with summer villas and hunting lodges. This was the favored haunt of many a noble family. It is no surprise that those who enjoyed the happiest days of their lives in these handsome woods also chose to be buried here. The Forest Necropolis was a grand cemetery, with wide boulevards and elaborate mausolea. Interments were usually from the grandest families of the Kingdom, although the graves of wealthier locals and servants from middle class families can be found among the tombs. The necropolis fell out of use as families abandoned the forest and the final interments were some four centuries ago. As the Gright Woods grew back, expelling the stately avenues and managed groves, the wild, feral nature of the forest returned and the necropolis was ruined and overgrown. Now, the grand mausolea are dank and foundering. Now, the marble steps are shattered and the family tombs are crumbling. Now, the eerie silence among the monuments is broken only by the calls of wild animals, and according to the tales by some who ply the River Tayth with their trade, the cries of the risen dead and the chants of people with nefarious intentions.
Forest of Wyklyn
The Forest of Wyklyn is a forest which fills a valley that's bounded by the Hevenward Hills along its southern edge, Taythion Bay to the North, and the River Tayth to the East. The valley gradually tapers to its western end where the Hevenward Hills and the bay meet. The forest is second in size only to the Gright Woods, and is home to many uplifted animals, the bulk of which are avians and rodents. The Ruins of Meverrin Monastery are lost inside the deep forest in its northern reaches while the Treetop Village of Curklebikk Clan is along its southeasterly edge positioned to take advantage of the trade along the River Tayth at a long, gradual bend in the river where the current slows and the river widens before emptying into the bay. A day's journey across the river from the village are the Ruins of Beaugrey Hall where the
Bone Grey is rumored to be a lurking evil. The forest itself is an old wood dense with trees and largely unmanaged save for near the village where coppicing, pollarding, and other forestry practices are used to cultivate that area of the forest for construction and other purposes. A healthy charcoal industry exists on the outskirts of the village working in synergy with woodsmen to harvest the trees best suited for becoming such fuel. Herbalists also find this forest to be rife with a bountiful variety of herbs and mushrooms useful both in medicines and for foodstuffs.
Gright Woods
The Gright Woods is a sprawling forested region that dominates and defines the entire northern border of the Old Kingdom. It is a sprawling and dangerous area rife with an enormous variety of wildlife and bands of uplifted wildlings (often large predatory carnivores) who reputedly fight for territorial claims within this wood. The density of the forest varies from the new, light, and sprawling western forest south of Baroncliffe Castle to the dense, ancient, and dark woods of its deepest interior where legends say the Necropolis still stands.
Hagwellion point
Islands dot the waters of Taythion Bay north of the Old Kingdom's lands. The island of Trenow was once the site of a fort and harbor from which a human naval force patrolled the bay. When the human kingdom fell, this fort at rocky Hagwellion Point was abandoned and the harbor eventually filled with silt. Several centuries passed before pirates eyed the ruins from the sea. Impressed by the point’s position in the bay, they occupied the old fort, erecting new structures among the ruins and over the old harbor. Legend has it that not a generation passed before some curse which lay upon the fort caused them all to devolve into the primitive sharks which swim the waters around the point to this day.
Hand of Vanth
To the east of Kingsalter, in the Fallwoods, lies an ancient statue. Erected in a time before the Old Kingdom was ascendant here, the hand has long inspired wonder, rumor and dark practices amongst those who know of its existence. Was there once a whole stone body? What kind of giant would leave behind his hand? Is the stone body a god reaching up from out of the ground to imbue the faithful with the spirit of his wrath? In recent times, the stone holds the name ‘the Hand of Vanth’ and the powers of life and death have been ascribed to it. Legend states that a demon named Vanth installed five enchanted skulls from the underworld in the fingers of the giant stone hand. Some come here to speak to those skulls. Others, though, come to work unholy rituals upon the altar.
Hevenward Hills
The sparsely populated Hevenward Hills includes the Royal Gold Mines at its most westerly end, is bounded by all but its West-Northwestern portion by the River Tayth, and nearly encircled by roads save where the Forest of Wyklyn intercedes on its behalf. The hills are host to many small wildling tribes, herds of various beasts, and countless legends of monsters, and ancient ruins. In recent times there has been talk about carving a road
through the hills to save many days' travel between Kingsalter and Port Perriwinkle--the kingdom's only access to the sea and the easier trade that comes from naval trade routes. Mayor Greyskin is a staunch proponent of this idea, but a number of high profile individuals including General Splitclaw advise against it, citing legends that even in the distant past the Folk avoided going through the hills. General Splitclaw has even cited tales about lost tunnels dug beneath and through the hills by their ancient ancestors as evidence that the Folk knew the hills to be too dangerous to traffic directly.
Kingsalter
Kingsalter is the only settlement remaining in the Old Kingdom of a size large enough to be called a "City." The tens of thousands of Folk who call it home often know of no other way of life than the hustle, commerce, and industry of this settlement. Castle Sunspire is the playground and principle location of business for the nobility. The Eastern Tamarix Opera House is the social refuge of merchants and guild members who comprise the small, but influential middle class. One of the livelier districts frequented by the lower class is the Dog Arms District which is centered around the popular Dog Arms Inn. Most of the community tend to be Orthodox in their outlook, save for some of the merchants whose ambitions tend to make them more sympathetic to the Reclaimer perspective; the more long-standing and established the merchant, the less this is likely.
Mandible Hill Giant Ant Nest
Sited on Mandible Hill, the nest plunges deep beneath the grassy surface. Ant workers and soldiers range far and wide, scouring the hills for anything (or anyone) edible before dragging it back to their tunnels. This has lately become quite a problem as the ants are becoming increasingly aggressive and have begun taking to attacking those using the King's Road between Port Periwinkle and Kingsalter. Something must be done about this menace!
Marsh Village of N’angverik Clan
In the marshes along the Tayth, a village of rodents, their allies, and those daring enough to brave the swamp and the broader world cluster around a ruined tower. The East Road splits off from the King's Road before the Buzzard Hills, and heads east through the Marsh village. The N’angverik clan was a rat clan, one of many who over-ran the Old Kingdom after the Battle of the Thousand Traitors, who settled here. They were drawn to the site by the large, stone tower that dominates the marshes. The Kingsaltens know this ruin as the Lucentower as it is named this on their oldest maps, but the rats call this Angaver, the Life Stem. Powerful in the region, the N’angverik Clan are an ambitious regional power. Many proximate wildling clans pay tribute for protection and access to their markets. One of their chief competitors for regional dominance is that of the Curklebikks, a mixed clan of rodents and avians who say they're originally from the Wyklyn Forest. They purport to be peaceful traders who the N’angverik permit to trade with Kingsalter, provided a large tribute is regularly delivered to the marsh village. How have the N’angverik Clan gained such regional control? They are renowned and feared for the long lives of their rulers and the prowess and cunning of their warriors. Their vassals are obliged to attribute this to the N’angverik’s obvious superiority and power. Some scholars in the region believe the marsh rats benefit from a quirk of birth, others suggest their claims of longevity are bluster and propaganda. Yet, a few Kingsalten historians have noted that the ruined tower around which the village lies was the magical Lucentower of the sorceress of the March. The old tales tell of the power she built into its stones, of the life force that the tower was designed to slowly siphon from the river and transfer to its mistress. Could the rat leaders of the clan have discovered how to access this life-extending power?
Meverrin Monastery
What remains of the ancient monastery at Meverrin Hill? Where once stood the rooms in which the small community of monks studied, slept or dined, now stand only crumbling ruins. The walls that once kept the world away from the monks stand mostly unbroken, still holding much of the wild at bay. Inside its perimeter, storms have felled roofs, vines have pulled down stones and only the chapel still has a roof to protect the meager treasures of its architecture. Sheltered in the rooms below ground are other treasures – the holy tombs in the crypt, the books of the monastery library. But around Meverrin something more than books, bones and graffiti remains of the monks that once lived here; places where the air chills, stones where unnatural darkness falls, shadows where robed figures seem to lurk. What now calls this place home?
Port Periwinkle
The quiet fishing village of Port Periwinkle is the only settlement in The Old Kingdom with a port which receives commercial traffic from overseas. Just up the coast from the mouth of the River Tayth, the port faces out into Taythion Bay and is the means by which folk from the city of Kingsalter, to the south, access the sea and the lands beyond. With a scattering of houses and a tavern above which travelers can find rough accommodation, there is little to recommend the village other than its rustic charm and connection to the sea. The Port is unusual in that the position of Mayor is elected and not appointed or hereditary. The position of Mayor is often much mocked or reviled as are politicians in general by the seafolk of this town, but Mayor Greyskin is exalted as first among equals in the Port unlike any other ruler in the Old Kingdom due to his wisdom, even-handedness, and perspicacity in dealing with other rulers in the Old Kingdom and with the foreign interests which pass through Port Periwinkle.
Royal Gold Mine
Every Kingsalten child learns the tale of the Battle of the Thousand Traitors, the final stand of the Old Kingdom against the forces that left it in ruins. The legend recounts how the King’s army camped in the Hevenward Hills above the plain where they would fight their last. The depleted forces had retreated to the Royal Gold Mines and soldiers desperately extracted gold to pay outland mercenaries to come to their aid. Strengthened, the army gathered on the battlefield. Yet as the fighting began, half the army turned on their fellows: mercenaries and once loyal King’s soldiers, both. The evil forces triumphed; the dynasty of the Old Kingdom fell, and with it its wider relevance. No one knew why the soldiers turned, but survivors who fled the battlefield said they saw a band of the traitors take the fallen King into the gold mine. It was the last time anyone saw him. The battle’s true events were never understood.
Taythion Bay
This bay is the safe harbor into which the River Tayth empties. The misty, green shroud of the Forest of Wyklyn can be seen on the southern edge of the bay, the lights of Port Periwinkle to the southeast, Trenow Island to the north, and the rocky shores of the Old Kingdom's shoreline to the east. To the west the open waters of the unknown beckon with all the hints of danger and adventure summoned by ages of legends passed down by seafaring folk. The waters of the bay are usually choppy, but swells rarely grow to more than twenty feet in height unless there's a storm, save for when one approaches the Trenow Islands whose waters can be far more dangerous to navigate.
Treetop Village of Curklebikk Clan
Lady Aline Sharpear is the elected leader of the Curklebikk Clan elder council, an elected body of leaders who represent the varying districts of the sprawling, treetop village. Due to their vulnerability to the ever-present dangers of both the Forest of Wyklyn and the Hevenward Hills, the population are a generally anxious bunch given these dangers. This anxiety along with the nature of their form of local government has caused the village to have the most tumultuous history of all the settlements in the Old Kingdom. Uprisings, vigilantism, popular demagogues, and near-constant conspiracies and political maneuvering of the council have earned the village a well-deserved reputation for instability and opportunity. The often transitory population of avian Folk don't help this situation, but are also a valuable source of otherwise hard-to-come-by information about events and rumors around the Old Kingdom.
Trenow Island
The central island of Trenow was once the site of a fort and harbor from which a human naval force patrolled the bay. Since the fall of the human kingdom, and the harbor being rendered useless due to the accumulation of silt, the island ceased being trafficked by civilized folk. Today the central island of Trenow is home primarily to uplifted avian species, especially of the seafaring & predatory varieties, who find the lofty and forested peaks of the island to be excellent locales for otherwise inaccessible "roosts"--treetop and mountaintop homes from which to fly, hunt, and travel. Other than uplifted avians, the island is rife with wildlife including a number of species who have evolved to be smaller given the limited size of their environment on the island. The eastern and western islands tend to be dominated by sealife, and a few small outposts of uplifted folk from marine species. These islands are largely desolate, lacking the tall peaks and forests of the central island. Due to their being so unvisited, rumors abound about these islands and what secrets they might be hiding.
