Kiern Vale Handbook

Chapter 5: The Northern Vale – The Drarun Hills and the “Stone Brothers”

Prologue | Landscape and Important Locations| The Hunting Estates| Important Characters

Important Characters

Old Gorzag: The head of a large clan known as the “Black Bow,” dwelling in a dwelling in a well-guarded stronghold, parts of it built within caves high upon one of the ridges. Gorzag, whose grey, wrinkled face resembles the side of a mountain, has ruled his clan with an iron hand for decades, and no one knows his true age.

He is known as a ruthless hunter and clan leader who fears nothing. Among other things, Gorzag survived the attack of a gigantic bear while unarmed; murdered one of his wives and her children without a trace of mercy, believing them to be plotting against him with the aid of a rival clan; led a perilous hunt against a gigantic reptile tainted by dark powers (some claim it was a black Shagat); and fought Lord Arthirion Kor-Om’thel in single combat before later negotiating with him over a compromise concerning the lord’s two unruly brothers and their estates.

Despite his age, Gorzag knows the mountain paths like the back of his hand, and understands far more than one might expect about affairs beyond the hills. Rumors persist that he is currently negotiating with some of Lord Anzarion’s more zealous relatives, who have begun to revere the Old Faith and contemplate various actions against rival En’mirian nobles—most notably Lord Avaril and his servants.

Other rumors claim that he maintains dealings with ogres or other beings from the Urgaka marshes to the north.

Foran “Four-Fingers”: A large and loud woman who has led a clan known as Kaz-Sharen (“Fox Paw”) for the past twenty-nine years, and is regarded as a bitter and dangerous rival of Old Gorzag and his people.

Foran seized leadership of the clan after killing her own father, who had fallen under the sway of a sorcerer belonging to a monstrous race of deep-dwelling fungal creatures. In doing so, she thwarted the creature’s plan to use her father to poison the clansmen and their water supplies with venomous spores. Afterwards, Foran succeeded in brewing a remedy that saved most of those who had already begun to succumb to the sickness.

Foran’s beloved cousin was the very wife of Gorzag who was murdered by him alongside her children, and Foran has despised Gorzag and his people ever since, awaiting the proper chance to exact a ruthless revenge.

Over the years, Foran has deepened her knowledge of healing herbs—though some whisper that she is equally skilled in the making of poisons. She is considered one of the finest healers and potion-brewers in Kiern Vale, whenever she chooses to leave her cushions and devote herself seriously to her work.

These days, her three daughters—who look very much like younger versions of their mother—carry out most of the household’s work for her, while her cunning son trades on behalf of the family, spending much of his time among the various camps of the Gurg across Kiern Vale during his journeys.

Orog the Broken: The leader of a clan dwelling beneath the waterfalls near Lake Tol’ve, whose people lived by fishing and hunting.

A series of grave mistakes made by Orog and his brother, who ruled the clan together, led to the clan losing nearly everything it possessed. This came both because of mounting debts owed to Tolvis and Eramel Kor-Om’thel, to whom Orog had made promises he could not fulfill, and because of a short war against Old Gorzag and his people.

By the war’s end, the Black Bow clan had utterly crushed Orog’s people and driven them from the hunting grounds in the higher reaches of the ridge.

Nowadays, the remnants of Orog’s clan—his brother having been gravely wounded in the war against the Black Bow, losing the will to live and dying two years later—have fallen into poverty, crowding into wretched huts in the muddy lands surrounding Tolvis Kor-Om’thel’s estate.

Many are forced to serve the old and arrogant lord, toiling for the meager pay he offers them, as well as for the very right to live and fish within what he calls “his lands.”

Orog himself usually spends entire days sprawled within his large hut by the lakeshore, suffering from skin afflictions and several other ailments, occupying himself with a little fishing and a great deal of complaining about the cruel fate that has befallen him. From time to time, he is summoned before Tolvis, where he must endure the old lord’s orders and rebukes.

Ralen (“the White Carnation”): Known two decades ago as a local beauty, Ralen is the daughter of Old Gorzag, born to his unfortunate second wife, and in fact the only one of her children to survive the brutal murder carried out by the clan’s chieftain. She survived by feigning death and rolling herself into the water.

Afterwards, battered and bleeding, she managed to reach the estate of Eramel Kor-Om’thel and persuade him to take her under his protection—yet another matter that deepened the tensions between the Kor-Om’thel brothers and the clan of Old Gorzag.

Nowadays, Ralen is an imposing woman of magical power, and it is said that these powers help her preserve a captivating appearance, as though time itself holds little sway over her. Some claim that she commands ancient magics of the cliffs and the wind, though she has learned to bend them to her will and wield them in a more disciplined and less savage manner than the ancient shamans of the stone.

Others claim that these are simply the spells of a wizard, which Ralen enjoys presenting in a somewhat theatrical fashion.

Ralen has had time to learn several languages, gather a fair number of interesting objects and treasures, scheme and maneuver the two aging Kor-Om’thel brothers—Eramel and Tolvis—into admiring her and quarreling over her favor. Above all, however, she has never forgotten her murderous father, and awaits the day when she can repay him in full for what he did to her mother, brothers, and sisters.

It is said that, just as her father forged ties with zealous young men from the lands of Anzarion, so too does Ralen maintain cautious connections not only with the Kor-Om’thel brothers, but also with agents of Lord Avaril—even if, officially, he refers to her as “a wild girl somewhat cleverer than the others, who managed to learn a few letters.”

Ralen, for her part, trusts the arrogant En’mirian noble no more than is necessary for the advancement of her own schemes.

Lin’hir Kor-Galandin: A scion of a minor En’mirian noble house, regarded as one of the close confidants and trusted agents of Lord Avaril.

Lin’hir is a courteous, cunning, and calculating man, as well as an obsessive hunter in his spare time. This passion was one of the reasons Lord Avaril chose to send him as a “goodwill envoy” to advance various interests with the Kor-Om’thel brothers—and perhaps also to search for ancient powers and enchanted gemstones hidden beneath the cliffs and rivers, and report his findings to Lord Avaril.

According to rumor, Lin’hir was also tasked with investigating the legend of Los’tirn’s griffon—the mount of the last governor of Kiern Vale, which fled into the heights of the hills forty-five years ago, after failing to protect its master and his family from the brutal murder that befell them.

Lin’hir sent two hunting expeditions on behalf of Lord Avaril in search of the beast or its offspring. However, both expeditions failed, and one of them was caught in a storm in which all its members perished—though some whisper that Gorzag’s men finished what the storm began.

Even so, Lin’hir has not abandoned the matter, and may yet attempt to send another expedition—perhaps after managing to persuade Ralen to aid him with her magic, something she is by no means eager to do.

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