The Silent Keep

Regional Questline — Dun Rhaith, Greys­pire Marches

Spoilers

Stop reading if you are a player. There are heavy spoilers below, and it may damage your game experience.

Overview

In the storm-lashed north, Clan Conradh endures beneath the shadow of the Orvangr Stormhowl. From the high stone of Dun Rhaith, Chieftain Leanan Conradh rules not as a lord of victory but of survival, offering tribute of flax, salt, and sons to the thunder-king’s overseer, Ingimar Akisson. His wife Catraoine buries her grief in work and secret defiance; his nephew Beircheart mac Cael gathers restless hunters; and his last surviving son Cuilean drifts between mourning and awakening.

The balance is brittle. If rebellion sparks, Dun Rhaith could ignite the whole Marches — or be erased from the map by ice, steel, and thunder.

Primary Factions in Play

Clan Conradh
The native clan of Dun Rhaith, bowed but unbroken. Leanan seeks peace through endurance; Beircheart calls for blood; Cuilean stands between them. Catraoine hides weapons in flax bolts while whispering prayers to gods the Orvangr forbid.

Orvangr Stormhowl
The northern conquerors who broke Conradh power at the Battle of Dun Rhaith. Their local commander, Ingimar Akisson, oversees tribute, recruits archers for the Stormhowl fleets, and rules with cold precision. To him, mercy is weakness, yet he sees in Leanan a reflection of the warrior he once was.

Sister Dierna of Morrdenn’s Wing
Keeper of the shrine and seer of ravens. Her prophecies sway hearts and shape destinies. She warns that “the storm that does not break will drown,” but none can say whether she means Orvangr or Conradh.

Secondary Factions

House Thornvale — The Wolverine’s Vigil
To the south-east, House Thornvale watches from frost-bound woods, their banners of blue and silver gleaming like shards of winter. Led by Lord Robert Thornvale and his war-widowed sister-in-law Baroness Magaidh, they are famed for discipline and vengeance. Thornvale archers know every pass between their valleys and Dun Rhaith, and their patrols shadow the Orvangr’s movements.
If rebellion rises, Thornvale may aid Conradh with covert arms and rations — or condemn them to the Crown to prevent greater war. The Wolverine chooses its battles carefully, and always draws blood.

The Hzkanak Legion — Doom-Eye’s March
East of the Marches, beyond the jagged rivers and wind-carved plateaus, the Hzkanak Hobgoblins muster under their warlord, Ushmaga Doom-Eye, the Three-Headed General. Each of his three heads commands an army’s discipline: Warlord, Prophet, and Executioner. They are not broken but waiting — their legions drilling in the red-ice valleys, their forges glowing under stormlight.
To the Orvangr they are rivals; to Thornvale, a plague; to the Conradh, a nightmare reborn. Should rebellion spread, Ushmaga’s legions may descend on the Marches like a tide of iron and stormfire, making no distinction between conqueror and conquered.

Branch Outcomes

The Storm’s Leash (Submission)
Leanan renews his oath to the Orvangr, yielding men and tribute to preserve the clan. Cuilean is taken north; Beircheart’s followers hang from the walls. Dun Rhaith survives in name only — a silent keep under foreign banners.

The Hunter’s Fire (Rebellion)
Beircheart’s archers strike the tribute caravans. Thornvale agents provide weapons in secret, and the town becomes a battlefield. Ingimar calls reinforcements, but the uprising spreads faster than thunder. Whether victory or ruin, the silence ends in fire.

The Raven’s Bargain (Prophecy)
Sister Dierna unveils an omen: the lost Conradh bow hidden beneath the keep. Cuilean’s choice — to wield it against Ingimar, or to slay his own kin to end the blood-curse — determines the clan’s fate. The keep endures, but something sacred dies.

The Frosted Grave (Annihilation)
If the clan fractures beyond repair, the Orvangr withdraw and the Hzkanak move in, claiming Dun Rhaith as a fortress of their own. When Thornvale’s scouts return weeks later, they find only ravens circling black smoke.

Player Hooks & Sub-Branches

• The Tribute: Escort, steal, or sabotage the Conradh offering bound for the Stormhowl fleet.

• The Hidden Vault: Explore the tunnels beneath the keep, said to hide the ancestral bow.

• The Diplomacy of Frost: Parley with Thornvale for aid — or betrayal.

• The Iron March: Confront or manipulate Ushmaga Doom-Eye’s emissaries before their armies move.

• The Raven’s Choice: Guide Cuilean toward peace, rebellion, or sacrifice.

Tone for the GM

The Silent Keep is a tale of endurance at its breaking point. Every hearth is haunted by loss; every whisper carries rebellion.

• Leanan embodies weary pragmatism — a man who survives out of duty, not hope.

• Beircheart is the spark of pride that can warm or consume.

• Catraoine is grief made cunning, the quiet heart of resistance.

• Cuilean is the soul undecided, the future in question.

• Ingimar Akisson is order without mercy — the storm in human form.

Outside, Thornvale watches like a cold patron, and Ushmaga’s Legion waits for the signal of chaos. The GM should let players feel the noose tighten from all directions: snow, silence, empire, and the low drum of war from the east.

Themes

• The cost of survival under occupation.

• Heritage and pride against submission.

• The danger of prophecy and the pull of vengeance.

• How one spark in a frozen land can summon a storm.

Optional GM Structure

Act I — The Tribute
Players arrive as tribute is prepared for the Orvangr. Suspicion and fear rule Dun Rhaith; Sister Dierna’s ravens foretell blood.

Act II — The Storm Breaks
Beircheart’s band attacks the convoy or an Orvangr patrol. Ingimar’s wrath falls upon the town. Thornvale scouts appear, weighing intervention.

Act III — The Reckoning
Cuilean must choose: loyalty, rebellion, or the Raven’s way. The Hzkanak drums thunder in the east. Whether Dun Rhaith stands, burns, or falls silent forever depends on the players’ choices.

Potential Secret Objective:

Clan Blacach — The Hare in the Mist

Neutral Northern Faction — Greys­pire Marches

Role in the Marches:
Clan Blacach is neither ally nor enemy to Clan Conradh. Their neutrality is legendary — but if convinced to march, their knowledge of the valleys and hidden passes could unite the clans into a true northern host. Thornvale would see such unity as dangerous; the Crown (particularly House Meridante) would see it as rebellion.

Hooks:

• Persuade or deceive Conall mac Brannach to lend his warriors to Conradh’s cause — or ensure he remains in seclusion.

• Discover which faction (Thornvale, Orvangr, or the Crown) secretly courts him for their own aims.

• Rumors whisper that Blacach rune-carvers know the location of a “Storm Seal” — an artifact the Orvangr and Hzkanak both seek.

Tone:
Clan Blacach represents the quiet power of the north — cautious, calculating, and proud. They will not shout rebellion, but they may decide it.

In the north, silence is never peace — only the breath before the storm.