History[]
The Dyleys[]
Dyley Stronghold was once build by the Dyley Dynasty in the eigth century TD, hammered into the cold side of a mountain in the Frozen Belt, west of the Mountains of Madness. The Dyleys were powerful dwarf wizards, who saught the seclusion of the Frozen Belt to conduct their research into undeath, unperturbed by the prying eyes of those who deemed themself morally superior to such practises.
In time, however, around 1100 TD, the same practises turned acainst the Dyley, who were wiped out by their own creations: a most powerful breed of vampire, created from human subjects they managed to 'acquire'. These vampires rampaged for a long time, before they settled down, and realized they had the castle all to themselves now.
From there they began, at first carefully, but then more and more confidently to invade the human and dwarven lands to the south, and become a force to be reckoned with, lead by the fearsome vampirelord Johannes L. Bach and his lady Vannille Talwiese. The two of them later joined their names into that of the feared house Riedengrass, "Riede" being a regular name ending for small streams in the Rowani dialect, "small stream" being the translation of the Rowani word "Bach", and -grass, representing the Rowani "Talwiese", which loosely translated means "valley meadow".
Castle Riedengrass[]
After the Riedengrass vampires took over Dyley Stronghold, they started calling it castle Riedengrass after the same named vampire house that then ruled it from 1100 TD until well into the Long Silver Night, around 1610 TD, when presumably the last one of their house was staked and burned. However, the daughter of Johannes and Vannille Riedengrass, Sarah T. Riedengrass survived the holocaust of the Long Silver Night, as she was a ward at an allied vampire house, house Yamamoto. She returned after the Long Silver Night had ended in 1674 TD, and thereafter ruled the castle in solitude, with only a few hand-picked spawns to do the daily chores that are required for the castle's upkeep.
Layout[]
The stronghold is fairly large, and well fortified. It's general setup is as followed:
- The Southern Watchtower
- The Western Watchtower
- The Western Astrology Tower
- The Southern Astrology Tower
- The Guard Quarters
- The Northern Watchtower
- The Dining Hall
- The Eastern Wing (Library, Treasury, Wine Cellar)
- The Crystal Growth Chamber
- The South Wing (Guest Quarters, Staff Quarters, Hearths)
- The North Wing (Relic Rune Circles, Armory, Noble Quarters)
- The West Wing (Animals, Rookery, Grannery, Supply Crates and Sleds)
- The Clocktower (Central Watchtower)
Locations of Note[]
The Library[]
The Library of the Dyley Stronghold is rather impressive, given that the Dyley Dinasty was a powerful family of wizards, who collected books and scrolls from all over Karsunt, and even beyond the borders of its plane. Not only are these books immensely rare, but also quite old, as the castle has a long history, during which the stock was built not only by the Dyleys, but also by house Riedengrass, who valued knowledge as yet another form of power to be acquiered and hoarded, and in fact they used the knowledge amassed by the Dyleys to become powerful wizards themselves, back in their day.