Entrance to a Lost Castle

2006-12-10

Entrance to a Lost Castle.  This particular castle entrance is from Groam. The jungles of Groam hold in their bowels literally hundreds of old sites and locations of past. Some are now inhabited by creatures of the jungle, but some are home to much more sinister and dangerous dwellers. Much has been said about the legendary pre-Groam civilizations, but actual research is still pretty much nonexistent. Many explorers have dared the jungles in hopes of finding untold riches, but a good number of those have simply vanished never to be heard about again.

Maximillian Castillo

2010-12-19

 

Name: Maximillian Castillo
Race: Human
Location: Udynaesses, Groam

Max is a brother to Jaime Castillo, who runs a protection agency in Udynaesses, Groam. Max and Jaime shared a ship in the old days and Max was the first mate whilst Jaime helmed the vessel as a pirate captain (him being the elder of the two). When Jaime ditched the life on the high seas and established his land-based operation, Max declined both his brother’s ideas: that Max would either take command of the ship or that Max would become Jaime’s full partner. Instead Max went into a personal adventuring mode and spent years travelling around doing odd jobs as a sword-for-hire. As a pirate he had amassed quite a hefty bag of gold so he needed not worry about income whilst travelling. Still he did accept the odd job just out of curiosity or because he had made drunken promises, lost bets or because he just wanted to help someone who had provided food or shelter for him with no questions asked.

Now Maximillian is back in Udynaesses with his brother and is partly employed by Jaime’s outfit and partly unemployed. He is without a doubt one of the most experienced men Jaime can rely on. Not only because Maximillian has tremendous combat skills, but also because he speaks several languages he has picked up whilst travelling and is also knowledgeable about different cultures, customs and habits. And to top that, Max has also mastered interesting, useful and highly sought after skills in carpentry, horsemanship, tracking and blacksmithing. Sure, he is no master artisan, but he has more than basic understanding in each.

Unfortunately Max has some serious disadvantages that make him unsuited for many operations. He has great animosity towards gnomes, halflings and dwarves. Even to the degree that he is known to have sabotaged his own job just to cause harm to a dwarven client Jaime and him were helping out. He is also prone to heavy and excessive drinking binges that render him absolutely useless for any job. While drunk, Max doesn’t get violent or abusive as such, but he becomes extremely loud, impatient and exceedingly unfocused. When confronted, he always promises sobriety for a specific mission or an upcoming job, but half the time he either shows up already unfit for duty or if sober, at a whim he may just simply stop and forget whatever he is doing and get wasted at any available joint good enough to serve a drink. Jaime is very careful when using Max because he knows his own brother is a risk and a liability that needs constant management. Whenever there’s a “suitable mission”, Jaime makes sure Max is not left unattended. Usually Jaime puts Zane in charge of Max, but sometimes he himself takes the “babysit shift”.

Abandoned Castle Entrance

2008-10-11

An entrance to a forgotten castle. The deep and moist jungles of Groam contain a vast array of abandoned locations. The jungles have been known to have contained lost civilizations for hundreds of years before the nation of Groam was even born and most of the jungles are still totally unexplored – only nominally belonging to Groam. Groam’s biggest and thickest jungle is north of the huge Lake G’Heb, but locations just as this can be found also on the coasts of Dhaira Bay and southern coasts of Mare Nicasos – even extending to the Wolfooge islands.
Creative Commons License
Abandoned Castle Entrance by Kimmo Mäkinen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2011-09-20

Name: Menar Thuyven
Race: human
Location: Groam

Menar Thuyven comes from the borderlands area between the lands of Groam and Caheb. The area is mostly savage, lawless and sparsely populated, but holds fabulous riches where the sand dunes start to give away for the towering mountains between Caheb and Akron. The old lands of the ancient Groam are rich with unexplored ruins and many forgotten cities have been buried beneath the ever-moving and omnipresent sand.

Menar was born in a small village named Tyrros – nowadays an important way-point for desert crossing caravans. At a young age of 14 Menar left the village bored of it’s isolation and size. In the heat of this youth he joined a small band of bandits who robbed wayfarers. Few years later he realized the life of a petty criminal is not what he wants and separated from the group. He then joined a local count’s mercenary army to fight off ogres and secure trade transports crossing the mountains between Akron and Groam using the Medon Pass. During this time he truly noticed the rich ruins of the ancient past and become obsessed with finding a treasure that would secure him for life.

Now at an age of 36, Menar is an experienced adventurer and has a deep knowledge of the geography of northern Caheb and southern Groam in regards to ancient ruins. He has found many ruins and expensive treasures but so far nothing has been “enough” for him. Perhaps nothing ever is.

He spends a few months each year with his family in Tyrros and occasionally accompanies treasure hunters heading off to the desert looking ancient temples, castles or abandoned dragon hoards. Most such daring adventurers vanish without a trace but hiring someone like Menar improves the odds of returning back many fold!