Dark Arrow Keep

Dark Arrow Keep was the central stronghold for the orcish Kingdom of Many-Arrows and the seat of power for its kings from the mid-to-late 14 through the late 15 centuries DR. It was the political and industrial center of Many-Arrows until it was completely destroyed following the War of the Silver Marches.
It was tradition for the Obould dynasty to make their home within Dark Arrow Keep, the political center of their Kingdom of Many-Arrows. They had done so from the founding of the Kingdom of Many-Arrows by King Obould I in the , through the Second Sundering.
==Geography==
The Keep was located in the Upper Surbrin Vale among the foothills of the Spine of the World mountains. It was about from the banks of the River Surbrin—where the orcs had erected docks out of massive logs—and around north of Mithral Hall.
==Description==
The location and foreboding look of the fortress were chosen to make neighboring countries hesitate to try removing the orcs from their homeland.
The town was built around a massive central Citadel and was enclosed by a palisade resting atop a high wall of earthworks and rubble. The main gates through the wall faced southeast toward the River Surbrin. Inside the walls was a sprawling and chaotic settlement where tents vastly outnumbered the town's crudely-made stone and wood buildings, many of which were squat and irregularly shaped with few windows. There were no planned streets save for a wide avenue connecting the main gate to the central Citadel, and all other "streets" were nameless gaps between haphazard buildings and impermanent constructions. This made the town a veritable a maze of corridors and blind alleyways, much of which was overlooked by arrow slits and stank of offal and garbage.
Most permanent structures were cramped and claustrophobic, with low ceilings, oddly-placed walls, and dirt or stone floors. Most residents lived in tents or in caverns and mountain villages nearby.
One of the fortress' main features was the Pit, an arena used by the king to judge his subordinates and punish those he saw fit. The Keep also hosted a dank jail that was surprisingly clean by orc standards.
==Trade==
Known for its metal workers, Dark Arrow Keep was the industrial center of the Kingdom of Many-Arrows. It boasted more than two dozen forges, each employing dozens of orc laborers, which made use of the easy access to iron ore mined from the Spine of the World. Dark Arrow Keep traded mainly in orc weapons, which were functional and lacked elegance. The town also boasted a number of expert siege engineers.
The Keep's location in the Upper Surbrin Vale made it well situated along the route that orcs from the mountains would use to travel to the lands further south. Furthermore, within the Kingdom of Many-Arrows it was the only center of trade between the orcs and the human, dwarven, and elven lands to the south. Caravans from Silverymoon, Sundabar, and occasionally Citadel Felbarr came to buy and sell at the Bazaar, located just outside the town.
==Defenses==
The main gates were reinforced with iron. Inside, the confounding streets could be laid with crude traps, and the streets were overlooked by a multitude of arrow slits.
The Citadel was the most defensible part of the Keep, featuring soldiers, siege weapons, and stocks of provisions and weaponry to survive a lengthy siege from both non-orc opponents and from the various native political factions.
==History==
The original fortress that would become the town of Dark Arrow Keep was raised by slave-driving orcs many years before it received its designation. Some time later, it had been abandoned by its original builders and was inhabited by a group of giants, who were in turn driven out by Obould I after he and his tribe were ousted from the Citadel of Many Arrows by Emerus Warcrown in the . The orcs began furiously repairing and building up the fortress, and it had become home to almost half of Obould's subjects as of the . It became the center of the new Kingdom of Many-Arrows after the signing of the Treaty of Garumn's Gorge later that year, and was soon built up into a fortified capital that served as a stark symbol of King Obould's power.
Over the years following the death of Obould I, the Keep saw many battles. Uprisings in the Kingdom of Many-Arrows occurred almost every generation, and five separate rebellions reached all the way to the Citadel's walls.
After the orcs' defeat in the War of the Silver Marches in summer of the , the dwarves of Mithral Hall, Citadel Adbar, and Citadel Felbarr drove the orcs from Dark Arrow Keep, and then proceeded to dismantle the entire site. Their goal was to render the Keep completely unusable by any orcs who might try to reclaim it. They also erased any evidence of the surrounding orc villages and disassembled the docks to use the wood for fuel in the forges of Mithral Hall. By autumn, all that remained of Dark Arrow Keep—and of the former Kingdom of Many-Arrows—were a couple of watchtowers intended to serve as an outpost for the dwarves' forces.
==Notable locations==
===The Citadel===
The Citadel was the largest structure in the city. Made of stone, wood, and iron, this circular "fortress within a fortress" held a large host of royal guards to defend the king's family. The Citadel was built around the throne room, the largest open area in the Keep. Although the Citadel was better laid out than the rest of the city, it still appeared dark and cramped to outsiders.
===The Pit===
The Pit was a small underground arena used as a punishment for law breakers, political opponents and any others identified as dangerous individuals. The arena housed monsters that were deliberately mistreated and set loose upon lightly armed opponents. Either party or both might even find themselves poisoned before the competition by political factions or the King's subjects. The winners of fights within the pit were set free, but such occasions were rare; the ogres, hill giants and other exotic monsters within typically dispensed crude and brutal orc justice.
The only punishable crimes in the kingdom were those perpetrated against powerful figures such as chieftains or the King. The King, however, had the final decision on whether transgressors found themselves in the Pit and what they would face when they got there. The Pit was also used to settle disputes among citizens and these contests were invariably fought to the death.
===The Bazaar===
During the five months from Mirtul to Marpenoth each year, the Bazaar blossomed with caravans from the south trading resources directly with the orcs for useful items. The Bazaar was located in the shadow of the keep itself, formed around a central marketplace. The tent community generally looked in better shape than the ragged assortment found within the keep. The area contained no permanent structures and had no permanent residents.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
:;Adventures
::War of Everlasting Darkness
:;Novels
::Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf
===References===
Category:Fortresses
Category:Settlements
Category:Orcish locations
Category:Locations in Luruar
Category:Locations in Many-Arrows
Category:Locations in Northwest Faerûn
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril