Deepclaw Keep

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Deepclaw Keep is a recently constructed enclave aiding exploration of the Tremorthresh Crevasse.

## Government

Like the settlements elsewhere in the Hoarfrost Expanse, Deepclaw Keep is ruled remotely from Howell Hold, with local needs and disputes settled by an appointed Alderman. The current Alderman is the half-orc Savazar Rabinbow.

## Defence

A simple palisade wall protects the settlement of Deepclaw Keep from most minor threats, with routine patrols to clear the snowdrifts that collect at their base to ensure their effectiveness. On clear days, the five wooden watchtowers provide good coverage of the surrounding tundra for the sentries stationed within them. A small selection of White Coats are stationed within the settlement, though most of the residents are provisioned in matters of combat and survival.

It is common for the White Coats to be stationed at Deepclaw Keep for four months at a time, before being relocated elsewhere for a time.

## Commerce

The population of Deepclaw Keep maintains sufficient provisions to ensure continued investigations of the crevasse even in the case of weather-related isolation from Howell Town to the east. In exchange for trade goods and supplies, lodgings and a space by the hearthfire of the improvised tavern can be bartered.

## Organisations

The comings and goings, ongoing expeditions and findings are all operated by Howell Holdings, which maintains an absolute state of control in all aspects of life at Deepclaw Keep.

## Description

When the Tremorthresh Crevasse opened up a few years prior, outriders, hunters and scouts were quick to report the findings to the authority in the Hoarfrost Expanse, and from Howell Town came an edict to start exploration and study. Assumed to be related to the ongoing geological changes that had yielded the rising of the Bristlebacks in the west, the appearance of the islands of Petal Bay in the east and the birth of isles of the Brumal Deep to the north, Tremorthresh Crevasse has remained active since. In the few dozen months that have subsequently passed, a fort hewn of timber hauled overland from Notchbark Woods has been constructed, a tall iron-crested palisade wall offering mild respite against the chilling winds. Though double-insulated with planks and blocks of compacted snow alike, the cold lingers throughout the settlement, which despite the name features no true keep, but rather an improvised stone barracks that serves as a warehouse. Within a branch of Fonteyne's Fountain, a hearthfire serves as the primary source of heat, the chambers in which it is contained acting as the common refectory for the residents. A few chambers, buried beneath the other structures for sake of insulation, serve as private studies of those brought in to oversee investigations and research, as well as others that make up the private rooms of the Alderman.

Thus far, research has been inconclusive, with primary surveys suggesting a mass of vast ice caverns sprawling into the depths below. Those few that venture into their depths report emerging into vast snow-bitten expanses, sky and horizon hidden behind a blanket of blizzard-like haze. Even the hardiest folk struggle to survive in such exposure, and so study and the recruitment process for new volunteers is ongoing. The density of half-orcs in the settlement is testament to the harshness of the environment with respect to their unyielding ability to tolerate what others may not.