Knights of Torisch - Knights of the Barony of Hogle

The Knights of Torisch are an order of knights that are headquartered in the First City, of the Barony of Hogle, in the

Shattered Plains.

They are allied with the Aublan Cat Riders.

Torisch of Ockett was the first Prince of the Granite Hold - the castle built by his Father (Sir Tuneyer of Ockett), the origin of the city and Barony of Hogle.  The name of the Barony comes from the name of Sir Tuneyer's family (technically, without his title from the Westron Lands, he would be Tuneyer Hogle; but he was also the lord of the Ockett Fiefdom, that he left when coming to settle the Valley).

Both Sir Tuneyer and  his son Torisch were of the Lass Indol people, and as such,they venerated the four goddesses of those people. In the early days of the migrate, before the understanding of the relationship of the Three Goddesses to the Valley, and the structure of the Church of the Three Goddesses become much more formalized, there were many who were worshippers of the Lass Indol goddesses.  Torisch himself was partial to Neuvirra Oss, the goddess of Spring and Planting.

When the extensive presence of evil creatures (as well as diabolical forces and curious sorcerous monsters left behind by the departed Old Ones) became known, it was decided that an order of questing knights would be formed in order to proactively find evil and vanquish it, before it became a threat to the new Barony and its land and holdings.  The young prince, strong of arms and admired by the fighting men of Sir Tuneyer, would be at the head of the order.

There were no orders of Paladins at the time, so the idea of holy knights of Neuvirra Oss was not in mind when Sir Torisch formed the order, but instead they became a large company of knights, having forsworn personal property, and loyalty to Sir Torisch instead.

The order exists to today, as an example of a non-church aligned order of knights that fighting men of the valley can be associated with.

From the earliest days of the order, however, they had a very important ally.  That was the friendship between the Knights and the Aublan Cat Riders.  These were a barbaric people, by Westron standards.  A group of nomadic clans, that did not build cities or permanent holdings, did not work metal, and did not have learning (either religious or magical).  They did, and still do, have a singular relationship with the great plains cats of the region.  These plains cats are similar to the great saber cats that sometimes roam down out of the Destriel Mountains (especially in the Darkearth Plains region, but really all across the north).  The plains cats, however, instead of the only the tawny color of the Saber cats, are sometimes orange or white and sometimes striped somewhat like a great tiger.  With their friendship with the Westroners, and especially the Knights of Torisch, the Cat Riders now had metal weapons and armor made available to them.  Gifts of this sort where enough to bond a Cat Rider for life.

The Cat Riders were a great ally to the Knights, and participated in a lot of quests and adventures with them. One of the main foes for both forces, however, are the cannibal-cultists of the vampire lands that emerge from the Caves at Groben.

The vampire lands are the name of an underground realm, peopled by cannibalistic human barbarians, and held in sway to a trio of vicious devils.  These poor souls are often thrust into the wars between the Gray Dwarf kingdom of Deep Delving and the vast Black Goblin Empire.  When pressures mount too high, migrating bands of the human cultists and barbarians will emerge, and have to be dealt with by the Knights and their Cat Rider allies.

In addition, the primitive men, the Oordut, who live in and around the icy upper levels of the Groben Caves, sometimes will frenzy (the shamen-chiefs of the Oordut are typically peaceful, but occasionally, for some inscrutable reason, they will begin attacking the more civilized lands around their own icy reaches), and this demands the attention of the Knights and the Cat Riders.  The very small Keepi-keepi people who dwell among the rocks scattered throughout the region are thought to be similar to the Oordut - except that they (the Keepi-keepi) are so much smaller.

The Cat Riders are known as the Aublan Cat Riders for the one thing in their culture that passes for

a permanent holding.  Usually the clans are divided up into two "nations" - the Northern Hunt, in the plains north of the King's Highway, and the Southern Pack, from the plains south of the King's Highway.  The whole region is referred to as the Aublan Valley.  Each summer, for a week before, and a week after the summer solstice, representative warriors from all the clans will gather at a particular spot of the King's Highway, on both sides of the mighty mound.  At the top of the mound, along the Highway, at this point, there is an ancient structure of the Old Ones.  It is a very tall alabaster tower, with a ringed round wall around it.  Written on the wall, in several locations, is the word Aublan. It stands in the middle of the mound of the King's Highway, dead center in the highway itself, with the road passing on either side.  There is neither gate nor door through the ringed wall, but inside there is an opening into the tower.  It is said to be the home to a curious race of dormant gargoyles, yet the rite of passage of a young member of the Cat Rider clans who want to become a clan chieftain, or a Khan of either the Northern Hunt or the Southern Pack, is that they must climb to the top of the tower of Aublan, awaken one of the alabaster gargoyles, and do battle with it.  It is not known what other secrets the tower of Aublan holds, but it might be worth exploring, by the brave and prepared.  But not when the massed clans of the Cat Riders have gathered for their summer ritual.

Regions of the Valley (1) - Shattered Plains

While in a human-centric fashion, it is convenient to speak of the Valley in Political terms by referencing the Westron Baronies, there are other considerations.

When talking about the geography of the valley, or the non-human Flora and Fauna, it is perhaps better to speak of the Northern and Southern regions of the valley.

In brief, these are defined by the Nine rivers, in terms of separation one from another, and the big divide between North and South is of course the Great River.  What follows is a brief naming and description of the regions, Northern first, from west to east.


Shattered Plains

The most western of regions north of the Great River is mostly plains. It is bounded on the north by the western reaches of the Destriel Mountains. The eastern edge of the shattered plains run up against the Durwash River. The southern boundary is the Great River, and to the west is the defacto edge of the Valley of the Old Ones. The western edge of the valley is patrolled by great hosts of the Omart Empire.

As the empire is certainly not interested in entering the Valley (or involving itself with the Westron culture that has taken root here), and the large military patrols seem charged with keeping all FROM the valley contained IN the valley - there have been few large expeditions west.

Geographically, the shattered plains are quite interesting. They were once overrun by large icefields and glaciers from north of the Destriel mountains, and when the ice receded, the region was strewn with many bolders and singular rocky formations jutting up out of the plains.

The only Westron Barony to call the shattered plains home is the Granite Hold at Hogle, capitol of the Barony of Hogle. Although Hogle is the oldest of the baronies (first settled in the year 26, some 1500 years ago), it is also one of the smallest. It boasts a size of only 18,000 in the capitol city. The city is home to the Knights of Torisch, and their curious allies the Aublan Cat Riders. The Cat Riders, of course, ride the great plains cats that live in the region. Like much of the rest of the northern regions, the animals here have adapted to the sweeping cold that comes down out of the Destriel, and includes giant elk, great wooly mammoths and rhinos, and the great wooly buffalo. Only here, however, are the great plains cats found.

The Aublan valley is home to the Cat Rider peoples (who are semi-nomadic, moving north to Aublan for the summer and the breeding season, but moving south to near the Great River for winter). Aublan riders, who are quite proficient with the small horned bows that they shoot from atop their giant riding cats, are allied with the Barony of Hogle (or more accurately, with the Grand Master of the Knights of Torisch).  The Aublan riders are divided into two "nations" or collectives of clans,the Northern Hunt, and the Southern Pack.

Together they protect the region from maruding orcs and hobgoblins out of the mountains; from rampaging raids of Storm King Tribe barbarians; from the overzealous encroachments of Omart Empire patrols, and finally from the occasional uprisings of the primitive Keepi-keepi people who live among the great stones of the plains.