Skull Rock

Skull Rock is a fortification in the southwest of the Frontier Counties, dating back to the time at which this part of Wisteria was considered part of the Lordless Lands, constructed by Bastonian renegades in service to the Enemy. The small-town-sized settlement, in close march to the city of Southport, is the headquarters and final redoubt of the Men of the Gauntlet, a sort of blackguard chivalric order.

The fortification benefits from relatively remote positioning and the concealment of a dense forest that surrounds it, but is itself surrounded by Southport and other Bastonian settlements, meaning the Skull Knights are cut off from a retreat further to the south. The Knights therefore engage in occasional sorties, but have not the numbers for a breakout, nor are the Frontier Counts organized enough to lay seige and take the castle.

Geography

The fortification is deep in the thick coastal forests of this portion of the Frontier Counties, at the convergence of two "fingers" of the nearby Mount Thanatos. Apart from an outer defensive ring-wall, it is built into the side of the mountain itself and comprises a warren of caves and tunnels - some excavated and some natural.

Economy

The Skull Knights raid or pay pirates for anything they cannot otherwise obtain.

Politics

The Skull Knights are, by their very nature, in a state of open Rebellion with the crown. It's only the hardiness of their position and the relatively minor threat they pose that keeps a concerted effort being undertaken to remove them.