Hi everyone and happy new year! Mr. Cosmogone here with fresh Lordbound news and previews.
The last few months have been pretty hectic but even more productive than anticipated with our former lead, Neshkor, returning to lend us a hand with the level design of today’s topic: Motte Malgorath.
Garshakur is home to the majority of the Valley’s Orcs. As the population and need for resources grew they expanded eastward, founding new settlements. Hamlets and outposts are common, but to classify the mighty Motte Malgorath as either would be doing it a grave disservice. Despite its harsh surroundings, it stands proud above the morass.
Some of you may remember the swamps as being particularly gloomy, and home to countless unwelcoming undead ever since Ysgramor’s failed foray into the Valley 236 years ago. Well, while the area has recently undergone some big changes, that aspect is not one of them.
However, it would take more than that to discourage the Orcs from fortifying the southernmost part of their territory. Thus despite the difficulty to convey building materials through the swamp, the Motte was erected to keep watch over the area (and to provide a dream vacation spot for any Orc itching to fight some undead.)
In addition to the surrounding natural defenses, Motte Malgorath can count on formidable walls and steep elevation to protect it from would-be invaders. Though ferocious, the undead provide little threat against a fortified settlement. The garrison figured out long ago that weakened zombies are especially susceptible to fire.
Even without the threat posed by the swamp dwellers, life is quite harsh for the garrison. The Motte’s myriad wooden structures require constant maintenance, lest they fall prey to moss and rot.
The rest of the swamp is largely a wasteland that has been left nigh untouched for centuries. The stench, the damp and the draugr have been more than enough to deter the looters who usually pick battlefields clean. All around, weathered reminders of that ancient battle maintain their eternal vigil.
Farther still, in a happier time when the swamps were not as deep, the fortress of Cragmere stood tall as the region’s center of power. The keep was first founded in 1E 2859 by the Duterenne family to protect the trade routes through the somewhat unsafe fens. Relying on tariffs, the lords of Cragmere built their fortune and supported the upkeep of many other fortifications in the region until the scarcity of local resources made the situation untenable, pushing them to relocate to a new keep in the north east: Highreach.
Today, Cragmere is naught but a cairn of haunted stones, and the various forts that once depended on its funding have fallen into disrepair as one after another slipped out of Highreach’s control.
Mercenaries, bandits, Forsworn and other, unspeakable things have found refuge in the abandoned fortifications. Only the unceasing watch of the Malgorath’s garrison prevents them from wreaking havoc in Garshakur’s territory.
That’s all for this month folks!
I hope that you are as eager to venture into the swamps of Malgorath as the zombies are to try and make you stay forever. Join us next month for our second livestream for more sneak peeks, insider info, or just to hang out with us!
We’ll also venture north and east along Garshakur’s border to visit the settlements of Ashlorn and Garshak’s Vigil, and take our first steps into proper Orcish territory.
We are, as always, open for recruitment. If you’re willing to help, please apply via our Volunteer page, or join us on Discord and send a DM to Kiria.
Thank you, and see you all next month!
-Mr. Cosmogone