White Maw

White Maw is a stronghold on the Vark River, near the border with Barland where it meets the sea. It is the order hall of Aviana's Hand and home to a small amount of citizens.

Layout
The stronghold consists of three walls and is categorized as three parts: Misberg, the Yard, and Castle White Maw. Originally, White Maw only existed as the Castle White and the Yard.

Misberg is the outermost section and consists of a small walled area which contains the oldest buildings of Misberg, the inn, bakery, and inner stables. Misberg is mostly an unwalled hamlet that butts up against the walls of the Yard. It began developing around 340 A.E. when Aviana's Hand became far more prosperous. Misberg's population is around 150 individuals of norther decent who either serve in the castle or have spouses within the order. Thus, Misberg exists mostly as homes and small stores. It is a popular place to stop at when traveling to-and-from Lindholm.

The Yard is the walled courtyard of the castle, which houses a small stable for important horses, a chapel to Justain, a well, and bakery for the castle proper. The yard is elevated, half on a hill and half on a created embankment. The walls have several towers and moderate defenses. The side of the retaining wall that holds up the elevated sections of the hill is noteworthy for being part of an early megalithic structure. The largest stone, which weighs upwards of thirteen tons, is called Drevnyir and contains a few shallow carvings of geometric shapes near its base.

Castle White Maw, sometimes simply Castle White, is the innermost walled section, which features a small yard and keep, which rises highest above the surrounding sections. Castle White Maw is an ancient stronghold, built in the old stone way, so that its towers and rooms are boxy and stout. Its main hall is a square room with a large vaulted ceiling and stone tablet table used for meetings by Aviana's Hand, the order that occupies it. Beneath Castle White Maw are a host of tunnels and dungeons, as well as an Arimanian style bath chamber, provided water by a warm underground spring.

History
Originally, the area on which the stronghold stands was occupied by an ancient megalithic structure, possibly a temple, which was built upon an expanded section of the hill. Sometimes around during mid 3000 A.E., a group of rebel northmen found the ruins and decided to build a castle on the hill, which offered a strategic vantage point, as few hills were found in the area.

Castle White Maw was completed first and the second layer of walls was made sometime in the late 2000's A.E. During the original habitation, the rebels there had raided local settlements and farms, until a small force of Barland knights captured it from them. The rebels were executed and the area, then a part of Barland, was gifted to a Lord Akir who named it Akirhold. The castle remained in his family's control for many years.

When Korevna took the land from Barland, the castle was sacked and left in ruins. In 1795 A.E. the princess Aviana Isgerd of Korevna gifted the castle to the knight, Sir Kalmir of the Maiden's Hand. There he settled his order, Aviana's Hand. Around this time the name Castle White Maw became the preferred name of the stronghold, chosen for the jagged rocks where foam from the River Vark sprayed out that could be seen from the Castle's walls. It has been continuously inhabited since.

Noteworthy Features

 * Above the gate into the Yard, there is a medium sized statue of Saint Aviana, the patron of the castle.
 * The Drevnyir, a massive ancient stone in the retaining wall of the compound, contains several ancient carvings. Its name means 'sleeping stone'.
 * The Arimanian bath within the underground portions of the castle is fed by the farthest south hot spring in the North.