Grongard

"The one intellectual haven in a nation of warmongers and sheep-herding simpletons." - Archmage Anders

  Grongard is the judicial capital of Ovriborg, where the figurehead King resides. It sits in the shadow of a large ruined castle and is known for having good education. The ruler is a frail puppet to the Lord General in Bruckstone Hold. There is some tension between the races.   Grongard is the capital of Ovriborg, and known by many as the City of Sages. The relatively compact fort city surrounds an ancient Blackstone castle of epic proportions. It was once the home of the Blackstone giants of yore, who were said to be made of obsidian and planned to conquer all other species of giants. The giants funded their own lavish lifestyles by taxing the vast swathes of peasants tilling the fertile grounds surrounding the great Lakelands. Their tyranny was deemed dangerous and irredeemable to the many farming peasants, who formed an underground union of spies and sages called the Hummingsong. Their leader was a studied and cunning elderly human called Geffred Gronling who had a genius plan. He decided to come to the Blackstone Citadel with a proposal for the giants, for his network of spies had fed him the giant's plans. He told them the farmfolk all told tale of the giants greatness, and were eager to help them conquer. He told them they were believed to be the greatest race of giants, and that all the others should bow before them. This tickled the ego of King Shjardtjolm of the giants, and he engaged the little man. He had many tales to tell of the farm folk's stories, and they decided to employ him as a courtier. Over time, he convinced them that they should conscript all citizens of the Lakelands and train them in the ways of war, to become the strongest army possible and teach them how to kill giants. The giants did so, and trained every single citizen in the ways of war and giant killing for their great conquest. When they were ready, and had the giants at Geffred's whim, they revolted against the giants and destroyed them in a great war. The castle became the home of the sage after the giants were all slain, and all the other Blackforts in the lakelands became inhabited by the commonfolk. Geffred's dream was for the area to become a haven for knowledge, but unfortunately the populous were interested only in the ways of war and farming. He founded Grongard around the former castle and invited the world's greatest sages to live and teach at the castle, which is now the largest academy south of Mahidpura. Geffred became king, but his masterminding behind the uprising was forgotten in favour of the Lord General who led the armies into battle. The castle draws students from all across the world to study any manner of subject, from fine tea brewing to bardery. The Hummingsong decides that their duty to New Ovriborg was over, so they took to defending the commonfolk of the world from all manner of tyranny and evil through ways of subterfuge and infiltration in honour of their former leader who believed in doing good through intellectual means at all costs.