Deepdown - Skagos



Located in the North Eastern mountains of Skagos, of the three principal Skagosi Houses (Crowl, Stane in the West and Magnar in the South), it is Crowl that is the most remote. Throughout history, the Skagosi have fostered a dread reputation; a savage and wild people accused of dread practices and foul rites ranging from cannibalism to human sacrifices. Some say they are descended from the First Men, others claim they are merely Ibbenese exiles whereas some even whisper they're descended from Giants.

The ancestral seat of House Crowl, Deepdown, is a meagre keep by Westerosi standards; boasting a low curtain wall, modest bailey with a clutch of wooden buildings within its perimeter and a squat cylindrical tower of four floors. Yet it has never fallen or even been besieged, so remote and arduous would any attempted assault prove. The seats of Stane and Magnar lie much closer to the shore and at more convenient altitudes for would be raiders or enemies. The Island of Skagos lies North East of Westeros on a latitude with the Wall and the currents and colds to which those seas are susceptible make it a formidable place to land ships, let alone to assault. Deepdown itself is better accessed from the East, via the Shivering Sea, rather than attempting to land from the Bay of Seals and face a long march East- some fifty leagues of Ice and Snow and Mountain.

The Skagosi people have little of the 'civilised' heirs and graces of the majority of Westeros; a savage and brutal people shaped by a savage and brutal land. They have ever done what they must to survive. Few accounts of the 'Skaggs' exist because none that have visited and lived to tell of it lingered long and certainly were not of a mind to go back. Officially, the Noble Houses of Skagos are sworn to House Stark of Winterfell but in practice, the Island is left to its own affairs. Houses Stane and Magnar have ruled the Isle in centuries past but with their mountain holdfast and strong trading ties to Ibben, it was Crowl that prospered. In years before memory there were more clans that warred against one another and other families and bands hunted to extinction by their own neighbours but it was in the war against Skane, a small island North West of Skagos, that largely consolidated a shared Skagosi identity.

Even today, Skagosi boys grow up drunk on the tales of the Feast of Skane, in which Skagosi raiders united and sailed to Skane. Over a fortnight every female must have been raped half a hundred times whilst their husbands and sons roasted and were consumed before their very eyes. To feast upon an enemy was to absorb his strength and to give your seed to his wives and daughters was a sacred rite to honour the Old Gods. Ever since, Skane has been nought but a desolate rock- home to salt and birdshit.

Some Seven-hundred years ago, Skagosi sailed again, this time on Hardhome. The settlement was comprised of wildlings and was to be the first recognised town north of the wall. They even had a maester but the Skaggs descended upon them like a storm, the Lords of Magnar and Crowl and Stane riding monstrous shaggy unicorns over the terrified free-folk and once again tasting the flesh of their victims. Hardhome, like Skane was utterly destroyed and has never been resettled. Indeed, the devastation was so great that watchers from the Night's Watch on the Wall said the fires burned so high they thought the sun was setting in the North and ashes fell over the forests and sea for half a year afterward. The first rangers that made visit to Hardhome after Skagos sacked it made report of "only nightmarish devastation where Hardhome had stood, a landscape of charred trees and burned bones, waters choked with swollen corpses and blood-chilling shrieks echoing from the cave mouths that pock the great cliff that looms above the settlement, a cliff where no living man or woman could be found"

It was Brandon XI Stark, The King in the North, who broke their power and brought Skagos under Northern control. By sacking Kingshouse (Magnar) and later Driftwood Hall (Stane), Crowl also submitted (its two great allies and one-time rivals subdued) but whether on Stark's report or no, but few of his line have ever troubled to make the trip back- Skagos essentially governs itself and is sworn to Stark in name only. This relationship became most tenuous when Torrhen Stark knelt to Aegon the Conqueror. The consensus on Skagos was largely that they swore oaths to a King, not a Lord and simply ceased sending any portion of their harvests thereafter nor responding to any summons. Short of resuming their raiding, Skagos have all but broken faith with their Liege Lords and to date, nought has been done about it.

Indeed, when the Company of the Rose formed- a collection of Northern Bannermen once loyal to Stark who fled to Essos to form a sellsword company, they thought to petition Crowl, Magnar and Stane who have since sent second sons and adventurers that might once have joined the Night's Watch eastward instead. The Company of the Rose, uniquely in the known world have since been welcome in Skagosi Holdfasts- A potentially useful port of call (though landing is still a treacherous art) for the sellswords. They always leave with full bellies and fresh recruits.

- Lord Kane Crowl, a monster of a man, standing over seven feet. Lord of Deepdown these two years since his older brother's death. Seven and Twenty

- Lady Kendra Crowl (nee Magnar) - Principal wife to Kane. Officially Lady of Deepdown - Five and Twenty - Niece to Oric Magnar, Old Lord Sigren Magnar's Grandaughter

- Hobb Crowl Younger brother of Kane - Four and Twenty (Commander of Crowl Castle Guard)

- Coratt Crowl - Grand-Uncle to Kane - Seven and Sixty

- Oric Magnar Nephew to Old Sigren Magnar- A man of fifty has served as Master-at-Arms to House Crowl since his twenties.

- Tyene Crowl Kane's younger sister, rider of the Unicorn Black Wind, betrothed to Emmett Stane when he comes of age (He's 8). A boyish girl of sixteen.

- Myrla Crowl (nee Stane) Widow of Kane's older brother, older sister of Emmett Stane- Heir to Driftwood Hall and twin sister of Dorla - A fearsome spearwoman. Four and Twenty.

- Dorla Crowl (nee Stane) Wife to Hobb Crowl, twin sister of Myrla, elder sister of Emmett Stane. An accomplished swordswoman. Four and Twenty.

- Marga Crowl Only daughter of the late Kurrgan Crowl and Myrla Stane - Conceived at their bedding - A very morose girl of eight, betrothed to Halys Magnar (11) when she is flowered.

-Numerous squires and pages sent to learn from Oric Magnar- Though based at Deepdown, most Stane, Magnar and Crowl sons and daughters learn their art in his yard. Several staff, thralls, servants, bedslaves (for the Men & Women alike) though no male bedslaves. No maester nor septon though. The gamekeeper tends the ravens.

The middle of three brothers, Kane was ever the biggest and strongest. He surpassed Kurrgan's height and strength at nine whilst his brother had seen twelve namedays. Not as accomplished with blade in hand, however, Kane turned to the axe instead and learned much from Master-at-Arms, Oric Magnar who has an uncanny talent for discerning what type of weapon the young lads and lasses of the Skagosi Houses should favour. His Lord Father, Morrec Crowl was a six and a half foot behemoth of a man but he was lost nary ten years past when a storm smashed his fishing skiff to splinters, odd shards of driftwood washed ashore being the only indication of his plight.

Kurrgan was quick to deploy Kane head of the Crowl Guard, a role he relished- leading daring raids on separatist clans on the island and bringing back more manflesh than the Crowls had enjoyed in generations. So the past decade has been a time of feast. The Skagosi have all but severed any ties to House Stark on the mainland and no Lord has troubled them when they do not bestir themselves to send any harvest West. Instead, through various marriages and shared bounty, Crowl, Magnar and Stane have almost become three muscled limbs of the same house- easily controlling separatist clans when the need arises and putting the smallfolk and cave-dwellers alike to purposeful use.

At her flowering, eight years past, Kane was the preferred match for Kendra Magnar, Old Sigren's grandaughter and a renowned beauty. By rights, Kurrgan was the preferred choice but Old Sigren deemed Kane a man more befitting his Son's only daughter. Only Lord Stane offering both his twin girls to Kurrgan and younger brother Hobb eventually appeased Kurrgan though the slight was felt and he ensured he claimed the rights of First Night (a tradition whereby Lords claim the maidenheads of their smallfolk's brides on their wedding night) upon his brother's bride. Kane, to everyone's amazement, assented but his revenge came when the Stane twins arrived at Deepdown and, if tales are to be believed, fucked them both together in his brother's marital bed.

Hobb tried to stab Kane in the eye for it at the feast and received a shattered jaw for his trouble, Kurrgan laughed so hard he spewed wine all down his red and black jerkin. "So long as it's a Crowl between their legs, what's the difference?" It is rumoured the three wives were shared between the brothers up until Kurrgan's death- although Hobb, whose speech is slurred to this day- has only ever bedded down with his wife, Dorla and gives even the thralls and bedslaves none of his time.

Whatever one makes of this queerly Skagosi approach to the sanctity of marriage, it is curious the three marriages have produced a single daughter, eight year old Marga, a very morose and plain-speaking child, in some ten years. When asked by Uncle Hobb if she thought Uncle Kane might be her true sire she replied "Well, I'm not very tall. But then mayhaps they ate the babe and kept the afterbirth."

Kurrgan's death was as sudden and tragic as his father before him, he'd ventured into the foothills far to the island's North where the wild unicorns roam to claim The Black Wind, a midnight Black Colt with a horn thrice as long as any in living memory. He rode with Uncle Coratt, his late father's brother who said he watched the beast kick Kurrgan full in the head but the Lord kept his feet, but then the band descended upon him and he was gored to death before Coratt and the half dozen riders they'd taken chased them off with swords, axes, clubs and mauls. When they'd dragged Kurrgan's body home he had seven or eight boreholes lanced right through him. Still his heart throbbed on another hour before he breathed his last.

After the grief and the burial, Kane took Kurrgan's widow to wife alongside Kendra to honour Myrla that she should retain her role as Lady of the House (though by Westerosi custom it is now Kendra who is recognised in the role). When out hunting or fighting clansfolk, Myrla wears Kurrgan's blood (or so she claims) in an X shape upon her face- making her a dread sight to encounter, for as long as it takes her spearpoint to take your eyes.

With two 'wives' and countless servants, thralls, bedslaves and newly-married peasant girls to enjoy, Kane seldom troubles Myrla's twin, Dorla anymore, keeping Hobb (if not Dorla) content. He is passing pleased at the news Dorla is newly with child though she bears little outward sign of the pregnancy thus far.

Perhaps the most surprising event following Kurrgan's death in 127AC was that Kane took all of his power North in a number of raids to hunt down The Black Wind and his Band but they seemed to have migrated and little trace was found, then in the dead of night, the hour of ghosts, Tyene Crowl cantered to the castle gates astride The Black Wind. She had gone out alone, some say still asleep, and when riders returned after dusk unable to find her, Kane himself was saddling his own monstrous Unicorn Stallion, Lancebane, when she appeared in a swirl of snow and moonlight. She has ridden at the head of Hobb's Cavalry ever since.

House Crowl has ever been friends of the Company of the Rose. The Sellsword company came into being when Northern Houses (at least members of) fled to Essos in protest at Torrhen Stark's submission to Aegon the Conqueror 129 years past. For the Skaggs, this too was the beginning of a lengthy cooling of relations between the 3 noble Houses of Skagos and Winterfell and the company have often been reliant upon the Isle for new recruits where once surplus mouths might have been sent to the Wall. To this end, Deepdown's meagre Harvest Hall is familiar a hearth to the Company and with the clans offering increasingly disappointing opposition to their rule, the Roses are an ever more attractive proposition for Young Skagosi adventurers.