The current map is really a very small area of the projected River Kingdoms map Ryan and Company have previously shown us. If the playable area expands to the full map they have used in the past (link https://goblinworks.com/static/media/uploads/blogimages/fullmap.png )I propose we look again to the far northeast corner near the small body of water known as "Silvershade Lake".
If the map expands further to the east there is an area that Gorim Goldhammer (Elder Days) posted about, and after reading the lore I too yearn for this area to be conquerable, as it sounds like the perfect spot for a Dwarf Citadel. Hard to take, difficult to defend, impossible to sustain. It sounds perfect!
This might also be part of our in-game lore, with goals and character references as we interact with other player characters and settlements. Perhaps the reason we push so far to the east is our quest to find and retake Rookwarden. Just some thoughts to try to find a common theme in our interactions and any roleplaying anyone wants to do within the game.
From the Pathfinder Chronicles "Guide to the River Kingdoms', "Loric Fells" (where the ruins of the derelict Dwarven fortress of Rookwarden is said to be located)
LORIC FELLS (by Eric Bailey)
The untamed region called Loric Fells is a gloomy, troll-haunted wilderness of dense forests and rocky canyons. Travelers to this realm must contend with a constant icy mist that hugs the land, concealing the lairs of foul beasts and sudden drops into churning gorges. For centuries, raging highland streams have scoured the soft limestone surface and carved miles of tunnels beneath the earth. Shambling mounds, mohrgs, and river scrags are among the best-known hunters of these dark places, and will-o’-wisps haunt this region in large numbers, leading the unwary to their doom among the fog-shrouded chasms. Within these hills also lie the crumbling skeletons of a dozen settlements, each built by a ruler driven to find and claim the fortress of Rookwarden, abandoned by a clan of Dwarves almost a half-century ago.
Decades before the first walls were erected at Gralton, a Dwarf miner named Deigal and his clan held the remote outpost of Rookwarden and its outlying hills, known as the Rookwarden Fells. This sturdy fortress stands atop a granite bluff near the headwaters of the Wyvernkill River and overlooks a now-flooded marble quarry. Under Dwarven rule, the marble cut here was of peerless quality, easily fetching double the normal market price in nearby Galt. The Red Revolution robbed Deigal of his most profitable marketplace, and his clan swiftly abandoned the quarry. Almost overnight, hordes of goblin tribes overran the deserted outpost.
From this easily defended spot, goblins and worgs descended upon the Fells. During the early months of 4669, these tribes, joined by murderous bugbears under the banner of a goblin calling herself the Worg Queen, eradicated nearly all human settlements within 10 miles. Beyond the Fells, infighting among the lords of the River Kingdoms inhibited any coordinated response, leaving the region uncontested for nearly a full human generation. The monstrous populations of the Fells flourished.
In the summer of 4693, a wealthy Taldan prospector named Loric led an expedition up the Wyvernkill seeking the legendary mineral riches supposedly contained within the region’s gorges. He lost a third of his men to a goblin assault before the second night had passed. Enraged, he spent his family fortune equipping a small mercenary army for the sole purpose of exterminating the goblins. For 6 years, Loric scoured the Fells, all the while mocked for a fool in the courts of the River Kingdoms.
But Loric appeared each year in the Outlaw Council, throwing down the standards of slain goblin chieftains before the assembled rulers. Though he had not yet found Rookwarden nor faced the Worg Queen, he began to earn a measure of respect from the Council. In the seventh year of Loric’s crusade, the Outlaw Council acknowledged his rule over the region, consenting to call the wilderness “Loric Fells.” But for all Loric’s strength of arms, he failed to realize that his vengeance had merely shifted the region’s balance of power. With the goblin tribes diminished by Loric’s relentless attacks, a powerful covey of green hags deposed the Worg Queen and drove her out of Rookwarden. Former allies of the Queen, these hag sisters controlled over half a dozen large families of river trolls, and the few goblins who tried to resist fell swiftly to the trolls and their bloodthirsty matriarchs.
In early spring of 4701, as Loric proudly returned to the wilderness that bore his name, a massed tribe of scrags ambushed the mercenaries and slaughtered his army to a man. When Loric failed to appear at the Outlaw Council the following year, his disappearance ignited the imaginations of dozens of would-be bandit lords. Many have since mustered small militias and plunged deep into the wilderness of Loric Fells.
Notable Sites
Other than scattered goblin camps and troll lairs, the one remarkable feature of Loric Fells is the old Dwarven fortress.
Rookwarden: Built of solid granite by Dwarven masons, this fortress has high walls and is easily defended by even a small number of skilled warriors. Dwarven miners insist that a network of tunnels extends under the fort, perhaps leading to secret entrances that may be the key to retaking it without an extended siege.
Resources
An abundance of marble, granite, and precious quartz waits to be claimed near Rookwarden, but getting these minerals to market represents a great hardship that even the Dwarves found difficult to overcome. In addition to their mineral wealth, the cold highland streams of the Fells teem with fish. Trees here are short, knotted, and ill suited for logging. The rocky ground and pervasive, cold mist throughout the region similarly inhibit most types of farming.
