Oakhart Keep
Oakhart Keep is the current home of the Lord of Oakhart, Aranon Silverlief. It was granted him by the Count of Fax, Hal V in recognition for his efforts during the Civil War that saw the end of the corrupt Council of Elders.
Towering on a bluff above the village of Oakhart, across the Fax Waters, Oakhart lies about 10 miles within the Suss Forest, and was until recently a foreboding place, living in fear of its master, the Dread Vampire, Lord Aurallan. This vampire was hunted down and destroyed by Aranon and his colleagues.
Prior to the Greyhawk Wars, the Keep was a simple affair, with reasonable protection against attack. Aranon has still not been able to explore and map the myriad of tunnels and secret passages that lie under the Keep, the domain of his predecessor.
Oakhart Keep - pre-Greyhawk Wars
After the attack on the village and Keep in his absence, the apparent aim being to kidnap Aranon's daugther, Elouera, Aranon spent most of his meagre fortune on rebuilding the village and modifying the Keep to better withstand any future attack.
Oakhart Keep - post-Greyhawk Wars
After the truce ending the Wars, Aranon retired to his Keep. The Keep is defended by 40 soldiers, plus ten men more skilled in the forest ways, known locally as the Oakhart Rangers. After the attack, Aranon always sends a contingent to a village watch post overnight.
Another occupant of the Keep is Kaspin Wierd, an artificer. Kaspin's lifelong passion is the invention of flying machines, and to this purpose the thermals and crosscurrents around Vom Hetrig's Bluff are ideally suited to his (often doomed) experiments. More on Kaspin and his machines to come later.
Brave New Oerth
With the end of the Count of Fax's line, the Council of Elders again took over the running of the County of Fax. Facing a massive task in rebuilding the Town of Fax after the Great Fire devastated it during the Battle for Fax, and the threat from Turrosh Mak's Hordes less than a dozen miles to the south, the Council voted by majority to forsake any claim to the regions beyond the immediate reaches of the town, in return for denying any responsibility for those regions. This has led to the division of the former County into a cacophany of petty estates, ruled by merchants, warriors and farmers' collectives. This also has meant that Aranon is now an independent Lord, free to rule fully over his domain.
The hierarchy of the priesthood of Olidamarra, disagreeing with the Council's cowardly decisions, has forsaken the town of Fax, and their Rustic Hostel there. In agreement with Lord Aranon, they have begun work to the west of Oakhart Keep in building a new Rustic Hostel there, and in improving the winding road that leads down to the village.
Already the faithful have started to flock to this site, and to the service of Lord Aranon, who has now resumed his previous status as Lord High Priest of Olidamarra.