Source of Storm Tower

[setanta14]

I recently discovered the "canon" source for Storm Tower, which appears on Anna Meyer's maps of the Flanaess where we decided Obsidian Bay would be. It is from two Living Greyhawk adventures:

Fires of the Storm Tower
COR1-04, APLs 2-4, one round Core scenario by Sean Reynolds
While on a ship from the City of Greyhawk to Gryrax in the Principality of Ulek, you are blown off course by a freak storm and stranded on the shores of the Pomarj. While the sailors do emergency repairs, you search for an important passenger missing since the shipwreck.

Return to the Storm Tower
COR6-11, APLs 2-12, one round Core scenario by Ronald Lundeen
Five years ago, a dwarven artisan and a cleric of Fharlanghn were stranded on the shores of the Pomarj. These two unfortunates have been presumed dead for years. New information has revealed they are alive in a mysterious keep called the Storm Tower and may be in great danger. Brave heroes are needed to venture into the Pomarj and bring them home.

Since these would obviously not assume that Obsidian Bay exists, as that is Ken's homebrew addition, none of the plot of these adventures would be valid for our version of the Pomarj, but maybe they have some background info we can mine.

[setanta14]

I have obtained a copy of COR1-04 to mine it for useful flavor text regarding Storm Tower:

BOX TEXT: A ruined keep, which presumably is the Storm Tower, has come into view on a nearby hill. Sixty feet on a side, this one story structure has partially collapsed on its western end. A parapet runs around the top except in the ruined areas. Strangest of all are the black and red flames that occasionally fire skyward from the western walls, or the bolts of green lightning that crackle in great arcs above the ruin.

The visual effects are later explained:

The strange fires and lightning on and above the tower are the result of a battle between a human wizard and a young red dragon (the human suffered a mishap while casting a scroll of wish and are completely harmless. They are sufficient to light the western half of the tower with the equivalent of torches, and the lights are visible at night for over a mile.

As this is a Year 1 CORE LG module, this would have been its state in 591 CY, assuming the Griffin's Guild never made landing in 514 CY. In the adventure, the Red Fang Orcs (who are distinguishable for having a third eye in the middle of their foreheads) are using it as a base. So, it's probably easy to assume that the wizard who fought the dragon was the last remaining member of the baronial family who controlled the area before the humanoid invasion in 513 CY, and the young red dragon was most likely none other than Taalkurz ("Undying Fire"). The dragon probably got ambitious after the humanoid invasion had driven off or killed most of the human settlers, and he decided to attack the now vulnerable baronial seat of Storm Tower. The remnants of the tower would have been atop the hill where the Griffin's Guild would build their HQ (reusing the stones of Storm Tower to build their own structure), and the visual effects of the magical mishap may or may not linger?

We should probably come up with a name for the family who ruled the area where Obsidian Bay/Griffins Landing is. The Von Strands/Ostrands would have ruled to the west, and the Sellark-Vonderzees to the east in Blue, while to the north in the mountains is hidden Suderham, still ruled by a descendant of the fallen King Olarek the Mad (his son Cedric in 515 CY, and later his grandson Rodric/Roderic by the time of the Slavelords in the 570's CY), and the Billaro family to the far north in Highport.

The word obsidian is Hrafntinna in Icelandic (literally, Raven's Flint), which is the only language I found that has a unique word for obsidian other than a spelling variation of obsidian itself. So, while Hrafntinna sounds kind of strange, Ravenflint sounds kind of cool, and is likely the "Common" translation of an old Suloise family name from pre-migration times. So, the barons of the area would be the "Ravenflints of Storm Tower" before the fall of the Pomarj.

Any objections?