The Granite Claw is the base of operations of the Order of the Golden Griffin, named so for the original lord of the castle, who's family had long since perished and no lord wished to claim due to the peculiar nature of said lord's death. The man's name was Laurencius Von Issenveld, and atop a golden griffin he ruled this cold, harsh land, and the realm prospered. It was on one such day that he was taking his bird out for a ride, when something compelled the man to ride high into the sky, to chase the sun. He was granted a boon for this fool's errand, when he and the bird caught flame and fell down to the earth, crashing in his own courtyard and setting the castle aflame. Some called it punishment from the gods, others said it was the long-planned ritual of the hill tribe pagans, hoping to throw the shackles off their oppressor and reclaim their rightful land. Still others say it was the lord conspiring with the court mages, paying the toll of his entire house to ascend to daemonhood. The Fact remained however that his line was ended, and the castle nothing but the stone it was built out of, charred and blackened so much that no amount of scrubbing or chiseling could cleanse it.

Thus the castle's remains sat abandoned throughout the time of Stone Peace and the Magoclasm, and was inhabited by bandits in the time of the western rebellions. It was only during the Solstice Wars that the castle saw honest, imperial authority again. Under charter from the Throne, the Order of the Golden Griffin was established by the Bastard of Duke Neidhart of the Southern City of Goldenfold, Gregor Ironsides. For 150 years they have guarded the northern borders of the kingdom from raiders and Issen and other petty nations incursions, but recent times have seen a faltering in the order's strength. What was once a good and prosperous land was strangled by drought for 15 years, and the peasantry had by and far left. Recruits dried up as well, as the eager farmboys looking for adventure and how to swing a sword had left south with their families for better lives. The hillmen rising up in recent years hasn't helped either, as the soldiers lost to their ambushes and treacherous tactics are hard replaced. Even the old Oberst of the order has fallen to their blade just this last winter, and his replacement is hard-pressed to keep the old order alive, but the drought has ended, and the people are starting to return, if he can manage to keep the hillmen at bay, maybe he can start to truly replace his losses, and perhaps even expand, both his order, and Throne willing, perhaps the empire itself...