Iona Castle

The capitol of Higale (and, according to Lionnars, the seat of power for all of Carrisor) is Iona Castle, “The Lion’s Keep,” located in the city of Beloya, also known as Iona City, in the snowy foothills of the Otegarde. The aging Kind Arduchai “Old Duch” Lionnar gazes south from his high tower, grasping at the last threads of his dominion over Higale, LaForêt, and Lowgal. Courtiers hover in his shadow, waiting for their moment to seize the crown.
The 64-year-old Kind (“Kind” is the gender-neutral term for King or Queen) has lost an entire generation of his children to war. Now he shrinks from sending his subjects into battle. His sons Elery, Cross, and Danfort Lionnar were lost in battle with the hill tribes of Donnelogue and the Night Blades of LaForêt. His first Queen Leree Liagon Lionnar and their daughter Lilac Lionnar were poisoned by unknown traitors inside the Lion’s Keep.
Arduchai’s new Queen, Gale Chaqun Gallaunt Lionnar, is a daughter of the South, and their difficult marriage is the last stitch in a gossamer truce between Higale and LaForêt. The King and Queen have two adult children, Chelsée and Gosling. Chelsée plots against her father constantly but mostly without consequence.
A child of her previous marriage, Gale’s eldest son is the exiled idiot Stover Gallaunt, one of her three children with Duce Hansom Gomes Dogbottom, who now lives with their youngest daughter Dele Gomes in LeBâton. Stover’s twin sister, Darwyn, studies history at the University in Niland.
Note: The “Lionnar” name is not originally based on a Lion, but on the Iona region, as one from Iona is “L’Ionnar.” Nevertheless, the family has adopted the crest of a golden lion on a red field.