Name That Keep!

[BoloOfEarth]

In a fantasy game (home-brewed world, swords and sorcery style game), my character Yllek has found himself in charge of a formerly-deserted keep a ways off the beaten trail. We are in the process of restoring the keep, rebuilding the town, and bringing in people to work the land, perform craftwork, etc. And the GM wants me to give the keep and village names, but I'm drawing a blank. So I'm hoping some of you fine folk will have some suggestions.

 

To keep this organized and not appear over-long, I've broken some background info up into categories below.

 

History:

 

Over a century (maybe two) ago, the keep and a small village had been built to keep an eye on orc activity. After about 40-50 years of service, it was deserted and set fallow for a long time. More recently and ironically, the keep was taken over by orcs and an army of undead, but they have since been purged. Nobody recalls the keep's former name.

 

The orcs currently are scattered in the mountains, but they're likely to re-gather and start causing problems in the future. Yllek was tasked with turning the keep into a place to keep watch for this eventuality.

 

We also discovered a very tough secret door in the basement of the keep, which barred the way to another dimension where the ancient gray elves had gone in self-imposed exile to battle and help imprison a godlike, unnamed other-dimensional being. We helped the gray elves make that imprisonment permanent, and released the gray elves from that dimension. None of this is publicly known. In fact, the return of the gray elves to the world is still hushed up.

 

 

The Keep / Town:

 

The keep itself isn't very large, just a handful of buildings, but is walled. For the most part, it holds barracks, a stable, and some storage, plus a blacksmithy and an armory. There are ballistas mounted in spots along the top of the walls, and we're rebuilding the towers on the corners.

 

The town is outside the keep's main walls but rests between two long walls extending from the keep at angles (like a "V"), with the end farthest from the keep open to the woods. In case of massed attack, the townspeople would desert the town and enter the keep.

 

The keep and town are in the foothills of the mountains (I don't think they're named), and in fact one large hill / mini-mountain stands begins its steep slope farily close to the backside of the keep.

 

 

Current Inhabitants:

 

Most of the people moving in are human or half-elf, with a handful of dwarves and half-orcs (the latter rescued from a forced breeding program). A large number of half-elves taking up residence were rescued from a group of wood elves who trying to wipe them out as a form of ethnic cleansing.

 

About a third of our inhabitants were trapped in a remote wooded area for years thanks to an evil extra-dimensional force that the PCs defeated. Those individuals have the ability to "sing" and reshape wood or stone or metals.

 

 

Yllek:

 

His parents were killed by orcs, and his brother was kidnapped and only recently rescued (he had been sold to goblins as slave labor). Thus, Yllek has no love at all for orcs. While assaulting the keep, the orcs poked the head of one of their fallen brethren over a wall, and Yllek (not realizing that orc was dead) repeatedly put arrows into the head. But I don't think the GM likes my suggestion of Orc Head Keep.

 

Yllek started as a ranger-type, but has sidelined as a cleric of Autumn Willow, whose worshippers seek harmony between people and nature. (Not tree-hugging types, but use-nature-responsibly types.)

 

Yllek's wife Kalena is a priestess of a moon goddess whose name eludes me. One of Yllek's teammates is a druid, worshipping a third goddess. So naming the keep or town after Autumn Willow in any way wouldn't be advisable.

 

 

 

Anecdotal:

 

While the PC heroes were breaking into the keep early in their adventuring careers, we had a lot of trouble climbing the keep's outer wall. At some point afterward, someone put enchantments on that section of wall to make it even harder to climb or even stand atop.

 

 

If I come up with more info, I'll post it.

 

Many thanks in advance for any suggested names you might have.

[Hermit]

Re: Name That Keep!

 

I liked "Orc head Keep"

But others that come to mind:

"Stonehaven"

"Orc Watch Keep" (A bit on the nose, perhaps)

"Shieldkeep"

"Sentry Point"

 

 

As for the town's name:

"Kalena Village" (Always a good idea to get in good with the wife if she'd like that sort of thing)

"New Hope"

"Silverwood" (Since it connects to a forest, or comes close, plus reference to at least two gods can be read into that, or not)

"Hillsboro"

and if you have a king/queen/someone you're beholden to, you could name it after him or her. Sucking up to the crown as certainly popular for many starting colonies

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Name That Keep!

 

There's an actual port city in England named Gateshead. Given the history of the site and its current purpose, that seems like a reasonable name for the keep or the town.

 

If you use it for the town, perhaps the keep could be called Gatekeep. OTOH "Gateshead Keep" would be logical.

[Alcamtar]

Re: Name That Keep!

 

Castle Yllek

 

Orcbane Keep

 

Fort Doom

 

Edit: forgot Castle Greyskull

[pinecone]

Re: Name That Keep!

 

Castle Moonshine? What?....

[Old Man]

Re: Name That Keep!

 

Bar Keep? Inn Keep? Finders Keep?

 

More seriously...

 

Orc Ward Keep, Hillwatch, Vigilant Keep, Hillsguard... honestly I'm having a hard time beating Orcs' Head Keep. Especially if you decorate it with orc heads.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Name That Keep!

 

Many thanks for the suggestions. I'm making a list of all of them, as well as any that other players in our game suggest, to discuss on Sunday.

 

My current favorites are Hillsguard for the keep, and Stonehaven for the village. (I thought of Hill Valley for the village, but then we run the risk of a flying DeLorean showing up at some point.) There are several runners-up (the pun-meister in me likes Finder's Keep, for instance), and overall you all had some great ideas. I've repped where I could.

 

(BTW, I know Stonehaven was suggested as a keep name, but given the number of refugees and rescue-ees we've taken into the village already, the "haven" part fits for that as well.)

[AnotherSkip]

Re: Name That Keep!

 

Greyhaven, Aleton (ale meaning elf or friend or both) some combination of Elf, frend, gate, way etc..

 

Friendhaven for the town and Greygate for the keep.

 

Speakton from Tolkiens "speak friend and enter here"

[Lucius]

Re: Name That Keep!

 

For the village:

 

Wholehaven.

 

The rescued include Half-Elves who were targetted by Elves for genocide, and Half-Orcs who presumably come in for their own share of grief for mixed heritage.

But in this community, being "half" doesn't make you "less."

You're one whole person - equal to any other one whole person.

 

On a similar note:

 

Integrity

 

The root meaning is "wholeness."

 

 

For the keep:

 

Boundgate.

 

"Bound" as in borderland or boundary, because it both marks a frontier for the sponsoring authority, and because it sits at the geographical border where rolling wooded hills start to become steep rocky mountains. But also "bound" as in sealed or secured, both because it's there to keep the Orcs out and because of the secret gate below, beyond which something evil is bound for good. You get to have two levels of meaning, one for everyone, and one only for the "initiated" who know the secret meaning of the name. Gate for many of the same reasons.

 

In fact, how about just calling it The Keep on the Borderlands?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary likes Greyhaven