The Witcher | Strength Of The Bear

Part One | Haern Caduch

The Amell Mountain Range - it separates the Northern Kingdoms from The Nilfgaardian Empire and its vassal states, famous for its jade and jasper mines, as well as its white marble, of which many elven sculptures were made, it is a region with a lot of both: recorded and lost history. It is here where the Witcher guild outcasts, who would later be known as The Bear School of Witchers, decided to claim territory and settle down.
It is here where once upon a time, Rowen found respite.

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In the 'Slopes', one of the handful of named regions in the Amell Mountain Range, The School of the Bear made their home within the frigid walls of Haern Caduch - a remote fortress nestled within the peaks of the Amell. Survival within its unwelcoming walls proved a constant challenge, particularly for the younger adepts. If one wasn't huddled by the warmth of the hearth to stave off frostbite or scrambling under pelts to stave off hypothermia, there was always the never ending removal of snow from the courtyard...It is no wonder the Bear Witchers have shown extraordinary endurance - even when compared to their peers. The fortress was a strong pillar of support for the Witchers, as it endured the harsh weather, so did they, and as they improved it, so too did it improve them. Unfortunately, due to the shambolic political climate and the rise of the number of monsters in the area of the keep, the home of the bears had to be abandoned. It has since remained relatively intact to this day, albeit hidden under an ever increasingly thick layer of snow. How did this come to be? Why would the Witchers willingly abandon their home? How bad was the situation they found themselves in? None but very few know; however, royalty claims the Witchers failed to exterminate the pests they were supposed to dispatch; whether this is true is unknown, but suspicions have been thrown around... Here is what I, the humble writer that I am, believe.

Eventually, due to their glacial dispositions, surrounding villages banded together, agreed they would rather share the mountain with the monsters whom the Witchers failed to dispatch than the witchers themselves. Peasants are a witless lot, quick to choose violence. They marched on the keep. Having little to no bonds of brotherhood amongst themselves, the witchers decided to part ways with both Haern Caduch and each other rather than partake in a meaningless slaughter.

The Monsters soon took over most of the Mountain Range, the nearby villages served as feeding grounds for the lesser beasts, including but not limited to: Nosferats, Garkains, Fleders and Ekimmarae. The Peasant dolts stood no chance against such powerful creatures; a dozen expedition operations or so were launched on the order of the local lord, but none of them were successful, and none of them ever came back to report on the ongoing situation... Then they hired a Witcher of the same school they had shunned away a long time ago

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