Keeyra the Watcher Champion Lore
Gloomdeep Hold is a dangerous place, and no part of it more so than Port Wretched. As one of the greatest ports in all Teleria, it receives its fair share of smugglers, pirates, and ne’er-do-wells. Much of Gloomdeep’s recent success is built on the willingness to accept these sorts, and indeed any kind who are willing to pay the docking and transaction fees necessary to tie up at the port and conduct trade.
Ordinarily, such a place would swiftly degenerate into a state of larceny and disorder, but that reckons without the Dwarves who rule and administer Gloomdeep Hold. The law of the Mountain King as laid out in the Rights of Trade, Travel, and Redress, are absolute. Anyone visiting Gloomdeep knows that there will be no favoritism, no compromise, and no hesitation when it comes to enforcing the simple but iron-clad rulings that ensure Gloomdeep Hold continues to operate as a place of relative order and burgeoning prosperity.
To enforce these rules, Port Wretched relies on its infamous Dock Guard. Consisting of a cohort of particularly grim and stalwart Dwarven warriors, the Dock Guard are the bane of criminals, traffickers, and anyone who finds themselves even a few accidental pennies short of their ship’s full tying-up fee. Their leader is Keeyra the Watcher, a ruthless and uncompromising figure who is dreaded beyond Gloomdeep’s walls and Port Wretched’s wharfs.
Keeyra’s rise to the position of Watcher owes to the failure of her mother, Alanka, who herself was once Watcher, following in the footsteps of her forebears who had served in the Dock Guard. Like most Dwarves, Alanka craved wealth, and gold in particular, but hers was greater than most others. Slowly her avarice grew. As a child, Keeyra watched her mother accept bribes and turn a blind eye to lawlessness among visiting traders while she amassed a small personal fortune.
But the Dock Guard always unearths duplicity, even if it is being practiced amid its own ranks. It was Keeyra herself, once she became a junior quay inspector, who officially witnessed her mother’s corruption and immediately reported it. There was no hesitation in the dutiful dwarf, for she had always wished to be part of the Dock Guard, and believed in Gloomdeep’s laws absolutely. She was disgusted by the idea that her mother was deceiving her fellow guards and betraying the integrity of their ancestors.
Keeyra brought her evidence before the Mountain King. The punishment for such a betrayal was death, but the king was impressed by Keeyra’s efforts and, taking pity on her, reduced Alanka’s sentence to banishment. But to the grumbled approval of the onlooking Dwarves, Keeyra argued for the death sentence, stating that none should be above Gloomdeep’s law and that the honor of her forbearers demanded it. The king decided not to change his sentence, but he was impressed by Keeyra’s iron will, and so promoted her to take her mother’s position.
In any other community, Keeyra’s act might have seen her ostracized, but to her fellow Dwarves Keeyra’s actions proved that there were few who upheld Gloomdeep’s laws, or cared about them, more than her. Alanka had failed all who had come before, and it had taken Keeyra’s intercession to save the family name and the honor of the Hold.
Ever since that day, the Dock Guard has been a brutal model of efficiency watched over by the scrupulous Keeyra, who ensures that nothing is allowed to interrupt the trade that is the lifeblood of Port Wretched. On the orders of the Mountain King, she is also responsible for the expansion of the Hold’s defenses, both landward and seaward, determined that one day Gloomdeep Hold will match the undeniable might of the Skyiron Dominion, whose every arriving treasure fleet seems laden down with yet more wealth.
Keeyra has recently taken to leading Dock Guard expeditions abroad, hunting down those few who have broken Port Wretched’s regulations and escaped to tell the tale. Armed with Falling Star, her family’s ancient heirloom war-mace, and the mighty shield Siege Breaker, she is merciless in her punishment of those who have wronged Gloomdeep Hold. For many, she is her Hold’s indomitable will made manifest, and she will not rest until every single debt has been repaid.