Once upon a time long ago, Kevan Cuillin was a traveling blacksmith. He traveled to villages and small towns throughout the kingdom, making farm implements for the locals and armor, weapons and strongboxes for the wealthy. A burly man, he never said much but did excellent work, and folk were always happy to see him.
When Kevan reached his middle years, conflict broke out between those who ruled the land and those who sought to take it. Kevan didn’t much care who ruled the kingdom as long as he was able to travel among the settlements and live in peace. But the conflicts were starting to encroach on his lifestyle and profession, and he was concerned for his own safety as well as for the folk whom he regarded as not just customers, but friends. And it came to pass one day, when Kevan was in a small mining settlement in the foothills, that the conflict met him head on.
The settlement was so small that it didn’t yet have a name. It was a quiet place with a population of perhaps a dozen people, comprised mostly of miners of ore recently discovered in the hills, and traders who would buy the ore to make goods and sell it elsewhere. And through a pass in those hills came a band of raiders seeking to claim lands in unprotected areas.
Kevan gathered the folk together and made sure each was equipped with some kind of implement or weapon. Then he rallied them to defend their position, despite none of them being warriors or soldiers or having any training in such things. Through cleverness, anger, stubborn grit and perhaps a bit of the miraculous, Kevan and his small band of settlers were able to defend their position and hold it.
Once word reached the capital, the Duke himself rode out to see what had happened. When told of the quick thinking and outstanding bravery of Kevan and the settlers, he granted Kevan the title of Baron and gave him the lands around the settlement for him to enjoy, guard and defend for the rest of his days, and all the days of his heirs as well.
Kevan settled in those foothills, found a wife and built Dalquharren Keep. His heirs took the name MacCuillin, as is the custom of sons.
The town that gradually rose up around the keep is called Quillen today, and travelers will find a statue honoring Kevan Cuillin there as well as a spacious tavern and inn, where bounties from across the duchy can be obtained and redeemed. Here there be stories to tell and to hear!
Baroness Skye MacCuillin - now also the Duchess Consort of Sanctaphandri - is the current holder of the baronial seat and ancestral lands at Dalquharren Keep, located within the capital county of Papalias-Gardania in the kingdom of Ashland.
