Dark Ages: Of Monsters & Men

Notables in Normandy
Duke Ricard II - This is the Duke, he travels between his various estates and brings court with him. Ricard is known to be good and kind, but fearless in battle. He has several sisters and two brothers, Mauger of Mortain and William of Eu.
Count Radulf of Ivry - Radulf is the Duke's main advisor, he rules Ivry, a town south of Hralfsburg.
Jarl Harvald of Kjarsburg - Harvald is loyal man to the Duke, but many of the raiders and shipmen in his town resist the imposition of the Christian ways from the south.
Count Odo of St. Lo, Count Ademar of Bayeux - these christian lords are descended from the shieldmen of the first Duke.

Neighboring Lords
Frankia - King Robert II
Brittany - Geoffrey I (suitor of Richard’s sister Hewisse)
Anglo-Saxons - Aethelred the Unready (suitor of Richard’s sister Emma)
London - Thorkell the Tall
Danes - Sven Forkbeard
Alba/Scotland - Mael Colum, King of Alba
Orkneys and Caithness - Jarl Sigurd Hladvisson
Moray - Mormaer Mac Bethad

Reward & Rumors
+ Jarl Harvald offers 200 silver for any information about the Saxon ships or raiders seen in the waters and lands near Kjarsburg. He offers 500 silver for definitive proof.

+ Sailors in Kjarsburg spotted a ghostly ship near an island west of the pennisula. It is rumored to be an old viking raider, some say with a great treasure. Two longships sailing from the west heading to Kjarsburg have been missing.

+ Count Odo offers 200 silver for any word from one of his vassal villages. The four knights he sent to collect tribute disappeared. The village is located in the hills south of St. Lo.

+ Men and cattle have been disappearing from the woods around the town of Bayeux. Some whisper that evil spirits are at work.

+ Strange noises and shapes have been seen at night in Bayeux. It is rumored a long dead Roman noble left treasure beneath the town.

+ The Duke saw a dragon in flight south of Falaise. Shepards report missing sheep from the hills nearby. The Duke offers a reward of 500 sp from any token of the beasts proving its existence, more for trophies from a dragon like claws or its head.

Outside Normandy:
+ King Sweyn Forkbeard will always take on warriors for his many raids against his enemies in Norway and England.
+ King Robert of the Franks  brings Duke Richard and hires other normans for his wars against the Burgundians.
+ The Emperor of Byzantium, Basil the Bulgarslayer, always seeks mercenaries and fierce warriors for his Varangian Guard.

Random encounters
these are the sorts of encounters characters should expect to run into in Normandy:
1. Landless Norman knights looking for trouble or fun.
2. Restive band of peasants, looking for easy pickings or revenge against oppressive lords.
3. Ogres in hunting band, hungry but intimidated by numbers or strong prey.
4. Trickster brownies or dwarves, carrying off precious item or child.
5. Pack of wolves
6. Territorial bear or boar.
7. Deer
8. Troll crashing through forest.
9. Dragon or wyvern.
10. Banshee or ghouls
11. Wild hunt deer men
12. Enemy raiders, Viking, Breton, or Frankish.
13. Pilgrims or clerics.
14. Merchant with guards or tinkerers.