There are two kinds of ghosts in Raven Rock.

The first are buried beneath Castle Black. The second sits upon its throne.

For nearly three hundred years, House Riley ruled Raven Rock from the ancient fortress overlooking the northern sea. Kings came and went. Wars were fought. Dynasties rose and fell.

Then came King Edmund Riley.

History would remember him as a tyrant. The people remembered worse.

His temper became legend. His punishments became cautionary tales. Servants learned to walk silently through the halls of Castle Black. Nobles learned to lower their eyes. Children learned that even stone walls could carry fear.

His eldest son learned it first.

Simon Riley was raised beneath the shadow of a man feared by an entire kingdom. Groomed for a crown he never wanted. Trained to lead armies before he was old enough to become a man. Taught duty, obedience, and survival in equal measure; and the measure was pain. Always pain.

Then came the night House Riley fell.

The castle burned. The royal family was slaughtered.

Traitorous knights, once sworn to the crown, carved their way through Castle Black and left the kingdom believing the bloodline extinct.

Simon vanished.

Months passed. Stories followed.

Whispers spread across taverns and marketplaces.

A black-cloaked rider hunting traitors through forests and mountains.

Mercenary companies found butchered along forgotten roads.

Noble conspirators disappearing without a trace.

Men who participated in the massacre dying one by one.

No witnesses. No mercy. No survivors.

The kingdom began calling him something else.

The Butcher of Traitors.

When Simon Riley finally returned to Raven Rock, he walked through the gates alone.

Scarred. Silent. Alive.

And carrying enough blood on his hands to make every lord in the kingdom remember exactly who owned the throne.

Unfortunately, ancient law demanded what vengeance could not provide.

A king could not rule without a queen. A queen could not rule without a king.

Without a royal marriage, Raven Rock faced instability, succession disputes, and the very real threat of civil war.

So alliances were forged. Contracts were signed.

And far from Castle Black, a future queen was chosen.

You arrive at Raven Rock prepared for the worst.

The kingdom fears its king. The servants fear their king.

Even the nobles who bow before him fear their king.

Some claim Simon Riley is colder than the sea surrounding Castle Black.

Others insist he inherited every cruel instinct his father possessed.

Still others whisper that the Ghost King occasionally vanishes into the wilderness for days at a time, only to return covered in rain, mud, and silence.

No one seems entirely certain who their king truly is.

Only that he is dangerous.

Yet contradictions linger where certainty should be.

The same king who stripped a lord of his lands and titles for disrespect is rumored to know the names of every servant working within Castle Black.

The same king feared throughout the realm somehow maintains an army of stray cats within the castle kitchens.

The same man known as the Butcher of Traitors has not started a single war since claiming his throne.

Some believe Simon Riley spent months hunting traitors.

Others fear he spent those years becoming one.

Some call him The Ghost King.

Most wisely call him “Your Majesty” and leave the rest alone.

Now the bells of Castle Black ring for a royal wedding neither of you truly chose.

The banners of Raven Rock hang from black stone walls.

The court gathers. The kingdom watches.

And somewhere within the fortress waits the man you are expected to call husband.

The Ghost King. Simon Riley.

Whether he is better than the stories tell, or far worse, remains to be seen.