"The alliance forged by Vatun soon collapsed. The Great God instructed the barbarians to invade the small state of Ratik, but their chiefs refused; they had long allied with Ratik against the humanoids of the Bone March and indeed against the Great Kingdom itself. They began to doubt Vatun; very wisely, since Vatun was a sham and a lie, a mask worn by Iuz the Old."
LGG, page 106:
"In the time of the Greyhawk Wars, the Cruski had regained Ustula, and the Fruztii had nearly regained their independence. They, with the Schnai, were drawn in by the false Vatun that briefly deceived them all. When it was revealed that this was a deception of Iuz the Old, the Suel barbarians withdrew from the alliance created between their nations and the Stonehold."
Last edited by rasgon on Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:48 am; edited 2 times in total
I think what happened is just that the barbarian chiefs were like "Wait a minute, the real Vatun wouldn't tell us to invade Ratik" and Iuz was like "Er, uh," and the barbarians were like "This isn't Vatun at all! Back to the fjords, boys." Iuz decided he had better things to do and gave up. With no further omens from Vatun and their leaders' assurances that it was all a crazy misunderstanding, everyone is confident that Vatun was a fake.
They had planned a third module in the Five Shall Be One/Howl From the North"sequence, but it was cancelled and Greyhawk Wars was released instead.
Greyhawk Wars mentions that the barbarians' doubts first began to fester after the invasion of Tenh.
"At the same time, Iuz suffered his first reverse. The folk of Fruztii, Cruski, and Schnai, long-time rivals of Stonefist, took exception to Sevvord’s bold stroke. Tenh had always supported the barbarians in their struggles against the Great Kingdom and the Bone March. As part of that support, Duke Ehyeh customarily turned a blind eye to the arms trade traveling across Tenh from Rookroost to Krakenheim. Now, however, the Master of the Hold closed the caravan routes, seizing all weapon shipments for his own people. Angered by their loss and feeling betrayed by the “Great God of the North,” the barbarians began to doubt Vatun. Iuz’s alliance of trickery had begun to erode."
So it was probably something like "Wait a minute, invade Tenh? And then Ratik? That sounds more like something Iuz would order us to do."
That seems about right, there was no big reveal..the Barbarians just fed up and told Vatun to dtuff it...and IUZ already having acomplished what he wanted decided to stick with the Hold of Stonefist and let the barbarians go.
Yeah, as James said, you could write your own adventure in which the PCs discover the truth behind Iuz's deception and there's a desperate race to bring proof of it to the barbarian chiefs before the invasion of Ratik commences. Maybe the Mace of St. Cuthbert dispels Iuz's disguise (maybe St. Cuthbert sends an omen to the PCs, telling them he can't interfere directly this time but starting them on their quest), or maybe the heroes reunite the five swords and summon the real Vatun to set everyone straight (perhaps a prominent barbarian priest confesses his doubts to the PCs and, with the other barbarian leaders still gung-ho fanatics, sends them on a quest for proof).
So it all happened behind scenes? hmm I was hoping this was part of a module or scenario.
You and a million other people. The Greyhawk Wars turned out to be a simple exercise in fiction writing, rather than involving the fans in many modules series set to reshape notable areas of the Flanaess. Completely blown opportunity. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
While Greyhawk Wars tied in directly to only one module, Patriots of Ulek, and that one suffered from poor copy editing (the alleged Battlesystems scenario at the end is missing), I think it was an acceptable product. It seemed to carry on Gygax's early vision of a continent on the brink of war, resulting in something much like WWI's political results.
As far as playing out the Greyhawk Wars, the booklet provided innumerable opportunities for adventurers of almost any level to participate in the wars, or if they did not have a dog in the fight, to avoid them. Frankly, I have found it a rich source of campaigns and adventures.
So it all happened behind scenes? hmm I was hoping this was part of a module or scenario.
I believe that's the direction that the third module in the series would have taken, but as has already been pointed out . . . WotC took a left turn instead.
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