As part of fixing a flub I made long ago, I need some simple information on the history of the recent rulers of the Duchy of Urnst.
The Ghosttower of Inverness(published in 1980) names the ruler of the Duchy of Urnst as Justinian Lorinar. I now assume this is Karll's father. The 1983 Greyhawk Boxed set(brown Box) introduces Karll as the Duke of Urnst, but doesn't mention that his last name is Lorinar. I always considered Karll the Duke of Urnst, so I didn't use Justinian at all(as I didn't know he was Karll's predecessor at the time) and instead used Lorgan, the Count of Urnst, instead and set the module as beginning in the County of Urnst. This was back in 1989, and only one of my players participated in what really amounted to a side adventure that ended with the Count's death and the disappearance of the Seer, and the loss of the Soul Gem presumedly to "evil forces".
After some circumspect questioning, the player only remembers that the adventure took place in "Urnst" and he doesn't remember if it was the County of the Duchy. It would go a long way to making things in my campaign mesh together more fully if I fixed this minor problem by rehashing the whole thing as having taken place in the Duchy of Urnst rather than the County of Urnst by presenting a "reminiscence of past activities" to the player in question and the players in the campaign as a group. This doesn't look like it will be much of a problem politically in my campaign, as nothing else had yet taken place in either country, though things of major import will be happening in the County very soon.
Basically, I screwed up due to a lack of information at the time.
My main question is how did Duke Karll of Urnst come to power? Lorinar(his father I presusme) obviously died or abdicated. If Lorinar died, was it of natural causes, death in battle, or was it something more sinister?
Thanks for any help. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
570 CY Justinian Lorinar assumed the throne, he was the Older brother of Karll Lorinar.
Justinian Lorinar was a radical, he believed the Gods were myths created by the various priesthoods to dupe the people, passed several restrictive laws to bring the priests under royal control.
571 CY Temple Coalition Revolt: Temples throughout the Duchy of Urnst refused to perform any priestly duties until the ungodly laws were repealed.
Late 571 CY Abbor Alz settlements raided, Justinian Lorinar leads a retaliatory raid, he dies of wounds suffered in battle with the Bright Desert Dervishes; no priest would heal him.
572 CY Karll Lorinar takes the throne, repeals the the religiously offensive laws and ends the Temple Coalition Revolt
Hope that helps
If you are interested there is a nice timeline of the Duchy of Urnst at the LG site.
The Duchy of Urnst should be a low-hanging plum, ripe, juicy and ready to be picked. It is rich by any measure but not so large as to present a formidable military challenge.
Nyrond should look to "reacquire" the duchy as a way to fund its rebuilding.
The "Domain" of Greyhawk, busily expanding hither and yon, could establish its future in the most concrete terms by taking Urnst, although the "how" would be interesting to say the least.
Rary must salivate every time the Duchy is mentioned.
Even the County could substantially benefit by taking the Duchy.
This is not to say that any of these scenarios are likely but certainly possible in ways that have not been explored in "canon."
While Keoland has been memorably called (in an old CF poll), "the Land of DM Onanism," I think the Duchy of Urnst far out strips Keoland in being a "DM Happy Land." The nice efforts to give Keoland some personality other than "the Land of DM Onanism" should be replicated in the Duchy of Urnst.
My take on what happened to The Seer will be a bit different. For my campaign, he was killed defending Justinian, who was wounded with a poison that severly weakened him for a considerable amount of time. This inadvertantly caused him to succumb during the fighting in the Abbor-Alz raid. The Seer is thought to be dead, but we all know how hard it is to keep a powerful wizard down. He might be rather upset at his subsequent "return from death" and expulsion fron the court of Urnst. it was he afterall that probably advised Justinian on his anti-religious policies and such.
Just who is this Seer, and what are his ultimate reasons for doing what he does? He might be upset enough to join the Hierarchs-in-hiding or some other such crazy notion. I'll have to think on it. The possibilities are near endless. Only time will tell.
Another question: who appointed Warnes Starcoat as advisor to the Court of the County of Urnst? Bellisicca did this I assume as a gesture of goodwill between rulers and so that she might have a potential ear in the court of the Duke as well. Plus it never hurts to have ready advice of a powerful wizard at hand or course. She is a wily one after all.
The dates of events in the County and Duchy mesh very well with how things turn out in my campaign. Warnes Starcoat may have to be a bit more absent from the court of Bellisica. Some times powerful wizards have to leave on important missions for their rulers though, so he shouldn't be too difficult to get out of the way for a bit now and then. Everything else just sort of falls neatly into place. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
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