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    Timeline of the James Bay Frontier


    “This land may be profitable to those that will adventure it.”
    -- Henry Hudson


    The Road to Ratik

    Ratik is a relative newcomer in the history of Greyhawk and the Flannaess. There were elves there, surely, and dwarves, and gnomes too, but their arrivals are not set in the annals of the canonical text of Greyhawk; but the World of Greyhawk setting was always a human-centric setting, wasn’t it, and although those races would most certainly have influenced and guided those human nations that came after them, very little has been said about how. There are exceptions, none set in the nation of Ratik, or the Thillonrian peninsula.

    What we do know is that the Grey elves had cities in the Griffs, that Vecna fought the Grey and High elves, and that Vecna destroyed the City of Summer Stars. If only Gary Gygax had penned more about those bygone elven civilizations, we’d have had a far richer setting. Sadly, he wrote even less on the dwarves and gnomes, even less still of the halflings. It’s a blank slate. Largely.

    Much is the same with Human history. Each nation was given a paragraph or two, enough to spur the imagination, no more. Those missives have been expounded upon since, though.

    So what id canon in regards to Ratik?

    I present a list of dates noted in Steve Wilson’s Greychrondex_42 to illuminate what is considered canon in the world of Greyhawk concerning Ratik and its environs, most notably those dates regarding the Barbarians, Stonefist, the Bone March, and the North Province as they concern Ratik.

    These are mere bullet points. Some reach far back in the annals of time, but you can’t have the present without the past, can you?

    If you would like to learn more, there is a wealth of source material out there. I’ve detailed these events in this blog, much as others have before me. Those Histories are my interpretation. There are others. Many others.

    I encourage you to peruse: Canonfire!Greyhawk Online, Jason Zavoda’s Hall of the Mountain King, Joe Bloch’s Greyhawk Grognard, Mike Bridges’ Greyhawkery, and Maldin’s Greyhawk. There are a whole host of others, including the fiction of Mystic Scholar and Greyhawk Stories. Be sure to download Anna B. Meyer's map while you are at it.

    I’m sure you will find something to your taste.


    That said, let’s get started, shall we?


    The Griff Mountains

    The Timeline of the James Bay Frontier

    Pre-devastation

    -2150 CY     The founding of Haradaragh. First year of Flannae Tracking system (1 FT). [PGTG - 14]


    Vecna’s Reign [WGA4, Vecna Lives - 6] (rumored to be ruled from the Isles of Woe) [Slavers - 16]


    Battle between Elves and Ur-Flannae. [Ivid - 74]


    Building of Tostenhca [GA - 99]


    c.-1500 CY     Keraptis establishes himself as protector of Tostenhca [S2 White Plume Mountain - 3]


    c.-1100 CY     Keraptis driven out of Tostenhca. [S2 - 3]


    c.-800 CY     Keraptis battles and defeats Aegwareth, Elder Druid, for control of White Plume Mountain. [S2 - 3]


    -458 CY    Oerid migrations east at peak point (187 OR) [Folio - 5, WGA - 9]


    -447 CY     Suloise Migration begins (5069 SD) [Folio - 5, WGA - 9]


    -422 CY    Invoked Devastation and Rain of Colorless Fire [Folio - 5, WGA - 9, PGTG - 14, WGG3e - 3]


    The Arrival of the Suel

    Port-Devastation

    -216 CY    Founding of Aerdy (428 OR) [LGG - 93]


    -171 CY    Battle between Aerdians and Flannae tribe at Chokestone. (474 OR/1980 FT) [Ivid - 53]


    -142 CY    Eastfair founded as capital of North Province. (503 OR) [LGG - 73]


    c.-110 CY    Around this time, Vatun was imprisoned by clerics of Telchur. [LGG - 185]


    -108 CY    In the spring, Aerdian forces mass in Knurl and drive back Fruztii. The Aerdi free Johnsport from Fruztii hands. [LGG- 36]


    11 CY     Battle between Aerdians and Flan at site of present day Arrowstrand. (2161 FT) [Ivid - 50]


    c.90s CY    Keraptis leaves White Plume Mountain to further his research and never returns. [S2 - 4]


    c.100 CY    Battle of Spinecastle (Aerdians vs. Fruztii). [FtAA - 24]


    109 CY    The barbarians counterattack the construction site of Spinecastle in the winter but are defeated by the forces of Knight Protector Caldni Vir in the Battle of Shamblefield.  Overking Manshen names Vir the first marquis of the Bone March. [LGG - 36, 89]


    The Timberway Forest

    Ratik Founded

    122 CY    General Sir Pelgrave Ratik of Winetha leads an expeditionary force to push the Aerdy frontier to the foothills of the Griff Mountains. He defeats the Frutzii and drives them into the northern fastness of Timberway.  He establishes a fort overlooking Grendep Bay at Onsager Point that he names Marner. [LGG - 90]


    128 CY  The Frutzii and Schnai launch a concentrated naval attack on Marner.  This force is defeated by General Sir Pelgrave Ratik of Winetha. [LGG - 90]


    130 CY    The Overking of the Aerdian Empire elevates Pelgrave to Baron, and gifts him Timberway as a personal fief.  The walled town of Bresht is renamed Ratikhill. [LGG - 90]


    316 CY  The Scarlet Brotherhood establishes relations with the Suel Barbarian lands of the north. (SD 5831) [SB - 4]


    356 CY  Barbarians from the North invade the Aerdy’s North Province, forcing the Overking to divert troops from the western front thus insuring Nyrond’s survival. [WGG3e - 3]

    (Allied host of Frutzii and Schnai threaten to overwhelm Bone March and Ratik and sweep into the North Province.  The Rax Overking Portillan diverts a force headed to contest Nyrond to counter the barbarian invasion.  This is successful, but at a great cost.) [LGG - 90]


    c.430 CY    Vlek Col Vlekzed founds chiefdom of Hold of Stonefist. [Folio - 26,WGA - 36, FtAA - 38]

    (Rise of an Outlaw Rover called Stonefist who murders the leaders of the Coltens and breaks from Tenh.) [LGG - 113]

    Note: This second “origination” of Stonefist is not supported outside of LGG.  This date for the rise of “Stonefist” is not supported in the text, but no date is given.  The better case is that Vlek Col Vlekzed is a Colten Ataman who pulls the Colten Feodality under his central rule.       


    c.440s-460s CY    Alain II of Ratik declares his fief an archbarony, and rules semi-independently (as does the ruler of Bone March). [LGG - 90]

    Note:  This occurs shortly after the Turmoil Between Crowns but that could be anywhere after the 9 year period between 437 CY and 446 CY, and is impossible to fix.


    520 CY  Beginning of Hradji Beartooth’s ill-fated journey to find Skrallingshold (Tostenhca) [GA - 83]


    558 CY  Scarlet Brotherhood agents encourage humanoids to raid the Bone March. (6074 SD) [SB - 5]


    c.550s    Schnai subjugate Fruztii [FtAA - 25]


    560 CY  Humanoids (Euroz, Kell, Eiger and others) began forays into Bone March. [Folio - 9, FtAA - 24, PGTG - 10, TAB - 19]


    In Ratik's Defense

    561 CY    Full scale invasion of humanoids into Bone March begins.

    [Folio - 9, WGA - 20, LGG - 36]


    563 CY    Bone March falls to humanoids  9025 PG 5, WGA - 9,20, Ivid -19, LGG - 35, 91]

    (All humans in that area were enslaved or killed [6078 SD]) [SB - 5]

    (Spinecastle falls by surprise) [LGG - 31]

    (Knight Protectors living in the Bone March flee to Ratik) [LGG - 158]


    565 CY    Korund of Ratik sails to Fireland [TAB -11]


    573 CY    It is probably shortly after this time that the Brotherhood agents poison King Cralstag of the Cruski, and are, in turn, slain by Cralstag’s heir, Lolgoff [LGG - 55]


    575 CY    Ratik-Fruzii (?) alliance defeats humanoids at Blufang-Kelten Pass (probably Ogres and gnolls of Teesar Torrent) [Dragon #57 - 15]


    576 CY

    576-582 CY         Ratik and Frost Barbarians make gains against Bone March.

    [WGS1 The Five Shall be One - 4, WGS2 Howl from the North - 6]

    Snow, Ice, and Frost Barbarians ally against Hold of Stonefist. [WGS1 - 4, WGS2 - 6]

    Snow Barbarians increase raids on Great Kingdom. [WGS1 pg. 4, WGS2 - 6]


    577 CY  Cruski and Schnai treaty. Schnai give up the lands south of Glot along the east coast to Cruskii

    [Dragon #57 - 14]

    Battle of Loftwood--combined Ratik/Frutzii force destroy humanoid forces under the Vile Rune orcs of the Bone March. [Dragon #57 - 15


    578 CY  Seuvord, Master of the Hold, becomes Rhelt Seuvord I of the Hold. [Dragon #57 - 14]

    King Ralff II of the Frutzii organizes new army. [Dragon #57 - 14]

    Ships and men, under Lord Captain Aldusc from Sea Barons, sent to bolster North Province against Barbarians. [Dragon #63 - 15]

    Force from Ratik wins great victory over the Bone March orcs in Loftwood (Battle of Loftwood?) [LGG - 141]


    579 CY  Baron Lexnol’s heir, Alain IV, marries Lady Evaleigh, the daughter of the count of Knurl.

    [LGG - 91]


    582 CY  The events of the module WGS1, The Five Shall Be One, including the rise of the Cult of Vatun. [WGS1 - 3, WGG3e - 4, LGG - 15]

    (Iuz triggers Greyhawk Wars by stirring unrest among Barbarians of  the Thillonrian Peninsula) [LGG - 62]

    By this time, the Cruski had regained Utsula from the Schnai, to whom they had lost it several decades before. [LGG - 106]

    The events of the module WGS2, Howl From the North, including the arrival of "Vatun" and the gathering of the Barbarians for war.

    [WGS2 - 5, 1068 pg. 6. LGG - 15]


    Greyhawk Wars

    583 CY  Iuz’s deception of Barbarians revealed, Iuz returns home. [Wars: ADV - 8]

                   

    584-585 CY    Part of the Loftwood despoiled as humanoids set fires. [LGG - 141]


    585 CY  Ratik starts ambitious castle building program. [FtAA - 73]


    586 CY     Alain IV, Archbaron Lexnol’ son, launches a raid to repatriate Bone March.  It fails utterly. [LGG - 37]

    (Alain is killed. Baron Lexnol collapses from the news and is rendered unfit to rule.  Lady Evaleigh, Alain’s wife, begins ruling Ratik.) [LGG - 91]


    588 CY    Iuz loses control of Sevvord Redbeard of Hold of Stonefist, Hold of Stonefist renamed Stonehold. [PGTG - 12, TAB - 22-23, LGG - 16]

    (Sevvord gathers Fists from across Tenh, kills all clerics of Iuz within reach, leaves rearguard to occupy Calbut and returns to Stonehold, driving barbarians back from Kelten and securing the pass, and the returns to Vlekstaad) [LGG - 109,113]


    590 CY     Longship from Fireland sails into the port at Marner in Ratik. [TAB - 38]

    Full scale assaults by the Bone March over the Blemu Hills into Knurl is attempted, but Ratik holds. [LGG - 37]



    Therein lies canon. It's pretty thin. Plenty of breathing room, I'd say.

    The Domain of the Green God

    So, what do I plan to do with that breathing room? Flesh it out, of course. I hope to set down a history that reflects my northern soul, one replete with the Green God and stone circles laid down by the Fey, with a reclusive Sylvan culture, a very Celtic Flan, a lingering tyranny of Keraptis and his minions, the coming of the Suel, and ultimately the Oeridians.

    I'd like to create an epic adventure path set there, where the long dormant Elder Eye sleeps.

    It seems alot right now, maybe too much, but each journey begins with a single step. Those Histories I've been gathering are that first step. It's been a big one. I expect the next to be as large.






    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.


    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.

    The-Road-Goes-Ever-On by watchtheskiies

    Cernunnos-Final by tavenerscholar

    Tundra by thomaswievegg

    Alaunius by yesterdawn

    Elf-of-the-woods by luchoinzunza

    WGS1 Five Shall Be One cover, by Jeff Starlind, 1991

    WGS2 Howl From the North cover, by Jeff Starlind, 1991

    Sacred-Forest by kvacm


    Sources:

    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983

    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992

    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991

    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979

    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988

    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980

    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989

    9317 WGS1, The Five Shall be One, 1991

    9337 WGS2, Howl from the North, 1991

    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993

    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998

    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998

    11742 Gazetteer, 2000

    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000

    Ivid the Undying, 1998

    Dragon Magazine

    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online

    LGJ et. al.

    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.

    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
    The Greyhawk Map, Anna B. Meyer


    Posted: 01-29-2022 07:38 am
    History of the South-East, Part 7: The Turmoil between Crowns

    “By hook or by crook this peril too shall be something that we remember.”
    ― Homer, The Odyssey


    The Turmoil Between Crowns


    What can be said of the Celestial Houses of Aerdy? History says that they were great and good, and that their benevolence had brought peace and prosperity to all the lands of the Flanaess. Were that so, then why did Furyondy secede? Why did Nyrond and Tenh? And were they so, why was there such turmoil between crowns?






    437 CY  The Kingdom of Aerdy and the Great Kingdom were great as all empires are, through force of will. It had artifacts and artifice at its disposal, and the weight of arms, against which few nations, if any, could stand against. But it had grown myopic, sure in its omnipotence, and its longevity. Had not the Suel Imperium lasted centuries? But the Suel emperors had been vigilant, and watchful. And the Suel Imperium had not been cleaved from within. The Great Kingdom was. And as its great houses turned upon one another, those nations that until recently basked under its supposed radiant sun could only look on in horror as its sun set and it chose its new path to paradise through Hell.

    For three centuries the Aerdy held a vast empire which fluctuated in extent but little, until after the third Celestial House (dynasty) when the borders began to close in upon the original territory of the Aerdi. [Folio - 5]


    [The Turmoil Between Crowns:] This name is given both to the decade of internal schisms under the rule of the last Rax overking, Nalif, and to the civil war which followed Ivid's ascension. [Ivid - 4]


    Faith understands that to truly affect change, it must have the support of the crown, the aristocracy, and if necessary, the people. All sects are as motivated in such regard. All sects courted those houses that could presumably sway others, and the plebeians if it should come to that, to see the true path. Hextor's Faith was no different. But not all of the Celestial Houses looked upon their vision with the same enlightened eyes as others; some did; some more than others; and thus when most turned their blind eyes from the true path, the Hextorians turned to the one that understood the only true path as one of strength: House Naelax.

    Alone among the Oeridian faiths, the church of the Champion of Evil has grown in power as the Great Kingdom has declined. This rise was due in part to the departure of most of the church armies of rival faiths. Hextor’s faithful strongly backed the House of Naelax during the Turmoil Between Crowns that began in 437 CY. [Bastion of Faith]


    Ivid I, House Naelax
    War is wasteful. And its outcome is never certain. Great houses may band together against a common foe, only to betray one another at the most unexpected moment. Ivid I, House of Naelax, understood that. He also understood that whomever ascended the throne might only hold it for a short time if his house was exhausted in attaining it. The best course of action then, in his opinion, was to bypass all the uncertainty, and take a more certain, and decisive thrust. The other houses might not like it, they might even call foul, secretly wishing that they had landed that blow themselves. No matter. He had allies. And mercenaries. And the money to keep them.
    Overking Nalif was the last of the Rax line descended directly from the overkings. A flock of misbegotten cousins, exiles and ne'er do wells of Rax could lay some claim to the title of overking when Ivid had Nalif assassinated, but after a century of hopelessly ineffectual Rax rule all of the royal houses agreed that another Rax overking was simply unacceptable.
     Ivid proclaimed himself overking immediately and plunged the Great Kingdom into civil war. [Ivid - 4]

    The Assassination of Nalif
    After the withdrawal of Nyrond from the Great Kingdom, the slide became precipitous. Buffoons and incompetents sat upon the Malachite Throne, and their mismanagement split apart the Celestial Houses. This period of degeneration culminated in the Turmoil Between Crowns, when the last Rax heir, Nalif, died in 437 CY at the hands of assassins from House Naelax. The herzog (great prince) of North Province, Ivid I, then laid claim to the throne. The herzog of South Province, Galssonan of House Cranden, broke with Rauxes and joined a widespread rebellion in the south. Years of civil war ensued, and only the intercession of dispassionate houses such as Garasteth and Darmen brought about the final compromise.
    The tyrannical Ivid I assumed the Malachite Throne at the price of granting greater autonomy to the provinces, notably Medegia, Rel Astra, and Almor. The recalcitrant herzog of South Province was quickly deposed and replaced by a prince from House Naelax, who sought immediately to bring the southern insurgents back into line. [LGG - 24]

    The darkest chapter in the history of Aerdy began in 437 CY. In this year, the upstart House Naelax murdered the Rax overking, inaugurating a series of gruesome civil wars called the Turmoil Between Crowns. Within a decade, Ivid I of Naelax was recognized as the undisputed overking of all Aerdy. As Ivid was rumored to be in league with powerful evil Outsiders, the Malachite Throne of the Great Kingdom became known as the Fiend-Seeing Throne, and the once mighty and upright empire became a bastion of evil and cruelty. [LGG - 14]

    The new "Grand Empire of Nyrond" watched, bemusedly at first, as Aerdy's House Rax degenerated. The failure to crush separatist movements in Ferrond and Nyrond had castrated the Rax overkings, who now seemed to exist only to appease the increasingly independent palatine states of Medegia, North Province, Bone March, and Ahlissa. The Turmoil Between Crowns, initiated in 437 with the assassination of Overking Nalif, changed bemusement to horror. Within nine years, the Malachite Throne had fallen to the debased House Naelax. With chaos and madness ruling from Rauxes, Nyrond's King Dunstan I knew that no enemy of Aerdy would ever be safe again. Nyrond, he noted, needed allies, and it needed them quickly.
    Though he could not pledge public support due to the threat of retaliatory strikes from Ivid I's Northern Army, amassed near Innspa, Dunstan I attended the conference in Chathold that resulted in the formation of the Iron League. There, he privately assured the new partners that any enemy of the League was also an enemy of Nyrond. Dunstan made good on that pledge, sending weapons and warships (though no troops) to aid besieged Irongate at the Battle of a Thousand Banners, the following year. [LGG - 77]

    By 437 CY, tensions within the Great Kingdom threatened to tear it apart. House Naelax delivered the sundering blow by assassinating all rivals in House Rax, after which nearly a decade of civil war ensued. Ivid I finally secured the Malachite Throne after Prince Malchim III of House Garasteth, lord mayor of Rel Astra, sided with House Naelax and negotiated palatinate status for the major provinces of the Great Kingdom, including his own. Thereafter, Rel Astra guided its own course. Rel Astra became the primary destination for those who fell out of favor in the former Great Kingdom, a trend that continues as political refugees arrive from Ahlissa, the Sea Barons, and even North Kingdom. [LGG - 93]

    c. 440s-460s CY Torn by turmoil, the Great Kingdom began to break apart. At first the Throne took no action. But as the tapestry of state continued unravelling, it had little choice but to rise from its stupor and take action, lest it lose the entirety of its lands. But try as it might, it could not stem the tide. The Iron League formed. Alain II of Ratik declared his fief an arch-barony, not entirely willing to completely sever ties with the mother country, as yet. But in truth, he ruled Ratik as though it was indeed independent, as did the Marquis of Bone March. What choice did they have? The Crown was embroiled in what came to be known as the Turmoil Between Crowns, and it took no interest in the administration of its provinces.

    443-446 CY         Much like all rulers, Ivid I wished to commemorate his reign. He commissioned a throne as none had ever seen before, crafted from a single, unblemished block of malachite. Over the next three years, a coven of mage-artificers and priests of Hextor worked on the block, shaping it into a mighty throne and drawing upon the malign eldritch energies of the Cauldron to imbue it with its terrible powers.
    There is ample reason the malachite throne is known as the "Fiend-seeing Throne." The throne which the Naelax overkings have ascended was crafted between 443 and 446 CY from a great crystal chunk found in the Cauldron of Night. The throne itself, fashioned by mages and priests, has magical properties (see the chapter on Rauxes). Its abilities include providing a gate to the Nine Hells. [Ivid - 22]

    The Fiend-seeing Throne

    Payment Due
    443 CY  Debts must be paid, and the Hextorians would have what was due them. They demanded that the Heironians be expunged from Ivid’s domain, the Knights Protector with them. What of those knights devoted to Hextor? It was but a simple thing for them to forsake their vows for the greater good of having rid the Kingdom of weakness. Wasn’t it that weakness which shackled their attempts to rid the land of the Death Knights? Hextor surely favoured those very same Death Knights. The Hextorians turned on their brethren with Ivid’s approval.
     In 443 CY, Ivid I set about hunting down and destroying the remaining Knight Protectors, for they opposed his ascension to the throne after he assassinated the last Rax overking. He did not succeed in destroying them, but they were widely dispersed, and some disappeared from the courts of the provinces to go into hiding. [LGG - 158]

    446-447 CY         Wars are expensive endeavours. So too interests due. Ivid I raised the stipend expected of those he protected, even if that protection had never been needed.
    The third recent split in the Great Kingdom came in the south, in 446-447 CY. Extreme repression and taxation of the population led to a general rebellion among commoners and nobles alike. [TAB - 18]

    446 CY  The tyrannical Ivid I assumed the Malachite Throne at the price of granting greater autonomy to the provinces, notably Medegia, Rel Astra, and Almor. The recalcitrant herzog of South Province was quickly deposed and replaced by a prince from House Naelax, who sought immediately to bring the southern insurgents back into line. In 446 CY, the herzog granted an audience to representatives of Irongate, who went to Zelradton to air their grievances. The offer turned out to be a ruse, and the ambassadors were imprisoned, tortured, and executed for Overking Ivid's enjoyment. The whole of the south arose again in violent rebellion, and one year later formed the Iron League and allied with Nyrond. [LGG - 24]

    Paradoxically, the disintegration of the Great Kingdom paused a while, despite a wretched change at its very crown. The House of Rax became decadent, self-absorbed, weak, and ineffectual. Petty nobles began to scheme, to openly flout the Overking's edicts, and to enact their own laws and pursue their own mean-minded grudges. It was only a matter of time before Rax was overthrown and a new tyrant installed as Overking and, in truth, many petty nobles were glad when it happened. After decades of pointless strife, it was almost a relief to have central power and authority again. However, few of them would have chosen Ivid I as their new master.
    No direct evidence links Ivid, ruler of the North Province at the time, with the assassination of the entire House of Rax in 446 CY. But Ivid ensured his ascension by the simple expedient of killing every other minor princeling who made a claim on the throne, and plenty more besides. Madness had gripped the Malachite Throne when Ivid I, scion of the House of Naelax, was proclaimed His Celestial Transcendency, Overking of Aerdy, and many knew it.
    A Dark Pact
    The Malachite Throne became known as the "Fiend-seeing Throne." It was whispered that the House of Naelax had willingly entered into a pact with fiends—lords of the infernal tanar'ri—a pact that would endure down all the generations of their descendants. A time of terror had begun. Blood would wash the feet and hands of the madman enthroned in Rauxes. Little wonder that further secessions beset his lands.
    Civil war erupted in the Great Kingdom. The North Province, now ruled by Ivid's nephew, soon established independence, as did the wily Herzog of Ahlissa in the the South Province. He allied himself with the seceding Iron League: the lands of Onnwal, Idee, Sunndi, and the Free City of Ironwall.
    The Holy Censor, High Priest to the Overking, sought freedom for the See of Medegia. Almor grew in strength and freedom, supported by Nyrond as a buffer state between itself and the declining power of Rauxes, although Ivid managed to drag it back under his influence in later years. Momentous change beset the Great Kingdom. Not until Ivid V ascended the Fiend-seeing Throne would the Great Kingdom appear to increase in might again. This would take a century to happen and also be ultimately a temporary hiccup in the terminal decline of Aerdy. If all eyes were on the Great Kingdom for decades after Ivid's rise, it would help explain why they missed seeing the rise of a new power far to the west and north. [FtAA - 4,5]

    [The alliance between the Hextorians and the House of Naelax] led to the faith’s ascendancy over all other faiths in the Great Kingdom as of the coronation of Ivid I in 446 CY, but also resulted in the church of Hextor falling under the thumb of successive overkings. [Bastion of Faith - 90]

    The Displeasure of Ivid
    It came to pass that the rumblings of the frontiers reached the ears of the Overking. Ivid I understood that such rumbling had led to the formation of Furyondy and Veluna, of Nyrond and Tenh. Ivid I also understood that if those rumblings had been silenced early on, those nations would still be apart of the greatest kingdom to have ever graced the Oerth. Examples must be made, lest the south follow the way of the west.
    As the rule of the Overking grew more despotic, the people of the city began to murrnur, and the Lord Mayor headed a deputation bearing grievances to the Herzog. These emissaries were thrown into prison, given a mock trial, and executed by ritual torture for the Overking' s entertainment (446 CY). [Folio - 11]

    Onnwal was shocked. Onnwal was incensed. Onnwal declares itself a Free State.
    Onnwal was originally a lesser fief of the Herzog of South Province, to be granted as he saw fit to his faithful followers. The oppressive rule of the Great Kingdom brought great discontent and instigated open rebellion, the whole of the South Province being in arms. All of the lower portion was lost to the empire when the Iron League was founded. [Folio - 13]

    Long-standing pressures upon South Province to bring the southern fiefs into line drove Damalinor of Naelax, the new herzog appointed by Ivid, to attempt to break the rebellion with an infamous act of villainy. In 446 CY, the lord mayor of Irongate petitioned to have his grievances heard in Zelradton and accepted an invitation to attend the herzog at his palace. When he and his party arrived, they were imprisoned and tortured to death for the overking's entertainment. Their remains were on display for weeks in the Traitor's Garden in Rauxes. So horrified were the people of Irongate by the account of the mayor's demise that the city revolted against the herzog and the overking. South Province was plunged into civil war and chaos. [LGG - 57]

    Ivid must be mad, some said. Ivid must be deposed others said. And thus civil war broke out within the Great Kingdom. I suppose some few must believe that was how the war began, but in truth, the war had been brewing for some time, steeped in a cauldron of ambition, avarice, and hate.
    Among the competing houses, the House of Cranden opposed Naelax, as did many elements of the House of Garasteth and the remnants of Rax. But in all houses’ princes were busy using the civil war as a cover for settling old scores and attacking their inhouse rivals. Ivid certainly had some such princes assassinated; the blame would be laid upon their own blood for this, increasing within-house divisions and making opposition to him less organized. [Ivid - 4]

    447 CY  Ivid’s treatment of the envoys shocked the entirety of the Great Kingdom. How dare Ivid! Onnwall screamed. So too the other southern provinces. The entirety of the southern Great Kingdom rebelled, with only the core of the South Province, Ahlissa, remaining loyal to Rauxes.
    The oppressive rule of the Great Kingdom brought great discontent and instigated open rebellion, the whole of the South Province being in arms. All of the lower portion was lost to the empire when the Iron League was founded in 447 CY. This alliance joined Onnwal with the Free City of Irongate (which barred the Onnwal peninsula), Idee, Sunndi, and the demi-humans of the Glorioles and the Hestmark Highlands in economic and military alliance. Onnwal and Irongate supplied the sea power, while the other members furnished troops for land actions -- although strong contingents from both of the former places were also sent into battle. [Folio - 13]

    Onnwal and Irongate provided the primary naval support for the Iron League, with the Szek responsible for shuttling league business between the Azure Sea and their allies in Nyrond and the north. [LGG - 80]

    [The] whole of the south was in arms against the realm, and after a brief struggle the Iron League was founded, an alliance of mutual support which aided the rebellious states to throw off the yoke of the Aerdi tyrants. [Folio - 11]

    When the Turmoil of Between the Crowns sowed rebellion and caused widespread division in the Great Kingdom, Onnwal joined the other southern states who broke from the Malachite Throne. The herzog of South Province failed to force them back into line, and Szek Parmus Destron became an independent lord in the aftermath. [LGG - 80]

    Onnwal had to pay. Ivid and the South Province believed that if Onnwal’s sedition was put to task, the city and its allies would fall and come to heel. Forces were gathered. Ships put to sea. Never before had such an armada been raised by the Great Kingdom against one of its own.
    The Battle of a Thousand Banners
    In response, Herzog Damalinor declared open season on the rebellious states. He targeted Irongate in particular as the keystone of the rebellion. He called up a force composed of hundreds of his vassals and kin (most of whom were landless, errant princes) and as bounty, he offered them a piece of the conquered states as spoils. So numerous were the so-called "privateers" and their men-at-arms that the ensuing siege of Irongate would be called the Battle of a Thousand Banners. However, the force was stymied by the success of the kingdom's own design of the fortress-city. Irongate was impregnable, designed to withstand siege and repel invaders like no other city. The herzog's commanders failed to quickly penetrate the city, and the Provincial Expeditionary Force was slaughtered by a combined host of men, elves, and dwarves; the surviving invaders were hunted down in the hills and slain over the next few weeks. [LGG - 57]

    lrongate was besieged by Aerdian forces for several months, but in the Battle of a Thousand Banners the siege was lifted when a ruse panicked the northerners, and great numbers of them were subsequently slain by a combined host of men and gray elves of the League. While never invaded, Onnwal is subject to periodic sea raids from the Herzog's squadrons. [Folio - 13]

    Word of the success of Irongate's defense quickly spread, and a great conference was called in the city, including representatives of other various rebellious states once a part of or governed by the vast South Province. Irongate, Onnwal, Idee, Sunndi, and the Lordship of the Isles declared independence from the Great Kingdom, witnessed by ambassadors from Nyrond and dwarf nobles from the Glorioles, Hestmark Highlands, and Iron Hills. This was followed by the formation of the Iron League by Irongate, Onnwal, and Idee in late 447 CY.
    Irongate became the headquarters of the alliance, accepting ambassadors from the other states. [LGG - 57,58]


    448 CY  Lordship of the Isles declares independence from the Great Kingdom Lordship of the Isles.
    The Iron League was quickly joined by the Lordship of the Isles in 448, and eventually the county of Sunndi in 455.
    The Iron League became very successful at keeping its enemies in the Great Kingdom at bay, using spies and subterfuge to resist the efforts of all herzogs to reclaim it [.] [LGG - 58]

    Ivid I of House Naelax brought pressure on the southern princes to fall into line, but the outrages committed by the new herzog of South Province, which included seizing Lordship vessels anchored in Prymp Town, drove the lords of the isles to declare independence along with the other states. The prince of the Isles joined the Iron League in 448 CY, providing naval support and conveyance for traffic between Irongate, Onnwal, and their allies in Nyrond. In so doing, the lord of Diren was forced to deal more plainly with his fellow lords on the other islands, sharing additional power and ceding more local autonomy to them over the ensuing years. [LGG - 71]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Ivid the Undying, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.

    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11374 The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
    11621 Slavers. 2000
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
    The Map of Anna B. Meyer


    Posted: 01-01-2022 12:54 pm
    Retconning Ratik

    “Presume not that I am the thing I was.”

    William Shakespeare  'Henry IV, Part 2' (1597) act 5, sc. 5, l. [61]


    Northern Ratik
    Time for a little retroactive continuity. I’m sure many others have set their campaign in Ratik, but I doubt many have done much in my little corner of the world, the area nestled between northern Ratik and western Fruztii. It’s a blank space on the map, as far as I can see. A blank slate, as it were. Time to fill it.


    But what to do? Begin with a map? I have one: Darlene’s map, and Anna B. Meyer’s map. I’ve doodled others, sad recreations of what once were, those maps I purged with a great deal of my old notes when I cleaned out my shelves of what I presumed I would never use or need again. I’ll sketch them out again, hopefully more legibly, and maybe again as I learn a CC3+. Now I need add some low-level adventures, just to get started. But what adventures? Most published adventures are in the Sheldomar Valley. That doesn’t mean you can’t steal a few here and there.


    In the beginning, modules were not set in any particular place. A few had, such as the original monochromatic B1 In Search of the Unknown, suggesting that The Theocracy of the Pale, or Tenh, or Ratik were good places to set the adventure—an odd statement, considering the World of Greyhawk Folio had yet to be published, so who could know where such places were? There were only vague references to Greyhawk as yet, artifacts, regions, and personages in the 1e DMG, but the adventuring world was very much a do-it-yourself, homebrew affair in those early days.

    S1 Tomb of Horrors was set in the Vast Swamp. That’s pretty specific now; not then. G1-3 (the monochromatic and the later compendium) were clearly set in mountainous terrain. But which mountains? Mountains abound in Greyhawk.

    It wasn’t until S2 White Plume Mountain, that modules began to be set in place, its place easily discovered in the Folio. S2 specifically stated that “White Plume Mountain is located in the northeastern part of the Shield Lands, near the Bandit Kingdoms and the Great Rift.” Granted, it also stated that you could place it anywhere you like within your own campaign, as most people would not have a copy of the World of Greyhawk and its maps for another year. Best not to alienate your customers.

    That said, everyone knows where Hommlet is. Now. That may not be true of the Slavers’ series, or Lendore Isles, or Orlane, or a host of other villages of countries—but Hommlet and the Temple of Element al Evil, you bet your ass they know where that is, even if they don’t really know where Verbonbonc is.

    2nd Edition want as far as to place those modules that had yet to find a home. I reference Return to the Keep on the Borderands and the Liberation of Geoff, in case you’re wondering what I’m alluding to. That said, the official setting of 2nd Edition was the Forgotten Realms. And Ravenloft. And Dark Sun. And Spacejammers. And Planescape. And Greyhawk, I suppose.

    3rd Edition took a different path. Most of its adventures were set in a “generic” setting, even if the “official” setting of 3rd Edition was Greyhawk. Best not to alienate your customers. A few modules had minor references to Greyhawk, setting the adventure path there, but not specifically. Paizo’s Adventure Paths were clearly set in Greyhawk. As was Living Greyhawk. But not the WotC modules. That annoyed me at first. No more. Personally, I prefer that now. Place them where you wish.

    But I digress.


    So, let’s recreate a campaign from memory, shall we? Or let’s set down what I can remember of the James Bay Frontier campaign, anyways, reimagining what I remember. Let’s also adapt what published materials I used to inspire said campaign.

    Remember my northern Ratik map? Let’s work with that, shall we?


    Let’s place B2 The Keep on the Borderlands where Riverport is. Do not feel constrained by the map of the keep, or the surrounding region. I will not be. It’s my campaign and want to be inspired by these works, not actually run them as written. So, let’s redo them. I would hazard a guess that the keep is too large, way too large. It’s on the northern edge of what was once the Aerdy empire, after all, the frontier, out of sight, out of mind, an afterthought if not pressed upon be the barbarian hordes. It would not be showered with funds. Aside from that, it’s lonely upon its hill. So, redraw it. Make it smaller, more “rural,” as it were, befitting a keep on the borderlands. I placed it on the Porcupine River. That’s a defensible position. Also, no keep stands alone, so wrap a town around it. It requires acres of farmland to support it, and tradesmen, and those tradesmen require infrastructure. Ratik and the Great Kingdom were largely human, so most people there are human. But where there are humans there are halflings. They are an entrepreneurial sort. There would be gnomes as well. There were gnomes in Ratik prior, so they would have moved north with Ratik’s forces when they pressed north.

    Place Hommlet at its base. Or something quite similar. Gary Gygax created a masterpiece when he wrote T1 The Village of Hommlet. We might as well learn from it.


    Those two modules ought to seed your imagination. They did mine.

    Keep the caves to the north, their existence a mystery to the people of Riverport and environs, their humanoid inhabitants a growing concern to the farms and the small mining communities to the north, in this case, Potts, Porcupine, and Tymons. There are dwurfolk in them that hills, and mountains, too, by the way. Higher up in the Rakers are the northern mountain clans, the clanholds of Ukauric and Ukargic, and lower down at their base, the hill clans, the Ukacuprum and Ukashal. There would be far more hill dwarves in Potts, Porcupine, and Tymon than their mountain kin. The clan names given them are in keeping with the clan names to the south, the Ukaloa, Ukamanini, and Ukafane, by the way.

    The humanoids are being gathered in the caves by an evil presence that has recently come down from the mountains to seed its mayhem and discontent upon the sparsely populated James Bay Frontier, that little addition north of North Bay. How long has that presence been there? Longer than we imagine; indeed, it has been there since Keraptis considered these lands his.

    The temple there has been reoccupied recently by devotees to that great evil from a bygone age, the Elder Elemental God. Keraptis was lured there because of it, and he had grown even more powerful because of it. So had Rogahn and Zelligar, for that matter, before they disappeared into the north country to deal with the barbarian menace, never to return. Did those two malevolent personages build Quasqueton? I think not. They may have expanded it, but they came upon that fell place, centuries after Keraptis had hollowed out its corridors. Should I use the venerable maps of B1 In Search of the Unknown? Absolutely not. They’re ridiculous, and lack verisimilitude. Redesign it. Take the temple out of B2 and put it in Quasqueton. Alter the description of it to match the unused temple in G1 The Steading of the Hill Giant. This temple is older and far more dormant than G1’s, which still exudes a palpable aura of Evil. This one will be foreshadowing of what is to come.

    We have an ancient temple that has called evil down from the mountains. Evil acolytes are gathering a humanoid horde, infesting the hills, attacking supply caravans, disrupting trade. They have even infiltrated the keep, as noted in B2. They have infiltrated the town too, much as they had in T1.

    They have begun to spread their influence to the coast. Enter N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God. See New Port? That’s Orlane … and Saltmarsh. Both, in fact. Slip N1 and U1-3 into the campaign. By then the PCs have gained a couple levels and Expictica Defilus will not be beyond the party’s ability to handle without help as she is in a N1.


    Duchess and Candella
    Enter B3. And Duchess and Candella. My favourite NPCs, if you recall.
    Allies, love-interests, foils to the PCs’ greed. What to do about what remains of B3? Ship B3 down the coast to Ulthek. We need not go as far south as Marner. Ulthek will do just fine, and it keep the campaign in the north. Ulthek sounds Viking, doesn’t it? Let’s make it a Suel marquis, still ruled by the family that has since the Houses of Pursuit settled here. They bent the knee when the Aerdi pressed north expanding their empire as far north as the Porcupine River (unnamed then). Keep Arik, make him another Ur-Flan, Keraptis’ vizier. Ditch the Protectors. Redesign the dungeon that lies below Ulthek.


    That’s a start. I’ve kept it low level, as I’m just beginning to reimagine Ratik and its untapped potential.

    Can you see where this is going? Something akin to ToEE, surely, with G1-3 added for flavour.

    But that’s for another day. There’s a lot of mid-level to consider.


    So, what about the history leading up to this suggested start of a campaign? There’s little written about the region north of the Timberway. It’s almost like nothing ever happened north of it. Even the Fruztzii’s history is south of the Timberway, for the most part.



    What do we know about Ratik? Quite a bit, actually. But not enough. I’ll embellish on what was. Take it as you will.

    Note: Italicised text from the Living Greyhawk Gazatteer, by Gary Holian, Erik Mona, Sean K Reynolds, Frederick Weining.


    Ratik

    Proper Name:    Archbarony of Ratik

    Ruler:                    Her Valorous Prominence, Evaleigh, the Lady Baroness (also Archbaroness) of Ratik (CG female human Rog9/Wiz3)

    Government:     Independent feudal monarchy having severed all fealty and ties to the former Great Kingdom, its successor states, and noble houses; member of the Northern Alliance

    Capital:                 Marner

    Major Towns:    Marner (pop. 6,600), Ratikhill (pop, 5,500}

    Provinces:           Fourteen freeholds ruled by human and dwarven great lords

    Resources:          Shipbuilding supplies, furs, gold, gems (IV), timber

    Coinage:               [Modified Aerdy] orb (pp), crown (gp), scepter (ep), penny (sp), common (cp)

    Population:         138,500—Human 79% (Sof), Dwarf 8% mountain 80%, hill 20%), Halfling 6%, Elf 3%, Gnome 2%, Half-elf 1%, Half-orc 1%

    Languages:          Common, Old Oeridian, Dwarven, Cold Tongue

    Alignments:        N, NG, CN, CG

    Religions:             Procan, Xerbo, Kord, Norebo, Trithereon, Phyton, Oeridian agricultural gods

    Allies:                    Frost Barbarians, dwarves and gnomes of the Flinty Hills and Rakers, Nyrond, Knurl (see Bone March)

    Enemies:             Bone March, North Kingdom, nonhumans in Rakers, the Pale (minor), Snow Barbarians (sometimes), Ice Barbarians


    Overview:

    Ratik is a small but prosperous nation located in the northeastern corner of the Flanaess. It is seated in a cultural crossroads between the otherwise civilized south of the former Aerdi Great Kingdom and the barbaric north of the Suel on the Thillonrian Peninsula. Ratik stretches between the Rakers and the Solnor Coast, where the modest city of Marner, the capital, is its only major port. Its southern border is marked by the fortified hills separating Ratik from Bone March. These extend east all the way out to the Loftwood, where the hearty woodsmen are allied with the archbarony. Ratik's northern border divides the Timberway between itself and the Frost Barbarians, a long-standing informal boundary that has been respected by both sides for centuries and only recently was acknowledged by formal treaty. While these barriers have profoundly isolated Ratik from the rest of the Flanaess, they also have served to protect it from invaders for centuries.

    The climate of Ratik is wintry much of the year, with heavy snows swollen with moisture from the Solnor falling steadily during the height of Telchur's sway. The windswept Timberway remains the greatest focus of the realm. It is a hunting ground that produces the pelts and furs used widely in the dress of the nation. It also provides Ratik with its greatest bounty, the timber and shipbuilding supplies that drive much of the economic activity of the archbarony. The western border of Ratik is an endless range of foothills, inhabited by dwarves for millennia. These mountains are dotted with mines of gold and precious gems situated between citadels of stone that protect the ways from the denizens of the deep mountains. Some farming is conducted during the short growing season in the open lands between Marner and Ratikhill.

    Ratik is populated chiefly by folk of Aerdi descent, with an Oeridian-Suel mix being common. Few Flan are here, though many Fruztii and some Schnai are present, expatriate farmers from their homelands. Dwarves and gnomes are numerous in rougher lands. Only humans prefer the coasts, where their fishing villages are located. Ratik is well settled despite being located so far north of the population centers of the former Great Kingdom, partly because so many refugees fled here from Bone March.

     While the rulership of the realm rests completely with the hands of the baron or baroness, its lord takes counsel with numerous constituencies, including the Council of Great Lords (fourteen human and dwarven peers), as well as the burghers of the small cities and towns. The current baroness, Lady Evaleigh, is the widowed stepdaughter of old Baron Lexnol, who yet lives but has been incapacitated for several years. Baroness Evaleigh is mistrusted by many in the kingdom, for she was not born in Ratik and does not always seem to understand its precarious position. It was the old baron who won the trust of the Fruztii and negotiated a treaty with their king. The dwarf and gnome lords respect decisiveness, and Evaleigh has shown little during her short tenure. While the military is loyal to the crown, many grumble that the count of Knurl, Evaleigh's father, has grown far too influential in the affairs of Marner. Lexnol had been working on a treaty with the Schnai to shore up his position against Bone March and its allies in North Kingdom, but these efforts are currently in shambles. Few things would please North Kingdom's "Overking" Grenell more than to see this realm succumb to chaos. [LGG - 89]


    History:


    In the beginning there were the elves. Only the hearty Sylvain elves ventured this far east and north, the Grey and High elves remaining south where the fields were green and the sun warm. The Wood elves set few roots, migrating with the elk and moose, tilling the soil only insofar as to sustain their numbers. They did raise two cities, Ostaear to the north amid the tall trees, and Carasaear to the south where the lands were flat and as yet fallow.


    Then the Flan migrated north, some fleeing the devastation wrought by Vecna and those Ur-Flan who shared his vision, others searching for the fabled realm of the Green God. They came upon the Sylvan elves, and together they hunted and fished, while others remained upon the Flats where the soil was rich and the winds were gentle.

    Some ventured into the Rakers, and into the Griffs, and found well-sheltered valleys there. It was in one of those that they discovered a valley blessed by Beory and Pelor, where summer never set. They raised a great temple to Pelor at its center and named their city Tostenhca. Great magics were worked there, its field were plentiful, and it prospered. Trade was plentiful, too, for the Dwur were pleased with their neighbours.

    Until Keraptis came and set all manner of monsters and demons upon them. He then revealed himself to that terrified city as its saviour, ridding it of ever greater peril, at ever greater cost until he was receiving its children as payment. The Dwur retreated from Tostenhca, until Gethrun Shoiraine begged them to aid him and his rangers in ridding his city of the evil wizard. Keraptis fled their collected might and Tostenhca returned to its past prosperity. Until Keraptis laid waste to the city.

    The people of Tostenhca fled into the valleys, and down into the lowlands. Those that remained slipped into barbarism.


    So it remained until the Suel arrived in pursuit of the Suel emperor’s sun Zellifar. Enfeebled by the power of Slerotin, the Houses of Pursuit had wandered east, without purpose or direction until they circumnavigated the Nyr Dyv and gazed upon those plains that had nurtured the Flan, and the elves before them, and saw a rich land, a peaceful land; and they decided to make it theirs. They made war upon the Flan, and having conquered them, ruled over the Bone March, the Loft Hills, the Flats, and the Timberway. But they had roamed far, and were still not content. They took to the coast, and then to the sea, settling what lands they saw until sighting the Tilvenot to the south and the Thillonrian Peninsula to the north.


    Then came the Aerdi, and they too meant to make those rich lands theirs. The Suel were no match for their fierceness, or the artifacts they wielded. They fought, and were defeated, and before long, those who did not pledge fealty to those they once ruled, were confined to those lands the Aerdi wished no claim to.

    They Houses of Pursuit had forgotten their past, and in time named their clans Rhizians. But they did not forget their destiny. They raided and probed those lands that were once theirs, and the Kingdom of Aerdy, not yet unified, could only chase those Barbarians that, season by season, beset their shores; and so it remained until Manshen bound the Celestial Houses of Aerdi to his will, declaring his Great Kingdom.


    After the Defeat of the Suel Barbarians
    After the defeat of the Suel barbarians who invaded the northern Aerdy hinterlands from the kingdom of the Fruztii in 109 CY, Bone March was established by Overking Manshen as a fief to reward his victorious commanders. However, it soon became clear to the leaders of the Aerdi military that a further buffer was required if these new lands were to be protected from additional incursions from the north. General Sir Pelgrave Ratik of Winetha, a wily veteran of the barbarian campaigns, appointed in 122 CY to oversee an expedition that would attempt to drive the Aerdi frontier all the way to the foothills of the Griff Mountains. Ratik and his forces inaugurated their expedition by crossing Kalmar Pass, taking the town of Bresht in a blustery winter campaign that cost the Fruztii dearly. After brokering an alliance with the dwarven lords of the eastern Rakers, Ratik proceeded to force a retreat of the Fruztii up the narrow coast and into the northern fastness of the Timberway. He wisely refused to follow them into an obvious trap and instead broke off the pursuit and fortified his gains. He was immediately hailed a hero in the south and his legend grew quickly.

    Over the ensuing months, General Ratik established a military fort overlooking Grendep Bay at Onsager Point. He called the place Marner, and used the newly founded town as a base of operations from which to secure the whole territory. Ratik soon began exploiting the shipbuilding opportunities afforded by the tall pines of the Timberway, and Marner grew from a sizable stronghold to a small port city. Ratik sent glowing reports to his superiors in the south and was shrewd enough to back them up with a steady stream of riches, including highly prized furs and precious gems acquired in trade from the dwur.

    In 128 CY, the Fruztii and Schnai allied to create an invasion flotilla. They launched a concerted attack on Marner during the spring that almost caught the Aerdi by surprise. In defense, General Ratik set the major approaches to the port ablaze, forcing the armada through a narrow approach where it was cut to pieces by the siege engines of the fort and a squadron of the imperial navy. The overking was sufficiently impressed with the victory that in 130 CY he elevated Pelgrave Ratik to the aristocracy, granting him the title of baron and the new lands as a personal fief. The family of Ratik gained the status of a minor noble house within the Great Kingdom, The walled town of Bresht was renamed Ratikhill in honor of the new baron, and it quickly prospered from trade with Spinecastle passing through Kalmar Pass. [LGG - 90]


    Manshen commanded Ratik to pacify the north. Scouts were sent north to discover what lay there. Ratik pressed north, and Suel House of the Timberway fell one after another: Abonhoth, Keth, and Ulthek. Each in turn pledged their fealty to the Overking, and each in turn wed their scions to those Aerdi houses that had campaigned north with Ratik.

    Ratik had paused where the Timberway thinned. Until gold and silver was panned in the River delta north of the Timberway. Prospectors surged north, then into the foothills. A port town, Riverport, sprang up at the extend of what came to be known as the Porcupine River, to supply them, and New Port, where the river discharged into the Bay named after the general who led Ratik’s forces to the river’s edge, Sir James Hoodsen. The north was soon called the James Bay Frontier, and the mining camps north of Riverport The Porcupine.


    Where the south has always been an archbarony of first Aerdy and then the Great Kingdom, the north was never culturally Aedri. It was Suloise, and Flan. These peoples were tied to their land and traditions, harvesting what was necessary, leaving all else for future need. They farmed, they fished, they felled those trees needed for ship and shelter. Most communities were small, clanholds, if not family.

    The Gold Rush
    That changed when gold was found. The Aerdi rushed north, panning the beds and streams ever north until veins were spied in the foothills. The rush was on. Mining camps broke ground, then rock. Adits and shafts plunged into the hitherto solid rockfaces. There grew the need to supply them. Ports sprung along the river, trees felled, soil tilled. Drovers and carts cut furrows into the oerth. Palisades rose to protect them, and the Kingdom’s claim to what until then was considered a wasteland.

    The Fists took note. Here were riches to be had, far from the established Holds to the south, far from their protection, too. And with them, the hordes of orcs and gnolls and ogres, who were far from pleased by the influx of so many humans.


    The baron and the marquis of Bone March became fast allies, and their descendants enjoyed a great deal of peace and success over the next two centuries, needing only to fend off infrequent raids from [north of] the Timberway and the Rakers until the middle of the fourth century CY. However, a massive invasion by a unified host of Fruztii and Schnai threatened to overwhelm the nations and sweep into North Province in 356 CY. The Rax Overking Portillan was concurrently embroiled in a struggle over the secession of Nyrond and had assembled an invasion force to head west, which he was forced to divert north to counter the new threat. The attack was soon turned back, though at great cost. So fierce was the defense of the men and dwarves of Ratik that even the Fruztii were impressed.

    The barony and the Great Kingdom averted disaster, but at the price of losing all of the province of Nyrond. Ratik and Bone March gained semipalatinate status following the Turmoil Between Crowns, which saw a shift of power from the Malachite Throne to the provinces. Few of Ratik's riches headed south in tribute, and Alain II of Ratik took to calling himself archbaron henceforth.


    Those little towns of New Port and Riverport flourished. Garrisons swelled. Piers bristled along the banks.

    Foreign interest took note. The Schnai. The Kingdom. The Sea Barons. The Lordship of the Isles. And the North Province. Marner took note and kept watch, strengthening the garrisons.

    The pious took note, as well. Avarice and greed were the only religion in the Frontier, and thus, souls must be saved. Clerics arrived to do just that, from Marner, from Rel Astra, from Rel Mord and Wintershiven.

    The Northerners were none too pleased by all the attention given them. Were it not for the gold and the silver, the south would never have given them a second thought. Were it not for the orcs and the gnolls and the Fists, the northerners might have wondered what need they of Marner’s oversight? They wondered anyways.


    Tales of Giants Upon High Cliffs
    Danger lurked everywhere. Prospectors began telling tales of giants upon high cliffs and shadowy figures amid the pines. And to sea, fisherfolk told tales of sinister shapes on the horizon and fins in their wake, of great dark shaped that swelled the waters beneath their keels.

    The Rhizians did not speak of such, not within hearing of the Ratikaans, anyway, but they began sending ships far asea in search of the presumed lost tribes of Vatun, and emissaries to Marner to consult the tomes of the college there, and expeditions into the Corusks and Griffs is search of lost cities and the mysteries they might contain. Hradji Beartooth led one such ill-fated expedition on 520 CY, but kept what secrets he had learned when he returned, never to reveal exactly what he found. He died within the year, before he could return to claim what he might have discovered. As did the rest of his party.


    The two states prospered greatly under the increased freedom, forming an alliance that allowed them to keep both North Province and the Suel barbarians at bay. House Naelax of Eastfair desired these rich provinces, but it was unable to successfully act against them until tragedy struck. In 560, nonhuman tribes from the Rakers and Blemu Hills struck into Bone March, subjugating the land in 563 and slaying its leaders. Herzog Grenell of North Province reached out to these usurpers, seeing an opportunity. Ratik and its baron, Lexnol III, had been forewarned and deflected most of the invaders, but could not prevent the disaster that befell the march. Lexnol, a skilled leader and tactician, realized that he was now isolated and no succor would be forthcoming from the south or the court of Overking Ivid V. He approached the lords of Djekul, who had grown less wary of the proud Aerdi in the intervening years and were even grudgingly respectful. With the Fruztii, Lexnol forged an affiliation called the Northern Alliance. Ratik subsequently became fully independent of the Great Kingdom and had the might to both hammer the orcs and gnolls of Bone March and dissuade an invasion from North Province.

    Lady Evaleigh
    In 579 CY, Lexnol's only son, Alain IV, the heir to the throne of the archbarony, married Lady Evaleigh, the daughter of the count of Knurl. The county was the only surviving province of Bone March, and the union was arranged to improve the lot of both realms. The following year, the Seal of Marner was stolen by agents of Bone March, an effort by the nonhumans to quash the alliance between Ratik and the Frost Barbarians. The document was recovered before it was secreted to Spinecastle, but not before news of the theft drove a small wedge between the Fruztii and Ratikans.

    Alain acquired the dream of uniting Ratik and Bone March, but failed to convince the king of the Frost Barbarians of his plan to drive out the nonhuman tribes. Many whispered that Alain was encouraged in these ambitions by his step-family, particularly the count of Knurl, whose position between Bone March, North Province, and Nyrond was grossly precarious. In certain agreement were the immigrants from Bone March, who were driven from their lands by the invaders. In 586 CY, Alain led a force of men and dwarves into Bone March in an attempt to retake Spinecastle with the baron's grudging support. The attack failed, and Alain's surviving lieutenants watched as the young lord was dragged from his horse by gnolls and slain. Nearly three hundred Ratikans were left for dead during the hasty retreat.

    Upon hearing of his son's demise, old Baron Lexnol collapsed. He awakened the next morning with a shock of white hair and a palsy that confined him to bed. Lady Evaleigh, now widowed, assumed the throne and has guided Ratik through the trouble that has befallen it. Raids from Bone March have become progressively stronger and more organized the last few years. Her father's realm, the county of Knurl, was attacked a few months ago and was only saved by the snows of winter. [LGG - 91]



    Conflicts and Intrigues:

    Ambassadors from the Scarlet Brotherhood were spied in Djekul. Ratik wants to expand the alliance against Bone March and North Kingdom to include the Snow Barbarians, but the Schnai will negotiate only with Lexnol. Agents of the Sea Barons have approached Evaleigh to gain access to Marner. A half-orc spy working for North Kingdom was discovered in Ratikhill but escaped. [LGG - 91]


    There’s gold in them thar hills. Where there is gold, there is high-grading, and crime, and intrigue. The James Bay Frontier was always a freewheeling district, remote, resentful of the Great Kingdoms’ oversight. Then Marner’s. But there have been orcs and gnolls and ogres of late. And the Fists.

    And pirates plying the seas, eager to plunder what bullion and ingots they may.


    The Fruztii have never been pleased with the Ratikaans settling this far north, in lands the had always claimed as theirs. But recent treaties had held their hand. Also, Ratik had helped Fruztii hold the Bluefang-Kelten Pass. And their fishing fleets have never prospered so much as when New Port and Riverport sprang to life.

    The Schnai have been less pleased. The Crustii, indifferent.

    But there have been words of discontent of late since more and more ships from the south seas have come to port, some from as far south as the Tilvenot Strait.

    The Seeds of Discontent





    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.
    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e,  The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Dragon Magazine.

    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    B2 Keep on the Borderlands cover, by Jim Roslof, 1980
    T1 Village of Hommlet cover, by Jeff Dee, 1980
    B1 In Search of the Unknown cover, by David A. Trampier, 1979
    N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God cover, by Tim Truman, 1980
    U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh cover, by Dave De Leuw, 1980
    B3 Palace of the Silver Princess cover, by Erol Otus, 1981
    Ratik Coat of Arms, realized in World of Greyhawk Folio, 1979
    The Death of Prince Alain IV, by Joel Biske, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000

    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9022 S1, Tomb of Horrors, 1978
    9023 B1, In Search of the Unknown, 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9026 The Village of Hommlet, 1979
    9027 S2, White Plume Mountain, 1979
    9034 B2, The Keep on the Borderlands, 1980
    9044 B3, The Palace of the Silver Princess, 1981
    9058 G1-3, Against the Giants, 1979, 1981
    9062 U1, The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, 1982
    9063 N1, Against the Cult of the Reptile God, 1982
    9064 U2, Danger at Dunwater, 1982
    9076 U3, The Final Enemy, 1983
    9147 T1-4, The Temple of Elemental Evil, 1985
    9317 WGS1, The Five Shall be One, 1991
    9337 WGS2, Howl from the North, 1991
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11327 Return to the Keep on the Borderlands, 1999
    11413 Against the Giants, The Liberation of Geoff, 1999
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The Map of Greyhawk, from Anna B. Meyer, free for download on her website

    Posted: 12-30-2021 11:00 am
    On Keraptis

    “This thing of darkness I
    Acknowledge mine.”

    ― William Shakespeare, The Tempest


    Keraptis

    Long before the coming of the Aerdi, the Ur-Flan held dominion over all they could see, having wrested it from the elves, and scattering them to the far corners.

    Those tales are harrowing, not for the feint of heart. Indeed, they are the stuff of unsettled sleep, if not nightmares. Their names resonate, even today, though those who whisper them know little of their exploits, only those terrors rumoured to have befallen any who might have stood against them.

    The Aerdi were lucky to have come to the Flanaess after those notable few had grown bored and left this plane, in search of the power and immortality they had always sought, or the history we know might have been quite different. Might? Surely would have, for the Ur-Flan were the very equal of those wizard-priests of the Suel and the Bakluni who had laid waste to their vast empires.

    Many famous villains can also trace their origins back to GREYHAWK: Vecna, Kas, Keraptis, Acererak, and Azalin to name a few! [Onnwal Gazetteer]


    Vecna is as well known as Zygyg, but his dreaded name is not spoken aloud for fear of arousing him. Once the most powerful undead wizard of any known world, Vecna was destroyed at the height of his power by his treacherous lieutenant Kas. Only Vecna's withered Hand and jeweled Eye survived, possessing frightening powers that can corrupt even the purest soul. Vecna attempted to return and conquer Oerth only a few years before the Greyhawk Wars and he nearly succeeded. Before his defeat, a servant of his was briefly able to slay the entire Circle of Eight. A Vecna cult survives, attempting to bring him back. Other notorious personalities include Iggwilv, the necromancer-witch who gave birth to Iuz: Zuggtmoy, a female archfiend known as the "Queen of Fungi," who has tried to subvert and conquer the Flanaess; Tharizdun, a "dead god whose revival, some say, would mean the destruction of the world; Acererak, the demilich whose "Tomb of Horrors" has destroyed hundreds of adventurers; Keraptis, an evil wizard whose volcanic home in White Plume Mountain houses powerful artifacts - and the world's largest crab; the Falcon, a serpentine monster who tried to take over the City of Greyhawk from below but is believed slain; and the Slave Lords, the organized crime masters who once dominated the Pomarj and Wild Coast, and may rise again. [PGtG - 26,27]


    The name Vecna inspires the most fear of those mentioned, but only because it was his Occluded Empire that sundered that of the elves, and for the horrors committed in his name. And it was Vecna who forged the sword that took the spirit of the Grey Elven king Galitholian Glitterhelm. And it was Vecna who had met his supposed end by that very sword, betrayed by his most ruthless and faithful servant.

    Those others, Acererak and Keraptis, were as wicked. As withering. As vindictive. Had they been brought down to as spectacular an end, maybe their names would have resonated through the ages as Vecna’s had; maybe if their had left witnesses to the wrath. But alas, they did not; and woe to those who should come upon them, for one cannot prepare for what comes if there is no warning.


    The History of The Pyronomicon

    Keraptis was an inquisitive sort. He must have been. And ambitious. Were he not, he would never have risen to the heights he had. But was he truly a Fire Elementalist? Maybe. I believe he was so much more, much like Leonardo DaVinci was more than an artist, in so far as he was a devotee to anatomy, natural history, science, and engineering. Truly, the Ur-Flannae were more than just magi, much as those early Suel and Babluni magi were wizard-priests, artificers and soothsayers. That said, I suspect he liked to play with fire, in more ways than one.

    The City of Brass

    Many scholars believe Keraptis was (or is, assuming the reports about his return are true) a Fire Elementalist, for the contents of the book are devoted exclusively to the study of elemental fire. In fact, half of the tome deals with the nature of the elemental plane of Fire and its denizens. Several additional chapters provide a thorough examination of the City of Brass (including a fairly accurate map of the city; [*]) and its inhabitants. The remaining pages detail an extensive selection of fire-based spells. Add to that the books appearance and Keraptis’ choice of residence, and the assumption that he was a Fire Elementalist seems to ring true. [Dragon # 241 - 79]

    [*see Al-Qadim, ALQ4 Secrets of the Lamp, by Wolfgang Baum, 1993]


    Comes the Prophet

    But where did he come from? Fleet? Haradaragh? Who can say? His origins are lost to time. What can be said is that he rose to great power, travelled the planes, and delved into fell knowledge.  And he learned much in those travels. But he needed a place in which to apply that knowledge, to unravel those mysteries he had gleaned. And those to administer to his needs while he did. He came upon gnomes he seduced with promises, and warped with malicious intent, and with them, he found the shining city of splendor, fabled Tostenhca, where summer never set.

    Would that they had never laid eyes on him, for he laid that fabled city low. He beset upon it monsters and misery, devils, demons and all manner of calamity, and then revealed himself, promising to free them of the parils that until then had been unseen and unheard of. They were grateful, for a time.


    The History of Tostencha

    -2024 CY              Some two thousand years ago, the wizard Keraptis established himself as "protector" of Tostenhca—a grand mountainside city of wide streets and towering ziggurats. But the wizard, who had extended his lifespan far beyond that of most mortals in his search for immortality, became more and more corrupt with increasing age. Over four centuries, the cost of his protection grew ever more burdensome, until eventually Keraptis was taking a piece of everything that the people of Tostenhca grew, made, or sold. With the announcement of yet another levy—one-third of all newborn children—the people rose as one, ousting Keraptis and his personal bodyguard of deranged gnomes. [Return to White Plume Mountain - 3]

    Historical Development of Keraptis: Erik Mona, Lisa Stevens, Steve Wilson


    The History of The Pyronomicon

    The Archwizard Keraptis

    [In] a time when the Flan tribes still dominated eastern Oerik, the archwizard Keraptis rose to power in the lands abutting the southern Rakers, and while most historians agree that the mage’s kingdom encompassed what is now known as the Bone March, a few scholars believe the territories that later became Ratik and the Pale were part of this empire as well.

    Yet, as is well documented in the little known Legend of Keraptis, the archwizard was a cruel man, so brutal in fact that, near the end of his reign, he demanded his tormented subjects turn over to him one-third of their newborn children as part of their taxes. The peasants did not take this atrocity lightly, and under the leadership of the high priest Gethrun Shoiraine and his ranger followers, the kingdom of the tyrant mage was sundered. [Dragon #241 - 77]


    I can only surmise that Keraptis required those children for his experiments. Or maybe he sacrificed them to Nerull and Incabulos, inhaling their life essences to prolong his life as he searched for the key to true immortality? Maybe, like Vecna, and maybe all the Ur-Flannae, Keraptis had a pact with the Serpent Mok'slyk, and needed the souls of the innocent to unlock those arcane mysteries that evaded him?  In any event, those children were never seen again.


    During the resulting chaos, Keraptis and his gnome bodyguards escaped to the south, but in his haste to evade capture, Keraptis was forced to leave behind several objects of particular value. Among them was The Pyronomicon, a huge tome devoted to the lore of Elemental Fire, which Gethrun claimed as his share of the spoils.

    Despite his inability to use the spells it contained, Gethrun retained the book some 50 odd years before turning it over to the elves of the Gamboge Forest. The elves, in turn, held the tome for more than 500 years, until the coming of the Oeridians. [Dragon #241  - 77,78]


    Tostenhca was free of Keraptis, but they had lost the favour of Palor. Their endless summer set, and the snows descended upon them, and life became a struggle, forevermore.


    The History of Keraptis

    Homeless, the wizard and his followers fled to the cities of the south and west. But wherever Keraptis went, his reputation preceded him, and he found no other settlements willing to accept his "protection." [RtWPM - 3]


    During these travels, which lasted most of three centuries, the wizard acquired several implements of surpassing power. The secret gnomish conclave from which he drew his bodyguard gave him the hammer called Whelm. In return for aid that would enable them to crack their divinely ordained prison, the mythical Cyclopes presented Keraptis with the trident named Wave. While future-communing with the last living entities of a dying multiverse, he received the sword called Blackrazor. But true immortality still eluded his grasp. [RtWPM - 3]


    The History of White Plume Mountain

    White Plume Mountain (82): The ancient volcano fortified by Keraptis is near the Riftcanyon, in hex T3-70. [WGG1e - 30]

    White Plume Mountain


    c.-800 CY              There were those who arrived without fanfare. Thingizzard, Witch of the Fens, was one such; she was already dwelling in The Great Swamp, north of White Plume Mountain, when the Elder Druid arrived, so who can say from whence she came. She certainly did not.

    Thingizzard

    Thingizzard was already living in the Great Swamp when Keraptis descended on White Plume Mountain some thirteen hundred years ago. Though the wizard thought nothing of attacking the volcano’s Elder druid guardian, he chose not to trifle with the Witch of the Fens. It may well be that Keraptis thought her insignificant, but it is more likely that he left her alone because of his phobia concerning undead. Though she is not human, Thingizzard appears as an old woman with pure white hair. She doesn’t know her own origins and doesn’t care to learn them; her only interest is maintaining the peculiar” ecology” of the Great Swamp. In fact, regular infusions of Thingizzard’s necromantic potions have made this place what it is. The witch pours these concoctions into the water regularly to nurture her “children” — the bog mummies. She can call these creatures to her defense at any time [….] Not only is the Witch of the Fens very strong […]), she [can] also […]: animate dead, […] control weather, curse, dream, [and affect the minds of any within her sight.] In addition, her knowledge of herbalism and potion brewing rivals that of the most respected mages in the land. [RtWPM - 15]


    -724 CY Thirteen hundred years ago, the wizard Keraptis was searching for a suitable haven here he could indulge his eccentricities without fear of interference. He visited White Plume Mountain, going closer than most dared to, and discovered the system of old lava-tubes that riddle the cone and the underlying strata. With a little alteration, he thought, these would be perfect for his purposes. The already had a bad reputation, and he could think of a few ways to make it work. So, taking with him his fanatically loyal company of renegade gnomes, he disappeared below White Plume Mountain and vanished from the world of men. [S2 White Plume Mountain - 2]


    Three hundred years after leaving Tostenhca, Keraptis learned of a great volcano called White Plume Mountain, in which still-living druids of the Elder Age guarded the secrets of immortality. Within the volcano, the wizard found a tangled maze of lava tunnels and an ancient druid serving as the sole protector of Elder secrets. The two fought a titanic battle for ownership of White Plume Mountain and its ancient mysteries, but in the end the wizard prevailed. After casting the druid's remains into a sea of magma, the triumphant Keraptis penetrated to the Druid's Fane, a secret chamber protected by molten rock.

    Laid Waste to Distant Tostenhca

    There, among other treasures of ancient sorcery, he found the archetypal iceblade Frostrazor and an enigmatic statuette. Keraptis used the figurine’s power to pronounce a heinous curse that laid waste to distant Tostenhca, thus exacting his revenge at last. Thereafter, Keraptis focused all of his vast faculties on the problem of death. He embarked on a dozen separate research efforts, all aimed at achieving eternal life without the need for constant magical maintenance and healing. It was one such project, empowered by the four enchanted implements he had obtained, that eventually allowed Keraptis to step forth from the Prime Material Plane into a distant shadowy realm where, he hoped, he would leave behind the constraints of mortality forever. Keraptis quit the volcano some five hundred years past. No one knows whether he achieved his ultimate goal or still pursues it in some far, dim dimension. Whatever his fate, Keraptis never came to White Plume Mountain again. [RtWPM - 3]


    Masterless, the company of gnomes loyal to Keraptis continued to abide within the active volcano, living off the gargantuan fungal gardens that the wizard had magically grown inside the caverns. Generations were born, only to live out stale, sunless lives and finally die within the mount a in. [RTWPM]


    Death need not be the end. Those of power know that. So too those of great faith.

    Aegwareth, Shade of Vengeance

    Keraptis slew the enigmatic Elder druid Aegwareth, who had protected the Fane for decades, and threw his remains into the surrounding sea of magma. Unbeknownst to Keraptis, however, the druid's spirit lingered within the magma pool, growing ever stronger with the passage of years. Now he openly seeks vengeance for his wrongful murder. The shade appears as a ghostly human, though his eyes, hair, limbs, and garments blaze with ethereal flame. In his normal, semisolid form, he can physically attack his foes, [burning them with his touch, and potentially aging them decades] on the spot. Only silver [or magical] weapons [can fully harm] Aegwareth in this form. The shade of vengeance is immune to sleep, charm, hold, cold, poison, mind-affecting spells, and death magic. In addition, he can fade into obscurity at will, becoming almost completely transparent. In this form, he is invulnerable to attacks and damage of any type, but cannot affect the physical world himself. (This obscurity power does not involve a retreat to the Border Ethereal, however, as that dimension is inaccessible from the Fane.) While obscure, the shade [can regenerate harm done to it.] Aegwareth has utilized the centuries since his death to strengthen his ties with an elemental entity of surpassing power called the Leviathan, which lives within the magma pool. Should he be unable to slay the original Keraptis upon his return, Aegwareth will call the Leviathan to complete the task, even though he knows that such a call will end his own existence. [RtWPM - 56]


    The History of The Pyronomicon

    The Oeridians, in their efforts to subdue all who would stand against them, roused the ire of a great red wyrm that had been lairing near the border where the Rakers, the Gamboge, and the Flinty Hills meet. It seems that a large Oeridian force lured the dragon out and away from its abode while a much smaller unit emptied out the place. In its rage, Harak col Hakul Deshaun as the Oeridians later named the dragon, which loosely translates to “he who comes with fire and fury [,]” rampaged across the countryside, destroying anyone it found. Eventually, its wrath fell upon the elves of the Gamboge, and when all was done, Harak col Hakul Deshaun was the new owner of The Pyronomicon. For generations thereafter, the land within 50 miles of Harak’s lair was carefully avoided by humans and demihumans alike, and in time, the legacy of Harak col Hakul Deshaun became little more than myth. This situation could not last forever, of course, and soon enough, the abandoned lands were reclaimed and settled anew. [Dragon #241 - 58]


    Into the Rakers

    189 CY  In CY 189; a large and powerful band of adventurers from the Great Kingdom, having learned of the legend, pushed all the way to the great wyrm’s lair intent on dispatching the dragon once and for all, but when they entered the place, it was completely empty. Apparently, Harak col Hakul Deshaun, crafty even by dragon standards, had already relocated to parts unknown; an assumption based on the fact that, without a corpse or sign of struggle to say otherwise, the dragon could not be presumed dead. And with the disappearance of the dragon, so too did The Pyronomicon vanish from the chronicles of men. [Dragon #241 - 58]


    The History of White Plume Mountain

    White Plume Mountain Map

    Centuries under the shadow of such great evil can taint a land. Indeed, it can poison it. The greater the shadow, the longer, and deeper the taint, and Keraptis cast a very long shadow.


    The Yellowflow River originates in the heated geysers and burbling hot springs of White Plume Mountain. While most of the volcano’s sulfurous water flows into the Great Swamp to the northwest, a portion of it forms a river running south. Because of the water’s high sulfur content, river life is sparse. With proper distillation, however, water from the river is drinkable. [RtWPM - 11]


    White Plume Mountain’s mineral-rich effluvia have nurtured this abnormal outgrowth of thorny plumeberry bushes for years, giving the leaves an unhealthy pallor. No creature larger than a halfling can penetrate the Twisted Thickets without a machete or other cutting implement. [RtWPM - 11]


    The swampland northwest of White Plume Mountain is, in essence, a large expanse similar to Twisted Thickets, half-drowned in the sulfurous water that pours continually from White Plume Mountain. Thus, travelers here face the same harsh conditions as they would in the Twisted Thickets, plus they must contend with the additional annoyance of knee-deep water. [RtWPM - 13]


    Just to the southeast of White Plume Mountain lies a series of buttes, [the Dead. Gnoll’s Eye Socket,] bare except for a pale green covering of grassy vegetation. These outcroppings vaguely resemble the head and shoulders of a supine hyena. This unique formation, in conjunction with a large cave in the southeastern section, gives the area its unique name. [RtWPM - 11]


    According to local legend, a dracolich named Dragotha makes its lair just west of White Plume Mountain. Tales of adventurers who have left to seek the beast and never returned are common in nearby communities, and several copies exist of a map purporting to lead to the lair. No such creature has stirred in recent memory, however, and the claims of its presence remain unsubstantiated. [RtWPM - 15]


    One would think that few would come near such a place, let alone live there, but there will always be a few souls, whether brave or foolhardy, who will settle where others will not.


    Mukos was a baronet from Greyhawk City who built a castle near White Plume Mountain some two hundred years ago. Unfortunately, he chose a poor location for his new home—right above an extended meenlock warren. These evil creatures took offense when the baronet’s stonemasons paved over the opening to their tunnel system. In the months thereafter, the castle’s inhabitants began to disappear, one by one. Those who remained complained of gradually intensifying nightmares, pursuit by unknown stalkers, and feelings of dread thick enough to choke on. When Mukos himself turned up missing one morning, the rest of the inhabitants fled, never to return. [RtWPM - 12]


    The Pyronomicon

    The History of The Pyronomicon

    390 CY  The Pyronomicon’s absence from recorded history lasted roughly 200 years before turning up again circa CY 390. This time, the owner was Foltyn, a capable Water Elementalist residing on a small island along the east coast of the Nyr Dyv. Though brilliant within his specialty, Foltyn was not known for his common sense, and he foolishly announced to the world his intention to destroy The Pyronomicon before the Joint Courts of Urnst during Richfest, when both Luna and Celene were full. Needless to say, it seemed like every powerful Fire Elementalist in the Flanaess descended upon Foltyn’s island abode exactly one week before the Midsummer festival, and in a spectacuJar, fiery display that lit up the night sky over an area some 100 miles in diameter, Foltyn and his island were wiped clean from the face of Oerth. [Dragon #241 - 78]


    The History of White Plume Mountain

    At last, some one hundred years ago, an invasion fractured the placid flow of days beneath White Plume. Lured by tales of treasure, several powerful heroes calling themselves the Brotherhood of the Tome burrowed into the sealed-off chambers of the volcano and stole the wizard’s four implements of power: Wave, Blackrazor, Whelm, and Frostrazor. The theft of these weapons trapped Keraptis in his shadowy realm, preventing his return to the Prime Material Plane.

    The residents of White Plume realized that more attacks might follow now that outsiders knew about the complex inside the mountain. Seeking protection, the gnomes opened the sealed caverns wherein Keraptis had conducted his research. Though they uncovered many wonders, it was the discovery of Keraptis-imprints that changed life under White Plume Mountain forever. As part of his research into immortality, Keraptis had tried for some time to embody himself as a being of pure thought in the matrix of a certain kind of spell. In that way, he reasoned, he could live forever in the minds of others. Though he ultimately abandoned this idea, the fruit of his research—several variant copies of the spell on scrolls — still remained. Each of these dweomers (called Keraptis-imprints or K-imprints) incorporated a full or partial copy of the wizard’s persona and knowledge, though all were in some way damaged or incomplete.

    Upon finding these scrolls in an opened chamber, an over-eager gnome immediately memorized one of them, thereby installing a copy of the absent wizard‘s consciousness in his own mind. Believing himself to be Keraptis, he rose up and began to gather back the stolen weapons of power that the ancient wizard had owned. [RtWPM - 4]


    His name was Nightfear. Or should I say that was the name he went by. He had long ago forgotten his name.

    Nightfear was once the gnome wizard Parfithal, a descendant of a gnome who followed the original Keraptis into White Plume Mountain countless generations ago. A sallow, average-looking gnome, he has a twisted smile and a demented gleam in his eyes.

    Following the precedent established by other pretenders, Nightfear managed to locate and claim one of ”his” original implements of power—namely Wave. Unfortunately, the Resistance recently stole the trident from him, then lost it to Thingizzard. In his grief and rage over losing the weapon, Nightfear sent out all his husks to search the mountain, hoping to catch a glimpse of Wave through their eyes. But in such small groups, they proved easy targets for the troops of the other pretenders. Thirty of his thirty-one husks died, [Nightfear’s powers were shattered.]. His last husk is currently in the hands of Killjoy […], but he is developing a new crop from underlings who have recently memorized partial K-imprints. At present, all of Nightfear’s other projects have come to a standstill while he schemes to retrieve his weapon. [RtWPM - 16]


    Keraptis had not left his lair undefended. Besides Nightfear, there were others lured, cajoled, and coerced into doing just that. Seduced by the K-prints, and in some cases, emptied by the power of Keraptis’ intellect and evil.


    Quesnef

    Qesnef: a huge ogre Mage who lost a bet with Keraptis and must guard his treasure for 1001 years.

    Spatterdock:

    The False Keraptis known as Spatterdock was once an ogre mage called Quesnef who served both the original Keraptis and the first False Keraptis. But his days of serving others ended when he managed to acquire a K: complete imprint. Following the precedent established by other pretenders, Spatterdock managed to locate and claim one of the original implements of power: Whelm. Instead of wielding it himself, however, the False Keraptis allows his favorite servant, the vampire Ctenmiir, to carry and use the enchanted hammer in his name. because of the thirty-four subsumed minds currently under his control. His real form is that of a huge ogre mage, but he typically uses his polymorph self ability to affect the appearance of a doughty halfling. [RtWPM - 27]

                   

    Killjoy:

    Killjoy

    The two efreet called Nix and Nox once served the original Keraptis here under White Plume Mountain. Later, Nox became a servant of the first False Keraptis, but Nix was not so foolish. After the death of the first pretender, Nox himself became a False Keraptis-the one now known as Killjoy-and the two friends parted ways forever. Determined to stop the False Kerapti and restore his true master to power, Nix formed the Resistance, a ragtag group of assorted beings who strike at all the False Kerapti from hiding. Nix can acquaint visitors with the entire situation under White Plume Mountain, including the identities and nature of all the False Kerapti, their holdings, and their movements, plus the precise fate that awaits hosts of active K-imprints. He also knows how to bring back the original Keraptis (though he expects his master to return as a functional adult), and he is always on the lookout for allies who can help in that endeavor. As an efreeti, Nix looks quite terrifying. To avoid frightening his forces, he routinely uses his innate polymorph self ability to appear as a large man with [reddish-gold] skin and tiny nubs on his forehead where his horns should be. [RtWPM - 24]


    Ctenmiir: vampire compelled by a curse to remain here in a trance except when defending the treasure secreted in his coffin.


    Mossmutter

    The False Keraptis known as Mossmutter began life as a mold wyrm. Already a product of leakage from the Basin of Boundless Life (see area 63), the creature accidentally fell into the pool of pure life-principle while fleeing from hungry fungus hulks. Of course, the eventual explosion blew the creature into tiny pieces, but some of its spores survived that process. They germinated, grew into a colony, and eventually became a new mold wyrm-one with rudimentary sentience. As chance would have it, this evolved mold wyrm swallowed a gnome who had just become a False Keraptis. This new pretender had just used his entire working complement of spell-like abilities in a battle with several fungus hulks. (This certainly amounted to overkill, but ths gnome was not known for wisdom.) As the gnome lay dying inside the mold wyrm, his mind took the only other action it could and ejected the K: complete imprint as an attack against the mold wyrm, thus creating the first fungus-based False Keraptis. Unlike the other False Kerapti, Mossmutter prefers to accumulate subsumed minds through direct fungal infection. Instead of passing out K-imprint scrolls, he transmits imprints through his infected spores. Because of this, victims of his spore cough become vegetative skin puppets in his service rather than young mold wyrms. At present, he functions as a 17th-level wizard because of the fifty-one skin puppets in his hierarchy. Mossmutter envisions an underworld realm controlled by one dominant, contiguous bed of fungal consciousness: him! The mold wyrm’s “memories” of being Keraptis are even more hazy and damaged than those of the other False Kerapti. He ”remembers” being human once, but rationalizes his current fungal incarnation as a magical experiment that, though he’s forgotten its particulars, was obviously a success. Despite his imperfect memory, however, the mold wyrm did manage to locate and claim one of the original implements of power: Frostrazor. Unable to use it personallv, he allows his trusted follower Sapraphis to wield the weapon for him. [RtWPM - 45]



    The History of The Pyronomicon

    403 CY  Although there is no record indicating which Fire Elementalist made off with the tome, it eventually found its way to the city of Greyhawk in CY 403, and into the possession of the sage Warfel II, the head of a generations-old family of scholars. When Warfel II died some years later, The Pyronomicon was passed on to his eldest child, Warfel III, who passed it down to his eldest child who, in turn, passed it on to the next generation, thus thus quieting the tome’s storied existence. [Dragon #241 - 78]


    576 CY  So it was until CY 576, when a new wrinkle appeared in the tapestry that is The Pyronomicon’s history. Warfel VI reported that, while poring over an old adventure journal, the very shadows within his study began to coalesce and solidify at a frightening pace, eventually leaping off the walls as twisted and deformed gnomes. With no reason to expect an attack in his very home, Warfel was quickly overwhelmed by the diminutive invaders and rendered unconscious. Upon waking, he found that his entire abode had been ransacked, but upon further inspection, nothing had been taken, save for The Pyronomicon.

    This strange twist of fate did not end there. Elsewhere in the city, and at roughly the same time Warfel’s home was assaulted, Not surprisingly, Warfel assumed the ta trio of powerful magical items (a sword, a hammer, and a trident, respectively) mysteriously vanished from the magically-protected vaults of their owners. In place of each weapon was a taunting riddle daring the owners to retrieve the items from a hidden location beneath haunted White Plume Mountain. Even more shocking than the weapons’ theft was the individual claiming responsibility. The archwizard Keraptis, thought to have died more than a millennium before, had apparently returned, for the riddles bore his personal symbol.

    heft of The Pyronomicon was linked to the theft of the weapons, so when adventurers were recruited in order to recover the weapons, the sage made sure that they kept an eye out for The Pyronomicon as well. But of those few intrepid adventurers who escaped White Plume Mountain with their lives, none indicated that The Pyronomicon was there, or even Keraptis for that matter. [Dragon #241 - 78,79]


    The History of White Plume Mountain

    561 CY  You’d think people would learn. This is a fell land, inhospitable at best, toxic at worst, maybe evil to its root and beyond, after so many centuries of what flowed from the lair of one such as Keraptis.

    Plague Fields was the closest human community to White Plume Mountain. But years of toxic seepage from the nearby Yellowflow River poisoned the groundwater, slowly killing off the livestock and crops. Gradually, the people moved elsewhere, and the town has now lain abandoned for fifteen years. [RtWPM - 11]


    After two centuries of weathering, one tower still remains intact, but the rest of the castle is little more than rubble. A determined search through the ruins reveals that almost nothing of value remains—looters have obviously visited here many times before. [RtWPM - 12]


    576 CY  [Several] weeks ago, […] three highly-valued magical weapons with the cryptic names of Wave, Whelm, and Blackrazer disappeared from the vaults of their owners in the midst of the city of Greyhawk. Rewards were posted, servants hanged, even the sanctuary of the Thieves’ Guild were violated in the frantic search for the priceless arms, but not even a single clue was turned up until the weapons’ former owners […] each received a copy of the following note:


    Search ye far or search ye near

    You’ll find no trace of the three

    Unless you follow instructions clear

    For the weapons abide with me.


    North past forest, farm and furrow

    You must go to the feathered mound

    Then down away from the sun you’ll burrow

    Forget life, forget light, forget sound


    To rescue Wave, you must do battle

    With the Beast in the boiling Bubble

    Crost cavern vast, where chain-links rattle

    Lies Whelm, past water-spouts double.


    Blackrazer yet remains to be won

    Underneath inverted ziggurat.

    That garnered, think not that you’re done

    For now you’ll find you are caught.


    I care not, former owners brave

    What heroes you seek to hire.

    Though mighty, I’ll make each my slave

    Or send him to the fire.


    It was signed with the symbol of Keraptis. [S2 -2]


    Many have ventured within. Many have perished.

    Some have called it a fun house, what with the myriad obstacles within. Others have called it a trap, those who survived, that is. Some have even called it a mouse trap. A funny thing about a mouse trap is that it’s less a trap than a test. One might wonder, what might this particular mouse trap be testing for? Fortitude? Persistence? Intelligence? You would thank that might warn the wary off. Yet still they come. And die.

    Then we came. But we were better prepared than most. We came with a plan. It worked well, all resistance falling before us.

    We cleared the way, dealt with the K-imprints, their minions, their husks, and gathered the weapons. We took to wandering, what if we kept them? They were truly powerful artifacts. We would put them to better use than to display them under glass, under lock and key, mere curiosities. We were within sight of the exit when a wall of force appeared. Not much of an obstacle, after all we’d been through. I made to dispel it when we heard:

    Not Thinking of Leaving, Are You?

    “Not thinking of leaving, are you? I couldn’t think of letting you go, especially with those little collector’s items of mine. And since you’ve eliminated all of their guardians, why, you’ll simply have to stay…to take their places. I’ll have to ask you to leave all of your ridiculous weapons behind and let [Box and Cox] escort you to to the indoctrination center. I’ll be most disappointed if you cause me any trouble and [Box and Cox] have to eliminate you.

    “Don’t worry—you’ll like it here.” [S2 - 14]



    Box and Cox

    A portal appeared, revealing a red sky replete with clouds that flowed like oil in water. Turrets. Minarets. Shining domes of brass. And withering heat as from a blast furnace. Two efreet stepped out from the shimmering heat. Then salamanders, slaadi, and legions of gensai. Giants.



    585 CY  Consequently, as of CY 585, the location of The Pyronomicon remains a mystery. [Dragon #241 - 79]


    As it should. Few would understand what lay hidden within, what secrets were hidden betwixt the obvious, the spells, the ruminations of the city of brass and its maps. Fewer still would have the intelligence or the wherewithal to suss them out, even if they had the inclination to look.

    No matter; they never will. None have since they were penned.

    And what right have they to those mysteries, those secrets?

    They have as much right to it as they do to these trinket, Whelm, Wave, Frostburn and Blackrazer.

    They and it are mine.

    And I would have my book back.

     
    Keraptis Upon His Throne



    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Thanks to Eric Mona, Lisa Stevens, and Steve Wilson for their “Historical Development of Keraptis,” to be found in Return to White Plume Mountain. Of course, this piece would not be possible if not for the writings of Lawrence Schick.


    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, S2 White Plume Mountain, Return to White Plume Mountain, Dragon Magazine.


    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.

    Wizard-s-Lamentations by rhineville

    Cloud-City-of-Brass by simonpape

    Prophet by nexumorphic

    Red-Wizard by nathanrosario

    Passive-Aggressive-II by dynax700si

    Hag by jay-emery

    Disease-Is-Born by damie-m

    White Plume Mountain Map, by Todd Gamble, Return to White Plume Mountain, 1999

    The Pyronomicon, by Michael L. Scott, Dragon 241, Nov. 1997

    Quesnef, by Bill Willingham, S2 White Plume Mountain, 1979

    Efreet-Warlord by jasonengle

    Wizard-s-Lamentations by rhineville

    Efreeti, by Erol Otus, S2 White Plume Mountain, 1979

    Keraptis Upon His Throne, by Wayne Reynalds, Return to White Plume Mountain, 1999



    Sources:

    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983

    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991

    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979

    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980

    9027 S2 White Plume Mountain, 1979

    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998

    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998

    11434 Return to White Plume Mountain, 1999

    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000

    Dragon Magazine 241

    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online

    LGJ et. al.

    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.

    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda


    Posted: 12-22-2021 07:34 am
    History of the South-East, Part 6: A Continuance of Sorrow

    “Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.”
    ― Homer, The Iliad


    Wicked Is As Wicked Does

    Wicked is as wicked does.

    The Great Kingdom was but a pale reflection of what it had been. The far-flung protectorates were falling from the fold. Were that its only concern. The Knights Protector had failed to safeguard the land they were sworn to defend. Evil had risen from within their very ranks, and threatened to overwhelm them. Hextor had risen in the east, and Heironeous had all but fled the land of the rising sun, preferring the west, where virtue still reigned.



    300-350 CY         As anarchy crept into the Great Kingdom, more and more of its northern provinces became increasingly independent. And in some case lawless. Petty fiefs sprang up, their rulers declaring themselves kings and barons and dukes and such. And where ruffians seized power, banditry prevailed. Those that banded together overwhelmed those that did not and became known collectively as the Bandit Kingdoms, a loose confederacy of tyrants that preyed upon one another and clung together to ward against those who’d wish to annex them. They saw themselves differently. They saw themselves as Free Lords.

    The Bandit Kingdoms are a collection of petty holdings. Each little kingdom is ruled by a robber chieftain claiming a title such as Baron, Boss, Plar, General, Tyrant, Prince, Despot and even King. In all there are 17 states within the confines of the area, ruled by 4 to 6 powerful lords, and the rest attempting either to become leading rulers or simply to survive. [Folio - 8]


    The Death Knights had become so powerful in the Great Kingdom that they began to hunt down the Knights Protector. Few came to the Knights’ aid. [Dragon #290 - 100 to 104]


    311 CY  History of the Orbs of Dragonkind

    Another [Orb of Dragonkind], a larger one, was discovered and lost in 311 CY by explorers in the Hellfurnaces, though this report is confusing in details. [Dragon #230 - 12]


    c. 320 CY              Following the lead of the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, the outer dependencies of Aerdy too began to claim sovereignty. The Great Kingdom, ever riven by inner turmoil and its increasing decadency, was shrinking. And in its lessened state, it could do nothing to stem the tide.

    Perranders, Velunians, Furyondians and Tenhas achieve success, establishing independent status one after the other in a series of minor but bloody wars. [Folio - 6]


    Zagig had grown rich, and powerful. He decided he needed a place that befit his rank, where he could do what he will, away from these eyes who might disapprove. So, he set about doing just that, and laid the foundations to Castle Greyhawk.

    Centuries past, when Greyhawk city was still a burgeoning riverbank trading post, Zagig was already a powerful magician. His adventurous exploits had taken him the length and breadth of Oerth and beyond—his command of magic had grown to heroic proportions. Zagig built for himself an enormous castle complex north of young Greyhawk. He used it to conduct his experiments, to build his personal guard of soldiers, and to store the treasures of his career. [WGR1 - 2]


    The Baths at Innspa

    322 CY  Never say that the Aerdi were ever uncivilized. Hygiene and social grace were, and still are, very important to them. Vast public baths were built in Innspa. This is not to say that they are not above enslaving an elemental or two to ensure their comfort.

    They were built in cy 322 by an eccentric wizard obsessed with personal hygiene, and the fire elemental he bound to heat the waters is still at work here. [Ivid - 77]


    356 CY  The founding of Nyrond marked the beginning of the Great Kingdom’s decline. One might think that the founding of Furyondy marked such, but in truth, though it did mark the beginning of its dissolution, the Great Kingdom had not looked to their Western Provinces for decades, and those provinces had not sought their aid or council for as long, so when the Viceroyalty of Ferrond declared its sovereignty, the Great Kingdom hardly took note. Its attention was firmly focused on the East; so, when its Eastern protectorates began to secede, the Kingdom chose to take note, and to act.

    The House of Rax, ruling Aerdi dynasty, was at the time sundered by an internal feud, and the junior branch, then known as Nyrond, declared its lands free of the rule of the reigning Overking [Portillan] and sovereign. [Folio - 6]

                   

    [T]he ruling dynasty of Aerdy, the Celestial House of Rax, had grown especially decadent. In response, the western province of Nyrond declared itself free of the Great Kingdom and elected one of its nobles as king of an independent domain. Armies gathered from all loyal provinces of Aerdy to suppress this brazen act. [LGG - 14]


    The subsequent inexorable decline of the Great Kingdom can be seen in two stages. The first is the beginning of the many secessions from the Overkingdom, with Furyondy the first to establish independence in CY 254 and Veluna and Tenh following soon after with Perrenland re-asserting its independence. The decisive blow was the division of this royal house in CY 356 when the Nyrond branch rebelled.

    The attempts of the then-overking, Portillan, to reconquer Nyrond were stymied by an assault on the North Province of Aerdy from Flan barbarians which forced Portillan to defend his own lands rather than reconquer Nyrond. With the Urnst states and the Theocracy of the Pale swiftly following Nyrond's path, Aerdy's dominance was broken. [Ivid - 3]


    Fate Takes a Hand

    Sometimes Fate takes a hand. Nyrond should have fallen. But just as the Aerdi dynasty was marching troops north to deal with Nyrond’s illegal declaration of independence, an allied host of Fruztii and Schnai invaded, threatening to overwhelm the Bone March and Ratik and sweep into the North Province. The Rax Overking Portillan had no choice but to divert his forces headed to contest Nyrond to counter the barbarian invasion. They were successful, but at a great cost. So many perished at in the kingdom’s defence that it had to accept Nyrond’s independence.

    A coalition of Fruzt, Schna and mercenary barbarians mounted a major foray into the Aerdian North Province. The Overking's army, raised to invade Nyrond, swung northeast and soon the invaders were crushed. The end of the campaigning season arrived before any action could be taken against Nyrond. [Folio - 6]


    Of course, Fate may not have had a hand in it, at all. Nyrond surely knew that the Kingdom would not take their declaration of independence lightly; surely, they knew that the Kingdom would retaliate. So, it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities that Nyrond may have sent emissaries to the Thillonrian Peninsula, informing the Barbarian tribes that the North Province might soon be vulnerable. And the Northern tribes just may have listened. Stanger things have happened. Of course, no one can say for certain if this really happened. But the timing is suspicious. Then again, sometimes Fate takes a hand, doesn’t it?


    The Battle of Redspan

    Nyrond’s secession was just the beginning. They pressed Tenh to join them in revolt, convincing them that this was the time to rise, that true freedom could be theirs. Tenh did not need much convincing. Tenh had always believed that they were independent of the Great Kingdom, had always believed that they were self-determining, but until then, they had never brazenly declared themselves so, fearing retribution, for the Great Kingdom was vast and strong, and they were small. They saw that now was the time to do so. The Aerdi were hard pressed, the Aerdi were weakened, so if not then, when? They rose up with Nyrond, and the Tenha cavalry routed the Aerdian forces at Redspan. And when that was done, the Duke of Tenh ended his fealty to Aerdian Crown.

    Eventually, the Great Kingdom showed signs of decay. When the Nyrondal princes declared the end of their allegiance to the overking, the duke was persuaded to follow suit. The Battle of Redspan signaled the end of the duke's fealty to the overking of Aerdy. The Aerdy force was routed by the Tenha cavalry and pushed down the "Red Road to Rift Canyon" in an action made famous in the ballad of the same name. The army of the Great Kingdom was not actually swept into the Rift Canyon, as the ballad proclaims, but they were so thoroughly defeated that many of the Aerdi officers and soldiers chose exile in the Bandit Kingdoms over the punishments awaiting them at home. [LGG - 113]


    361 CY  History of the Orbs of Dragonkind

    Everyone in the Flanaess must know the tale of the mad Zagig Yragerne, who is said to have taken a large white crystal ball [an Orb of Dragonkind] with him when he left this city one spring day in 361 CY and returned the following week with a hoard of treasure such as only a succession of kings would know, using some of these riches of course to build Castle Greyhawk. He returned here without the white ball, however, and never spoke of it nor even acknowledged its existence before or afterward.

    I have counted about two dozen other confirmed or probable appearances of the orbs between the fall of the Suloise Empire and the present day. The location of only one orb is known for certain to our cozy group of the Eight: The Orb of the Hatchling is unquestionably held in Rauxes, as Mordenkainen himself was able to demonstrate to our satisfaction last year. It is almost certainly the same orb held by Aerdy’s early overkings, but we do not know yet where the orb was found, how it was recovered, the uses to which it is being put, or the identity of its true owner or master.

    Unlike the sections of the fabled Rod of Seven Parts, the various Orbs of Dragonkind have never been reported to indicate the presence of any of their fellow orbs, for which I am sure we can all be thankful. No spell, not even a Wish, and some say not even a god, will reveal the location of an orb; you simply have to be lucky enough to find one and know it for what it is. They seem to function independently of one another, though tales circulate that unexpected abilities become manifest when two orbs are brought into proximity of one another. I believe most of these stories are exaggerations and falsehoods, but I cannot discount the possibility. Time, perhaps, will tell. [Dragon #230 - 13]


    c. 357 CY              Evil and decadence corrupted the Great Kingdom. All knew it. They cavorted with nether worlds and were thoroughly seduced by their promises.

    It was at this time that the evil began to grow within the rulers of the Great Kingdom. The House of Rax became decadent, its policies ineffectual and aimed at appeasement. The powerful noble houses took this as their cue to set up palatinate-like states, and rule their fiefs as if they were independent kingdoms. [Folio - 6]


    c 375-399             The Long slow fall.

    The Long Slow Fall

    Local rulers who were members of other royal houses began to use their titles of prince rather more aggressively. They began to enact more laws of their own, to administer local taxes increasingly independently of the overking, to build fortifications not only for themselves but for their own liegemen who came less and less to answer to the overking and more and more to obey only their own local lords.

    Mercenary armies became more common, and some princes conquered slices of other princes' lands. The drunken, enfeebled, or effete overkings allowed this to happen.

    The House of Naelax was the first to use humanoid mercenary troops around the Adri Forest for provisioning raids late in the fourth century. And it was this royal house which came increasingly to the fore.

    At this time, the Great Kingdom still had a relative freedom and equality of many priesthoods, although those of Lawful alignments were dominant. In Rauxes itself, the priesthood of Pholtus still played a commanding role as advisers, judges, and mediators. However, Naelax aligned itself firmly with the burgeoning priesthood of Hextor. In a land with increasing strife and struggle, this aggressive evil priesthood became more influential as the decades passed. [Ivid - 3]


    c. 376 CY              All great cities have a beginning. Sometimes that founding is unassuming, a crossroads, a need of portage, the discovery of riches nearby. Sometimes, it rises from necessity; Rel Mord began as such.

    Despite its location deep within Nyrond, Rel Mord is heavily defended and maintains the appearance of a huge fortress. Originally armored to protect itself against Nyrond's conquered states (the County of Urnst and the Theocracy of the Pale), the city watch now keeps its eyes toward the evil nations of the east. [WG8 - 14]


    c.430’s CY            House Naelex reached its zenith with the ascension of Herzog Ivid I in the North.

    House Naelax reached its nadir in North Province with the rise of Herzog Ivid I of the North in the 430s CY. Over the intervening two centuries, the Naelax had grown to be the strongest individual house in the kingdom, and by this time an undeclared war was raging between Rax and Naelax. Unusual for Aerdi up until that time, the Naelax employed orc and goblin mercenaries to augment their forces. [LGG - 74]


    Truth, Trust, and Transparency

    435 CY  Were the great Houses of Aerdy beloved? Were they ever? The Histories would say so, but they were written by those very same Houses. They would raise noble ideas of Golden Ages, and and the benevolence of the Celestial Houses, as though they were ordained and set upon the oerth to make it a brighter place. If that were true, then how did they fall so? Point in case, why was the House of Garasteth ousted from Roland, the Bay of Gates. And were those who displaced them any better?

    A despotic Garasteth ruler was overthrown in a military coup, and the leaders of that coup instituted their own despotism instead. To avoid assassination attempts, they kept their identities secret, meeting at irregular intervals in the windowless marbled keep known simply as Fortress. While The Five know who each other are, they meet masked and disguised in Fortress. [Ivid - 99]


    The Turmoil Between Crowns

    437 CY  The Great Kingdom continued to tear itself to pieces during the Turmoil between Crowns. The great Houses were always very much at odds with one another, always watchful, ever vigilant, and perpetually paranoid, because they have need to be.

    This name is given both to the decade of internal schisms under the rule of the last Rax overking, Nalif, and to the civil war which followed Ivid's ascension. [Ivid - 4]


    What can be said of those houses? Who were they?

    Naelax: Ruling Royal House, major landholders, noted for their penchant for building large-scale, formidable castles and fortifications—and for their vanity.

    Rax-Nyrond: The Rax line is officially extinct, but there are some illegitimate descendants of Nasri who claim a line to the malachite throne, and historically the house is of major importance because of its junior branch and the foundation of Nyrond.

    Torquann: An Oeridian-Flan-Suel mix, this house has dominated commerce and trade along the eastern coastal provinces. Traditionally aloof in politics, this house has a long, long history of dour, hard, depressive rulers whose lands suffer heavy taxation and repressive laws.

    Garasteth: The House of Garasteth is feared for its mages and sages, and for its inscrutability and arcane knowledge. The house is not much given to temporal power, but sees itself as a guardian of true Oeridian culture and wisdom. The house is increasingly influential among local rulers given the threat of the Suloise Scarlet Brotherhood to the south (and in the Lordship of the Isles). Garasteth rulers are hard, cold, cruel individuals, but they are to be feared on account of their devotion to learning and their formidable intellects.

    Cranden: Once the royal house, the Crandens have dominated Almor and Ahlissa for centuries. A worldly, urbane aristocracy, their prestige plummeted with the secession of Almor and the abortive attempt to ally South Province with the Iron League. The House of Naelax moved swiftly to remove control of these provinces from Cranden, but the other houses were not prepared to see Cranden wholly destroyed and exerted pressure which even the overkings could not wholly resist. The House of Cranden is important because it resists the more insane evils of the overking, and the old affinity with the Iron League is not completely lost. Irongate and Sunndi have friends they trust among the lesser princes of this house.

    Darmen: Often thought flighty and trivial by the more powerful political houses, the House of Darmen has devoted itself to trade and commerce and found its niche there. Easily the richest house, Darmen has massive landholdings from eastern Ahlissa through the central provinces with their rich and fertile plains, even as far as North Province. The House of Darmen believes itself fated to be the next Ruling Royal House, with its ambitious young Prince Xavener employing a sensible long-term strategy. Xavener has no intention of wasting his armies assaulting Rauxes. Instead, he bankrolls mercenaries for competing houses elsewhere. Often, he bankrolls both sides. That way, he is certain to back the winner—who will owe him a very large favor. When the time comes, with everyone else's armies decimated, Xavener will call in those favors and march on Rauxes. Such is his plan, at any rate. However, not all in the House of Darmen support him. [Ivid - 10, 11]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Ivid the Undying, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.


    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.

    evil-Knight by tottor

    Bath by armsav

    Raids by samuelebandiniart

    Zagig Tragerne, by Franz Vohwinkel (?), Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, 2007

    The-Roman by alicechan

    venetian-mask by mittelfranke

    Roman-Skull by brianbrianski



    Sources:

    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983

    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992

    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979

    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988

    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980

    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989

    9292 WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins, 1990

    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993

    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998

    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998

    11374 The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999

    11621 Slavers. 2000

    11742 Gazetteer, 2000

    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000

    Ivid the Undying, 1998

    Dragon Magazine

    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online

    LGJ et. al.

    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.

    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
    The map of Anna B. Meyer


    Posted: 11-28-2021 10:59 am
    On the Ratik That Was, Wasn’t, Then Was Again

    "Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can find his way by moonlight,

    and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."
    ― Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist


    A rumination on Ratik:

    Ratik

    Ratik is a small but prosperous nation located in the northeastern corner of the Flanaess. It is seated in a cultural crossroads between the otherwise civilized south of the former Aerdi Great Kingdom and the barbaric north of the Suel on the Thillonrian Peninsula. Ratik stretches between the Rakers and the Solnor Coast, where the modest city of Marner, the capital, is its only major port. Its southern border is marked by the fortified hills separating Ratik from Bone March. These extend east all the way out to the Loftwood, where the hearty woodsmen are allied with the archbarony. Ratik's northern border divides the Timberway between itself and the Frost Barbarians, a long-standing informal boundary that has been respected by both sides for centuries and only recently was acknowledged by formal treaty. While these barriers have profoundly isolated Ratik from the rest of the Flanaess, they also have served to protect it from invaders for centuries. [LGG - 89]


    The last “civilized” land, clinging to a narrow patch of land between towering mountains and an “endless,” mysterious, deep blue sea? Barbarians to the north, hordes of orcs and gnolls to the south? What’s not to like?

    As to the Timberway being split between the Fruztii and Ratik, I pushed the border north, to the widest river in the region, the likely most defensible border. Canon? No, but the border seemed far more natural there, and it fit in with what I had planned in my campaign.


    The Keep on the Borderlands

    I’m getting ahead of myself. I do that. To begin, then. What was my introduction to Ratik? Not with the Folio. The World of Greyhawk boxed set. ’82? Thereabouts. That’s not right, either. My introduction was with B1, B2, and B3. B2, Keep on the Borderlands, specifically. Not Greyhawk, you say? Not Ratik? I beg to differ. There was a time that modules were not tailored to specific sites. They were meant to be slipped into your own campaign, as you saw fit. And as to whether B1 and 2 were ever meant to be placed in Ratik, I give you exhibit B1, from B1:






    Anyway, those were the modules we began with, and B1 suggested that Ratik was one of the places it could be set. My DM had mentioned as much, and added a town to the keep, and a campaign began.

    Then, after a time, and a few modules, he and we parted ways. Henri wanted to run modules. We wanted more narrative. I became the DM.

    It was only after we had parted ways that I discovered how difficult DM’ing could be. Henri did a great job, in my opinion. The time spent in his game was fun, thrilling, magical. We were also winging it. We began playing with an incomplete set, with the Players handbook, the original Red Box, and B2. Henri made up a lot of rules on the fly, and we were none the wiser, seeing that none of us had any books at the time. We were all learning. And forgiving, then, too, at the beginning. Less so when we parted company.

    Our town had not been named. So, I named it: Riverport. I nicknamed it Malice, after a song by the Jam (not terribly imaginative, but the name set the tone for the campaign to come). I look back now and have to laugh at how naively it began. What to name things? I stole from everywhere: books, songs, movies, myth, wherever. I had no maps, no source material at the start, so I concocted a greater empire, and named it Pengarde, an obvious rip-off of Arthur’s surname.

    Needless to say, it was messy. These days we refer to Greyhawk as a messy setting; but Greyhawk was a streamlined wonder compared to Pengarde. A word to the wise. Do not, and I mean never, use fantasy fiction as an inspiration for world creation. I most certainly did in those early years. The maps within those tomes are ridiculous for the most part, so too the names given to forests and rivers and deserts. I blame Tolkien and his Mount Doom for kicking off the trend. I was inspired by such earnest and evocative names, and seeded them throughout, only realizing afterward that no forest would ever be named Limitations, and by then I was stuck with them.

    But I also see a level of sophistication developing. It was built upon, layer by layer, likely how most campaigns begin, if one is not playing modules. Modules were expensive, and we did not have a game store yet that sold such things at the time. And when we did, there were LPs to buy. And novels. Etc. And I only made $3.30/hour at the time. So many priorities.
    Someone finally did open up a comic/gaming shop. I picked up the Gold Box, and read what there was to be had about Greyhawk. It was then that I came upon Ratik for the first time in print:

    The North Coast
    When the Bone March was created by the Overking, a further outpost was desired and the Aerdi banners pushed northward as far as the Timberway. A military commander was appointed to see to the establishment of a secure territory and lumbering was gotten underway, as the great pines of the area were highly desirable in shipbuilding. The active commander soon sent such a stream of riches southward (he was a just man, friendly with the Dwerfolk, and an able tactician, too) - accompanying them with detailed reports of successful actions against the last of the Frost Barbarians in the area - that the Overking took notice. After a raiding fleet was roundly beaten, the Overking elevated this general to the nobility, creating him Baron Ratik. Thereafter a succession of his descendants have ruled the fief, bravely combatting raiders so as to gain their respect and even friendship from some, while humans and demihumans alike prospered. 'When the hordes of humanoids began attacking, Ratik had ample warning from the dwarves dwelling in the mountains. Companies of men and gnomes hurried west to aid their countrymen against the invaders, while couriers were sent south (and north) to alert the people there. Resistance was so fierce that the area was bypassed, and· the attackers fell instead upon the Bone March. The isolated barony has since been ruled as a fief palatine. [WoGA - 32]
    That’s not much to go on, but it was enough to spark the imagination. I stole from that boxed set. Suloise, Oeridians, Flan. Cultural affectations. Gary’s encounter charts. This and that. The names within were far better than the Forest of Limitations, that’s for certain. Would that I had picked up the “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire,” and Herodotus, and Roman, Celtic myth. Beowulf, Gilgamesh. Cuchulainn. No matter, I picked up that boxed set and fell in love with that map.
    I was buying modules then. Those I could get my hands on, anyway. Those that were not too expensive, that is. G1-3, D1-3, S1-4, N1, I1,6-8, A1-4. Enough to stoke the imagination, though not as many as I wished to and wanted. LPs, novels, cinema tickets, the arcade, pop and chips. You remember.
    In time, we left for school (as did I), and then to begin lives and careers elsewhere. These things happen.
    I found myself without a group for a time. What to do to fill the void? I took the time to adapt my campaign to Ratik, which was obviously the inspiration for the original.
    B3 Duchess and Candella
    I wanted the newly adapted campaign to have a frontier feel. Easier to handle, I believed. Towns were scaled down. What used to be concentrated in Riverport was spread about, giving the characters the need to travel. And ultimately renamed The James Bay Frontier (the bit above the North Bay), to differentiate it from the more settled, and presumably stable south (full disclosure, I live in the James Bay Frontier; maybe doing so was less than imaginative, but I thought the moniker was pretty cool, and it was far better than the Forest of Limitations). There was wildcat mining in the north. Stone circles and ‘henges. A felled Flan civilization underfoot. Bandits. The mystery of Rogahn and Zelligar. And eldritch horrors of eons past. And giants in them thar hills.
    Duchess and Candella
    Candella and Duchess homage
    I found those old modules invaluable, especially B1-3, N1, G1-3. Duchess and Candella became staples in it. Allies. Love interests. Foils. And remained so even unto G1-3.
    G3 Duchess


    A new campaign arose from the ashes of the old, with some old players, with some new.
    And in time, that too faded away as the lives of players overwhelmed them and they moved away.
    Enter 25 year hiatus. Did I buy more RPG material? You bet I did. Did I read much of it? No. I leafed through some, not all, and rarely completely.
    Sadly, I purged a lot of that original material, years later. That means dumpster. Not my D&D stuff. I was never going to dumpster that. As to the rest, much of it was never used: Boxed sets for Star Trek RPG, Doctor Who, Traveller 2300, Space 1889, I cannot remember what else. And reams of my old campaign notes. I regret that. But it was just unused paper in my mind at the time of the purge, the flotsam of childhood become jetsam; but I felt the wrench of small death as I chucked it, watching a precious portion of my youth discarded with it.

    Time passed, the aforementioned 25 years before I was approached, lured back into nostalgia. I pulled out my old books even as I was buying the 5e stuff, and was thrilled to discover my old notes, originals as it were. Two thoughts collided as I leafed through the sacred pages, their naiveté, and my spark of imagination.
    Do I remember that old material that was purged? Not all. But I remember enough. Not a lot of the town names. Those are lost to time.
    So, here is a recreation, updated as it is upon referring to Anna Meyer’s map of the region. I even added Len Lakofka’s Layakeel to it.

    Are they to scale? No. Not really.
    Are they rough? Yes. Decidedly. Considerably. Consider them a scratchy pad rumination.
    Has my penmanship improved? Not a bit. If anything, it has failed in pace with my eyesight.
    I bid you be kind as I rewind.
    My players loved my campaign. To this day, those I still know say that mine was the best they’d ever played in. And in the end, isn’t whether your players enjoyed your campaign all that matters?




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.


    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, Cover, by Jim Roslof, 1980
    B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, Duchess and Candella, by Jim Roslof, 1981
    G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King, Female Thief, by David A Trampier, 1978


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9023 B1 In Search of the Unknown, 1979
    9034 B2 Keep on the Borderlands, 1980
    9044 B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, 1981
    9058 G1-3 Against the Giants, 1981

    Dragon Magazine

    Posted: 11-24-2021 06:37 am
    History of the South-East, Part 5: A Descent Into Sorrow

    “His descent was like nightfall.”
    ― Homer, The Iliad


    A Kingdom Grown Fat on Indulgence

    The Great Kingdom had reached its apex; and with it, decadence. Its aristocracy had grown fat on indulgence; its throne even more so. An omen of the coming days had streaked across the sky, predicting its decline; of course, none had taken heed. Theirs was the time of unparalleled wealth, and unparalleled power. Had they looked to the past for guidance… For the Suel Imperium might have taught them the price of pride, hubris, and cruelty.


    c. 200 CY              The Viceroyalty of Ferrond looked to the east, and so apathy. And a rising incomitance. The Kingdom had left them; that much was sure. But the Kingdom still demanded its tithe, for the Kingdom believed that was its due. The Viceroyalty was not as convinced of that venerable seat of power’s claim. For, did not Dyvers determine their course, did not Dyvers see to their affairs. What need did they have of the Malachite Throne then?

    For three centuries the Aerdy held a vast empire which fluctuated in extent but little, until after the third Celestial House (dynasty) when the borders began to close in upon the original territory of the Aerdi. [Folio - 5]

    As the power of the Malachite Throne in Rauxes waned, the Viceroys of Ferrond ruled more by their own writ and less by the leave of the Aerdi overlords. [Folio - 10]


    The Kingdom, in its hubris, did not heed the stirrings of independence to the west. Trade flowed. Riches continued to arrive. But too slowly for its liking. So, Leukish was constructed to facilitate the flow.

    By 200, Aerdy coin had seen to the construction of Leukish, at that time the richest and most splendid port on all the Nyr Dyv. Thirty-seven years later, the duke moved the capital to the new city, leaving Seltaren to degenerate into a swarm of old politics and run-down buildings. The duke's family established Shorewatch, a beautiful castle in the village of Nesserhead, just east of Leukish. [LGG - 125]


    202 CY                "And it started like a guilty thing; Upon a fearful summons." [Hamlet]
    During the reign of Overking Jiranen, Lord Kargoth was reputedly the greatest knight of the day. So, when the standard bearer of the Knights Protector passed into legend, Lord Kargoth fully expected to be named his successor, a fitting tribute to his long and illustrious career. When a much younger Sir Benedor was proclaimed successor, the realm gasped in disbelief, despite it being rumoured that the youth had been touched by the spirit of Johydee. Kargoth’s pride was much wounded. The Banner should have been his, he seethed!  He challenged the young knight in the Court of Essences to a contest of arms, and although fearful, the young knight accepted the challenge. The clearly weaker young knight parried Kargoth’s attacks, never giving up the floor, and held his own until sunset, upon which the challenge was called. Stalemate! According to custom, Kargoth had lost. He refused the young knight’s hand of truce and stormed from court and the sneers of his peers. He vowed revenge.


    He Came Upon a Ruin
    Kargoth took refuge from the deluge that accompanied his flight. He came upon a ruin, and a stair down into the dry darkness beneath it. An ancient shrine greeted his torch upon reaching its base, that and the whispered words of the demon Ahmon-Ibor, the Sibilant Beast. Kargoth knew this beast, Demogorgon, to be a fell fiend worshipped by the decadent Flan until they were pacified by the Aerdy. The whispers promised a plan of revenge and Kargoth was seduced by those whispers, and he swore a blood pact to seal his deal. Tentacles sprung out of the darkness and tore out his eyes, and Kargoth became the first Death Knight. He emerged to discover the Knights Protector riven by the slight given him. And he was pleased.
    Monduiz Dephaar returned to the Great Kingdom upon hearing of his mentor’s supposed disgrace, seeking to join Kargoth in his revenge. Others joined him.
    Dephaar did not see Kargoth’s disfigurement. Kargoth kept it hidden at all times. He kept his distance; he held his meetings in darkened rooms, his incensed ravings woven with belching clouds of acrid incense.
    Saint Kargoth
    The whispers instructed him on when it was time to act upon his vengeance. When it was time, he gathered those who sided with him, and raided the Temple of Lothan, and taking its holy artifact, the Orb of Sol, in hand, he bent the Orb’s power to his will. He raised it high, and speaking words of power, summoned the draconic tentacle demon beast Arendagrost, as he was bid. And set it free upon the world. Arendagrost began to cut a swath of destruction from Rel Deven to Rauxes.
    Sir Benedor rode hard to Rel Deven upon hearing the news. He arrived in time to witness those thirteen knights who’d accompanied Kargoth rise from their death sprawls, their clothing scotched, their flesh burned, their eyes aglow with malevolence. He summoned all of his courage and closed with Kargoth. He attacked with abandon, sure in the knowledge that if he did not, he was lost. Near his end, he managed to wrest the Orb from Kargoth, and instructed by it, he too spoke words of power and he scattered those deathly knights that he once called peers, and began his relentless quest to destroy them.
    His victory came too late for the royal family, though. They had fallen victim to the rampaging fiend. Indeed, one had fallen and was raised by Kargoth in his own image to mock their feeble power, and set him too upon the world.
    Was Benedor successful? No. The Death Knights were swift, and they laid a trail of undead in their wake to slow him. [Adapted from Dragon #290 - 100 to 104]

    203 CY  The Order of the Knights Protector hunted the Death Knights, their desire to eradicate them. They were blight upon the kingdom they had sworn to protect; and truth be told, they could not abide the thought that those who had fallen to that dark path had been so easily lured from it. The Knights Protector failed. To their own detriment.
    Few events shook the order as greatly as the betrayal of the paladin Sir Kargoth, who made a pact with the forces of evil and unleashed a demonic terror upon the Great Kingdom in 203 GY. The abomination was destroyed at great cost, but the fallen knight seduced no fewer than thirteen members of the order to his dark banner. Kargoth's treachery cursed everything he touched, and sunlight turned all fourteen traitors into the first and most powerful of the so called death knights.
    The order went into slow decline after this upheaval, as many loyal knights spent much time hunting down the renegades. [LGG - 158]

    The Death Knights:
    St. Kargoth the Betrayer, Lord Monduiz Dephaar, Lady Lorana Kath of Naelax, Prince Myrhal of Rax, Sir Maeril of Naelax, Sir Farian of Lirthan [destroyed by Benedor], Lord Andromansis of Garasteth, Sir Oslan Knarren, Sir Rezinar of Haxx, Lord Thyrian of Naelax, Sir Minar Syrric of Darmen, Duke Urkar Grasz of Torquann, Sir Luren the Boar of Torquann, and Lord Khayven of Rax.
    [Dragon #290]

    213 CY  How complacent was Rauxes? How depraved? How self-serving?
    Upon the death of Overking Jiranen, his son Malev auctioned off the throne to the highest bidder. For how much? A princely sum, I would imagine, for few could meet the price Malev would accept. His cousin Zelcor could, and did.
    [With] the death in the spring of 213 CY of the Overking Jiranen, a sovereign who had reigned many years, succession became a matter of intrigue. His fatuous son Malev was uninterested in the office and proceeded to secretly auction it off to the highest bidder among his relatives. Malev did not care who took the throne, and it came as some surprise when his cousin Zelcor reportedly met his price. [LGG - 23]

    Royal Astrologers at Rel Astra proclaimed the coming of the Age of Sorrow, vindicating the disgraced Sage Selvor the Younger.
    Selvor the Younger, an Aerdi astronomer, extrapolated its path [of the comet that passed overhead in 198 CY] back to its celestial origin and declared the fireball to be an omen of “wealth, strife, and a living death.” This pronouncement caused panic in Rauxes and throughout the Great Kingdom, where it was interpreted to mean the end of the world. The subsequent incidents and unrest foreshadowed the Age of Great Sorrow to come, in 213 CY [LT1 The Star Cairns - 2]
    The Royal Astrologers proclaimed it as a great portent, confirming the sign of a coming Age of Great Sorrow prophesied by Selvor the Younger fifteen years earlier. Overking Zelcor promptly abolished the astrologers' order for trying to recreate earlier hysteria and banished the members to Rel Astra. So proceeded an inexorable decline that began as the rulers of House Rax became progressively neglectful, decadent, or dimwitted. [LGG - 23]

    From 213 CY on, the Aerdi overkings grew lax, caring more for local prestige and wealth than for the affairs of their vassals in distant lands. This period was called the Age of Great Sorrow. As each sovereign passed, he was replaced with a more dimwitted and less competent successor, until the outer dependencies of Aerdy declared their independence. [LGG - 14]

    The new Overking Zelcor began to distance himself from the Knights Protector, for public opinion had swayed against them and their favour. Lord Kargoth had fallen, and had seduced thirteen of their number to join him on his evil path, and the people had suffered for it. What had the Knights Protector done to stop their fallen, they asked? Nothing. Or so it seemed. The had chased that evil number hither and yon, and yet the Death Knights continued to wreak havoc. What then, were they good for, they asked? So too did Zelcor. [Dragon #290]

    Wastri
    215 CY  Who was Wastri, the Hopping Prophet? The Malachite Throne had no idea. Neither did the Scarlet Brotherhood. Some few in the Brotherhood assumed him to be one of the original followers of Kevelli, but they had no proof of such a claim. He was powerful, to be sure; a god some thought; most believed him a heretic.
    The first appearance of the frog-like demigod Wastri in 5730 SD was met with surprise, confusion and disgust. “Wastri” had been the name of one of Kevelli’s students lost in the swamp so many years before; and the demigod’s humanocentrism, and his belief that humanoids existed to seve humans, paralleled their own philosophy. Regardless of his origins, the Hopping Prophet was obviously tainted. The Brotherhood declared him an impure creature (although this was done privately so as not to offend the demigod), which kept them from working closely with him. Wastri seemed content to remain in his swamp, initiating occasional raids into the forests and hills nearby in search of demihumans to impale. [SB]
    It is he who preaches the ultimate superiority of humankind. While humanoids can serve, demi-humans are fit only to be slain — especially dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. These, with the aid of his gray-clad “Servants,” he hunts with his toad packs and exterminates whenever possible. [Dragon #71 - 56]
    Orcs, goblins, bullywugs, and such are sufficient to serve humans [….] Those who disagree […] are wrong and must be convinced of their error, with a weapon if need be. [LGG - 187]

    Was Wastri Iuz? Is that possible? Might that master of mayhem and deceit begun to weave his web that far south of his domain?
    When Tarkhan [of the Wolf Nomads] arrived to raise the siege [of Eru-Tovar], Lord Choldraf was forced to screen the withdrawal of the luzites, since the humanoids under the wizard Mellard-Plict were too undisciplined and unreliable to handle the assignment. In fact, most of the wizard’s troops had deserted, or merely decided to wander off on a raid of their own, by the time the Battle of Black Water Bend was fought. The high priest is in disgrace now, but it is likely that Choldraf will find some way to redeem himself with luz. It is reported that the wizard fled immediately upon the loss of the battle, going far south and now raising companies of bullywugs in the Vast Swamp, supposedly at the behest of Wastri, the Hopping Prophet. [Dragon #56 - 19]
    This beg the question to be asked: Why did Choldraf flee to the Vast Swamp of all places? To redeem himself there? Why there, unless that was where Iuz was to be found.

    There are those who say that Wastri was a but a man, a zealot dent on finding the path of spiritual perfection through isolation, privation, and meditation. In this he was encouraged by all who met him, for he was unpleasant and out of place in any normal society. It was as much ostracizing as choice that sent the zealous seeker forth to find the path to his “enlightenment.” The religious hermit found what he was seeking in the vast wilderness of mires and marsh. The experience was not what he expected. Wastri found he disliked being alone, so he made friends with the denizens of the swamp and sought converts—simply because he wanted the company of servants. Instead of contemplating the mysteries and seeking the greater truth, the fellow grew bored, since all he discovered within himself was shallowness.
    Rthe community of his followers grew, and as things developed, Wastri’s main interest centered on the first friends he’s made in the bogs, the giant toads. Over the course of decades, the Hopping Profit grew more powerful, even as he and his faithful following assimilated certain characteristics of a strange sort as a result of their mingling.
    To this day, Wastri has continued to evolve to a point where he is no longer human. [Dragon #300 - 16]

    230 CY  Zelcor looked ever inward, slowly withdrawing those imperial troops that had stood steadfast upon the Kingdom’s borders. Did he believe his borders secure? I doubt he gave them much thought, what with his having ignored the prophesy of doom that preceded his “ascending” to the throne—ascending?—suppressing said prophesy might be a better description. I would make the brazen assumption that he recalled his forces in hopes of protecting Rauxes, any himself, from the Death Knights that had plagued his kingdom for decades.
    This period was […] marked by a noticeable decline in the quality of Aerdy rulership from Rauxes. This time, called the Age of Great Sorrow, led to an important change in 230 CY, when Aerdy soldiers were withdrawn from Greyhawk [City] and the landgraf was charged with defending the Selintan region using local militia. [TAB - 58]

    233 CY  Was Zelcor a good and just king? Was he competent? Was he corrupt? As to the fist two questions, who can say; he had sat upon the Malachite Throne for decades, so he was certainly proficient at keeping that seat. As to the third? Most certainly. And that would certainly call into question the veracity of the first two.
    House Naelax finally regained the throne of North Province in 223 CY, after the untimely death of Herzog Atirr Movanich. Some say this was accomplished by paying off the heavily indebted Overking Zelcor I, who had no aversion to procuring his own berth over a decade earlier. [LGG - 74]
                   
    237 CY  One might think that Seltaren was well situated upon the Plains of Palentine, central to all it oversaw. A bastion of Suloise culture. And so it was, and had been for centuries. [Gifted] with a moderate climate, the farms of [the Dutchy of] Urnst produce crops in all but the deepest winter Summer rains commonly flood the banks of the Nesser well south of the capital; wise farmers construct low stone walls around their fields, building outbuildings on short stilts. The famous rolling foothills of the north prevent serious flooding there, and make for breathtaking landscapes remembered in travelogues read across the Flanaess. [LGG]
    Despite all that, the cool breezes flowing off the Nyr Dyv called to the Duke of Urnst. He moved his capitol from Seltaren to Leukish and established the castle of Shorewatch, in Nesserhead just east of Leukish.
    Thirty-seven years [after the the construction of the port of Leukish], the duke moved the capital to the new city, leaving Seltaren to degenerate into a swarm of old politics and run-down buildings. The duke's family established Shorewatch, a beautiful castle in the village of Nesserhead, just east of Leukish. [LGG - 124]

    247 CY  The Knights Protector persevered, despite their having failed to destroy Kargoth and his chosen few. Lord Kargoth’s castle walls were pulled down by the Knights Protector, in a desperate bid to deny Kargoth any haven, any succor within the kingdom. Were that true; they razed it to erase the his memory from those who dwelt under its shadow. Were that possible. What secrets it may have held have remained buried ever since.
    Rumours persist that he settled on the Isle of Cursed Souls, but if truth be told, Kargoth had only been seen once upon that northern coast, and that during the Flan Festival of the Bloody Moon. [Dragon #290]

    252 CY  Some seed take decades to germinate: the Theocracy of the Pale, for instance. Who would have thought that its first seed was planted a century prior to its Emancipation? But it was. And it was first seed was sown by Overking Toran II, a paranoid, suspicious soul, if there ever was one. He saw enemies everywhere, he heard whispers in the far corners of his court. And knew that he had tenuous hold on the length and breadth of his Great Kingdom. None should rule but him. And to that end, those with any influence need be uprooted. Replaced. With those more loyal.
    Centuries before the founding of the Pale, when the Great Kingdom spanned nearly the length and breadth of the Flanaess, the church of Pholtus had the appointed task of administering the courts for the realm on behalf of the overking and the Celestial Houses. Its highest ranking member was given the title of Holy Censor and granted a fief to administer from the old city of Mentrey in Medegia, where judges of the law from all faiths were trained and appointed. When the order of Pholtus fell out of favor with the overkings of House Rax in the mid-third century CY, it was largely due to the perception that its leaders were attempting to impose their doctrine on the kingdom and create a theocracy through their control of the courts. While this may have been true of some its more outspoken leaders, the accusation undoubtedly owed more to the apathy of the Pholtans to the evolving politics at court. So it was with the near concurrence of all other sects, that its highest ranking cleric was removed from the Holy Censoriate by Overking Toran II in 252 CY and replaced with the priesthood of Zilchus, which was then closely allied with the Houses of Rax and Darmen. This was considered a reasonable compromise, as no consensus could ever be achieved between the faiths of Heironeous and Hextor, the most individually powerful sects of the Great Kingdom at the time. [LGG - 81]

    254 CY  Thrommel I was crowned in the city of Dyvers.
    The Crowning of Thrommel I
    And thus it began. Far from the influence of the Malachite Throne, the Viceroyalty of Ferrond declared independence from the Great Kingdom, and was thereafter called Furyondy. This marks the beginning of the dissolution of the Great Kingdom. Never again would their influence reach as far. In truth, its influence had not swayed Ferrond for some time.
    The viceroyalty of Ferrond [was the first of the Great Kingdom’s outlying protectorates to break from the fold], becoming the kingdom of Furyondy. Other regions also broke away from the ineffectual government of the overking over time, creating their own governments after achieving success in their wars of rebellion. [LGG - 14]

    The heir to Viceroy Stinvri (the Viceroyalty had become hereditary some years previously) was crowned in Dyvers as Thrommel I, King of Furyondy, Prince of Veluna, Provost of the Northern Reaches, Warden General of the Vesve Forest, Marshall of the Shield Lands, Lord of Dyvers, etc. [Folio - 10]

                [The withdrawal of Aerdy troops from Greyhawk] was briefly rescinded in 254 CY when Furyondy declared itself independent of the Great Kingdom, putting Greyhawk right on the Great Kingdom’s border with the Former viceroyalty. A large imperial force was stationed at Greyhawk, with a smaller force camped outside Hardby, but their skirmishes with the Furyondian army came to nothing. [TAB - 58]
                     
                The Pholtans had been betrayed. They felt supressed, banished to the fringe of the society they had guided and nurtured. And lost under the weight of the depravity that hung over the land like a shroud. The dreamed of a new land, a pure land, one free of persecution.
    In the aftermath of this episode, many of the most zealous members of the faith of Pholtus began abandoning the heartlands of Aerdy, citing religious persecution and rising decadence in the empire, accelerated by the withdrawal of Ferrond in 254 CY. While there was some truth to their claims, these were largely exaggerations and considered by most the protestations of a group suffering waning power and influence.
    Most of these religious emigrants traveled through provincial Nyrond, eventually settling in the western valleys of the Rakers in the Flan hinterlands. These lands were desired by few, being at the very frontiers of the Great Kingdom and located in the severe climes of the north. Here these Aerdi clerics and devout followers made a home for themselves among the native Flan, who held an old semi-independent realm to the northwest in a place called Tenh. These early pioneers struggled greatly against the depredations of a harsh land and its denizens to carve out a nation for themselves, calling it the Pale and dedicating it to their god. [LGG - 81,82]

    Court Intrigue
    mid-250’s            As the Houses Rax and Darmen waned, House Naelax grew more powerful with the aid of their close connection to the worship of Hextor. The Pholtans and Heironeans had proven themselves too weak to defeat the Death Knights. The court knew as much. It was time for those with true strength to steer their course.
                    The Naelax grew powerful after the mid-250s CY, when their primary rival, the Heironean church, achieved independence in far-flung provinces such as Ferrond and the Shield Lands. Many of them withdrew from the increasingly decadent Great Kingdom, and no longer would these two rival orders contend equally for the attention of the Malachite Throne. [LGG - 74]

    The rise of the Hextorians made the satellite states wary. So too the persecution of those deemed too powerful, too independent, in the eyes of the Malachite Throne. So too the Death Knights. They began to retreat from the core, and sometimes that meant past persecutors might become present protectors.
    A half-century after the Great Council of Rel Mord, the County of Urnst became a palatine state under the protection of the richer and more powerful Duchy of Urnst, a political situation that continues to this day. [LGG - 123]

    The War That Never Was
    261 CY  The expected war with Furyondy never happened. There were skirmishes. There was much shield rattling. But before long, the would-be combatants settled into a wary stalemate. And even that eased. Furyondy needed their forces for what Keoland might desire. And Rauxes needed theirs for what enemies might arise within.
    The Overking withdrew most of the [imperial forces from Greyhawk] in 261 CY, leaving a small garrison at Hardby until 277 CY.
    As the Aerdy army left, the Landgraf of Selintan was ordered to bring his militia up to imperial standards and defend the Great Kingdom’s border with the Kingdom of Furyondy. However, the landgraf […] had been holding secret talks with […] Dyvers [and he] knew Grehawk was in no danger from the new kingdom, which believed that the seizure if Greyhawk would provoke a swift counterattack from Rauxes [….] [TAB - 58]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.
    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Ivid the Undying, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.

    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Saint Kargoth, by Greg Staples (?), Dragon Magazine 290, 2001
    Wastri, by Jeff Easley, Dragon Magazine 71, 1983
    King-of-the-Britons by thedurrrrian
    Court-Intrigue by petite-licorne
    Lay-down-your-weapons by quintuscassius


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11374 The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
    11621 Slavers. 2000
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
    The map of Anna B. Meyer


    Posted: 11-19-2021 04:20 pm
    On Leomund

    “I long to hear the story of your life, which must captivate the ear strangely.”

    ― William Shakespeare, The Tempest


    Leomund


     A sleeping town under a cover of new-fallen snow. The silver glow of the moon casts a dim light down upon the darkness, but does nothing to disturb the silence. On the lattices of a frost-coated window, a bright island of golden light dances, shimmering and flickering as the candle flame inside the room is tossed about by the wind that forces its way through the cracks around the window. In the flickering light, an old man traces his finger across the archaic writing of a tattered grimoire, pausing every few moments to gaze out the window and lose himself in dreams of forgotten lore . . . knowledge . . . and power. [Dragon #82 - 55]



     Who was Leomund? The easiest way to answer this would be to put the question to Len Lakofka, himself, since the old sage was his character, and let him tell the tale in his own words. And he did just that in the Oerth Journal #10.

    Much has been written about Leomund over the years, not all of it by Len, so there might be some confusion as to who he was and what he did, and whether or not he was a member of this group or that. Such is the way of things. Others take the reins, they extrapolate, they interpolate, they expound, and the character becomes something else, a work of fiction that is not what was.

     His was a humble beginning.I was born on Fireseek the 3rd 479 CY (5994 S.D. – for those of you who are civilized) “…. in a forest somewhere”, or so my mother told me. She was not very clear on exactly where and I never did press the issue. My guess is the Celadon Forest since she once said that she lived in Beetu in the Kingdom of Nyrond for a dozen or more years. When I visited Beetu I found it populated by a number of full-blooded elves as well as a number of people who are a mixture to human and elf. [OJ10]


     We know more about his mother than we do his father.

    In the Beginning...

    I never met my father but as the years passed I discovered that he was part elf, likely a quarter elf as best as I can determine. His heritage manifested itself as a very slight resistance to [sleep] and [charm] but more importantly by giving me a limited form of [infravision]. Being able to see a source of heat in complete darkness, when that source is about ten feet away, has saved my sorry rear end on more than one occasion! A least I did not get pointed ears out of the deal. Thanks dad. His heritage has also helped when it comes to my life span. I’m 111 now and I only feel like I’m 50 or so, not too bad for an old duffer like me. [OJ10]

    Was his father an adventuresome sort? Maybe. Most likely. His mother most certainly was. Mother was a thief, I mean rogue, just in case you were unclear. [OJ10]

    Final Kiss

    That may be why she was attracted to him. She and he were very likely first thrown together for just that reason. I would suggest she enjoyed a fast life, one fraught with risk. Why? Mother was a devout worshipper of Norebo [….] [OJ10]

    What happened to him? Leomund does not say. And neither did his mother. Maybe he died. Maybe he didn’t; maybe she absconded with the party’s loot.

     That’s speculation. We must keep with what Leomund said, in regards to her.

    My mother, Elsieadar, was a pure blooded Suel. She was born in the Duchy of Urnst but found that her profession “…. was not always welcomed with open arms”, and, therefore, she decided to move to a more receptive locale. She had a typical Suel pale complexion, purple eyes and light curly red hair. She usually dressed in clothing that was bright red and orange splashed with yellow. My earliest memories of my mother were that she seemed to be aflame when she often wore her bright red town cloak. The cloak was red at the hem and gradually changed into reddish orange, orange and became yellow by the time it got to the neck and shoulders. The garment, at a distance, made the wearer look as though they were bathed in fire. I liked the look a great deal and copied it later in my career when I dabbled with “pyrology” and founded the Red Star League. [OJ10] 


    Mother travelled, with him in tow. That much is obvious, regardless why she left the Celedon Forest. First to Irongate, shortly after his birth, then on to the Spindrift Islands in 482 CY, where they lived for a time in Kroton, then on a small farm on the outskirts of Lo Reltarma.

    Why did she travel so much? Maybe by necessity.

    Elsieadar in Irongate

    I remember nothing of the city and she told me very little. The exception was a sign of one of the thief’s guilds that existed in the Iron League. These rogues were of a lawful nature and politically inclined as well. Years later I came to know a number of them personally and they helped me with the organization of my own ‘guild’. [OJ10]


    I think it obvious that she was a member of the guild. How else would a boy of such tender years learn such a thing? 

    That said, I mentioned earlier that she was a devout woman, even if her devotions were self-serving. A risktaker, she naturally wished to stack the deck, so to speak; who better then to worship than the god of luck? Such devotion rubbed off on Leomund; if not her path.

    Mother was a devout worshipper of Norebo and because of her I took up the profession of cleric at the age of ten. […] However, I did not become a cleric of Norebo. When I attended a Church of the Big Gamble I was torn between laughter and protecting my purse. Even at ten years of age I discovered Norebo’s house of worship to be a ludicrous place. Instead I found that Lendore was a bit more to my liking. His temples were clean and orderly and somehow that produced a feeling of tranquility that I found refreshing. [OJ10]


    Young Leomund

    Even so, his future path was all too clear, even if he did not pursue it then. The clerics taught him to read, and he was soon reading everything he could get his hands on, even if that meant neglecting his devotions. His mentor, Rallyman, was both frustrated and pleased with his student. He might have censured the boy, but instead of getting angry, he encouraged him, and soon, Leomund was elevated to librarian.

    Then, just after his 16th birthday, Rallyman sent him upon a task. Go collect a tome, he said, to which Leomund set upon the road to Kroton to retrieve a book from Elesar ‘a Bendar, a sage of some repute. He took along a couple of the sons of Rallyman’s old adventuring party, a fighter named Sormat and a roguish fellow named Tegger, for the road can be a dangerous place.

    We got the book all right and were on the way back when the little band of thieves hit us. Tegger was surprised by the first volley, surprised to see three arrows protruding out of his belly. Sormat and I were lucky to be missed by arrows as we watched Tegger go down to his knees and then kiss the ground. I pulled out my trusty hammer and dropped it. Sigh. I guess I should not tell every agonizing blow in this melee but when it was done there were five dead thieves (including Tegger) and Sormat was cut up badly enough to be unconscious. I was fortunate that the thieves took Sormat as the threat and not me. Thank you Lendor. I did have a cure and after some work I got him bandaged enough to get back on the trail.

    I did learn my first lesson in being a scavenger from this melee. I got a reasonably good fitting set of leather armor out of the deal and a few coins as well. More importantly I found the scrap of parchment with the map to the place where the thieves were to drop the book off. Sorehead, I mean Sormat, wanted to avenge poor Tegger and since I absolutely needed a guard I had little choice. It also taught me not to tell everything that I discovered to a fighter in the party while we were still on the adventure. “What an idiot!” I thought to myself – I called him an idiot actually but then he punched me in the nose and this reinforced the lesson of not speaking to fighters. [OJ10]


    I would be remiss if I did not describe Leomund, at this point.

    I had the look of a Suel male. I was thin and pale with dark blue eyes and reddish blond hair, which, alas, began to fall out when I was the tender age of 29. I topped out at 5’11 and have stayed below 150 pounds my entire life. I, like my mother, like to dress in red and orange but while adventuring I learned that a dark green or dark gray cloak is far more practical. [OJ10]

    So, Leomund was Suel. Yes and no. He most certainly was, but more. We would call him a Variant human, now. He would refer to himself as Quarf (¾ human, ¼ elf), his father Hulf (Human-elf).


    Further adventures followed, but Leomund found that his interest in the arcane drew him from his devotions, and he began to wonder if a life in the service of Lendor was indeed his calling. He had an active and inquisitive mind, and a cloistered life did not lend itself to study and research, in much the same way as his life in the library had.

    In Tutelage to Elesar 'a Bendar

    He decided to leave the monestary and apprentice himself to the Sage Elesar ‘a Bendar, who had subsequently moved to Loreltarma, where Leomund spent the next four years studying and copying text from one tome to another. And for the next thirty years, Bendar sent him on missions to the Spindrifts, Medegia, the Lordship of the Isles, and as far away as the Iron League nations, and beyond. 

    A notable adventure when I was 37 years old and [by then, of considerable talent,] occurred in the Hold of the Sea Princes. As you know the Sea Princes had mostly ‘retired’ by this year (516CY). A few, who did not live along the coast, had taken to keeping and selling slaves. It is a popular misconception that all the ‘princes’ held slaves. That is not the case. Many of the coastal nobles abhorred slavery but they were not powerful enough in the central plain and western mountain valleys to stop the practice. Also the Island Fleet Commodores still favored slavery as well.

    Elesar sent the three of us to meet with Prince Jeon (the 1st). He was to direct us to the probable location of a book of great potency that was carried from the Suel Empire and had somehow made its way into the possession of the Plar of Hool. The Plar, then Yestiman ‘ad Grep, was a fat, totally detestable fellow with blotchy skin who constantly scratched at himself in many uncomely ways. Yestiman was in Monmurg at the time for an annual festival celebrating the Hold’s former seafaring prowess. We tried to negotiate with Yestiman and offered the splendid diamond our master had given us (fully worth 20,000GP) to buy the book. He was intractable. He did, however, send an assassin to kill us in our sleep at the palace of the Prince. The assassin was truly amazed that a little halfling coming up behind him could do that much damage but his amazement was short lived. He died in the next few minutes. The Plar had already left for Hool. A place I did not want to visit! Accompanied by a few select mercenaries provided for us by Jeon we took off after the Plar. Poor Yestiman was last seen floating in his beloved Hool Marsh and we did get the book Elesar sent us for. [OJ10]


    He gained a Cloak of Displacement from the corpulent Yestiman, and used it in conjunction with a Cloak of Blending, the results of which both surprised him, and opened his eyes to ethereal states of being, the research into which unlocked many mysteries and led to his developing his Tiny Hut, the spell that holds his name to this day. Then his Secret Chest. Then others. Leomund discovered that he had a flare for creating spells, most of which were dedicated to the preservation of his person, survival being the most important and fundamental goal of adventuring, in his experience. Mine too, come to think on it. Leomund was a pretty wise and cagey cat, in that regard.


    Point in case:

    Leomund’s Lamentable Belabourment                   (Enchantment/Evocation)

    Level: 5                                                                                 Components: V Range: 1”

    Casting Time: 5 segments                                             Duration: Special

    Saving Throw: Special                                                     Area of Effect: 1 or more creatures in a 1” radius


    Explanation/Description:

    By means of this spell, the magic-user causes a combination of fascination, confusion, and rage upon 1 or more creatures able to understand the language in which the spell caster speaks. Upon casting the spell, the magic-user begins discussion of some topic germane to the creature or creatures to be affected. Those not saving versus magic will immediately begin to converse with the spell caster, agreeing or disagreeing, all most politely. As long as the spell caster chooses, he or she can maintain the spell by conversing with the subject(s). As long as there is no attack made upon them, they will ignore all else going on around them, instead “choosing” to spend their time exclusively talking and arguing.


    If the spell is maintained for more than 3 rounds, each subject creature must attempt another save versus spell. Those failing to save this time will wander off in confusion for 3-12 rounds, avoiding proximity of the spell caster in any event. Those who make the confusion save are still kept in fascination and must also save in the 4th, 5th, and 6th rounds (or for as long as the caster continues the dweomer) to avoid the confusion effect. If the spell is maintained for more than 6 rounds, each subject must save versus spell to avoid going into a rage — either at oneself, if one is the sole object of the spell, or at all other subjects of the spell — and attack suicidally (regular “to hit” probability) against one’s own person, or fall upon the nearest other subject of the dweomer with intent to kill. This rage will last for 2-5 rounds. Those subjects who save versus spell on the rage check will realize that they have fallen prey to the Belabourment, and will collapse onto the ground, lamenting their foolishness, for 1-4 rounds unless attacked or otherwise disturbed.

    If during the course of the maintenance of the spell the caster is attacked and/or otherwise distracted, he or she is still protected, for the subject or subjects will not notice. The magic-user can leave at any time after the casting and the subject(s) will continue on for 1 full round as if he or she were still there to converse with. In these cases, however, saving throws versus spell for continuance of the spell are not applicable, even if, for instance, the subject(s) would otherwise have had to save to avoid confusion or rage. Note that the spell is entirely verbal.

    [Dragon #68 - 25]


    He wrote many spells, and most of them can be found in the books he wrote. More than a few others must have shared my opinion, because his spells with copied into many arcane tomes, too many to mention, actually, which might explain Leomund’s widespread fame. Here is a list of the most famous, the tomes you would be most likely to find in libraries that exhibit an interest in the arcane:


    Architecture By Leomund & Mordenkainen

    (Leomunds Secure Shelter, Leomunds Tiny Hut, Forcecage, Mordenkainens Magnificent Mansion)


    Forgotten Arts of Oratory Magnetism By Leomund

     (Fascinate, Taunt, Irritation, Truename, Leomund Lamentable Belabourment)


    Thesis on the Planes of Anti-Matter By Leomund

    Leomund's Secret Chest

    (Rope Trick, Distance Distortion, Astral Spell, Disintegrate, Leomunds Secret Chest, Duo-dimension, Deep Pockets)


    Transcendental Impenetrabilities By Leomund

    (Leomunds Tiny Hut, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Globe of Invulnerability, Prismatic Sphere)


    Libram of the Great Paravisual Emanations by Nystul

    (Nystuls Magic Aura, Shadow Magic, Demi-shadow Magic, shades, Leomunds Trap)


    [Dragon #82 (56,57,58), by Bruce Heard]



    Leomund/Guy Gas

    Leomund could not have done this all on his own. He took an apprentice in the year 539 CY. I had turned 60 but looked 39, or so my more polite friends told me. An earnest young mage named Guy Gas came to me for what turned out to be two years of additional training. As coincidence would have it, if you believe in coincidence, Guy Gas looked very much like me at the time. Not identical by any stretch, he was a little taller and heavier and his hair was a brighter shade of red than mine. However, people not knowing both of us, often thought he was I and would call him Leomund. I had somewhat of a reputation at that time (no, not that reputation – the good one), and Guy Gas seemed to like the recognition. [OJ10]

    Guy Gas […] traveled to Greyhawk where he set up shop and began to mingle with fellow mages there. That would have been fine but he took on my persona and identity! The faux Leomund even went so far as to join the Circle of Eight! He retired there, as me, in the year 576 CY! [OJ10]


    Rumour has it that Leomund was one of the Circle of Eight. He refutes that, explaining that is was Guy Gas, and not him, and that his once apprentice had even cloned himself, and that each of those believed themselves to be their eponymous self. It does make for complexing what is truly his doings and what is theirs.

    Point in case:

    In the mid-500s, a Wild Coast wizard named Mordenkainen quietly began to confer with several sorcerers in the Greyhawk area about the possibility of forming a group dedicated to the preservation of the Flanaess from external threats. This group became known as the Circle of Eight, an outgrowth of an earlier group of eight powerful individuals formed by Mordenkainen known as the Citadel of Eight, said to be headquartered in the Yatil Mountains at Mordenkainen’s retreat. A few of the members of the Circle of Eight have been publicly named, such as Bigby and Tenser. The latter was already a semiresident of the Domain of Greyhawk, as he had taken control of an ancient castle on the southern shore of the Nyr Dyv near the city. Two other mages known to have joined the Circle were Bucknard (who vanished in 579 CY and was later replaced by Jallan) and the ancient mage Leomund, an immigrant from the east who retired from the Circle in 576 CY and has been little seen since. [TAB - 60]

    And:

    It has been said that Zagig, The Black One of the Vale of the Mage, Leomund, Melf, and Serten, all powerful archmages and rivals to the circle of eight, watch the comings and goings of the Power Tower. They call themselves the “Ring of Five”. [WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins - 3]

    And:

    Leomund was a clever and practical individual who invented numerous spells of containment used by adventurers the Flanaess over, He kept his whereabouts a secret, though he is generally thought to have once lived in Medegia. He has not been heard from in some years. [PGtG - 23]


    Leomund was busy during this period, too busy in fact to have been involved in much of the shenanigans ascribed to him, if any. He was researching new spells, and that led to maybe the most epic adventure of his life:

    I started work on a special hourglass that I had thought about creating for a few years. My studies were going well and I was about to cast enchant an item on the hourglass when I got a visitor. She was a female elf mage named Delorn, as she introduced herself. She said she had “heard of my research” and that she was here to help and warn me. Well, I have always been an idiot when someone praises me and I did not realize that I had not talked of my research on the hourglass to anyone. We worked together for six months. Her knowledge of temporal mechanics, as she called them, was breathtaking! On the 1st day of Brewfest 580 (6095 SD) I turned the hourglass, which I had named Lendor’s Matrix, over for the first time. [OJ10]

    Delorn transformed into an aged, yet spritely gentleman: Lendor. “You will be just in time to save some of my people [,” he said, before fading from sight.] “Fare well!”

    Lendore found himself atop a palatial tower, surrounded by an array of windows that looked upon the most fantastical sight.

    I paused to look out of the windows. The city that I as in was huge and stretched as far as I could see in every direction. Many of the multi-colored stone buildings had four or more stories. There were a number of temples to the gods of the Suel. Lendor’s temple, about 250 feet away from me, could not be mistaken. The city had the ancient Suel Empire look about it. “Good grief! I realized that I was in one of those ancient cities, probably the capital. I went to the one chair in the room and sat down. Before me was a large book with a silver and red cover. Written upon it an ancient Suloise was the title Tome of the Scarlet Sign[OJ10]

    The Matrix had accompanied him. Or had it? Was this some other, created by another mage of that bygone age?

    The trap door opened and an amazed man paused on the ladder he was climbing and stared at me.

    “Who are you? What are you doing here?” he said in Suloise. The pronunciation was not quite what I expected but I understood him.

    “I am here because of Lendor’s labor. That is the item that brought me here.” I pointed at the hourglass. “It is called Lendor’s Matrix. It teleported me and took me out of my time.” [OJ10]


    Leomund said that just then the last grain of sand ran out.

    Did it? Is he being coy? Did he spend far more time there than a few seconds? If he had, why did Lendor bother sending him there in the first place and not to his final destination.

    And who might that bygone mage have been? Who else might Lendor have aided in creating such a device as Leomund’s Matrix? Slerotin?

    Was Leomund Slerotin? That’s wild speculation; but wouldn’t that be a wonder, and it would tie in with Leomund’s comment that Lendor said, “You will be just in time to save some of my people [….]”

    Who Will Stop the Rain?

    I imagine Leomund desperately trying to divert the Suel from their course, the weight of time and destiny thrawting him at every turn until the end; then his deperate bid to save those same people who might have heeded him, but didn't.

    Either way, that is idle musing on my part. An epic twist, in fact, even if the thought might be inspired by Raistlin and Fistandantolus.

    I'm sure Len would not approve, though.


    In any event, Leomund said that he was transported from that bygone Suloise city. Did he expect to return to his study? He does not say, but he was transported again, this time to the deck of a ship, a black bank of fog rolling across the water towards it.

    “What is that fog,” he asked, only to discover that not only did they not understand him, they advanced on him with the likely intent of putting an end to him. It was then that Leomund realized that he he was woefully unprepared for whatever task Lendor had in mind for him. He did not have his books, his staff, or any of his adventuring gear upon him. He was in his study, after all, not prepping for adventure!

    He tried elvish, and one stepped forward. He was indeed an elf, but of no type Leomund had ever encountered.

    “Do you know what that black fog is?” he said in elfish.

    “Well no”, I didn’t. “Where on Oerth are we?”

    “Oerth? What is Oerth? This world is, as all know, Dyrth”. Oh boy, I was on another world. Charming. All of this wonder was put on hold as the black fog boiled and flashed up closer and closer and began to overtake the ship farthest from us. In another two or three minutes it would be upon our ship.

    “Have you tried to dispel it?”

    “Yes we have, to no avail.” I stepped down from the bow and moved to the stern. No one hindered me. I conjured a dispel magic just before the fog caught us. To my great joy the fog that was about to overtake us evaporated into a white mist. The black fog, as it turned out, just a wall of fog and it was only a few dozen feet thick. We were on the other side of the wall of darkness and it was rolling away at the same speed. The hole I had created in the Fog was ‘healing’ itself as the wall moved on and in another minute the gap was gone. I had ‘saved’ our ship from the consequences of the fog and my popularity suddenly changed. I was hoisted aloft and, thank Lendor, NOT cast into the ocean. [OJ10]

    He had saved the ship, but not those less hearty upon the ships that accompanied them. But for what?

    They made landfall upon an unknown land. The surveyed the land around them, and set about building shelter for the coming months as they attempted to repair their ships and sails. The task proved daunting. And lengthy. Leomund spent the next nine years living with, teaching them, protecting them, until Lendor appeared, a wizened, crippled old man.

    Lendor confided that [he had taken me] away from Oerth because otherwise I would surely have died in the Greyhawk Wars. My own Red Star League was compromised on many levels by the Scarlet Brotherhood and I would have had great difficulty sorting out who was true friend and who was a spy. But my Master was good to me and gave me a Red Eye Cusp that I now wear in my left eye. It allows me full infravision out to 90 feet, how nice, no more of this having to get within ten feet. More importantly it allows me to see an aura of yellow around Lawful Mages who are NOT part of the Scarlet Brotherhood. [OJ10]


    Where am I now? Well, in the Spindrifts, of course. I am a friend to the High Elves and Lendor put in a word with Corellon that gets me into most places where the High Elves still exist. I did rescue my library without losing a book and I’ve been known to do a good Sage job from time to time. I’ll be more visible in the next few years if the damn assassins from the Scarlet Brotherhood don’t catch up with me. The last time I saw the Master of Obedience we agreed not to agree. I am a Suel but I’m not a Suel who believes in any supreme race, thank you. [OJ10]

     
    Leomund's Library


    Take this work as you will. Most of the content is from the Oerth Journal #10, written by Lenard Lakofka, himself. I have just woven in what other sources available to me to add to the text, and to include “all” (unlikely) the canon material available.

    It's art heavy. The reason? Because as I began to look into his history, I discovered that I love Leomund. He is that tenacious soul who rose from meagre beginnings to unostentatious heights. He is humble. Yet truly powerful.




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, especially Lenard Lakofka, without whom we would not have Leomund at all.

    The primary source for this piece was Greyhawk Online's Oerth Journal #10, Leomund's Life, by Lenard Lakofka.

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.


    The Art:

    Wizard-in-the-woods by mattforsyth

    Ar-lath-ma-Lovers by vogelfreyh

    Welcome-Light by saimain

    Enhanced-Surveillance-Magic-the-Gathering by 88grzes

    Cali-Study by leodemoura

    Wizard by thegryph

    Leomund's Secret Chest, by D.C. Sutherland III (?), Players Handbook, 1978

    Unearthed Arcana Cover, by Jeff Easley, 1985

    The Rain of Colorless Fire, by Vince Locke, 2000

    Magic-room by ddal84



    Copyright:
    The art is solely owned by the artists.

    All source material presented within this blog is owned and copyrighted by WotC.

    The use of this material is not intended to challenge the rights of WotC.

    This document is fan content and presented solely for the personal use of those individuals who game within the Greyhawk Setting.


    Sources:

    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998 

    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998

    Dragon Magazine 68, 82

    OJ Oerth Journal #10, appearing on Greyhawk Online

    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
    The map of Anna B. Meyer



    Posted: 11-17-2021 03:32 pm
    History of the South-East, Part 4: From Sea to Sea to Sea

    “Men are so quick to blame the gods: they say
    that we devise their misery. But they
    themselves- in their depravity- design
    grief greater than the griefs that fate assigns.”

    ― Homer, The Odyssey


    A Rejection of Benevolence
    The Great Kingdom had swelled, spanning from sea to sea to sea. It declared peace and prosperity for all, and believed all nations were blessed that were protected by its benevolence. In truth, it only desired peace in the interest of its personal prosperity, and for its own pleasure. Not all nations wished their wealth to enrich the capital. Not all nations wished to be blessed by it, and cracks were forming, in the west, where it had begun, and in the north, where it was never welcome. Even within, where its corpulence and rot were only just then beginning to boil and fester.


    c. 100 CY              The Great Kingdom had reached its greatest height, its widest expanse. It spanned from sea to sea to sea. And had grown to vast to be administered as one. It needed parceling, partitioning, governance from regional capitals. Thus, was “Dyvar” raised from town to port, its intent to oversee the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, itself founded from the amalgamation of Feryon, Voll, the Highfolk, the Quaglands, and the Shield Lands and the Northern Reaches. And then, the Great Kingdom, pleased with itself, turned away from their responsibilities there, and set the course for its eventual independence, for the Kingdom never again gave its west another thought, until it was to late to do so. In truth, the Kingdom had more pressing matters to deal with, closer to home, for Nyrond had always chafed against the benevolence if its rule.

    The realm began nearly five hundred years ago as the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, the proudest jewel in the crown of Aerdy. In those distant days, Ferrond consisted of modern-day Furyondy (Furyon) and Veluna (Voll), Highfolk, the Shield Lands, the Quaglands (Perrenland), and the hilly regions northeast of the massive Vesve Forest, then known as part of the Northern Reaches. The viceroy ruled fairly from Dyvers, where he was attended by scores of noble families culled from the Great Kingdom, as well as ennobled Flan who served Aerdy. [LGG - 46]


    Dyvers
    A viceroy in Dyvers administered the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, including its Northern Reaches (now Perrenland and lands north and northeast of the Vesve Forest). 
    [LGG - 23]


    Dyvers: Long a trade port, Dyvers was also the capital of Aerdy's Viceroyalty of Ferrond. In that role, it served as a welcome port to goods and travelers who braved the unexplored shores of the Nyr Dyv. The palace of the viceroy rivaled that of his colleagues in the west, and its domed central structure and austere stone towers have long been cited in travelogues as among the finest examples of Oeridian architecture. [LGG - 41]


    Veluna: [When] the first Aerdi soldiers surged westward in a great drive to spread the empire, they came upon the people of Veluna, already a burgeoning culture. The High Canon of Rao met with representatives of the Great Kingdom, and explained to them the goals of his peaceful land. Mindful of the vast Aerdi host looming on his borders, the canon wisely agreed to support the Great Kingdom, seeing in the easterlings a passion for progress and innovation that could be tempered by conversion to the holy tenets of Rao. So it was that the Archclericy of Voll entered vassalage to the Viceroyalty of Ferrond under a banner of peace and great religious expectations. (If the Velunese did not care to emphasize their Oeridian heritage, the overking was only too eager to do it for them.) In the years following the establishment of the Viceroyalty, Veluna acted as a sort of moral compass for Ferrond as a whole. Key adherents of Rao gained major positions in the court of the viceroy. Given the warlike Oeridian temper and the years of arrogance established in the west, the Velunese advisers had much work to do. [LGG - 129]


    Highfolk: The Fairdells and the Vesve Forest were home to high elves for untold centuries. When humans first arrived, as emissaries from the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, the two races developed a kinship that exists to this day. [LGG - 53]


    Perrenland: During the Migrations, the warlike Flan tribes of the Yatil Mountains absorbed most of the Oeridian, Suloise, and Baklunish invaders flooding the great Yatils pass called the Wyrm's Tail, though several Flan tribes were driven from the lowlands by Oeridians who established freeholds for their own clans. The disunity of these small clans was taken advantage of by advancing Aerdi forces, c. 97-100 CY. The Viceroyalty of Ferrond quickly gained full control of the eastern and southeastern sides of what is now Perrenland, making it a part of Ferrond's Quaglands. The fishing towns of Traft and Schwartzenbruin were forced to accept the authority of stern Aerdi bailiffs. [LGG - 85]


    Shield Lands: As the migratory Oeridians ranged eastward in their search for a land that would support them, they passed through many regions of inhospitable climate, infertile land, and unfriendly local populations. Chief among these lands were the rugged plains north of the Nyr Dyv, which resisted meaningful human settlement for centuries, even as a strong Aerdi empire created the Viceroyalty of Ferrond to the west. [LGG - 31]


    So passes the west from this narrative.


    The Viceroyalty of Nyrond, which eventually included Urnst, was ruled from Rel Mord by a junior branch of House Rax. [LGG - 23]


    102 CY  The great houses were laying claim to lands throughout the realm. House Garasteth was no different, laying claim to the isles now known as the Sea Barons. So had House Atirr. War broke out between them, and Overking Manshen was forced to intervene, for so long as those fouses fought, his coast was open to raiding from the Barbarians to the north. He declared that a naval competition would settle the dispute; upon its completion, House Atirr was declared the winner and given dominion of what was to be christened the Sea Barons.

    [Early] in the first century of the Great Kingdom, Overking Manshen decided to create baronies from the fertile isles; Oeridian colonists soon settled them while the court in Rauxes struggled with their administration. In 102 CY, House Garasteth laid claim to the isles, and open conflict threatened to break out between House Garasteth and House Atirr, from North Province. Overking Manshen's wisdom was in full display when his solution to the problem was to conduct an open competition to settle the matter. He appointed four peers from the rival noble houses to the baronies of the four islands and instructed them to build fleets. The baron who was most successful at the naval exercises that ensued would be chosen to represent the entire realm as the lord high admiral of theGreat Kingdom. Baron Asperdi of Atirr won the post handily, and the largest island was named for him and his descendants. The headquarters of the Aerdi Admiralty was thereafter moved to Asperdi Isle, and the islands came to be known as the Dominion of the Sea Barons. [LGG - 99]


    108 CY  Overking Manshen desired to secure his northern border. The Fruztii Barbarians were a constant threat, and he meant to pacify the North once and for all.


    Securing the Northern Border
    In the spring of 108 CY, Aerdi forces massed in the frontier town of Knurl. With Knight Protectors of the Great Kingdom in the vanguard, the force swept northeast, between the Rakers and the Blemu Hills, in a march to the sea. By autumn, after having been met with relatively light resistance, the Aerdi succeeded in uprooting most Fruztii encampments, and the foundations of a great stronghold were laid at Spinecastle. The Aerdi freed Johnsport in a pitched battle with the barbarians before the onset of winter. Sensing that this would be only the first phase of a long struggle, Aerdi commanders summoned thousands of contingents from North Province over the objections of the herzog, a Hextorian who had wanted to lead the forces into battle himself.

    With the defeat of the Fruztii at Johnsport, the call went out that winter, and thousands of their kinsmen poured south along the Timberway the next year. Marching through passes in the Rakers, they assembled and attacked the works underway at Spinecastle, focusing their assault on the heart of the Aerdi fortifications. The defenders, including the bulk of the elite Aerdi infantry, were quickly outflanked and surrounded. A young Knight Protector of the Great Kingdom, Caldni Vir, a Heironean cavalier from Edgefield, commanded a large cavalry force patrolling the hills when the barbarian force struck. As part of the contingent led by the herzog into the north, he pivoted and headed back to Spinecastle while anticipating orders from his liege to counterattack. When the courier of the herzog delivered orders for Vir to pull back to the south in retreat, he spat in disgust and ordered the standard of the Naelax prince to be trampled in the mud. He then raised the standard of the Imperial Orb and charged.

    Approaching the site of the battle from the north, he descended upon the barbarians from higher ground, and they were unprepared for the hundreds of heavy horse and lance that bore down on them in the next hour. Their lines were quickly broken, and the Imperial Army was rescued to eventually take the day in what would be called the Battle of the Shamblefield. The Aerdi drove the surviving barbarians out of the hills, controlling the land all the way to the Loftwood by the following spring. Overking Manshen recognized the courage of the young knight Vir, and raised him as the first marquis of Bone March. The land was so named for the high price paid for its taking, as the fallen imperial regulars numbered into the thousands. [LGG - 36]

    Thus the Overking named Vir the first Marquis of the Bone March. And thus were the Fruztii broken.

    It is said that the blood of those thousands of unsanctified and unburied Barbarian and Imperial corpses was pressed into the mortar of Spinecastle. It is also said that the Fruztii laid a curse on its unfinished walls.


    124 CY  Irongate was tens of decades in the making. But its walls were raised high upon its cliffs, thick and sturdy, impossible to scale or breach, a fortified Aerdian presence on the Azure Sea.

    The city known today as Irongate was completed in 124 CY by imperial architects charged to give the Aerdi a fortified presence on the Azure Sea. [LGG - 56]

    The potential of the outpost and surrounding terrain was recognized early on by the imperial architects sent to fortify the harbor on behalf of the Malachite Throne. This was done in coordination with imperial miners and engineers, who organized the excavation effort with the dwarves. These master builders set about the task of erecting a city equal to the Great Kingdom's ambitions for the region, a plan that would take decades to complete. Not only did the Aerdi want a base of operations from which to exploit the resources of the peninsula, but they earnestly wanted a fortified port from which to maintain a naval force on the Azure Sea the year round. [LGG - 56]


    The northern states had always been fiercely independent, and they baulked at the prospect of Aerdian rule. But the Malachite throne was persistent. They would lay claim to those lands, for had they not already as they had migrated east? Had they not pacified those lands, allowing those lesser houses that remained to settle there and live in peace? So, now that all the lands east of the Nyr Dyv were under their dominion, it was time for those nations to bend the knee to those who had made them possible in the first place. But they were Oeridian, scions of Johydee as the Aerdi were, and the Aerdi were loathe to put them to the sword. And thus the Great Kingdom sent its delegates to the Urnst offering to annex Urnst as a palatinate state rather than invading it.  Urnst declined.

    By 124 CY, the Great Kingdom sought additional trade routes to the highly successful Viceroyalty of Ferrond. In that year, delegates sent by the Malachite Throne presented a bold plan to Urnst's senators. In effect, they proposed to annex Urnst into the Great Kingdom at. a palatine state, sparing the burgeoning empire the trouble of an all-out invasion. Though a detailed analysis revealed that the offer was indeed far more beneficial to the local lords than to Rauxes, the haughty nobility of Urnst shouted it down without debate, much to the chagrin of the northwest lords on the Franz River, who had long coveted a closer relationship with Aerdy. [LGG - 125]


    134 CY  Fortune had favoured House Attir. It had gained the island chain now know as the Sea Barons, and was soon to be handed the North Province, as well.

    In 134 CY, the early Rax overkings inaugurated a series of actions that would ultimately lead to the downfall of their house some three centuries later. In that year, the ill-tempered Overking Toran I deposed the scion of Naelax from rulership of North Province, appointing in his place the leader of the smaller but rapidly rising House Atirr. Citing the failures of the Naelax in supporting the heroic efforts of the Aerdy military in Bone March and Ratik, Toran reduced the house to a secondary role in the province. House Atirr ruled the province from its capital on the coast, eschewing Eastfair. The land experienced a brief renaissance under this enlightened leadership. However, this demotion was a slight that the Naelax would never forget. [LGG - 73,74]


    141 CY  Kargoth of Mansbridge was born a feisty lad, noted for his bravery and ambition from an early age. He was destined for greatness, most said. They said as much again when he was elevated to the ranks of the Knights Protector.

     

    150 CY  There was a time that the Rhennee had not navigated the shores of the Nyr Dyv, nor the rivers and tributaries that wound their way across the Flanaess. Where did they come from? Few know. The Rhennee are not telling, either, for the Rhennee are a secretive folk, as distrustful of those who are not their kin as those who are not are of them. All that is known for sure is that they were first seen within the Adri Forest.

                
    The Rhennee Cometh
    A minor human race called the Rhennee is found in the central Flanaess. These wayfaring people travel on river barges and are very clannish. Rhennee claim to have come to the Flannaess from another world and they do not trust outsiders. They have a bad reputation as thieves, but most are not truly evil. [TAB - 14]

                   

    They are thought to have first appeared in the Flanaess in the area around the Adri Forest circa 150 CY, moving west to avoid harassment by Aerdy soldiers and citizens. The Rhennee increasingly left the land to become migrants on the central rivers, until very few land-dwelling Rhennee now exist. [TAB - 58]

                   

    The Rhennee are truly the enigma among the races of Greyhawk. While the other foul races can trace their histories to elsewhere on the continent, the Rhennee have separate origins. They are thought to have first appeared in the Flanaess in the area around the Adri Forest around 150 CY, moving west to avoid harassment by Aerdy soldiers and citizens. The Rhennee increasingly left the land to become migrants on the central rivers, until comparatively few land-dwelling Rhennee now exist. Though they rarely speak of this to outsiders, their legends claim that the race came to Oerth accidentally from their home world of Rhop. Although the Rhenn-folk have only a few ideas of what their home plane was like or how they got here, they know that it was quite different from the Flanaess. [PGtG - 35]

    The Rhennee live exclusively on the waterways. making their homes on large barges that average about 60 feet long and 15 feet wide. These sturdy barges are similar in style to a junk; they are capable of navigating the Nyx Dyv’s often choppy waters and treacherous storms, as well as riverways. These ships may have one or two masts. [PGtG - 35]

    Rhennee are fairly common on the waterways of the central Flanaess and near inland shores and banks. A few secret, inland encampments are said to exist, and here may also be encountered their rare, land-dwelling cousins, whom they derogacively refer to as the Attloi. The mutual distrust and antagonism between the Rhenn-folk and other peoples of the Flanaess have kept the Rhennee relatively unmixed with other races, though the Rhennee do bring children of other human races into their families. [LGG - 7]


    155 CY There are mysteries aplenty upon the Oerth. Some are old, truly old, and were old even when the elves were young. Most are best avoided. But what can one do if one rises unexpectedly from below keel, and is stranded upon it?

    The Sinking Isle
    In the past one notable man was far less circumspect than modern adventurers: Atirr Aedorich, a hero of the Great Kingdom in the days of its youth. In 155, as a young man, he was sent southward by his father to the university at Rel Astra, then a great center of learning in the magical arts. The Sinking Isle was less active in those days but as the fates would have it Atirr’s ship was caught in a sudden squall, and driven onto the hidden claws of the Isle itself. Atirr was fascinated rather than terrified (such were the Great Kingdom’s nobles in those days). For a full hour, while the crew sweated at the pumps and strained to place a patch over the hull’s single rent, the young man gazed at the strange phosphorescent landscape, and prepared several sketches, until one of the Solnor’s strange and unpredictable great came questing the strait and lifted the wounded vessel clear. Atirr vowed to return and discover the island’s secrets.

    Atirr did return northward some years later, but as Herzog of North Province. Not until his middle years did he have the leisure to the examination of certain ancient Suel tomes, and the exercise of the arts he learned at Astra, he devised a way to either predict or command the vagaries of the Sinking Isle. This knowledge, like much else, was lost in the Turmoil Between the Crowns, but several different descriptions survive of what he found when he drew alongside the risen city.

    Sahuagin
    In the short time before the sank Once again beneath the waves, Atirr and his to followers were able to recover and record information about a great many artifacts from among the spiky and highly decorated ruins. Among these were many panes of fine stained glass, some still intact, and some in tints never yet achieved by modern artists. Besides these were a number of twisted ornaments Of gold and lead, later discovered to be of sahuagin manufacture. Attir also discovered a book sealed against the water in a lead casket. All of these were returned to the court at Rauxes in honor of the Overking. The patient Atirr hoped to study them further in his retirement. He declared the book in particular to be most interesting, being among other things a recording in a lost language of “an ancient history together with magical secrets.”

    Chill and Forbidding
    Tragically, Atirr was never to attain his goal. Two years after his discoveries he and all hands went down in a storm off the coast of North Province in a storm which apparently even the Herzog’s powers could not quell. The book has since disappeared, though it may yet be found somewhere in the catacombs at Rauxes; it is difficult to be sure, as 90 little word now reaches the outside world of the doings at that court. It is known that Atirr was convinced from a preliminary study that the city itself was not primarily of sahuagin construction but must have been built by a terrestrial race, though sahuagin-like creatures and other sea life are depicted frequently in the architecture.

    Later observers have examined the coastlands and sea near the site of the Sinking Isle, and have on a dark evening seen what may have been its upper towers. The region is chill and forbidding for such a southern latitude. Fishermen say that the catch in those parts is extraordinarily good, but that nets are often fouled. Those attempting the water, find it dark and chill. Most are content to leave the Sinking Isle to the sahuagin, or whatever race of the deeps now holds it. [GA - 93,95]


    166 CY  The east coast of the Great Kingdom had never truly been pacified. Barbarians raided the North Coast unmolested, and piracy was ever a problem on the South Seas. The Overking was losing patience, and he committed forces to deal with it, once and for all time. He set his sights upon putting the Duxchaners to task for their misdeeds.
                Following a particularly terrible attack on Pontylver, during which the shipyards were set         ablaze, Overking Erhart II was determined to put an end to the marauding. In 166 CY, he committed the combined navies of the Great Kingdom to breaking the power of the Duxchaners. Old Baron Asperdi's young but powerful naval force from the Sea Barons was brought to bear on them, led by Lord Admiral Aeodorich of House Atirr, then accorded the finest naval captain of the time. The town of Dullstrand was specifically founded to act as a base of operations for the invasion of these southern islands by the Aerdi fleet. [LGG - 71]

    167 CY Monduiz Dephaar was born in Bellport to noble lineage. He was elevated at a young age to its Barony when his family fell to Fruztii raids along the Solnor Coast.

    History of the Star Cairns
    The Suel had travelled long and far since the Twin Cataclysms, and in the intervening years they had found many lands that pleased them as had their homeland. But they never forgot the Motherland, or the fate it had fallen to, or at whose hands.
    In 167 CY, a copy of the Tome of the Scarlet Sign was delivered to Murtaree, court wizard to the Malachite Throne of the Great Kingdom. The tome was a treasure of the fallen Suloise Empire, and the wonders of that lost realm struck a chord within the dark heart of the Suel-born wizard The man was fascinated by the tales and information about his ancestors, and was especially intrigued by the depth of the hatred his people felt for their enemies, the Bakluni. The tales of ancient and terrible feuds kindled in him the fires of hatred, and he resolved to bring back to life the ancient war and destroy the Baklunish people. Consulting his peers – other wizards of Suel heritage, working as advisors to various members of the AerdI court – he found that there were others who felt similarly, and he easily talked them into joining his personal crusade. [LT1 The Star Cairns - 2]

    168 CY  The naval forces of the Great Kingdom defeated the Duxchan forces in the Battle of Ganode Bay with the naval power of the Sea Barons at the fore. Thus the Duxchan Isles became The Lordship of the Isles.
    Within two years of hotly fought battles in the Aerdi Sea, Atirr and his armada, which was outfitted with mages and powerful clerics of Procan, finally defeated the Duxchaners and their allies at the Battle of Ganode Bay. This won greater fame and praise for the Aerdi admiral, who eventually rose to the throne of North Province some years later. The most militant of the surviving Suel buccaneers retreated to the port of Ekul, on the Spine Ridge of the Tilvanot Plateau, but were no longer a significant factor. The Aerdi settled these islands in large numbers, founding Sulward as the capital, though the population remained largely Suel, particularly on Ansabo and Ganode, where local Suel lords were absorbed into the government of the realm. An Aerdi lord was appointed prince of the new realm and he was made responsible to the herzog of South Province, but given the right to carve up the islands into provinces as he saw fit and award them to his kin. [LGG - 71]

    169 CY History of the Star Cairns
                    Seeking a quiet place to study, [Muratree] and his cohorts could study and grow strong enough [to bring back to life the ancient war and destroy the Baklunish people], he was lucky enough to find two great veins of magic rock in the western arm of the Abbor-Alz. These veins enhanced different sorts of magic in ways that suited his purposes, and so the wizard hired dwarves and men to dig out lairs in these places, first breaking ground in 169 CY. When the hidden tunnels were completed, Murtaree cast a great forget spell on the workers to preserve the secret of their location. There were five locations in all – arranged on the crossing ley-lines like an enormous victory-rune (its apex in the lower Abbor-Alz and its nadir in the Bright Desert), which the mage thought was most appropriate. The ambitious magic-users got to work creating items and spells of great power to use against their racial enemy. [LT1 - 2]

    170 CY  What of the southern continent? Did they prosper? Did they wither under the gaze of the fell serpent Meyanok? Yes. The Olman wared amongst themselves. The Touv continued on much as they always had. But both suffered the yuan-ti. And both were beset with the machinations of the cult of the serpent. (1577 TC)
    The Yuan-ti
    Tolanok was once an Olman city in the highlands of Hepmonoland. Abandoned during the Olman exodus, the Touv moved warriors into the city to hold the front line and to initiate attacks against the yuan-ti of Xapatlapo. After several years when the Olman did not return and the Xapatlapoans closed their borders, the Touv capital allowed civilians to settle the city. The hillside mines were reopened, and precious metals and gems flowed back to the capital; Tolanok became a very wealthy state, although the mediocre soil of the region kept it from growing too large. It was its financial prosperity and status as the smallest of the Touv city-states that eventually attracted the attention of the priests of Meyanok.
    Over the years the priests slowly replaced key individuals in the temples and the city government. In 170CY, the high priests of Meyanok called down the power of their god and withered all vegetation within five miles of the city wall. The city’s stores of grain were lost, and the people were best by famine. Many fled, but most could not; those that died of starvation rose as the ravenous, a new form of undead. [SB - 54]
    It is no wonder that the Olman and the Touv floundered, just as the Great Kingdom flourished.

    174 CY History of the Star Cairns
    Muratree never lived to see his grand scheme of destruction carried out. Not from lack of trying.
    Although Murtaree died in 174 CY when his transformation into a lich failed, his first students continued to work teaching their ideals to new students. Great works were made in these dungeons. More importantly, a pow& destructive artifact of unknown origin was kept here for safekeeping, divided into three pieces, each stored in a different cairn for greater security. [LT1 - 2]

    c. 187 CY              As a member of the Knights Protector, Monduiz Dephaar distinguished himself defending against the seasonal Barbarian raids, fighting alongside such heroes as Lord Kargoth. He fought with a fierceness that was frightening to behold, and in time, as his reputation spread up and down the coast, his name came to be known and then feared by the Barbarians. His atrocities were initially overlooked; but eventually they could not be ignored. He was censured by the Knights, but he carried on unabated, then shunned; and in his fury, he left, and settled for a while among the Schnai, where his sword was welcomed, and where he could continue to raid and vent his rage upon the Fruztii.

    189 CY  Patience and persistence served the Great Kingdom well. So too the divisive nature of Urnst, Oeridian to the north, Suloise to the south. The north had no wish to be ruled by the Suloise lords to the south, and those same Suloise lords preferred riches over the strife that had risen with repeated crop failures. Yes, patience and persistence had served the Great Kingdom well, that and a little magic and greed.
    Originally part of the much-larger seminal Urnst nation, the County of Urnst was established as a distinct protectorate nation by Overking Jirenen of Aerdy in 189 CY. Owning by far the most fertile land of any nation bordering the Nyr Dyv, Urnst stood as the breadbasket of the region for many years, supplying wheat as far afield as Calbut, in the duchy of Tenh. [LGG - 123]

    [The] Senate had grown effete and corrupt. Crop blights (some say the result of druids bribed by Aerdy) and bread riots forced the leaders of Urnst to take action. In 189 CY, the Senate effectively sold to the Great Kingdom all of the land between the Franz and Artonsamay Rivers for an entire caravan of treasure and magical artifice. The lords of the north, long abused by the Suloise senate, rejoiced at the new arrangement. The Urnst nation was divided into a county, to the north, and a duchy, to the south. [LGG - 125]

    193 CY  The rejoicing was short lived.
    When Nyrond broke from the Great Kingdom, it entered a period of expansionism, swiftly capturing the County of Urnst in a brief and surprising series of charges toward the capital. Most Urnstmen bitterly resented the occupation years, during which their own aristocracy (largely Suel, with strong ties to that of the duchy) was integrated with arrogant nobility from Nyrond. This resentment rarely erupted into physical conflict, however; the people of Urnst enjoyed a much better fate than the Pale under similar circumstances. [LGG - 123]
    Though the folk of the County of Urnst welcomed the Aerdy with open arms, the newly palatine government of the south was far less trusting, fearing that the influx of Oeridian advisers and regulars might degrade the "pure" Suloise culture. Much to everyone's surprise, the overking took a hands-off policy to the heartlands after disbanding the Senate and placing ultimate authority in the hands of the duke of Urnst, selected by the Suloise nobles in 193 CY. [LGG - 125]

    198 CY  All eyes looked to the heavens as a comet appeared over the Flanaess. What did it mean, the people asked? All manner of omens were declared, most great boons, like the declaration of a thousand years of peace and prosperity, the Pax Aerdia. But not all predicted the great age to come; the sage Selvor the Younger proclaimed a coming time of strife and living death for the Great Kingdom. Those in power had no ears for such words in their time of unprecedented contentment.
                The History of the Star Cairns
    An Omen of Wealth, Strife, and Living Death
    A great ball of fire appeared over the Oljatt Sea in 198 CY, passed over the southern Great Kingdom, and vanished beyond the Sea of Geamat. […]  Selvor the Younger, an Aerdi astronomer, extrapolated its path back to its celestial origin and declared the fireball to be an omen of “wealth, strife, and a living death.” This pronouncement caused panic in Rauxes and throughout the Great Kingdom, where it was interpreted to mean the end of the world The subsequent incidents and unrest foreshadowed the Age of Great Sorrow to come, in 213 CY. Unknown to the people of the Great Kingdom, the shooting star struck ground in the eastern Abbor-Alz.
    The impact was felt several hundred miles away in Murtaree’s southernmost site, momentarily distracting the attention of the mages working there. Mysteriously, the site vanished a few seconds later - with it, three well-known wizards of the Great Kingdom. Even worse, one of the pieces of the ancient weapon had been stored in the lost site. The remaining wizards abandoned for a time their plans of Bakluni destruction to deal with the troubles in the east, and fled the laboratories, some caking the time to activate magical and mundane defenses to protect their research.
    Eventually, the wizards who knew the true purpose of the dungeons were scattered to the winds or dead; the items found inside sparked their own legends, leading people to believe that the ruins were merely burial sites for great mages. They came to be called the Star Cairns, after the star-shaped entrances, and the belief that they were mausoleums. Monsters and other undesirables began using the cairns as lain, the great plans of the Suel wizard forgotten. [LT1 - 2] 



    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.
    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Scarlet Brotherhood, The Star Cains, Ivid the Undying, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.

    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Blood-and-Steel by annakayart
    Dyvers, by David Roach & Sam Wood, from Slavers, 2000
    Rome-versus-barbarian by odinrules
    Gypsy-Woman-Painting by noramohammed
    The Sinking Isle, by Jeff Easly (?), Greyhawk Adventures, 1988
    Away-from-the-Light by waterbear
    R'lyeh by pmoodie
    Dagon by bazibalba

    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11374 The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
    11621 Slavers. 2000
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
    Tha map of Anna. B Meyer


    Posted: 11-13-2021 07:01 pm
    History of the South-East, Part 3: A Consolidation of Power


    “Achilles glared at him and answered, "Fool, prate not to me about covenants. There can be no covenants between men and lions, wolves and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other out and out and through. Therefore there can be no understanding between you and me, nor may there be any covenants between us, till one or other shall fall.”
    ― Homer, The Iliad


    A Beacon of All That is Good and Just

    The Flanaess had passed into the hands of the Oeridians, or should I say the Aerdi, for it was they who conquered the land, they who ruled it. And it would be their triumphs and tragedies that would set the stage for what would come. It is said that theirs' was a Good and Just empire, a shining beacon of what may be, but that history was written by the Aerdi; for in truth, empires are built upon the backs of the conquered, and that cruelty and suppression are their bricks and mortar. Building an empire is hard; retaining one is harder still. Luckily for the Aerdi, they had tools at their disposal.



    1 CY       With his Declaration of Universal Peace, the first Overking was crowned in Rauxes.

    The Aerdy calendar dates from the crowning of the first overking, Nasran of the House of Cranden, in Rauxes in CY 1. Proclaiming universal peace, Nasran saw defeated Suloise and Flan—rebellious humanoid rabbles of no consequence and no threat to the vast might of Aerdy. [Ivid - 3]


    But for all his well-meaning words, all power was to be his, and all Houses were to bend the knee to his magnificence.

    However, it quickly became clear to all the noble houses of the Aerdi that power in the Great Kingdom was being centralized in the hands of the rulers of Rauxes, and that the fortunes of the Great Kingdom would now rest with them. The needs and intrigues of the Celestial Houses would soon become subordinate to the politics of the Malachite Throne. [LGG - 23]


    Frontiers of Great Kingdom reach Greyhawk City. The writ of the Overking of Imperial Aerdi extended to Furyon and Voll (now Veluna), across the northern prairies as far as Perrenland. For three centuries the Aerdy held a vast empire which fluctuated in extent but little, until after the third Celestial House (dynasty) when the borders began to close in upon the original territory of the Aerdi. [Folio - 5]


    11 CY     The Flan continued to be pacified. Theirs was a futile struggle, as the lands of their dominion shrank and shrank, they retreated into high valleys and the northern barrens. But still they fought where such resistance could be gathered. Until they threw all their remaining might into one last stand at Arrowstrand against the ever waxing Aerdian Kingdom. They were brave. They were valiant. But fate was against them that day, and they fell. But their fall was glorious. [Ivid]


    12 CY     Onnwal under heel, the Kingdom needed a port from which it could secure the Gearnat Strait, Relmor Bay to the east, and the Sea of Gearnat and Woolly Bay to the west, and thus lend safety and security to all who might sail with so it set about constructing Scant.

    The peninsula was awarded as a fief to the herzog of South Province, who constructed the port of Scant in 12 CY to facilitate its colonization by the Aerdi. The port also served as a means by which to share Onnwal's resources, particularly the silver and platinum being drawn out the hills, with the markets of Prymp and Chathold. The szeks of Onnwal who administered the land were originally appointed by the herzog in Zelradton and were usually favored members of his court. [LGG - 80]


    75 CY     Great Houses wax and wane. Sometimes they even cease to exist, as is the case if there is no heir left to carry on its name. House Crandon suffered such a fate.

    Formidable Beauty

    The ruling house of Aerdy became the Rax-Nyrond House after the death of Nasran's grandson, Tenmeris, in CY 75. Tenmeris's Queen, Yalranda, was a formidable diplomat and mediator who had done much to support her husband and was the true power behind the throne. Tenmeris, it was said, had a brain as small as his flatulent belly was vast.

    Yalranda was accepted as the only overqueen in Aerdy history because of her prowess in establishing dynastic marriages between the royal houses of Aerdy and her uncanny gift for forging alliances (and because of her strange, magical allure and ability to calm angry or confused nobles). That she died young, at age 40, is one of Aerdy's great tragedies. [Ivid - 3]

    Her eldest son, Manshen, broke with tradition and took the name of the [Rax-Nyrond] Royal House. This house was to rule for nearly 400 years. [Ivid - 3]

    Historians consider that the relative peace which existed between Aerdi royal houses for centuries is largely due to his wisdom building upon the informal understandings developed by Yalranda. [Ivid - 7]


    Why would they think so? One would imagine the credit for the centuries of peace that followed should have been laid at the feet of Manshen; but Manshen, for all his diplomatic skill, and marshal success, was not one of Johydee’s Children.

    In the history of Aerdy, a handful of these gifted and strange people have played crucial roles. Queen Yalranda is said to have possessed precognitive powers which marked her as one of the Children. [Ivid - 7]


    Johydee's Children is the name bestowed upon very, very rare Aerdi individuals of exceptional magical gifts. The name is given for two reasons, not because the individuals concerned are literally descended from Johydee. First, Queen Johydee of pre-Devastation history was a priestess of great magical prowess, favored by the gods themselves. Second, Johydee is known for her famed artifact, the mask, which allowed her to resist many forms of magic and to take on the appearance of anyone she chose.

    […]

    Johydee's Children are strange, otherworldly people. Either they are wholly aloof, without any apparent emotion, or else they seem to live in a spiritual world which raises them far above the cares and feelings of ordinary folk. Either way, those who know them come to think of them as masked, inscrutable, impossible to "read." The Children are loners, never understood by others. [Ivid - 7]


    The Great Hall of The Great Kingdom

    98 CY     The Great Kingdom was vast and powerful. As powerful as the Suel Imperium? Not likely. As vast? That is debateable. It was certainly not as long lived. But it did conquer and consolidate the lands east of the Nyr Dyv, and at its height it stretched from the Solnor to the Yatels, from the Barrens to the Azure. Neither the Flan nor the Suel could stand against its expansion, for it had artifacts of power at its disposal: Lum the Mad’s Machine, Leuk-O’s Mighty Servant, and the Crown, the Orb and the Scepter of Might. It wielded the Iron Flask of Tuerny the Merciless. But did the Aerdi create these artifacts? No. Surely not. The Suel did. And if the Suel did not, the Oeridians surely took with them the means of their creation with them when they took flight. For the Suel had centuries to delve the mysteries of power and the art of artifice, and the Aerdi had but centuries since their flight from bondage.

                What else did the Aerdi wield? Dragons. Against which the nomadic and agrarian Flan, and the unestablished refugees of the Suel, had little hope of defending against.

                How do I know this? Because they are known to have at least one of the Orbs of Dragonkind. It was the least of them, for sure, and there is no record of their having another in their possession, but is was far more than either the Flan or the Suel had in theirs.      


    The Orbs of Dragonkind

    Excerpts from a letter from Otto to Johanna:

    Otto

    Oerth, it is well known, has its own Orbs of Dragonkind, but their oral and written history is poorly known even to the learned. Sages have long suspected a connection between these orbs and the long-lost Suel Imperium […]), dead just over ten centuries. [Dragon #230 - 9]


    In the ancient days of the maturing Suloise Empire, starting about -2400 CY, a great series of wars was fought between the emperor’s forces and the various monsters that populated the southern Crystalmist Mountains, what we now call the Hellfurnaces. The emperor, Inzhilem II of the House of Neheli-Arztin, […] the fifth such among the Suloise to be known as a Mage of Power […], wished to establish mines deep within the Crystalmists to harvest rare minerals and crystals for his personal research, though he also [wished to throw] back some of the humanoid and draconic monsters that periodically raided the eastern provinces of his empire and reduced their taxable resources.

    Imperial armies, even supported by military wizardry, found themselves hard pressed by their opposition. The great families of red dragons throughout the southern Crystalmists had enslaved Iimitless numbers of brutish humanoids for use as sword-fodder, originally to attack one another’s territories or bring in additional treasures. These armies of orcs and goblinkind were now turned upon the empire’s soldiers, hurling themselves into battle with great ferocity and in numbers that well made up for their lack of skill or foresight.

    In addition, these dragons were exceedingly skilled at magic; baneful extraplanar powers supplied them with secret knowledge of spellcasting in return for great sacrifices of wealth. Worse yet, certain of those red dragons had undergone sorcerous rituals that infused their living bodies with shadowstuff from the Demiplane of Shadow, granting them new and devastating powers. These were the first of the accursed shadow dragons, and they and their servants built a vast network of caverns, halls, and tunnels beneath the Crystalmists that exists even to this day. Even the great Vault of the Drow is said by some sources once to have been the cavern-hall of an elder shadow dragon of this bygone age, some treasures of which may still lie hidden thereabouts. (The gods grant us that these treasures yet remain undiscovered by the drow! [)]

    Facing such evil strength, the army commanders sent word to lnzhilem that the issue was in doubt, and they asked for his personal intervention. Angered at first that his armies could do no more than hold their own against mere dragons and orcs, lnzhilem quickly became intrigued by the difficult problem posed by the Fiery Kings, as the troublesome dragons were known in the eastern lands. He returned to the capital to remedy the situation.

    […] Inzhilem called upon and gained the direct assistance of the Suel deity Wee Jas herself, [and] lnzhilem gained sufficient knowledge to produce a solution.

    The emperor elected to construct a limited number of identical artifacts that would give his forces the ability to confront and destroy the Fiery Kings. Knowing the great importance that dragons attach to direct eye contact, which among the most paranoid and wicked of them is regarded as a challenge resulting in an immediate fight to the death, lnzhilem set upon the orb as the ideal form for these surpassing devices. Each orb would be carried into battle by a war-trained wizard and used to subdue, assault, or defend against all dragons present, while a group of elite soldiers and battle-priests who accompanied the wizard would move swiftly to finish off the draconic foes; this group would accompany a regular army, which would carry the battle to the dragon’s humanoid supporters. […]

    Furthermore, lnzhilem planned that each orb would be useful against every sort of evil dragon known, not merely against the red and shadow varieties. To accomplish this, lnzhilem was forced to have his entire collection of caged and charmed dragons in the capital gardens slain by sorcerous means. A portion of the blood, bone, brain, and spirit of each dragon was captured and imprisoned in each orb, though the orbs themselves were not meant to contain true intelligence as such. So strong were the enchantments with which lnzhilem hoped to fill the orbs that rumors flew that every cruel dragon on Oerth would fall prey to them, and the evil races of dragonkind would be wholly exterminated and cast into myth.

    It was calculated that eight orbs would be enough to deal with matters in the east. […] lnzhilem secretly directed the Imperial Congress about the year -2360 CY to produce such wizards as would be necessary to assist him in the mighty enchantments that would have to be cast. [History] fails to reveal all that followed, but one major event in the following years has survived for the telling. A smoldering feud within the House of Neheli-Arztin flared into violence in -2354 CY, and lnzhilem II was slain and destroyed beyond recovery before the struggle had ended. The partial house of Arztin ceased to exist as a result of retaliation, and the victorious partial house of Neheli kept the throne. Ubrond Thrideen (“Third-Eye”) became emperor.

    A devoted but unremarkable ruler, Ubrond apparently continued the project to produce the orbs and saw it through to its finish, but considerable interference took place and the original plan for the project went inexplicably awry. Eight orbs were still made (the date of their completion has been lost, but it was after -2350 CY), but the orbs were now of differing sizes and powers, each oriented toward the control of dragons of differing ages. The reason for this alteration has never been made clear, as it certainly reduced the effectiveness of these orbs when used in battle against dragons of ages older than allowed for by any one orb.

    This alteration was not the only one made, and certainly some of these alterations were performed without the knowledge or approval of the emperor or his staff. [The] Fiery Kings were able to insinuate agents among the wizards involved in the project, and without Inzhilem’s ability to grasp the full scope of the work and oversee the critical details, errors and even curses were worked into many of the final products. It is clearly known, for instance, that each Orb of Dragonkind possesses a malign, innate intelligence that attempts to overwhelm and destroy any user. Furthermore, each orb was given the power to affect good and neutral dragons as well as evil ones — an obvious addition by the fiery kings.

    Once finished, the eight orbs were given names corresponding to the age level of the dragons they were meant to fight. In order from the smallest orb up, they were the Orb of the Hatchling, the Orb of the Wyrmkin, the Orb of the Dragonette, the Orb of the Dragon, the Orb of the Great Serpent, the Orb of the Firedrake, the Orb of the Elder Wyrm, and the Orb of the Eternal Grand Dragon. When not activated, each orb was a light, solid sphere of purest white jade, completely and elaborately carved with the entwined figures of dragons in battle with one another. None of these orbs could be damaged in the least by mundane forces, nor could any beast or animated construct bring them harm. If there were any means developed for their destruction, they have long been lost.

    [These] orbs were delivered to the Suloise armies and brought into combat with the Fiery Kings, but there is a break in the historical record here. A curious fragment exists that appears to be a message from a provincial lord to the emperor — whose name is not given — asking for the latter’s intervention to “deliver us from those who hold the stolen Globe.” Considerable strife between army commanders is also noted in some dispatches from the eastern provinces, with several references to a renegade officer, apparently mad, who called himself the King of the Fire Kings. It is apparent that one or more of the orbs either fell into enemy hands, was seized as part of a coup, or possessed a power or curse that led its user into insanity or rebellion.

    [Only] five of the orbs remained in the hands of the Suel until the time just before the Rain of Colorless Fire [:] the Orb of the Hatchling, the Orb of the Dragonette, the Orb of the Dragon, the Great Firedrake’s Orb, and the Orb of the Elder Worm. [Three] had been lost or fallen into the hands of the enemies of the Suel in the empire’s last days. [...] Despite the slight renaming of some of the orbs in late-empire records, […] the missing original orbs [were] the Orb of the Wyrmkin, the Orb of the Great Serpent, and the most powerful of them all, the Orb of the Eternal Grand Dragon.

    After the Rain of Colorless Fire, the historical record is dotted with appearances of these orbs, but very rarely is the exact identity of each orb known for certain. Obviously, most or all of the orbs were transported out of the empire before it was burnt into ashes. One orb, a small one said to be the size of a man’s fist, was held in Rauxes by the Overkings in the youthful days of Aerdy, until it was stolen after two centuries by unknown thieves.


    Orb of the Hatchling

    This, the least of the eight orbs, is three inches across and easily fits into a pouch or pocket. As this orb was used in public by the early Aerdy Overkings upon small captive dragons, its powers are clearly established for anyone who researches the matter.

    This orb, like ail of its kind, confers upon the one who holds it the ability to converse openly with any dragons within hearing, both understanding the dragons and being understood by them. Further, the orb upon command casts a charm that affects a single young dragon aged five years or less, of any type or scale color, the spell being so potent that the beast finds it difficult, if not impossible, to resist. Thus the dragon may be led into captivity or slain from surprise, if action is swift.

    This orb has a mind of its own whose thoughts are devoted to wickedness and revenge. This is the weakest of all the orbs, and its mind is weak as well. Still, the user must have above-average intelligence and insight to maintain control over the globe, or else disaster results. This was sufficiently and tragically proven when Overking Erhart I allowed his eldest son to handle the Orb of the Hatchling in 98 CY; the orb proved too much for the youth, who evaded his father and threw himself over a parapet, dying of his injuries that evening. The orb was recovered in an undamaged state, of course, though it had fallen eighty feet to a stone-paved courtyard. After this, the orb was locked away beneath the castle until its theft only fifteen years later.

    Beyond its ability to charm young dragons, this orb appears to confer a low degree of magical protection on the one using it. It also grants the user the ability to see heat sources in darkness out to forty yards, and it bestows the spell clairvoyance at least six times a day, at the user’s will. It is thus useful, but hardly a grand artifact.


    Orb of the Wyrmkin
    This remains one of the least known of the eight artifacts of its family. It likely confers the same communication powers of the next smaller orb but can charm dragons of slightly older ages. I would guess that it is four inches across. One of my sources refers to this orb as cursed but does not say in what way; the Suel hated to give away any secrets that an enemy might use against them, and they hated to admit to failure. We must pass this one by for now and move on.



    Orb of the Dragonette
    Interestingly, this orb is unmistakably mentioned several times in ancient Suloise literature. One wizard was said to have used the orb to fly over the countryside and scout for monsters and other enemies of the Suel Imperium, which the orb was capable of stunning. This five-inch orb vanished after the Rain of Colorless Fire and may still lie beneath the ash of the Sea of Dust.




    Orb of the Dragon
    This, like the previous orb, vanished without a trace after the fall of the Suel Imperium and probably still lies buried there. I discovered little about It, except that it was rarely used thanks to a flaw in its construction that killed one commander who used it. It is six inches in diameter.






    Orb of the Great Serpent
    Ah! This might have been the orb that Zagig himself used in that great battle in which he won his own dragon’s hoard. Several legends and tales about the Orbs of Dragonkind refer to one the size of a man’s head (this one would be seven inches, so its about right) that could blast enemies with waves of cold and ice, or turn aside the largest red dragon’s breath. A useful item to the Suloise long ago, no doubt! This orb is probably still at large somewhere in the Flanaess, but where, I cannot say.



    Orb of the Firedrake
    All the comments I made about the previous orb apply to this one, too. This one would be eight inches across, but I have found no records to distinguish it from the other. I assume from the title that it is effective against red dragons, but who can say?






    Orb of the Elder Wyrm
    Nine inches across, this orb was the largest one in the Suel Imperium at the time of its fall, and it had a black reputation. Though it had great powers by all accounts, and could kill any beast with but a word from the user, tales have filtered down that the orb was alive in some way and demanded blood for its favors. This is very possible, as I have seen notes that convicted criminals were attached to the army unit to which this orb was assigned, but no provisions were sent along for the prisoners beyond food for a few days. Were they executed by the orb or its user? It is possible. Even the commanders were loathe to use this device in the face of attacks by dragons, so its evil nature must have been great.

    Orb of the Eternal Grand Dragon
    I would love to say that I know something about this orb, but oddly even the Suloise records are sparse about it, and the Suloise loved to brag when they had something worth bragging about. There is a note or two to the effect that this largest of all orbs, ten inches across, was kept securely locked away most of the time, but this is understandable if it was terribly powerful. It is curious, however, that there is no mention of its use during any battle.

    [From “The Orbs of Dragonkind," by Roger E. Moore. Dragon #230 8-16]


    Explain to me again how the Great Kingdom was a beacon of all that was and is Good and Just.

    A Beacon of All That is Good and Just






    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.
    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Ivid the Undying, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.



    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Otto, by Sam Wood, Living Greyhawk Journal #0, 2001
    The Orbs of Dragonkind, by Larry Smith, Dragon Magazine #230, 1996


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11374 The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
    11621 Slavers. 2000
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
    The map of Anna B. Meyer


    Posted: 11-08-2021 01:38 pm
    History of the South-East, Part 2: In the Shadow of Aerdy

    “Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen, but his country's cause.”

    Homer, The Iliad


    A New Land

    It is uncertain what those first Suel expected when they crossed the Tilva Strait, landing on the shores of the land that would later bear the name of the scion of Schnai, Eri-hep-Mona, who led them there. Hepmonaland was densely jungled. Riches, likely. Room to breathe, surely. Did they expect that other civilizations thrived there? Not likely.
    They found the Olman, who they took to be southern Flan, dark of skin and straight of hair; then the Touv, darker still, almost ebony, yet blue of eye. Those peoples could not have been more different. Where the Olman fought among themselves, raiding and slaving and fighting among themselves, the Touv were organized and learned; and where the Suel found great temples to serpent gods amid abandoned Olman cities, they found the Touv joined in a great nation, The Kingdom of Kunda.
    Unsure of either, the Suel kept largely to themselves. Mostly. A few mixed with the Olman and Touv; had they not, those fair-skinned newcomers would not have survived this land of jungle and disease. They built their cities along the coast, then inland, and ever so slowly, they adapted to their new land and lost touch with their original culture and history.
    This not to say that they lived in peace.


    -252 CY The Touv had never been at peace with the Olman. The found the Olman worship of serpent gods repulsive, and their sacrificing humans to those gods repellant. For good reason, for they too had a serpent god, an evil god by the name of Meyanok; and the worship they witnessed held up a mirror to their own darkest ways.
    In -252 CY, a disguised priest of Meyanok worked his way into the inner circle of advisors to the [Kundali] Jolani prince and began to poison his mind and body. [SB - 50]


    The Cult of the Serpent
    Why? Because it is Meyanok’s way.
    Meyanok, born of darkness and pain, is the progenitor of all other evil gods of the Touv pantheon. [SB - 40]
    Priest and shamans of the serpent god are reclusive and don’t often deal with strangers, at least not openly. They work through agents, many of whom are charmed, to disrupt civilization and harm the worshipers of other gods, and have been known to make human sacrifices. [SB - 41]


    -250 CY It was the beginning of the end of 1200 years of the Kingdom of Kundali.
    [The Jolani] prince was so deluded that he believed that his other advisors and the king were plotting against him, so he declared his city-state independent of the Kunda Kingdom in -250 CY. Appeals and diplomatic measures from the capital were turned aside or twisted by the snake-priest, and the secession precipitated similar acts from Ichamamna and Byanbo. [SB - 50]


    Barely checked resentment burst forth in two other Kunda city-states, and they also seceded.
    Trouble within the capital prevented the king from acting, and his successor was unable to reunite the states. [SB - 37]


    The snake priests also destroyed one of the northern cities by a magical famine; even now, the land is cursed and few willingly travel near it. The famine provided a distraction for the city-state of Ichamamna, which had long sought to take over the once Olman yuan’ti city of Xapatlapo. [An] army of Touv warriers stormed the Xapatlapo, but fell to traps and poison, while yuan-ti turned their friends and family into snake-men, as well. [SB - 37]



    -246 CY Back on the Tilvenot Peninsula, the Scarlet Brotherhood was patient. And persistent. Within two hundred years of their having found purchase there, their careful whispers and guidance found a foothold, and then a home, and before long the directives of the Scarlet Brotherhood had almost completely subsumed the goals of the Suloise Council of Noble Houses.
    By 5270 SD the council’s goals were almost entirely subsumed by Brotherhood directives, with most council representatives chosen by indoctrinated families. [SB - 4] (5270 SD)


     -245 CY A few of the Suloise Noble Houses fought to regain control of their lands and destiny, culminating in the Tilvanot Civil War. The three remaining independent Suel Houses attempted to overthrow the Scarlet Brotherhood, but they were doomed from the start. They had hoped to rally the other Houses, that those other Houses would see the truth that lay beneath the silky promises of the Brotherhood and join them in their bid for freedom of choice, but to no avail; the other Houses had been thoroughly seduced by the promises of manifest destiny and their innate supremacy.

    Civil War
    The last three Houses clutching at an independent identity attempted a coup in 5271 SD. The Tilvanot erupted in a brief civil war, which ended with a series of assassinations and two public demonstrations of the monks’ dreaded “quivering palm” ability, performed on the rebellion’s generals before their assembled troops. The surviving nobles of the three Houses were captured, tortured and executed as examples. [SB - 4] (5271 SD)

    -243 CY The three remaining independent Suloise Noble Houses had fought a valiant, but ultimately doomed rebellion against the insidiousness of the Scarlet Brotherhood’s control. The other Houses should have joined them. Had they, the Suloise people might have followed a different path, a kinder, gentler path. But that is unlikely. They were always a cruel and haughty people, and the ideals of the Scarlet Brotherhood had long been theirs, as well. In any event, they did not. And the independent Houses fell. And then, so too did the rest.  And the Scarlet Brotherhood assumed formal control of Tilvanot government, calling the peninsula "The Kingdom of Shar." 
    In 5273 SD the council was dissolved and the hierarchy of monks, assassins and thieves controlled the government as well as in deed. [SB - 4]


    [The] Suel race continued to practice the evil deeds of their forbears. Enslavement of other races was an everyday practice. Holidays and celebrations were marked with ritualized torture. Dark sorceries were embraced to advance the cause. Such actions were performed in the most secret parts of the hidden city; the rare visitors from the outside world saw only a stern nation whose citizenry suffered from no more than patriotic extremism. Any visitor discovering too much disappeared, “volunteered for torture or to serve in the breeding programs for inferiors. [SB - 4] (5273 SD)


    -240 CY The Harvest King, ruler of Kunda strained to hold his kingdom together. He tried diplomacy, but to decadence and snake worship had begun to infect his cities. He had no choice but to resort to force, for the evils of the serpent could not be tolerated. He raised his armies, and marched against the centres of the snake, where the Yuan-ti and the sauhagin walked without fear. Ichamamna fell to his wrath, but not Byanbo and Johan.
    There were those states that remained loyal to the capital of Kundanol, even as their confederacy began to unravel.  (1169 TC)
    Transmutation
    The fragmentation of the [Kunda] Kingdom […] came as a disappointment to the Anatali, but they have maintained friendly relations with Kundanol and are cordial with the other city-states. They have increased their patrols near Alocotla, hearing reports that the snake-men are taking people for some dark ritual. [SB - 47,48]


    -217 CY What of the Oeridians? More specifically, what of the Aerdi, the fiercest of those mighty peoples? It came to pass that the people of Aerdi had reached the end of the world and looked upon the sea that birthed the sun.
    The strongest tribe of the Oeridians, the Aerdi, settled the rich fields east of the Nyr Dyv and there founded the Kingdom of Aerdy, eventually to be renamed the Great Kingdom. [Folio - 5]


    In time, the Aerdi arrived at the shores of the great eastern waters, their long journey at an end. They named that vast ocean the Solnor (literally, "the birthplace of the sun"), and along its shores they founded a series of small states. These were largely tracts settled by individual noble houses of the Aerdi, such as the mystic Garasteth, the noble Cranden, the mercantile Darmen, the calculating Rax, and the militaristic Naelax. These small principalities accomplished little under their loose confederation, as they were individually unable to take on the Ur-Flan and Suel, so they quickly gathered under a single banner. [LGG - 23]


    When the Aerdi completed their drive to the eastern coast of the Flanaess nearly a millennium ago, it became clear to most of them that their journey had finally come to an end at the shore of the Solnor. Their first permanent settlements were soon founded along the coast of the Aerdi Sea, between Pontylver at the mouth of the Flanmi and the Gull Cliffs in the north. After decades of battle with the native Flan and treacherous Suel, the Aerdi noble houses sought a place to call their own, and these places included settlements at Roland, Ountsy, and the largest of all at Rel Astra, the site of a small abandoned Suel settlement. [LGG - 93]                


    -216 CY With most of the known world conquered, the greatest of the tribes of Oerid drew the others into its fold, becoming one nation.  In truth, they already were, and had been as they swept across the Flanaess. One House had risen to the fore, claiming lineage to Johydee. Whether that was true or not was debatable, but who could say? It might have. Indeed, most houses claimed Johydee as their mother. No matter. House Garasoth has risen to the fore, and to the throne; and those houses that might have contested the claim had long since bent the knee. And thus, Lord Mikar, scion of House Garasoth, became the first grand prince of Aerdy. (428 OR) 
    In 428 OR (-216 CY), the scion of House Garasteth, Lord Mikar, became the first grand prince (equal to a king). He ruled a land now called the kingdom of Aerdy ("aer" meaning "sky" in Old Oeridian). [LGG - 23]


    Empires need a capital from which to rule. But where? One might think the centre of their lands would serve best. But the Aerdy had gazed upon the sea that birthed Sol, and found the lands there to be temperate and beautiful. (428 OR)
    In 428 OR (-216 CY), these small states finally united under a single banner, and the kingdom of Aerdy was born. Rel Astra was chosen as its capital. The scion of Garasteth was the grand prince of the Aerdi at the time, and he set about building an impressive seat of government. A grand palace was constructed in the heart of the city and heavy walls were erected to enclose what is known today as the Old City. A large keep adjacent to the shore housed the admiralty of the kingdom, though the interest of the Aerdy turned decidedly west over the next few centuries. [LGG - 93]

    Did the Aerdi command all the Flanaess? No. Would they? No. Some lands were as fierce as they. Some harsh. Some lands were far removed and inaccessible. Or altogether unknown to the Aerdi. The truth is, some lands only added people to the fold, and little else, and were thus spared the benevolence of Aerdian rule.
    The founding of the Kingdom of Aerdi in 5299 SD changed little in the Kingdom of Shar. A civilized neighbor to the north allowed the Brotherhood to trade for food and other resources, and offered them a foothold in the Flanaess where they could learn about the other forming nations. Over time, spies planted in the Aerdi kingdom moved to other lands, strengthening the Brotherhood’s information network. [SB - 4]


    -194CY  Having reached the sea that gave birth to Sol, the host of humanity wondered, what lies there? Exploration of the Solnor Ocean beckoned. But such an endeavour was not for the feint of heart. It was vast. It seemed endless. And it was riff with dangers.
    In eastern Oerik, some small but farsighted groups living near the Gull Cliffs of the coast developed some skill at maritime travel. The travelers were of mixed stock, Oerid and Flannae, and part of the newly formed kingdom of Aerdy. The persistent Aqua-erdians generated two major seafaring explorations, both of which successfully returned with news of land far eastward. [Aqua]


    -171 CY The Flannae could only watch as the Aerdi flooded into the east, a relentless tide that had no ebb. They sought to parley with these newcomers, for there was an abundance of uncultivated land and room for all. But, the Aerdians saw the fertile lands of the Flannae and meant to take them for their own. The Flan sought to defend them, but their cause was hopeless compared with the fierceness and resolve of the Oeridians.
    They clashed at Chokestone, and the Flan fell. (473 OR/ 5345 SD/ 1980 FT)


    The Aerdi Cometh
    The Battle of Chokestone
    This place, and the lands around it, are deserted, not farmed by anyone. The site is that of a great battle between Aerdi men and a small Flan tribe in -171 CY. The Oeridians were easily triumphant, and an excessively brutal general ordered the torture and sacrifice of all surrendering Flan folk in thanks to Erythnul. The following day, the Aerdi army woke from its camp to find that the land for several square miles around had been stripped of vegetation. Only slate-like stone remained. As they trod upon the stone, it cracked as if it were brittle paper, releasing clouds of oily, choking smoke. Less than a third of the army managed to march away from the accursed area, and those who survived suffered lung infections and disease which brought their lives to very premature ends. From time to time since this slaughter, a huge black smoky serpentine shape has been spotted prowling the lands around Chokestone, slaying any who dare approach the land where the Flan were slaughtered. Astrologer-sages can predict this wandering; it occurs around once every 17 years, with the "snake" manifesting for […] days. At other times, mages will sometimes try to obtain some of the stone for use in making dust of sneezing and choking, but they invariably send servants to obtain it rather than risking entry themselves. [Ivid - 53]


    -122 CY The Aqua-erdians struck out east across the Solonor Ocean.
    Disenchanted by a warlike turn of events in their homeland, most of the remaining Aqua-erdians left Aerdy by sea, migrating eastward across the Solnor Ocean. Those who remained became the ancestors of the Sea Barons, now virtually independent, but swearing fealty to the Overking at Rauxes. [Aqua]


    -110 CY The Battle of a Fortnight’s Length
    The Aerdi struck north, for the land there was rich, the soil black, the woods tall. It mattered not a whit that the tribes of Nyrond had no wish to enjoy the wealth and security of Aerdy.
    [The] Nyrondese cavalry was defeated by Aerdy forces commanded by nobles of House Rax, during the Battle of a Fortnight’s Length. Shortly, all the lands from the Harp River west to the Nyr Dyv swarmed with Aerdi famers, hunters, fishers, merchants, bandits, and soldiers. This conquest changed the character of the Kingdom of Aerdy, which saw its destiny as the rulership of all the Flanaess. [TAB - 57]


    After the Battle of a Fortnight’s Length, the Duke of Tenh pledged fealty to the King of Aerdy, giving the Aerdian monarch authority over the duke and his personal holdings in Tenh and the Coltens, thus ending Flan dominion over the Flanaess.
    Not all nobles and officials of Tenh bent the knee to the King of Aerdy, maintaining Tenh’s independence, but without support and armies to field, their declaration was tantamount to posturing. They were living in the Great Kingdom now, regardless their delusions of the supposed continuance of a bygone age.
    After several decades of increasing growth, power, and prestige, Aerdy embarked upon a series of conquests, the greatest of which was the defeat of the Nyrondal cavalry squadrons at the Battle of a Fortnight's Length. Thereafter, Aerdy was known as the Great Kingdom, whose monarch held sway from the Sundi swamplands in the south, westwards along the shores of the Telfic Gulf and the Sea of Yar, to the Nyr Dyv and from thence northwards through the Shield Lands and beyond the Tenh. [Folio - 5] (534 OR/ 5406 SD/ 2041 FT)


    -107 CY The Ur-Flan remembered the days of Vecna and Keraptis, and how the world quaked at the mere mention of their name. They chafed under the benevelance of those “good” and “righteous” people, the Aerdi. Who were the Aerdi, after all, but scavengers picking at the carcass of their once great nation? A menagerie of ill-equipped, and ill-prepared Ur-Flan insurgents attempted to assassinate the King of Aerdy by summoning a "winged horror."
    It was their last fruitless gasp at freedom.
    Ambush
    It occurred in the year 537 OR (-107 CY), when an attack upon the traveling train of the king of Aerdy was foiled by a group of young men, primarily woodsmen and farmers from a nearby village. Ur-Flan insurgents released a winged horror upon the royal tent city in an effort to assassinate the leader of their conquerors. The young men of the village thwarted the attack, at the cost of most of their lives. The king was so impressed with the courage of the survivors that he raised them up as his "Knight Protectors." [LGG - 157] (537 OR/ 5409 SD/ 2044 FT)


    1st Century BCY

    What remained of the Flan nations fell one by one. A few took up arms against the Aerdi, but for the most part, the Flan bowed to the inevitability of their fate. The Flan Kingdom of Ahlissa was one of the last to fall, and their lands conquered were later form nucleus of the South Province.
    After the Aerdi first conquered the lands surrounding the lower Flanmi and founded the kernel of their empire along the Solnor Coast, their ambitions soon turned to the southwest, where great riches awaited. The Flan kingdom of Ahlissa was conquered in the [fifth century OR] and eventually became the core of mighty South Province. The lands farther south were controlled by the Suel, but a series a brutal wars brought regions such as Idee and Sunndi into the burgeoning Aerdi kingdom (as part of South Province) over the next century. [LGG - 80]


    -46 CY   The Aerdi continued to march beyond Ahlissa, unto the Suel land of Onnwal. The blue waters of the Azure Sea beckoned them, and they, thike the Suel before them, understood manifest destiny. But Onnwal was not to be bowed easily. Their lands were as rough and rocky as they themselves, their command of the seas uncontested until then, but they were few against the tide of Aerdy, and after long and bloody conflict, their shores surcame to their inevitable fate.
    In 598 OR (-46 CY), Onnwal was taken after a long and bloody conflict that ended with the establishment of Irongate and final control of the Headlands for the Aerdi. [LGG - 80]


    c –9 CY  Could the conquest of Nyrond and Ahlissa and Onnwal have occurred without Leuk-O, or Lum the Mad, and their Mighty Servant and Machine? Or without the Orbs of Power they wielded? Whom can say? All one can say is that those two had taken a hand and the world had fallen to their power. Then they faded away. But not before leaving wonders and terrors in their wake, for all great powers leave such in their passing.
    It was around this time that the last contact between the inhabitants of the Belching Vortex of Leuk-O and the hill folk of what are now called the Hestmark Highlands occurred. 
    The folk of the Hestland Highlands hold many secrets, but perhaps none so enigmatic as the great portal known colloquially as the Belching Vortex of Leuk-O. Named for an ancient Oeridian general who is said to have entered the place and emerged with unheard of treasure. The Vortex appears as an undulating black, leprous membrane set against a sheer cliff face on the mountain known as Vashal-Tul in the language of the dwarves who once made their homes in the craggy hillsides nearby. In the days before the Kingdom of Aerdy, a small band of hill folk established a small colony at the foot of the membrane, which ancient texts refer to as a smooth opalescent barrier, soft to the touch but impenetrable even by magic. At some point, however, the gateway degraded, as did the village. Now, little more than eroded foundations can be found at the site, along with the time-buried remains of a people set upon by a terrible wasting disease. Leuk-O is said to have fallen victim to this illness, which caused his skin to turn sallow and his hair to fall from its roots.  Those who have visited the Vortex […] report a wasteland bereft of animal of plant life. Occasionally, it is said, the black membrane opens suddenly, expelling an invisible gas that can strip flesh from a man’s bones. [LGJ#1 - 6]


    -1 CY      What of Shar, you ask? Shar remained a mystery. Because they wished to remain such. But they were aware of the Great Kingdom and its conquests.
    Sent Forth in the Cause of Freedom
    Even when the Great Kingdom swelled to its greatest size in 5516 SD under Overking Nasran, Shar was protected from land assaults by the Vast Swamp, and from naval attacks by the Brotherhood’s ships and powerful magic. [SB - 4]
    They remained free. They sent out many of their most able to ensure they remained so.












    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.
    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, The Scarlet Brotherhood, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Ivid the Undying, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.


    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Light-Patrol by wacalac
    Serpent-Cult by northernhermit
    Red-Army by femire
    Yuan-ti by draggyness
    Legio-X-Equestris by quintuscassius
    Ambush by icerider098
    Red-Hood by benedickbana


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11374 The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
    11621 Slavers. 2000
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 11-06-2021 02:39 pm
    History of the South-East, Part 1: A New Home

    “A man who has been through bitter experiences

     and travelled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time.”

    Homer, The Odyssey


    The Blossoming of the Scarlet

    What can one say of the Suel? They were clever. They were ambitious. They desired to rise to heights and power hitherto only known to the Grey Elves. And they did, even as the elves tried to limit what power might be known to them. Why, the Suel had asked? Had they not shown aptitude for architecture, for theatre and music and art, and magic? They implored the Grey Elves to reconsider. In response, the Grey Elves removed themselves from the lands of the Suel. And the Suel grew angry. The Suel found new allies, dark cousins of those once friendly Greys. And when those dark allies betrayed them, they sought power over those lesser peoples that dwelt around them. Then then over those further still, until they had mastery over all they surveyed west of the Crystalmists, the Hellfurnaces, the Barrier Peaks, and the Yatils. Those lesser peoples, the Bakluni, the Oeridians, they rebelled. Then came the War that would undo all of their great works. Or would it?

    “The start of the Great War surprised no one. For longer than a year, raiders from both nations stormed across the Haut Range, pillaging and burning homes and farms on either side of the great mountains. In the spring of 5031 SD Emperor Ad-Zol sent nine thousand troops across the mountains to punish the black-haired northerners. They were met on the fields of Padyr by a comparable force sent by the Bakluni Padishah Ramif; after a pitched battle that lasted almost three days, the armies had annihilated one another. The handful of surviving warriors from the Emperor’s army retreated to their homeland and reported imminent invasion by the foul Bakluni, and the very air that my people breathed became charged with the fervor of war.”

    —from the Journal of Kavelli Mauk [SB - 2]


    -448 CY    
    The Year of Prophets
    The Year of the Prophets. They read doom in the cards, the bones, and the tea leaves. Within the span of a generation the empire would fall, they predicted. Repent, they cried. Turn from your wicked ways, they plead, warning against worship of the Chained God, and warding against something they named Shothragot. To no avail. The masses laughed and turned their backs on the doomsayers. But it was plain in their eyes that their laughter was false. They turned their backs on their prophets because they knew their emperor was displeased, and they feared their emperor’s wrath more than their prophets’ doom.
    Seven different prophets foretell of the destruction of the Suel Empire within 30 years. The Emperor, Yellax-ad-Zol has all seven drawn and quartered, even though one of the prophets is a High Priest of Beltar. [OJ11] (196 OR/ 5068 SD/1703 FT)



    -447 CY    Not all were deaf to the prophets’ warnings. The Emperor’s son took heed, for, if seven prophets should face certain death to warn of impending disaster, who was he dispute them. He knew more than most, and heeded their warnings because he’d read the Lament for Lost Tharizdun, that foul scripture penned by that mad priest Wongas, who’d mysteriously vanished into the East a century earlier, and he’d seen with his own eyes what that dark lord demanded at his worship when it had been fashionable to be seen to attend such things, and knew what that Chained God desired even if those other revellers did not.
    Fleeing the Kingdom
    Zellifar-ad-Zol, son of the Emperor, mage/high priest of Beltar, breaks with his father and takes over 8,000 Suloise loyal to himself, and flees the kingdom, eastward. The ferocity and magical might of the movement scatters the Oerdians in its path, causing the remainder of the Oerdian to migrate. Slerotin, called “the Last High Mage” causes a huge tunnel to be bored into the Crystalmists, through which the Zolite Suel flee. He then seals the tunnel closed at both ends, trapping one lesser branch of the family, the Lerara, inside. The Zolites continue eastward heading toward the southeast as well as to Hepmonoland.
     [OJ11] (197 OR/ 5069 SD/1704 FT)


    “Most remarkably, the emperor’s son had fled the year before this, accompanied by thousands of citizens loyal to him. The emperor sent the houses Schnai, Cruskii and Fruztti to bring back his son to face justice. The houses vanished, lost—no one knew why—to the lands to the east.”
    —from the Journal of Kavelli Mauk [SB - 2]


    -446 CY The Emperor was not pleased! Traitor, he screamed, when he heard of his son’s betrayal. His advisors and courtiers bowed and slunk away from their emperor’s wrath, for they knew it all too well, and feared their being heir to it in his son’s absence.
     The emperor commands that the Houses Schnai, Cruskii and Fruztii move [and] bring his son, and the "Unloyal" back to face justice. [OJ1] (198 OR/ 5070 SD/1705 FT)


    “By 5070 DD, the population of our cities were falling, far beyond the attrition to be expected from the war with the northerners. Many commoners and even a few minor noble houses escaped the conflict and moved east, across the Harsh Pass and into the lands beyond. The nobles would have liked their contemporaries to believe the move was influenced by tales of the fertile lands and great wealth beyond the Crystalmists, but the truth is that they feared powerful rival houses, who might take advantage of the extingencies of the war with the dark-eyed northerners to eliminate them.”
    —from the Journal of Kavelli Mauk [SB - 2]


    -445 to -423 CY  The Zolites scatter the Flannae before them, and move south to the Tilvanot Peninsula. Zellifar carries with him two of the lesser Binders and the Chief Binder. The three pursuing houses, unable to find the magical tunnel, turned north, where they are met by regrouped Oerdians and fearful Flannae who harry and drive these Suel Houses south. Many are lost and remained in the Amedio Jungle. They eventually [turn] back east and march toward what is now the Rift Canyon. [OJ11] (199-221 OR/ 5071 – 5093 SD/1706-1728 FT)



    A Vision of Purity
    -425 CY    Kevalli Mauk had a vision of purity. Had the Suel remained pure, the Suel would have remained strong. Had the Suel remained pure, they would have held dominion over all of the world. The long-passed emperor Zeeckar had understood that when he had looked upon his empire and saw that the blood of the Suel had become tainted, and knew that such taint had been why the Suloise Empire had been much diminished. He had declared his “War of Purity.” He had set aside those most pure, their aim to return their people to their rightful place, his Scarlet Brotherhood. They had failed. But they had endured. Kevelli would see to it that Zeeckar’s prophetic vision should come to pass.
    “It was on the first day of they year 5091 SD that I presented my vision to the council of nobles. The Brotherhood of the Scarlet Sign, my vision revealed would be an organization whose sole intent was to prevent dilution of the virtues of our people. The war with the Bakluni did not prevent contact with their nefarious race, and the excursions from the rebellious Roka, Chebi and Hochebi, and visitors from the west and south, polluted our people with their flesh and their cultures. The Brotherhood would swear to uphold the ideals of the Suel culture, forswearing physical and mental corruption. Their purity would be the purity of the flame, tempting the pure, searing the unworthy and branding the inferior. Despite resistance from certain obviously tainted houses, the council and the king approved my plan and presented me with a mansion and funds for the use in creating this order.”
    —from the Journal of Kavelli Mauk [SB - 2] (5091 SD)


    -423 CY    Zellifar was not the saviour his followers had imagined; indeed, his reading the Lament for Lost Tharizdun had twisted him and he proved as much a tyrant as his father, so, soon after taking flight, there were those among them who saw that they had traded one cruel emperor for another, and they began to steal away in the chaos he fostered as they were driven further east.
    One of Zellifar’s minions, the High Priest Pellipardus, slips away from the Zolites and takes his family. Zellifar does not pursue, fearing that this will take his attention away from the Three Houses of Pursuit: the Schnai, the Fruztii, and the Cruski. [OJ11] (223 OR/ 5093 SD/1728 FT)


    -422 CY    Zellifar parleys with the Houses of Pursuit. His Archmage, Slerotin, unleashes a mass enfeeblement on the mages of the three Houses, and a mass suggestion upon the other members of the Houses. Slerotin is blasted by magical energies upon the casting of these mighty spells, leaving the Rift Canyon as the only physical remains of this energy. The remnants of the Three Pursuing Houses flee northeastward.
    The Houses of Pursuit have been mind-swept. They have no purpose and no direction and no mages whatsoever after they are hit by these spells. They do not know why they are searching or what they are searching for. They have two binders but do not realize it! As they move aimlessly, they begin to seek a homeland. They do not remember where they came from. The memories of their gods are virtually blotted out.
    The three houses that eventually settle in the Barbarian States lose almost all contact with the more ‘civilized’ and good gods of their people. As they begin to multiply and prosper Kord and Llerg become major gods to them but Fortubo, Lendor, Lydia and Jascar are forgotten.
    Farther south in Ratik a slightly different mix of peoples assembles. Gods like Phaulkon, Norebo and Phyton are still remembered. [OJ11] (224 OR/ 5094 SD/ 1729 FT)


    Lendore comes to the Spindrift Islands.
    This group of islands has housed from time immemorial the strongholds of high-elven wizards and lords. They had little contact with humans until the arrival of the legendary Archmage, Lendore, who brought his fellowship out from the lands of the Suel Imperium in anticipation of the Invoked Devastation. Fleeing the impending disaster, the wizard and his band journeyed to the easternmost shores of Oerik, then further still, until they came at last to the Spindrift Isles. The Invoked Devastation occurred, as Lendore knew it must, but it was followed by a catastrophe he had not foreseen: the Rain of Colorless Fire and the destruction of the empire. [LGG - 68]


    Kevelli Mauk, leader of the Scarlet Brotherhood, also heeded the warnings of the seven prophets. He gathered his servants and his ten most ardent students, and managed to escape to the Flanaess just before disaster hit. They crossed the Hellfurnaces and found those Suel who’d first fled to the Sheldomar Valley as the Great War began and had already begun to settle there. But those Suel had not held true to the Path of Purity, having already consorted with the lesser Oeridians. They were not entirely without use, Mauk found, for they had news of Zellifar-ad-Zol and those thousands who had followed him into the east. (222 OR/ 5092 SD/ 1727 FT)
    The hour before the Rain began, Kevelli was overwhelmed by a premonition of doom; this supernatural warning gave him time to activate a now-lost artifact known as Lendor’s Matrix, an hourglass-shaped device that could temporarily suspend time and transport matter across great distances. He gathered his ten most ardent students their slaves and the Tome of the Scarlet Sign—the manifesto of the Scarlet Brotherhood—and used the Matrix to teleport to the western side of the Hellfurnaces, moments before the cataclysm eradicated the Suel capital and surrounding lands. [SB - 3]


    Invoked Devastation and Rain of Colourless Fire Strike

    The Rain of Colourless Fire
    The Great War had reached its height. Thousands had perished, and thousands would perish still. Each revelled in their atrocities, citing moral and racial superiority, eager to cleanse the land of the filth that tainted it.
    In the Suel Empire proper, the Suel mages gather their magical energies and cast the Invoked Devastation. No Bakluni cities survive this blast of magical energy. But Bakluni mages gather at Tovag Baragu, using the arcane powers of the Binders, and drawing upon the energies of their holiest site, withstand these energies and counterstrike with the Rain of Colorless Fire. The remains of this expenditure of energy are now called the Dry Steppes, and the Sea of Dust. The holders of all Four Binders are utterly destroyed but the binders themselves are not. [OJ11] (224 OR/ 5094 SD/1729 FT)

    When the Invoked Devastation came upon the Baklunish, their own magi brought down the Rain of Colorless Fire in a last terrible curse, and this so affected the Suloise Empire as to cause it to become the Sea of Dust. [Folio - 5]
    The Suloise lands were inundated by a nearly invisible fiery rain which killed all creatures it struck, burned all living things, ignited the landscape with colorless flame, and burned the very hills into ash. [Folio - 26] 224_OR/ 5094 SD/1729 FT

    Thus ended the Age of Glory, the west sundered and burned, its glory under a blanket of ash.
    When the Rain of Colorless Fire ended the Age of Glory and brought down the Empire, the tribes [of the Suloise] decided to seek their fate to the east, in the lands of the Flan. [WoGG - 27]


    “The Bakluni wizards have wrought terrible fate on my homeland. Lights without color fell from the sky and burned everything to ash—people, homes, even the soil and the rock beneath. At last I understand the foreboding that consumed me this past hour and drove me to flee with a handful of students and slaves—it was a premonition of the death of my city and my people. Saved by Lendor’s Matrix, we now stand at the entrance to the Harsh Pass, watching the destruction of millions of men and women, the greatest empire of humankind, and five thousand years of history.
    “I swear such a thing will never happen again. Never will my people be stained and damaged by the actions of an inferior race. We will travel east and find the scattered survivors of our great empire. My Scarlet Brotherhood will build the Suel empire anew. All who do not kneel to us will be crushed. We must move with haste, for the fires of my nation’s death-pyre move this way.”
    —from the Journal of Kavelli Mauk [SB - 2,3]


    -419 CY    Long did Kevelli Mauk wander, harried by the migration of the Aerdy nation. Kevelli was not alone. He collected those Suel he found who shared his mind, those who understood the greatness of their people, and those disaffected by the Aerdy. He was herded ever east because whenever the Aerdy came upon he and his followers they recognized their former masters, and remembered their lot under the mastery of those cruel overlords, and drove him from those lands.
    The Exodus
    Four times [Kevelli and his followers] stopped, hoping to settle, but each time migrating Oeridians arrived and claimed [their] chosen territory. The Suel band was forced to flee, their numbers too small to fend off attacks, despite the skills of their guards and warriors.
    The refugees struck south across a great swamp […].
    Eventually the travelers emerged from the swamp, at the narrowest part of the Tilvanot (“south-hill”) peninsula. Liking the cool breezes and misty skies of the place, they continued south and came at last to the great mesa, where they found a colony of several thousand followers of the Suel Emperor’s sun Zellif, who had been living there since 2071 SD. Zellif’s people had claimed the peninsula as their own, driving away, beginning with, or enslaving the humanoid and Flan tribes there. [SB - 3]


    Hesuel Ilshar

    The colony built an amazing city [Hesuel Ilshar] on the plateau, imitating the architectural styles of their lost homeland. The 
    Tome of the Scarlet Sign was copied a dozen times; the manuscripts were passed to each Brotherhood recruit in turn for memorization. 
    [SB - 3]


    While aloof and sometimes cruel, the new Suel nation—now known by the unassuming name Shar, meaning “purity”—was careful not to reveal its true intentions.
    Suel from across the Flanaess continued to migrate into the Brotherhood lands; those that agreed with the Brotherhood philosophy stayed; others crossed the shark-infested waters of the Tilva (“southern”) Strait to the jungles of the continent to the south. [SB - 3]


    -413 CY    The Suel had spread out. Few migrated north. They were a southern people, accustomed to gentle climes and fertile fields. Those who had migrated before the Rain fell, found other gentle climes and other fertile fields, some even going so far as to venture across the waters, settling in the jungles to the south. But they were Suel, despite their having fled the plagues and the wars of the west. They had displaced the Flan, just as the Aerdy were displacing them after the Rains. And they had displaced the peoples of the Amedeo and Hepmonaland. (5103 SD)
    Zar was the first region of Hepmonaland to be settled by the refugees of the Suel Kingdom. Those who stayed here were the most stubborn and intractable of the lot; the more adventurous moved on, as did those seeking greater security from the people of the Falnaess. The city of Zar was founded in 5103 SD, little more than a cluster of rounded stone and wood buildings in a cleared space in the jungle. It grew as Suel refugees arrived and occasionally shrank as strange jungle diseases or infestations took their toll. [SB - 55]


    c.  –412 CY          Those Suel who could not flee died as the Rains fell. But not all.
    The Suloise [tribes] who entered the Flanaess after the Ruin of Colorless Fire were actually a number of once-prosperous noble families and their retainers. Being on holiday, they escaped the burning of Zinbyle, the ruined city in the Sea of Dust recently found by explorers from the Yeomanry. After the Rain died away, the survivors lived in barbarism, scavenging for food and stealing from the frocks of goat-herders in the foothills of the bordering Crystalmists. It was in such a condition a decade after the disaster that the great wizard Slerotin found them, mistaking them at first for actual savages.
    Slerotin
    Slerotin heard the entreaties of the Suloise survivors, who could offer him nothing but gratitude in return for helping them cross the Crystalmists to the rich lands of the Flannae and demihumans. I believe he gave them his aid purely to sate his own ego, for he was never known for his charity before, but perhaps I wrong him. in any event, Slerotin summoned his power and opened a great tunnel directly through over 70 leagues of solid rock. in this way did the Suloise enter the FIanaess with Slerotin, meeting some of their own kind who had earlier crossed the Kendeen Pass (later destroyed by a volcano) and settled along the Javan River. The “tribes” in time became organized clans and noble Houses. They grew in strength, preyed upon Flan and olve and dwur alike, and ran afoul of the Oeridian hordes. You know what followed then.
    Seventeen Suloise “tribes," including the local goat-herders, braved the Passage of Slerotin to reach what is now the Yeomanry. An 18th group the Lerara, entered late. Further delayed by a fight between several nobles, the Lerara were trapped within the Passage when it was sealed. This little group of only 100-120 adults, with children and animals in tow, was forced to adapt to this dark land, thinking they were abandoned by the gods and cursed.
    Excerpt from a letter penned by Elayne Mystica, of the Free City of Iron Gate (inscribed 585 CY) [Dragon #241 - 43,44]


    -411 CY Kevelli Mak did not live long after leading his followers to the Tilvanot. He lived long enough, though, to have left his mark, for he and his followers seduced the hearts and minds of those who had settled there, and in time rose to their rightful place, guides to the Way of Purity, and in that role, they steered the course of those people for all time. (5105 SD)
    Although Kevelli died in 5105 SD, his vision lived on. He was succeeded by his most talented student, Reshek Nes. Reshek followed her mentor’s lead and created a strict monk-like regime for the most talented students, building strength and focus through discipline and denial. [SB - 4]


    -402 CY The Suel found Hepmonaland to their liking. The land was rich, and blessed with ample sustenance and resources. They were not alone; indeed, they found others, the Olman and their like, but these peoples there were primitive and though they might have once been great, they were no more. Thy were savages, unfit scions to their ancestors’ good fortune. The Suel soon spread out, taking what they would. (5114 SD)
    Lerga was settled in 5114 SD by a group of Suel nobles led by Duke Medajar, a noble priest of Llerg. According to legend, the priest had a dream vision of a great stone bear, and his group of refugees spotted a great bearlike formation of rock on a hillside, Megajar declared a halt and proclaimed the spot sacred to the God of Force. Using stone plundered from abandoned Olman ruins, Medagar’s people built shelters for themselves sand established the city of Lerga. [SB - 52]


    c.-400 CY              The Flan Ahlissan Kingdom was in full “decline” by this time. In the wake of the Ur-Flan and the devastating war with the elves, they had become a peaceful folk, having reverted to a tribal existence, content to tend their flocks and fields. They were no match for the coming Suel or Oeridians ... militarily. That is not to say that they were a helpless people, either. (244 OR/ 5116 SD/ 1751 FT)


    -400 CY Those Suel who had remained in the Flanaess found themselves pitted against the Oeridians. They stood their ground, and they fought, much as the Flan had, and still did, but neither the Suel nor the Flan had hope of defeating the Oeridians. The Oeridians were fierce. The Oeridians were relentless. And in the end, the Oeridians were victorious. Those who pledged fealty were spared; those who did not, were not.
    Standing Ground
    The fierce Oeridian tribes hardly had matters all their own way. For two centuries, they fought the Suel and the fragmented humanoids for possession of the central lands of the Flanaess. The Oeridians incurred the enmity of the Flannae and demihumans of the lands as well. The arrogant Oeridians might have been overcome by this mix of forces, but for one thing: the Suel were far more unpleasant than the Oeridians were aggressive. The Suel invaders lied, cheated, stole, enslaved, pillaged, and killed out of hand. Over time, the Flannae and demihumans allied with the Oeridians to drive the Suel to ever more distant fringes of the Flanaess: into the northeastern Barbarian lands and into the southern jungles of Amedio and Hepmonaland. [FtAA - 3]


    The success of the Oeridian domination of so much of the Flanaess was in part due to their friendliness towards the original demi-human peoples of the area—dwur, noniz, hobniz, olve—and their co-operation greatly strengthened the Oeridians. The willingness of the Flanae to join forces with the Oeridian armies also proved to be a considerable factor. Perhaps the biggest asset the Oeridians had, however, was the vileness of the Suloise - for the majority lied, stole, slew, and enslaved whenever they had inclination and opportunity. There were exceptions, of course, such as the Houses of Rhola and Neheli - late migrants who settled and held the Sheldomar as already mentioned. [Folio - 5]                


    To the far north, four of the strongest and fiercest Suel clans managed to retain large stretches of ground as Suloise. The majority of the Suelites were pushed to the extreme south, into the Amedio Jungle, the Tilvanot Peninsula, the Duxchan Islands, and even as far as across the narrow Tilva Straight into Hepmonaland. [Folio - 5]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Scarlet Brotherhood, Ivid the Undying, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.

    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    whispered-words-in-cherry-red by maegondo
    GuildWars-2-Refugees by artbytheo
    I-was-born-for-this by immp
    The Rain of Colourless Fire, by Erol Otus, Folio, 1980
    Seventh Plague of Egypt, by John Martin, 1823
    Clearwine-RuneQuest by ranarh
    Raistlin-portrait-2 by belegilgalad
    Heroes-of-Bronze-Platea-479-BC by martinklekner


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11374 The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 11-04-2021 04:03 pm
    The Infinite Oerths Journal 32
    Oerth Journal 32

    Wonders never cease.
    I'm published again. Needless to say I'm thrilled.

    This issue has a theme, and that theme was Infinite Oerths. That may sound odd to those already familiar with the intent of Gary Gygax's setting. Gary set the stage all those years ago, and then set it free. Make it yours he said. And we did. Each created a Greyhawk of his own, and each Greyhawk was unique. That was its charm. Greyhawk, by its very nature is a study of infinite possibilities.

    But despite Gary's best intentions, canon slipped in through the cracks. He himself began adding to the setting's timeline in the pages of the Dragon magazine. Then others followed, and before long, these dispatches were becoming canon.
    And before too long, there were further sourcebooks by Sargant, Moore, Mona, and Holian. And yet more Dragon articles. We were knee deep in accepted canon. Of course, no one had to use it. Gary's invitation was still there, It will always be there.
    Thus was the invitation of the Oerth Journal for its 32nd issue: Infinite Oerths. What if the accepted history of Greyhawk was a little different? What if the Invoked Devistations had never happened? What if Mordenkainen had hair? He did once, after all. He looked a lot like E. Gary Gygax, if you recall. In any event, we were asked to peek behind the curtain of what might have been, or what your personal Greyhawk had evolved into over the years. Because some Greyhawks have been evolving for so very long time, as has Lord Gosumba's Greyhawk.

    I was perplexed. I was crestfallen. I'd already begun a story that would likely not fit in such a theme. But Jay Scott, the infamous Lord Gosumba of the Free City of Altimira, pressed a promise from a few of we of the online Greyhawk community to submit to the magazine. I said I'd think on it. And I did. But what? An idea sprang to mind.
    That idea can be found within these pages. I hope you enjoy it.
    I won't say what it's about. That would be telling. That would spoil the story., and maybe the twist and surprise at the end.
    But I will mention that it's an exploration of a classic 1st edition module, loved and hated and venerated by many. It was written by Mr. Gygax, of course, as so many of those classic modules were; and were he still around to read it, I should hope that he would love it. He loved a twist, from what I've heard.




    But don't just read my humble submission to the issue's pages. There are many worthy articles. There's advice from newcomer Amy Crittenden on "How to Make Greyhawk Your Own," and exploration of Gord the Rogue by Carl Scrivener. Joseph Bloch, the Greyhawk Grognard visits the "Many Castles of Greyhawk." It wouldn't be the Oerth Journal without a submission from Jason Zavoda and Will Dvorak, and neither failed to appear. Or Jay Scott, for that matter.
    All submissions are worthy of praise, but there are two of note: the first is the return of Gary Holian, writer of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer and a number of exceptional entries in the Dragon, with an article about Death Knights in Greyhawk; and the other is by Mike Bridges about the Sea Princes and the fleets that sail Oerth's oceans.
    I'm in worthy company.

    Download a free copy and enjoy. You can find a link here.
    Another thing to note is that those supporting the Oerth Journal through donation will receive a print copy of the OJ. Not this one, sadly, the deadline for receiving this particular journal has passed. But so long as you keep your support current, you'll receive a physical copy by mail. Here's a link to the Patronage page.



    Posted: 11-04-2021 04:02 pm
    History of the North, Part 11: The Never-ending Storm

    “When wasteful war shall statues overturn

    And broils root out the work of masonry,

    Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire, shall burn

    The living record of your memory:

    ’Gainst death, and all oblivious enmity,

    Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room

    Even in the eyes of all posterity

    That wear this world out to the ending doom.”

    Shakespeare, Sonnet 55 (1609), Q 2&3


    An End To War

    War is wasteful. It brings strife, pestilence and death. And it brings uncertainty in its aftermath. And sometimes, it is difficult to know if it is over. Because there may be an end to A war, but never to War.

    587 CY
    All wars must end. Treaty Negotiations between Ket and Veluna, Gran March, and Bissel began, resulting in the Thornward Division. There was peace in the Bramblewood Gap, if one can call it that; in truth, tension rose, each side watchful, and a new type of war began, a Cold War.

                Beygraf Zoltan's assassination in 587 CY and the resulting change in Ket's government led to a new policy regarding Bissel. Nadaid, Zoltan's state favored replacement, withdrew most of his troops from Bissel to deal with chaos in Lopolla, then began peace negotiations with the west, much to the frustration of battle-hungry Gran March war bands gathered at Bissel's southern border.

    Negotiations lasted from 587-589 CY, resulting in the controversial Thornward Division, by which Bissel's capital was lost and made a neutral city held and governed in common by Ket, Veluna, Gran March, and Bissel. Ket completely withdrew its armies, taking control of all Bisselite forts, towns, and lands north of the Bramblewood Gap. [LGG - 33]


    Beygraf Zoltan was assassinated within four years of the first occupation of Bissel; significantly, the judgment of the mullahs was to not attempt his revivification. The political aftermath in Lopolla was considerable. As the struggle for power unfolded, army forces were withdrawn from Bissel, and civil war threatened Ket. A new beygraf took power by forming a coalition between many military leaders and a significant minority of the clergy. With the financial support of the Mouqollad, the coalition has stabilized Ket's government and borders. Beygraf Nadaid's policies are those of a moderate, so he has little respect among the clergy. The mullahs have demanded the right to scrutinize his government, to assure that it remains in the faith. Nadaid has little choice but to allow this; the outcome is in doubt. [LGG - 68]


    Thornward is a sprawling, heavily fortified city with a population of about six thousand, surrounded by numerous army camps (limited in size by treaty), further boosting its total population to about eleven thousand. The caravan and river traffic through Thornward is of staggering size; items are often available here that are found only in much larger cities. The atmosphere in the city is tense and political intrigue is thick, but mercantile activity is nonstop; the city is brightly lit all hours of the night to keep trade moving. [LGG - 32]


    Tang the Horrific

    Tang the Horrific came to the Wegwiur after escaping Iuz’s forces chasing him to the icy sea. The Wolves were wary at first. Who was this wild man from the Paynims, they asked?  The one who will lead you to victory, he answered.

    The Wolf Nomads were reportedly astonished at the audacity, courage, and natural charisma of this fellow nomad. The council and the tarkhan himself agreed to the attack immediately, perhaps sensing the importance of this moment in history. In the late spring of 587 CY, the Wegwiur's Relentless Horde rode from Eru-Tova and attacked the unsuspecting orcs of the Howling Hills, driving than back in chaos from the Wegwiur Thralls caverns and surrounding area. Shamans carefully removed the bodies of their forefathers and packed the caves' many may treasures, while Tang and Tarkhan Bargru hounded the humanoids of this miserable land. Two days later, a retreat was called and the cavalry force returned home in triumph. By chance, this attack came just before the Shield Lands assault began to the south, and Iuz's attention was thus diverted from the important action at Critwall. Iuz lost no land in the fighting, but his orcs suffered many casualties and a stupendous loss of face in the eyes of Iuz and the Wegwiur, who thereafter raided the hordes more frequently. Tang and a small force of cavalry were last seen riding into the Lands of Iuz, leading an advancing orc army away from the retreating Wegwiur. [TAB - 22]


    Tang continued to harry Iuz. He and the Wolves darted in and out of the Howling Hills and the Fellreev, leading those disorganized bands there on a merry chase.

    A former servant of Iuz and now the demigod's implacable foe, Tang had escaped with a small band of cavalry after a daring raid into the Howling Hills with the Wolf Nomads. Crossing the open plain to the Fellreev, Tang and his mercenary band encountered small groups of Rovers, gathering them at the village of Sable Watch. With their aid, together with Wardogs from the Forlorn Forest and beyond, he successfully attacked Iuzite forces in the Barrens, eventually capturing the fort of Hornduran. Most of the Rovers were still without mounts, so Tang made a fateful decision to raid into Stonehold for horses.

    Tang's Raid
    The town of Vlekstaad was chosen as the target of the Rovers' nighttime strike. With most Fists either in Tenh or fighting the Suel in eastern Stonehold, Vlekstaad had almost no able soldiers in residence. Such defenses as they had were quickly penetrated, thanks to the Wardogs' amazing stealth. The stables of Vlekstaad provided a trove of horseflesh, but escaping with them proved more difficult than Tang had anticipated. He and his companions were trapped by a patrol of Fists and forced to battle for their lives. The expedition might have been lost there had not a young Wardog, Nakanwa Daychaser […]), led his own band of warriors on Tang's trail. Trapped between the two forces of Rovers, the Fists were slaughtered, but Tang was mortally wounded. Nakanwa quickly assumed control of the surviving Rovers, ordering them to seize everything of value in the town, including its citizens. The remains of the town were set ablaze, becoming the funeral pyre of Tang the Horrific.

    With the return of Nakanwa and the wealth of Vlekstaad to the Barrens, new hope rose among the Rovers. Their warriors now had mounts and the people had meat. Perhaps as importantly, the tribes had new members, for the captive children were quickly adopted and the captive women quickly wed. Only time will tell if the razing of Vlekstaad will result in the rebirth of the Rovers of the Barrens. They still remain an elusive people, not revealing their new strength, for they are wary of the vengeance of the Fists. Yet, for the first time since Iuz brought evil into their land, they have real hope. [LGG - 95]


    Lady Katarina and the Great Northern Crusade made great gains against Iuz, who had spent much of his strength in his earlier lightning strikes and headlong plunge into his enemy’s lands. However, Iuz was spent, at the limit of his reach, and with each day, the Crusade pushed and pushed, and Iuz retreated and fell back.

    In 587 CY, under the leadership of the newly installed Knight Commander Lady Katarina of Waiworth, the expatriate Knights of Holy Shielding returned to their homeland in force. [LGG - 159]


    Iuz was bent on retaining the Shield Lands. Indeed, he expected to possess it for quite some time to come. Forever, in fact. Thus, he named Adumdfort the regional capital of the Shield Lands, even though it is cut off from the rest of the Empire by naval blockade.

    In the Bandit Kingdoms, the towns of Hallorn, Riftcrag, Rookroost, and Stoink are regional capitals. Hallorn rules the western Bandit Kingdoms, Riftcrag the Rift and Rift Barrens, Rookroost the region between the Rift and the Bluff Hills, and Stoink the southeastern Bandit Kingdoms. Admundfort was designated the regional capital of the Shield Lands in 587, but the island is almost completely cut off from the empire by a naval blockade. [LGG - 61]


    (Formerly) twenty-three petty noble domains on the mainland, ruled from Admundfort (the island was its own separate domain); (now) two free domains (mainland area controlled from Critwall, and Scragholme Island), with the remainder of the land overrun but badly controlled by Iuz's forces. [LGG - 102]


    The Story of Rueven the Rhennee
    To the Sorcerers Nexus of Rel Astra he traded his immortal soul for the ability to channel magic at will. [RPGA Fright at Tristor - 3]


    588 CY
    King Belvor sought vengeance. Iuz had raped his land and Iuz must be made to pay for that. Belvor struck with such rage as few knew him capable of, and his expeditionary force acquitted itself well in recapturing Grabford. But Belvor was not satisfied.

    By 588 CY, with Critwall cleared of enemy forces, the government of the Shield Lands was reestablished, albeit over a very small area. Katarina was named Knight Commander of the region. Lady Katarina and her knights now look east, planning surgical strikes against the enemy, confident that they will reclaim their lost land. ("Perhaps not this year or the next," they say.) Heironeous has shown them the path of righteousness, and it is long and lined with great sacrifice and furious battle. Those shackled by the Lord of Pain will be released, they cry. Those who fear the break of dawn will be taught the art of war and the strength of courage. The lost lands will be reclaimed, they promise. The Shield will rise again! [LGG - 105]


    Furyondy's armies smashed northward in early Planting, bulwarked by the Knights of the Hart and the archmage Bigby. Fighting continued for more than a year, with few meaningful victories for either side. Finally, in 588 CY, the Battle of Grabford provided Furyondy with a crucial victory that allowed it to encircle Crockport, the base of Iuz's operations in the occupied lands. When the city finally fell to the forces of weal, it was the site of uncontrolled chaos and slaughter of the occupying forces. Crockport had been the goal of the great Northern Crusade. Many fell victim to emotion in its recapture, and few good men remember the event with any degree of pride.

    If Crockport had been the initial goal of the Crusade, however, general revenge, and the ultimate destruction of Iuz the Evil soon took its place. Recaptured lands revealed the horrible truth of the occupation—entire villages had been reanimated; Iuz's agents knew no pity, and reveled in destruction and butchery. Exactly three years to the day of calling the original Crusade, Belvor appeared in public in Chendl, proclaiming a "permanent and unalterable state of war" between Furyondy and the Empire of Iuz. [LGG - 47]


    Hope can be a rallying point. The liberation of even the least salient of a once conquered land can be the greatest victory in the eyes of the vanquished. Thus, Lady Katarina declared the New Shield Lands in defiance of Iuz’s vassal state.

    No Quarter Asked or Given
    Brutal fighting, with no quarter asked or given, raged for a year before what was left of Critwall was regained. The government of the Shield Lands was proclaimed to have returned home in 588 CY, though by the end of 590 CY only a fraction of the western Shield Lands had been retaken, that being Scragholme Isle and the area within 20-30 miles of Critwall. 
    [TAB - 21]


    The current nation, often referred to as the "New Shield Lands," encompasses only the 20-30 miles surrounding the city of Critwall and Scragholme Island, at the mouth of the Veng-Ritensa River. A keep on Scragholme Isle, Bright Sentry, guards a small bur growing port that bears the same name and serves as the island domain's local capital. The current government proclaims that the recapture of all lost lands is its primary goal, though fighting has ground to a virtual standstill within the last year. [LGG - 103]


    Of Vecna and Iuz:

    The Flight of Fiends

    What became of Vecna and Iuz? Who can say? But where Vecna could not be scryed, Iuz somehow remained upon Oerth. Iuz’s empire remained intact. And his tyranny marched on, unabated.
    But, all good things must come to an end. The fiends had fled and Iuz was stretched thin, tasked not only with administering his newly acquired empire, but beset with rebels and banditry and the persistent attacks of those who didn’t appreciate his desire to remake the whole of Flanaess in his own image.

    The use of the Crook of Rao by Canon Hazen of Veluna, in 586 CY, had dire repercussions for Iuz's armies. Bereft of their powerful masters, many lesser nonhumans and ambitious human generals attempted to stage coups throughout the occupied lands, even as rebel bandits and indigenous populations took advantage of the Flight of Fiends to strike back at their oppressors. [LGG - 62]


    It was inevitable that Iuz would lose control of Sevvord Redbeard of Hold of Stonefist. He cared not for that cold and distant land. It had little of value, except grist for the mill. And he knew that it would continue to slip into the state of chaos it has always courted. So, he turned his back on the Stonehold, so as to focus on the conflict that really mattered, Furyondy.
    Sevvord flew into a rage when he awoke and realised that he’d been played a puppet to another’s schemes. He fumed! He raged! And all those within his gaze cowered from his anger. He gathered Fists from across Tenh, and killed every cleric of Iuz he could find, impaling them on posts and leaving them to rot in the wind. He and his slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands, of Tenha slaves when he could not find enough Iuzian clerics to sate his need. He wished to kill more, to line every road with the spiked corpses of an entire nation as a warning to any who might ever try to subjugate him again. However, he had not the time. He need return home. When he ran out of slaves, he left a rearguard to occupy Calbut and marched to drive the hated barbarians from his homeland. He would paint the Kelten Pass with their blood, he promised, and its flowing would thaw the Frozen River for all time.


    The Massacre in Tenh

    For six years after the invasion, the Stoneholders held the Tenha enslaved. The evil of Iuz was present throughout the land as well, though never in plain sight. Perhaps this state of affairs would have persisted indefinitely had not an unnatural rage come upon the rhelt of Stonehold, during a meeting in the ruins of the duke's palace at Nevond Nevnend. [LGG - 113,114]

    By means not yet known, Iuz's charm-like control of Sevvord Redbeard was broken in mid-588 CY. Enraged at the abuse he suffered, Redbeard vowed revenge. [TAB - 22]

    In an astonishing turn of loyalty, he gave the command to put the clerics and agents of Iuz to the sword, also letting his warriors murder Tenha slaves out of hand. [LGG - 114]

    Iuz priests, soldiers, and advisors in the area were slaughtered on sight, and Tenh was plunged into bloodshed once again. The Master then ordered a looting of Tenh and a retreat to Nevond Nevnend and Calbut. Stonefist warriors meant to keep this area so as to guard Thunder Pass (called Rockegg Pass by the Tenha), the route through the Griff Mountains back to Stonefist. Reports were already filtering back to the Stonefist troops that a force of Ice and Snow Barbarians was raiding and burning its way across the Hold, and all wished to go home and do battle. [TAB - 22]
    The Fists then withdrew from all but the northernmost part of Tenh, which they still hold. Armies from the Pale and forces loyal to the exiled duke quickly crossed the borders, battling each other for possession of the southern and eastern regions of the duchy, including the Phostwood. [LGG - 114]
    There are 20,000 Stonefist men in Tenh, with conflicting desires. On the one hand, rulership of this fertile land is good, but on the other, their instincts are to pillage, maraud, decimate, and then go home with all the loot they can carry. Instead, they stay here as slave drivers. Spending days overseeing slave farmers is not exactly what Fist men find exciting. The Stonefist nation is young, born in adversity and constant marauding. Constant movement on attack and retreating to defensive fortifications after that attack, not occupying their conquests, is what makes the Stonefist men feel comfortable. There is another problem weighing on the minds of the Fists. Since the sham of the "Great God Vatun” was exposed and barbarian shamans and priests have begun to see that Iuz was behind it all, the Fists face more hostility and raids from their traditional foes, the eastern barbarians. No longer are these two uneasy allies. Having occupied Calbut and secured Thunder Pass is useful to the Fists, but keeping men in Tenh when they are needed to defend Stonefist against the barbarians is irksome. Many seek to go home, putting Tenh through one last ordeal of slaughter and pillage before they go. In the interim, many are restless and bored, prone to drunkenness and mindless violence against the Tenhas. [ WGR5 Iuz the Evil - 67]
    [A] many-sided war began in Tenh, involving the mutually hostile forces of Iuz, Stonehold, the Pale, and Tenha expatriates. The war goes on today. [LGG - 16]

    589 CY    
    Reynard
    Was Reynard, a bandit chief of the Tangles, an outlaw or a freedom fighter? Was he fighting for his “nation,” or was he just on the lam and fighting for his life? Whatever the reason, he was much sought after by the Iuzite Boneheart. And when one is much sought after, it’s only a matter of time before one is found. Reynard was found. He was captured and slain and desecrated.
    The wildly insane Earl Aundurach, a new addition to the Lesser Boneheart, commands the surviving Tangles folk harshly and ineffectively. He prominently displays a magical scepter crafted from the bones of Reynard, the land's rebellious bandit chief, captured and slain in 589 CY. The earl is supposed to control all activities in the Bandit Lands to the north and west, but it is very doubtful that he does. [LGG - 30]

    Belvor’s crusade was successful. He and his armies succeeded in reconquering lost territory from Iuz. But as one might expect, his lords and his people began to lose their fervor and commitment to his cause the closer his armies came to Furyondy’s northern border. It is one thing to spend the lifeblood of Furyondy; it is quite another to spill Furyondian blood on Shield Land soil.
    By the end of 588 CY, the armies of Furyondy had restored the nation, as well as Critwall and Scragholme Isle in the old Shield Lands. The destruction and debauchery revealed as Iuz's agents fled sickened the crusaders, King Belvor declared eternal war upon the Old One, pledging to settle for nothing short of the complete destruction of Iuz himself. Raids against Iuz from Furyondy and the Shield Lands continue to the present. [LGG - 16]

    By the end of 588 CY, [Belvor] had succeeded [in reclaiming much of the Furyondian lands conquered by Iuz], but the king nevertheless declared permanent and unalterable war against Iuz. As part of the crusade, a small potion of the Shield Lands had been reclaimed. [PGtG - 12]

    Belvor’s armies may not have faltered, but the nations commitment certainly did. There was much posturing. Iuz must pay, was declared hotly. But who exactly would make him pay? The nation’s coffers were spent, the army weakened by such prolonged conflict, the prospect of defeating Iuz uncertain, at best. The borders were fortified, new castles built. A line had been drawn.
    Finally, in 588 CY, the Battle of Grabford provided Furyondy with a crucial victory that allowed it to encircle Crockport, the base of Iuz's operations in the occupied lands. When the city finally fell to the forces of weal, it was the site of uncontrolled chaos and slaughter of the occupying forces. Crockport had been the goal of the great Northern Crusade. Many fell victim to emotion in its recapture, and few good men remember the event with any degree of pride.
    If Crockport had been the initial goal of the Crusade, however, general revenge, and the ultimate destruction of Iuz the Evil soon took its place. Recaptured lands revealed the horrible truth of the occupation—entire villages had been reanimated; Iuz's agents knew no pity, and reveled in destruction and butchery. [LGG - 47]

    Despite the angry pronouncement, however, many army units were disbanded in the spring of 589 CY, with only those units on border patrols and involved in castle-building along the frontier being maintained at full readiness. A full recovery from the war would take years. A few northern lords have called King Belvor a coward for refusing to strike further into the the Empire of Iuz, but the king has never had such plans; he wished only to recover lands lost to his state, knowing that he would have little ability to hold any territory gained in Iuz’s forsaken realm. [TAB]

    The old guard had indeed grown old. They were tired. The War had cost them much. Thay had asked much from their people. And they continued to ask for much. But the young did not hear those venerable voices. They looked to those who had distinguished themselves in the field. These were the ones who saved us, those youth said.
    The mayor of Highfolk, twenty-eight-year-old Tavin Ersteader, was of low birth, coming from one of the region's northern villages. Ersteader distinguished himself as a young man, exploring several mysterious sites within the Yatils and Clatspurs and fighting against the forces of Iuz in the Vesve. Said to be a one-time apprentice to Melf Brightflame, Ersteader enjoys a warm relationship with the local elves, and is a good friend of Loftin Graystand, the former mayor, who retired in 589 CY. Ersteader is a sworn enemy to Iuz, and sponsors far more reconnaissance and attack missions against the Old One than did his predecessor.  [LGG - 53]

    Was Iuz defeated? Certainly not. Was Iuz brought to the brink of defeat? Only a fool would think so. Could Iuz still strike fear into the hearts and minds of those who had opposed him? Most certainly.
    Lady Xenia Sallavarian
    A terrible tragedy struck Lynwerd and his kingdom in 589 CY. A long-planned marriage between King Lynwerd and Lady Xenia Sallavarian, a distant cousin of Circle of Eight member Jallarzi and Duke Karll of Urnst, was scheduled to take place during Richfest of that year. In Wealsun, Lady Xenia was touring Rel Mord on foot when she collapsed of heatstroke. [LGG - 78]
    She could not be revived by her attending priest, and it was learned later that her body was devoid of her intellect and spirit, though she still breathed. Her body was taken back to Nellix, where it is tended by her family. Divinations and questioning of those present when the lady collapsed strongly hint that she was attacked by magical means, but little more was learned. [TAB - 31]
    She has not been seen since, and many suspect the worst, detecting sorrow and a grim hardness in their king. [LGG - 78,79]


    590 CY
    Ratik:     Alain was not the only one to desire the freedom of the Bone March. Lady Evaleigh wishes the same, for her father’s city of Knurl is hard pressed and in need of succour. And in truth, war will continue between the Bone March and Ratik, as it must, for each cannot rest while the other exists. The Bone March shall never forgive Ratik or the Frost Barbarians for their incursions into its territory.
    In 590 CY, a full-scale assault over the Blemu Hills into Knurl was also attempted, but failed. Thus far, the defenses of the count have held firm, but he expects another wave of attacks this year. [LGG - 37]

    Humanoid tribes and bandit gangs appear to be cooperating of late. Masked advisors were seen by spies in the councils of the orcs and gnolls at Spinecastle. Treasure seekers have entered the abandoned keep at Spinecastle, but few have returned alive. Without aid from Ratik, Count Dunstan of Knurl might ally with Ahlissa or North Kingdom to save his realm. [LGG - 37]

    Ambassadors from the Scarlet Brotherhood were spied in Djekul. Ratik wants to expand the alliance against Bone March and North Kingdom to include the Snow Barbarians, but the Schnai will negotiate only with Lexnol. Agents of the Sea Barons have approached Evaleigh to gain access to Marner. A half-orc spy working for North Kingdom was discovered in Ratikhill but escaped. [LGG - 91]

    Fireland:              The fleet from the Sea Barons had set sail three long years earlier and had not yet returned. Had they found Fireland? If they had, that is a tale for another day. But in truth, whether they had found Fireland or not, Fireland found Ratik. One day, much to Marner’s surprise, a longship from Fireland sailed into its port, its flanks scorched, its sails torn and tattered.
    In Marner, capital of Ratik, a lone long ship sailed into port in late 590 CY. The pale barbarians aboard the ship spoke a dialect of the Cold Tongue and claimed to be from a distant northeastern island called Fireland. They came with four other ships in search of help for an undisclosed problem facing their people; their other long ships were sunk by sea monsters or Ice Barbarian raiders. The aged explorer Korund of Ratik can supply maps and some information to anyone wishing to return to Fireland with these barbarians, but he is too infirm to travel and is growing senile as well. Frost Barbarians believe “Firelanders” are descended from sailers from the Thillonrian Peninsula who settled there centuries ago; the barbarians wish to establish contact with them. The glaciated land is called Fireland for its volcanoes, visible for many miles at night as red fountains in the sea. [TAB - 38]

    Frost Barbarians:              Nobles from Ratik have great influence at court but are not always trusted. Scarlet Brotherhood agents are well received but bring strange news and promises. Merchants from the Lordship of the Isles have a growing presence, offering unusually generous trade deals that make some jarls suspicious. Hundgred's court is growing isolated from other northern barbarian nations. [LGG - 45]

    Snow Barbarians:             An intermittent war smolders with Stonehold. King Ingemar generously feasts and rewards his chaotic jarls to insure their loyalty. Frost Barbarian jarls also being feted to gain their friendship and influence; this is viewed as blatant bribery, but it works. The king receives Scarlet Brotherhood agents at court, but privately says he does not trust them. [LGG]

    Ice Barbarians: 

    Royal hatred of the Scarlet Brotherhood grows, as does distrust of the Frost Barbarians. Stonehold accuses the Ice Barbarians of attacking Vlekstaad. There are secret parlays between the Snow and Ice Barbarians for raids against the Sea Barons and possibly the Lordship of the Isles. [LGG - 55]

    Stonefist:            Rhelt Sevvord is the absolute master of these people, and his troops are expected to obey him without question. The punishment for disobedience is slow death, though the rhelt always rewards his loyal troops with plunder and captives. So far, Reword Redbeard has maintained his personal authority and become the most important figure in his nation's history since Stonefist himself. Still, many feel that his time has passed, and wait for a leader who will be strong enough to challenge him. [LGG - 109]
    Revenge is widely sought against the northern barbarians for the burning of Vlekstaad, but Iuz's forces are hated even more. Conspiracies are suspected between Iuz and several war band leaders to gain control of Stonehold. Murders of war band leaders (by their fellows) are on the rise. [LGG - 110]

    Returned From Afar
    The Sea Baron Fleet returned from expedition across the Solnor.
    Ships from resource-hungry lands of the eastern Flanaess are striking out in search of trading partners, hoping to rebuild from the wars. The Sea Barons and the east coast city-states of Rel Astra, Ountsy, and Roland are now exploring the mini-continent of Hepmonaland, returning with fantastic tales and riches. (Many fall prey to disease, pirates, monsters, and privateers from the Scarlet Brotherhood and Lordship of the Isles, however.) Several major kingdoms full of new peoples are said to lie in this tropical land, some rumored to be at war with the slave-taking Brotherhood. [TAB - 38]

    The Sea Barons do not desire a permanent alliance with the Cities of the Solnor Compact, distrusting Drax's motives, but they feign friendship. The Sea Barons fear assassination or worse by the Scarlet Brotherhood, and treat with strangers in their lands harshly. Expeditions launched to the mysterious south in the last few years have returned with tales of fantastic wonders and riches. [LGG - 100]


    Rovers of the Barrens:   The Rovers are a feeble folk now, but they still mount small raids into neighbouring lands. They spend most of their time hunting bear, wolf and northern deer. They fish the Icy Sea. They harvest pine and fur from the Forlorn Forest. They hunt deer and bison. They lay low. As they must. For they must rebuild their strength, as they did after the Battle of Opicm River.
    A secret alliance with the Wolf Nomads is being negotiated. Scouts are searching for survivors from the scattered war bands, including allied centaurs and elves. Horses are supplied to tribes loyal to new war sachem, Nakanwa. All forces of Iuz that hunt Rovers (including Grossfort) are closely watched, to be either avoided or destroyed. [LGG - 95]

    The Pale:             Theocrat Ogon Tillit leads Palish forces (with Tenha converts) and recaptures eastern Tenh from Iuzian forces.
    [With] an army at full strength and an additional force including thousands of refugee converts from the Tenh at the fore, Theocrat Ogon Tillit sponsored an invasion of the ruined duchy, to both gain territory and throw back Iuz's forces, clearly perceived as the number-one threat to the Pale's future existence. Eastern Tenh was taken back, and both banks of the Yol are now under Palish control. [LGG - 82]

    Unbeknownst to the populace, Tillit was injured in 588 CY, when he personally led one of the early battles in the Tenh. While he survived the attack, his wounds have not healed; in fact, they have worsened during the last two years, and his attendants think he might not survive till Puchfest. The Council of the Nine is aware of his condition, and the clandestine politicking to replace Tillit on the Throne of the Sun has already begun. [LGG - 82]

    Nyrond:               Lynwerd found his nation in disarray following the war. His roads had been marched to mash, his strongholds broken and razed, the walls riven. His people were in similar state.
    [King Lynwerd] spent 590 overseeing the repair and strengthening of his kingdom’s roads, armies, cities, and trade links. He finally managed to have weapons, clothing, food. and other assistance sent to the gnome clans of the Flinty Hills, winning their approval despite their grumbles over the tardiness of the aid. He approved trade with the Lordship of the Isles and the United Kingdom of Ahlissa (the latter to the shock and outrage of many in his court). [TAB - 31]

    Nyrond lost nearly seventy thousand soldiers in the Greyhawk Wars. Though her armies held off Aerdy's siege, they did so at terrible cost. Archbold had expended the nation's entire treasury, and had depleted much of his family's wealth. Hideously in debt to the Urnst States, the king faced a future of mined fields and horrible food shortages. Nearly half of his holdings were in tax rebellions. Many of the nation's best mages, craftsmen, and nobles fled Nyrond for easier lives to the west. Whether Nyrond would fall was never an issue. The question was simply that of timing. [LGG - 78]

    Bissel:   With Thornwood declared a neutral city, Pellak was chosen as the new capital for Bissel.
    Bissel’s new capital was chosen in 590 CY to be Pellak, a trade and farming town at the country's center. Bissel's own Knights of the Watch held a huge citadel called Oversight near this town; the fortress never fell to the Kettites despite being besieged for several years. [TAB - 36]
    Bissel's four famed mercenary Border Companies are being reorganized and retrained after their defeat and disbanding during the Ketite occupation; they are not yet at their former strength. Many scouts and rangers are being sought for active duty in the north and west. A large castle-building project is underway along the southern banks of the Fals (Bissel's new northern border) and along the neutral zone around Thornward. Ket destroyed many forts, minor castles, barracks, signal towers, and army bases when it invaded Bissel and later when it withdrew. These are being rebuilt, but work is very slow due to lack of funds. The massive Castle Oversight, at Pellak, has become the headquarters for Bissel's branch of the Knights of the Watch. The influence of Gran March and the Watch is everywhere, particularly in the new margrave's court. The eventual recovery of Thornward is a core goal of the government. [LGG - 32]

    Iuz:         Iuz retains a precarious hold on the East. The Bandit Kingdoms chaff under his rule. The remains of the Rovers of the Barrens and the remnents of Tenh strain against his rule. Stonehold has no love for Iuz, and he must resort to influence and stratagems to retain control when that does not appeal to his paranoid and visious self, who’d rather rule by bane magics and brute force.
    Though some remain, the loss of the bulk of Iuz's fiends has resulted in low morale, revolts, and disorganization within an already chaotic regime. [LGG - 63]

    Now embroiled in what Furyondy has termed a "permanent and unalterable state of. war," Iuz's attention has been drawn to his southwestern border, perhaps at the expense of holding in Tenh, the Barrens, and the old Bandit Kingdoms. Though bereft of the bulk of his demonic aid, Iuz's armies are far more numerous than those of his enemies. They not only follow the Old One, but worship him, believing that to fail their infernal master is not only to fail their liege, but their god, as well. [LGG - 62,63]

    Did I not mention Vecna? How thoughtless of me. Last we saw of him, he was imprisoned in the Shadowfell after an epic battle with Iuz back in 581 CY. But, ever the paranoid soul, Vecna would never have lived as long as he had were he not a cagy one. He knew that one day he might be defeated. He knew that one day he might need a means of return. And he prepared for such a day. And that day had come.
    He had been plotting. He had been scheming.
    And he wanted revenge. Against Iuz.
    Vecna
    No matter how powerful a being is, there exists a secret that can destroy him. In every heart is a seed of darkness hidden from all others; find that evil seed, and your enemies are undone. Strength and power come if you know and control what others dare not show. Never reveal all that you know, or your enemies will lake your seed, too.” [LGG - 186]

    Despite Vecna’s entrapment in the Demiplane of Dread, long-laid plans have come to fruition. In Vecna’s quest to achieve full and permanent godhood, he instigated several alternative strategies in the millennia of his existence. Many of these designs have played out with little to recommend them, but elements of more sinister schemes continue to move unnoticed.
    One such plan has promise at this point. Sometime during the span of years before his imprisonment, Vecna went to a lot of trouble secretly fabricating two tablets inscribed with a true dweomer in the Language Primeval. Then he buried them in a plausible archeological site. […]
    Though any of a handful of demipowers would have served Vecna’s purpose, the corpse king Iuz took the bait. Having stolen the tablets from their original discoverers several years ago, Iuz has slowly brought his considerable resources to bear on the tablets. The more Iuz learned, the more the ancient formula seemed, to him and all his divinatory means, an ancient dweomer of stupendous strength, whereby a demipower might bootstrap itself to full ascension! […]
    The tablets lie. [Die Vecna Die! - 2,3]                

    Iuz enacted the formula, and the formula drew the power from him, a conduit to Vecna, who then had the means to break free from the Shadowfell and emerge with the power of a greater god. Vecna then entered the city of Sigil, where he came perilously close to rearranging all existence to his whims. When Vecna was ejected from Sigil by a party of adventurers, Iuz was freed and Vecna returned to Oerth greatly reduced in power, though still a lesser god.



    Going forward:
    Mysteries abound. They always have, they always will. They are sometimes wondrous; sometimes chilling. They are almost always inexplicable. And despite the stranglehold Iuz has on his conquered lands, there are secrets which even he is unaware, patches where even he has no sway.  Lake Aqal, for instance.
    This very deep, island-filled lake, the source of the Artonsamay River, is an enchanting place of otherworldly beauty and calm. Situated in the northwest arm of the Fellreev Forest, this strange area is, however, given a wide berth by woodland folk. Many creatures found here are 150% their normal size and correspondingly more dangerous. Water nagas, strange dragons, and greenhags are reportedly abundant in the unnaturally warm waters. The mutations in animal life, extremely lush vegetation, and the lake water's warmth are thought to result from a magical source that has nearly made this a tropical swamp. In 590 CY, a child of a Reyhu bandit reemerged from the region after being lost for two months, and given up for dead. The girl's tale of benign, long-featured men who walked on air engendered much derision among the bandits, though two parties entered the lake region within the week, seeking out new allies. None returned. [LGG - 147]


    The Story Reuven of the Rhennee
    Fright at Tristor
    Finally, in the bandit town of Stoink, Reuven spent his savings on a trained circus bear, Tasptaddle, with which he planned to exact his revenge against the cruel people of Tristor. He has been instructing the bear to kill wildlife and farm animals to frighten the Tristor residents, a prelude to a final act of villainy that will make his revenge complete. [Fright at Tristor - 3]

    Tristor also faces turmoil of a more personal nature over the course of the last month, the surrounding area has been plagued by the gruesome mutilations of wildlife and livestock. Local investigators, too frightened to range far from the hamlet for fear of an orcish attack, have failed to turn up meaningful leads. The town’s constable has made it known that the person or persons responsible for finding the mutilator will be richly rewarded. The village has become a haven for disreputable bounty hunters and vigilantes, all hoping to solve the mystery. To date, nothing has come of their efforts, and the townsfolk are agitated over the slaughter of their animals, afraid that people will soon be victims themselves. [Fright at Tristor - 2]

    “Their throats were cut, their innards opened to the world and spread all about them. Our agent in the region cannot guess at the hands behind these fiendish attacks, though he confirms that all live in fear that this demonic villain will soon tire of play with animals, and will start in upon the humble folk of Tristor.”—Portion of a letter from Field Agent Marim of the Blinding Path to His Worshipful Mercy, Theocrat Ogon Tillit, Supreme Prelate of the Theocracy of the Pale, Coldeven, 591 CY. [Fright at Tristor - 2]



    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.
    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine, Fright at Tristor.

    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Grim-Reaper by moni158
    Mongol by weerwulf
    Though-My-Sails-Are-Tattered-My-Anchor-Still-Holds byvodoofantasy
    Vecna by myles1972
    Outsider by lostknightkg


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Fright at Tristor, 2001
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-31-2021 02:14 pm
    History of the North, Part 10: The Diminishing Storm

    When the hurly-burly's done,
    When the battle's lost and won.

    Shakespeare, MacBeth (1605), Act I, sc.1, l.3.


    Stalemate

    The nations have spilled their lifeblood into the soil and soul of the Flanaess. Exhausted, they entrench and catch breath. They watch. And wait.
    Iuz controls the North. But his lands are poor and produce little. He gathers his strength. He watches. And waits.
    The Scarlet Brotherhood, their gambit played and played out, have a stranglehold on the south. They issue forth yet more spies. They whisper. They watch. And wait.

    585 CY 

    ..along its southern margins...

    Ratik understood its peril, and it began an ambitious project, one that taxed its resources, but was deemed essential by Luxnol. What good would minding the nations finances do were they slaughtered by the orcs and gnolls to the south, and the Fists to the north. Castles and fortresses and redoubts sprang up along the Kelmar Pass and the Flinty Hills, and in the northern Timberway. More rose up within the Kelten Pass, for surely the Fists would come again.

    Ratik is developing an ambitious castle building program, constructing strong keeps along its southern margins not far from the foothills of the eastern spur of the Rakers. They are digging in for a long struggle against the humanoids of the Bone March. Ratik is seeking mercenaries to defend the builders during the coming spring and summer. [FtAA - 73]


    The last we saw Lord Holmer, of the Shield Lands, he was hauled away in chains for a prolonged residency in Dorakka, A favoured guest of the Old One, himself. Most thought him dead. But there were rumours otherwise.

    A daring group of Furyondian heroes rescued him in 585 CY, but he was a broken shell of a man by then and died, insane, late that year. [LGG - 14]

    Holmer is clearly and permanently a broken man. His mind is shattered, and he is nearly 65 years of age. Years of malnutrition, torture, and torment have ruined his body and his mind beyond recovery. The best healers and the most powerful magic can not heal him. The awful truth is that Iuz had virtually finished with Holmer anyway. Holmer is an empty man, and at the feast he will say but a few words, very carefully cued and amplified by Belvor with a triumphal flare. [WGR6 City of Skulls - 62]


    Politics prevailed. Belvor had no love for Holmer. He thought him arrogant and brash. And it truth, Holmer was but a pawn in Belvor’s need to further his ends, to raise moral and his own stature in the eyes of Furyondiands and the Shield Landers in exile. Lady Katarina had no wish for his return to the Seat of the Shield Lands, either.

    Holmer is in no shape to be a ruler-in- exile. He will remain in Chendl, in Belvor’s palace, for “security reasons” after he has been exhibited to the people of the border lands. After a few months, an edict signed in Holmer’s hand will announce that he has renounced leadership of the Shield Lands to Countess Katarina. His edict will state that it is time for a younger warrior to stand in his stead and provide the great leadership his people need as they plan the recovery of their homelands. [WGR6 - 62]


    Lake Quag ran with blood

    Rumours flourished. As one might expect in these times of war. Demons walked the land, after all; they dined on women and children, they drank the blood of the vanquished. Therefore, it came as no surprise when Lake Quag ran with "blood." The gods are punishing us, the populace whispered and cried, sure that the divine and malevolent were exacting the price for their having treated with foul Iuz.

                Lake Quag has been running with blood! Just north of the Mounds of Dawn, the waters of the lake run dark with blood; fish avoid the waters, superstitious nomads will not hunt or fish in the area, and old tales of an evil curse in the hills are being recounted by the Perrenland folk. [FtAA - 74]


    The North had not known such conflict since Vecna had vied with Glitterhelm. None remained to tend fields. Those who did fled the fields and cowered in their cellars at the first sight of a stranger, the crops left untended and trampled underfoot. Roads clotted with jackboots and hobnails. Trade, and travel not martial, quickly ground to a halt.  Want, hunger, and pestilence were soon to follow. Northern Nyrond lay under a blanket of what became the "Winter of Hunger."

                The folk of Gamboge Forest play a vital role in supplying the towns and villages of northern Nyrond with tubers, nuts, winter berries, and other food with which the Nyrondese can stretch their meager grain reserves. This supply of forage products is declining; Gambogers say they have been ambushed by forces of the Theocracy of the Pale who have stolen their goods, slain some of the woodsmen, and abducted others. The forest folk are reluctant to travel now, and a Nyrondese trading group that went to the forest has not returned. Starvation threatens many villages and people. [FtAA - 76]


    The military always becomes more powerful in times of war. They need; they demand; they take. An army marches on its stomach, they say. We need metal for swords, wood for pole arms, horses for cavalry and cartage. And the government bows to them in their time of need, because they must, so they say. We must support or troops, they say. Because they must. But the free cities balked. We have tens of thousands to feed, they said. The Furyondian Knights of the Hart were displeased. Had they not saved the free cities from Iuz? The rulers of those cities were not fit for office, they decided; and they called for the annexation of Verbebonc and Dyvers, returning them to the fold of Furyondy. Not all agreed.

                Verbobonc was thrown into tumoil in 585 cy when the Furyondian Knights of the Hart called for the annexation of the viscounty and Dyvers as well. Though the people were calmed by a representative from Veluna, great tension remained in the land, and it increased dramatically when the Great Northern Crusade began in 586 CY. [TAB - 36]                


                In 585 CY, the Furyondian Knights of the Hart called for the annexation of Verbobonc. Though representatives from Veluna sniffed at such talk, the emergence of the Great Northern Crusade, in which Veluna and Furyondy acted as a single political unit, frightened many in the town who had long preferred the reason (and liberal tax laws) of Mitrik to the zeal (and active monitoring of the finances of the aristocracy) of Chendl. [LGG - 132]


    Politicians beware, for the people will be heard, and appeased. The people being those with a stake in what was to come: the lords, the landholders, the trading houses and the captains of industry. Magister Margus, Lord of Dyvers, did not pay heed to their call to be heard. And he paid the price for such miscalculation.

                
    Larissa Hunter
    Magister Margus, the Lord Mayor of Dyvers dismissed the possibility of annexation and failed to address the concerns of his constituents. He was recalled from office later that year. [Slavers - 6] 

    Larissa Hunter was appointed to the seat of Dyvers in his place.

    Larissa Hunter, First Captain of the Dyvers Free Army, was an aggressive patriot. Her enthusiasm and popularity forced King Belvor to send a representative to Dyvers in order to assure the city that it had nothing to fear from the kingdom or the Knights of the Hart, whom Belvor privately told to shut up. [Slavers - 6]                 


    Belvor was busy. Not only did he have to fight Iuz, a daunting task in itself, he had to play politics and suppress the squabbling of his liege lords. He had to placate the leaders of the faiths, too. More importantly, he had to send what support he could to what resistance still existed in those fell lands; for as long as they were a thorn in Iuz’s side, Iuz was not free to send the whole of his legions against his all to tenuous front.

                A few hundred men and half-elves have withdrawn entirely into the small woods, and from 585 CY on have gained assistance from clerics of a Trithereon sect in Furyondy, with access to considerable magic. Attempts to destroy the Tangles from Hallorn and Riftcrag have always failed, as the forest seems to regrow damage very swiftly. [LGG - 30]  


    King Archbold III had saved Nyrond. He had rallied the populace and led them to what some might call victory and others might call stalemate. In either case, Nyrond was most certainly spared the long night the Shield Lands and the Bandit Kingdoms were to endure. He deserved recognition. He deserved praise. He deserved rest. He would receive none of those. Archbold writhed and waned, poisoned by his youngest son, Prince Sewarndt, when the whelp tried to seize the throne.

    In the fall of 585 CY, King Archbold III appeared to suffer a stroke, but his disability was revealed by a priest to be the result of poisoning. Prince Sewarndt, Archbold‘s corrupt youngest son, attempted to seize the throne at that time with a group of junior military officers, but his plans went array when the whole clergy of Heironeous in Rel Mord took up arms and attacked Sewarndt’s small force at the palace, rescuing the king. [TAB - 30]


    Only the intervention of the capital's entire Heironean clergy saved the crown and the king. By the time Archbold's older son, Crown Prince Lynwerd, could lead an army to his father's side, Sewarndt and a handful of his cohorts had vanished into the Nyrondal countryside.

    Sewarndt's treachery shattered whatever resolve Archbold had clung to during the difficult war years. A wholly broken man, he abdicated in favor of Crown Prince Lynwerd in Fireseek, 586 CY. [LGG - 78]


    586 CY

    Demons and devils walked the oerth. They brought mayhem and terror with them, misery and death. And where they took to the field, those nations of the world fell, riven and torn. The champions of weal searched for an end to their terror, and found it in Veluna.

    The Flight of Fiends

    In Coldeven 586, Canon Hazen of Veluna employed the Crook of Rao, a powerful artifact, in a special ceremony that purged the Flanaess of nearly all fiends inhabiting it. Outsiders summoned by Iuz, Ivid, or independent evils fell victim to this magical assault, which became known as the Flight of Fiends. [LGG - 16]


    No one knows how many demons survived the Flight of Fiends in 586 CY; few have surfaced. [LGG - 61]


    Crook of Rao
    In Coldeven of 586 CY, word spread through Furyondy of and extraordinary event. The great fiends that had patrolled and ravaged the many lands seized by Iuz were no longer in sight. Their disappearance initially caused panic among the troops on the front lines, who feared the monsters had crossed deep into Furyondy as a prelude to a renewed invasion by Iuz's forces. However, word was soon received from the priests of Rao, contacted by their superiors in Mitrik, that the artifact known as the Crook of Rao had been recovered, and it had been used by His Venerable Reverence, Canon Hazen, aided by many lesser priests and the archmage Bigby, to rid the Flanaess of the fiends’ presence. Reports confirming the absence of these monstrosities conflicted with later news that a few fiends in scattered locations had withstood the Crook’s effect and remained at large. Still, the majority of these demons had been cast from Oerth, back to their home planes.

    The consequences of this event were twofold. First, chaos spread through many humanoid armies of Iuz, who recognized the loss of their masters; disorder even erupted among the mortal leaders of these forces, Iuz’s priests and Boneheart spellcasters, who had no idea where the fiends had gone. Second, and more importantly, the armies of Furyondy that were arrayed against Iuz took heart. Northern lords, commanders, knights, soldiers, and commoners who dreamed of bitter revenge against Iuz now saw it within their grasp. King Belvor knew there was no chance to hold an offensive back without risking his throne in the process. He thus sent out word to his nobles that a counteroffensive against Iuz would begin on his command. He managed to suppress the usual squabbling between the lords of Furyondy and direct their attention to calling up levies, armed troops, requisitioning supplies, and laying hasty plans for attack. [TAB - 19]


    Archbold could rule no more. The poison that coursed through his body had left him weak and sickly, old and bent as never before. Lynwerd assumed the regency, and then the throne as his now wizened father abdicated.

    King Archbold recovered from the assassination attempt, but he never recovered from the knowledge that one of his sons had tried to kill him. He became deeply depressed and ceased speaking with anyone, even his own family. During Fireseek 586 CY, the king abdicated the throne and went into retreat at his estate outside the capital. [TAB - 30] 

    Sewarndt's treachery shattered whatever resolve Archbold had clung to during the difficult war years. A wholly broken man, he abdicated in favor of Crown Prince Lynwerd in Fireseek, 586 CY. [LGG  - 78]


    After his father Archbold III's abdication, Lynwerd assumed throne of Nyrond in 586 CY. He strengthened his country by restructuring the military, by encouraging births among his people and by resisting a demand by representatives of the Theocracy of the Pale to give up the North Lands of Nyrond. Despite financial reverses and personal tragedy, he has been able to expand and stabilize Nyrond's eastern borders, and to repair and strengthen his kingdom's roads, armies, cities and trade links. [PGtG - 25]


    The Pact of Greyhawk was but a piece of paper to King Belvor IV. His nation had been the vanguard to the world. He knew it was only a matter of time before Iuz attacked again. He knew Iuz aimed to lay waste to Furyondy once he rebuilt his hordes, no matter what those fools to the south thought.

    The paladin King of Furyondy saw his nation lose land but survive against the armies of Iuz during the Greyhawk Wars. In 586 CY, he disregarded the Pact of Greyhawk to drive back Iuz's forces and reclaim the lost territory. He used much of his family's wealth to finance this war, and even now struggles to recover financially. [PGtG - 24]


    Belvor would not wait for Iuz. He would bring the war to the Old One. He declared his Great Northern Crusade to do just that. He had only to wait for those of like mind to rally to his banner. They did, as he knew they would.

                In the face of Iuz’s obvious threat and the northern nobles’ determination to strike, King Belvor IV saw no need to adhere to the Pact of Greyhawk, especially when the demigod’s empire was suddenly weakened by the loss of the fiends. The king also received many reports that Iuz’s forces were preparing an unpleasant surprise for his armies in the conquered lands, specifically the raising of an undead army from the remains of the thousands of humans slain during the war. Such an act was odious in the extreme to Furyondian morality. Religious and sedar support for a new offensive was nearly universal once news of the banishment of the fiends was heard. [TAB - 20]                


                In Planting of 586 CY, Furyondy discovered evidence that Iuz was preparing to raise an undead army against it. Disregarding the Pact of Greyhawk. King Belvor and his nobles began a crusade to reclaim Furyondian lands that Iuz had conquored. [PGtG - 12]


    The Knights of Shielding living in Greyhawk joined crusade. Every last one of them. Of course, they did; they wanted their homeland back.

                When King Belvor IV called the Great Northern Crusade in Planting 586, the ranks of Furyondy swelled with Shield Lands exiles. [LGG - 105]


    The Shield Landers needed a leader were they to join the crusade (Belvor would have said a figurehead, but what’s in a name?). Holmer was no longer fit to lead them—Iuz had seen to that. In truth, Lady Katarina, cousin of Holmer, had been leading them since his abduction. Belvor approved. She was young, popular, brave; more importantly, she was under his roof, his guidance, and his authority.

    Belvor appointed Lady Katarina, Earl Holmer's young cousin, as Lady Marshall of an entire army of Shield Landers, Knights of Holy Shielding, Furyondians, and foreign mercenaries. This force distinguished itself in early victories and was instrumental in the recapture of Grabford. Thereafter, Lady Katarina turned her attentions to her homeland, smashing into Critwall with zealous military precision. [LGG - 105]


    Alain IV, Archbaron Lexnol’s son, was never a patient man. He had a vision the Bone March and Ratik as one, just as his father and the Marquis Clement had intended, and had discussed. He vowed to make it so. And thus, he launched a raid to repatriate Bone March.

    It failed.

    Disastrously.

    Bone March is now steeped in discord, ruled by a coalition of invading nonhuman tribes, particularly orcs, gnolls, and ogres. Humanity, which once thrived here, is generally enslaved and subject to the capricious whims of petty bandit chiefs and nonhuman warlords who raid Ratik and even North Kingdom at will, going as far as Nyrond and the Flinty Hills to pillage. Nomadic bandit gangs, survivors and descendants of the once proud human culture, prey on one and all. Only the small, autonomous county of Knurl is secure at present, aside from a handful of nearly forgotten gnome strongholds in the Blemu Hills. [LGG - 35]


    Infighting soon broke out between several of the nonhuman tribes, and the sides remained stalemated until 586 CY, when Alain IV, Archbaron Lexnol's son and heir, launched a raid into the fallen realm that was composed in large part of expatriates of the march, it was a doomed mission. The unusually organized nonhumans laid a trap for the force in the hills north of Spinecastle. Horrified survivors who escaped back to Ratikhill reported that the trapped raiders were dragged from their horses, torn apart, and eaten alive before their eyes. Raids into the archbarony from Bone March have resumed. [LGG - 37]


    Baron Lexnol collapsed from the news and was rendered unfit to rule. Lady Evaleigh, Alain’s wife, understood that were he to fail, Ratik would be lost, so she hid his infirmity at first, ruling in his proxy. But the state of his health could not be hidden forever. And soon, she dropped the pretence of her speaking on his behest and became Her Valorous Prominence, Evaleigh, the Lady Baroness of Ratik. Not all were pleased. The Fruztii had loved the old Baron, and the Schnai were less inclined to treat with a woman, especially one as young as she.

    Upon hearing of his son's demise, old Baron Lexnol collapsed. He awakened the next morning with a shock of white hair and a palsy that confined him to bed. Lady Evaleigh, now widowed, assumed the throne and has guided Ratik through the trouble that has befallen it. Raids from Bone March have become progressively stronger and more organized the last few years. Her father's realm, the county of Knurl, was attacked a few months ago and was only saved by the snows of winter. [LGG - 91]


    Across the Solnor Ocean

    Trade need be found if the markets to the west were closed to the East. Maybe there were markets to the east? There was the rumoured Fireland. And there had to be other lands east of there. There was only one way to find out. Small Fleet from Asperdi (Sea Barons) sets sail across the Solnor Ocean.

    Ships from resource-hungry lands of the eastern Flanaess are striking out in search of trading partners, hoping to rebuild from the wars. The Sea Barons and the east coast city-states of Rel Astra, Ountsy, and Roland are now exploring the mini-continent of Hepmonaland, returning with fantastic tales and riches. (Many fall prey to disease, pirates, monsters, and privateers from the Scarlet Brotherhood and Lordship of the Isles, however.) Several major kingdoms full of new peoples are said to lie in this tropical land, some rumored to be at war with the slave-taking Brotherhood. [TAB - 38]


    Several ships captained by half-elven smugglers joined a flotilla of the Sea Barons in their journey over the Solnor. They had an ulterior motive. The half-elves were reportedly searching for the last members of the dispossessed Council of Five of Lendore.

    In the years since the Greyhawk Wars, some of the surviving exiles have joined together with half-elven captains on the Medegian coast. It is an open secret that they are smugglers, willing to transport any cargo for a price. Several of these ships secretly accompanied the flotilla of the Sea Barons in their voyage over the Solnor in 586-589 CY. The Spindrift exiles were thought to be searching for the last members of the Council of Five, who had fled across the waves when the clerics of Sehanine usurped their authority. It is not clear what benefit they seek by contacting their deposed leaders, but the half-elves clearly wish to return to their birthplace and free it of the magical affliction of Sehanine. [LGG 69,70]


    586-590 CY         Adumdfort was especially targeted for raids by Lady Katarina since Iuz declared it the seat of governance in the Shield Lands. Sacking one of his “capitals” would raise moral, proving to even the most sceptical that the Old One’s martial power was not what it was.

    Admundfort Island has been the target of over a dozen raids by different military, mercenary, and adventuring groups around the Nyr Dyv between 586 and 590 CY. The orcs of Admundfort have held out quite well, however, though they are largely cut off from their allies on shore by a Furyondian naval blockade. The city there is in ruins […]. [TAB - 21]


    c.586-591 CY      Grennell wondered about the tactics of the orcs, for in truth, they had developed a cunning and patience hitherto unknown to those savage tribes, and strategies he had not taught them. Rumours abounded that the hierarchs of the Horned Society were not dead after all, that a few, if not all, had escaped Iuz’s wrath, and were now headquartered along the coast of the Pomarj, or even in the Bright Desert or Rift Canyon. Rumours persisted that they had found their way into the Bone March.

    The Hierarchs and the rest of the leadership of the Horned Society were presumed destroyed in Coldeven 583 CY, during the night of the Blood-Moon Festival. Demonic forces sent by Iuz slew the Hierarchs there and allowed Iuz to quietly take command of their nation. It is possible that one or more Hierarchs survived the incident and is attempting to rebuild the organization, but most assume that the group is no longer a threat. 

    Still, Arkalan Sammal, the renowned sage of Greyhawk, made an interesting appraisal based on reports gathered by the old sage in recent years. The society, he claims, survives in the present day and has metamorphosed from a group centralized within a single nation to one with its secret tendrils buried across the Flanaess. "The Horned Society must surely have known that the return of Iuz would spell its ultimate downfall," he reasons. "It would have planned for this eventuality, most likely by moving its operations out of Molag before the Old One's axe fell."

    Rumors during the last five years have placed the group's headquarters along the coast of the Pomarj, in Bone March, or even in the Bright Desert or Rift Canyon. Most people no longer care, for Iuz is now perceived as the true threat. However, suggests Arkalan, the Horned Society has become even more dangerous since its dispersal. As the Archmage Mordenkainen was heard to comment last year during a conclave in Greyhawk, "Are their members now dozens, hundreds, thousands? Where are they headquartered? What do they plot? Can we rest assured of the death of the Unnamable Hierarch? To the one who could answer these questions would go the thanks of a free people." [LGG - 156,157]


    Skannar Hendricks
    Fellreev Forest:
     This entire expanse of birch and scrub oak is claimed by Iuz, though the Old One enjoys little power here. Most of the forest is ruled by clans of sylvan elves allied with Reyhu refugees since the Greyhawk Wars. A significant force of undead is also here, rumored to be led by an escaped Horned Society Hierarch. Iuz gains little by sending traditional soldiers here, so he uses the Fellreev as a hunting ground for trained monsters.

    The Fellreev Forest has increasingly become a center of anti-Iuz resistance. However, the factions here are mutually hostile and do not cooperate. Human, nonhuman, and undead forces of the old Nerull-worshiping Horned Society are gathered under Hierarch Nezmajen (NE male human Clr15 of Nerull) in the north-central Fellreev and across the southwestern spur, particularly around Ixworth and Kindell. A powerful alliance of Reyhu bandits and sylvan elves rules the south-central Fellreev under a Reyhu lord, Skannar Hendricks (CN male human Ftr15). [LGG  - 61]


    Tang the Horrific

    Some might call Tang the Horrific a mercenary. Tang would have called himself an opportunist. He believed the strong had a right to rule. And he believed that the strong could take what they wished. That was their right. Such was the way of the Paynims. Tang rode where he wished. Tang fought where he wished. If others paid him to do that, all the better. He even worked for Iuz for a time. Until Iuz ordered him to slaughter Rovers. He refused, because the Rovers were just like him, and he did not wish to kill those people who wished to live as he did.

                One of the most peculiar counteroffensives apparently began in the Shield Lands when a unit of light cavalry mercenaries employed by a Shield Lands’ lord managed to escape the armies of Iuz. This cavalry was led by a Tang the Horrific, who was probably the finest mercenary in the area at the time.

                According to unreliable folktales about him, Tang led a fighting retreat to the Icy Sea, then crossed west to the lands of the Wolf Barbarians. There, in the winter of 586-587 CY, Tang summoned a war council and told the tribal khans that the time was at hand to deal Iuz a telling blow. Upon learning that the ancient burial caves of the Wolf Nomads (Wegwiur) lay within Iuz's main homeland, Tang proposed that an army be raised to go to these caves and recover the ancient bodies and relics for reburial in safer regions. [TAB - 21,22]


    The Theocracy of the Pale had weathered the war well. It were largely unbloodied. It was strong. But it was abut the Rakers, and the Rakers have always been home to a whole host of evil things. The Pale knew as much. Monsters had always descended from their heights. But not as they had begun to. What was stirring them? What was driving them out of the Rakers?

    The Pale is ruled by a clerical hierarchy in the name of the god, Pholtus. The Pale has been living under an inquisition for more than two centuries. Evil priesthoods and hostile cults are actively routed and destroyed, while other faiths are suppressed. Arcane magicians and other so-called “consorts of demons” are also closely watched.

    Despite these unpleasant aspects, Pale has much to recommend it. Monasteries house some of the Flanaess’ most impressive libraries and respected philosophers. Their soldiers are among the best trained and most disciplined in the Flanaess. Unfortunately, troll invasions from the troll Fens have tripled in size the last two seasons, and reports of a new “Troll King” are disquieting. [WoGG 3e - 13]


    Nyrond had been far less fortunate than the Pale had been. The Stonehold, Iuz, and Ivid had set upon it on all sides, and though it had prevailed, it had done so at a cost. It had lost many in those battles. Indeed, its citizens had fled the onslaught. Its soldiers had fallen. Lynwerd needed to replenish his peoples. He encouraged his people’s return, enacted a “baby bonus” for fertile families, and he appealed to refugees and the nervous citizens of the County of Urnst to move to Nyrond to aid in its rebuilding.

                King Lynwerd I seized the moment and made every effort to revive his declining realm. In his first year on the throne, he restructured Nyrond’s military command and cut back the size of his armies, freeing many troops to go home and farm their lands again. He reduced taxes almost to prewar levels, and he even authorized a bonus of 1 gp from his personal treasury to each Nyrondese family that celebrated a birth in 586 or 587 CY. (This latter project, though dogged by fraud, had the desired effect of boosting the postwar baby boom to record levels.) [TAB - 30]


                When in 586 CY war flared again between Furyondy and Iuz, Lynwerd appealed to nervous citizens in the County of Urnst to move farther from Iuz’s empire and settle instead in Nyrond’s western lands. More importantly. King Lynwerd stood up to representatives from the church of Pholtus and the Theocracy of the Pale, resisting calls to allow the North Lands of Nyrond to be given up to the Pale. This policy produced bad feelings in the Pale for the young king, but the Theocracy is now preoccupied with the war in Tenh and does little but sow dissension among Nyrondese peasants through temples and clergy of Pholtus. [TAB - 30]

    Ket was pleased with the gains it had made. But Ket was wise in that it knew that Veluna and Furyondy and the Gran March would see to it that it would not hold it for long. So Ket made peace with those august powers, retreating from Bissel, keeping what it knew it could hold.

    Beygraf Zoltan was assassinated within four years of the first occupation of Bissel; significantly, the judgment of the mullahs was to not attempt his revivification. The political aftermath in Lopolla was considerable. As the struggle for power unfolded, army forces were withdrawn from Bissel, and civil war threatened Ket. A new beygraf took power by forming a coalition between many military leaders and a significant minority of the clergy. [LGG - 68]


    What of Vecna? Last we saw of him, he and Iuz had spun into the Shadowfell, clawing at each other’s throats.  But Iuz had returned to walk the Oerth. So, I ask again: What of Vecna?


    Vecna
    An entity known only as the Serpent speaks directly to Vecna. Others—daring to call themselves wizards, magicians, and sorcerers—manipulate the tiniest aspects of the Serpent and call it magic. But Vecna speaks to the Serpent, and the Serpent speaks back. It whispers to him tales of his ancestors, known only as the Ancient Brethren, and of how they discovered the Serpent so unimaginably long ago, when all worlds were young or even unborn.
    The Serpent tells Vecna that nothing lies beyond his grasp. Vecna knows he is destined to be master of everything. Death had not stopped him; betrayal at the hands of his lieutenant had not stopped him; even confrontations with other gods had not stopped him.
    Thus, when the forces of Ravenloft brought Vecna to the Demiplane of Dread, imprisoning him there, he simply laughed. Oh, he pretended to rage. He shook his chains and rattled his cage and cried out to be set free, but deep down he knew that this would not stop him. He knew that he and the Serpent would overcome this obstacle-perhaps even use it to his advantage and conquer this interesting little demiplane. The other domain lords trapped alongside him raged similarly in their own pitiful domains, yet the Whispered One learned quickly that they did not know what power held them prisoner. They did not see the strings behind the puppets. He was the newest among them, yet he was already their master. His knowledge had already made him greater, for the Serpent had told him the secrets of Ravenloft. [Vecna Reborn - 4]





    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.
    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGA4 Vecna Lives, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.

    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Pat by nidraj-rion
    Daybreak by forty-fathoms
    "King Lynwerd of Nyrond and his father, Archbold," by Joel Birke, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Crook of Rao, by Richard Pace, from Dragon #294, 2002
    "The Death of Prince Alain IV, " by Joel Birke, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ocean-Wind by nele-diel
    Lupus-Dei by bobgreyvenstein
    Mongol-poster-study by funky-fubuki
    Vecna by maradraws


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11621 Slavers, 2000
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-29-2021 07:47 am
    History of the North, Part 9: The Raging Storm


    "Our battle is more full of names than yours,

    Our men more perfect in the use of arms,

    Our armour as strong, our cause the best;

    Then reason will our hearts should be as good."

    Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II (1597-99), Act IV, sc.1, l.154.


    The Raging Storm

    Iuz had rolled across the Far North. Tenh had fallen. Then the Horned Society fell. The Bandit Kingdoms fell or capitulated. The Shield Lands and Furyondy stood against the storm in the west. But not as one. And Nyrond stood vanguard against its raging in the east, enemies to the fore and aft. They gripped their swords and spears, and raised their shields against the coming evil. They did not have to wait for long.
    Furyondy looked to the north and saw doom as it never had. Fear prevailed among the populace, and faith in the Knights of the Hart, as well. However, faith can only gird the shield. Belvor needed nor than just fear and faith; he needed information, not rumours and hersay , if he were to defend against Iuz and his hordes; so he sent spies into Iuz’s empire.

                Iuz’s assumption of power and armament for war did not pass unnoticed. Furyondy’s spies headed back to King Belvor IV with word of the swelling humanoid armies. The news could well have been written in the spies’ blood, though, for most of the human agents were discovered and slain, virtually closing King Belvor’s eyes and ears. When the few spies did reach him, though, the Furyondy king heeded the fate of Tenh and immediately set to building his defense. The citadels along the Veng River were stocked and garrisoned in expectation of immediate attack. Belvor’s vassals raised militia and shifted troops to the Veng border. Emissaries rode to the Shield Lands and Veluna to brace them for war. Belvor was determined that Furyondy would not fall. [Wars - 9]                


                Though ill-prepared, Furyondy was not complacent. King Belvor IV, while raising troops at home, dispatched his most silver-tongued advisors to the southern courts. Ambassadors bore the alarming news to Celene, Bissel, Veluna, the Uleks, and—most important of all—Keoland. With impassioned eloquence, the emissaries warned of dire consequences should the northern kingdoms fall. They urged the nations to ally and thus check the tide of evil, finally and forever. Nor were their words in vain: most of the leaders heeded the call, but wondered how little aid they could provide and how long they could delay before sending it. [Wars - 10]


    The Shield Lands and Furyondy, both, prepared for what must surely come. They ought to have prepared as one, but suspicion will always supplant common sense. Such was the pride of Lord Holmer of the Shield Lands. He was suspicious of Belvor. He thought Belvor intended to annex his little state, the first step to that end sending aid against a threat that had never been much of one in the past. The rabble of the Bandits and the lesser forces of Iuz had never posted a true threat in the past, so why would his Knights of the Shielding need those of the Hart? He would regret his miscalculation.

    Furyondy, which had great experience dealing with Iuz and his armies, dispatched emissaries to Admundfort, offering military and financial support for the grand invasion that surely was to come. [LGG - 14]


    King Belor’s emissaries to the Shield Lands met with an icy reception from Lord Holmer, Earl of Walworth and Commander of the Knights of the Holy Shielding. Relations between the two rulers had always been prickly. Though ostensibly allied with Furyondy, the earl long suspected that Belvor intended to annex the Shield Lands. Thus the messenger’s news of the mustering of Molag struck Lord Holmer as suspicious: he did not entirely dismiss the warning, but suspected King Belvor of overstating the danger. Holmer felt it more perilous to admit powerful knights of Furyondy into his lands to aid in its defense than to face the rabble of the Horned Society with his own knights. 


    Fearing annexation so soon after reclaiming his damaged homelands, Holmer curtly refused these offers and expelled Belvor's agents from his realm. Within months, Iuz's armies, which had savaged the western Bandit Kingdoms, stood on his eastern border. [LGG - 104]


    In the coming of Flocktime, Iuz struck. In the dead of night along the banks of the Veng and Ritensa, the humanoids of the Horned Society launched probing attacks. None made more than small headway against the knights of the Hart and Shielding, but the attacks still achieved their aim. While King Belvor and Lord Holmer peered myopically at their river frontiers, Iuz’s true legions marched east, fording the Ritensa north of the Shield Lands and striking into the Bandit Kingdoms. The petty warlords were easily cowed by Iuz’s might and, given the number of spies recently executed, the evil lord was confident that Belvor and Holmer were blind to his maneuvers. [Wars - 9]


    Outflanked and unable to support resistance on two fronts, the Shield Lands crumpled swiftly. Over 11,000 Shield Landers fell in the invasion, with as many dying in the subsequent occupation. While life under the bandits and Hierarchs had been difficult, at least the rulers had been (in most cases) human. Now, under Iuz, farmers were forced to work for orcs, necromancers, and demons. These creatures knew nothing of mercy, and life in the Shield Lands became that of fearful persistence, of not knowing if the next day would bring death or disfigurement, knowing that it would not bring hope.
    Earl Holmer Falls
    Except for lone fortified keeps and minor pockets of rural resistance, the whole of the Shield Lands fell to Iuz. A daring defense of Admundfort allowed much of the capital's population to flee via ship to Willip, but the evacuation was not completed. Earl Holmer, ever the noble knight, remained with his homeland, only to be carried off to the dungeons of Dorakaa. [LGG - 104]


    Occupied Admundfort was taken by Iuz as the new regional capital, to be administered by a Lesser Boneheart mage, Vayne, and assorted demons. The rest of the country fell to lesser leaders, including several fiends. The fertile lands of the Shield Lands became the breadbasket for Iuz's entire army, much of the physical labor carried out by zombies or humans under the constant threat of murder and subsequent revivification. [LGG - 104,105]


                [Furyondy] sought alliance with the Shield Lands to secure itself against the Old One, but stupidly, the pettyminded rulers of the Shield Lands refused, believing this to be a step in a planned annexation by Furyondy. They paid dear for their foolishness. Iuz feinted an attack westward. Meanwhile, his main body of troops struck far to the east and southeast, into both the Bandit Kingdoms and into the Shield Lands, which they flanked to the east from bases in the old lands of the Horned Society. Admundfort and Critwall fell swiftly. Lord Holmer, who had refused a pact with Furyondy, was taken to meet his fate in the dungeons below Dorakaa. [FtAA - 6]                


                Shield Lands fell swiftly to Iuz as he swept from the west during the Greyhawk Wars. The well-maintained primary roads of the Shield Lands made this conquest easier for the Demipower, if anything. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil - 42]                


                Lord Holmer learned of Iuz’s flanking march only after the humanoid hordes had breached the eastern border. Raging like a grass fire across the open fields of the Shield Lands, they drove on Critwall. When this dark report reached Lord Holmer, he pulled all but a screen of knights from the King Belvor’s emissaries to the Shield Lands river frontiers and personally fought his way back toward the undefended capital, Admund-fort. More than half of the knights fell in the drive toward the island, but those who reached the Nyr Dyv set fire to as many vessels as they could, then sailed across the channel to the capital. Ragged and weary, the remaining knights could not hold the capital before the onslaught of humanoids, though they came across in dories and trawlers. Admundfort and Critwall fell, and so too did Lord Holmer, borne away in clawed hands to the dungeons beneath Dorakaa. [Wars - 9,10]


    Furyondy prevailed where the Shield Landers failed. As Holmer’s forces reeled under the onslaught, Belvor ordered his armies forward into the Shield Lands, where they met stiff resistance. Had he not drawn forces from the Vesve, and had the retreating Shield Landers not joined him, he may not have carried the day.

                The fall of the Shield Lands left Furyondy’s eastern flank exposed, a threat King Belvor moved quickly to block. Lords scoured the countryside, raising vast militias to complement the thin ranks of the Order of the Hart and troops were hurriedly transferred from the Vesve Forest frontier. The newly raised troops and reinforcements confronted the advancing humanoids at the Battle of Critwall Bridge, dealing Iuz’s forces a severe blow. The armies of Furyondy repelled the humanoids and held the Veng River line against further advance. [Wars - 10]


    Iuz Sets His Sights

    Iuz was not finished, though. The conquest of the Horned Society and the Bandit Kingdoms was not enough. Neither was the sacking of the Shield Lands. Iuz had his sights set on the greener pastures of Furyondy. Iuz had his sights set on the whole of the south. He pressed on and lay siege to Chendl.

    Iuz had no intention of letting his string of victories end, however. Using loot captured in the Shield Lands, Iuz hired humanoid mercenaries in the Vesve Forest. The mercenary army descended from the Vesve, overrunning the frontier guard of Furyondy and capturing Crockport. Furyondy’s capital, Chendl, lay open and unguarded across the belly of the land. But for a hasty confederation of Highfolk and knights, Chendl would have fallen by the next dusk. The ragged force of Highfolk and knights refused to grant the orcs an open fight, harrying them instead. Though the orcs’ advance continued, it slowed sufficiently for the defenders of Chendl to prepare. By the month of Reaping, however, Chendl lay surrounded. [Wars - 10]


    Furyondian forces fell back to the capital, surrounding it, stopping the Orcish advance into Fairwain Province.

                The knights had managed to stop the orcish advance into Fainvain and the humanoids could do little more than surround Chendl. The Horned Society’s incursions across the Veng occurred less often and grew less concerted. Best of all, the Canon of Veluna sent word that his forces were hurrying to Furyondy’s side. The news from Nyrond, too-though not the best-at least indicated that the Fists were contained. After considering these encouraging matters, King Belvor rallied his spirit and returned to the fight. [Wars - 11]


    Belvor would not see his capital razed to the ground. Neither would he allow those brave souls defending it sell their souls for naught. He attacked, breaking the orcish ranks, ending the Siege of Chendl.

                Furyondy ’s first task—more political than strategic—was to sunder the siege of Chendl. Gambling on the chaotic nature of the tribes surrounding the city,” Belvor left most of his strength on the Veng border and personally led a picked command of elite units against the siege force. Belvor’s knights were severely outnumbered, but by strategic cunning and sorcerers’ aid, they gained the upper hand. The knights sliced through the humanoid lines and pinned the besiegers to the city walls. In short time, the fields around Chendl became a smoldering graveyard of goblinkind and the way to Chendl was open once more.
    By this time both Iuz and Furyondy were stretched to their limits. The furious pace of the war had exhausted their reserves of trained manpower and supplies. Through the months of Patchwall, Ready’reat, and Sun-sebb, both nations scrambled to reprovision their forces. [Wars - 11]


    Archbold of Nyrond

    Archbold of Nyrond was as hard pressed in the east. The Fists had sundered Tenh, and were raiding Nyrond with impunity. He raised what forces he had at his disposal, mindful of what would happen were he to leave his border with the Great Kingdom undefended, and marched against the Fists occupying the Nutherwood and Phostwood.

    Meanwhile in the east, Archbold III of Nyrond finally rallied himself from the shock of tenth’s defeat. Smarting from accusations that he had allowed the troublesome dukedom to collapse, King Archbold decided to undeniably prove his support for his former colonies. Armed with reports that the Fists were mercilessly pillaging the fallen duchy, Archbold marched north into the Nutherwood. Elven contingents in his army allowed him to easily infiltrate the Phostwood and overwhelm the few Fists posted there. Without further warning, the Nyrondese burst from the forest.
    Unlike the Tenhas though, the Fists did not simply crumble: Archbold found himself facing a determined foe. Angered at the surprise attack, Sevvord executed a few lackluster commanders as examples to the others, then sacrificed Fists to delay the advance as he mustered his forces outside the village of Ternsmay. Though outnumbered, Sevvord held the advantageous ground. In the ensuing battle, neither side could gain the upper hand. After fighting well into the night, the Fists withdrew farther and fortified their position. Though Archbold had emerged victorious, the victory was bitter, for he could risk no further advance into Tenh. He had, however, forced Redbeard into a defensive stance as well. The battle ended in stalemate and the armies spent the next tedious weeks watching their enemies across a mile-wide no man’s land. [Wars - 10]


    By 583, however, war would return to haunt Nyrond. Confident that a personal victory over untrained barbarians would do much to bolster his flagging popularity in Nyrond's northern regions, Archbold led a huge army through the Nutherwood, hoping to strike a telling blow against the 'Fists inhabiting Tenh. Fighting lasted for an entire day. The barbarians fell back to more heavily fortified lands, but the cost to Nyrond was great. More than three thousand soldiers fell before nightfall, and Archbold himself suffered grievous wounds, not least of which to his pride. He had gambled Nyrondal cavalry against the hordes of Sevvord Redbeard and won, but it did not seem like a victory. [LGG - 78]


    The Story Reuven of the Rhennee

    Reuven learned the ways of the forest in the distant Adri, saw combat in Nyrond during the Creyhawk Wars, and picked up a host of thiefly skills in the decrepit city of Seltaren, in the Duchy of Urnst. [RPGA Fright at Tristor - 3]


    584-585 CY

    The orcs of the Bone March sought to crush Ratik, but the defenses of the Kalmar Pass and the walls of Ratikhill had defeated them time and again. So to the Dwarves of the Rakers, and the Gnomes of the Loft Hills. As had the Loftwoods. They could not raze the mountains or the hills, but trees could burn.

                The site of a great Ratikkan victory over Bone March orcs (578 CY), the wood was partly despoiled by nonhumans setting fires (584—585 CY). It is once again a battleground between Ratik in the north and orcs and gnolls in the south. [LGG - 141]


    Dangerous times make for strange bedfellows. The enemy of my enemy, and all that. Thus, the Bandit chieftan, Hendrick, did what he never would have done in times of “peace.” He allied with the wood elves near Fleischriver to battle forces of Iuz. One could not be free of such evil if one were dead, he reasoned.           

    Skannar Hendricks
    Skannar Hendricks, a powerful chieftain of the Reyhu group of bandits, is a lot smarter than most. Fleeing from Iuz, attacked by a band of 200 Dazark encountered on the first day in the forest, his men then took something of a drubbing from the eastern wood elves, though they managed to slay a powerful fighter/mage. He decided that he really needed some allies. The wood elves didn't seem to want to simply murder the bandits wholesale, so Hendricks talked peace with them.
    Incredibly, this alliance has worked. Hendricks' men include fewer evil, and more neutrally aligned men than most bandit gangs. Likewise the elves have many neutrals. There was some room for understanding, since both hated Iuz and his ores. So, the wood elves have allowed Hendricks' men to build a couple of strongholds in the Fellreev and after a joint battle against a large force from Fleichshriver in Patchwall, 584 CY, some kind of friendship has been cemented. [WGR5 - 56]

    Despite Hendrick’s partisan tactics, Iuz held the Bandit Kingdoms well in hand. He could have slaughtered the populace. He could have let his hordes loose to do what they would; but he had plans. He needed to consolidate his lands if he were to conquer further; to do so required wealth. Wealth and food, and trade. And governance. How else would he subjugate the weak? Rookroost, Riftcrag, and Stoink were made regional capitals to do just that.

    In the Bandit Kingdoms, the towns of Hallorn, Riftcrag, Rookroost, and Stoink are regional capitals. Hallorn rules the western Bandit Kingdoms, Riftcrag the Rift and Rift Barrens, Rookroost the region between the Rift and the Bluff Hills, and Stoink the southeastern Bandit Kingdoms. [LGG - 60]


    Steelbone Meadows

    Iuz could not be everywhere, and so he could not control all of his vassals all of the time. Sometimes they went rogue, dispensing murder and mayhem without his sanction. Did this bother Iuz? Not particularly, not if their actions spread, for terror is a weapon, and so long as that terror furthered his ends, he was pleased with what it wrought.

    In late 584 CY, when the Pact of Greyhawk had been drafted and the war was ended but for skirmishing in the far-distant lands of the Pomarj, Ratik, and the margins of the Lost Lands, the priest Bernel of Hallorn commanded a gathering of bandit forces drawn from these western lands at what is now called Steelbone Meadows. Bernel was certainly paranoid, possibly completely insane. Ten thousand bandits gathered to celebrate the war's end, expecting to be given instructions for the new campaigns of pillage they looked forward to after the winter. As most of them slept in their huge tented campsite, Bernel, who believed that the bandit leaders intended to turn against Iuz and reclaim their lands from Iuz's control, had over half of them slaughtered by fiends, ore assassins, and lethal magic. The survivors fled in all directions. They currently eke out a perilous living in these infertile, poor plains lands. Unfortunately, the survivors own chaotic evil disposition prevented them from allying against their oppressor. Many of them turned on each other, claiming that the other had co-operated with Bernel, betraying his fellows to ensure his own survival. Thus, the roaming bandit gangs are as likely to attack and kill each other as they are to strike against Iuz's forces, who rarely patrol these lands any more. Bernel was swiftly replaced by Iuz and is now a prisoner in Dorakaa's dungeons. The new commander at Hallorn has suffered a strange fate of his own. Perhaps the dying curses of the men slain at Steelbone Meadows have affected one victim, at least. [WGR5 - 49]


    In late 584 CY, news from Greyhawk declared an official end to the war, and many warriors gathered in northeast Wormhall to confer with their leaders regarding plans for next year's summer raiding season. After many nights of drunken Brewfest revelry, more than ten thousand bandit men from Abbarra, Freehold, Midlands, Warfields and Wormhall were attacked as they slept by a treacherous (and probably mad) cleric of Iuz, using magic, assassins, and demonic servants. About half of these men escaped, most badly wounded, and fled overland to refuge in Greenkeep, Tangles, or the Rift. All nurse a grim hatred for Iuz and his forces in their homeland. The abandoned campsite, now known as Steelbone Meadows, is overgrown today, with rotting tents, rusted weapons, and scattered bones forming a grim, open graveyard. Though it is likely the massacre went against the wishes of Iuz (who had the mad cleric carried off to an unknown fate), it nonetheless offers a stern warning to those who wish to throw off the puppet rulers installed by the Old One. [LGG - 31]


    The Rook in Shadow
    What remains of the Bandit Kingdoms?


    Abbarra:    [Some] assassins survived (perhaps organized by their former leader, the ruthless Kor (NE male human Asn12) and now prey on Iuz's rare patrols in this area. These "terrorists" strike from hidden bases and live off the land. Abbarra is technically governed from Hallorn, but it is generally ignored by the empire. [LGG - 25]


    Artonsamay, Duchy of the:    Rumored to have been ruled by a puissant noble adventurer of Urnst's Gellor dynasty, Artonsamay was a favorite haunt of thrill-seekers and lawless folk lacking an evil or sadistic bent. None of this, however, served to aid the duchy when Iuz's forces invaded in 583; the realm's castle "capital" was destroyed, and most of the land's residents fled to the County of Urnst, Stoink, or the Rift. Great magic was employed in the battle, and Artonsamay is now mostly uninhabited wilderness (much of it barren) with poor hunting, governed from Stoink. Many, including Countess Belissica, believe that Duke Gellor […] is dead, though the folk of Stoink whisper that no less than Iuz's high priestess, Halga, was seen there, tracking a man bearing an all-too-familiar appearance. [LGG - 26]


    Dimre, Grand Theocracy of:     Dimre is technically governed from Stoink, though it is autonomous in reality. Dimre's clergy preaches that to understand the glory of Light, one must first walk hand-in-hand with Darkness. Its army keeps watch on all borders, allowing none but the faithful to pass into their sacred land. [LGG - 26]


    Fellands:    The bulk of the bandits working with [Xavendra, an oddly refined and graceful cleric of Iuz] have turned to dark religion and evil debauchery. Xavendra has a well-known distaste for orcs, and some suspect she may make a play for independence (despite being a cleric of the demigod) should Iuz's full attention fall elsewhere. [LGG - 26]


    Freehold, Mighty:    The Freehold keep itself was altered in the early months of Iuz's occupation, becoming the grisly castle known as Fleichshriver. Remolded by fiendish hands, the citadel is an imposing reminder of the evil, otherworldly forces that once infested the local countryside. Though passers-by no longer need fear the claw and tooth of marauding demons, strange, haunting screams can still be heard from the seemingly abandoned keep; locals give it a wide berth. Iuz's archmage Null […] of the Greater Boneheart, was known to come here in the past and might do so still. [LGG - 26]


    Defenders of Greenkeep: Greenkeepers escaped the massacre at Steelbone Meadows and withdrew into their corner of the Fellreev. They suffered much from raids by wizards, clerics, and orcs under Iuz, but some hang on, helping and helped by the Reyhu-elf alliance across the river. They avoid the plains to the south. [LGG - 26]

    Grosskopf, Grand Clans of:    
    Grosskopf Raiders
    Many Grosskopf raiders with cavalry skills elected to take Iuz's suggestion that they relocate to the Barrens to fight the Rovers, with whom Grosskopf had clashed for many decades. The raiders live now at the Barrens' regional capital, Grossfort, forming the basis of a sizable army known as the Marauders of the North. Other Grosskopf troops work with allied orcs and goblins at Senningford and Narleon, fighting Stonehold skirmishers and supplying Iuz's troops in Tenh. Grosskopf and Fellands are both now controlled from the regional capital at Rookroost. [LGG - 27]


    Johrase, Kingdom of:    Kinemeet is now primarily an orcish city, its forces charged with controlling the plains for 100 miles or more in all directions. The commander here, usually a gigantic orc or intelligent ogre warrior, reports to either Rookroost or Riftcrag, depending on whim. The commander is replaced about once a year, however, thanks to duels for leadership. The orcs here are warlike in the extreme but loyal to Iuz, despite the fact that they frequently use Johrase shields and flags along with those of the Old One. [LGG - 27]


    Midlands, Stronghold of the:    Most surviving forces were destroyed at Steelbone Meadows, and the temple has been razed. The region is now under the control of Kinemeet's orcs, who usually answer to Graf Demmel Tadurinal [a cleric of Iuz], a toadying [sycophant] stationed in Rookroost. The graf also handles patrols along the Artonsamay. [LGG - 27]


    Redhand, Principality of:    Now that most of the Old One's demonic officers are gone from the land, many believe Zeech and his men are set for a rebellion. Word of this surely has reached Dorakaa, and all eyes watch the debased prince with grotesque curiosity, guessing at his fate should he defy Iuz. Zeech would get no help elsewhere, as he is greatly hated in Urnst and Furyondy. [LGG - 27]


    Reyhu, Great Lands of:    The old Reyhu region is administered by a quartet of clerics of Iuz in Balmund, who in turn report to either Riftcrag or Stoink (their orders are often confused on this point). Their incompetence does not eliminate the fact that the countryside literally crawls with orcs and their allies, and hence is well defended, if only by the sheer number of defenders. Reyhu's celebrated fields lay fallow, its crucial resource completely ignored and turning into wilderness. [LGG - 29]


    Rift, Men of the:    
    The Rift Folk
    Rift folk are mostly as chaotic and evil as the nonhumans, but they are clever and skilled at mountaineering and trap-setting. Many thieves and berserkers are among the warriors here, and Erythnul worship is widespread. Iuz's agents inhabiting Riftcrag made it a regional capital in 584. They keep watch over the canyon from the city and from the Leering Keeps, five citadels perched on the northern edge and eastern end of the enormous chasm. Led by Cranzer […] a powerful member of Iuz's Lesser Boneheart, these forces patrol the Rift, attempting to contain the plar's growing army while continuously assaulting the Tangles with axe and fire. The Rift holds mines that provide the region's best silver veins. Of late, Cranzer has made deals with the Rift bandits in order to make the regular silver shipments personally demanded by Iuz. [LGG - 29]


    Rookroost, Free City of:    Rookroost now governs all plains, forests, and hills between Cold Run and the Zumker River, all Iuzite forces in Tenh, and the plains across the Artonsamay south to the Rift Barrens. [LGG - 29]


    Stoink, Free City-State of:    Currently ruled by the fearless and grossly overweight Boss Renfus the Mottled […]. Stoink sponsors brigand raids into northern Nyrond, and its forces loot the supply trains of the army of Tenha expatriates attempting to retake their homeland under Duke Ehyeh III. Cross-river raids between Stoink and the Urnst fortress Ventnor are increasing, but they have not yet invited an invasion by the County of Urnst north of the Artonsamay. The northern border with Dimre is stoutly defended to prevent raiding by overzealous minor priests. [LGG - 30]
    Looting Supply Lines

    Earldom of the Tangles:    Iuz rules this area from the small town of Hallorn, the earldom's former capital and now one of Iuz's regional capitals. Hallorn was once a grim place filled with little more than zombies, thanks to an insane priest of Iuz and his numerous demonic allies. [LGG - 30]


    Warfields, Unified Bands of the:    
    Rife with Hobgoblins
    Warfields is much less a center of military activity these days, consisting mostly of wilderness and ruined towns. Administered from the regional capital at Hallorn, the land is rife with hobgoblins, and few humans remain. The hobgoblins send many of their number south to fight returning Shield Landers at Critwall. The former Guardian General, an imposing warrior called Hok […], has not been heard from in over five years. [LGG - 30]


    Wormhall:    No one knows the true faces of the lords of Wormhall. Rumors suggest they are ordinary humans, fiends, reanimated lords of old, or worse. The structure and province are named for the tenebrous worms that literally crawl on the walls of the Wormhall, a revolting feature that has led many to suggest magic created by the infamous arch-cleric Kyuss is somehow involved in the affairs of the land. [LGG - 31]



    584 CY  Ket had long coveted the arable lands east of the Bramblewood, and had fought more than one Short War with Veluna and Furyondy and Keoland to gain a foothold there. Iuz had whispered in their ear. Now is your chance, he said. Strike while your enemies are in the North. Ket listened, and sent its forces into Bissel.
                In Goodmonth 584 CY, Ketite cavalry attacked Bissel's watchtowers along the Fals River at the northern end of Bramblewood Gap. Without many of the mercenaries within its Border Companies, who had traveled south and east to battle the Pomarj and Iuz, Bissel fell by mid-Harvester. Ket, encouraged by the Old One, forced Bissel's surrender after the fall of Thornward. The archfiend and the westerners had hoped to use the old margrave, Walgar, a ranger of some renown, as a puppet, but pride would not allow it. After giving up his lands, the aged ruler committed ritual suicide. Graf Imran Tendulkar, a Baklunish religious warrior, took a soft hand to rulership as Walgar's replacement. He and his men attempted (often in vain) to convert the Bisselites to western religions, all the while waiting patiently for the land to accept its new governors. Other nations, understanding Bissel's strategic importance, attempted to break Ket's hold. In a succession of battles, Veluna drove invading forces from the neck of the Fals River Pass and Highfolk gnomes defeated Ketite forces in the Northern Lorridges. Further advances into the nation were halted by Ketite horsemen, often with assistance from the remnants of Bissel's disbanded Border Companies, now bankrolled by western interests. [LGG - 33]                


    The Great Kingdom desired the return of those provinces that had ceded from its oversight. Nyrond had begun the tide of defection. Nyrond was also the most powerful of all those who would defected. Should Nyrond fall, the rest would bend the knee once again, either by choice or by the sword. And so Ivid attacked Nyrond.

                The reports of war, blood, and great conquests being made by the hated barbarians and barely-civilized Fists of the North excited and enraged the overking. Egged on by the priesthood of Hextor, Ivid entered the fray by storming into Nyrond and its ally Almor. [Ivid - 4,5]


    But Ivid was defeated.

    It is a tribute to Ivid's incompetence that a nation with the vast armies and resources that the Great Kingdom had was fought to a standstill by much smaller Nyrond. For all the excellence of the Nyrondese armies, and their superb morale and training, Ivid should have been able to crush them. [Ivid - 5]


    Ivid was livid! Lack of dedication conducts a pogrom, executing servants, sages, and surfs; he executes his generals and nobles, transforming them into undead.

    Ivid personally assumed complete command of all the armies of the Great Kingdom, despite the counsel of his best advisors. Ivid did not just overrule or even sack his generals: he executed them, sparing only his favorites. [Wars - 20]

    Finally, Ivid V decided to create utterly loyal servitors among his generals and nobles. He expediently had them murdered and raised in unique undead forms; each was revived as an animus, an undead being possessing all the skills and talents of the former living person. With the logic of the terminally deranged, Ivid came to see this revivification as a reward for his favored courtiers. [FtAA - 8]


    Reward
    [Ivid] became utterly obsessed about such [disloyalty and betrayal] and ordered appalling reprisals, verging on genocide, against the people of those lands. He saw it as punishment for treachery in not dealing with such affronts to His Imperial Majesty.
    Convinced of treachery among his nobles, he invoked a unique new form of ensuring their obedience. With Hextor's priests and the aid of fiends, he had the nobles slain and brought back to unlife as powerful undead creatures—animuses. He thought that by eliminating their human weaknesses and  he could be certain of the loyalty of wholly acquiescent zombie-leigemen. What he actually had, however, was a large number of very powerful and embittered monsters who retreated to their own lands and simply defied him.
    In response, Ivid began executing as many traitors (the vast majority of them imagined traitors) as he could get his once-elite Companion Guard to lay their hands on. Rauxes was awash with blood; by the end of the wars, its population was barely above half its pre-war total. [Ivid - 5]


    One must strike while the iron is hot. Ivid had taken control of the Aerdian armies, much to the dismay of those generals still untouched by his hellish desire. The Great Kingdom was in disarray, its parts shattered as its herzogs and governors sought to salvage what they might.

    Hearing of massacres in Ivid’s lands, King Archbold in Nyrond counterattacked the Army of the North between Womtham and Innspa. Though Ivid’s animus generals fought well—being themselves unafraid of death—the chaotic heartlands of the Great Kingdom offered no support to the Northern Army. [Wars - 21]


    Almor was not so lucky as Nyrond. [It] was invaded by Ivid in 584 CY and its old capital, Chathold, utterly decimated by the Overking's mages and priests. The animus Duke Szeffrin now rules half of the old Almorian lands, and this creature, formerly a greatly favored general in Ivid's armies, is reputedly one of the cruellest of the animus nobles now holding sway over so much of Aerdy. [FtAA - 27]

    Nyrond, for all its honour and decency, understood when a rabid dog needed to be put down. They took measures for the greater good, as even the most forthright must in such times.
                The crisis reached its climax during the Richfest celebrations of that year. An assassin emerged from the thronging crowds and struck Ivid a mortal blow with a poisoned dagger. When news spread of Ivid’s death, the gloom over the land lifted. The nobles stoked the fires of celebration, joyously preparing for the power struggle to come. [Wars - 21]


    The Great Kingdom was spared that turmoil, however, by an even greater one. Just as the cunning of the mad Overking had saved Ivid from countless threats past, it saved him now from the grave. Secret arrangements, perhaps made with fiends summoned while on the Malachite Throne, resulted in the Overking’s revivification. Ivid V—who had seemed cold and soulless in life-seemed doubly so in death. [Wars - 21]


    The supreme irony is that Ivid himself is an animus now. After an assassin's poisoned and enchanted dagger struck him, only this revivification process was able to prevent his death. Still, the process failed in some crucial respect, as Ivid still has the wasting disease he contracted shortly before the wars. The disease appears to be incurable.
    Ivid the Undying is dying by the day. [Ivid - 5]                


    The North and South Provinces fully secede from the Great Kingdom.
                The North Province seceded, and with the aid of humanoids from the Bone March, succeeded in repelling Nyrondese forces in the Flinty Hills. Wisely, the Nyrondese held off from further massed battles, perhaps sensing the imminent collapse of Aerdy. The North Province's secession did indeed trigger the complete disintegration of the Great Kingdom. Animus nobles across the land (and the few still living) withdrew all support and the remnants of their armies from the Overking. The Great Kingdom was no more; a welter of petty states, ruled by disputatious nobles (many of them undead), was all that was left. An empire that had stretched from Perrenland to the Aerdi Sea had been wholly expunged in less than four hundred years. Sic transit gloria mundi (or its Oeridian equivalent): so passes away the glory of the world. [FtAA - 8,9]



    Herzog Grenell watched as the once Great Kingdom shrank, its power diminished, its lands divided. He declared himself King of his North Province. He knew his reign would be short is sanctimonious Nyrond had any say in the matter, so he marched his armies north to meet what would surely come.

    Grace Grenell, Herzog of the North Province rebelled against his cousin in a desperate attempt to hold his lands against the march of King Archbold. Freed of the mad king, the Herzog and the orcs of the Bone March halted the Nyrondese armies in the rugged Flinty Hills. The Herzog callously sacrificed both human and orcish troops to grind King Archbold’s advance to a halt. Though the Nyrondese could advance no further against the combined armies, Archbold, tantalized by the prospect of ultimate victory, refused to break off his assault. [Wars - 21]


    Grenell was wary. Indeed, he was quite fearful. He did not intend to join the ranks of Ivid’s “most loyal servants.” And if he were to be summoned to Rauxes he most certainly would have been. Therefore, he did what most vainglorious despots would do in such circumstances; he too seceded from the Kingdom.

    The North Province’s defection from the Great Kingdom unleashed the pent-up fears and ambitions of all nobility in the Great Kingdom, both living and animus. The Herzog of the South, among the first nobles rewarded with death and revivification, reasserted his claim to the South Province. The wave spread outward from there: living nobles turned their fiefs into armed camps and animus lords sought to expand their realms. The Overking’s authority collapsed entirely, leaving Ivid with only his personal estates. Thus, the always-fragile Great Kingdom shattered into a hundred petty principalities, dukedoms, baronies, counties, and earldoms. The Aerdi Empire was no more. [Wars - 21]


    His Grace Grennel

    Grenell found himself in a rather precarious position. Not only did he have to watch his southern border. He had to be mindful of Nyrond and the Barbarians, too. To make matters worse, the Bone March was calling in the debt owed for their helping the now North Kingdom attack Nyrond: "We helped you fight Nyrond, now you help us storm Ratik."

                For himself, Grenell doesn't give a fig about Ratik. Unfortunately, no few of his most powerful local rulers care a great deal about Ratik—as do many ordinary folk. Many of them share the same Oeridian-Flan racial mix as the men of Ratik, and they admire the rugged bravery of Ratik's warriors in having kept the humanoids at bay for so long. They are opposed to any plan to conquer Ratik, and some of them are ready to go and fight for Ratik should Grenell dare act against that nation.
    There is another twist to this. The barbarian nations are strongly allied with Ratik. At the present time, their raids are focused on the Sea Barons and they do not often raid most points along the eastern North Province seaboard, save for Bellport. This is because many of the rulers and armies of that eastern seaboard have managed to make a peace of sorts with the fierce Flan barbarians, Prince Elkerst of Atirr being a notable example. Indeed, the barbarians increasingly trade with some North Province coastal towns and villages, and that trade brings much needed wood, furs, and other commodities in short supply in North Province. [Ivid - 44]
       
    There was also the Barbarians to consider. If Grenell attacked Ratik, Barbarian raids would most certainly recommence. His was a precarious balance, as many of the peoples of his northern coast shared familial ties to those Barbarians.


    Kaport Bay
    Kaport Bay is the most rugged of North Province's towns, a whaling station and fishing town of 5,200 souls. Together with its twin satellite villages of Low and High Scarport, this town has a characteristic atmosphere. The people here are hardy men and women with little time for frivolity—or outsiders. They term themselves "Kaportlanders" and are proud of this. Flan blood is strong, and the Kaportlanders are no friends of Grenell and his court. Kaport Bay maintains three stout war galleys used to protect its whaling fleet, not least against the attacks of deep-sea kraken in the Solnor Ocean. Barbarians rarely raided here in the past, given their blood ties with the fair-haired Kaportlanders, and they do not do so now. [Ivid - 56]
     

    In time, the conflict paused. They had no choice. Coffers were empty. Their armies tired beyond comprehension. The combatants dug in, licked their wounds and waited, glaring across the span at hose who glared back, and slavered, whether they were satisfied with their gains or desirous of taking back what was theirs or not. This is not to say that all was calm. Because the Flanaess was not calm. It seethed.

    Nyrond had another threat to contend with: the Bone March humanoids skirmished with Ratik and Nyrond itself. [FtAA - 7]


    What of the northeast? Tension is high. Violence certain. Nevertheless, for all the conflict west of the Rakers and to the south, the Thellonrian Penisnsula had been left largely unscathed.

                
    Seeking Destruction
    Ratik and the Bone March are at each other's throats. [FtAA - 21]

                The humanoids of the Bone March still seek to destroy Ratik, the beleaguered gnomes of the Flinty Hills, and any other territory they can advance into; their "alliance" with the North Province has already begun to disintegrate due to the ill-organized and undisciplined nature of these creatures. They have no leader, and are a quarrelsome rabble, but are numerous and hence dangerous. The Euroz tribe of ores (who rub their faces in the ash of burned victims when preparing for battle) are most numerous in Spinecastle, but their dominance may not last very long. They are known to subject human and demihuman (especially prized) captives to unspeakable degradations and tortures. [FtAA - 24]


                And the barbarians are a law unto themselves, still raiding Aerdi, still supporting the brave folk of Ratik, still deeply hostile to the poisoned words from Stonefist. [FtAA - 10]


                   


    Thus ends the episode of the Greyhawk Wars.

    Ratik and the Thillonrian Peninsula have weathered the Greyhawk Wars, Ratik far better than the Barbarians did, I image. The Barbarians, especially the Fruztii, and maybe the Cruztii, to a lesser extent, have been in direct contact with the Stonehold. The Stonehold has vastly increased their holdings, at the expense of Tenh.

    Even in Peace, treachery reigned:

    On the Day of the Great Signing, however, Greyhawk suffered a great treachery: Rary, one of the Circle of Eight, destroyed his companions Tenser and Otiluke in a great magical battle, then fled. Many suspected that the former Archmage of Ket had hoped to hold the ambassadors hostage, perhaps capturing Greyhawk itself in the process. Instead, he and his cohort, Lord Robilar, went to the Bright Desert to form their own kingdom. Fearing further disruptions, the delegates hurriedly signed the Pact of Greyhawk. Ironically, because of the site of the treaty signing, the great conflicts soon became known as the Greyhawk Wars. [LGG - 16]






    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals.

    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Black-Legion by dominikmayer
    In the Ruins of the Shield Lands, by Joel Biske, from Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Defeat by johnsonting
    Rage by atlantisvampir
    The-Hero-we-need by dominikmayer
    We-die-we-fight-Ms-Orc-14 by bayardwu


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-26-2021 05:51 am
    History of the North, Part 9: The Raging Storm


    "Our battle is more full of names than yours,

    Our men more perfect in the use of arms,

    Our armour as strong, our cause the best;

    Then reason will our hearts should be as good."

    Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II (1597-99), Act IV, sc.1, l.154.


    The Raging Storm

    Iuz had rolled across the Far North. Tenh had fallen. Then the Horned Society fell. The Bandit Kingdoms fell or capitulated. The Shield Lands and Furyondy stood against the storm in the west. But not as one. And Nyrond stood vanguard against its raging in the east, enemies to the fore and aft. They gripped their swords and spears, and raised their shields against the coming evil. They did not have to wait for long.
    Furyondy looked to the north and saw doom as it never had. Fear prevailed among the populace, and faith in the Knights of the Hart, as well. However, faith can only gird the shield. Belvor needed nor than just fear and faith; he needed information, not rumours and hersay , if he were to defend against Iuz and his hordes; so he sent spies into Iuz’s empire.

                Iuz’s assumption of power and armament for war did not pass unnoticed. Furyondy’s spies headed back to King Belvor IV with word of the swelling humanoid armies. The news could well have been written in the spies’ blood, though, for most of the human agents were discovered and slain, virtually closing King Belvor’s eyes and ears. When the few spies did reach him, though, the Furyondy king heeded the fate of Tenh and immediately set to building his defense. The citadels along the Veng River were stocked and garrisoned in expectation of immediate attack. Belvor’s vassals raised militia and shifted troops to the Veng border. Emissaries rode to the Shield Lands and Veluna to brace them for war. Belvor was determined that Furyondy would not fall. [Wars - 9]                


                Though ill-prepared, Furyondy was not complacent. King Belvor IV, while raising troops at home, dispatched his most silver-tongued advisors to the southern courts. Ambassadors bore the alarming news to Celene, Bissel, Veluna, the Uleks, and—most important of all—Keoland. With impassioned eloquence, the emissaries warned of dire consequences should the northern kingdoms fall. They urged the nations to ally and thus check the tide of evil, finally and forever. Nor were their words in vain: most of the leaders heeded the call, but wondered how little aid they could provide and how long they could delay before sending it. [Wars - 10]


    The Shield Lands and Furyondy, both, prepared for what must surely come. They ought to have prepared as one, but suspicion will always supplant common sense. Such was the pride of Lord Holmer of the Shield Lands. He was suspicious of Belvor. He thought Belvor intended to annex his little state, the first step to that end sending aid against a threat that had never been much of one in the past. The rabble of the Bandits and the lesser forces of Iuz had never posted a true threat in the past, so why would his Knights of the Shielding need those of the Hart? He would regret his miscalculation.

    Furyondy, which had great experience dealing with Iuz and his armies, dispatched emissaries to Admundfort, offering military and financial support for the grand invasion that surely was to come. [LGG - 14]


    King Belor’s emissaries to the Shield Lands met with an icy reception from Lord Holmer, Earl of Walworth and Commander of the Knights of the Holy Shielding. Relations between the two rulers had always been prickly. Though ostensibly allied with Furyondy, the earl long suspected that Belvor intended to annex the Shield Lands. Thus the messenger’s news of the mustering of Molag struck Lord Holmer as suspicious: he did not entirely dismiss the warning, but suspected King Belvor of overstating the danger. Holmer felt it more perilous to admit powerful knights of Furyondy into his lands to aid in its defense than to face the rabble of the Horned Society with his own knights. 


    Fearing annexation so soon after reclaiming his damaged homelands, Holmer curtly refused these offers and expelled Belvor's agents from his realm. Within months, Iuz's armies, which had savaged the western Bandit Kingdoms, stood on his eastern border. [LGG - 104]


    In the coming of Flocktime, Iuz struck. In the dead of night along the banks of the Veng and Ritensa, the humanoids of the Horned Society launched probing attacks. None made more than small headway against the knights of the Hart and Shielding, but the attacks still achieved their aim. While King Belvor and Lord Holmer peered myopically at their river frontiers, Iuz’s true legions marched east, fording the Ritensa north of the Shield Lands and striking into the Bandit Kingdoms. The petty warlords were easily cowed by Iuz’s might and, given the number of spies recently executed, the evil lord was confident that Belvor and Holmer were blind to his maneuvers. [Wars - 9]


    Outflanked and unable to support resistance on two fronts, the Shield Lands crumpled swiftly. Over 11,000 Shield Landers fell in the invasion, with as many dying in the subsequent occupation. While life under the bandits and Hierarchs had been difficult, at least the rulers had been (in most cases) human. Now, under Iuz, farmers were forced to work for orcs, necromancers, and demons. These creatures knew nothing of mercy, and life in the Shield Lands became that of fearful persistence, of not knowing if the next day would bring death or disfigurement, knowing that it would not bring hope.
    Earl Holmer Falls
    Except for lone fortified keeps and minor pockets of rural resistance, the whole of the Shield Lands fell to Iuz. A daring defense of Admundfort allowed much of the capital's population to flee via ship to Willip, but the evacuation was not completed. Earl Holmer, ever the noble knight, remained with his homeland, only to be carried off to the dungeons of Dorakaa. [LGG - 104]


    Occupied Admundfort was taken by Iuz as the new regional capital, to be administered by a Lesser Boneheart mage, Vayne, and assorted demons. The rest of the country fell to lesser leaders, including several fiends. The fertile lands of the Shield Lands became the breadbasket for Iuz's entire army, much of the physical labor carried out by zombies or humans under the constant threat of murder and subsequent revivification. [LGG - 104,105]


                [Furyondy] sought alliance with the Shield Lands to secure itself against the Old One, but stupidly, the pettyminded rulers of the Shield Lands refused, believing this to be a step in a planned annexation by Furyondy. They paid dear for their foolishness. Iuz feinted an attack westward. Meanwhile, his main body of troops struck far to the east and southeast, into both the Bandit Kingdoms and into the Shield Lands, which they flanked to the east from bases in the old lands of the Horned Society. Admundfort and Critwall fell swiftly. Lord Holmer, who had refused a pact with Furyondy, was taken to meet his fate in the dungeons below Dorakaa. [FtAA - 6]                


                Shield Lands fell swiftly to Iuz as he swept from the west during the Greyhawk Wars. The well-maintained primary roads of the Shield Lands made this conquest easier for the Demipower, if anything. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil - 42]                


                Lord Holmer learned of Iuz’s flanking march only after the humanoid hordes had breached the eastern border. Raging like a grass fire across the open fields of the Shield Lands, they drove on Critwall. When this dark report reached Lord Holmer, he pulled all but a screen of knights from the King Belvor’s emissaries to the Shield Lands river frontiers and personally fought his way back toward the undefended capital, Admund-fort. More than half of the knights fell in the drive toward the island, but those who reached the Nyr Dyv set fire to as many vessels as they could, then sailed across the channel to the capital. Ragged and weary, the remaining knights could not hold the capital before the onslaught of humanoids, though they came across in dories and trawlers. Admundfort and Critwall fell, and so too did Lord Holmer, borne away in clawed hands to the dungeons beneath Dorakaa. [Wars - 9,10]


    Furyondy prevailed where the Shield Landers failed. As Holmer’s forces reeled under the onslaught, Belvor ordered his armies forward into the Shield Lands, where they met stiff resistance. Had he not drawn forces from the Vesve, and had the retreating Shield Landers not joined him, he may not have carried the day.

                The fall of the Shield Lands left Furyondy’s eastern flank exposed, a threat King Belvor moved quickly to block. Lords scoured the countryside, raising vast militias to complement the thin ranks of the Order of the Hart and troops were hurriedly transferred from the Vesve Forest frontier. The newly raised troops and reinforcements confronted the advancing humanoids at the Battle of Critwall Bridge, dealing Iuz’s forces a severe blow. The armies of Furyondy repelled the humanoids and held the Veng River line against further advance. [Wars - 10]


    Iuz Sets His Sights

    Iuz was not finished, though. The conquest of the Horned Society and the Bandit Kingdoms was not enough. Neither was the sacking of the Shield Lands. Iuz had his sights set on the greener pastures of Furyondy. Iuz had his sights set on the whole of the south. He pressed on and lay siege to Chendl.

    Iuz had no intention of letting his string of victories end, however. Using loot captured in the Shield Lands, Iuz hired humanoid mercenaries in the Vesve Forest. The mercenary army descended from the Vesve, overrunning the frontier guard of Furyondy and capturing Crockport. Furyondy’s capital, Chendl, lay open and unguarded across the belly of the land. But for a hasty confederation of Highfolk and knights, Chendl would have fallen by the next dusk. The ragged force of Highfolk and knights refused to grant the orcs an open fight, harrying them instead. Though the orcs’ advance continued, it slowed sufficiently for the defenders of Chendl to prepare. By the month of Reaping, however, Chendl lay surrounded. [Wars - 10]


    Furyondian forces fell back to the capital, surrounding it, stopping the Orcish advance into Fairwain Province.

                The knights had managed to stop the orcish advance into Fainvain and the humanoids could do little more than surround Chendl. The Horned Society’s incursions across the Veng occurred less often and grew less concerted. Best of all, the Canon of Veluna sent word that his forces were hurrying to Furyondy’s side. The news from Nyrond, too-though not the best-at least indicated that the Fists were contained. After considering these encouraging matters, King Belvor rallied his spirit and returned to the fight. [Wars - 11]


    Belvor would not see his capital razed to the ground. Neither would he allow those brave souls defending it sell their souls for naught. He attacked, breaking the orcish ranks, ending the Siege of Chendl.

                Furyondy ’s first task—more political than strategic—was to sunder the siege of Chendl. Gambling on the chaotic nature of the tribes surrounding the city,” Belvor left most of his strength on the Veng border and personally led a picked command of elite units against the siege force. Belvor’s knights were severely outnumbered, but by strategic cunning and sorcerers’ aid, they gained the upper hand. The knights sliced through the humanoid lines and pinned the besiegers to the city walls. In short time, the fields around Chendl became a smoldering graveyard of goblinkind and the way to Chendl was open once more.
    By this time both Iuz and Furyondy were stretched to their limits. The furious pace of the war had exhausted their reserves of trained manpower and supplies. Through the months of Patchwall, Ready’reat, and Sun-sebb, both nations scrambled to reprovision their forces. [Wars - 11]


    Archbold of Nyrond

    Archbold of Nyrond was as hard pressed in the east. The Fists had sundered Tenh, and were raiding Nyrond with impunity. He raised what forces he had at his disposal, mindful of what would happen were he to leave his border with the Great Kingdom undefended, and marched against the Fists occupying the Nutherwood and Phostwood.

    Meanwhile in the east, Archbold III of Nyrond finally rallied himself from the shock of tenth’s defeat. Smarting from accusations that he had allowed the troublesome dukedom to collapse, King Archbold decided to undeniably prove his support for his former colonies. Armed with reports that the Fists were mercilessly pillaging the fallen duchy, Archbold marched north into the Nutherwood. Elven contingents in his army allowed him to easily infiltrate the Phostwood and overwhelm the few Fists posted there. Without further warning, the Nyrondese burst from the forest.
    Unlike the Tenhas though, the Fists did not simply crumble: Archbold found himself facing a determined foe. Angered at the surprise attack, Sevvord executed a few lackluster commanders as examples to the others, then sacrificed Fists to delay the advance as he mustered his forces outside the village of Ternsmay. Though outnumbered, Sevvord held the advantageous ground. In the ensuing battle, neither side could gain the upper hand. After fighting well into the night, the Fists withdrew farther and fortified their position. Though Archbold had emerged victorious, the victory was bitter, for he could risk no further advance into Tenh. He had, however, forced Redbeard into a defensive stance as well. The battle ended in stalemate and the armies spent the next tedious weeks watching their enemies across a mile-wide no man’s land. [Wars - 10]


    By 583, however, war would return to haunt Nyrond. Confident that a personal victory over untrained barbarians would do much to bolster his flagging popularity in Nyrond's northern regions, Archbold led a huge army through the Nutherwood, hoping to strike a telling blow against the 'Fists inhabiting Tenh. Fighting lasted for an entire day. The barbarians fell back to more heavily fortified lands, but the cost to Nyrond was great. More than three thousand soldiers fell before nightfall, and Archbold himself suffered grievous wounds, not least of which to his pride. He had gambled Nyrondal cavalry against the hordes of Sevvord Redbeard and won, but it did not seem like a victory. [LGG - 78]


    The Story Reuven of the Rhennee

    Reuven learned the ways of the forest in the distant Adri, saw combat in Nyrond during the Creyhawk Wars, and picked up a host of thiefly skills in the decrepit city of Seltaren, in the Duchy of Urnst. [RPGA Fright at Tristor - 3]


    584-585 CY

    The orcs of the Bone March sought to crush Ratik, but the defenses of the Kalmar Pass and the walls of Ratikhill had defeated them time and again. So to the Dwarves of the Rakers, and the Gnomes of the Loft Hills. As had the Loftwoods. They could not raze the mountains or the hills, but trees could burn.

                The site of a great Ratikkan victory over Bone March orcs (578 CY), the wood was partly despoiled by nonhumans setting fires (584—585 CY). It is once again a battleground between Ratik in the north and orcs and gnolls in the south. [LGG - 141]


    Dangerous times make for strange bedfellows. The enemy of my enemy, and all that. Thus, the Bandit chieftan, Hendrick, did what he never would have done in times of “peace.” He allied with the wood elves near Fleischriver to battle forces of Iuz. One could not be free of such evil if one were dead, he reasoned.           

    Skannar Hendricks
    Skannar Hendricks, a powerful chieftain of the Reyhu group of bandits, is a lot smarter than most. Fleeing from Iuz, attacked by a band of 200 Dazark encountered on the first day in the forest, his men then took something of a drubbing from the eastern wood elves, though they managed to slay a powerful fighter/mage. He decided that he really needed some allies. The wood elves didn't seem to want to simply murder the bandits wholesale, so Hendricks talked peace with them.
    Incredibly, this alliance has worked. Hendricks' men include fewer evil, and more neutrally aligned men than most bandit gangs. Likewise the elves have many neutrals. There was some room for understanding, since both hated Iuz and his ores. So, the wood elves have allowed Hendricks' men to build a couple of strongholds in the Fellreev and after a joint battle against a large force from Fleichshriver in Patchwall, 584 CY, some kind of friendship has been cemented. [WGR5 - 56]

    Despite Hendrick’s partisan tactics, Iuz held the Bandit Kingdoms well in hand. He could have slaughtered the populace. He could have let his hordes loose to do what they would; but he had plans. He needed to consolidate his lands if he were to conquer further; to do so required wealth. Wealth and food, and trade. And governance. How else would he subjugate the weak? Rookroost, Riftcrag, and Stoink were made regional capitals to do just that.

    In the Bandit Kingdoms, the towns of Hallorn, Riftcrag, Rookroost, and Stoink are regional capitals. Hallorn rules the western Bandit Kingdoms, Riftcrag the Rift and Rift Barrens, Rookroost the region between the Rift and the Bluff Hills, and Stoink the southeastern Bandit Kingdoms. [LGG - 60]


    Steelbone Meadows

    Iuz could not be everywhere, and so he could not control all of his vassals all of the time. Sometimes they went rogue, dispensing murder and mayhem without his sanction. Did this bother Iuz? Not particularly, not if their actions spread, for terror is a weapon, and so long as that terror furthered his ends, he was pleased with what it wrought.

    In late 584 CY, when the Pact of Greyhawk had been drafted and the war was ended but for skirmishing in the far-distant lands of the Pomarj, Ratik, and the margins of the Lost Lands, the priest Bernel of Hallorn commanded a gathering of bandit forces drawn from these western lands at what is now called Steelbone Meadows. Bernel was certainly paranoid, possibly completely insane. Ten thousand bandits gathered to celebrate the war's end, expecting to be given instructions for the new campaigns of pillage they looked forward to after the winter. As most of them slept in their huge tented campsite, Bernel, who believed that the bandit leaders intended to turn against Iuz and reclaim their lands from Iuz's control, had over half of them slaughtered by fiends, ore assassins, and lethal magic. The survivors fled in all directions. They currently eke out a perilous living in these infertile, poor plains lands. Unfortunately, the survivors own chaotic evil disposition prevented them from allying against their oppressor. Many of them turned on each other, claiming that the other had co-operated with Bernel, betraying his fellows to ensure his own survival. Thus, the roaming bandit gangs are as likely to attack and kill each other as they are to strike against Iuz's forces, who rarely patrol these lands any more. Bernel was swiftly replaced by Iuz and is now a prisoner in Dorakaa's dungeons. The new commander at Hallorn has suffered a strange fate of his own. Perhaps the dying curses of the men slain at Steelbone Meadows have affected one victim, at least. [WGR5 - 49]


    In late 584 CY, news from Greyhawk declared an official end to the war, and many warriors gathered in northeast Wormhall to confer with their leaders regarding plans for next year's summer raiding season. After many nights of drunken Brewfest revelry, more than ten thousand bandit men from Abbarra, Freehold, Midlands, Warfields and Wormhall were attacked as they slept by a treacherous (and probably mad) cleric of Iuz, using magic, assassins, and demonic servants. About half of these men escaped, most badly wounded, and fled overland to refuge in Greenkeep, Tangles, or the Rift. All nurse a grim hatred for Iuz and his forces in their homeland. The abandoned campsite, now known as Steelbone Meadows, is overgrown today, with rotting tents, rusted weapons, and scattered bones forming a grim, open graveyard. Though it is likely the massacre went against the wishes of Iuz (who had the mad cleric carried off to an unknown fate), it nonetheless offers a stern warning to those who wish to throw off the puppet rulers installed by the Old One. [LGG - 31]


    The Rook in Shadow
    What remains of the Bandit Kingdoms?


    Abbarra:    [Some] assassins survived (perhaps organized by their former leader, the ruthless Kor (NE male human Asn12) and now prey on Iuz's rare patrols in this area. These "terrorists" strike from hidden bases and live off the land. Abbarra is technically governed from Hallorn, but it is generally ignored by the empire. [LGG - 25]


    Artonsamay, Duchy of the:    Rumored to have been ruled by a puissant noble adventurer of Urnst's Gellor dynasty, Artonsamay was a favorite haunt of thrill-seekers and lawless folk lacking an evil or sadistic bent. None of this, however, served to aid the duchy when Iuz's forces invaded in 583; the realm's castle "capital" was destroyed, and most of the land's residents fled to the County of Urnst, Stoink, or the Rift. Great magic was employed in the battle, and Artonsamay is now mostly uninhabited wilderness (much of it barren) with poor hunting, governed from Stoink. Many, including Countess Belissica, believe that Duke Gellor […] is dead, though the folk of Stoink whisper that no less than Iuz's high priestess, Halga, was seen there, tracking a man bearing an all-too-familiar appearance. [LGG - 26]


    Dimre, Grand Theocracy of:     Dimre is technically governed from Stoink, though it is autonomous in reality. Dimre's clergy preaches that to understand the glory of Light, one must first walk hand-in-hand with Darkness. Its army keeps watch on all borders, allowing none but the faithful to pass into their sacred land. [LGG - 26]


    Fellands:    The bulk of the bandits working with [Xavendra, an oddly refined and graceful cleric of Iuz] have turned to dark religion and evil debauchery. Xavendra has a well-known distaste for orcs, and some suspect she may make a play for independence (despite being a cleric of the demigod) should Iuz's full attention fall elsewhere. [LGG - 26]


    Freehold, Mighty:    The Freehold keep itself was altered in the early months of Iuz's occupation, becoming the grisly castle known as Fleichshriver. Remolded by fiendish hands, the citadel is an imposing reminder of the evil, otherworldly forces that once infested the local countryside. Though passers-by no longer need fear the claw and tooth of marauding demons, strange, haunting screams can still be heard from the seemingly abandoned keep; locals give it a wide berth. Iuz's archmage Null […] of the Greater Boneheart, was known to come here in the past and might do so still. [LGG - 26]


    Defenders of Greenkeep: Greenkeepers escaped the massacre at Steelbone Meadows and withdrew into their corner of the Fellreev. They suffered much from raids by wizards, clerics, and orcs under Iuz, but some hang on, helping and helped by the Reyhu-elf alliance across the river. They avoid the plains to the south. [LGG - 26]

    Grosskopf, Grand Clans of:    
    Grosskopf Raiders
    Many Grosskopf raiders with cavalry skills elected to take Iuz's suggestion that they relocate to the Barrens to fight the Rovers, with whom Grosskopf had clashed for many decades. The raiders live now at the Barrens' regional capital, Grossfort, forming the basis of a sizable army known as the Marauders of the North. Other Grosskopf troops work with allied orcs and goblins at Senningford and Narleon, fighting Stonehold skirmishers and supplying Iuz's troops in Tenh. Grosskopf and Fellands are both now controlled from the regional capital at Rookroost. [LGG - 27]


    Johrase, Kingdom of:    Kinemeet is now primarily an orcish city, its forces charged with controlling the plains for 100 miles or more in all directions. The commander here, usually a gigantic orc or intelligent ogre warrior, reports to either Rookroost or Riftcrag, depending on whim. The commander is replaced about once a year, however, thanks to duels for leadership. The orcs here are warlike in the extreme but loyal to Iuz, despite the fact that they frequently use Johrase shields and flags along with those of the Old One. [LGG - 27]


    Midlands, Stronghold of the:    Most surviving forces were destroyed at Steelbone Meadows, and the temple has been razed. The region is now under the control of Kinemeet's orcs, who usually answer to Graf Demmel Tadurinal [a cleric of Iuz], a toadying [sycophant] stationed in Rookroost. The graf also handles patrols along the Artonsamay. [LGG - 27]


    Redhand, Principality of:    Now that most of the Old One's demonic officers are gone from the land, many believe Zeech and his men are set for a rebellion. Word of this surely has reached Dorakaa, and all eyes watch the debased prince with grotesque curiosity, guessing at his fate should he defy Iuz. Zeech would get no help elsewhere, as he is greatly hated in Urnst and Furyondy. [LGG - 27]


    Reyhu, Great Lands of:    The old Reyhu region is administered by a quartet of clerics of Iuz in Balmund, who in turn report to either Riftcrag or Stoink (their orders are often confused on this point). Their incompetence does not eliminate the fact that the countryside literally crawls with orcs and their allies, and hence is well defended, if only by the sheer number of defenders. Reyhu's celebrated fields lay fallow, its crucial resource completely ignored and turning into wilderness. [LGG - 29]


    Rift, Men of the:    
    The Rift Folk
    Rift folk are mostly as chaotic and evil as the nonhumans, but they are clever and skilled at mountaineering and trap-setting. Many thieves and berserkers are among the warriors here, and Erythnul worship is widespread. Iuz's agents inhabiting Riftcrag made it a regional capital in 584. They keep watch over the canyon from the city and from the Leering Keeps, five citadels perched on the northern edge and eastern end of the enormous chasm. Led by Cranzer […] a powerful member of Iuz's Lesser Boneheart, these forces patrol the Rift, attempting to contain the plar's growing army while continuously assaulting the Tangles with axe and fire. The Rift holds mines that provide the region's best silver veins. Of late, Cranzer has made deals with the Rift bandits in order to make the regular silver shipments personally demanded by Iuz. [LGG - 29]


    Rookroost, Free City of:    Rookroost now governs all plains, forests, and hills between Cold Run and the Zumker River, all Iuzite forces in Tenh, and the plains across the Artonsamay south to the Rift Barrens. [LGG - 29]


    Stoink, Free City-State of:    Currently ruled by the fearless and grossly overweight Boss Renfus the Mottled […]. Stoink sponsors brigand raids into northern Nyrond, and its forces loot the supply trains of the army of Tenha expatriates attempting to retake their homeland under Duke Ehyeh III. Cross-river raids between Stoink and the Urnst fortress Ventnor are increasing, but they have not yet invited an invasion by the County of Urnst north of the Artonsamay. The northern border with Dimre is stoutly defended to prevent raiding by overzealous minor priests. [LGG - 30]
    Looting Supply Lines

    Earldom of the Tangles:    Iuz rules this area from the small town of Hallorn, the earldom's former capital and now one of Iuz's regional capitals. Hallorn was once a grim place filled with little more than zombies, thanks to an insane priest of Iuz and his numerous demonic allies. [LGG - 30]


    Warfields, Unified Bands of the:    
    Rife with Hobgoblins
    Warfields is much less a center of military activity these days, consisting mostly of wilderness and ruined towns. Administered from the regional capital at Hallorn, the land is rife with hobgoblins, and few humans remain. The hobgoblins send many of their number south to fight returning Shield Landers at Critwall. The former Guardian General, an imposing warrior called Hok […], has not been heard from in over five years. [LGG - 30]


    Wormhall:    No one knows the true faces of the lords of Wormhall. Rumors suggest they are ordinary humans, fiends, reanimated lords of old, or worse. The structure and province are named for the tenebrous worms that literally crawl on the walls of the Wormhall, a revolting feature that has led many to suggest magic created by the infamous arch-cleric Kyuss is somehow involved in the affairs of the land. [LGG - 31]



    584 CY  Ket had long coveted the arable lands east of the Bramblewood, and had fought more than one Short War with Veluna and Furyondy and Keoland to gain a foothold there. Iuz had whispered in their ear. Now is your chance, he said. Strike while your enemies are in the North. Ket listened, and sent its forces into Bissel.
                In Goodmonth 584 CY, Ketite cavalry attacked Bissel's watchtowers along the Fals River at the northern end of Bramblewood Gap. Without many of the mercenaries within its Border Companies, who had traveled south and east to battle the Pomarj and Iuz, Bissel fell by mid-Harvester. Ket, encouraged by the Old One, forced Bissel's surrender after the fall of Thornward. The archfiend and the westerners had hoped to use the old margrave, Walgar, a ranger of some renown, as a puppet, but pride would not allow it. After giving up his lands, the aged ruler committed ritual suicide. Graf Imran Tendulkar, a Baklunish religious warrior, took a soft hand to rulership as Walgar's replacement. He and his men attempted (often in vain) to convert the Bisselites to western religions, all the while waiting patiently for the land to accept its new governors. Other nations, understanding Bissel's strategic importance, attempted to break Ket's hold. In a succession of battles, Veluna drove invading forces from the neck of the Fals River Pass and Highfolk gnomes defeated Ketite forces in the Northern Lorridges. Further advances into the nation were halted by Ketite horsemen, often with assistance from the remnants of Bissel's disbanded Border Companies, now bankrolled by western interests. [LGG - 33]                


    The Great Kingdom desired the return of those provinces that had ceded from its oversight. Nyrond had begun the tide of defection. Nyrond was also the most powerful of all those who would defected. Should Nyrond fall, the rest would bend the knee once again, either by choice or by the sword. And so Ivid attacked Nyrond.

                The reports of war, blood, and great conquests being made by the hated barbarians and barely-civilized Fists of the North excited and enraged the overking. Egged on by the priesthood of Hextor, Ivid entered the fray by storming into Nyrond and its ally Almor. [Ivid - 4,5]


    But Ivid was defeated.

    It is a tribute to Ivid's incompetence that a nation with the vast armies and resources that the Great Kingdom had was fought to a standstill by much smaller Nyrond. For all the excellence of the Nyrondese armies, and their superb morale and training, Ivid should have been able to crush them. [Ivid - 5]


    Ivid was livid! Lack of dedication conducts a pogrom, executing servants, sages, and surfs; he executes his generals and nobles, transforming them into undead.

    Ivid personally assumed complete command of all the armies of the Great Kingdom, despite the counsel of his best advisors. Ivid did not just overrule or even sack his generals: he executed them, sparing only his favorites. [Wars - 20]

    Finally, Ivid V decided to create utterly loyal servitors among his generals and nobles. He expediently had them murdered and raised in unique undead forms; each was revived as an animus, an undead being possessing all the skills and talents of the former living person. With the logic of the terminally deranged, Ivid came to see this revivification as a reward for his favored courtiers. [FtAA - 8]


    Reward
    [Ivid] became utterly obsessed about such [disloyalty and betrayal] and ordered appalling reprisals, verging on genocide, against the people of those lands. He saw it as punishment for treachery in not dealing with such affronts to His Imperial Majesty.
    Convinced of treachery among his nobles, he invoked a unique new form of ensuring their obedience. With Hextor's priests and the aid of fiends, he had the nobles slain and brought back to unlife as powerful undead creatures—animuses. He thought that by eliminating their human weaknesses and  he could be certain of the loyalty of wholly acquiescent zombie-leigemen. What he actually had, however, was a large number of very powerful and embittered monsters who retreated to their own lands and simply defied him.
    In response, Ivid began executing as many traitors (the vast majority of them imagined traitors) as he could get his once-elite Companion Guard to lay their hands on. Rauxes was awash with blood; by the end of the wars, its population was barely above half its pre-war total. [Ivid - 5]


    One must strike while the iron is hot. Ivid had taken control of the Aerdian armies, much to the dismay of those generals still untouched by his hellish desire. The Great Kingdom was in disarray, its parts shattered as its herzogs and governors sought to salvage what they might.

    Hearing of massacres in Ivid’s lands, King Archbold in Nyrond counterattacked the Army of the North between Womtham and Innspa. Though Ivid’s animus generals fought well—being themselves unafraid of death—the chaotic heartlands of the Great Kingdom offered no support to the Northern Army. [Wars - 21]


    Almor was not so lucky as Nyrond. [It] was invaded by Ivid in 584 CY and its old capital, Chathold, utterly decimated by the Overking's mages and priests. The animus Duke Szeffrin now rules half of the old Almorian lands, and this creature, formerly a greatly favored general in Ivid's armies, is reputedly one of the cruellest of the animus nobles now holding sway over so much of Aerdy. [FtAA - 27]

    Nyrond, for all its honour and decency, understood when a rabid dog needed to be put down. They took measures for the greater good, as even the most forthright must in such times.
                The crisis reached its climax during the Richfest celebrations of that year. An assassin emerged from the thronging crowds and struck Ivid a mortal blow with a poisoned dagger. When news spread of Ivid’s death, the gloom over the land lifted. The nobles stoked the fires of celebration, joyously preparing for the power struggle to come. [Wars - 21]


    The Great Kingdom was spared that turmoil, however, by an even greater one. Just as the cunning of the mad Overking had saved Ivid from countless threats past, it saved him now from the grave. Secret arrangements, perhaps made with fiends summoned while on the Malachite Throne, resulted in the Overking’s revivification. Ivid V—who had seemed cold and soulless in life-seemed doubly so in death. [Wars - 21]


    The supreme irony is that Ivid himself is an animus now. After an assassin's poisoned and enchanted dagger struck him, only this revivification process was able to prevent his death. Still, the process failed in some crucial respect, as Ivid still has the wasting disease he contracted shortly before the wars. The disease appears to be incurable.
    Ivid the Undying is dying by the day. [Ivid - 5]                


    The North and South Provinces fully secede from the Great Kingdom.
                The North Province seceded, and with the aid of humanoids from the Bone March, succeeded in repelling Nyrondese forces in the Flinty Hills. Wisely, the Nyrondese held off from further massed battles, perhaps sensing the imminent collapse of Aerdy. The North Province's secession did indeed trigger the complete disintegration of the Great Kingdom. Animus nobles across the land (and the few still living) withdrew all support and the remnants of their armies from the Overking. The Great Kingdom was no more; a welter of petty states, ruled by disputatious nobles (many of them undead), was all that was left. An empire that had stretched from Perrenland to the Aerdi Sea had been wholly expunged in less than four hundred years. Sic transit gloria mundi (or its Oeridian equivalent): so passes away the glory of the world. [FtAA - 8,9]



    Herzog Grenell watched as the once Great Kingdom shrank, its power diminished, its lands divided. He declared himself King of his North Province. He knew his reign would be short is sanctimonious Nyrond had any say in the matter, so he marched his armies north to meet what would surely come.

    Grace Grenell, Herzog of the North Province rebelled against his cousin in a desperate attempt to hold his lands against the march of King Archbold. Freed of the mad king, the Herzog and the orcs of the Bone March halted the Nyrondese armies in the rugged Flinty Hills. The Herzog callously sacrificed both human and orcish troops to grind King Archbold’s advance to a halt. Though the Nyrondese could advance no further against the combined armies, Archbold, tantalized by the prospect of ultimate victory, refused to break off his assault. [Wars - 21]


    Grenell was wary. Indeed, he was quite fearful. He did not intend to join the ranks of Ivid’s “most loyal servants.” And if he were to be summoned to Rauxes he most certainly would have been. Therefore, he did what most vainglorious despots would do in such circumstances; he too seceded from the Kingdom.

    The North Province’s defection from the Great Kingdom unleashed the pent-up fears and ambitions of all nobility in the Great Kingdom, both living and animus. The Herzog of the South, among the first nobles rewarded with death and revivification, reasserted his claim to the South Province. The wave spread outward from there: living nobles turned their fiefs into armed camps and animus lords sought to expand their realms. The Overking’s authority collapsed entirely, leaving Ivid with only his personal estates. Thus, the always-fragile Great Kingdom shattered into a hundred petty principalities, dukedoms, baronies, counties, and earldoms. The Aerdi Empire was no more. [Wars - 21]


    His Grace Grennel

    Grenell found himself in a rather precarious position. Not only did he have to watch his southern border. He had to be mindful of Nyrond and the Barbarians, too. To make matters worse, the Bone March was calling in the debt owed for their helping the now North Kingdom attack Nyrond: "We helped you fight Nyrond, now you help us storm Ratik."

                For himself, Grenell doesn't give a fig about Ratik. Unfortunately, no few of his most powerful local rulers care a great deal about Ratik—as do many ordinary folk. Many of them share the same Oeridian-Flan racial mix as the men of Ratik, and they admire the rugged bravery of Ratik's warriors in having kept the humanoids at bay for so long. They are opposed to any plan to conquer Ratik, and some of them are ready to go and fight for Ratik should Grenell dare act against that nation.
    There is another twist to this. The barbarian nations are strongly allied with Ratik. At the present time, their raids are focused on the Sea Barons and they do not often raid most points along the eastern North Province seaboard, save for Bellport. This is because many of the rulers and armies of that eastern seaboard have managed to make a peace of sorts with the fierce Flan barbarians, Prince Elkerst of Atirr being a notable example. Indeed, the barbarians increasingly trade with some North Province coastal towns and villages, and that trade brings much needed wood, furs, and other commodities in short supply in North Province. [Ivid - 44]
       
    There was also the Barbarians to consider. If Grenell attacked Ratik, Barbarian raids would most certainly recommence. His was a precarious balance, as many of the peoples of his northern coast shared familial ties to those Barbarians.


    Kaport Bay
    Kaport Bay is the most rugged of North Province's towns, a whaling station and fishing town of 5,200 souls. Together with its twin satellite villages of Low and High Scarport, this town has a characteristic atmosphere. The people here are hardy men and women with little time for frivolity—or outsiders. They term themselves "Kaportlanders" and are proud of this. Flan blood is strong, and the Kaportlanders are no friends of Grenell and his court. Kaport Bay maintains three stout war galleys used to protect its whaling fleet, not least against the attacks of deep-sea kraken in the Solnor Ocean. Barbarians rarely raided here in the past, given their blood ties with the fair-haired Kaportlanders, and they do not do so now. [Ivid - 56]
     

    In time, the conflict paused. They had no choice. Coffers were empty. Their armies tired beyond comprehension. The combatants dug in, licked their wounds and waited, glaring across the span at hose who glared back, and slavered, whether they were satisfied with their gains or desirous of taking back what was theirs or not. This is not to say that all was calm. Because the Flanaess was not calm. It seethed.

    Nyrond had another threat to contend with: the Bone March humanoids skirmished with Ratik and Nyrond itself. [FtAA - 7]


    What of the northeast? Tension is high. Violence certain. Nevertheless, for all the conflict west of the Rakers and to the south, the Thellonrian Penisnsula had been left largely unscathed.

                
    Seeking Destruction
    Ratik and the Bone March are at each other's throats. [FtAA - 21]

                The humanoids of the Bone March still seek to destroy Ratik, the beleaguered gnomes of the Flinty Hills, and any other territory they can advance into; their "alliance" with the North Province has already begun to disintegrate due to the ill-organized and undisciplined nature of these creatures. They have no leader, and are a quarrelsome rabble, but are numerous and hence dangerous. The Euroz tribe of ores (who rub their faces in the ash of burned victims when preparing for battle) are most numerous in Spinecastle, but their dominance may not last very long. They are known to subject human and demihuman (especially prized) captives to unspeakable degradations and tortures. [FtAA - 24]


                And the barbarians are a law unto themselves, still raiding Aerdi, still supporting the brave folk of Ratik, still deeply hostile to the poisoned words from Stonefist. [FtAA - 10]


                   


    Thus ends the episode of the Greyhawk Wars.

    Ratik and the Thillonrian Peninsula have weathered the Greyhawk Wars, Ratik far better than the Barbarians did, I image. The Barbarians, especially the Fruztii, and maybe the Cruztii, to a lesser extent, have been in direct contact with the Stonehold. The Stonehold has vastly increased their holdings, at the expense of Tenh.

    Even in Peace, treachery reigned:

    On the Day of the Great Signing, however, Greyhawk suffered a great treachery: Rary, one of the Circle of Eight, destroyed his companions Tenser and Otiluke in a great magical battle, then fled. Many suspected that the former Archmage of Ket had hoped to hold the ambassadors hostage, perhaps capturing Greyhawk itself in the process. Instead, he and his cohort, Lord Robilar, went to the Bright Desert to form their own kingdom. Fearing further disruptions, the delegates hurriedly signed the Pact of Greyhawk. Ironically, because of the site of the treaty signing, the great conflicts soon became known as the Greyhawk Wars. [LGG - 16]






    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals.

    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Black-Legion by dominikmayer
    In the Ruins of the Shield Lands, by Joel Biske, from Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Defeat by johnsonting
    Rage by atlantisvampir
    The-Hero-we-need by dominikmayer
    We-die-we-fight-Ms-Orc-14 by bayardwu


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-26-2021 05:51 am
    History of the North, Part 8: The Storm to End All Storms

    "Your breath first kindled the coal of wars
    And brought in matter that should feed this fire;
    And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out
    With that same weak wind which enkindled it."

    Shakespeare, King John (1598) Act V, sc.2, l.83.


    Strange Salvation

    Salvation can come from the most unexpected quarters. Iuz had saved the Flanaess — for his own purposes, to be sure; but save it, he did. At a cost. He and Vecna had been hurled into the nether planes, tearing at one another like rabid animals manic from the smell of blood. Were they gone forever? Only a fool would think so.



    582 CY  ‘The mage sits down in front of the five Blades of Corusk and meditates for a minute. His hands move over the blades as he reads the magical writings. A frigid wind comes from the west, blowing the powdery snow in swirling whirlwinds. The words coming from his mouth sound like gibberish to you. As he reads the spell, a loud thunderclap sounds above you. As the echoes of the thunder die down, the swords shake and hum. Suddenly the swords disappear with an abrupt popping noise, and the snow turns to steam beneath them. You all hear a sharp “crack” behind you, and a sudden blast of wind pushes you for- ward. Surprised, the mage stops reading and spins around to see what happened.

    As you turn about, you see a barbarian giant standing before you. Appearing perfectly human, except for his 12-foot height, the man smiles down at you with a kind face. Two huge wolves stand on each side of him: these four beasts eye you with amber eyes. Meanwhile, the troops from the north and the south- west continue approaching.

    “Thank you, my children. You have awakened me from centuries of cursed sleep. In gratitude, I shall grant you your most intimate desires as long as they do not alter the path events are destined to follow. Speak to me.”’ [WGS2 Howl From the North - 41]


    ‘The deity looks over your heads toward the northeast. A smile breaks across his leathery face, showing pearly white, perfect teeth. “Look, the great armies of the Ice Barbarians come to fight at our side. Behind them, the Snow and Frost Barbarians prepare to join the fray. Our peoples are finally as one. This is the way it was meant to be since the dawn of Oerth.” As you turn to look behind you, the faint sound of seal skin drums and mammoth tusk horns reaches your ears. Riding on beasts ranging from horses to musk oxen, the barbarians approach just as the Great God said. The god turns and looks at the approaching enemy armies. A glint of pleasure gleams from his night-black pupils. He heaves a sigh and turns to look at you. “It has begun.”’ [WGS2 - 42]

    Vatun
    Vatun, Great God of the North had returned, and he had a plan for his people. They would conquer the North, as they had always been destined to do. And not just the North, they were destined to conquer the world.

    Vatun's appearance surprised even those most convinced by the rumors of the Five Blades, including the barbarian kings who had used the rumors to further their power. Vatun must have somehow proved his power to these doubtful rulers, for the kings of Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruski each surrendered their ancestral sovereignty to "all-powerful" Vatun. [Wars - 7]


    All the barbarians were inflamed by a rumor that swept their lands: that four of five legendary magical swords, the Swords of Corusk, had been found, and that when the fifth was obtained, a "Great God of the North" would rise and lead them to conquest and greatness. The fifth sword never was found, but one calling himself Vatun and claiming to be the Great God of the North appeared before the barbarians of Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruskii, and they swept west into Stonefist under his leadership. [FtAA  -6]


    It wasn’t Vatun. It was Iuz. And he set them upon the Holds of Stonefist.

    The first strike was a stroke of unusual cunning and ingenuity. Constructing an elaborate fiction about a "Great God Vatun," Iuz managed to ally the barbarian nations together. Deluded by dreams of greatness, the barbarians subjugated the Hold of Stonefist. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil - 3]


    The Barbarians swept across the Stonehold with fierce resolve. They would not be defeated. Vatun had returned and said as much. Sevvord Redbeard, Master of the Hold, desperately tried to fend off their assault, but he could not muster his forces fast enough.

    Even as Vatun appeared before his dread-filled followers, the Fists converged upon them to stop the ceremony. In the brief battle that ensued, Vatun easily routed the Fists and thereby won the prostrate praise of the barbarians. However, instead of completely crushing the Fists, Vatun sought them as allies.[Wars - 7]


    Redbeard was run down, and brought before Vatun for judgement. No one can say what the Great God of the North said to the Redbeard, Vatun cleared the hall of all but him and the vanquished leader, but when the audience was concluded, the Redbeard had committed not only his atamans, but his life to that northern god.

    The Fists were overwhelmed and their leader, Seword Redbeard, underwent a dramatic, if not to say magical, change of allegiance. [FtAA - 6]


    “I have seen the light of a Great Northern God, my brothers,” the Redbeard said to his atamans, “and he showed me the error of our ways! We have spent our strength against the barbarians and the horsemen of the Barrens for too long. We have dribbled it away in small raids, when we should have crushed them under our Fists! Let us not waste it any longer when there is greater loot to be had in the south! The riches of Tenh is ours for the taking! Who’s with me?”

    And although they did not entirely trust the barbarians and their northern god, they trusted in the Redbeard’s strength.

    The Hold of Stonefist remained a threat to Tenh for more than a century, and ultimately brought about its destruction. The first action of the Greyhawk Wars was an invasion of war bands from Stonehold, though this was unlike any previous attack. The Fists had new tactics, and demonic assistance, that overwhelmed the defenses of the city of Calbut, and soon thereafter, Nevond Nevnend. Had the duke been in the city at the time, perhaps he could have rallied his troops to stand; as it was, both citizens and soldiers gave way to panic—though in hindsight, many have suggested that this was demonically inspired fear. The duke and his family fled to the County of Urnst, leaving their nation to the Stoneholders, and the clerics and demons of Iuz.  [LGG - 113]


    The men of Stonefist never conquered [the] castles [of Dour Pentress] and they have no living occupants now. The Fists have no desire to meet the ferocious fen trolls and the eastern lands are virtually unpatrolled by them. All that is known for certain is that madness and plague broke out among the thousands of defenders of these castles as the Fists stormed into Atherstone. Of course, Iuz had a hand in this. Some of the survivors say that fiends stalked the battlements and that black stinking fogs drifted across the walls for a week of unremitting horror. The defenders fled, some insane enough to flee even into the fens, and others from Dour Pentress went across the border to the Brilliant Castles where a few score now serve the Theocracy. The defenders left much behind such as wands, scrolls, magical weapons, magical arrows, and other valuables. Whether the minds and bodies of those entering could survive the ordeal they would face is most uncertain. To be sure, the Fists are wiser than to try. [WGR5 - 70,71]

    The Duke and Duchess of Tenh were as surprised by the fury of the assault as the Redbeard had been. Though their forces fought valiantly to defend their lands, they were stretched thin, having recently fought to clear the Troll Fens. Their army was entrenched upon the Theocracy, and by the time they had marched to face the Fists, their cause was already lost. The Duke and Duchess fled to the County of Urnst, and their people to the borders of Nyrond.

    Within less than two weeks the capital of Tenh had fallen as well, and its duke fled to the County of Urnst. The rhelt of Stonehold was now overlord of Tenh, though under the supernatural control of Iuz, for a powerful and nearly undetectable charm had been placed on Reword. [LGG - 109]


    583 CY  All good things must come to an end. Iuz dared too much. He commanded the Barbarians to attack Ratik, and they began to doubt their newly returned northern god. Raiding the Sea Barons and the North Kingdom was one thing, so too striking Tenh, but they had kin in Ratik. And, for the Fruztii, a friend.

    The Vatun ruse did not last long. Commanding the barbarians to strike into Ratik, a long-time ally of the barbarians, was a mistake by Iuz, some think. Others say that he wished to abandon this part of the Flanaess to confusion, since its role as a ruse and feint was played to the full. In any event, the barbarians began to slink quietly home, though the Fists remained in Tenh and occupy it still. Now Iuz could concentrate fully on the war. [WGR5 - 4]


    In 583 CY, Iuz returned to his homeland. The short absence he had taken to work his deceptions upon the barbarians threatened to reduce his evil empire to turmoil once more. Stung by setbacks in the east and determined to silence internal unrest, Iuz savagely restructured his nation. The straggling human nobles from the old Furyondy houses—worms of men, too weak to oppose Iuz and too morally bankrupt to flee—were deposed or executed. In their stead, Iuz placed unholy things from the Abyss: nabassu, cambions, hezrou, mariliths, and vrock. Somehow he forced them to his will. [Wars - 9]


    Iuz wished to weaken Furyondy’s ties to its western allies. He allied with Ket, for Ket had always coveted the rich lands to the east.

    The decades preceding the Greyhawk Wars were prosperous ones for Ket, but early in that conflict the beygraf allowed his armies to be drawn into the fighting in the central Flanaess. Seeing an opportunity to gain control of his nation's historic rivals in Bissel, Beygraf Zoltan went so far as to ally himself with Iuz the Old. This was done without the approval of the mullahs, but the initial success of the alliance was so overwhelming that their protests were largely silenced. [LGG - 67]



    The Horned Society and Bandits in the Shield Lands

    Conquest and pillage is well and good, but the Hierarch’s knew that such pleasures must wait when their very existence was in jeopardy. Iuz had returned and taken an interest in taking back what he deemed his. It was only a matter of time before he attacked, and they had best be ready. Ever the pragmatic ones, the Bandits were of a like mind. Their armies began leaving the Shield Lands to prepare for the defense of their homelands.

    In the early months of 583 CY, however, the occupiers began fleeing the country, leaving only handfuls of easily defeated bands behind. Though few understood at the time, reports that Iuz's armies were on the march frightened even the cold-blooded Hierarchs, who ordered all armies back to the heartlands to prepare for a defense. By Coldeven, when the Hierarchs were nearly all slain and the Horned Lands quietly fell to Iuz, the battered Shield Lands had been reconquered in the name of Earl Holmer, Knight Commander of the realm. [LGG - 104]


    The Razing of Molag

    Had the Hierarchs prepared earlier, they might have survived. Would they have? Did they? Some suggest that they were not even there, that they had masked their timely retreat with blinds, replacements, or clones. In any event, the Horned Lands fell, like wheat to the scythe.

    The week of the Blood Moon festival in the lands of their most Dread and August Presences, the Hierarchs of the Horned Society, took on an unusual aspect in 582 GY. Never before had the very streets of Molag run awash with blood. With the aid of fiends and his orcish army sweeping across the plains of the Society's lands, Iuz vanquished his old enemies in days rather than weeks. The blow was so decisive that the Hierarchs had no time to call on extraplanar aid before they were massacred. Absorbing the hobgoblin soldiery of the land into his own armies, Iuz swept onwards across the Ritensa to the Shield Lands. [WGR5  - 4]


    Nor did the Lord of Evil stop at rebuilding his own lands, but reached also into the Horned Society to replace leaders there. The Dread and Awful Presences, the Hierarchs, made the task easy for him. The Hierarchs reigned in veiled seclusion, hiding their human identities from their humanoid minions. Rumors that the Hierarchs were fiendish overlords arose among the humanoids of the Horned Society—rumors the Hierarchs fostered to cement their power. Iuz decided merely to make the rumors reality. In the month of Coldeven, at the height of the Blood Moon Festival, the citadels of Molag ran red with blood as Iuz staged his coup. In less than a fortnight, the Hierarchs became creatures of mere legend and Iuz held absolute control over the Horned Society. [Wars - 9]


    By Coldeven, when the Hierarchs were nearly all slain and the Horned Lands quietly fell to Iuz, the battered Shield Lands had been reconquered in the name of Earl Holmer, Knight Commander of the realm. [LGG - 104]


    Bandit Kingdom troops began withdrawing from the Shield Lands, as well.
    They withdrew in early 583, concerned about a sudden change of orders sent to Horned Society troops (caused by Iuz, who had slain most of the Hierarchs and seized control of that realm). Warfields' army joined Iuz's, but it suffered gross losses at Steelbone Meadows massacre and rebelled. Warfields was then invaded and destroyed by Iuz's hobgoblins. Warfields' soldiers and citizens are scattered to the winds. [LGG - 30]


    The Free Lords Fall

    The Horned Lands running with blood, Iuz turned his attention on the Bandit Kingdoms. They had never been particularly loyal to one another, so, when they were finally attacked by a dedicated force they fell over like a line of dominos.

    Mighty Freehold: The realm in the inner crook of the Fellreev Forest, south of the Artonsamay, was named for its sole fortified site, a huge walled keep, The Freehold allied itself with Iuz when the latter invaded in 583, but its forces were treacherously destroyed at Steelbone Meadows the following year. [LGG - 26]


    The United Bands of Warfields: Warfields' army joined Iuz's, but it suffered gross losses at Steelbone Meadows massacre and rebelled. Warfields was then invaded and destroyed by Iuz's hobgoblins. Warfields' soldiers and citizens are scattered to the winds. [LGG - 30]


    Barony of Wormhall: [Wormhall capitulated and] joined Iuz's troops, but they were slaughtered at Steelbone Meadows. Surviving troops and citizens fled into the Fellreev. [LGG - 30]


    Abbarra: A wilderness of rugged plains situated between the Fellreev and Tangles, immediately west of the Midlands, Abbarra was long run by a syndicate of formidable assassins. In a land as chaotic and lawless as the Bandit Kingdoms, the blade of a trained killer is highly prized. Because of this, the Abbarrish have generally managed well as a people, despite the inferiority of their overfarmed land. Abbarra lost most of its able fighting men at Steelbone Meadows in northeastern Wormhall, the scene of a frightful massacre in Brewfest 584 CY brought on by a deranged cleric of Iuz. [LGG - 25]


    Defenders of Greenkeep: Greenkeepers escaped the massacre at Steelbone Meadows and withdrew into their corner of the Fellreev. They suffered much from raids by wizards, clerics, and orcs under Iuz, but some hang on, helping and helped by the Reyhu-elf alliance across the river. They avoid the plains to the south. [LGG - 26]


    Earldom of the Tangles: Iuz rules this area from the small town of Hallorn, the earldom's former capital and now one of Iuz's regional capitals. Hallorn was once a grim place filled with little more than zombies, thanks to an insane priest of Iuz and his numerous demonic allies. [LGG - 30]


    Great Lands of Reyhu: Though Reyhu men invaded the Shield Lands with other Bandit Kingdoms after 579 CY, they feared Iuz and fled from his huge, eastward-moving armies in 583 CY, heading north into the Rift Canyon or the Fellreev, or southeast into the County of Urnst. Reyhu men now raid their old homeland from bases in Urnst, or else hold out in the central Fellreev in alliance with sylvan elves there. [LGG - 29]


    Principality of Redhand: "Prince" Zeech […], an effete renegade Shield Lands lord who broke with his nation in 577, swiftly allied himself and his forces with Iuz in 583. The alliance saved his realm from destruction, though the old lords and soldiers of the realm chafed at taking orders from half-orcs and worse. Redhand's capital is at Alhaster, but Zeech must report to the clerics of Iuz at Balmund, which he hates. Deadly conflicts between "Reyhu" orcs in the north and Redhand humans in the south are becoming common. [LGG - 27]


    Stronghold of the Midlands: By 583, the Midlands and Rookroost were allied. Iuz's armies encountered staunch but ultimately pointless resistance on the Midlands fields. When the defenders fell, the route to the capital lay open, most surviving forces were destroyed at Steelbone Meadows, and the temple has been razed. [LGG - 27]


    Riftcrag: The original bandit force here largely abandoned the city to Iuz's forces in 583, gathering in the deep recesses of the Rift and planning a dark revenge. These forces are augmented by many refugees from Iuz's attacks (notably Reyhu), and they are led by the charismatic self-proclaimed Plar of the Rift, Durand Grossman (NE male human Rog11). Native nonhumans and a few magically controlled monsters round out what is one of the three most active and well-defended resistance forces in the Bandit Kingdoms (the others being in the Fellreev). [LGG - 29]


    Free City of Rookroost: It wisely offered to join Iuz in 583 when the demigod's armies laid waste to the Midlands realm to the south […]. [LGG - 29]
    Kingdom of Johrase: Johrase allied with Dimre and fought Iuz's forces in 583, but it was routed and its men scattered to the east. [LGG - 27]


    The Fellands: The invasion of 583 brought with it new leadership in the guise of Xavendra (CE female human Clrl3 of Iuz) an oddly refined and graceful cleric of Iuz. Lacking the fiends that provided most of her security, the cleric has had to accept former bandits into her circle of leadership in Groucester, (She reports to the regional capital at Rookroost.) The bulk of the bandits working with her have turned to dark religion and evil debauchery. Xavendra has a well-known distaste for orcs, and some suspect she may make a play for independence (despite being a cleric of the demigod) should Iuz's full attention fall elsewhere. [LGG - 26]


    Grand Clans of Grosskopf: In 583, with the troops of Stonefist crowding Tenh and demon-led orc and hobgoblin armies rapidly approaching from the west, Grosskopf capitulated to Iuz. (Some men fled into the Bluff Hills, where they hold out yet.) Many Grosskopf raiders with cavalry skills elected to take Iuz's suggestion that they relocate to the Barrens to fight the Rovers, with whom Grosskopf had clashed for many decades. [LGG - 26,27]


    Duchy of Artsonmay: Rumored to have been ruled by a puissant noble adventurer of Urnst's Gellor dynasty, Artonsamay was a favorite haunt of thrill-seekers and lawless folk lacking an evil or sadistic bent. None of this, however, served to aid the duchy when Iuz's forces invaded in 583; the realm's castle "capital" was destroyed, and most of the land's residents fled to the County of Urnst, Stoink, or the Rift. Great magic was employed in the battle, and Artonsamay is now mostly uninhabited wilderness (much of it barren) with poor hunting, governed from Stoink. [LGG - 26]


    Stoink: Stoink declared for Iuz after witnessing the fate of Artonsamay and Johrase, and Iuz's "capture" of the city had little real effect on its daily life. [LGG - 29]


    Grand Theocracy of Dimre: The appalling failure rate of such endeavors has led many to suggest (in private) that Dimre presents the Pale with a convenient means for disposing of challengers to the status quo. After several embarrassing defeats in the summer of 583 CY, even the armies of Iuz chose to let matters stand, signing a pact of nonaggression and alliance with Dimre. Dimre is technically governed from Stoink, though it is autonomous in reality. Dimre's clergy preaches that to understand the glory of Light, one must first walk hand-in-hand with Darkness. Its army keeps watch on all borders, allowing none but the faithful to pass into their sacred land. [LGG - 26]


    Watching. Waiting.

    What did the rest of the Flanaess do? Very little. Waited, mostly. Some prepared. Perrenland certainly did. When it looked to its borders, Iuz seemed so very close, with only the Vesve to the east and the Wolves to the north to stem his advance. Any allies it might have called upon seemed exceedingly distant just then. It felt isolated, so very alone, so Perrenland signed a formal agreement with Iuz recognizing a neutral stance.

    The destruction of the Greyhawk Wars was diverted from Perrenland's borders by the signing in 583 CY of a formal agreement promising to maintain neutrality toward the bloodthirsty Iuz. Mercenaries were even offered to Iuz, though this act was reviled by Perrenders, and not one man volunteered to serve the Lord of Pain at any price. The pact seemed politically expedient at the time, but it did not please the Cantonal Council. [LGG - 86]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WGS2, Howl from the North, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals.



    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    The-Summoning-of-Israfil by 000fesbra000
    SONS-OF-TALOS-SONS-OF-SKYRIM by shikamaru-no-kage
    Halga, Iuz, and Null at play, by Vince Locke, from Living Greyhawk Gazatteer, 2000
    52-365-Cursed-samurai by snatti89
    Burned-to-Ground by dominikmayer
    Ever-After by kamrusepas
    Medieval-Town by tumhoho
    Watchtower by helmie-d


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9317 WGS1, The Five Shall be One, 1991
    9337 WGS2, Howl from the North, 1991
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-22-2021 04:10 pm
    History of the North, Part 7: The Eye of the Storm


    "All was lost,
    But that the heavens fought."
    Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1611), Act V, sc.3, l.3


    Blackness had blotted the North

    Blackness had blotted the North. Iuz pressed Perrenland and Furyondy. The Vesve was under siege. The Hierarchs had “allied” with the Bandits. The Fists were pounding Tehn.
    One would think that the nations of light would bind together and stand united, but lords of those supposedly noble and virtuous nations were but politicians, filled with dark thoughts and distrust. Such suspicion would haunt them later.



    579 CY  Ratik and the seat of Knurl were in dire need of allies. Raids from the ravening hordes of the Rakers had beset them since the Bone March fell, so it came to no surprise that they looked to one another for aid. They met, they parlayed, they negotiated, and while they did, Lady Evaleigh, caught Alain’s eye, and before too long Baron Lexnol’s heir, Alain IV, married Lady Evaleigh, the daughter of the count of Knurl.

    In 579 CY, Lexnol's only son, Alain IV, the heir to the throne of the archbarony, married Lady Evaleigh, the daughter of the count of Knurl. The county was the only surviving province of Bone March, and the union was arranged to improve the lot of both realms. [LGG - 91]

    Alain acquired the dream of uniting Ratik and Bone March, but failed to convince the king of the Frost Barbarians of his plan to drive out the nonhuman tribes. Many whispered that Alain was encouraged in these ambitions by his step-family, particularly the count of Knurl, whose position between Bone March, North Province, and Nyrond was grossly precarious. In certain agreement were the immigrants from Bone March, who were driven from their lands by the invaders. [LGG - 91]

    The Ratik-Fraztii alliance cleared the Kelten Pass to the Hold of Stonefist, pressing the Fists back, but not taking the town of Kelten. Rhelt Seuvord rallied his forces, pushing the Fruztii back into the Griff Mountains.


    Things were not going as well west of the Rakers.

    When the Horned Society appeared after the disappearance of Iuz, affairs in the Shield Lands reached a desperate crescendo. Here were enemies dedicated to vile darkness and evil sacrifice, who had sworn upon the ashen altars of Molag's Hall of Dread that they would march to Admundfort and line the walls with the earl's intestines. Though years passed without significant military activity, the period between 550-570 saw heavy skirmishing along the western banks of the Ritensa River. Great forts such as Torkeep were raised, but such defenses soon proved inadequate. [LGG - 14]

    The Shield Lands ought to have been prepared. Indeed, they had banded together under the Knights of the Shield for just that purpose. But for all their vigilance, they were distrustful.


    The Horned Society and Bandit Kingdoms cometh

    The Horned Society and the Bandit Kingdoms acting in concert, invaded, overran and then carved-up the Shield Lands between the two conniving forces. [CoG FFF]


    In 579 CY, the Horned Society banded together with the lords of the bandit realms Warfields and Wormhall. With hobgoblin and mercenary armies supported by daemons and demodands, the vast host swarmed the western territories, bypassing strongholds and laying waste to villages and farmsteads. Thousands of Shield Landers gathered at Axeport to halt the invasion, but their line was broken and their bodies thrown as fodder to inhuman beasts. [LGG - 104]

    In spring 579, Warfields and Wormhall, directed and aided by the Horned Society, attacked the western Shield Lands; they were joined after their initial successes by armies from Reyhu, Redhand, the Rift, and other minor kingdoms. The Shield Lands fell, and Warfields men looted their way to Critwall and Axeport. [LGG - 30]

    The ravaging of the Shield Lands by both the Bandit Kingdoms and Horned Society in 579-583 CY similarly served to weaken this entire region, leaving the Shield Lands in ruins. Iuz took note of this and made use of it in his grandiose plans for conquest. [LGG - 15]

    The Nomads were always a collection of independent peoples. Only the strong ruled. And only the clever continued to rule. But the Barren Plains are vast, and the peoples there are scattered, and the tribes have always had a mind of their own.

     [Tarkhan ] Bargru went with his personal guard to the lands of the Guchek, the Wild Dog people, whose territory borders the eastern portion of Lake Quag and the uppermost reaches of the Sepias. Jicta, Khan of the Guchek, had failed to appear when summoned for the stroke against the invaders at EruTovar. The Tarkhan underestimated the degree of revolt by Jicta Khan, for Perrenland had subverted the Gucheck by bribes and the promise of aid if the Wild Dog Nomads would declare independence from the Tarkhan of the Wegwiur. This move by Perrenland should have been no surprise, considering the earlier incursions by the Wolf Nomads. In any event, Bargru managed to escape the trap after an ambush, but at the spring of CY 579, the Guchek remained independent and defiant. [Dragon #56 - 19]


    580 CY  Ivid slid ever further into insanity. It is a wonder that he was able to hold what was left of his once great kingdom together. But try as he might, it shrank and shrank, as yet more of it slipped from his grasp.

    Despite creeping insanity, he ably defended his realm from the combined forces of the Golden League (579-580) and civil unrest during the Red Death plague of 581. [LGG - 24]


    The Bone March was displeased. Had the Fruztii not allied with Ratik, they’d have surely overwhelmed the little nation. Ratik could only fortify and man so many passes and still secure the wide expanse of the Loftwoods. If only the pact could be broken.  To break the alliance between Ratik and the Fruztii, the Bone March conspired with the North Province, for they could not enter Marner undetected. Thus, the Seal of Alliance stolen from Ratik's Baronial Vault.

    In 580 CY, intruders from Bone March attempted an audacious act of treachery by stealing the Seal of Marner, an object blessed by the gods of the Suel barbarians that was the symbol of the new Northern Alliance. The plot was foiled when the raiding party was captured in Kalmar Pass before making it back to Spinecastle with their prize. [LGG - 36,37]

    [But] not before news of the theft drove a small wedge between the Fruztii and Ratikans. [LGG - 91]


    A Prophecy of Doom

    Doomsayers have always sown the seeds on impending doom. There are always those who heed their predictions. For them, the sky is always falling. But sometimes, just sometimes those prediction come true. The Declaimers foretold of such doom: in Stroun, they foretold of the fall of Tenh.

    The walled town of Stroun was long famed for its singular mage-priests of Boccob and Istus who were known throughout Tenh as "The Declaimers." Believed to be diviners without peer and to have powers of foreknowledge and precognition, these enigmatic men and women, no more than twenty in number, always refused to attend the courts of Ehyeh or any other noble. They gave their judgements, warnings, and announcements without fear or favor and did so when they deemed the time right. In 580 CY, they stood together in the town square and stated that Tenh would fall within three years. The immediate reaction was one of panic, followed by the building of the town's walls, and then, after a year, gradual amnesia as the words of the robed masters faded from memory. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil - 72]


    The Rovers had a reprieve. The legions of Iuz and the Horned Society were elsewhere, waging war against the Bandit Kingdoms and the Shield Lands. So too the Fists of Stonehold. They wanted their land back. They wanted their pride back too. They saw an opportunity to take back their lost territories, but they were still weak, and they needed help. The Wolves were only too happy to help.

    A former servant of Iuz and now the demigod's implacable foe, Tang had escaped with a small band of cavalry after a daring raid into the Howling Hills with the Wolf Nomads. Crossing the open plain to the Fellreev, Tang and his mercenary band encountered small groups of Rovers, gathering them at the village of Sable Watch. With their aid, together with Wardogs from the Forlorn Forest and beyond, he successfully attacked Iuzite forces in the Barrens, eventually capturing the fort of Hornduran. Most of the Rovers were still without mounts, so Tang made a fateful decision to raid into Stonehold for horses. 

    The town of Vlekstaad was chosen as the target of the Rovers' nighttime strike. With most Fists either in Tenh or fighting the Suel in eastern Stonehold, Vlekstaad had almost no able soldiers in residence. Such defenses as they had were quickly penetrated, thanks to the Wardogs' amazing stealth. The stables of Vlekstaad provided a trove of horseflesh, but escaping with them proved more difficult than Tang had anticipated. He and his companions were trapped by a patrol of Fists and forced to battle for their lives. The expedition might have been lost there had not a young Wa-rdog, Nakanwa Daychaser […] led his own band of warriors on Tang's trail. Trapped between the two forces of Rovers, the Fists were slaughtered, but Tang was mortally wounded. Nakanwa quickly assumed control of the surviving Rovers, ordering them to seize everything of value in the town, including its citizens. The remains of the town were set ablaze, becoming the funeral pyre of Tang the Horrific. 

    With the return of Nakanwa and the wealth of Vlekstaad to the Barrens, new hope rose among the Rovers. Their warriors now had mounts and the people had meat. Perhaps as importantly, the tribes had new members, for the captive children were quickly adopted and the captive women quickly wed. Only time will tell if the razing of Vlekstaad will result in the rebirth of the Rovers of the Barrens. They still remain an elusive people, not revealing their new strength, for they are wary of the vengeance of the Fists. Yet, for the first time since Iuz brought evil into their land, they have real hope. [LGG - 95]

    They had some success against the Horned Society in 580, taking part of the northern frontier, but the gains did not last. [LGG - 95]

    The Rook Restrained

    The Bandits were, if anything, pragmatic. They had allied with the Hierarchs against the Shield Landers, and had gained territories there. But having sent so much of their strength to the Hierarchs, they had left their eastern border open to the Tenha. Ever pragmatic, they sought to strengthen their tenuous bonds, taking daughters to wife, willing or not.

    The eastern Bluff Hills and lands south to the Zumker were held by Grosskopf, long friendly with orcs and their kin, Grosskopf was invaded by Duke Ehyeh Ill's forces in 578 and forced to restrain its banditry. This warrior realm absorbed the Fellands in 581, following a marriage between their ruling families, and raids into Tenh began anew late that year. [LGG - 26]

    Just as Iuz flowed from the north, Bissel found their home front vulnerable from within. They suspected Ket, and strengthened the pass to the Bramblewood, looking to the Highfolk and the Canons od Rao to aid Furyondy in stemming his tide.

    An attempted insurrection by necromancers in 580 CY, possibly tied to the plight of a disgraced, evil wizard-lord known as Evard, led to harsh suppression of fringe groups and zealous punishment of treason and sedition. A general sense of distrust and self-defeatism emerged in Bissel, no doubt encouraged by certain powers that wished to see the nation fall. [LGG - 33]


    581 CY  The Shield Lands had fallen, the combined forces of the Horned Society and the Bandit Kingdoms too much to bear. They had held their line without aid, suspicious of Furyondian aid, and realed under the combined forces’ relentless attack; and before long, they were pressed back unto the borders of the nation that they ought to have trusted in.

    By 581, all but Critwall had fallen to the invaders, who had been joined by other Bandit Kingdoms' troops. The victors carved up the Shield Lands, dividing it into chaotic holdings ruled by bandits, goblinoids, and agents of the Horned Society.

    Though many Knights of the Shield remained in Critwall, hundreds more spread to the good countries of the Flanaess, pleading with their leaders to send armies and aid to their fallen land. The gruff arrogance of the Shield Lands nobles had caused deeper rifts than anyone had imagined, however, and despite faint agreements that something must be done, little came of the recruiting effort. [LGG - 104]


    A Tale of Two Deities

    Not all things go as planned. Sometimes, the most unexpected things can happen, things that even the Old One could never have planned for.
    Vecna was still not satisfied...
    Gradually, Vecna’s cult grew and he assumed the powers of a demigod. The process took a long time—gathering his power, responding to his worshipers, and settling himself among the greater powers. Vecna persevered and eventually reached the point where he was accepted as a minor demigod in the legions of evil.
    Guaranteed immortality, Vecna was still not satisfied. With his scheming mind, he has devised a plan to ascend to greater godhood and humble his rival deities. With his usual long patience, Vecna has been working on this plan for centuries. Working through his avatar or others, the Whispered One has carefully found seven magical items. Each item has been placed in a secret location, the position strategic to his plans.
    These items, when fully powered, will cast a mystical web of energy over all of Oerth, cutting off all other gods from their followers. Already they are creating interference on a local scale. Only Vecna will receive the adulation of his worshipers: the other gods will weaken and leave the path open for Vecna to rise to the fore. Then the Whispered One will open the gates of time and bring forth his faithful followers from the past. Feeding on their devotions, Vecna will become the greatest of gods.
    There is only one difficulty that remains for Vecna—finding his Eye and Hand. They are the final keys to fully empower the web, the final keys that open the gate of time. He knows not where these are. In the final confrontation with Kas, when they were sundered from his body, the gods (perhaps foreseeing his powers) hid them from his senses. Vecna cannot detect their energies; he can only find them by seeing their effects on others, much like finding a boat by the wake it creates. Too many times he has come close, only to have them escape his grasp. This time, he is determined not to fail. [WGA4 Vecna Lives! - 7]

    The Circle of Eight sensed a great danger, but somehow their divinations were blocked. Mordenkainen sent some of his most trusted mages to investigate. And they died. Every last one of them: Bigby, Drawmij, Jallarzi Sallavarian, Nystul, Otiluke, Otto, Rary, and Tenser. Of course, death was not the end of all of them, but that is another tale. Mordenkainen sent others; their path led ever west and the name Vecna was raised time and again. And Kas. And Iuz.
    Their investigations led them to Tovag Baragu, where they came upon an avatar of Vecna, who had opened a portal to Vecna’s past, the ruins of the palace of the Spidered Throne.
    Through the gateway can be clearly seen a great mass of people. They are all surging and milling forward, their attention focused on the window as if they can see through into the present. They, too, seem drawn by Turim’s chant. The first are just preparing to step through the opening. [WGA4 - 66]
    Against such odds, the Circle’s heroes could not hope to win, so they did the unthinkable, they summoned Iuz, for only a demigod could hope to defeat a demigod.


    Iuz Appears to Challenge Vecna
    Whatever the means, Iuz the Old appears to challenge Vecna. This is a threat the [Vecna’s] avatar cannot ignore. The two confront each other and begin a fierce battle at the center of the Stone Circles. […] The two demigods do not simply cast spells at each other, they blast rays from their hands, whirling disks fly from their fingers, explosions burst among the stones, fiery balls scream through the air. In hand-to-hand struggle, their blows sound like thunder in the sky. The unbreakable stones of Tovag Baragu throw shards from the demigods’ strikes. […] [WGA4 - 66]

    [Things] seem to go well for Iuz at the begining of the battle […] the balance of power quickly starts to swing the other way. Vecna is the better strategist and still has the powers of a lich. Worse still, with each blow [Vecna] seems to grow in strength. The gate he has opened to the past is starting to function. Already Vecna’s worshipers are stepping through. Upon entering the present, these men fall to their knees in reverent prayer for their god. […] The worshipers are not lambs. Most are evil fighters whipped into a berserk frenzy. They are not going to be denied. A fierce melee erupts around the gateway. At the start of the battle, 20 warriors have entered the circle. [Every few seconds] five more cross through unless their bridgehead into the future is contained. The warriors fight to the death [and] Vecna seems to have an endless supply of them. [The] only hope is to physically block the gateway or have Iuz try to damage the gate. [Iuz] launches a spell […] at the arch. […] There is a resounding crack, followed by an enraged scream from Vecna. The stone of the gateway splinters and the image in the arch suddenly scrambles […]. Indeed, all the gateways suddenly start to show random scenes, leaping to different planes, times, and places without any control. Tovag Baragu has been permanently damaged. The gateway to Vecna’s time is closed. At the same time, the magical aura shielding Greyhawk starts to weaken. Tovag Baragu was apparently the key power source for the shield. […] [WGA4 - 67]

    A Great Gout of Flame
    [The] demigods [lock] in hand-to-hand combat [and are] hurled as a pair through the gateway. [The] two plunge into the darkness, howling and tearing at each other. A great gout of flame rushes up and bursts out of the gate, sending a fiery blast 40 feet long and ten feet wide. […] Spouting flame and randomly scanning planes and times is how Tovag Baragu remains from now on. Unnoticed in the fiery burst […] two small objects hurtled through the gate to land in the tall grass some distance away—the Hand and the Eye of Vecna. [WGA4 - 67]


    Iuz came, and Iuz battled Vecna, and very nearly perished. He did not perish, though, but if he had, the world might have been in very dire straights. Had Vecna won, he would have severed Oerth from the celestial and outer planes, and it would certainly have plunged into an age darker than it had ever known, an age from which it would never be freed. But, he did not; and it did not. And so, strangely, to our most beleaguered incredulity, we owe a debt of gratitude to Iuz, for if it were not for him, the universe would have been plunged into darkness. But let’s not get carried away, his confrontation with Vecna gave Iuz ideas. He imagined a world which bowed to him, and him alone.


    581-582 CY         What did the Elves know of what transpired? Who can say? They see much and say little. Whatever they knew, they were taking steps. The Highfolk of the Vesve were taking up arms. Celene was closing its borders. And the Elves of the Spindrifts were taking steps to safeguard their mysteries.
    For centuries the Spindrift Isles maintained their independence from all foreign powers, both through strength and through cunning. Perhaps the Scarlet Brotherhood made incursions into the Council of Seven in the years leading up to the Greyhawk Wars, but they were given no time to take advantage of their gains before the high elves took control of Lendore Isle. Elves have always been plagued with mysticism, and those of the Spindrifts had finally succumbed to the cult of Sehanine. The Final Calamity, it seemed, had arrived.
    It was a bloodless revolution, yet catastrophic for the inhabitants of Lendore Isle. They were informed that they must be exiled from the only home they had ever known, in order for the Spindrifts to serve as high elven holy ground. The high elves used powerful phantasms to overcome strong resistance, and threats of imprisonment persuaded most others to cooperate. The humans were given three days to prepare for their removal from the island. In that time, perhaps half of Lo Reltarma's population escaped through the Gate of Glass before the elves could deactivate it; the rest were either exiled to the mainland, the Sea Barons' isles, or other local regions, or were among the few allowed to remain as workers in Lo Reltarma. [LGG - 69]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

     Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, WGA4 Vecna Lives, Die Vecna Die, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine 56.

    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Orcish-Warrior by voxelkeely
    Prophet-s-Secret by miggymntmyr
    Prophet by crucifiedmajesty
    Quoth-The-Raven-Nevermore by kxg-witcher
    Evil-Unearthed by ralphhorsley
    in-the-moors by aldeboran
    A-Pirates-loyal-Parrots by dominikmayer


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    Living Greyhawk Journal
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-14-2021 08:17 am
    The Lady has joined her Hero in Avalon


    The Lady has joined her Hero in Avalon

    RIP Marlene Elizabeth Leonard

    January 11, 1937 to February , 2020


    I love you, mom

    I miss you already



    A Lament


    O world! O life! O time!

    On whose steps I climb,

    Tremble at that where I had stood before;

    No more--Oh, never more!

    Out of the day and night

    A joy has taken flight;

    Fresh spring, and summer, and winter hoar,

    Move my faint heart with grief, but with delight

    No more--Oh, never more!


    Percy Bysshe Shelley

    Posted: 10-14-2021 08:16 am
    History of the North, Part 6: The Storm


    "Now for the bare-pick'd bones of majesty
    Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest
    And snarleth in the gentle eyes of Peace."

    Shakespeare, King John (1589) Act IV, sc.3, l.148.


    Now for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty

    Brutality swept across the North in the wake of The Great Kingdom’s retreat and collapse. The Hierarchs of the Horned Society proved a fitting heir to Iuz’s terror. They plotted and schemed, much as Iuz had, if more calculatingly than that infamous cambion had. They reaped what he had sown, and used the chaos of his passing to great advantage. His return had made little difference to them.
    But Iuz was patient, for all his flailing about in his rage after his release.



    578 CY  Despite his youth, King Ralff II of the Fruztii understood subjugation. His people had turned to their cousins to the east in their hour of need and found the duplicitous hand of the perfidious Schnai. The Schnai had lent their support. Yes, but that help came at a cost: suzerainty. The Fruztii had lost their governance. Indeed, they had lost their pride. Once, they were the terror of the Solnor Sea. Now, they were a subjugated people. The Shnai commanded them, calling their commands guidance. They had learned their lessons well from the diplomats of Shar, long ago.

    No more, he thought. He extended his hand to Ratik and they had taken it, and they had been true to their words. They had stood side by side with his people when the tribes of Schnai had not. Therefore, he turned to Ratik again: Train my people, he said, and when he sent the pride of their youth to Marner, the Archbaron not only trained them in the modern art of War, he equipped them for such. And so, when Ralff looked again to the East, he understood that he had kin there, he had obligations there, but he also understood that he had no friend there.

    The Fruztii sent raiding bands to sea with the Schnai, but due to careful urgings, numbers of mercenary troops also moved southward into Ratik and joined the Baron’s troops there. These Fruztii returned with knowledge of organized warfare and good-quality arms and armor and formed the core of a new standing army organized by King Ralff II in 578. The four companies of foot and one troop of horse actively patrolled and brought most of the realm under order. Chief men and nobles not raiding were prevailed upon to contribute men to patrol their own territories, so that by the end of the year, the frequency of banditry and humanoid raiding bands had been reduced to an all-time low. Even the high country around the head of the Jenelrad River was peaceful, and its Jarl swore an oath of fealty to Ralff. Without actually declaring independence from Schnai overlordship, the King of Fruzti showed that he was again capable of fielding an army capable of either defending his territory or taking another’s. The Schnai conveniently ignored the resurgence, probably hoping that the involvement in Ratik would again reduce the Frost Barbarians to vassal status. [Dragon #57 - 14]


    But Ralff’s gambit was already bearing fruit. Ratik had been hard pressed, and were in dire need of allies. They had held their own of late, thanks to the elves and dwarves and gnomes, but if they were unable to push the orcs and gnolls back from their borders, their days were numbered. Ratik had helped him. He would help Ratik.


    Battle of the Loftwood

    Their expedition into Bluefang-Kelten Pass thus far successful, the Ratik-Frutzii alliance turned their attention south, their aim to destroy the humanoid forces under the Vile Rune orcs of the Bone March.
    The manpower pool of the Archbarony was totally dry in 577. Because of the relatively good relations between the Fruztii and Ratik, the woodsmen and elven warders of the Timberway were moved south to the Loftwood, and new recruits were formed into units of light troops called the Volunteer Borderers.
    The Vile Rune
    The usefulness of the new Volunteer Borderers was proved in the summer of 578 when one of this formation’s patrols discovered that the orc tribe of the Vile Rune was indeed moving northward. In addition to 5,000 tribe members, the force had 2,000 goblins, 1,000 norkers and xvarts, and 1,000 hobgoblins, orgrilIons, gnolls, and ogres. With this detestable agglomeration were nearly 2,000 bandits and brigands serving as mercenaries. Its forerunners were worg mounted goblins, a handful of whom were slain to obtain the intelligence. Thus alerted, the Marshal of the Archbarony laid a trap which the unsuspecting invaders blundered into. The humanoid horde moved north along the fringe of the Loftwood where it butts against the hills. At the northern terminus of the trees there awaited the full army of Ratik, its numbers made to appear three times greater by magical means. The gnomes held the western (hillside) flank, while the light forester troops and elves formed the other arm of the “U,” well concealed in the dense timber. The Battle of the Loftwood saw considerable magical competitions in addition to the standard hand-to-hand combat between the strongest fighters on the opposing forces. The real fighting was between the masses of troops, however, and this was fierce in the extreme. At one point, a score of foreign volunteers saved the day because their leader, Queg, a Fruztii, had prepared an extensive ambush with rocks, tree trunks, pits, and trees to set fire to. This action turned back 250 or more hobgoblins, killing or wounding half of them, so that the flank of the Archbaron’s army couldn’t be turned. Simultaneously, the gnomes on the left flank were nearly broken by a rush of gnolls, bandits, and goblins, and were saved only by the superb slinging of a flanking group of the Hillrunners and the innate tenacity of the gnomes themselves. Finally, the scale was tipped by an attack on the right (of the orc horde) by the elves and foresters. The humanoid invading force broke and fled, and in the rout there was a great slaughter. [Dragon #57 - 14]


    Seuvord Redbeard saw dissention among his Atamans, and knew he had to suppress it. He knew that he could not afford to be embroiled in a civil war. His “nation” was surrounded by enemies: The Rovers were once again increasing in strength to the west, and raids into those Barrens were far more perilous than they had been short years before. And except by all but the strongest of efforts, the passes to Tenh and Fruztii were closed to him. Were civil war to divide his lands, those enemies were sure to fall upon them and destroy them. He needed to unite his people. He also wished his own line to retain the Mastership of the Hold as a hereditary right, so he called a great council at Purmill, with promise safe conduct for all who attended. The Atamans were dubious. And they had right to be. Vlek had promised the very same, and look what happened to the Coltens? They came, but they came with a show of strength. With spears extended, and hands upon the pommels of their swords.

    In CY 578, shortly after Tenh had coronated its new Duke, the Master of the Hold became Rhelt Seuvord I of Stonehold. Several of his cousins took ill from a mysterious flux shortly after the coronation, and about a dozen others were reported fleeing into the Griff Mountains with a small band of loyal followers. [Dragon #57 - 14]


    Hurricane Ivid

    Magic is not the only force that can wreak havoc. Those of the Old Faith can tell you that those who dismiss the forces the natural world do so at their peril. Nature can and will do more damage than mere wizards, indeed, most wizards, arcane or divine. Those who live in the shadow of smoking volcanoes can attest to such, as can those who live on the banks of rivers, and the sea…. Hurricane "Ivid" is one such reminder. It ravaged the Solnor Coast, crippling the Sea Barons’ majesty over the sea-lanes of the north. Trade halted. So did piracy, for that matter. But that was the least of the coastal settlement’s concerns, as they fled before “Ivid’s” landing.

    [Most people of the Sea Barons] recall this three-day storm, which some laughingly called "Hurricane Ivid." [Ivid - 90]


    Nyrond knew all too well that The Great Kingdom would try to take back those lands that were once theirs. They knew that the Kingdom’s first step would surely be to cut them off from the rest of the Iron League. Nyrond could not have that. It was only a matter of time before they would meet upon the waters of Relmor Bay.

    The first major naval skirmishes between the Great Kingdom and the powerful Nyrondese navy took place in Relmor Bay in CY 578. Some say the Nyrondese engineered these skirmishes, preparing for what they considered to be an inevitable war.
    Certainly, Ivid V was making noises at court about reclaiming Aerdy's great imperial heritage, and Nyrond was the first major power heading west. He did have designs on Nyrond, but it may well be that the Nyrondese forced his hand. [Ivid - 4]


    Overking Ivid V was livid when he heard of his fleet’s first skirmish with Nyrond. How dare they, he screamed! What cheek! The Iron League! The Golden League. Iron was meant to be wielded! And the only thing golden about them was that they had all grown fat on the lifeblood of the Motherland! They will pay, he declared, and he called for total war against Nyrond and its allies.

    The reports of war, blood, and great conquests being made by the hated barbarians and barely-civilized Fists of the North excited and enraged the overking. Egged on by the priesthood of Hextor, Ivid entered the fray by storming into Nyrond and its ally Almor. [Ivid - 4,5]


    The Golden League had no choice but to reciprocate and declare war on Great Kingdom.

     [The war spanned] two years, ending in a minor strategic victory for Ivid's field army under the leadership of the Herzog, and seeing the withdrawal of Almorian and Nyrondese armies to the west of the Harp River. [WG8 Fate of Istus  - 69]


    But The Great Kingdom could not wage total war against the Iron League. The Sea Barons needed to remain north to guard the coasts and sea-lanes there, for The Schnai and Cruski began to raid.

    [As per their treaty,] the Schnai agreed to give up the land south of Glot along the east coast. The Snow Barbarians gained more gold and silver, while the Cruski regained their southern harbors. This made the raids into North Province and the Isles of the Sea Barons all the easier next year, and most of the able-bodied men were away on those journeys when the warbands of Stonefist (now Stonehold) rode into the tundra which the King of Cruski claimed. The few wandering tribes of Coltens there welcomed the invaders, while surviving Cruskii headed east as quickly as possible. The returning warriors were enraged at the boldness of the invasion, and it is likely that the attention of the Cruskii will be trained on a war with the Stoneholders in 579. Some 50 ship captains are already pledged to sail, and more are expected. [Dragon #57 - 14]

    Without The Great Kingdom’s oversight, the North slid into a state of endless conflict. The Bandit Kingdoms made forays into Tenh, the Pale, Nyrond, County of Urnst, parts of the Shield Land and Furyondy. They were bold. They were crafty. They were also directed by the Horned Society.

    Bandits in Tenh
    The usual turmoil of competing states preying upon one another and any available neighbor outside the territory sums up activity within the area until CY 578. Bandit groups made forays into Tenh, the Pale, Nyrond, County Urnst, and even the Shield Lands and portions of Furyondy. Most groups were mounted, but the usual number of river raiders and buccaneers from Redhand plied the waters. Prince Zeech’s ships and galleys actually staged a major action against the Duchy of Urnst, managing to slip in through the easternmost portion of the Cairn Hills, loot and pillage, and then escape with their gains. The western bandit lords — General Hok, Guardian of Warfields […]; Oltagg, Baron of Wormhall […]; Kor, Rhelt of Abbarra […]; and the Master of Freehold, Eab Huldor […] — actively co-operated with the Hierarchs of the Horned Society. [Dragon #56 - 27]


    His father fallen at the Battle of Rockegg Pass, Eyeh III, of Tenh was crowned in Nevend Neverond to much fanfare and praise. He was his father’s son, they said; he will see us through these trying times. He had a vision of the trying times ahead as the circlet was raise over and upon his head, and he wondered how he might do just that, for his enemies were many and his allies few.

    At a convocation in Nevond Nevend during Neefest, 578, Ehyeh III was crowned Duke, and the Tennese celebrated greatly. The old Duke’s son was more warlike than his doughty father, and his early training as a fighter on the frontiers made Ehyeh III particularly anxious to secure all avenues against invasion. [Dragon #56 - 27]

    As Ivid clashed with Nyrond and Almor, the Schnai and Cruski raided up and down the Solnor coast, landing warriors, murdering and pillaging, carrying away what they could, leaving broken villages and pillars of smoke I their wake. They howled and bellowed. They laughed, knowing in their hearts that is was what Vatun wished of them.

    [The] Lord High Admiral reacted promptly to the summons of the Overking — this despite some severe raiding from the northern barbarians. Asperdi has recently dispatched a sizable contingent of ships and men to the North Province. In essence, this force represents a squadron of warships to control the sea, while a solid block of fighting men, most of them veterans of skirmishes with barbarian raiders, stiffens the forces of the Herzog. Led by the Admiral’s eldest son, Lord Captain Aldusc, known as a respectable commander and excellent strategist, the convoy reached Bellport about mid-year in CY 578. The warships are now reported to be operating along the coast. Included are no fewer than six large galleys and perhaps a score of other warships. The troops were divided after landing into main and reserve groups. [Dragon #63 - 15]


    The Hierarchs had all but defeated the Rovers. They turned their attention to other fronts, no longer concerned about the nuisance that dwelt there. However, the Rovers and Wolves would not be defeated. They lunged and nipped and darted away, necessitating legions there that could have been better used elsewhere.

    Pressure by the nobles holding the Shield Lands prevented the all-out move which the Hierarchs have long wished to make down the Ritensa River to the northern shore of the Nyr Dyv. The diabolical leaders of the Horned Society would gladly have allowed luz his hoped-for gains to their west, in order that they themselves might take Willip and overrun the Shield Lands. Instead, the Hierarchs, ignorant of luz’s plans, spent themselves in dribblets, first against Furyondy and the Shield Lands and then in defending against mounting incursions of war parties from the north. Just as their forces were about to turn southward again, reacting to the contest between luz and Furyondy, a major raid struck into the Society’s north, and the Hierarchs’ army had to turn around and move with all speed northward. [Dragon #56 - ]
    On that first day of contact there was only light skirmishing, as the Rovers and their allies probed for weaknesses, and the Hierarch in turn attempted to discover just how powerful an enemy he faced. On the next day, kobold and bandit scouts prevented an attack from the forest coming as a complete surprise. The attacking footmen and elves were easily repulsed, while the well-trained humanoid infantry, supported by missile troops and light horse, withstood several determined charges by the other contingent of the invaders. A stand-off of several days’ duration ensued, with Blontug growing progressively more certain that his enemy was not numerous enough to be a real threat, but unable to bring them to battle because his force lacked sufficient mobility. [Dragon #56 - 20]
    A major victory was narrowly missed by the Hierarch, but [their] aim was accomplished. The allied force was beaten and driven off, although cavalry losses on the part of the Society were excessive, and the enemy had established itself firmly in the northern portion of the Fellreev. [Dragon #56 - 21]


    The new Duke of Tenh wasted no time. The Bandits were raiding his western demesnes with increasing brazenness. He attacked what he expected to be the usual disorganized rabble, expecting an easy victory. He was treated to easy victories at first. The Bandits scattered. But as he plunged deeper into their territories, their resolve stiffened.
    The Bandit Kingdoms were never a collective. They had never trusted one another. With good reason: They plotted against one another; they raided one another with abandon. But they stood together when threatened. Even if that meant betraying their mother, their brother, their “ally.” For they knew that if they did not, they would have been put to the sword long before.

    When Rovers of the Barrens overran the northern border of the Horned Society in 578 CY, the Guardian General of Warfields was among those bandit lords who pledged their support to the Hierarchs. [LGG - 29]                


    Duke Ehyeh’s plan was to sweep west to the junction of the Bluff Hills and the Rakers. He then would move north into the hills, clear them in a rapid westward push, and garrison any strongholds found there. He would then swing back southeast to overrun the land between the Bluff Hills and the Zumker. Any bandit forces caught by the move would be trapped and destroyed. With this accomplished, the next move would be to bring a second force across the Zumker, just above the Artonsamay. The two would then handle expected bandit lord reaction, take Rookroost, and secure all of the territory as far west as the Fellreev. Contemplated along with these actions was an even more ambitious plan to begin the next year, which would secure all the land west of the Artonsamayas far as the Tangles. [Dragon #56 - 27,28]


    [News] came from Rookroost that the Zumker had been crossed in force by Duke Ehyeh, and the Tenhese were sweeping through the Bluff Hills to clear them of resistance before turning south toward the open country beyond. The normally independant and warring leaders of the Bandit Kingdoms had rapidly declared common cause against Tenh, and all the units with the Hierarchs’ army rode off, despite the threats and imprecations of Blontug. [Dragon #56 - 21]


    The Fellands were conquered by the forces of Tenh in the spring of 578 CY, and ceased raiding eastward for a time. [LGG - 26]


    [When] the banners of Tenh crossed the Zumker River, laying waste the Barony of Groskopf, and then entered Fellands, the Combination of Free Lords summoned all members to arms to defend the east. When even the western states responded, the Hierarchs were enraged, for they needed the bandit troops to eject the nomad and Rover invaders from the Fellreev Forest and the steppes of the Opicm. In a punitive invasion, the Hierarchs’ forces seized and occupied both Warfields and Wormhall. A very tenacious defense by the Abbarrish, reinforced by the survivors from the conquered territories, and scrapings from Tangles and the Freehold, caused the halt of the Society’s penetration in the autumn of CY 578. [Dragon #56 - 27]


    The [Duke’s] plan worked with precision, but as soon as the Theocrat [of the Pale] got wind of it — and his spy system is legendary — disturbing reports began to reach the young Duke. The Prelate’s growing military strength was at Wintershriven, and the Faithful Bands were being called up. The Tennese companies originally being readied for action elsewhere were sent from Redspan on a long march to reinforce the Yol. Woodsmen were ordered to keep a close watch in the Phostwood Forest. The Duke entrusted the army in action against the bandit states to the redoubtable Marshal laba so the new threat could be under his own command. [Dragon #56 - 28]


    A truce was negotiated with the Duke of Tenh; Groskopf ceded the land between the Griff Mountains and the Zumker to Tenh, and all of the Free Lords of the Combination swore to refrain from raiding Tenh. Thus freed of immediate warfare on their east, all of the leaders turned westward to confront the Horned Society, with the express aim of recovering the lost states and taking reprisals in addition. [Dragon #56 - 27]

    A local legend says the city on the hill will never be conquered, so long as its huge raven population roosts in the city's central square. So far, the prophecy has held true. The city resisted a siege by Tenha forces in 578 CY but was forced by treaty to stop raiding western Tenh. [LGG - 29]


    When the Combination of Free Lords sued for peace near mid-summer, the suit was welcomed, for it ceded a considerable portion of land to the Duchy, guaranteed bandit neutrality, and allowed the Tennese military forces to meet the threat now posed by the Pale. Duke Ehyeh brought a combined army of 4,000 horse and 11,000 foot across the Yol at the edge of Phostwood in Dozenmonth Ready’reat, 578 CY. [Dragon #56 - 28]


    Shortly thereafter, the duke of Tenh's troops crossed the Zumker and threatened Grosskopf. Warfields withdrew its support for the Horned Society, triggering a punitive invasion. The miniature kingdom was controlled by Molag until the Greyhawk Wars. [LGG - 30]


    Iuz was on the move as well. He had lay low for too long, imprisoned beneath Castle Greyhawk, and he was eager to bring misery and mayhem to the whole of the Flanaess. But where to start? He decided, much as the Hierarchs’ had, that he could not wage war in the south with the Nomads nipping at his heels, so, he sent his hordes north to lay siege to Eru-Tovar. It would be a simple campaign. It would take them no time at all, he imagined.

    In the spring of 578, luz actually-sent an army into the north to take the poor town of Eru-Tovar, the only real city of the Wolf people, the pride of their Tarkhan. [Dragon #56 - 18]


    When siege was laid to Eru-Tovar the following month, each commander strove to outdo the other, each wishing credit for taking the Wegwiur stronghold. This lack of co-operation enabled the defenders, numbering only about 3,400 effective troops, to withstand almost ten weeks of siege by a force totalling well over 25,000. The losses by the attackers were compounded by the rival factions often slaying their wounded cohorts if they held loyalty to the opposite commander. [Dragon #56 - 19]


    Tarkhan Bargru of the Wolves took command of his forces and rode against Iuz’ troops to break siege of EruTolvar.

    Following the rise in power of the humanoid hordes of the cambion, luz, the Wegwuir avoided the eare east of the Black Water, spending their aggressive energies upon the Tiger Nomads to the west and even moving south along the Sepia-Uplands to raid Perrenland. In the spring of 578, luz actually-sent an army into the north to take the poor town of Eru-Tovar, the only real city of the Wolf people, the pride of their Tarkhan. As fate would have it, the Chakyiks were themselves interested in a venture against Ekbir, so they were quite happy to conclude a treaty. This freed a horde of 20,000 Wolf Nomads to face the invaders. Tarkhan Bargru himself commanded the force, which consisted of some 2,000 armored lancers (medium cavalry), 10,000 light horsemen, 7,000 light horse-archers, and 1,000 armored crossbowmen on horseback. [Dragon #56 - 18]


    Battle of Black Water Bend

    The Battle of Black Water Bend
    [The Wolf Nomads] arrived outside Eru-Tovar late in the summer, just in time to raise the siege. The army of luz retreated eastward, and then fell back along the Black Water, hoping to withdraw safely to the nearer arm of the Howling Hills where humanoid reinforcements could be picked up in considerable numbers.
    The Tarkhan’s force caught the retiring army of luz along the great north bend of the Black Water. After a close pursuit lasting several days, during which the majority of the light humanoid infantry and goblin cavalry was shot to pieces by the Wegwiur horse-archers, a pitched battle was fought. As usual, the powerful figures in the opposing forces basically neutralized each other, while the troops engaged in combat of the more basic sort. Fortunately for the Wolf Nomads, luz himself was engaged elsewhere and could not intervene. The horsemen once again proved superior to the ill-disciplined masses of invading infantry, and only a few thousand survivors of luz’s ruined army made it to the relative safety of the Howling Hills. Losses by the Wegwiur totalled some 2,000 killed and about twice that number wounded. Of the invading army, some 2,000 humans and 6,000 humanoids were slain, with no prisoners taken. It is assumed that desertion accounts for the balance of the total army initially encamped before Eru-Tovar. (This action is known as the Battle of Black Water Bend and was fought in the Dozenmonth of the Squirrel on the 22nd day, CY 578, or BH 3237.) [Dragon #56 - 19]





    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine 56, 57, 63.


    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Rule-of-One-Liberty by juggernaught9900
    Orc-warrior by padawana
    hot-tower by aerroscape
    Dead-and-Getting-deader by anatofinnstark
    War-Horse-Speedpaint by benedickbana


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8 Fate of Istus, 1989
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    Living Greyhawk Journal
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-11-2021 07:26 pm
    History of the North, Part 5: The Coming Storm

    "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water."
    Shakespeare, Henry VIII (1613) Act 4, sc.2, l.45


    Evil Rises Again and Again

    The forces of weal and good had much to celebrate. Iuz was no more. Iggwilv’s tyranny had been vanquished. But more than even these great victories, they had stood against a great menace that had hitherto lurked in a quiet corner of the world.
    However, no reprieve lasts forever. Evil rises again and again, and all must be vigilant, for it rises in the most unexpected places. One might expect that it takes root in tangled forests and fetid swamps, but that is not true; it festers in the hearts of the lustful, the wrathful, in avarice and vanity, pride and vainglory. And in the soul of the defeated. Thus, the greatest Evil might rise up in the most unlikely places, a village, or a hamlet, unseen.

    c.550 CY     A collection of hovels and their slovenly inhabitants formed the nucleus for the troubles which were to increase. A wicked cleric established a small chapel at this point. The folk of Hommlet tended to ignore Nulb, even though it was but six miles distant. [T1 The Village of Hommlet - 2]

    The village of Nubb began to fester with all manner if evil folk, culminating with the founding of the soon infamous Temple of Elemental Evil. The troubles began soon thereafter. Local caravans, gnome clans and the neighboring village of Hommlet, became easy targets for bandits from that region. [The Battle of Emridy Meadows, by Mike Bridges]


    568 CY  News of this evil quickly spread to the Viscounty of Verbobonc to the ears of Prince Thrommel IV, Marshall of the combined armies of Furyondy and Veluna […]. Compelled to take up the quest, the Prince left his concerns to the north and promptly called upon his most pious knights, clerics, and his own picked guards to bring down this profane temple.  [The Battle of Emridy Meadows, by Mike Bridges]                


    569 CY  The Battle of Emridy Meadows

    By 568 CY, it became clear that the villains had established an army, and the following year saw a great battle between this horde and the forces of Verbobonc, Veluna and even Furyondy. Elves from the Gnarley proved vital to the success for the side of weal, and the Horde of Elemental Evil was scattered at the Battle of Emridy Meadows. Powerful mages and clerics sealed the temple with arcane bindings, claiming to have trapped a powerful demon within the golden doors of the edifice. For a time, peace returned to the lands of Verbobonc. [LGG - 132

    ]

    The Battle of Emridy Meadow

    The Battle of Emridy Meadows highlights this growing realization of mutual interests. Contingents of men-at-arms and cavalry from Furyondy and Veluna, together with a force of dwarves from the Lortmils, gnomes from the Kron Hills, and an army of elven archers and spearmen fought together against a vast horde of humanoids (ores, gnolls, and ogres predominantly) and evil men. The opposing forces met on the grassy fields south of the Velverdyva river several leagues below the city of Verbobonc. The allied forces were closing upon the stronghold of the evil creatures, a huge, walled fortress known as the Temple of Elemental Evil, not far from the unfortunate village of Hommlet, when elven scouts reported that a huge army was approaching from the south. The Marshall of Furyondy, leader of the combined forces, ordered a withdrawal northwards to a position scouted earlier. Ught cavalry skirmishes were sent out to screen the withdrawal, and no real fighting took place that day.

    When the horde of evil creatures marched forth next dawn they were confronted by the senied ranks of the allied army. The pikes of Furyondy and Veluna were arrayed so that their flank was secured by the Velverdyva, in the center were the banners of horse, and on the allied left were deployed bands of dwarves and gnomes, with a few units of elven archers placed in the intervals between. The humanoids fell immediately upon the left, while the men in the evil ranks rode to engage the center and right. The hordes of ores, gnolls, and ogres thrust aside their hated foes and rushed to encircle the balance of the allied army. Thus the fatal trap was sprung, for the whole allied army pivoted, squadrons of knights driving into the rear of the onrushing horde of evil, and squares of elves emerging from the Gnarley Forest on the left to seal the pocket. Trapped in a pocket, with the bend of the Velverdyva at their backs, and the human and demi-human army forming the chord of the arc, the packed mass of evil humans and humanoids fought hopelessly. After the great slaughter inflicted, the army went on to besiege the Temple of Elemental Evil, and it fell in a fortnight. The Demoness Tsuggtmoy (or Zuggtmoy) was imprisoned in the ruins of the place, with special wards to prevent her escape. Only a few of the wicked leaders of the Temple managed to escape, and it is suspected that these individuals were responsible for the subsequent kidnapping and total disappearance of the Prince of Furyondy. [Folio - 6,7]


    So great was the slaughter, so complete the victory of good, that the walled stronghold of the Temple of Elemental Evil fell within a fortnight, despite the aid of a terrible demon. The place was ruined and sealed against a further return of such abominations by powerful blessings and magic. [T1 - 2]


    Prince Thrommel summoned all his mages and clerics to cooperate in creating great seals to bind this evil within the deepest parts of [Zuggtmoy’s] dungeon. Four pairs of large bronze doors, starting with the Grand Entrance to the Temple, were each bound with heavy iron chains and their seals filled with softened metal. Lastly runes were carved into the bronze portals bearing adjurationsof arcane and holy power. With the final spells in place, Evil was contained at last. [The Battle of Emridy Meadows, by Mike Bridges]


    One would be naïve to believe that Evil had been destroyed. If we have learned nothing from History, it is that victory is not enough. Evil hides. Evil lurks.

    In recent years, Dyvers has gained the unfortunate reputation of being a good place to "get lost"—or, rather, to lose one's pursuers. After the Horde of Elemental Evil was routed at Emridy Meadows, some adherents to darkness who did not flee to the Wild Coast instead traveled north to Dyvers, bolstering the criminal element in the city. In part because of the aftermath of that conflict, the Gentry of Dyvers live in fear of Turrosh Male's Pomarj "empire" and have even charted out wholesale evacuation plans for the city in the event of invasion (the populace fleeing to either Furyondy or Verbobonc). [LGG - 41,42]

    History is not just the waxing and waning of nations and fell gods. History is much more than that; it is the triumphs and tragedies of everyday folk who sometimes rise high, and those who do not, even those who are swept up and sometimes aside by events that sweep in and out of their lives.

    History of Keiren’s Journal

    Just Another Day in the Hellfurnaces
    Keiren Jallucian was an adventurous youth before rising to the seat of Master of the Greyhawk Guild of Wizardry, and later, President of the city’s Society of Magi. He was prudent and practical, as well, which is why he survived as many harrowing adventures as he did. He kept a series of meticulously detailed journals and adventure logs that documented his experiences; but despite his keen forethought, he had one fault back then: He did not go home often. Adventuring can be a perilous ordeal, and sometimes you have to drop what you’re carrying if you wish to live so see another day. Such was the case when a number of his catalogs were lost in 561 CY during an expedition to the Hellfurnaces. He had to admit that he could not recreate them from memory; there were too many encounters; too many curiosities, details, too many details.

    Not all were destroyed. One volume turned up in the hands of a Keoish wizard, who later gave it to House Rhola in exchange for access to their family library. They had possession of it for but a single season before ordering a servant to remove it from the household. Apparently, “visions” indicating death surrounded the book.

    The servant did not dispose of the book, as ordered to, but decided that he could make a quick coin off it. He did not; he was slain while on his way to a book dealer.

    Kieran’s journal surfaced again in 569 CY, plucked from a wizard’s corpse at the Battle of Emridy Meadows.

    At this point, its trail becomes a little sketchy, as there are too many rumours about its whereabouts. Reports claim that it surfaced in Veluna City, yet others in Celene. None are denied, none are confirmed, either.

    It is an odd thing, that book; it looks more like a satchel or handbag than a book, the wooden covers and spine encased in a heavy, hardened reddish leather (that Akastilan {more on him later} claimed is red dragon skin). Keiren scoffed at that when asked.

    From Greyhawk Grimoires, Keiren’s Journal, by Robert S. Mullin [Dragon #268 - 70-72]


    570 CY  You can not keep a good man down, can you? Though few knew it, Iuz had been freed from his imprisonment beneath Castle Greyhawk.

    Whether this was by error or perhaps design on the part of Robilar, who secretly carried a pair of highly unusual dispelling magics about himself on that fateful day, sages cannot say. What is known is that at the moment of Iuz's being freed, Archmage Tenser arrived on the scene together with Bigby the mage and a powerful fighter going by the unlikely name of Neb Retnar. Tenser had learned of Robilar's plan, feared that Riggby was being duped, and came post haste to prevent their action. Tenser and his cohort began battling the freed, enraged demigod. Riggby at once aided the assault. Robilar and Quij considered flight and felt their chances would be best if they made odds of four against one into six against one. Iuz was very nearly destroyed in that conflict, escaping to the Abyss just before Bigby would have destroyed him with his infamous crushing hand spell. He left behind him a backwash of chaotic evil magic which altered the alignment of Retnar, left Riggby catatonic for days, and caved in a large part of Castle Greyhawk's deepest dungeon complexes. Since that time, Iuz has always protected himself with a carefully secreted soul gem hidden on an unknown, unbelievably well-guarded Abyssal plane. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil - 5]


    Rage of Iuz

    He seethed. He raged. He could think of nothing but revenge. Against those who’d imprisoned him, against that overblown pup Robilar who’d tried to kill him, against Bigby who almost had. Indeed, against all of the Flanaess. And he was far more powerful than when Cuthbert had locked him away.

    He returned to Dorakaa, and finding his fiefs disloyal, he exterminated most of the “independent” lords of the lands he still claimed as his own.  Their bones, along with those other “unfaithful” he murdered, lengthened his Road of Skulls.

    After his release, Iuz was filled with a desire for vengeance and conquest. Sixty-five years of banishment had concentrated his mind wonderfully. With a savagery and cruelty allied to plans formed over many long years of thought, Iuz acted to gather together the warring bandits and humanoids of his land with an iron grip. He drew together his Boneheart, a Greater and Lesser circle of spellcasters, six in each echelon. His agents began to scour the Flanaess, seeking arcane evils and relics. Iuz readied his forces for a great war. [WGR5 - 3]

    Iuz and the eight other demi-gods released; they were not happy. Can you blame them?

    The seeking of treasure in Castle Greyhawk itself had unintended consequences. Iuz was suddenly freed from imprisonment in the dungeons under Zagig’s old castle in 570 CY, to the great consternation of those in Greyhawk who saw the half-fiend briefly when he emerged from the ruins. He then returned by magic to his old kingdom in the north. Several members of the Circle of Eight attempted to prevent Iuz’s escape but were unsuccessful. Other powerful beings, some of demigod status and some demon lords, appeared around this time, also apparently freed from captivity by their own muggles or the careless intervention of adventurers such as Lord Robilar of Greyhawk, a Wild Coast warrior who diplayed a bad habit of setting evil monstrosities loose from their magical bonds. Every powerful being freed from Castle Greyhawk blamed Zagig personally for his or her imprisonment and vowed revenge as they fled to recover from their ordeal. [TAB - 61]


    Far be it from Iuz not to hold a grudge.

    Once again Iuz rules, and his forces gather for fell purposes. Iuz has vowed to bring ruin upon Tensor the Archmage and Lord Robilar and the others who tried to slay him when his prison was sprung. [Folio - 12]

    When Iuz was freed in 570 CY, he had great plans for the Flanaess. Risen to the power of a demi-god, Iuz has achieved more than a few of his initial goals. [FtAA - 29]


    Nyrond saw, clearly, the Overking's preparations for a great war against the western state. Yet, when the first blow came, it did not come from Rauxes. It came from luz; meddling fools managed to release the fiend from his imprisonment in Castle Greyhawk in 570 CY, only a year after the forces of good in Furyondy and Veluna celebrated the sack of the notorious Temple of Elemental Evil in the Gnarley Forest. Their celebrations would not last many years. [FtAA - 5]


    571 CY  Stories are fruit upon the tree. They ripen over time. Sometimes epic tales have such paltry beginnings.

    The Story Reuven of the Rhennee

    [A] wandering band of Rhennee bargefolk came to Tristor upon the Yol River. The gypsies camped at the edge of town and pawned exotic medicines and poultices to the simple farming folk. Certain bottles of this medicine somehow spoiled, turning from a foul-tasting drink to a deadly poison. Two people died, and a young man was left both blind and paralyzed from the waist down. The town constable arrested the Rhennee and awaited the arrival of a judge, but the villagers soon stormed Tristor’s jail. After a brief scuffle, they ushered the bargefolk outside of town to a small hill, upon which stood a lone oak tree. There, each Rhennee was given a mock trial, found guilty, and lynched. As proper servants of Pholtus, however, the townsfolk of Tristor were not without mercy. They decided to spare one of the gypsies, a lad of four summers known as Reuven. After forcing the boy to watch the murder of his family, the villagers admonished him to give up his wicked ways and to abandon Tristor forevermore. The town buried the Rhennee near the oak tree. Within a year, they had put the madness behind them. The lone Rhennee boy, however, could not let the incident rest. As each year passed, his hatred of the people of Tristor grew like an inescapable malignancy. He wandered the Flanaess for years, gathering funds in exchange for hard work, learning a number of trades all the while. [RPGA Fright at Tristor - 3]


    573 CY  Iuz was not the only one with designs on the North. The Horned Society most certainly did, too. Oddly, so did the Scarlet Brotherhood. Why would they, you ask? Because The Brotherhood never thought small. They were wont to prepare for a future in which the whole of the Flanaess would be remade in their image.

    Does anyone truly know when The Scarlet Brotherhood began affecting the course of the Flanaess? Could it have been when the Prince of Furyondy-Provost of Veluna disappeared? Maybe. They had been plotting a very long time; so it stands to reason that if they did, then this might not have been their first strike. Or was it? No clues were left behind when the Prince vanished.

    The Prince, betrothed to the daughter of the Plar of Veluna, and serving as Provost of that state, as well as Marshall of Furyondy, was of key importance to the forces of good. [Folio - 8]

    At the time, few connected the appearance of these sagely, monastic advisers to the disappearance of Prince Thrommel of Furyondy, or to any number of political developments throughout the Flanaess. The arrival of the Brothers of the Scarlet Sign did trigger curiosity, of course, and in short order spies were sent to the Tilvanot. [LGG - 96]

    But was it the Brotherhood? It is far more likely that the masters of the sundered Temple of Elemental Evil were to blame, taking vengeance on that worthy paladin for his meddling in their affairs. But then again, the Brotherhood were always amicable with those who furthered their ends, weren’t they?


    The Scarlet Brotherhood had designs further afield than The Sheldomar Valley and the Azure Sea. They had watched the nations of the Flanaess and its peoples for a very long time, and began inveigling their way into the courts and halls of all the lands wherever they found the descendants of the Suel migrations.

    The Suelii called themselves by names in the Cold Tongue, too: Cruski, the Ice Clans, who are the most noble and brave; Schnai, the Snow Clans, who are the most numerous and strong; and Fruztii, the Frost Clans, who are the bulwark and first in battle. They battled with each other over the long years since Vatun lay down in the cold, but they would always join their hosts together when an outsider threatened. The Schnai perfected the art of building longships, and the Fruztii found adversaries for the barbarian nations to fight and plunder. The Cruski joined with their cousins on many of these raids, taking special joy in fighting their particular rivals, the Sea Barons of Aerdy.

    Scarlet Whispers Call

    This was the life of the barbarian Suel for hundreds of years, through victories and losses. Their freedom was undiminished, but it was subtly threatened several decades ago. Travelers from the south came to call at the courts of the barbarian Suel. Calling themselves the Brothers of the Scarlet Sign, they claimed to be kin of the Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruski. By blood, perhaps they were kin, though distantly—but, in spirit, they were the same devious manipulators who claimed to rule the ancestors of the northern Suel. They came with tales of the lost glory of the Suel race and its ruined empire. They told how the Cruski were descended from an Imperial House, the noble and loyal servant of the last Suel emperor.

    Old King Cralstag knew well that his ancestors, be they slaves or scoundrels, were never the lapdogs of an emperor who stank of magic. So he told the Scarlet Brothers, and before all in his court, as his judgment on their words. For this, the Brothers murdered him soon thereafter—not with clean blade or strength of arms, but with hidden venom in his cup.

    The king's nephew, Lolgoff, knew the old king's judgment and the manner of his death. When the Brothers were brought before him, they spoke words of praise and honor for the dead king, and they smiled. Lolgoff smiled too, as he cut them apart with the old king's sword, for he honored Cralstag in deeds, not words. As king and fasstal, Lolgoff pronounced his judgment: The Brothers of the Scarlet Sign should receive only death in the kingdom of Cruski. [LGG - 55]


    574 CY  The Fruztii consulted with Ratik concerning what wonders may be hidden within their mountains, eager to see whether the lore of their skalds was to be found in the dusty tomes the southerners worshiped so. So, Ratik consulted the Library in Marner, and those sages and wizards employed there, and within those dusty tomes they exhumed references to lost cities of the Flan, to ancient relics of the dwerfolk, and to sunken cities of the Solnor Sea. And of course, they dug up references to dragons and the hordes they amassed. All these they brought to the attention of the Fruztii, and the Fruztii listened with great interest. And armed with this knowledge, the Fruztii and those scions of Ratik brave enough to accompany them, they climbed into the Griffs and the Corusks in search of such things.


    575 CY  Where the Schnai sent promises and warriors to support the Fruztii front lines as a rear guard of the Bluefang-Kelton Pass, Ratik did one better. Although already hard pressed in the south with the orcs and gnolls, they understood that they must also secure their north, so, they sent battle hardened troops to stand shoulder to shoulder with their northern kin. The Fists came, as they knew they must, and they came with ogres and orcs and gnolls, and the alliance held the pass against them. But holding the pass was not enough. Securing it was essential, as was securing the lands north of it.

    Kelten Pass

    The Battle of Kelten Pass, as the Fist called it, only served to divide the Atamans of Stonefist. Were it not for Vlek’s iron rule, the Hold might have fallen into strife.

    The Coltens, despite generations of servitude to the invaders, have slowly emerged as a competing form of leadership, offering their method of election of the most popular warrior as an alternative to the Rite of Battle Fitness. So many aspiring leaders were slain in the often useless raids of the latter method that its proponents have grown scarce. When Ratik and the Fruztii made peace, the subsequent battles for the Kelten Pass brought several telling defeats to “fists” led by the descendant warband leaders. The Hold was then divided between those who followed the laws laid down by Vlek Col Vlekzed, and those who claimed that Stonefist’s methods are no longer appropriate and the Coltens Feodality should be restored. The nomads and settlers west and around the Frozen River championed the ways of Stonefist. The population around Kelten and the Hraak Forest wished to establish new forms of leadership. [Dragon #57 - 13]


    The successful alliance of the Barony of Ratik and the Frost Barbarians has caused much consternation in Bone March. A joint Ratik-Fruztii army wreaked havoc within the March after the signing. Leaders of the humanoids have determined that the northern alliance must be dissolved. [WoGG - 29]


    Duke Ehyeh of Tenh understood the need to strengthen his borders, what with the dangers of the Fists to the North, and with raiding Rovers there as well. South lay the Bandits and the aspirations of the Theocracy of the Pale. The Pale could one day be the greater enemy, for they were organized and strong. And fanatical in their devotions that he and his people did not share.

    In CY 575, Duke Ehyeh II began an active campaign to clear the Troll fens and border area on the west bank of the Yol. Considerable numbers of fortifications were built, and this two-year effort was deemed a general success. The Theocrat of the Pale concentrated his attentions south and eastwards because of the strong show by the Tennese. [Dragon #56 - 27]


    576 to 582 CY     The alliance between Ratik and the Frost Barbarians was mutually beneficial. Not only had they begun to secure the Fruztii’s northern pass, they had begun to make gains against the Bone March to the south, too. But at a cost. They were small nations, their resources were limited, and were the orcs not soundly defeated, and soon, they knew all might be lost.

    The humanoids so soundly defeated in the campaign of 575 were again raiding over the border, and the gnomes of the Lofthills (west of Loftwood) were being continually besieged. Losses from the campaigns in Bone March and with the Frost Barbarians could be replaced by mercenaries and volunteers from foreign lands only. [Dragon #57 - 14] 


    The Frost Barbarians had not turned their backs on their cousins, the Schnai and Cruski, for they had common cause. They each hated the Hold of Stonefist, as did their distant cousins, the Zeai, the whaling Sea Barbarians who dwelt upon the far Brink Isles and Tusking Strand, east of the Black Ice. And the Snow and Ice Barbarians shared common cause against the North Province and Sea Barons, for life was harsh upon the Thillonrian Peninsula, and thought their seas were plentiful, their slim growing season could not support them.
    The Schnai noticed their Fruztii cousin’s absence from the seas. And they saw their cousin’s increased reliance upon Luxnor of Ratik. But they were not worried. Let them break themselves upon the Fists and the Bone March, the Schnai said. They will weaken beyond recovery, and will be forever under our suzerainty when Ratik finally fell, for fall it must, in the end.
    And in the Fruztii’s absence, the Schnai increased their raids on the Great Kingdom, knowing that they need not share the spoils with them.
    The Schnai were not the only ones to note the Fruztii’s increased presence in the northeastern theatre. Tenh had heard of the Frost Barbarian’s alliance with Ratik, they had heard of their joint strike into the Bluefang-Kelten Pass, and they sent emissaries to treat with them, for, as they explained to them, we have common cause against the Fists of Stonehold, and the Fruztii listened.

    576 CY  Bonded by blood, and having shed blood to protect one another, the Fruztii and Ratik ratified their bond in the eyes of both their gods, for they knew that their only hope of their standing against their enemies, they would need to stand as one.

    This symbolic parchment was endorsed and blessed by the gods of both Ratik and Fruztii, and the superstitious Frost Barbarians place great store in its safety. [WoGG - 29]


    Plague has a nasty habit of cropping up here and there, without warning. Of course, were there warning, plague would never gain a foothold, would it? And of course, sometimes symptoms take a while to take root. But all it takes is a sneeze, and before you know it, the victim is complaining about lassitude and fever. Red blotches appear, and then there is panic in the street. The Red Death had returned. And it was as lethal as it had been a century earlier.

    But what can be done? How is it spread? Physical contact? Air? Water? Or by some other mysterious agency. The name Iuz is whispered. The Horned Society. Even Keraptis.

    Plague abroad in Rookroost—or that's what a large percentage of its populace believes. A week ago, the city was as disease free as a city like Rookroost ever is. Now scores are suffering from a malady that has herbalists and clerics puzzled . . . and worried.

    The word on the streets is that the Red Death has returned. [WG8 Fate of Istus - 6]


    History of Keiren’s Journal

    The journal next surfaced in Admondfort, its owner known for wandering the shores of the Nyr Dyv. Akastilan claimed to have found it in the Cairn Hills, but he was known to spin a tale, and likely wrestled it from a hedge wizard. He promptly traded it in Urnst.

    Keiren was made aware of the volume’s surfacing, and has stated that it focuses on his experiences in the Amedio Jungle.

    According to Keiren’s obserations, not every Amedio tribe is hostile to outsiders and, in fact some are quite friendly to visiters who come in peace. Several pages describe how one tribe even took him on a tour of an ancient Olman ruin, leading to his discovery of a lost spell. Although the original was etched into the surface of an immovable stone slab, the Journal contains a reproduction. The spell, calle Lightning Serpent, is one of two spells inscribed in the Journal, though both are unique. The other Kieren’s Curse Ward, is clearly of Kieren’s devising.

    In any event, Kieren’s Journal is an invaluable source of information for those who would learn more about the Amedio Jungle and its people.

    From Greyhawk Grimoires, Keiren’s Journal, by Robert S. Mullin [Dragon #268 - 70-72]


    The Rovers were wont to increase their strength; but, their young warriors were impatient, and their elder chieftains remembered the days of old when the peoples on their borders quaked with fear upon hearing the thunder of their horses’ hooves.

    The young tribesmen who matured into warriors during the last two generations avoided their old battling and hunting grounds along the Fellreev Forest and the plains of the Dulsi, for they feared the might of luz’s hordes. Instead, these nomads and woodland hunters withdrew to the steppes and other sites to the north and east. Their numbers increased, and they practiced their fighting skills against the men of the Hold of Stonefist and the savages and humanoids they met on raids into the Cold Marshes. Despite the difficulties of communication, the western tribes of the Rovers of the Barrens actually made alliances with the Wegwiur. In 566 there were a few light raids into the northeastern edge of the Fellreev. [Dragon #56 - 28]


    577 CY  Bellport grew tired of the repeated raids by the Schnai, and demanded the protection due them as a city of the North Province and the Great Kingdom. Lord Captain Aldusc was dispatched from Asperdi of the Sea Barons with a squadron of warships and troops to do just that.

    The warships are now reported to be operating along the coast. Included are no fewer than six large galleys and perhaps a score of other war ships. The troops were divided after landing into main [joining Herzog Grenell] and reserve [defending Bellport's landward approaches] groups. [Dragon #63 - 15]

    Although the Schnai had not raided as far and as often as the Fruztii had in their days of glory, they were no strangers to such things; indeed, they were the most accomplished of seafarers, and they were truly as fierce as their cousins, as were the Cruski. They increased their raids, and their longships swept down the coast, striking the North Province and the Baronial Isles both, luring those who chased them or sought to stop them far out to sea where they could lose them with ease.
    But not all were so lucky.
    It was only a matter of time before the Schnai had their noses bloodied. They had underestimated the Sea Barons, and in their hubris and folly were dealt a defeat as they had not yet faced.

    During the season of 577, much minor activity took place along the coast of North Province and off the northern end of the Island of Asperdi. Some raiders were met and actions were fought; some slipped through, some turned elsewhere. Reportedly a squadron of seven Schnai longships were set upon whilst sinking the hulks of two provincial merchants, the vessels Marntig and Solos. Guided by the smoke and flames, a flotilla of Baronial warships surprised the barbarians. Three of the Schnai were rammed and sunk. In hand-to-hand action, the flagship of the barbarians’ fleet was captured, but the three remaining longships escaped after jettisoning all of their captured cargo.

    In hand-to-hand action, the flagship of the barbarians' fleet was captured. Jarl Froztilth, leader of the Schnai, many of his men, and the captured ship were all taken to Asperdi. News of this success was said to have greatly heartened the Herzog. [Dragon #63 - 16]


    The Schnai recalled how once they and the Fruztii were the terror of the seas, and they wished the southerners to fear them so again. So, the Schnai treated with their cousins, the Cruski. And the Cruski were glad to treat with them, for the Schnai held what was theirs. The Schnai gave up the lands south of Glot along the east coast [and] the Cruski regained their southern harbors. This made the raids into North Province and the Isles of the Sea Barons all the easier next year, and most of the able-bodied men were away on those journeys when the warbands of Stonefist (now Stonehold) rode into the tundra which the King of Cruski claimed. The few wandering tribes of Coltens there welcomed the invaders, while surviving Cruskii headed east as quickly as possible. The returning warriors were enraged at the boldness of the invasion. [Dragon #57 - 14]

    The Cruski and Schnai negotiated their treaty, with the Schnai agreeing to give back the lands south of Glot along the east coast to the Utsula Highlands.

    The attention of the Cruski was directed wholly to the south, where choice plunder could be gained during the summer raiding season. After a particularly successful venture in 577, the Cruski and Schnai sat down together to bargain on a division of the spoils. In the end, the Schnai agreed to give up the land south of Glot along the east coast. The Snow Barbarians gained more gold and silver, while the Cruski regained their southern harbors. [Dragon #57 - 14]              


    Iuz looked upon the expanse of Whyestil Lake and understood its use. Dorakaa lay upon its northern shore, Chendl lay within a day’s march of its southern. He looked to the south and knew that Furyondy ruled its waves from Crockport and he seethed. He coveted. Moreover, he realized that it had only been by the grace of Graz’zt that he had not had to fend off their fleets, or had his seat of power razed to the ground. He commissioned forty galleys to be built at Dorakaa.

    After a period of rebuilding and strengthening his domain, the Lord of Evil set his mind upon the lands to the south. Various pacts and treaties were concluded with the none-tooloved Horned Society, thus assuring no immediate trouble from the east. Groups of humanoids — gnolls and flinds, orgrillons, bugbears, and even ogres — under human leadership were sent across the Dulsi River to first occupy the nearer portion of the Vesve Forest, and then work south to harass the border of Furyondy. luz caused a fleet of 40 galleys to be built at Dorakaa in 577. With this force he hoped to wrest control of Whyestil Lake from King Belvor, thus exposing all of the northern portion of Furyondy, from the Vesve along the Crystal River to the Veng and then to the Whyestil, to easy invasion. To facilitate this move, luz joined forces with the resurgent followers of Elemental Evil, believing that such a threat on the Kingdom’s southern border would distract the Furyondians from his much more ambitious plans in the north. While his forces were being readied, luz ordered his northern contingents to capture EruTovar and thus stop any possible move by the Wolf Nomads upon the upper portion of his realm while his invasion of the south was in progress. Leaving the execution of his will to trusted underlings, luz himself went far to the south to stir up trouble. [Dragon #56 - 19]


    Belvor was having none of it, though. He sent his Fleet to Dorakaa, destroying the majority of the Iuzan galleys under construction.


    The Fleet Aflame


    The intelligence network of Furyondy discovered the plan to wrest control of Whyestil Lake from their navy, and before the luzite army stood before Eru-Tovar, King Belvor’s fleet staged a daring raid upon Dorakaa. The majority of the galleys being built were burned in the stocks, and seven of those which had been completed and outfitted were captured, while another five were sunk. [Dragon #56 - 19]


    Duke Eyeh II of Tenh turned his attentions to the north, for the Fists flowed from Rockegg Pass each and every spring. He marched north to meet them, and although successful in repelling their savage attack, he fell in what came to be known as the Battle of Rockegg Pass.

    In 577, the Duke began early actions to the north, working into the mountains and fortifying the southern end of Rockegg Pass, some 20 leagues above Catbut. The Duke was himself killed in fighting against the Holders, whose units of “fists” resisted with great ferocity the closing of the pass. Despite the death of their leader, the Tennese (now under Marshal laba) finished what their liege had willed, thus effectively securing the Duchy on two sides. [Dragon #56 - 27]


    The Wolf Nomads were of a mind with the Rovers. For too long, the nations of the South had held dominion over lands they claimed as theirs. The Wolves wanted them back. So too did the Rovers. So, they came together to treat at the Great Beast Hunt to speak on it, and to plan.

    A Conclave of the Clans
    By CY 577, a conclave of all the clans staged a great beast hunt in the central portion of their territory, with many visiting Wolf Nomads taking part in the sport. The census sticks showed that clan warrior strength was as follows:

    In attendance were:

    11 tribes of the Great Stags, counting 5,200 warriors;

    eastern area Bear Paws 1,150, 4 tribes;

    Southeastern area Red Horses 2,700 6 tribes;

    Northwestern area Black Horses 3,350 8 tribes;

    Northwestern area Gray Lynx 1,450 5 tribes;

    Northern woodlands area Horn Bows 1,800 4 tribes;

    West central area Sly Foxes 850, 4 tribes;

    Southern woodlands area Wardogs 3,100 fighting society;

    All tribes White Wardogs 950 fighting society;

    North tribes only.


    At the great conference, the Rovers agreed to a plan to make war upon the Horned Society to attempt to regain their lost territory around the Opicm and in the Fellreev. The help of the Wolf Nomads was not promised, but the Rover tribes knew it would certainly come if possible. The Sly Fox Clan, always on good terms with the sylvan elves of the Fellreev Forest, were to harass the enemy from the woodlands, while the western clans, the Red Horse, Black Horse, and Horn Bows, rode south and made war upon the hated peoples of the Horned Society. Chada-Three-Lances […] was made War Sachem, and in the spring of 578, he led some 6,000 warriors on a campaign to accomplish the recovery of the lost lands. With the force went a party of about 900 centaur warriors. The latter had been displaced from their territory in and around the western end of the Fellreev, so they were more than eager to take part. [Dragon #56 - 22,23]


    Not all Shield Landers were of like mind. Some were petty. Some were greedy. Some wondered why they stood alone against the evils to the north. Prince Zeech was one such. Though brave, was not at all honorable. He saw how the Bandits took what they wanted while he was held back from taking what he thought could be his, like a horse held to rein, so he broke his ties with the Shield Lands and formed the Bandit Kingdom Principality of Redhand from what was once the province of Alhaster.

    The [Bandit Kingdom’s] only coastal "kingdom," Redhand holds a section of the north coast of the Nyr Dyv, from the old Shield Lands to the mouth of the Artonsamay. "Prince" Zeech [a cleric of Hextor], an effete renegade Shield Lands lord who broke with his nation in 577 […]. [LGG - 27]






    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Special thanks to Mike Bridges for his “The Battle of Emridy Meadows.”

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, T1, The Village of Hommlet, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, From the Ashes Boxed Set, The Aventure Begins, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine 56, 57, 268.


    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Viking by iamtretre
    Battle-For-Azeroth by astri-lohne

    Volcano-Guardian-Siren-Splash-art-illustration by adriengonzalez
    Rage by rhysiaint

    Iuz, by Eric Hotz, from WGR5 Iuz the Evil, 1993

    Reuven, by Eric Hotz, from RPGA  The Fright at Tristor, 1993
    Archway by tacosauceninja
    Donner-Lake by chateaugrief

    Red Death, by Karl Waller, from WG8 Fate of Istus, 1989
    Visions-in-the-fire by dominikmayer
    Front-Line by dominikmayer


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9026 The Village of Hommlet, 1979, 1981
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    RPGA The Fright at Tristor, 2000
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    Living Greyhawk Journal
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-09-2021 09:17 am
    History of the North, Part 4: A Pause Before the Storm


    The Pause Before the Storm

    Iuz had fallen, and Iggwilv’s tyranny had been short-lived. One would think that they had been working together, that each relied on the other’s success. The timing would suggest just that. Maybe they had. Each had leant an ear to Graz’zt’s whispers. Both had designed on the Vesve Forest. But thankfully, both had fallen short. And both were in chains, one beneath Castle Greyhawk, the other in the Abyss.
    This is not to say that the North was peaceful, because in truth, it was not and had never been. It is a harsh land, not given to pastoral pursuits. It has always been rife with raiding and banditry. New Evils were bound to rise up. And they did.

    513 CY  Despite Iuz’s absence, Evil still flourished everywhere in the North. A new name was whispered in the taverns and inns, in the courts and halls of those who held sway: The Horned Society. It was said that it was a foul haven of deviltry. And like Iuz before them, it had designs on the North. It did. First, it must gather its forces if it were to fester.

    Deprived of their lord [Iuz], the euroz and jebli armies massing on Furyondy's borders rapidly dissolved. The barbarous creatures fought the regents of Iuz and won for themselves the east and west shores of Whyestil Lake. East of the lake, savage chieftains and unscrupulous humans founded the Horned Society. [Wars - 3]


    Hierarchs of the Horned Society

    515 CY  The Horned Society were not the only ones to have designs on the North in Iuz’s absence; indeed, so did the petty despots that were once under Iuz’s heel. They each and all sought to expand south, for that was where the riches lay, and that was where the yet untapped sources of slaves lay. However, they could not march south, not whilst the Nomads and the Rovers were ever a nuisance to them, raiding across the Cold Marches and Howling Hills. So, they put aside their differences and gathered as one and marched north to put an end to that nuisance, once and for all.

    The Nomads and Rovers darted in and out of their armies’ reach, and revelled in their early successes, but as those armies marched ever north and as the Barrens open to their maneuvers were squeezed ever smaller, the Rovers had no choice but to turn and fight. The inevitable battle did not go well for the Rovers. They massacred at the Battle of Opicm River. A few escaped, but the once proud and fierce Rovers had been brought low, and all they could do was hide, and prey for a day when they could take their revenge.

    The Nomads were more fortunate. They did not have the Icy Sea and the Corusks blocking their flight. Or the Fists of the Stonehold at their back, either. They broke into smaller bands and slipped away into the vast expanse of the northern plains and the tangles of the Boreal Forest, and vanished as though they were one with the wind and the trees.

    At the great battle of Opicm River, the might or the Rovers of the Barrens gathered to war upon a combined host from the land of luz and the newly formed Homed Society. The wardog soldiers and light cavalry of the Rovers were decimated and scattered, and many of their chieftains were slain. Perhaps three or four clans of but a few tribes each are all that now remain of the force which once sent the tumans of the Wolf Nomads flying back across the Dulsi without their gray-tailed banners. [WoGA - 33]


    There were those who remained loyal to Iuz, though, for they knew the Old One could return, would return. They knew they must survive were they to be of use to their absent master when he did, so, they feigned allegiance, and added their strength to that gathering, their aim to placate those who would otherwise take His lands, and as they seemed to lend aide, they held back, all the while watching their foes weaken. They bided their time, and waited.


    520 CY  The Barbarians had little concern for what might be going on beyond the Griff Mountains. True, they always looked to the Kelten Pass and the Hold of Stonefist, for there were always raiding parties of Fists that managed to cross those imposing peaks between the snows, but they were few in number, and not of great concern.

    Skrellingshald

    Their relative security aside, they understood that one day those Evils to the West might come; so, they searched for uncharted passes that might be hidden from them. And they searched for fabled Skrellingshald, for the elder wives wove tales of the wonders that one might find there. But where was it? None could say, but those fancy tales told of a becalmed climate and rich soils, and steeply walled, easily defended, paths to it. That in itself made it worth seeking. But did it ever actually exist? Were they indeed just fancy tales?

    Most believed just that. Nevertheless, there were those who thought differently. There was always a kernel of truth in even the wildest of fables, they believed, and so, they shouldered packs and girded themselves for the great dangers that lurked in those peaks. Few ventured into them, fewer returned.

    The Sinister Lost City

    Hradji Beartooth was one who had. He returned with wonders and curiosities, and with what they hoped was a tale to tell. They expected him to gather the clan around the hearth and regale them with his exploits and heroism. However, he did not speak on it. Not a word. Moreover, neither did those who had staggered out of those lofty mountains with him.

    What? You have never heard of Skrellingshald? Maybe you have, for Skellingshald is what the northern tribes called that long forgotten city of Tostenhca.

    Hradji returned later that year with a diminished following and with greatly increased wealth which consisted largely of […] golden spheres. He quite naturally refused to disclose the location of the mountain, as he planned to gather a stronger force for the next season and return with still greater booty. Unfortunately, Hradji and the majority of his men died within the year, some of them as soon as they arrived home. What is more, all those who had any prolonged contact with the gold similarly sickened and died. Hradji’s heir disposed of the hoard by trading it to merchant interests in the Great Kingdom, and reputedly the curse still circulates as the coin of that land, although this last may be a tale fabricated to weaken the Emperor’s currency. [GA - 93]


    521 CY  Iggwilv need not be present to affect her world. She had left tomes and artifacts behind, and they were much sought after. It was only a matter of time before they surfaced. 


    History of the Nethertome

    [The] Nethertome was absent from recorded history, its whereabouts and owner unknown. Then, in CY 521, it turned up in the library of Thillion “Flamefingers” Dern, an aged Bisselite mage who died without an heir. During the auction of Thillion’s belongings, the tome was sold to one Gelvin Torlar, a mage who, at the time he bought it, did not have the magical wherewithal to employ its secrets. Surprisingly, Gelvin held the book against all comers, even in those early years when his personal might was lacking and those who wished to seize the tome for themselves assailed him on what seemed a weekly basis. By the end of the decade, however, the constant battle to hold the tome had exhausted Gelvin’s funds and magical resources, and he was forced to sell the Nethertome for a mere pittance, else starve or be slain in a spell duel. Although Gelvin made it known that the Nethertome had been sold, the actual transaction took place secretly. Thus, the buyer’s identity was never learned, and the Nethertome vanished once again. [Dragon #225 - 52]


    522 CY  Not all news was bad. Indeed, some kingdoms were hale and prosperous, their lines of succession secure, the transfer of power smooth and free of strife. Such was the case in Furyondy, where King Belvor III took the throne. Of course, courts everywhere are notorious for schemes and political maneuvering; even the best of them.

    As pressure from the north ebbed, Prince Belvor III, King Avras’s son, energetically courted the Order of the Hart. By playing on the suspicions of the Great Lords of the south, Belvor III swung the Order of the Hart into the royal faction. [Wars - 3]


    The Burning Cliffs

    523 CY  The North has always been a harsh land. What spoils there are have always gone to the bold, and the lucky. Storrich of the Hold of Stonefist was bold. But he was not lucky, and he was forced to flee.

    None of these more recent reports has been sufficient to spur the practical northern peoples into any sort of action or investigation, and it was quite by accident that anything more was discovered. In 523 one Storrich of the Hold of Stonefist failed in an attempt to advance himself by less than traditional methods. Poisoners are not highly regarded even in that grim country, and so Storrich and his followers were obliged to flee. Since the season was summer and the Ice Barbarians would not be likely to let his ship pass unmolested, Storrich and his pursuers turned westward. Unfortunately for Storrich and his men, the pilot of the ship ran it aground offshore the Wastes, and Storrich’s company was obliged to take to the land, the pursuit still hot on their heels. As a last desperate measure Storrich attempted entry into the Burning Cliffs region, risking a stone path that he and his men found leading into the smolder. Storrich’s pursuers turned back at this point well satisfied, and informed the Master of the Hold that they had driven Storrich to his death, having waited some days for him to attempt a return and having seen nothing. It proved to be untrue. [GA - 97]


    Volcanic Vision

    525 CY  Storrich surfaced in Dyvers spouting outlandish tales.

    Two years later Storrich appeared in Dyvers, and being a rather loquacious individual he soon disclosed his story- several stories, in fact, some of them mutually contradictory, but it is possible to piece together a relatively plausible scenario from his boastings. The general outline of the story was that Storrich’s company happened on a city of fire-loving creatures, and managed to steal some valuable gold and jewelry. The subsequent conflict, and the flight southward through the flames and fumes claimed all of Storrich’s following, as only he was protected from the full effect of the Burning Cliffs (apparently by magical effects of certain of his possessions). The identity of the creatures which Storrich robbed is uncertain; his claims gradually grew more diverse. At various times they were elementals, devils, demons, and harginn, and even efreeti. Unfortunately these discrepancies were never resolved. Within a month of his arrival Storrich died of a choking fit at a banquet. There were no other survivors to corroborate Storrich’s story, but it is clear that he had somehow acquired a great wealth of jacinth and gold. He spent liberally in his last weeks of life, and still left behind a considerable trove. [GA - 97]


    526 CY  It is a wonder that Dyvers is not the jewel of the Flanaess. Indeed, it was the focus of government and commerce in the West of the Great Kingdom until the Vicecounty of Ferrond seceded. It was a port then, and is a port now. And rightly so. It was well situated as such: on the Nyr Dyv, at the mouth of the Velverdyva, it was central to all trade north and south, and east and west. It was truly the wonder of the West. “All roads lead to Dyvers,” it was said. All the peoples of the Flanaess did indeed come to Dyvers, and all the peoples of the world have made their home there. It is a secular place, the worship of coin far more prevalent than that of Pholtus and Rao by a Gold County Mile. And so it came as no surprise that Dyvers grew uncomfortable with Furyondy’s close ties with Veluna.
                The city was originally a part of the Viceroyalty of Ferrond and contributed heavily to the war which saw the institution of the Kingdom of Furyondy. Because of the alliance and close ties with Veluna, whose policies the Gentry of Dyvers see as restrictive, the city declared its independence. King Thrommel II allowed this act to pass unchallenged. [Folio - 21] 

                The people of Dyvers are a mercantile folk, prone to cutting corners to achieve profit. Furyondy's relationship with Veluna troubled the freethinking folk of the city, as Veluna's cleric rulers were highly principled, rather ascetic, and encouraged great donations to church coffers. When many cities in Furyondy established a code of "canon law," replete with church courts stocked with Raoan doctrine and Cuthbertine punishments, the Gentry of Dyvers decided that enough was enough. Preparing for the worst, they informed the crown of their intention to split from Furyondy in 526 CY. Perhaps because Furyondy feared the growing power of Greyhawk and felt it needed an ally in the region, Thrommel II, the reigning monarch, allowed the secession to pass unchallenged. [LGG - 41]


    537 CY  King Belvor III of Furyondy died quietly in his sleep; or so the story goes. He had made a few enemies though, so who can say?
    Some nobles accused the Great Lords of assassination despite the fact that the Dread and Awful Presences -- the Hierarchs of the Horned Society -- claimed their magic wrought the king's death. A commission of wizards and priests led by Lord Throstin of the Hart determined that King Belvor died naturally in his sleep. The Great Lords were exonerated, but the Hierarchs never withdrew their claim: the deed only increased their standing in the Horned Society. [Wars - 25]
    After his father's death, Belvor IV used his monarchial power to force the Great Lords back into the fold as [his father had]. Though his reign was relatively short, Belvor's (III) coalition lasted, holding the fractious kingdom together during the years of his son's regency. [Wars - 3]


    c.550 CY               Hradji Beartooth braved the dangers of the Griff Mountains because he knew his people might need a haven. He also knew that his people sorely needed what wonders Skrellingshald might have wielded to keep them safe those eons past, no matter whether it was arcane or not, for the Fruztii had been decimated during the Battle of Shamblefield, and were a shadow of their former selves.
    Not so the Schnai. They had not spent themselves against the shields of the south. They had taken to the seas instead. And so, when the Fists of the Stonehold had swept out from the Griff Mountains, the Frutzii had little choice but to treat with their cousins to the East. Help us fortify the passes, they pled. And the Schnai were only too willing to help. They sent warriors to strengthen the Bluefang-Kelten Pass. But not so many as did the Fruztii, for they sent longships to Krakenheim to protect their poor cousins from what retaliation might come from the Great Kingdom’s North Province and the fleets of the Sea Barons. And the Fruztii found themselves under the suzerainty of the Schnai. Their king was but a puppet. And they chaffed under their cousin’s rule.
    While the Fruztii were historically the most persistent in their raids upon the Aerdy, the Schnai explored the seas and the northern isles. Their discovery of Fireland during the early years of Fruztii raids southward was a great distraction. Rather than seek conquest in the Flanaess, they chose to explore the Lesser and Greater Isles of Fire, while they built settlements on the more habitable islands of Sfirta and Berhodt. They would inevitably return home with tales of monsters and giants, and of treasures almost obtained. [LGG - 106]


    c. 556 CY              The Fruztii had asked for held, and they cousins were only too pleased to “come to their aid,” but before too long, the Fruztii understood their folly, for the Schnai had taken control of teir ports, their Great Hall in Krakenheim, and their king. They had fallen under the suzerainty of the Schnai, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
    The Fruztii have never recovered from the Battle of Shamblefield, and have been under the suzerainty of the Schnai for the past two decades – and several times previously as well. The supposed figurehead placed upon the throne of the Fruztii has, however, built his kingdom carefully, and in actuality it is now independent in all but oath. [Folio - 10]


    558 CY  The Scarlet Brotherhood set out to stir up trouble for the Great Kingdom. They sent agents into the Rakers and whispered into the ears of the Euroz, the Kell, the Eiger, and others, to encourage the orcs and the gnolls there to raid the Bone March, for if Ivid’s attention was in the north, they might once again gain influence in the south. (6074 SD)


    Orcs on the Bone March
    559 CY  Humanoids began raids into Bone March. These were limited in scope at first, for the orcs and gnolls did not fully trust the red-robed agents that whispered in their ears. They are not prepared, the whispers said. They look to the barbarians to the north and have not guarded against you, they said. But the orcs were cautious. For they knew not what these red-robed whisperers hoped to gain. And because they had heard the whispers of Men before, and knew that Men had always used their people to blunt the swords of their enemies with orcish blood. The gnolls were less cautious, for the whispers promised them blood, and they do so love the smell of it.


    560 CY  Finding resistance limited, the orcs and gnolls made more forays into Bone March, striking widely so as to keep the Marquis’ forces rushing to and froe across the breadth of his lands to defend against them, never once conceiving that the orcs were acting far more strategic than they ever had before. They were a savage species, after all.
    Hordes of humanoids (Euroz, Kell, Eiger and others) begin making forays into the Bone March, and these raids turned into a full scale invasion the next year. [Folio - 9]


    And still the orcs came...
    561 CY     The forces of Marquis Clement tired. And still the orcs came. And when the orcs found no resistance, the whisperers said, “The time is ripe. He has not the strength to defeat you!” The orcs still did not trust the whisperers from Shar, but they saw the truth in their words. And so the tribes flowed from their mountains into the Bone March and laid waste to all that stood against them.
    They flowed out into the Theocracy of the Pale, and into neighbouring Nyrond. They flowed out into Ratik. Because that was what the agents of Shar instructed them to do. But the greatest of their hosts spilled out onto the Bone March, for the agents of the Brotherhood knew that turmoil within the Great Kingdom was so great that it could not muster effective opposition. And because they had parleyed with Herzog Grace Grennell of The North Province, and he had promised to delay his defense. But also because they’d parlayed with others, far darker in purpose than Grennell.
    Thus, the orcs and the gnolls made great gains into the March in so little time. But not so in the Theocracy of the Pale, Nyrond, or Ratik, for there resistance was stiff, swift and sure.


    563 CY  The Bone March fell to the humanoids and all humans in that area were either enslaved or killed, Lord Clement among them, as he was held up within the walls of Spinecastle, waiting for succor from Ratik and the North Province, when it fell after a prolonged siege, virtually overnight. Survivors say that the orcs and gnolls had nothing to do with its fall, that it fell from within, that dark forces rose up from its very foundations, causing those within to throw open the gates in their haste to flee, and only then did the humanoids gain entry. It was the castles’ curse, they said, making some gesture they thought would ward off the Evil they said they saw that day.
    The hordes did not hold the castle for long; for they too were struck by such horrors that drove them from its halls. While within, they were driven mad; and those that survived said that blood flowed from its walls, that rooms rippled and disappeared, and that they were induced to strike one another down. Retreating from Spinecastle’s horrors, they never again entered it.
    The Knight Protectors of the Bone March were overwhelmed by the hordes, and those who could fled to Ratik, bolstering the defenses of Ratikhill.
    This land fell to the horde of invaders [Euroz, Kell, Eiger and others], its lord slain, and its army slain or enslaved. Humans in the area were likewise enslaved or killed, and the whole territory is now ruled by one or more of the humanoid chiefs. [Folio - 9]


    The Euroz orcs and the gnolls continued to flow out of the Rakers, betraying and attacking the North Province in their blood frenzy, even as Spinecastle held out against them.
    Grennell expected as much and was prepared. He met them within the March, and drawing them into defensive redoubts, he slowed their advance, and then halted it altogether. And having done so, he parleyed with them and allied with them against Nyrond and Almor, for he believed that such a force could not be defeated until it had blunted itself against hard resolve, and he much rather it do so against that of other lands and not his. Then he would turn on the humanoids, and take their spoils as his own.


    What did the Scarlet Brotherhood think about their success? They were elated. They were infuriated. The orcs slaughtered their agents along with all the other humans, for the orcs understood that those red-robed whisperers were not their friends. They understood that they were pawns in a greater game that was not their own. And they recognized the scent of slavery when they smelled it.


    The Death Knight Lord Monduiz Dephaar made good use of the chaos that ensued, craving a kingdom for himself out of the lands surrounding his stronghold somewhere in the Blemu Hills in the wake of the collapse of the Bone March, and even now commands legions of humanoids and bandits, who call him Dreadlord of the Hills.
    Both Prince Grenell of the North Kingdom and the humanoids of Spinecastle gave the Dreadlord wide berth.


    565 CY  Ratik was in need of allies. Their most stalwart ally, Marquis Clement of the Bone March had fallen and his lands were in the thrall of orcs and ogres and Death Knights. Tenh was beset by Stonefist and the Theocracy of the Pale, and indeed, the Fists had raided Ratik’s very north. Their only “ally” was the Theocracy of the Pale, if having a common enemy could necessitate their being allies, for the Theocracy was, if anything, hostile to all who weren’t blind adherents to the Faith of their Blinding Light, and the people of Ratik were not.
    But they were not entirely without hope. They had kin. Of a sort. The Fruztii had passed them by in their raiding. Why? They’d been enemies once, after all. Because the Fruztii had kin within their domain, and their kin had become a people of Ratik.
    Marner gathered those elders of Fruztii descent and asked them, “Will your brothers to the north treat with us?” After much talk and deliberation, the elders agreed that the Frutzii would. The Fruztii wished to be free of the Schnai. They were beset upon by the Fists. And their strength had been broken upon the shield of the Great Kingdom.
    But who? They chose Korund of Ulthek, for his mother was of Fruztii decent and his father was the Ward of the North. And Korund sailed north to visit his kin north of the Timberway. And with their aid, he secured a meeting in Djekul. And then in Krakenheim, where His Most Warlike Majesty, King Ralff listened carefully and was intrigued.
    Soon, Marner came to Krakenheim, and Krakenheim came to Marner.
    “Where else might we find allies,” His Valorous Prominence, Lexnol, the Lord Baron of Ratik asked.
    The Fruztii pondered this question. Fireland, they said.

    Fireland
    In 565 CY, the explorer Korund of Ratik sailed with a number of barbarian friends to Fire-land, returning with a crude map made with respectable instruments and a bit of magic. From this, the Savant-Sage and I have concluded that Fire-land is a collection of islands. No single island is great enough to be a continent, though the largest might be the largest island on Oerth. The whole surface area of Fire-land would likely cover less than one million square miles. We would so like to have a more accurate and recent assessment! [TAB - 11]


    566 CY  The Rovers may have been defeated by the Horned Society at the Battle of Opicm River, but they could still be a thorn in its side. Pride dictated that they spit in the face of defeat. Pride dictated that they regain their lost lands. They allied with the Weigweir and together, they began raiding northeastern edge of Fellreev. 
    The young tribesmen who matured into warriors during the last two generations avoided their old battling and hunting grounds along the Fellreev Forest and the plains of the Dulsi, for they feared the might of luz’s hordes. Instead, these nomads and woodland hunters withdrew to the steppes and other sites to the north and east. Their numbers increased, and they practiced their fighting skills against the men of the Hold of Stonefist and the savages and humanoids they met on raids into the Cold Marshes. Despite the difficulties of communication, the western tribes of the Rovers of the Barrens actually made alliances with the Wegwiur.
    In 566 CY there were a few light raids into the northeastern edge of the Fellreev. In a few years, wardog parties were reported in the forest west of Cold Run. [Dragon #56 - 27]


    c.570s    One should never underestimate the powerful. The Circle of Eight never did. They knew that Iuz and Iggwilv might return, and they prepared for that day.

    Iggwilv
    Iggwilv reappeared in the late 570s, after the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth were rediscovered and her vampire-warrior daughter Drelzna was destroyed. Iggwilv, who had apparently regained her old powers – and then some – on other planes or worlds, attempted to attack the Flanaess with a vast army of fiends and monsters. She was thwarted by Tenser, who sent heroes to recover a lost artifact (the Crook of Rao) that blocked her extraplanar forces from entering the Prime Material Plane on Oerth. Iggwilv thereafter secretly assisted her son Iuz with his empire building. When she tried to recapture Graz’zt, she was herself caught and imprisoned in the Abyss. 
    [Rot8 - 55]


                
                History of the Nethertome
                Nonetheless, it is known that the Nethertome did not accompany her on the journey to her Abyssal prison, but the current whereabouts of the book cannot be confirmed. It is generally believed that luz turned it over to one of his Boneheart wizards, and most fingers point to Jumper or Null, as the Nethertome would be most useful to them in their work at Fleichshriver. [Dragon #225 - 52]





    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, Return of the Eight, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine 56, 225.


    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Black-and-White-159 by haiashouster
    The-Nine-The-Lord-of-the-rings by anatofinnstark
    The-Lost-City by artofjokinen
    Deaths-Remnant by adamburn
    Red-sketch by noahbradley
    Volcanic-Vision by noahbradley
    Ms-Orc-Queen by bayardwu
    Orc-rider by zsoltkosa
    Viking-Metropolis by ourlak
    Iggwilv by nyaka-n


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    9576 Return of the Eight, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-05-2021 04:59 pm
    History of the North, Part 3: The Rise of Iggwilv and Iuz


    The Forgotten North

    The North lay forgotten. The South was beset by turmoil. It was mired in petty wars. It had little interest in the goings-on of such remote regions; besides, what if banditry plagued it, what if petty kingdoms had sprung up across its breadth? If people lived there. It was too vast and too cold and too far away to be of any concern.
    Had they taken the time to concern themselves; because if they had, then maybe, just maybe, they would have been able to stem the tide of horror and misery that would eventually sweep across the whole of the Flanaess. But such is hindsight.




    446 CY  Far from the North, the South Province seceded from the Great Kingdom. This may seem a small thing to the North, and it was, but it having done so shifted the attention of the Great Kingdom eve further away from the North’s continued stability.

    After the withdrawal of Nyrond from the Great Kingdom, the slide became precipitous. Buffoons and incompetents sat upon the Malachite Throne, and their mismanagement split apart the Celestial Houses. This period of degeneration culminated in the Turmoil Between Crowns, when the last Rax heir, Nalif, died in 437 CY at the hands of assassins from House Naelax. The herzog (great prince) of North Province, Ivid I, then laid claim to the throne. The herzog of South Province, Galssonan of House Cranden, broke with Rauxes and joined a widespread rebellion in the south. Years of civil war ensued, and only the intercession of dispassionate houses such as Garasteth and Darmen brought about the final compromise.

    The tyrannical Ivid I assumed the Malachite Throne at the price of granting greater autonomy to the provinces, notably Medegia, Rel Astra, and Almor. The recalcitrant herzog of South Province was quickly deposed and replaced by a prince from House Naelax, who sought immediately to bring the southern insurgents back into line. In 446 CY, the herzog granted an audience to representatives of Irongate, who went to Zelradton to air their grievances. The offer turned out to be a ruse, and the ambassadors were imprisoned, tortured, and executed for Overking Ivid's enjoyment. The whole of the south arose again in violent rebellion, and one year later formed the Iron League and allied with Nyrond. [LGG - 24]


    450 CY  Dunstan I of Nyrond realized that once the The Great Kingdom had finally stabilized, he would need allies. His borders needed to be secure. But mostly, he would need allies to come to his aid when called. Who better than those who had recently seceded for its tyranny?

    He called the Great Council of Rel Mord, and representatives from Almor, the Iron League, the Duchy of Urnst, and Greyhawk arrived to treat with him. They did, but there was a cost. He need withdraw Nyrondal troops from the Pale and the County of Urnst, for those who would ally with him would not do so if he too occupied lands not his, for they would not throw off the yoke of one Overking only to treat with another. They came to an accord, and roundly condemned the Great Kingdom.

    By 450 CY, Aerdy had survived two distinct civil wars. Ivid and his court had defeated their enemies in the aristocracy, and had entrenched themselves in the empire's political machine. With a stabilized foe, Dunstan realized in his old age that he still needed willing allies, should Aerdy take the offensive. In Harvester, he called the Great Council of Rel Mord. Delegates from every Nyrondal principality and subject state attended, as did representatives from Almor, the Iron League, the Duchy of Urnst, and even Greyhawk. After a month and a half of negotiation, Dunstan the Crafty withdrew Nyrondal troops from the Pale and the County of Urnst, and realigned the internal borders of his subject lands. Furthermore, he publicly threw his considerable support behind the Iron League, and rebuked the Great Kingdom of Aerdy as a "corpulent reanimated corpse, spreading contagion and sorrow to all that it touches."  [LGG - 77,78]                


    Swift Justice

    From its “Emancipation,” The Theocracy of the Pale was not a tolerant land; indeed, it never had been. It chaffed under the lack of self-determination and freedom they themselves denied any who didn’t proscribe to their narrow view: that was only one god, Pholtus, henceforth known as The Blinding Light, and that there was only one Truth and that was His. Nyrond saw otherwise, and had seen fit to exert their authority to that effect. The Theocracy determined that no other authority would supress their Truth again. They were the Chosen of The Blinding Light, selected by the god Himself, and governed by His priests. His Word was Law, and woe to those who deviated from His path. The Theocrat demanded that an “Inquisition” be enacted, heretics were rooted out, imprisoned and even slain. Those not of the faith were discouraged from entering their domain, lest they spread their false gods among the faithful. Judgement was always swift when “under the Question,” for the defendant was always considered Sinful until proven Innocent.

    Not all were pleased with the Council of Nine and its inquisition. A splinter group rebelled against Wintershiven, claiming that faith was a personal path, not to be interfered with by the State and the Council. The Council saw the matter differently. They swiftly put down the heretical clerics with a division of the army personally led by three members of the council. And thus the Church Militant was born, the paramilitary body of warrior priests responsible for ensuring the purity of doctrine and safeguarding church properties, especially the Basilica of the Blinding Light.

    They and the Council did not always see eye to eye.


    453 CY  The North has always been a place of mystery. Its seas are adrift with archipelagos of ice. Its shores burn. And there were wonders there that few had seen, let alone explained. Some sought to. One of those was Sormod, who mounted an expedition to the Land Beyond the Black Ice.

    Some years ago a fragmentary document was recovered from Blackmoor Castle which gave substance to the widespread accounts of a land “beyond the black ice where the sun never sets.” While a firm description of the land itself was lacking, the parchment gave explicit directions for finding it among the wastes of the Black Ice. This information fell into the hands of one Sormod, a merchant and adventurer from Perrenland who was visiting Eru-Tovar, where the parchment surfaced for sale at the bazaar. The romantic Sormod mounted an expedition as soon as he could gather the backing, and departed from Dantredun in Richfest of CY 453. [GA - 100]


    Beyond the Black Ice
    460 CY  Was Sormod successful. Yes and no. He and his party explored further than had anyone from the Great Kingdom ever had before. They discovered that others had already broken the trail they followed. What they found there was beyond all expectation. And as one might expect, they found greater dangers than they had expected, as well. 
    In CY 460 there surfaced in the city of Greyhawk a volume purporting to be the personal journal of one Henriki Ardand, the expedition’s magician. Whether true or false, it is a most marvelous tale. Henriki tells of the difficult passage over the sooty ice, where the expedition was endangered by subterranean hot springs of the same sort that underlie Blackmoor. These apparently weaken the ice and make passage over it a risky business, apt to result in a sudden downward drop as a cavern collapses under the weight of travelers. In places too, there are small volcanoes, which blacken the snows newfallen on the ice. Between these dangers and the jumbled areas of collapsed ice, as well as certain “iceworms” (most probably remorhaz) and the hostile dark-furred bugbears of the region, the progress of the expedition was rather slow and several members were lost or refused to go on. At last, however, they reached a range of low peaks jutting just above the ice as their directions had described. What greeted them on the other side must first have appeared to the surviving members to be a paradise. Henriki calls it the Rainbow Vale.
    After a region of mists the explorers saw before them a green and fertile bowl of land, warmed and lighted by a sunlike body floating half a mile above its center. Several large islands of land likewise drifted about it, some of them large enough to hold small rivers whose cascades of droplets caused Henriki to name the valley as he did. Below the miniature sun was a central lake, beside which the members of Sormod’s group could see several clumps of broken reddish towers.
    Sormod and his band descended the steep cliffs into the valley’s forests, passing first through birch, fir, and sablewood, then through oak and beech woodlands where they stopped to gather uskfruit and yarpik nuts, then past magnolias and fig trees, and down to the shores of the lake where they found palm and deklo trees flourishing in the steamy heat. Curls of vapor could be seen rising from the area of the lake beneath the valley’s illuminator. They camped beside one of the skyborn waterfalls near the ruins they had seen from the valley’s rim, and discovered to their surprise that the buildings were of deeply rusted iron. Finally they pitched camp. Perhaps exhausted by the long journey, or drowsy in the unaccustomed heat, the watchmen slept.
    Sormod’s party was neither particularly weak nor poorly equipped, but they had little chance unwarned against the sudden onslaught that overtook them: goblins, bugbears, and giant spiders, some of the latter of astounding size and speed and fiendish intelligence. The camp was scattered, and Sormod, Henriki, and the other survivors watched in horror as their companions were bundled away and hauled up on ropes of spider-silk to the nearest of the floating islands.
    Henriki and the others managed to regroup, and for some weeks they cautiously explored their surroundings. They discovered a group of human primitives who evidently worship the spiders and their humanoid henchmen, and they also found many inexplicable constructions of metal and glass in the ruins. Without their equipment they did not wish to risk an overland journey, but they discovered from conversations with one of the friendly cavemen that there was a tunnel leading southward which eventually would reach the surface. Assured of an escape route, they mounted a raid on the sky-island to which their companions had been taken, using Henriki’s remaining powers. They dis- covered no sign of their comrades, but they did find some very large statues of spiders in a grove beside the spider-village, each decorated with large diamond eyes. They took these and fled. 
    The long passage southward through the tunnels claimed yet more members of the group, in some cases to heat exhaustion as they passed the warm springs. Eventually, however, they emerged south of the Black Ice at the headwaters of the Fler. From there they passed through the Burneal Forest, where Sormod was lost to a poisoned arrow in a dispute with forest tribesmen. The survivors (including Henriki, a priest of Pharlagn from Schwartzenbruin, and two Wolf Nomads) divided the treasure between themselves and dispersed, none willing again to risk the terrors of the land beyond the Black Ice. [GA - 100]

    Tales of succession and exploration are well and good, you say; but what so they have to do with Iggwilv and Iuz? Be patient. This is where Iggwilv joins our narrative.
    Where did she come from? I cannot say, for she has been decidedly closed-lip about her origins. Perhaps Perrenland, but that is unlikely, for someone there would surely have taken note of the rise of so powerful a wizard.  Perrenland is a small place, all things considered, bounded by mountains on all sides, save one, and it is cut off from the rest of civilization there by savage tribes to the north. It is akin to a village, in many ways, most notably in that everyone knows everyone else’s business. The again, no other region had taken note of her rise, either.
    The Witch Queen of Perrenland
    Iggwilv first appeared in historical chronicles of Perrenland in 460 CY. Even then she was a powerful wizard, a master at fiend-summoning, planar exploration and necromantic magic. She had already summoned and bound the demon lord Graz'zt and given birth to a son by him: Iuz, adopted as an infant by a petty lord north of Whyestil Lake. [Return of the Eight - 55]

    The Archmage Iggwilv first made her presence known circa CY 460. Shortly thereafter, she conquered the fledgling nation of Perrenland, ruling it for a decade from her secret lair in the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.
    Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
    It is often said that much of Iggwilv’s power came as a result of her discovery of that fell place and the treasures it contained. Nonetheless, power is what she had, and she used it well. Oddly, some learned historians claim that Iggwilv was an accomplished necromancer, even a specialist in that field. How these noted scholars substantiated such a theory is a mystery, for Iggwilv had long borne the reputation of one who associated with fiends, and such creatures were heavy among the ranks of her servants. The very fact that she managed to summon and bind Graz’zt himself would seem to suggest that conjuration, rather than necromancy, was her forte. [Dragon #225 - 51]

    c. 476 CY              The peoples of the North were as curious about faraway lands as those to the south were sometimes curious about theirs. Indeed, there were adventurous souls who travelled to those more temperate climes and were seduced by them. Some few even settled there. So it came to pass that Uroch came to the site of Elredd, and founded its city upon its steep cliffs.
    There has been a settlement of some sort on the site of Elredd for more than a thousand years. The city itself came into being only a century or so ago, however. It was founded by a warrior named Uroch, who hailed from the Wolf Nomads [....] [WG8 - 37]

    467-469 CY         Plague swept the lands, beginning in Rookroost and fanning out faster than a man could run. It arrived as all plague does, suddenly: one week they were disease free, or as free from such as any populace ever is, and then scores were afflicted the next. The afflicted complained of lassitude, joint pain, and headache; soon, red boils appeared and the headache grew crippling. Hours later copper coins rested atop eyelids. Poultices, infusions, leeching were ineffective; indeed, even magics and the ministrations of the clergy proved useless. Thousands died; and just as swiftly as it began, it disappeared having burned itself out. Rookroost was ever vigilant of The Red Death’s return. But as in all of these cases, vigilance lasts only as long as a generation before it becomes the grist of old-wives’ tales and fairy fancies.
    Old records describe a plague that decimated the Bandit Kingdom's population as it swept across the Flanaess some four score years ago. [WG8 - 6]
    A bardic song talks of a 'wasting disease' that swept Oerik nearly a century ago. [WG8 - 40]

    476 CY  The Hold of Stonefist is an unforgiving land. It was born of deceit and violence. It has poor soil, a growing season shorter than any save Blackmoor. Only the Coltens have ever shown any inclination to till the land, to fur, and to fish. The rest proved as cruel and restless as their master. They wished to roam and raid widely, for to do otherwise invited subjection. Vlek Stonefist knew this, for he believed the same. Thus, he set about occupying his people in the manner to which they were accustomed: raiding. The Rovers were poor, and they moved about too much to be easy prey, so he set his people upon the Tenh. When they mobilized against his “Fists,” he sent them over the mountains to raze the Fruztii and Ratik. He sent raiding parties north against the Cruski. Resistance was everywhere, but the Fruztii, gravely weakened by having repeatedly thrown their might against the shield of the south were ill prepared for attacks from the north. The Fists grew ever bolder, so the Fruztii began to raise palisades against them, but they no longer had the strength to man the breadth of the Fists’ onslaught. The Frost Barbarians parlayed with their cousins, and together, they came to an accord, they must ally against the Hold of Stonefist.

    The Dark Prince of Shadows
    479 CY  When was Iuz born? Where did he come from? No one knows. It is said that he was the son of a forgotten despot of a petty fief. In truth, only the wild ruled that rocky, heathered marsh. It was a petty land, ruled by a petty man, who when he died in 479 CY, few if any mourned him. His dismal patch of marsh fell to his son, a boy who was named Iuz. Was he the despot’s son? Few deny the claim. None believe it.
                The lord died in 479 CY, and Iuz – probably trained and supported in secret by his [true]  parents – took over the estate. [Rot8 - 55]
                The truth?
    Iuz was born of a human mother, the necromancer Iggwilv, and a great tanar'ri lord, Graz'zt, ruler of several Abyssal planes. The young cambion tanar'ri soon used his powers to great effect. Realizing that his warriors could not hope to triumph by simple force, Iuz began to ally his men with other minor clan leaders to beat off stronger enemies. Of course, those allies always ended up suffering most of the casualties and their leaders died in battle with astonishing predictability. Slowly, the size of Iuz's warband increased. Celbit and Jebli orcs of the Vesve margins began to join. The human scum serving Iuz didn't like the orcs overmuch, but they soon saw how their enemies liked them even less. And of course, there was Iuz's magic. Many cambions wield magic, but that of Iuz, aided by his mother, was far more powerful than anything the competing hordes could muster. Iuz had control of the entire Land of Iuz in little over a decade. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil - 3]

    Few took note of this new presence in that secluded northern waste, despite the tales of refugees that fled south of slavery and ghastly abominations, the risen dead, and the road of skulls that stretched from Dorakaa to the Howling Hills. The fiefs always fought one another. Petty lords rose, and fell with regularity. This Iuz would do just the same, they imagined. He had risen. He would fall in due course. And if he didn’t, his was a secluded land of no consequence. What harm could he do?
    [The] land now called Iuz was a fractious collection of independent fiefs. The petty princes who ruled these plots of land vied to inherit the lands of Furyondy, which at that time reached far north. Among these princes was a paltry despot of the Howling Hills, who died in that year and left the land to a son of questionable origin – Iuz. Oddly, rumors alternately described the "son" as an old man and a 7-foot-tall, feral-faced fiend. [Wars - 2]

    Iuz was not content with his little patch of marsh. He was destined for greater conquest. So said his mother. So said his father, before he was whisked away. Iuz sent his hordes out. Conquer, he commanded. Pillar! Kill! And they did.
    Iuz's domain began to spread like mold upon an overripe peach, primarily due to his use of humanoid tribes. Most human princes considered orcs and goblins vermin-ridden inferiors, an attitude best typified by His Eminence Count Vordav, who swore to "burn on sight any hovel of those miserable scum." Though this attitude allowed the petty princes to "maintain a false sense of purity for the old Aerdi traditions," it also meant their armies were quickly overmatched by Iuz, who made full use of orcish cruelty and fecundity. [Wars - 3]

    c.480 CY               Iggwilv had designs. Perhaps Graz’zt had whispered sweet dreams of conquest in her ears. She began launching attacks into Perrenland from her base in the “Lost Caverns.”
    In her unpredictable fashion, Iggwilv created an empire from her base in the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, named for a legendary wizard of old and hidden in the Yatils. In 480 CY, Iggwilv sent her humanoid and barbaric human minions out to conquer and loot surrounding territories. [Rot8 - 55]

    481-491 CY         Perrenland was ill prepared for Iggwilv. They had grown lax, secure behind their mountain passes, and their appeasing the Nomads with trinkets and wine. And Iggwilv flowed out of the mountains here and there, without warning, seemingly without plan, and without rest.
    Perrenland was enslaved from 481 to 491 CY; all Lake Quag was taken; and her raiders pushed at the southern boundaries of the Wolf Nomad lands, perhaps with the assistance of troops supplied by Iuz to the east. Uninterested in the administration of her new lands, she stripped them of their treasures to support research into new magic. [Rot8 - 55]

    c.490 CY               Arch-mage Iggwilv sent her evil minions to conquer the lands around her abode. So successful was she that the Marches of Perrenland were subjugated for a decade, and great indeed was the loot brought to Iggwilv's lair in answer to her insatiable demands for treasure. Legend states that the arch-mage gained much of her prowess from discovering the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, where in was hidden magic of unsurpassed might. It is certain that lggwilv ruled her domain from these caverns. There she also conducted arcane experiments and rituals, trying to further increase her powers. [S4 - 2]

                These experiments were her downfall, for during one she accidentally freed the demon Graz'zt, whom she had imprisoned and forced into servitude. There was a terrible battle, and although the demon was forced to flee to the Abyss, lggwilv was so stricken from the contest that her powers and strength were forever lost. With the wane of her evil, lggwilv's realm was sundered. Her former henchmen and slaves stole her treasure and scattered to the four winds in the face of enemy armies. The arch-mage, however, used the last of her power to prepare a hiding place in the caverns for her remaining wealth. Legends say that this included several tomes of great power and the fabled lamp called Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn. What else might be hidden no one knows, for no one has yet discovered Iggwilv's hoard. [S4 - 2]

                Iggwilv’s reliance on fiends to increase her power eventually caused her downfall. During the course of one of her malevolent rituals, she made a critical mistake that accidentally freed Graz’zt from his captivity, and a spectacular battle ensued. In the end, Iggwilv was triumphant, forcing Graz’zt to flee to his Abyssal home, but she paid a dear price for that victory. The wounds she suffered reached far beyond merely the physical, damaging her psyche to such a degree that much of her personal power was torn from her.
                When the news of Iggwilv’s condition reached her oppressed subjects, they immediately took up arms and marched on her secluded abode. Her minions realizing that the reign of their queen was ended, scattered before the oncoming armies and took with them the bulk of her amassed fortune. Among the items stolen by her former servants was the Nethertome.  [Dragon #225 - 51]

    The Nethertome
    The Nethertome is divided into several chapters. Like Iggwilvs Fiendomicon, most of it deals with the lower planes (and the tanarri in particular). The beginning chapters give a highly detailed and surprisingly accurate treatise on the Blood War, though it has an obvious bias favoring the Abyssal fiends. The next handful of chapters describe the chaotic nature of the Abyss, methods of “safe” travel through its infinite layers, and most importantly, areas that should be avoided by mortals. Several more chapters describe the denizens of the Abyss, the tanar'ri in particular. These chapters describe their politics, psychology, and general behavior with astounding clarity, almost as if it had actually been written by a tanar’ri. In many places, individual tanar’ri are named. The most notable, and most oft referred to, is Graz’zt, of course. The last chapter contains a modest and seemingly incomplete assortment of wizard spells, two of which are unique to the Nethertome.  [Dragon #225 - 52]



    Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn:
     This artifact is wrought from the finest yellow gold. Its beautifully crafted framework is set with huge jewels and crystal lenses. An unwavering pure flame burns within. The faces are normally fitted with the crystal lenses, but the jewels are actually additional lenses, fashioned to fit the four faces of the lanthorn. The lanthorn's magical powers change, depending upon which of the gem lenses are fitted to it, as well as upon the continued burning of the lanthorn's magical flame. [S4 - 20]


    Prison of Zagig:
     Only five of these brass devices are believed to exist. Each is nearly identical, appearing to be nothing more than a small, well-made bird cage. Normal handling or examination will not reveal it to be magical. [S4]

    505 CY  Just as Iggwilv had descended upon Perrenland, so did Iuz upon Furyondy. Furyondy could have sundered Iuz, had they acted with concert and speed, but greed and ambition being what they are, the lofty lords had proven their worth in those early day. The opted for self-interest, when they ought to have opted for security. But who knew then what Iuz might become? Them! Had they been vigilant! Had they been true!
    A three-way split had grown in the ranks of nobility. The most powerful faction was the Great Lords of the south, who used Iuz's threat to lever their lands from the king's control. Second in power was the Order of the Hart, which grew in unity and strength to oppose Iuz's border raids. Least in power was King Avras III with his estates and kin. [Wars - 3]

    505 CY  King Avras of Furyondy took note of the doings of Iuz, for what king wouldn’t be concerned about the rise of Evil on his border. The Vesve was already hard pressed by this Iuz, as orcs and hobgoblins bearing Iuz’s mark had penetrated their canopy and were laying waste to all they encountered. Avras mustered his troops and sent them north. But even as they engaged his vile forces, the armies of Iuz had already begun to break apart. For Iuz was not to be found. And it was his tyranny that had held them together.
                But neither Furyondy nor Vesve was directly involved in the banishment of Iuz, generally dated to 505 CY. [WGR5 - 3]

    St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel has been allowed to strike against Iuz, when his avatar assisted those imprisoning Iuz in 505 CY. That St. Cuthbert would wish to fight Iuz is not unexpected. Of the "martial" [...] Powers, Heironeous has his great struggle with his hated brother Hextor [....] But St. Cuthbert is a doughty, tough fighter, and he hates Iuz's [...] nature. That he was allowed to strike against the Old One is surprising. He could only have done so if [the other] Powers agreed to this, for all Powers must agree to such an action. Istus could tell us that Incabulus cared not, but Nerull's croaking voice was decisive in giving permission. [WGR5 - 6]

    Other blows beset [Iuz]. His mother offended Graz'zt, who drew her to the Abyss and imprisoned her there; Iuz's growing alliance with Zuggtmoy, tanar'ri Lady of Fungi, never had the chance to grow to fruition. Within Iuz's own lands, many factions struggled for power when their master left. Tanar'ri and gehreleth came to odds with each other and decided to leave the barren lands to their own fate. Orcs and evil humans began to squabble and fight. Chaos reigned, and the good folk of Furyondy and the Vesve breathed a sigh of relief. [WGR5 - 3]

    510 CY  Avarice has been the undoing of many a man, and Sandor, lord of Polvar, province in eastern Ket, was no different.
    In 510 CY the last of the Euroz and Jebli tribes were driven forth from the Lortmil Mountains. One particularly large horde made the ill-advised attempt to reach the Yatil Mountains by crossing the gap from the Lorridges. Unfortunately for these creatures they had been preceded by lesser bands, and the combined cavalry of Bissel and Veluna stood ready to stem the tide. A large part of the force was destroyed, but the remainder survived by dint of a ferocious counterattack and entered the southern Yatils. There they were harassed by halfling, human, and elven forces raised by the locals, who were not at all of a mind to allow such prolific and ferocious creatures a foothold. The horde finally turned southward in an attempt to reach the Barrier Peaks region by passing through the Bramblewood Forest. Here they met their final and fatal opponent, one Sandor the Headstrong, the young lord of Polvar province in eastern Ket.
    Unlike the other harriers of the goblin/orc horde, the lord of Polvar was not particularly concerned that they would settle in his lands (clearly they did not desire to do so). He was motivated instead by rumors that had filtered into Ket after the earlier engagements: that the cartloads so fiercely protected by the horde’s leader (the half-orc Urgush) represented a great store of gems and precious metals garnered during the horde’s years in the Lortmils. Sandor was determined that such a prize should not escape, and he pursued the host in a series of forced marches which unfortunately exhausted his footsoldiers to the extent that many fell behind and the remainder could not bring about a decisive attack against Urgush’s resistance. The chase led through the Bramblewood and into the hills, Sandor’s force gradually regaining strength and Urgush’s growing fewer. In desperation Urgush turned up an unknown valley, determined to make a final stand. Here disaster met both sides.
    An Omen
    There are numerous hot springs in the northern Barrier Peaks and in the Yatils, and they are widely known and generally appreciated by the Kettites, so Sandor was not surprised or particularly worried when he began to pass through the outlying regions of a system of geysers, full of white frothy stone and colored pools and pits. He only slowed his cavalry over the difficult terrain. A supremely confident man, he was not much disturbed either when scouts reported a number of nearby lakes of a blood-red color said to be unlucky by Kettite peasants. The wains of the humanoid horde were in sight, and obviously bogged down. Sandor prepared his men for a hard pressing attack, hoping to disperse the horde and take their prize, when the ground began to tremble.
    With terrible swiftness, a powerful wind swept down the valley, tumbling the orcs on their faces and oversetting the precious carts. A wealth of gems could be seen to spill from them. Sandor’s force had barely begun to comprehend this when they too were bowled over. Only those on the upper slopes, where Sandor had been organizing the crossbowmen, were spared. None of the others rose again, even so far as their knees. Farther down the valley trees were snapped at the base by the strange wind. Geysers triggered by the earlier tremors spouted into the air.
    Sandor sent a cautious group of scouts into the ruined valley, but they fainted well before they had descended to the floor. He himself attempted the descent, and had to be dragged back out of the area by the rope which he had the foresight to attach to himself beforehand. Sandor and some of the scouts recovered, as did some of those who had been on the valley’s middle slopes. But all others were lost and the invisible poison barred further entry. After two fruitless days Sandor yielded to the demands of his much reduced force and made his way back to Polvar, swearing each of his men to secrecy concerning the location of the treasure and vowing to return. No sooner had Sandor recovered at Polvar than he set out again, being careful to put under his command all those who had first seen the valley. The sight of the wealth of the Euroz and Jebli tribes had inflamed his desires, and he was certain that with certain magical treasures he had acquired he and his force would return with wealth sufficient to make Polvar a nation in its own right. He never returned. [GA - 97]

    511 CY  Evil was on the rise across the lands. It rose from the marshes and fens just as it had flowed out of the mountains, unexpected, and en masse. What stirred the trolls so, none can say, though the name Iuz was whispered more than once. It’s the Old One, they said, nodding knowingly. But Iuz was imprisoned, as those privy to such information knew, so it couldn’t have been him. Other names were whispered alongside his: Keraptis, for one, for all the Tenha know it, and all expect him to return.

    Battle of Dour Prentess
    These identically-designed castles were the bulwarks of Tenh's defenses against the Troll Fens. Each castle was built with a curtain wall defense, inner castle walls, and a castle keep. In addition, mages with wands of fire defended them and great stone chutes were mounted along all walls to shower oil on attacking trolls which was then set ablaze with fiery arrows from the expert longbowmen of Pentress. High Pentress was home to the paladin Henschel Pentress, great-grandson of the noble who paid for these castles to be built. Dour Pentress was so named because of a spectacular siege-battle there in 511 CY when over two thousand trolls surrounded the castle, cutting it off from supplies in a Troll Winter, for a period of over three months before it was relieved. [WGR5 - 70]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.
     Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, From the Ashes Boxed Set, The Adventure Begins, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine 225.


    The Art:

    Iuz, by Eric Hotz, from WGR5 Iuz the Evil, 1993
    The-Necronomicon by marcsimonetti
    Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn, from S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, 1982
    Prison of Zagig, by Jeff Easley, from S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, 1982
    Redwater-Lake by skoggangr


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    2138 Book of Artifacts, 1993
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9038 S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, 1982
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon 225
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda 

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 10-03-2021 02:31 pm
    History of the North, Part 2: A Myth of Unity


    The Far North

    All empires crumble. They begin with a single conquest, and before long, want and avarice overwhelm them. They grow fat on their power and plunders, and in time, they collapse under their own weight, as they must, for their grasp always exceeds their reach.
    They conquer, and then conquer again, further and further afield until the crown can no longer contemplate the vastness of its territories. They are too far-flung; the distances are too vast; they sprawl out to this horizon and that, and beyond those, again. Where is that again, it asks? Tenh? The Quaglands? The minutiae of the day-to-day governance of so vast a territory overwhelms it, and it must then rely on its governors, for who knows their lands better than they? So long as the taxes are collected, what of it?
    That’s all well and good until the governors take umbrage with sending the crown their gold, receiving naught in return.

     Anarchy crept into the Great Kingdom
    300-350 CY         Anarchy crept into the Great Kingdom, and more and more of its northern provinces became increasingly independent. Some became lawless. Many became lawless. Petty fiefs sprang up, their rulers declaring themselves kings and barons and dukes and such. Where ruffians seized power, banditry prevailed, and they became known for such. Such were the Bandit Kingdoms, which called themselves a confederacy—a fancy word for what they might have been; but in truth, they could never be, because they preyed upon one another even as they clung together to ward against those who would annex them.
    The Bandit Kingdoms are a collection of petty holdings. Each little kingdom is ruled by a robber chieftain claiming a title such as Baron, Boss, Plar, General, Tyrant, Prince, Despot and even King. In all there are 17 states within the confines of the area, ruled by 4 to 6 powerful lords, and the rest attempting either to become leading rulers or simply to survive. [Folio - 8]


    310-360 CY         The fiefs north of the Nyr Dyv looked to their borders, both north and east, and discovered that they were bounded by villainy and evil. Something must be done, they realized, otherwise they would be pillaged and sundered by it. A vanguard of lords and knights came to the fore and banded them together, promising to keep them safe. The knights became the Knights of the Shield, and the lands took their name, becoming the Shield Lands.
    When the Bandit Kingdoms began to grow powerful, the petty nobles of the north shores of the Nyr Dyv banded together in a mutual protection society. [Folio - 15]


    When similar circumstances resulted, ultimately, in the formation of the lawless Combination of Free Lords to the north, the southern nobles banded together, forming the "Shield Lands" as a bulwark against the depredations and chaos of the north. Since the earl of Walworth commanded Admundfort, at the time the only notable city in the region, he was chosen as the knight commander of the combined forces of the nobles. Within a handful of years, the new capital saw the formation of the Knights of Holy Shielding, a Heironean order that both formed the core of the new national army and served as an example of good, clean living through dedication to strict, militaristic goals. [LGG - 104]


    Veralos
    318 CY  The North was vast. And for all its peoples, for all its scattered states, and for all its history, it was largely undiscovered. Few saw the foundations of the Ur-Flans kingdoms, but they were there for those tenacious enough to find them. Why, some would ask. They were swept aside, and of no concern. But not everyone was so foolish. Some knew what power they wielded, what wonders they forged before the rise and fall of Vecna. Zagig Yragerne was one of those. He wished to find the fabled city of Veralos, for he believed that a culture that could produce Vecna and sunder the Elven Empire surely must have produced a great many artifacts worth seeking. So, he and his Company of Seven, a young Murlynd and Keoghtom among them, left to much fanfare to do just that, and returning a year later, they claimed to have found and plundered the city, producing a wagon laden with treasures to prove their claim. Their expedition revived the legend of the lost citadel, and indeed, that of the Ur-Flan and their civilization, which had all but been forgotten since their Aerdy conquerors pulled down their ancient settlements and built their new ones on top of them, laying waste to Flan magic, art, and writings.


    The Relentless Horde
    320 CY  The Great Kingdom had not been vigilant in the North, but neither did it rule the North in its entirety, either. And even if they had, they most certainly could never have truly conquered it. Or defended it. Neither could the Rovers of the Barrens. And they had roamed it even before they had ever heard the name Vecna.
    Nomads swept into the North from the West, but the northern steppes were so vast, the Rovers remained unaware of the Relentless Horde until it had already gained a foothold in their lands. And, by then, it was already too late to stop them.
    Before too long, they had cut off Blackmoor and the Quaglands from the rest of the Great Kingdom.
    Mixed Oerid-Baklunish nomad bands had gradually moved into and laid claim to the steppe lands beyond the Yatil range, pushing eastwards as far as the Griff Mountains. Border skirmishing with the southern nations went on as these wild horsemen pushed into the Flanaess. Perhaps the civilized states could have stopped their eastward progress had they not been busy fighting with the Aerdi for their independence. [Folio - 6]


    The Relentless Horde pressed the Rovers of the Barrens ever east. Because they must. They had little choice; they too were being harried from the west, themselves forced ever eastward by the Brazen Horde, who were conquering the whole of the Paynims.
    Soon, Kha-Khan Ogobanuk, ruler of the Restless Horde, had conquered most of the Plains. Ilkhan of Tiger Nomads ruled the western steppes in his name. The Wolf Nomads pressed on but could advance no further than the Cold Marshes and the Howling Hills. Their horses could not race across the former, and they met with the Rover’s resolve in the valleys of the latter.
    The Tiger Nomads were driven from the southern plains by the invading Brazen Horde almost three centuries ago. Thrown together with the Wolf Nomads, and other bands of mixed Oerid and Baklunish refugees from the plains, they arrived in the northern steppes in defeat and disarray. Yet, within a few years, they grew strong enough for their ilkhan to command the whole of the western steppes under the great Kha-Khan Ogobanuk of the Relentless Horde (c. 320 CY) [LGG - 114]


    Following the lead of the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, the outer dependencies of Aerdy too began to claim sovereignty. The Great Kingdom, ever riven by inner turmoil and its increasing decadency, was shrinking. And in its lessened state, it could do nothing to stem the tide.
    Perranders, Velunians, Furyondians and Tenhas achieve success, establishing independent status one after the other in a series of minor but bloody wars. [Folio - 6]


    The Quaglands
    Even as Furyondy broke free of the Great Kingdom, they sought to lay claim to the Quaglands. But the Quaglands were isolated, cut off from the rest of the South except through mountain passes. Always a fiercely independent people, they had no wish to be or remain under their dominion.
    Rebellions were endemic from the beginning of the Great Kingdom's presence in the Quaglands. Most Aerdi bailiffs were practical overseers, not given to excesses of taxation or punishment, but the intractable natives seemed unable to learn obedience in any form. Nor, it seemed, could they learn unity, as decades of Aerdy rule turned to centuries. Many mountain and lowland tribesmen eventually served in the military of Ferrond, then in Furyondy after 254 CY; from this they gained the experience and discipline necessary to mount a successful rebellion.
    They took the first appearance of the Relentless Horde in the north (c. 320 CY) as the opportunity to break free of the yoke of their overseers. The bailiffs and the troops loyal to them were expelled, and the distracted kingdom of Furyondy was unable to spare the forces necessary to put down this last rebellion. [LGG - 86]


    342 CY  The Theocracy of the Pale chaffed under the dominion of the infidel. Neither Nyrond nor the Great Kingdom followed the path of the blessed Blinding Light, so what right did they have to determine their destiny of the Faithful! The Council of Nine selected its first Theocrat to rule as the semi-independent leader of the Pale. And bided its time.
    Ceril the Relentless, […] greatly revered as a patron saint of the nation […] founded the Council of the Nine, which organized the government of the early nation and chose the first theocrat from their number in 342 CY. Together, they fashioned a government in accordance with their strict interpretations of doctrine. The Palish considered themselves far removed from the politics of the overking and his court, whom they continued to fear and mistrust despite their separation. [LGG - 82]


    345 CY  The Quaglands soon discovered that being part of a greater whole had its benefits when it was taken from them. The Hordes were sweeping across the North, and they as they pled for aid from the Aerdi and Dyvers, they were cut off. None came.
    Hostilities were inevitable; the Tigers were warlike and desperate for lands to call their own; but if anything, the Quaglanders were crafty, and adroit at dealing with this new threat.
    The nomads were indeed a threat to the Quaglands freeholders, and the Sepia Uplands saw many bloody skirmishes between the two peoples. Even the death of the nomads' Kha-Khan Ogobanuk and the division of the horde into twin nations (345 CY) did not completely end the hostility. [LGG - 86]


    Tiger Nomad
    Over the next century, the Tiger Nomads maintained their independence from the Wolf Nomads, but were unable to increase their territory; thus, a certain stability was achieved, despite chronic warfare. Raids into Perrenland and Ekbir continued as well, though the Perrenders became so skilled at negotiating with the nomads that often, raids would turn into exchanges of horses for liquor. Unfortunately, the nomads' consumption of liquor might turn any barter session into an attack, so the maneuver was hardly foolproof—but at least drunken nomads were more easily defeated. 
    [LGG - 115]


    With their cousins, the Wolf Nomads, they were the terror of the north, from the Dramidj coast to the Griff Mountains. When KhaKhan Ogobanuk made his final journey to the invisible realm in 345 CY, the ilkhan of the Tiger Nomads withdrew from the Relentless Horde, forming his own nation of Chakyik. [LGG - 114]


    [The Tiger Nomads] warred with the Flan tribes of the Burneal, whom they called the Uirtag, as well as the Guryik people from the Land of Black Ice. [LGG - 114]


    Luckily for the Quaglands, the Nomads were far from unified. 
    The Wolf Nomads consider themselves the true heirs of the great Relentless Horde that once challenged all the nations of the northern Flanaess. Led by the mighty Kha-Khan Ogobanuk, the host encompassed both the Wolf and Tiger nations until 345 CY. All the lands west of the Griff Mountains were under their sway, though by the end of the khakhan's lifetime the territory east of the Fellreev Forest was already lost. After Ogobanuk was laid to rest in the Howling Hills, the Wolf and Tiger Nomads became separate nations, though still bound by language and tradition. Both the ilkhan and tarkhan have followed the kha-khan's decree and studied the art of beguilement, for any ruler who cannot deceive his enemies is not clever enough to lead a free people. [LGG - 133]


    The Short War
    c. 350 to 360 CY     The Short War:
    Keoland looked to their north and saw the vacuum the Great Kingdom’s retreat had created there. The Hordes were sweeping across the North. Newly formed Furyondy had shown itself to be less than unified. And Ket was increasingly belligerent. Keoland realized that they were vulnerable, for what prevented the Bakluni from rushing in from Ket? Nothing! They had done as much in the Quagmands, after all. And in due time, Ket did just that, and Keoland marched out from the Gran March to secure what had not been considered such until then.
    Keoland held sway from the Pomarj to the Crystalmist Mountains, while her armies pushed into Ket and threatened Verbobonc and Veluna City (c. 350-360 CY). The Ketite expedition came to grief in successive battles (Molvar, Lopolla), while an alliance between Veluna-Furyondy ended the Keoish threat in that quarter (Short War). Coincidentally, the Olvenfolk within the boundaries of Keoland objected to the warlike policies of the King and began expelling royal garrisons in the Ulek Provinces and Celene. In the ensuing struggle, the freemen of the western portion sided with the demi-humans. Raiders in the far south took advantage of these conditions to harry the Keoish coast from Gradsul to Gryrax. [Folio - 12]


    Bissel has long been the gateway between three worlds (the Baklunish West, the Sheldomar Valley, and the rest of the Flanaess), and as a result has been repeatedly invaded, conquered, and settled by a variety of Oeridian, Suloise, and Baklunish peoples. Some present-day villages and trade routes were established before the ancient Baklunish-Suloise Wars. The area shows the influences of many cultures, but the inhabitants tend to be untrusting of foreigners and keep to themselves. The land was eventually brought into Keoland (c. 302 CY), its troublesome peoples forcibly subdued by the Knights of the March, Keoish forces invaded Ket and Veluna from Thornward through 350-360 CY. [LGG - 32]


    356 CY  The founding of Nyrond marked be beginning of the Great Kingdom’s decline. One might think that the founding of Furyondy had marked such, because in truth, the Great Kingdom had already begun to lose its furthest protectorates; but it had not looked to its Western Provinces in decades; nor had those provinces sought their aid or council, so when the Viceroyalty of Ferrond declared its sovereignty, the Great Kingdom hardly took note. It had grown myopic. Its focus was inward, its attention was rooted in the East, and that was where its interests lay; so, when its Eastern protectorates began to secede, the Kingdom rose from its stupor and took note.
    The House of Rax, ruling Aerdi dynasty, was at the time sundered by an internal feud, and the junior branch, then known as Nyrond, declared it lands free of the rule of the reigning Overking [Portillan] and sovereign. [Folio - 6]


    [T]he ruling dynasty of Aerdy, the Celestial House of Rax, had grown especially decadent. In response, the western province of Nyrond declared itself free of the Great Kingdom and elected one of its nobles as king of an independent domain. Armies gathered from all loyal provinces of Aerdy to suppress this brazen act. [LGG - 14]

     

    Fate Takes a Hand
    Sometimes Fate takes a hand. Nyrond should have fallen. But just as the Aerdi dynasty was marching north to deal with Nyrond’s illegal declaration of independence, an allied host of Fruztii and Schnai invaded, threatening to overwhelm the Bone March and Ratik. The Rax Overking Portillan diverted his forces to counter the barbarian invasion. Had he not, the March and Ratik would have fallen and the Barbarians would have swept into the North Province. They did not. The Aerdi held the line. The Aerdi pressed the Barbarian back into the sea. But at a great cost. So many perished in the Kingdom’s defence that Portillan no longer had the strength to put Nyrond to heel. He had no choice but to accept Nyrond’s independence.
    A coalition of Fruzt, Schna and mercenary barbarians mounted a major foray into the Aerdian North Province. The Overking's army, raised to invade Nyrond, swung northeast and soon the invaders were crushed. The end of the campaigning season arrived before any action could be taken against Nyrond. [Folio - 6]
    Of course, Fate may not have had hand in it, at all. Nyrond surely knew that the Kingdom would not take their declaration of independence lightly; surely they knew that the Kingdom would retaliate. So it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities that Nyrond may have sent emissaries to the Thillonrian Peninsula, informing the Barbarian tribes that the North Province might soon be vulnerable. And the Northern tribes just may have listened. Stanger things have happened. Of course, no one can say for certain if this really happened. But the timing is suspicious. Then again, sometimes Fate takes a hand, doesn’t it?


    The Battle of Redspan
    Nyrond’s secession was just the beginning. They pressed Tenh to join them in revolt, convincing them that this was the time to rise, that true freedom could be theirs. Tenh did not need much convincing. Tenh had always believed that they were independent of the Great Kingdom, had always believed that they were self-determining, but until then, they had never brazenly declared themselves so, fearing retribution, for the Great Kingdom was vast and strong, and they were small. They saw that now was the time to do so. The Aerdi were hard pressed, the Aerdi were weakened, so if not then, when? They rose up with Nyrond, and the Tenha cavalry routed the Aerdian forces at Redspan. And when that was done, the Duke of Tenh ended his fealty to Aerdian Crown.
    The Battle of Redspan
    Eventually, the Great Kingdom showed signs of decay. When the Nyrondal princes declared the end of their allegiance to the overking, the duke was persuaded to follow suit. The Battle of Redspan signaled the end of the duke's fealty to the overking of Aerdy. The Aerdy force was routed by the Tenha cavalry and pushed down the "Red Road to Rift Canyon" in an action made famous in the ballad of the same name. The army of the Great Kingdom was not actually swept into the Rift Canyon, as the ballad proclaims, but they were so thoroughly defeated that many of the Aerdi officers and soldiers chose exile in the Bandit Kingdoms over the punishments awaiting them at home. 
    [LGG - 113]


    The Theocracy of the Pale, already self-determining, proclaimed its autonomy in the wake of Nyrond’s successful bid. There was little risk to doing so, they thought; the Kingdom would not reach them without crossing newly independent Nyrond. They were free and clear, they thought. They prepared for the possibility, nonetheless.


    As the rot of cultural and social decay started to penetrate the Great Kingdom, many of the more devout and outspoken followers of the god Pholtus withdrew from the increasingly corrupt core of the land. Some of these settled between the Rakers mountain range and the Yol River. When Nyrond declared its independence from the Great Kingdom, so did these religious refugees. Thus was the Theocracy of the Pale formed. [WG8 - 47]


    c. 357 CY        "And then it started like a guilty thing; Upon a fearful summons" [Hamlet]
    Evil and decadence had corrupted the heart of the Great Kingdom. All knew it. They had cavorted with nether worlds and grown cruel.
    It was at this time that the evil began to grow within the rulers of the Great Kingdom. The House of Rax became decadent, its policies ineffectual and aimed at appeasement. The powerful noble houses took this as their cue to set up palatinate-like states, and rule their fiefs as if they were independent kingdoms. [Folio - 6]


    359 CY  Nyrond, the Theocracy of the Pale soon discovered, did not recognize the Pale’s right to self-determination. In its hubris, Nyrond did not see itself as divisible as it had the Great Kingdom. Nyrondal forces marched into Wintershiven, and annexed the newly formed Theocracy of the Pale, and, later, the County of Urnst. While occupied, Wintershiven was burned to the ground, and ultimately abandoned. And so it came to pass that New Wintershiven was founded twenty miles north of the old.
    Some still claim that the invaders razed the city to the ground. Calmer heads disagree, citing nothing more than carelessness: apparently some drunken Nyrondese soldiers set fire to a barn, and the fire spread to destroy the city. [WG8 - 47]
    The occupation was short. Nyrond chose to accept Theocracy and Urnst independence after the treaty of Rel Mord, in return for pledges of mutual protection. The Pale celebrates this day as the Emancipation.


    Latavius of Rookroost
    371 CY     The Bandit Kingdoms had never been stable. Only the strong ruled there, and woe to any who let their guard down. Robber Baron Latavius of Rookroost found that out, as many others had before him. He forgot that even as he kept his friends close and his enemies closer, that they were still his enemies, no matter what their title.
    [Rookroost's] founder was an Oeridian robber baron named Latavius, and under his dominion the city enjoyed its most dynamic period of growth. [When] Latavius died suddenly -- under rather suspicious circumstances -- the throne of Rookroost was taken over by the former commander of Latavius's personal bodyguard. [WG8 - 3]


    c. 400 CY              Stalemate is inevitable when combatants are evenly matched; attrition takes its toll, and before long, they dig in and wait for the other to “make a mistake.” They probe. They flank. But in the end, they fortify. Keoland raised sturdy walls to protect the Fals Road at Thornward; just as Ket raised Avernand to anchor its line of forts to either side of the Irafa Road. And there they watched. And waited.
    After suffering defeats in Ket during the Short War, Keoland pulled back and made Bissel the "Littlemark," the kingdom's northernmost domain. Thornward, now a town of respectable size, was established as its capital to check Ketite expansion south and east of Bramblewood Gap; it grew into a major trade center between Baklunish west and Oeridian/Suloise east. Bissel also profited greatly from trade between Keoland and Furyondy through the Fals River Pass, and Mitrik became the destination of much overland and river traffic. Knights of the Watch have had much influence here over the last 190 years, serving in the margrave's court and armies. [LGG - 32,33]

    The Flan in the Yatils
    The Quaglands finally threw off the yoke of Dyvers. Furyondy had claimed them, but the freeholders discovered that there was little benefit to being within its fold. Furyondy offered little aid, yet demanded that the Quaglanders pay their taxes and fill the ranks of their legions. It was only a matter of time before they realized that Furyondy needed them more than they had ever needed Furyondy. If the ever had. 
    The original Flan tribes dwelling in the Yatil Mountains were far more warlike and fierce than most of their fellows elsewhere in the Flanaess. Would-be invaders were absorbed by these powerful clans. Attempts at expansion into Perrenland were vigorously resisted by the inhabitants. These attempts brought the various clans together in a loose association under the banner of the strongest of their number, Perren. [Folio - 13]


    Nomad raids continued for many years in the north, while Ket several times invaded the Wyrm's Tail and nearly took Krestible. The Quaglands and Yatil freeholders defended their borders tenaciously, but lacked the strength to make themselves truly secure. A plan was then devised to unite the defenses under a single leader, while allowing clan holdings to remain relatively independent. The freeholds were marked into eight cantonments, joined by oaths of mutual armed assistance called the Covenant of Concatenation. The leaders of these collected states elected the strongest of their number, Perren, to be their voormann, c. 400 CY. Such was their devotion to this great warrior and statesman that he was elected voormann five consecutive times; after his death, the young nation adopted his name.[LGG - 86]

     

    430 CY  Few looked to the North. It was cold. It was savage. It had little of value, so thought the South. And so, it was left to its own devices. Thus, only the strong ruled. Vlek Col Vlekzed was one such.
    Vlek Col Vlekzed
    Who was he? Where did he come from? Some say that he was a Rover, who after years of plundering the lands around his, had fled to the northern peninsula with those Rovers and bandits who followed him. He was reckless and fierce, and took the lands of the Colten Feodality for his own, having lured them to their deaths on the pretense that they were to treat and come to an accord of peace.
    Others contend that he was one of the Colten Atamans, and that he seized control of all their lands when he betrayed his peers, slaughtering them while they revelled in his Hold, besotted on his wine. Still others contend that he was from Tenh. Wherever he came from, and however he came to control the Atamans, he drew them into his fold, and collectively, they came to be known as the Hold of Stonefist.
    The inhabitants of the area, the Coltens Feodality, were tricked into negotiation with Vlek. These negotiators and their escorting force were slaughtered, the remainder of the Coltens host routed by surprise and ferocity, and Vlek settled down to rule over the whole territory. [Folio - 16]

    The Coltens folk had no place in this hierarchy, and many fled to the Hraak Forest, or beyond the Big Seal Bay and the northern thrust of the Corusks to dwell in the Taival Tundra, in the land of the Ice Barbarians). [LGG - 109]


    The inhabitants of the area, the Coltens Feodality, were tricked into negotiation with Vlek. These negotiators and their escorting force were slaughtered, the remainder of the Coltens host routed by surprise and ferocity, and Vlek settled down to rule over the whole territory. [Folio - 16]


    437 CY  The Great Kingdom continued to tear itself to pieces during the Turmoil between Crowns. The North took little note. Rauxes and Rel Astra were distant lands, and few Northerners had ever heard their names.
    This name is given both to the decade of internal schisms under the rule of the last Rax overking, Nalif, and to the civil war which followed Ivid's ascension. [Ivid - 4]


    The Second Short War

    438 CY  The Second Short War

    Ket, Keoland, and Furyondy continued their savage dance. Keoland wished to expand its influence north, and had little use of Rao and the Blinging Light of Pholtus. Furyondy had no desire to cede its hard won lands to southern kings. Ket wished to drive the infidels from the Barrier Peaks and Yatils. The borders were fluid, rarely found in the same place from year to year, short war to short war.
    Furyondy vs. Keoland, ends Keoish influence in Veluna and wrests Littlemark from beneath Keoish control. Littlemark becomes a tributary state of Furyondy for a few decades. [Folio - 9]


    Bissel was conquered by the combined forces of Furyondy and Veluna in 438 CY, which ended Keoish influence in western Veluna. The throne in Chendl kept Bissel's office of the margrave, but replaced the ruling family with nobles sympathetic to the affairs of the east. [LGG - 33]


    c.440s-460s         Torn by its turmoil, the Great Kingdom began to break apart. Beginning with the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, the other western satellite states followed suit, Veluna, Bisset, Keoland. At first the Malachite Throne took no action. But as the tapestry of state continued unravelling, it had little choice but to rise from its stupor and take action, lest it lose the entirety of its lands. But try as it might, it could not stem the tide. The Iron League formed. Nyrond seceded. Alain II of Ratik declared his fief an arch-barony, not entirely willing to completely sever ties with the mother country, as yet. But in truth, he ruled Ratik as though it was indeed independent, as did the Marquis of Bone March. What choice did they have? The Crown was embroiled in what came to be known as the Turmoil Between Crowns, and it took no interest in the administration of its provinces.




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

     Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine 293.

    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Omen by cenyn
    Veralos, by Kelman Andrasofszky, Dragon Magazine 293
    Atilla-the-hun by miguelcoimbra
    JUDICATOR-LET-THERE-BE-NOTHING by mitchellnolte


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 09-27-2021 02:34 pm
    History of the North, Part 1, Arrivals


    The North

    Much had happened in the North, more than one might expect. It’s surprising how many peoples chose to settle in that unforgiving land. The Elves had prospered there, so had the Flan. There had been peace there for many years before the Ur-Flan had swept in and swept aside all who stood against them. Then they too prospered there.
    Some might think that they were lesser than those who came after them, because, were they all that powerful, surely they would still rule all of the Flanaess, surely they would have brushed aside the martial fury of the Oeridians. They would have had they been interested in worldly affairs. They were not. They were concerned with extending life. With immortality. They were concerned with attaining power not seen since eldritch times.
    Were the Ur-Flan wiped out? Those lesser ones, yes. But not all. No, not all. There were many who survived the coming of the Kingdom of Aedy.
    We should hope that we never draw their attention ever again.

    Keraptis

    Some two thousand years ago, the wizard Keraptis established himself as "protector" of Tostenhca--a grand mountainside city of wide streets and towering ziggurats. But the wizard, who had extended his lifespan far beyond that of most mortals in his search for immortality, became more and more corrupt with increasing age. Over four centuries, the cost of his protection grew ever more burdensome, until eventually Keraptis was taking a piece of everything that the people of Tostenhca grew, made, or sold. With the announcement of yet another levy—one-third of all newborn children—the people rose as one, ousting Keraptis and his personal bodyguard of deranged gnomes. Homeless, the wizard and his followers fled to the cities of the south and west. But wherever Keraptis went, his reputation preceded him, and he found no other settlements willing to accept his "protection." During these travels, which lasted most of three centuries, the wizard acquired several implements of surpassing power. The secret gnomish conclave from which he drew his bodyguard gave him the hammer called Whelm. In return for aid that would enable them to crack their divinely ordained prison, the mythical Cyclopes presented Keraptis with the trident named Wave. While future-communing with the last living entities of a dying multiverse, he received the sword called Blackrazor. But true immortality still eluded his grasp. Three hundred years after leaving Tostenhca, Keraptis learned of a great volcano called White Plume Mountain, in which still-living druids of the Elder Age guarded the secrets of immortality. Within the volcano, the wizard found a tangled maze of lava tunnels and an ancient druid serving as the sole protector of Elder secrets. The two fought a titanic battle for ownership of White Plume Mountain and its ancient mysteries, but in the end the wizard prevailed. After casting the druid's remains into a sea of magma, the triumphant Keraptis penetrated to the Druid's Fane, a secret chamber protected by molten rock.
    There, among other treasures of ancient sorcery, he found the archetypal iceblade Frostrazor and an enigmatic statuette. Keraptis used the figurine’s power to pronounce a heinous curse that laid waste to distant Tostenhca, thus exacting his revenge at last. Thereafter, Keraptis focused all of his vast faculties on the problem of death. He embarked on a dozen separate research efforts, all aimed at achieving eternal life without the need for constant magical maintenance and healing. It was one such project, empowered by the four enchanted implements he had obtained, that eventually allowed Keraptis to step forth from the Prime Material Plane into a distant shadowy realm where, he hoped, he would leave behind the constraints of mortality forever. Keraptis quit the volcano some five hundred years past. No one knows whether he achieved his ultimate goal or still pursues it in some far, dim dimension. Whatever his fate, Keraptis never came to White Plume Mountain again. [Return to While Plume Mountain  - 3,4]

    Masterless, the company of gnomes loyal to Keraptis continued to abide within the active volcano, living off the gargantuan fungal gardens that the wizard had magically grown inside the caverns. Generations were born, only to live out stale, sunless lives and finally die within the mount a in. At last, some one hundred years ago, an invasion fractured the placid flow of days beneath White Plume. Lured by tales of treasure, several powerful heroes calling themselves the Brotherhood of the Tome burrowed into the sealed-off chambers of the volcano and stole the wizard’s four implements of power: Wave, Blackrazor, Whelm, and Frostrazor. The theft of these weapons trapped Keraptis in his shadowy realm, preventing his return to the Prime Material Plane. The residents of White Plume realized that more attacks might follow now that outsiders knew about the complex inside the mountain. Seeking protection, the gnomes opened the sealed caverns wherein Keraptis had conducted his research. Though they uncovered many wonders, it was the discovery of Keraptis-imprints that changed life under White Plume Mountain forever. As part of his research into immortality, Keraptis had tried for some time to embody himself as a being of pure thought in the matrix of a certain kind of spell. In that way, he reasoned, he could live forever in the minds of others. Though he ultimately abandoned this idea, the fruit of his research—several variant copies of the spell on scrolls — still remained. Each of these dweomers (called Keraptis-imprints or K-imprints) incorporated a full or partial copy of the wizard’s persona and knowledge, though all were in some way damaged or incomplete. Upon finding these scrolls in an opened chamber, an over-eager gnome immediately memorized one of them, thereby installing a copy of the absent wizard‘s consciousness in his own mind. Believing himself to be Keraptis, he rose up and began to gather back the stolen weapons of power that the ancient wizard had owned. [RtWPM - 4]
    Historical Development of Keraptis: Erik Mona, Lisa Stevens, Steve Wilson

    Thingizzard, Witch of the Fens

    c.-800 CY              There were those who arrived without fanfare. Thingizzard, Witch of the Fens, was one such; she was already dwelling in The Great Swamp, north of White Plume Mountain, when the Elder Druid arrived, so who can say from whence she came. She certainly can’t. 

    Thingizzard was already living in the Great Swamp when Keraptis descended on White Plume Mountain some thirteen hundred years ago. Though the wizard thought nothing of attacking the volcano’s Elder druid guardian, he chose not to trifle with the Witch of the Fens. It may well be that Keraptis thought her insignificant, but it is more likely that he left her alone because of his phobia concerning undead. Though she is not human, Thingizzard appears as an old woman with pure white hair. She doesn’t know her own origins and doesn’t care to learn them; her only interest is maintaining the peculiar” ecology” of the Great Swamp. In fact, regular infusions of Thingizzard’s necromantic potions have made this place what it is. The witch pours these concoctions into the water regularly to nurture her ”children” — the  bog mummies. She can call these creatures to her defense at any time [….] Not only is the Witch of the Fens very strong […]), she [can] also […]: animate dead, […] control weather, curse, dream, [and affect the minds of any within her sight.] In addition, her knowledge of herbalism and potion brewing rivals that of the most respected mages in the land. [RtWPM - 15]


    Tharizdun Heretic

    -563 CY Evil always finds a foothold. The Sueloise acolytes of Tharizdun had ventured out long before the Reign of Colourless Fire, spreading their master’s word of hopelessness and oblivion to any who might listen. Most found their message abhorrent. Just so the Highfolk. The Olven knew much after so many millennia, and they knew Tharizdun’s message well, and were ever vigilant against it.

    The Temple was built in a previous age, a secret place of worship to Tharizdun, He of Eternal Darkness. It drew the most wicked persons to it, and the cult flourished for generations, sending out its minions from time to time to enact some horrible deed upon the lands around. However, a great battle eventually took place between Tharizdun and those opposed to his evil. Unable to destroy him, they were strong enough to over- come his power and imprison him somewhere, by means none have ever been able to discover. Thus Tharizdun disappeared from the face of the earth, and from all of the other known planes, and has not been seen again since. [WG4 - 3]


    A temple to Tharizdun is located near the Realm of the Highfolk, it is cleared, but a mystic force keeps it from being destroyed. [OJ1] (4957 SD/1588 FT)


    After a time his servants returned again to the Temple, deserted as it was of any manifestation of their deity. Amongst these wicked folk were many powerful magic-users and clerics. All sought with utmost endeavor to discern what had happened to Tharizdun, so that he could be freed and returned to rule over them once again. All attempts were in vain, although the divinations and seekings did reveal to these servants of Eternal Darkness that a “Black Cyst” existed below the Temple. By physical work and magical means they delved downward to reach the Black Cyst. What they discovered there dismayed and disheartened them. In the hemisphere of black needlerock (floating as if by levitation) a huge form could be seen. Was this the physical manifestation of Tharizdun? None could tell. The misty form was black and indistinct and enclosed in vaporous purple energy as well. No ritual, no spell, no magic could pierce the enigma. As time passed, the seekers ritualized their attempts to determine if this was their imprisoned deity. An altar of black needlerock was constructed directly under the 12’ long form so that it seemed to rest upon the stone. As generations passed, various other things necessary to survival in the Black Cyst were formalized into a paeon of lament and worship for Tharizdun, and endless services to awaken the being were conducted by route. Then, as time continued to pass, even this ritual grew stale and meaningless. The clerics of Tharizdun began to pilfer the hoard of beautiful gems sacrificed to him by earlier servants – 333 gems of utmost value [….] Replacing these jewels with stones of much less value, the former servants of this deity slipped away with their great wealth to serve other gods and wreak evil elsewhere. 

    In the end only a handful of faithful clerics remained to repeat the daily ritual of attempted awakening. Some of this handful were slain by monsters, others eventually grew old and died. The last High Priest [Wongas], alone, wandered off into the place reserved for his remains in the dungeon, for alone he was unable to take his proper place in the Undertemple. Thus, a century ago, [Wongas] died, and the Temple was without inhabitant of human sort. [WG4 - 3]


    Black Cyst

    “You have dared all and descended the spiralling purple steps formed by the strange column of gray smoke, lilac light, and jet black. This swirling, pulsing column of radiation has opened a means of entrance to somewhere far beneath the surface of the earth - or perhaps to some place not of this earth. All of you feel the press of time, a sense of urgency. How long will this strange gate remain open? You all hope not to learn the hard way as you hurry down a seemingly endless flight of “steps” made of the purple radiance. Ten minutes seems more like ten hours, but at last you have come to what must be your final goal, for the stairs of light give way to more mundane ones of black stone…. [WG4 - 29]


    -458 CY    The people of Oerid had been freed of the oppressive Suel. Their queen Johydee tricked them into teaching her their magic, and into moulding a most singular mask, whose clay had been secretly infused with her very lifeblood. And once free, they chose to leave their homeland west of the Barrier Peaks, for they knew the nature of the Suel.

    About the year 180 OR, the council of [headmen] of this Oeridian tribal confederation, heeding the advice of their shamans, chose to lead the Oeridians out of their ancestral homeland and make them a migrant folk. Some of their gods had said the Oeridians were destined for unsurpassed greatness as a people, and the source of their power lay in the east. [TAB -55]

    Abandoning their lands to the Baklunish and pursued by humanoid marauders who cared for nothing but looting and murder, the Oeridians headed for the great pass between the Barrier Peaks and Yatil Mountains. They crossed through the Tuflik Valley (now Ket) in 187 OR and began their generations-long trek to glory across the Flanaess. [TAB - 55]

    The fierce Oeridian tribes likewise moved east, thrusting aside Flan and Suloise in their path. The Oerid migrations were similar in cause to those of the Suel, in that the Baklunish-Suloise Wars, and the hordes of Euroz and associated humanoid groups used as mercenaries by both sides, tended to pillage northwards and eastwards, driving the Oerids before them. [Folio - 5]


    A Vision of Doom
    -448 CY The Year of the Prophets. They read doom in the cards, the bones, and the tea leaves. Within the span of a generation the empire would fall, they predicted. Repent, they cried. Turn from your wicked ways, they plead, warning against worship of the Chained God, and warding against something they named Shothragot. To no avail. The masses laughed and turned their backs on the doomsayers. But it was plain in their eyes that their laughter was false. They turned their backs on their prophets because they knew their emperor was displeased, and they feared their emperor’s wrath more than their prophets’ doom.

    Seven different prophets foretell of the destruction of the Suel Empire within 30 years. The Emperor, Yellax-ad-Zol has all seven drawn and quartered, even though one of the prophets is a High Priest of Beltar. [OJ11] (196 OR/ 5068 SD/1703 FT)


    -447 CY Not all were deaf to the prophets’ warnings. The Emperor’s son, Zellifar, took heed, for, if seven prophets should face certain death to warn of impending disaster, who was he dispute them. Small wonder: Zellifar knew more than most. He heeded their warnings because he’d read the Lament for Lost Tharizdun, that foul scripture penned by that mad priest Wongas, who’d vanished mysteriously into the East a century earlier. And he’d seen with his own eyes what that dark lord demanded at His worship, when it had been fashionable to be seen to attend such things, and knew what that Chained God desired even if those other revellers did not.

    Zellifar-ad-Zol, son of the Emperor, mage/high priest of Beltar, breaks with his father and takes over 8,000 Suloise loyal to himself, and flees the kingdom, eastward. The ferocity and magical might of the movement scatters the Oerdians in its path, causing the remainder of the Oerdian to migrate. Slerotin, called “the Last High Mage” causes a huge tunnel to be bored into the Crystalmists, through which the Zolite Suel flee. He then seals the tunnel closed at both ends, trapping one lesser branch of the family, the Lerara, inside. The Zolites continue eastward heading toward the southeast as well as to Hepmonoland. [OJ11] (197 OR/ 5069 SD/1704 FT)


    The Suloise Migration soon followed. Not all were as powerful or as cruel and depraved as their ruling houses, and they soon learned that those not as powerful or as cruel were as dispensable as slaves. They were thrown into the war with the Bakluni, and they died in that war while their high Houses looked on, not risking their own sons. And so, they fled. And they brought their own cruelty and depravity with them. (5069 SD)

    The Oeridians were not alone in their drive eastward. Suloise refugees fled in many directions from the cruelties of their tyrannical and war-ravaged empire. Many Suloise crossed the Crystalmists through the Kendem Pass, which they called the Harsh Pass, braving every sort of monster and privation to seek the fabled security of the uncivilized lands beyond. [TAB - 55]


    -446 CY The Emperor was not pleased! Traitor, he screamed, when he heard of his son’s betrayal. His advisors and courtiers bowed and slunk away from their emperor’s wrath, for they knew it all too well, and feared their being heir to it in his son’s absence.

     The emperor commands that the Houses Schnai, Cruskii and Fruztii move [and] bring his son, and the "Unloyal" back to face justice. [OJ1] (198 OR/ 5070 SD/1705 FT)


    -445 to -423 CY  The Zolite scatter the Flanae before them, and move south to the Tilvanot Peninsula. The three pursuing houses, unable to find the magical tunnel, turn north, where they are met by regrouped Oeridians and fearful Flanae who harry and drive these Suel Houses south. (5071 to 199 to 221 OR/ 5093 SD/ 1706 to 1728 FT/ 2216 to 2238 BH)


    -423 CY Zellifar was not the saviour his followers had imagined; indeed, his reading the Lament for Lost Tharizdun had twisted him and he proved as much a tyrant as his father, so, soon after taking flight, there were those among them who saw that they had traded one cruel emperor for another, and they began to steal away in the chaos he fostered as they were driven further east.

    One of Zellifar’s minions, the High Priest Pellipardus, slips away from the Zolites and takes his family. Zellifar does not pursue, fearing that this will take his attention away from the Three Houses of Pursuit: the Schnai, the Fruztii, and the Cruski. [OJ11] (223 OR/ 5093 SD/1728 FT)


    -422 CY Zellifar parleys with the Houses of Pursuit. His Archmage, Slerotin, unleashes a mass enfeeblement on the mages of the three Houses, and a mass suggestion upon the other members of the Houses. Slerotin is blasted by magical energies upon the casting of these mighty spells, leaving the Rift Canyon as the only physical remains of this energy. The remnants of the Three Pursuing Houses flee northeastward.

    The Houses of Pursuit have been mind-swept. They have no purpose and no direction and no mages whatsoever after they are hit by these spells. They do not know why they are searching or what they are searching for. They have two binders but do not realize it! As they move aimlessly, they begin to seek a homeland. They do not remember where they came from. The memories of their gods are virtually blotted out.

    The three houses that eventually settle in the Barbarian States lose almost all contact with the more ‘civilized’ and good gods of their people. As they begin to multiply and prosper Kord and Llerg become major gods to them but Fortubo, Lendor, Lydia and Jascar are forgotten.

    Farther south in Ratik a slightly different mix of peoples assembles. Gods like Phaulkon, Norebo and Phyton are still remembered. [OJ11] (224 OR/ 5094 SD/ 1729 FT)


    Rain of Colourless Fire

    Invoked Devastation and Rain of Colourless Fire Strike

    The war waxed, and in their fury and despair, the Suel and the Bakluni used ever more powerful magic to defeat their enemy, until mere armies were nothing more than a mass of bone and blood to be ground down, and melted into the soil. Their magics grew until the Suel set the Invoked Devastation upon the Bakluni and the Bakluni gathered about the Tovag Baragu and called down the Rain of Colorless Fire in retaliation. Their lands withered and died, and burned, and before long, those once great empires were no more, and those people who survived the fury were fleeing for their lives, for those who tarried, surely died. They were met by their former thralls, who remembered their past bondage, and took steps to prevent their falling into such again.

    These were joined after the Rain of Colorless Fire by a flood of weary survivors who walked through the Crystalmists by way of the Passage of Slerotin. This magically engineered tunnel, which was recently rediscovered and is now being exited at the border of present-day Yeomanry. Though the new land they entered was green and fertile, most Suloise pressed eastward, eager to put as much distance between themselves and their decaying empire as possible. [TAB - 55]

    Some of the Suloise attempted to cross north of the Nyr Dyv, but they were driven back by tribes of warlike Oeridians who had followed the Velverdyva River downstream, still seeking their destiny. Many of these Oeridians settled along the Velverdyva, forming the core of the land that would be later called Ferrond by the Great Kingdom, and Furyondy and Veluna today. [LGG]


    Zellifar enters the Griff Mountains alone

    -419 CY Zellifar enters the Griff Mountains alone. None know where he goes or what he does there. [OJ11] (225 OR/ 5097 SD/1732 FT)


    -417 CY Yellax-ad-Zol was enraged by his son’s betrayal and had sent out three of his most loyal Houses to slaughter his son’s followers and to drag his son back in chains. They had only just left when the Colourless Fire burned their homeland; they had seen the fire fall beyond the Crystalmists; they had seen the Hellfurnaces open up and spit their own molten rain into the sky. And though they continued their pursuit, as they were bid, they knew that they would never return.

    The Three Houses of Pursuit move into the Thillonrian Peninsula. They turn to the gods they deem to be strong in the face of the harsh climate; Kord and Llerg. Magic is not practiced, and only priests, wise men and skalds may use it without fear. Witches are not uncommon, but are forced away from “normal” men. The skalds and priests develop a runic alphabet that carries mystic powers.

    They do not know where they have come from. Their skalds do not know of the Suel Empire. They have retained memory of their more primitive gods such as Kord and Llerg. Some others like Phaulkon are still remembered but the more civilized gods (Lydia, for example), are forgotten! [OJ11] (227 OR/ 5099 SD/1734 FT)


    -416 CY Zellifar, last scion of Emperors, teleports from the Griff Mountains back to the remains of the Suloise Empire. He is destroyed by the lingering magics and final throes of conflict in the area. Thus ends the Suloise Empire, mightiest and longest lived of Empires on Oerth, and its reckoning (although some skalds of the Northern Barbarians, and the Scarlet Brotherhood still use it to keep records). [OJ11] (228 OR/ 5100 SD/1735 FT)


    Stories tell of a barbarian empire created by the warriors of Vatun, the "Great God of the North." The empire, if it existed at all, lasted only for the lifetime of the first fasstal of the Suelii. Some say Vatun was betrayed by a companion deity, but others blame a rival Oeridian god (Telchur) and his clerics; a few even say that the barbarians proved unworthy, being unable to sustain a mighty god's presence. Regardless, as recorded history dawned in the north, the barbarians' empire was only a tale of old. [LGG]
    Their skalds sang epic tales of that time. They said that were the “Five Blades of Curusk” united, Vatun shall be freed from his imprisonment and work his revenge against Telchur and the Oerids. But those were mere tales of fancy. Everyone knew as much. Had Vatun existed, no mere southern god could have displaced him with such ease. But the old songs dwelt deep in their hearts. They’d been sang to them since they’d lain a-cradle. And so they raided the southern seas and the southern coasts, awaiting Vatun’s triumphant return. For that was what Vatun had commanded them to do.
    And Vatun punished those tribes that did not, sending quakes and high seas and fierce winds until they set sail south once again.

    The Spikey Forest

    The Fruztii settled in the lands north of the Timberway and west if the Spikey forests where the climate tended towards a more temperate temperament. They farmed their fertile lands. They harvested the bounty of Grendep Bay. They even mined the eastern Griffs. But they also raided the southern coasts with abandon, for those people were weak.

    The Schnai settled the land between the Corusk Mountains and the wide Grendep Bay, with only the Spikey Forest separating them with the Fruztii. Despite their identical climes, the landscape of the Schnai is more rugged than the Fruztii’s, though not so rough as the Cruski’s. The same could be said of the people, who are more factious than the Fruztii, but more united than the Cruski. It was these differences that inevitably brought their kin under their dominion.
    They may not have always been the most powerful of the Suel barbarians, but they never come under the rule of either of their cousin states. Perhaps this is due to the superior seamanship of these barbarians, for they have never been attacked by land. [LGG - 106]

    The Cruski settled further east upon Rhizia, the Thellonrian Peninsula, than any of their kin. Theirs is the coldest and most severe of the Suel barbarian kingdoms. Fiercely independent, they hunted and fished and whaled from their seaside towns and their mountain steadings. And like all of their kin, they built longships, for it was and is their way to raid south, and prey upon those plying their trade at sea.
    The Cruski themselves are a people of pure Suel race, speaking the Cold Tongue as their native language. Though they have always been the least numerous of the Suel barbarians, their royal lineage is the oldest. The king of Cruski holds the title "Fasstal of all the Suelii," indicating his preeminence among the nobles of the Suel race and giving him the right to pronounce judgment on any of them. Politically, this has little real importance, for he has no power to enforce his judgments. However, it is said by some that the god Vatun granted this authority to the fasstal of the Suelii; if Vatun awoke, the full authority of the office would return to the fasstal, and a new barbarian empire would emerge under his leadership. [LGG - 54]

    Post Devastation:

    Centuries ago Vecna rose. And Vecna fell. Epic sagas could and have been sung of his dark deeds and exploits. His Occluded Empire lingered long after his passing, as have the cursed tomes he studied and laid down. But none have endured as did his Hand and his Eye, for they were a part of him, and still are.


    The Eye and Hand of Vecna

    Each time one of these artifacts has surfaced, disaster and ruin have followed. Paddin the Vain used the Hand to start the Insurrection of the Yaheetes, a rebellion the Emperor of the Malachite Throne later crushed. With the Hand's power, the so-called Vecna II held monstrous sway over Tyrus for 100 years. The Eye was instrumental in the extermination of the house of Hyeric, once the ruling dynasty in Nyrond, and Miro the Paladin-King was corrupted by the power of the Hand. Each time, the Hand and Eye have failed their owners at some crucial moment.

    Over the years, a cult of worshippers has arisen to venerate the vile Lord Vecna and work to pave the way for his return. For this cult, the Eye and the Hand are powerful relics worth obtaining at any cost. Their servants are always watchful for any reappearance of the Eye or Hand, eager to track down and snatch them up from whomever possesses them.

    The most recent of these reappearances occurred only a few years past, just prior to the great wars that engulfed the Flanaess, when both the Eye and Hand fell into the clutches of the cult. This event was marked by foreboding failures of magic and evil omens across the land. Fortunately by all accounts, the Eye and Hand were cast through the dimensional portal of Tovag Baragu on the Dry Steppes and lost in some unrecorded void of the outer planes. [Book of  Artifacts - 35]


    The Cup and Talisman of Al'Akbar

    Indeed, artifacts are slippery things. They pass from hand to hand with a rapidity that baffles the mind. Or, maybe not. They can be dangerous to own, and lethal to play with. A boon, and a bane, both. Such was the case with the Cup and Talisman of Al’Akbar, last rumored to be in Bandit Kingdoms, where they likely fell into the hands of someone of neither lawful, not of good, temperament. They have likely divested themselves of him, for they have minds of their own, artifacts, and fell into the hands of someone more suited to them, or someone who could transport them to someone or somewhere else, if not.

    This pair of holy relics were given by the gods of the Paynims to their most exalted high priest of lawful [and] good [temperament] in the days following the Invoked Devastation. It was lost to demihuman raiders and was last rumored to be somewhere in the Southeastern portion of the Bandit Kingdoms. The Cup is made of hammered gold, chased with silver filigree, and set with 12 great gems in electrum setting [….] [DMG 1e - 157]


    Unfortunately, the miraculous powers of the Cup and Talisman did not bring happiness to the people or peace to the temple. When travelers returned to their distant homelands with tales of these two wonders, emperors, kings, and warlords coveted the items. Driven by greed and fear, they marched their armies and sent their agents, to seize the treasures. Just what battles occurred and who won them is an answer lost with the names of those who warred for the artifacts. Perhaps one rose victorious over the others only to have the two treasures seized from him. Perhaps they were stolen by bandits in the chaos of war. All that is known is that when the wars finally ceased, the Cup and Talisman had disappeared forever. Even today, though, the legend of their miraculous power lives on in expressions such as "cured by the cup" for any miraculous healing or "By the star of Akbar," an oath to ward off disease. [Book of Artifacts - 30]


    c.-400 CY              Once they were on the move, it was only a matter of time before the Oerdian and Suloise settlers arrived in the Flanaess.

               The inhabitants of this region have always been fiercely independent. During the Migrations, the warlike Flan tribes of the Yatil Mountains absorbed most of the Oeridian, Suloise, and Baklunish invaders flooding the great Yatils pass called the Wyrm's Tail, though several Flan tribes were driven from the lowlands by Oeridians who established freeholds for their own clans. [LGG - 85]


    -366 CY    Not all Flan kingdoms were as formidable as the Ur-Flan were. And in the wake of those wizard-priests, they had settled into as far more peaceful and pastoral existence. And so, the coming of the Aerdy tribes incited panic among the citizens of Veralos, for it was only a city of artisans, highly skilled in creating the wonders of ages past, magical tablets and statuary and ensorcelled jewelry, even weaponry that was coveted by all the lords of Sulm, Itar, Ahlissa, and Nuria; but alas, they were not skilled in those arms. Legends say that an Ur-Flan prophet came to that ancient citadel of Veralos, and reaping their fear, he persuaded them to seek the succor of an ancient and sinister force. [Dragon #293 - 90,91] (278 OR/ 5150 SD/ 1785 FT)


    -365 CY     Veralos committed the Dark Rites bid them, and the sleeping power rose up from the depths of the Rift Canyon and the city of Veralos was no more.

    When the Aerdy came upon the Rift Valley, all they found were steep cliffs, howling winds, undulant grasses, and dust-devils. They said the dust-devils swooned and wailed. They said their dreams were plagued by visions of untold horrors. And they quit the cliffs of the Rift Canyon before too long, having never raised a single palisade to defend the howling plains or the twisted forests that surrounded it. [Dragon #293 - 90,91] (279 OR/ 5151 SD/ 1786 FT)


    The Oeridians swept the Flan aside with ease. They were fierce. They were relentless. And they’d come prepared. They had learned from their former masters, and remembered those lessons well. They studied those Suel books and artifacts they’d taken with them. They tinkered. They failed at first to comprehend what they studied, and then one day they didn’t. Great magics were revealed to them. And the art of artifice. Leuk-O was particularly adept at such studies. And he was a wonderful tinkerer. He recreated those marvelous machines the Suel had used against them with such deadly effect. And he used them well. [D82, D299]

    Restless and driven, great pre-Aerdy commanders of warfare such as Andorann, Leuk-O, with his massive magical juggernaut, and Tuerny the Merciless conquered vast swathes of land because this was what they had to do. No matter how rich and fertile any particular land might be, there was always an imperative to expand further, to head beyond, to conquer the vastness of the Flanaess and gain the longed-for glory of triumph and rulership. [Ivid - 6]


    The Oeridians brought a handful of magical artifacts of extraordinary antiquity with them. Until its rumored destruction by the earth elementals of Al-Fasrallah, the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O—a huge war machine/juggernaut resistant to damage from weapons and magic—and the similar machine of Lum the Mad wreaked havoc on opposing armies. Orbs of dragonkind were used to capture dragons from the Griff-Corusk Mountains and press them into service. The effects of a squadron of dragons creating magical fear in a wide swathe was decisive in many a battle. Of course, such artifacts as these and the crystal of the ebon flame and Johydee's mask are well known to sages and students of history. Other artifacts of equal power of non-Oeridian origin are known to them also. But the timing of the use of the artifacts the Oeridians possessed, and the employ of planar travel and teleportation to move them from one site of battle to another with great speed, made the artifacts devastating in the hands of Oeridian combat mages. [Ivid - 7]

    Orb of Dragonkind:         It is written that when certain of the good deities conspired to devise means to easily control the evil dragons plaguing mankind, demon servants of evil changed the magical forces involved so as to include all of dragonkind and then caused the Orbs fashioned to have inimical properties as well. In all, [eight] globes of carven white jade were made, [one] each for each age in a dragon's life span. The smallest is but [three] inches in diameter, the largest is about [ten] inches across. Each is covered with bas reliefs of entwined dragons of all sorts, the whole being of incredible hardness, and somehow imprisoning the very essence of all dragons. [DMG, 1e - 159]


    -217 CY In time, the Aerdy conquered all the lands east of the Nyr Dyv; indeed, most of the Flanaess was theirs, save the Sheldomar Valley, the Thillonrian Peninsula, and the Tilvenot Peninsula.

    The strongest tribe of the Oeridians, the Aerdi, settled the rich fields east of the Nyr Dyv and there founded the Kingdom of Aerdy, eventually to be renamed the Great Kingdom. [Folio - 5]


    -110 CY Battle of a Fortnight's Length

    After several decades of increasing growth, power, and prestige, Aerdy embarked upon a series of conquests, the greatest of which was the defeat of the Nyrondal cavalry squadrons at the Battle of a Fortnight's Length. [Folio] (534 OR/ 5406 SD/ 2041 FT)

    Theirs was no longer just the Kingdom of Aerdy. In their hubris, they named their domain The Great Kingdom, for theirs was the greatest in their memory, surpassing even the breadth of that once vast Suloise Empire.

    Thereafter, Aerdy was known as the Great Kingdom, whose monarch held sway from the Sundi swamplands in the south, westwards along the shores of the Telfic Gulf and the Sea of Yar, to the Nyr Dyv and from thence northwards through the Shield Lands and beyond the Tenh. [Folio - 5]


    After the Battle of a Fortnight’s Length, the Duke of Tenh pledged fealty to the King of Aerdy, giving the Aerdian monarch authority over the duke and his personal holdings in Tenh and the Coltens, thus ending Flan dominion over the Flanaess.

    Not all nobles and officials of Tenh bent the knee to the King of Aerdy, maintaining Tenh’s independence, but without support and armies to field, their declaration was tantamount to posturing. They were living in the Great Kingdom now, regardless their delusions of the supposed continuance of a bygone age.


    The duchy joined in a short-lived alliance with the Nyrondal princes until the Battle of a Fortnight's Length. In the wake of that defeat, the duke of Tenh pledged fealty to the king of Aerdy, giving that monarch authority over the duke and his personal holdings in Tenh and the Cohens. Neither the Convocation of Knights and Marshals, nor any of the other nobles or landholders, ever endorsed the duke's pledge. They considered Tenh to be an independent realm, though they chose not to test the Great Kingdom's claim on the field of battle, effectively bowing to Aerdy for over four centuries. [LGG - 112,113]


    1 CY       With his Declaration of Universal Peace, the first Overking was crowned in Rauxes.

    The first Overking was Nasran from the House of Cranden. Proclaiming universal peace, Nasran saw defeated Suloise, Flan and rebellious humanoid rabbles of no consequence and no threat to the vast might of Aerdy. [Ivid - 3]

    But for all his well-meaning words, all power was to be his, and all Houses were to bend the knee to his magnificence.

    However, it quickly became clear to all the noble houses of the Aerdi that power in the Great Kingdom was being centralized in the hands of the rulers of Rauxes, and that the fortunes of the Great Kingdom would now rest with them. The needs and intrigues of the Celestial Houses would soon become subordinate to the politics of the Malachite Throne. [LGG - 23]


    c. 100 CY                The fell sword Druniazth, servant of Tharizdun, had passed from hand to hand in its quest to release its master. Those who wielded it were themselves wielded, used and discarded as each in turn were found wanting, until, centuries after being lost by Baron Lum the Mad at the Battle of the Bonewood, it came to one who would not be so used, and it was cast into the Rift Canyon as she sought to rid herself of its influence.


    108 CY  Overking Manshen desired to secure his northern border. The Fruztii Barbarians were a constant threat, and he meant to pacify the North once and for all.


    In the spring of 108 CY, Aerdi forces massed in the frontier town of Knurl. With Knight Protectors of the Great Kingdom in the vanguard, the force swept northeast, between the Rakers and the Blemu Hills, in a march to the sea. By autumn, after having been met with relatively light resistance, the Aerdi succeeded in uprooting most Fruztii encampments, and the foundations of a great stronghold were laid at Spinecastle. The Aerdi freed Johnsport in a pitched battle with the barbarians before the onset of winter. Sensing that this would be only the first phase of a long struggle, Aerdi commanders summoned thousands of contingents from North Province over the objections of the herzog, a Hextorian who had wanted to lead the forces into battle himself.

    With the defeat of the Fruztii at Johnsport, the call went out that winter, and thousands of their kinsmen poured south along the Timberway the next year. Marching through passes in the Rakers, they assembled and attacked the works underway at Spinecastle, focusing their assault on the heart of the Aerdi fortifications. The defenders, including the bulk of the elite Aerdi infantry, were quickly outflanked and surrounded. A young Knight Protector of the Great Kingdom, Caldni Vir, a Heironean cavalier from Edgefield, commanded a large cavalry force patrolling the hills when the barbarian force struck. As part of the contingent led by the herzog into the north, he pivoted and headed back to Spinecastle while anticipating orders from his liege to counterattack. When the courier of the herzog delivered orders for Vir to pull back to the south in retreat, he spat in disgust and ordered the standard of the Naelax prince to be trampled in the mud. He then raised the standard of the Imperial Orb and charged.

    Approaching the site of the battle from the north, he descended upon the barbarians from higher ground, and they were unprepared for the hundreds of heavy horse and lance that bore down on them in the next hour. Their lines were quickly broken, and the Imperial Army was rescued to eventually take the day in what would be called the Battle of the Shamblefield. The Aerdi drove the surviving barbarians out of the hills, controlling the land all the way to the Loftwood by the following spring. Overking Manshen recognized the courage of the young knight Vir, and raised him as the first marquis of Bone March. The land was so named for the high price paid for its taking, as the fallen imperial regulars numbered into the thousands. [LGG - 36]

    Thus the Overking named Vir the first Marquis of the Bone March. And thus were the Fruztii broken.

    It is said that the blood of those thousands of unsanctified and unburied Barbarian and Imperial corpses was pressed into the mortar of Spinecastle. It is also said that the Fruztii laid a curse on its unfinished walls. 


    113 CY  The North was a mystery to most in the Flanaess, a bitter cold, savage land where monsters and barbarians dwelt. Bards sung sagas of what might have once been tall tales, myth, or even what might have been. Alisedran had wondered as much, and so, he set his mind to discovering how tall those tales actually were. He mounted an expedition to those wild lands, and a year later, he returned and published On Sledge and Horseback to the Barbarians of the North, an exploration of that far region, and about a curiosity, a mysterious hanging glacier that now bears his name. Where might that mysterious glacier lie? Who knows? The barabarians and the dwarves are rather closed-lipped about it. [Dragon  #191 - 68, #243 - 90, #265 - 58, FTAA - 67, WGR4 - 93]


    The Ice-Shard Tome

    The Ice-Shard Tome


    Finally, the book contains an accurate map to the Hanging Glacier of Alisedran, with notation in no language known in the Flanaess, either current or ancient. [Dragon #243 - 89]


    The Hanging Glacier of Alisedran

    Another sight believed to be a holy place for Telchur and for over 450 years, is the Hanging Glacier of Alisedran. This structure, found in 113 CY by the explorer after whom it is named, supposedly lies somewhere in the Corusk Mountains. Though the priests of Telchur still search for it, the barbarians of the Thillonrian Peninsula bear them no great love and have made the search a fruitless one to date. [Dragon #265 - 58]


    122 CY  Further buffer was required if the new lands were to be protected from further incursions by the Barbarians. The Fruztii were broken, and the Overking wished to capitalize on their weakness. General Sir Pelgrave Ratik of Winetha was commanded to lead an expeditionary force to push the Aerdian frontier back to the foothills of the Griff Mountains.

    Ratik and his forces inaugurated their expedition by crossing Kalmar Pass, taking the town of Bresht in a blustery winter campaign that cost the Fruztii dearly. After brokering an alliance with the dwarven lords of the eastern Rakers, Ratik proceeded to force a retreat of the Fruztii up the narrow coast and into the northern fastness of the Timberway. He wisely refused to follow them into an obvious trap and instead broke off the pursuit and fortified his gains. He was immediately hailed a hero in the south and his legend grew quickly. [LGG - 89,90]


    He established a fort overlooking Grendep Bay at Onsager Point that he named Marner, and used it as a base to solidify his gains. He fostered an alliance with the dwerfolk, with the gnomes. And he was also fair with those Fruztii who remained on their freeholds, so long as they declared fealty to the Overking.


    128 CY  The Fruztii and Schnai pooled their strength to launch a concentrated naval attack on Marner. They almost defeated Ratik and his forces, for theirs were far greater in number than his. But Sir Percival Ratik knew that he could never defeat such a force in the field, so he set the approaches to Marner aflame, forcing the Barbarians into a narrow salient where they were cut to pieces by the siege engines of his fort and a squadron of the Imperial Navy. Bruised, the Barbarians retreat, only to find their longships ablaze.


    130 CY  The Overking was pleased and elevated Pelgrave to Baron, and gifted him the Timberway as his personal fief. His doing so was a small thing, it cost him nothing. And the Timberway was hardly secure and he and Sir Percival knew it; but Percival was pleased, too, nonetheless, and he campaigned hard to defeat what resistance remained there. And so, again, the Overking was pleased. The walled town of Bresht was renamed Ratikhill in honour of Sir Percival’s victory. That too was another small thing, and that too cost the Overking nothing.

                The overking was sufficiently impressed with the victory that in 130 CY he elevated Pelgrave Ratik to the aristocracy, granting him the title of baron and the new lands as a personal fief. The family of Ratik gained the status of a minor noble house within the Great Kingdom, The walled town of Bresht was renamed Ratikhill in honor of the new baron, and it quickly prospered from trade with Spinecastle passing through Kalmar Pass. [LGG - 90]                


    167 CY  Monduiz Dephaar was born in Bellport to noble lineage. He was elevated at a young age to its Barony when his family fell to Fruztii raids along the Solnor Coast.


    c.         187 CY              
    Monduiz 
    As a member of the Knights Protector, Monduiz Dephaar distinguished himself defending against the seasonal Barbarian raids, fighting alongside such heroes as Lord Kargoth. He fought with a fierceness that was frightening to behold, and in time, as his reputation spread up and down the coast, his name came to be known and then feared by the Barbarians. His atrocities were overlooked, initially; but eventually they could not be ignored. The Knights censured him, but he carried on unabated, then shunned; and in his fury, he left, and settled for a while among the Schnai, where his sword was welcomed, and where he could continue to raid and vent his rage upon the Fruztii.


                198 CY     The Sage Selvor the Younger proclaimed a coming time of strife and living death for the Great Kingdom. Those in power had no ears for such words in their time of unprecedented contentment.


    200 CY     Leukish founded.

    Leukish began as a trading post between Ferrond and Nyrondal. Later the Duchy of Urnst's own treasures, precious metals and stones, were discovered, and the city flourished as the duchy's size and wealth grew. [WG8 - 58]


    213 CY  Royal Astrologers at Rel Astra proclaimed the coming of the Age of Sorrow, vindicating the disgraced Sage Selvor the Younger.


    The new Overking Zelcor began to distance himself from the Knights Protector, for public opinion had swayed against them and their favour.


    233 CY The fell sword Druniazth, servant of Tharizdun, was discovered in the Rift Canyon “by a group of illithids, who traded it to drow merchants in 233 CY. Their caravan, however, was attacked and destroyed somewhere in the Underdark between the Rift Canyon and the Crystalmists and the blade passed out of living memory.” [Dragon #294 - 96]


    254 CY  Far from the influence of the Malachite Throne, the Viceroyalty of Ferrond declared independence from the Great Kingdom, and was thereafter called Furyondy. This marks the beginning of the dissolution of the Great Kingdom. Never again would their influence reach as far. In truth, its influence had not swayed Ferrond for some time.


    Thrommel I crowned in the city of Dyvers. 

    The heir to Viceroy Stinvri (the Viceroyalty had become hereditary some years previously) was crowned in Dyvers as Thrommel I, King of Furyondy, Prince of Veluna, Provost of the Northern Reaches, Warden General of the Vesve Forest, Marshall of the Shield Lands, Lord of Dyvers, etc. [Folio - 10]                


    The migration of Pholtusians from the Great Kingdom increased with the independence of Furyondy, citing religious persecution. The people there had turned away from the Flan gods, remembering the time of the Ur-Flan and Occluded Empire, and having embraced the gods of Oerid, they no longer wished to be reminded of those times and of Pholtus’ failure. Most travel through Nyrond and settle in the western valleys of the Rakers among the Flan in a semi-independent Flannae state.

    [Their message] is simple: "There is now only one hope of salvation, Pholtus of the Blinding Light. Only those blinded to iniquity and its lures can hope to prevail in these terrible times. Look at how the rich live while you travail to pay their taxes; is this right? But this is how Nyrond is. Hence, Nyrond must be changed, and we're the men to do it, just as we are the men to root out the evil within these lands which matches the evils of Iuz and Aerdi outside." [WGR4 The Marklands - 66]


    Tenh, still independent of mind, wished a return to their own dominion. They had heard of the Great Kingdom’s fall into depravity and despotism, and encouraged by the its attention being drawn increasingly inward as the Death Knights ran amok and its provinces gradually sought their own council, they declared independence. They prepared for what response might come. And waited.


    Chendl
    283-288 CY         The capital of Furyondy had always been Dyvers. Dyvers was prosperous, Dyvers was sprawling, and Dyvers, as one might expect of a thriving port, could be, and was, a den of vice and iniquity. Steeped in profit and pleasure, Dyvers had grown secular, and Thrommel III had desired a devout and shining city befitting the glory of The Blinding Light. He had Chendl remade, and moved his court and government there, to be closer to the Archclericy at Voll.

    [S]everal decades after Furyondy as such was formed, the king, Thrommel III, decided he needed a new capital. Thus, a new Chendl was built: a beautiful wealthy, clean, and peaceful city, a city of wide canals and graceful temples. It took five years for the city to progress from plans to reality, and thereafter it has remained unchanging . . . perfect. [WG8 - 83]








    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, Return to White Plume Mountain, WGR4 The Marklands, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, From the Ashes Box Set, The Adventure Begins, Book of Artifacts, The Oerth Journal, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine 82, 191, 243, 256, 265, 293, 294, 299.


    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    P-E-A-C-E by huseyinkara
    Keraptis, by Wayne Reynolds, Return to White Plume Mountain, 1999

    Hag by jay-emery
    Heretic by morkardfc

    Vision-in-the-Flames by cobaltplasma

    Rain of Colourless Fire, by Erol Otus, World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980

    The-Frozen-Tundra-Of-Arbistoma by tacosauceninja

    Little-Winterberg by martinamm

    Hand and Eye of Vecna, from Book of Artifacts, 1993

    Forbidden-Tome by 1157981433
    Glacier by mndcntrl

    Monduiz Dephaar, by Adam Rex, from Dragon #291, 2002
    Bastion by oliverbeck


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 09-25-2021 12:42 pm
    History of the Oerth, Part 11, Of The Winds of War


    The Hold of Stonefist

    War can come from the most unexpected places. Who would have thought that the first blow to fall in a war that would engulf the known world would land in the Hold of Stonefist? No one.
    But such was the case.


    579 CY  

    The mage sits down in front of the five Blades of Corusk and meditates for a minute. His hands move over the blades as he reads the magical writings. A frigid wind comes from the west, blowing the powdery snow in swirling whirlwinds. The words coming from his mouth sound like gibberish to you. As he reads the spell, a loud thunderclap sounds above you. As the echoes of the thunder die down, the swords shake and hum. Suddenly the swords disappear with an abrupt popping noise, and the snow turns to steam beneath them. You all hear a sharp “crack” behind you, and a sudden blast of wind pushes you forward. Surprised, the mage stops reading and spins around to see what happened.
    As you turn about, you see a barbarian giant standing before you. Appearing perfectly human, except for his 12-foot height, the man smiles down at you with a kind face. Two huge wolves stand on each side of him: these four beasts eye you with amber eyes. Meanwhile, the troops from the north and the south-west continue approaching.
    “Thank you, my children. You have awakened me from centuries of cursed sleep. In gratitude, I shall grant you your most intimate desires as long as they do not alter the path events are destined to follow. Speak to me.” [WGS2 - 41]


    ‘The deity looks over your heads toward the northeast. A smile breaks across his leathery face, showing pearly white, perfect teeth. “Look, the great armies of the Ice Barbarians come to fight at our side. Behind them, the Snow and Frost Barbarians prepare to join the fray. Our peoples are finally as one. This is the way it was meant to be since the dawn of Oerth.” As you turn to look behind you, the faint sound of seal skin drums and mammoth tusk horns reaches your ears. Riding on beasts ranging from horses to musk oxen, the barbarians approach just as the Great God said. The god turns and looks at the ap- proaching enemy armies. A glint of pleasure gleams from his night-black pupils. He heaves a sigh and turns to look at you. “It has begun.” [WGS2 - 42]


    Vatun, Great God of the North had returned, and he had a plan for his people. They would conquer the North, as they had always been destined to do. And not just the North, they were destined to conquer the world.

    Vatun's appearance surprised even those most convinced by the rumors of the Five Blades, including the barbarian kings who had used the rumors to further their power. Vatun must have somehow proved his power to these doubtful rulers, for the kings of Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruski each surrendered their ancestral sovereignty to "all-powerful" Vatun. [Wars - 7]


    All the barbarians were inflamed by a rumor that swept their lands: that four of five legendary magical swords, the Swords of Corusk, had been found, and that when the fifth was obtained, a "Great God of the North" would rise and lead them to conquest and greatness. The fifth sword never was found, but one calling himself Vatun and claiming to be the Great God of the North appeared before the barbarians of Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruskii, and they swept west into Stonefist under his leadership. [FtAA - 6]


    It wasn’t Vatun. It was Iuz. And he set them upon the Holds of Stonefist.

    The first strike was a stroke of unusual cunning and ingenuity. Constructing an elaborate fiction about a "Great God Vatun," Iuz managed to ally the barbarian nations together. Deluded by dreams of greatness, the barbarians subjugated the Hold of Stonefist. [WGR4 Iuz the Evil - 3]

    The Barbarians swept across the Stonehold with fierce resolve. They would not be defeated. Vatun had returned and said as much. Sevvord Redbeard, Master of the Hold, desperately tried to fend off their assault, but he could not muster his forces fast enough.

    Even as Vatun appeared before his dread-filled followers, the Fists converged upon them to stop the ceremony. In the brief battle that ensued, Vatun easily routed the Fists and thereby won the prostrate praise of the barbarians. [Wars - 7]

    Redbeard was run down, and brought before Vatun for judgement. No one can say what the Great God of the North said to the Redbeard, Vatun cleared the hall of all but him and the vanquished leader, but when the audience was concluded, the Redbeard had committed not only his atamans, but his life to that northern god.

    The Fists were overwhelmed and their leader, Seword Redbeard, underwent a dramatic, if not to say magical, change of allegiance. [FtAA - 6]


    “I have seen the light of a Great Northern God, my brothers,” the Redbeard said to his atamans, “and he showed me the error of our ways! We have spent our strength against the barbarians and the horsemen of the Barrens for too long. We have dribbled it away in small raids, when we should have crushed them under our Fists! Let us not waste it any longer when there is greater loot to be had in the south! The riches of Tenh is ours for the taking! Who’s with me?”

    And although they did not entirely trust the barbarians and their northern god, they trusted in the Redbeard’s strength.

    The Hold of Stonefist remained a threat to Tenh for more than a century, and ultimately brought about its destruction. The first action of the Greyhawk Wars was an invasion of war bands from Stonehold, though this was unlike any previous attack. The Fists had new tactics, and demonic assistance, that overwhelmed the defenses of the city of Calbut, and soon thereafter, Nevond Nevnend. Had the duke been in the city at the time, perhaps he could have rallied his troops to stand; as it was, both citizens and soldiers gave way to panic—though in hindsight, many have suggested that this was demonically inspired fear. The duke and his family fled to the County of Urnst, leaving their nation to the Stoneholders, and the clerics and demons of Iuz.  [LGG - 113]


    The men of Stonefist never conquered [the] castles [of Dour Prentress] and they have no living occupants now. The Fists have no desire to meet the ferocious fen trolls and the eastern lands are virtually unpatrolled by them. All that is known for certain is that madness and plague broke out among the thousands of defenders of these castles as the Fists stormed into Atherstone. Of course, Iuz had a hand in this. Some of the survivors say that fiends stalked the battlements and that black stinking fogs drifted across the walls for a week of unremitting horror. The defenders fled, some insane enough to flee even into the fens, and others from Dour Pentress went across the border to the Brilliant Castles where a few score now serve the Theocracy. The defenders left much behind such as wands, scrolls, magical weapons, magical arrows, and other valuables. Whether the minds and bodies of those entering could survive the ordeal they would face is most uncertain. To be sure, the Fists are wiser than to try. [WGR5 - 70,71]


    The Subjection of Tenh

    The Duke and Duchess of Tenh were as surprised by the fury of the assault as the Redbeard had been. Though their forces fought valiantly to defend their lands, they were stretched thin, having recently fought to clear the Troll Fens. Their army was entrenched upon the Theocracy, and by the time they had marched to face the Fists, their cause was already lost. The Duke and Duchess fled to the County of Urnst, and their people to the borders of Nyrond.

    Within less than two weeks the capital of Tenh had fallen as well, and its duke fled to the County of Urnst. The rhelt of Stonehold was now overlord of Tenh, though under the supernatural control of Iuz, for a powerful and nearly undetectable charm had been placed on [Redbeard]. [LGG - 109]


    All good things must come to an end. Iuz dared too much. He commanded the Barbarians to attack Ratik, and they began to doubt their newly returned northern god. Raiding the Sea Barons and the North Kingdom was one thing, so too striking Tenh, but they had kin in Ratik. And, for the Fruztii, a friend.

    The Vatun ruse did not last long. Commanding the barbarians to strike into Ratik, a long-time ally of the barbarians, was a mistake by Iuz, some think. Others say that he wished to abandon this part of the Flanaess to confusion, since its role as a ruse and feint was played to the full. In any event, the barbarians began to slink quietly home, though the Fists remained in Tenh and occupy it still. Now Iuz could concentrate fully on the war. [WGR5 - 4]


    581 CY  Not all things go as planned. Sometimes, the most unexpected things can happen, things that even the Old One could never have planned for.

    Gradually, Vecna’s cult grew and he assumed the powers of a demigod. The process took a long time—gathering his power, responding to his worshipers, and settling himself among the greater powers. Vecna persevered and eventually reached the point where he was accepted as a minor demigod in the legions of evil.

    Guaranteed immortality, Vecna was still not satisfied. With his scheming mind, he has devised a plan to ascend to greater godhood and humble his rival deities. With his usual long patience, Vecna has been working on this plan for centuries. Working through his avatar or others, the Whispered One has carefully found seven magical items. Each item has been placed in a secret location, the position strategic to his plans.

    These items, when fully powered, will cast a mystical web of energy over all of Oerth, cutting off all other gods from their followers. Already they are creating interference on a local scale. Only Vecna will receive the adulation of his worshipers: the other gods will weaken and leave the path open for Vecna to rise to the fore. Then the Whispered One will open the gates of time and bring forth his faithful followers from the past. Feeding on their devotions, Vecna will become the greatest of gods.

    There is only one difficulty that remains for Vecna—finding his Eye and Hand. They are the final keys to fully empower the web, the final keys that open the gate of time. He knows not where these are. In the final confrontation with Kas, when they were sundered from his body, the gods (perhaps foreseeing his powers) hid them from his senses. Vecna cannot detect their energies; he can only find them by seeing their effects on others, much like finding a boat by the wake it creates. Too many times he has come close, only to have them escape his grasp. This time, he is determined not to fail. [WGA4 Vecna Lives! - 7]


    The Circle of Eight sensed a great danger, but somehow their divinations were blocked. Mordenkainen sent some of his most trusted mages to investigate. And they died. Every last one of them: Bigby, Drawmij, Jallarzi Sallavarian, Nystul, Otiluke, Otto, Rary, and Tenser. Of course, death was not the end of all of them, but that is another tale. Mordenkainen sent others; their path led ever west and the name Vecna was raised time and again. And Kas. And Iuz.

    Tovag Baragu

    Their investigations led them to Tovag Baragu, where they came upon an avatar of Vecna, who had opened a portal to Vecna’s past, the ruins of the palace of the Spidered Throne.


    Through the gateway can be clearly seen a great mass of people. They are all surging and milling forward, their attention focused on the window as if they can see through into the present. They, too, seem drawn by Turim’s chant. The first are just preparing to step through the opening. [WGA4 - 66]


    Against such odds, the Circle’s heros couldn’t hope to win, so they did the unthinkable, they summoned Iuz, for only a demigod could hope to defeat a demigod.

    Iuz came, and Iuz battled Vecna, and very nearly perished. He didn’t perish, though, but had had he, the world might have been in very dire straights. Had Vecna won, he would have severed Oerth from the celestial and outer planes, and it would certainly have plunged into an age darker than it had ever known, an age from which it would never be freed. But, he hadn’t; and it hadn’t. But Iuz didn’t win either. He and Vecna plunged into the portals of Tovag Baragu. What became of them? The heroes couldn’t say.

    And so, strangely, to our most beleaguered incredulity, we owe a debt of gratitude to Iuz, for if it were not for him, the universe would have been plunged into darkness. But let’s not get carried away, his confrontation with Vecna gave Iuz ideas. He imagined a world which bowed to him, and him alone.


    584-585 CY         The Loftwood burned. The orcs had attacked Ratik and been thrust aside. Little Ratik! In their rage, the orcs set their wood ablaze. And when the men of Ratik rushed to save their precious trees, the orcs meant to set them ablaze, too.

    The site of a great Ratikkan victory over Bone March orcs (578 CY), the wood was partly despoiled by nonhumans setting fires (584—585 CY). It is once again a battleground between Ratik in the north and orcs and gnolls in the south. [LGG - 141]


    584 CY  The Bone March skirmishes with Ratik and Nyrond.

    Bone March is now steeped in discord, ruled by a coalition of invading nonhuman tribes, particularly orcs, gnolls, and ogres. Humanity, which once thrived here, is generally enslaved and subject to the capricious whims of petty bandit chiefs and nonhuman warlords who raid Ratik and even North Kingdom at will, going as far as Nyrond and the Flinty Hills to pillage. [LGG - 35]

    Despite the fact that those tribes abut the North Kingdom still raided those towns with impunity, the Bone March still expected the debt of their having helped the North Kingdom by attacking Nyrond to be paid: "We helped you fight Nyrond, now you help us storm Ratik." They and the North Kingdom shared a border, and common interests, were mentioned. Grennell could not help but notice the implied threat.

    Grennel

    For himself, Grenell doesn't give a fig about Ratik. Unfortunately, no few of his most powerful local rulers care a great deal about Ratik—as do many ordinary folk. Many of them share the same Oeridian-Flan racial mix as the men of Ratik, and they admire the rugged bravery of Ratik's warriors in having kept the humanoids at bay for so long. They are opposed to any plan to conquer Ratik, and some of them are ready to go and fight for Ratik should Grenell dare act against that nation.

    There is another twist to this. The barbarian nations are strongly allied with Ratik. At the present time, their raids are focused on the Sea Barons and they do not often raid most points along the eastern North Province seaboard, save for Bellport. This is because many of the rulers and armies of that eastern seaboard have managed to make a peace of sorts with the fierce [Suel] barbarians, Prince Elkerst of Atirr being a notable example. Indeed, the barbarians increasingly trade with some North Province coastal towns and villages, and that trade brings much needed wood, furs, and other commodities in short supply in North Province. [Ivid - 44]


    Kaport Bay

    Kaport Bay is the most rugged of North Province's towns, a whaling station and fishing town of 5,200 souls. Together with its twin satellite villages of Low and High Scarport, this town has a characteristic atmosphere. The people here are hardy men and women with little time for frivolity—or outsiders. They term themselves "Kaportlanders" and are proud of this. Flan blood is strong, and the Kaportlanders are no friends of Grenell and his court. Kaport Bay maintains three stout war galleys used to protect its whaling fleet, not least against the attacks of deep-sea kraken in the Solnor Ocean. Barbarians rarely raided here in the past, given their blood ties with the fair-haired Kaportlanders, and they do not do so now. [Ivid - 56]


    Grennel thought on what might happen if he honoured his debt to the orcs. If he attacked Ratik, the Barbarian raids would surely recommence. His was a precarious balance. And besides, he’d already aided the orcs when he sent agents to liberate the Seal of Marner from the Baronial Vault. And they did, and they passed the Seal on the orcs waiting in the Kelmar Pass. It wasn’t his fault the orcs had lost the Seal to the Ratikkans pursuing them.

    Besides, hadn’t he already helped them enough?

    The influence of North Province (now North Kingdom) has led to greater organization and military effectiveness among these barbaric tribes. [LGG - 35]


    Trade shrank as the Tilva Strait closed, and piracy had plagued the seas north of it since, if the reduction of trade could actually be conceived as its cause, for indeed, the Solnor Coast had always been beleaguered by pirates and privateers.

    In truth, the Scarlet Brotherhood controled the sea lanes between the Aerdi Sean and the Densac Gulf, and the Azure Sea.

    Spindrift Sound itself is navigable, but shipping is menaced by the Scarlet Brotherhood and the activities of a few pirates based on the eastern Medegian coast. [LGG - 68]


    Frolmar Ingerskatti
    The Lordship of the Isles quickly became a hotbed of intrigue. The new prince, a little-known Suel lord named Frolmar Ingerskatti of Ganode, immediately withdrew the Lordship from the Iron League and set about lending his naval forces to the maneuvers of the Scarlet Brotherhood, including the blockade of the Tilva Strait that continues to the present day. 
    [LGG - 72]


    The Brotherhood commands the southern seaways, with naval blockades in the shark-infested waters of the Tilva Strait, and in the so-called "Southern Gates" of the Azure Sea, between the Amedio Jungle and the Tilvanot Peninsula neat the Olman Isles. [LGG - 98]


    Ratik understood its peril, and it began an ambitious project, one that taxed its resources, but was deemed essential by Luxnol. What good would minding the nations finances do were they slaughtered by the orcs and gnolls to the south, and the Fists to the north. Castles and fortresses and redoubts sprang up along the Kelmar Pass and the Flinty Hills, and in the northern Timberway. More rose up within the Kelten Pass, for surely the Fists would come again.

    Ratik is developing an ambitious castlebuilding program, constructing strong keeps along its southern margins not far from the foothills of the eastern spur of the Rakers. They are digging in for a long struggle against the humanoids of the Bone March. Ratik is seeking mercenaries to defend the builders during the coming spring and summer. [FtAA - 73]


    c.586-591 CY      Grennell wondered about the tactics of the orcs, for in truth, they had developed a cunning and patience hitherto unknown to those savage tribes, and strategies he had not taught them. Rumours abounded that the hierarchs of the Horned Society were not dead after all, that a few, if not all, had escaped Iuz’s wrath, and were now headquartered along the coast of the Pomarj, or even in the Bright Desert or Rift Canyon. Rumours persisted that they had found their way into the Bone March.

    The Hierarchs of the Horned Society
    The Hierarchs and the rest of the leadership of the Horned Society were presumed destroyed in Coldeven 583 CY, during the night of the Blood-Moon Festival. Demonic forces sent by Iuz slew the Hierarchs there and allowed Iuz to quietly take command of their nation. It is possible that one or more Hierarchs survived the incident and is attempting to rebuild the organization, but most assume that the group is no longer a threat. Still, Arkalan Sammal, the renowned sage of Greyhawk, made an interesting appraisal based on reports gathered by the old sage in recent years. The society, he claims, survives in the present day and has metamorphosed from a group centralized within a single nation to one with its secret tendrils buried across the Flanaess. "The Horned Society must surely have known that the return of Iuz would spell its ultimate downfall," he reasons. "It would have planned for this eventuality, most likely by moving its operations out of Molag before the Old One's axe fell." Rumors during the last five years have placed the group's headquarters along the coast of the Pomarj, in Bone March, or even in the Bright Desert or Rift Canyon. Most people no longer care, for Iuz is now perceived as the true threat. However, suggests Arkalan, the Horned Society has become even more dangerous since its dispersal. As the Archmage Mordenkainen was heard to comment last year during a conclave in Greyhawk, "Are their members now dozens, hundreds, thousands? Where are they headquartered? What do they plot? Can we rest assured of the death of the Unnamable Hierarch? To the one who could answer these questions would go the thanks of a free people." 
    [LGG - 156,157]


    Fellreev Forest: This entire expanse of birch and scrub oak is claimed by Iuz, though the Old One enjoys little power here. Most of the forest is ruled by clans of sylvan elves allied with Reyhu refugees since the Greyhawk Wars. A significant force of undead is also here, rumored to be led by an escaped Horned Society Hierarch. Iuz gains little by sending traditional soldiers here, so he uses the Fellreev as a hunting ground for trained monsters. [LGG]


    586 CY  The Flight of Fiends

    In Coldeven 586, Canon Hazen of Veluna employed the Crook of Rao, a powerful artifact, in a special ceremony that purged the Flanaess of nearly all fiends inhabiting it. Outsiders summoned by Iuz, Ivid, or independent evils fell victim to this magical assault, which became known as the Flight of Fiends. [LGG - 16]


    No one knows how many demons survived the Flight of Fiends in 586 CY; few have surfaced. [LGG - 61]


    Alain IV, Archbaron Lexnol’s son, was never a patient man. He had a vision the Bone March and Ratik as one, just as his father and the Marquis Clement had intended, and had discussed. He vowed to make it so. And thus, he launched a raid to repatriate Bone March.

    It failed.

    Disastrously.

    Bone March is now steeped in discord, ruled by a coalition of invading nonhuman tribes, particularly orcs, gnolls, and ogres. Humanity, which once thrived here, is generally enslaved and subject to the capricious whims of petty bandit chiefs and nonhuman warlords who raid Ratik and even North Kingdom at will, going as far as Nyrond and the Flinty Hills to pillage. Nomadic bandit gangs, survivors and descendants of the onceproud human culture, prey on one and all. Only the small, autonomous county of Knurl is secure at present, aside from a handful of nearly forgotten gnome strongholds in the Blemu Hills. [LGG - 35]


    Infighting soon broke out between several of the nonhuman tribes, and the sides remained stalemated until 586 CY, when Alain IV, Archbaron Lexnol's son and heir, launched a raid into the fallen realm that was composed in large part of expatriates of the march, it was a doomed mission. The unusually organized nonhumans laid a trap for the force in the hills north of Spinecastle. Horrified survivors who escaped back to Ratikhill reported that the trapped raiders were dragged from their horses, torn apart, and eaten alive before their eyes. Raids into the archbarony from Bone March have resumed. [LGG - 37]


    Baron Lexnol collapsed from the news and was rendered unfit to rule. Lady Evaleigh, Alain’s wife, understood that were he to fail, Ratik would be lost, so she hid his infirmity at first, ruling in his proxy. But the state of his health could not be hidden forever. And soon, she dropped the pretence of her speaking on his behest and became Her Valorous Prominence, Evaleigh, the Lady Baroness of Ratik. Not all were pleased. The Fruztii had loved the old Baron, and the Schnai were less inclined to treat with a woman, especially one as young as she.

    Upon hearing of his son's demise, old Baron Lexnol collapsed. He awakened the next morning with a shock of white hair and a palsy that confined him to bed. Lady Evaleigh, now widowed, assumed the throne and has guided Ratik through the trouble that has befallen it. Raids from Bone March have become progressively stronger and more organized the last few years. Her father's realm, the county of Knurl, was attacked a few months ago and was only saved by the snows of winter. [LGG - 91]


    Across the Solnor Sea

    Trade need be found if the markets to the west were closed to the East. Maybe there were markets to the east? There was the rumoured Fireland. And there had to be other lands east of there. There was only one way to find out. Small Fleet from Asperdi (Sea Barons) sets sail across the Solnor Ocean.

    Ships from resource-hungry lands of the eastern Flanaess are striking out in search of trading partners, hoping to rebuild from the wars. The Sea Barons and the east coast city-states of Rel Astra, Ountsy, and Roland are now exploring the mini-continent of Hepmonaland, returning with fantastic tales and riches. (Many fall prey to disease, pirates, monsters, and privateers from the Scarlet Brotherhood and Lordship of the Isles, however.) Several major kingdoms full of new peoples are said to lie in this tropical land, some rumored to be at war with the slave-taking Brotherhood. [TAB]


    Several ships captained by half-elven smugglers joined a flotilla of the Sea Barons in their journey over the Solnor. They had an ulterior motive. The half-elves were reportedly searching for the last members of the dispossessed Council of Five of Lendore.

    In the years since the Greyhawk Wars, some of the surviving exiles have joined together with half-elven captains on the Medegian coast. It is an open secret that they are smugglers, willing to transport any cargo for a price. Several of these ships secretly accompanied the flotilla of the Sea Barons in their voyage over the Solnor in 586-589 CY. The Spindrift exiles were thought to be searching for the last members of the Council of Five, who had fled across the waves when the clerics of Sehanine usurped their authority. It is not clear what benefit they seek by contacting their deposed leaders, but the half-elves clearly wish to return to their birthplace and free it of the magical affliction of Sehanine. [LGG - 69,70]


    588 CY  What became of Vecna and Iuz? Who can say? But where Vecna could not be scyed, Iuz somehow remained upon Oerth. Iuz’s empire remained intact. And his tyranny marched on, unabated.

    But, all good things must come to an end. The fiends had fled and Iuz was stretched thin, tasked not only with administering his newly acquired empire, but beset with rebels and banditry and the persistent attacks of those who didn’t appreciate his desire to remake the whole of Flanaess in his own image.

    The use of the Crook of Rao by Canon Hazen of Veluna, in 586 CY, had dire repercussions for Iuz's armies. Bereft of their powerful masters, many lesser nonhumans and ambitious human generals attempted to stage coups throughout the occupied lands, even as rebel bandits and indigenous populations took advantage of the Flight of Fiends to strike back at their oppressors. [LGG - 62]


    It was inevitable that he would lose control of Sevvord Redbeard of Hold of Stonefist. He cared not for that cold and distant land. It had little of value, except grist for the mill. And he knew that it would continue to slip into the state of chaos it has always courted. So, he turned his back on the Stonehold, so as to focus on the conflict that really mattered, Furyondy.

    Sevvord flew into a rage when he awoke and realised that he’d been played a puppet to another’s schemes. He fumed! He raged! And all those within his gaze cowered from his anger. He gathered Fists from across Tenh, and killed every cleric of Iuz he could find, impaling them on posts and leaving them to rot in the wind. He and his slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands, of Tenha slaves when he could not find enough Iuzian clerics to sate his need. He wished to kill more, to line every road with the spiked corpses of an entire nation as a warning to any who might ever try to subjugate him again. However, he had not the time. He need return home. When he ran out of slaves, he left a rearguard to occupy Calbut and marched to drive the hated barbarians from his homeland. He would paint the Kelten Pass with their blood, he promised, and its flowing would thaw the Frozen River for all time.

    For six years after the invasion, the Stoneholders held the Tenha enslaved. The evil of Iuz was present throughout the land as well, though never in plain sight. Perhaps this state of affairs would have persisted indefinitely had not an unnatural rage come upon the rhelt of Stonehold, during a meeting in the ruins of the duke's palace at Nevond Nevnend. [LGG - 113,114]

    By means not yet known, Iuz's charm-like control of Sevvord Redbeard was broken in mid-588 CY. Enraged at the abuse he suffered, Redbeard vowed revenge. [TAB - 22]

    In an astonishing turn of loyalty, he gave the command to put the clerics and agents of Iuz to the sword, also letting his warriors murder Tenha slaves out of hand. [LGG - 114]

    Iuz priests, soldiers, and advisors in the area were slaughtered on sight, and Tenh was plunged into bloodshed once again. The Master then ordered a looting of Tenh and a retreat to Nevond Nevnend and Calbut. Stonefist warriors meant to keep this area so as to guard Thunder Pass (called Rockegg Pass by the Tenha), the route through the Griff Mountains back to Stonefist. Reports were already filtering back to the Stonefist troops that a force of Ice and Snow Barbarians was raiding and burning its way across the Hold, and all wished to go home and do battle. [TAB - 22]

    The Fists then withdrew from all but the northernmost part of Tenh, which they still hold. Armies from the Pale and forces loyal to the exiled duke quickly crossed the borders, battling each other for possession of the southern and eastern regions of the duchy, including the Phostwood. [LGG - 114]

    There are 20,000 Stonefist men in Tenh, with conflicting desires. On the one hand, rulership of this fertile land is good, but on the other, their instincts are to pillage, maraud, decimate, and then go home with all the loot they can carry. Instead, they stay here as slave drivers. Spending days overseeing slave farmers is not exactly what Fist men find exciting. The Stonefist nation is young, born in adversity and constant marauding. Constant movement on attack and retreating to defensive fortifications after that attack, not occupying their conquests, is what makes the Stonefist men feel comfortable. There is another problem weighing on the minds of the Fists. Since the sham of the "Great God Vatun” was exposed and barbarian shamans and priests have begun to see that Iuz was behind it all, the Fists face more hostility and raids from their traditional foes, the eastern barbarians. No longer are these two uneasy allies. Having occupied Calbut and secured Thunder Pass is useful to the Fists, but keeping men in Tenh when they are needed to defend Stonefist against the barbarians is irksome. Many seek to go home, putting Tenh through one last ordeal of slaughter and pillage before they go. In the interim, many are restless and bored, prone to drunkenness and mindless violence against the Tenhas. [WGR4 - 67]

    [A] many-sided war began in Tenh, involving the mutually hostile forces of Iuz, Stonehold, the Pale, and Tenha expatriates. The war goes on today. [LGG - 16]


    590 CY  The fleet from the Sea Barons had set sail three long years earlier and had not yet returned. Had they found Fireland? If they had, that is a tale for another day. But in truth, whether they had found Fireland or not, Fireland found Ratik. One day, much to Marner’s surprise, a longship from Fireland sailed into its port, its flanks scorched, its sails torn and tattered.

    From Distant Fireland
    In Marner, capital of Ratik, a lone long ship sailed into port in late 590 CY. The pale barbarians aboard the ship spoke a dialect of the Cold Tongue and claimed to be from a distant northeastern island called Fireland. They came with four other ships in search of help for an undisclosed problem facing their people; their other long ships were sunk by sea monsters or Ice Barbarian raiders. The aged explorer Korund of Ratik can supply maps and some information to anyone wishing to return to Fireland with these barbarians, but he is too infirm to travel and is growing senile as well. Frost Barbarians believe “Firelanders” are descended from sailers from the Thillonrian Peninsula who settled there centuries ago; the barbarians wish to establish contact with them. The glaciated land is called Fireland for its volcanoes, visible for many miles at night as red fountains in the sea.
     [TAB - 38]


    Ratik:     Alain was not the only one to desire the freedom of the Bone March. Lady Evaleigh wishes the same, for her father’s city of Knurl is hard pressed and in need of succour. And in truth, war will continue between the Bone March and Ratik, as it must, for each cannot rest while the other exists. The Bone March shall never forgive Ratik or the Frost Barbarians for their incursions into its territory.

    In 590 CY, a full-scale assault over the Blemu Hills into Knurl was also attempted, but failed. Thus far, the defenses of the count have held firm, but he expects another wave of attacks this year. [LGG]


    Humanoid tribes and bandit gangs appear to be cooperating of late. Masked advisors were seen by spies in the councils of the orcs and gnolls at Spinecastle. Treasure seekers have entered the abandoned keep at Spinecastle, but few have returned alive. Without aid from Ratik, Count Dunstan of Knurl might ally with Ahlissa or North Kingdom to save his realm. [LGG - 37]


    Ambassadors from the Scarlet Brotherhood were spied in Djekul. Ratik wants to expand the alliance against Bone March and North Kingdom to include the Snow Barbarians, but the Schnai will negotiate only with Lexnol. Agents of the Sea Barons have approached Evaleigh to gain access to Marner. A half-orc spy working for North Kingdom was discovered in Ratikhill but escaped. [LGG - 91]


    Frost Barbarians:              Nobles from Ratik have great influence at court but are not always trusted. Scarlet Brotherhood agents are well received but bring strange news and promises. Merchants from the Lordship of the Isles have a growing presence, offering unusually generous trade deals that make some jarls suspicious. Hundgred's court is growing isolated from other northern barbarian nations. [LGG - 45]


    Snow Barbarians:             An intermittent war smolders with Stonehold. King Ingemar generously feasts and rewards his chaotic jarls to insure their loyalty. Frost Barbarian jarls also being feted to gain their friendship and influence; this is viewed as blatant bribery, but it works. The king receives Scarlet Brotherhood agents at court, but privately says he does not trust them. [LGG - 106]


    Ice Barbarians:  Royal hatred of the Scarlet Brotherhood grows, as does distrust of the Frost Barbarians. Stonehold accuses the Ice Barbarians of attacking Vlekstaad. There are secret parlays between the Snow and Ice Barbarians for raids against the Sea Barons and possibly the Lordship of the Isles. [LGG - 55]


    Stonefist:            Rhelt Sevvord is the absolute master of these people, and his troops are expected to obey him without question. The punishment for disobedience is slow death, though the rhelt always rewards his loyal troops with plunder and captives. So far, Reword Redbeard has maintained his personal authority and become the most important figure in his nation's history since Stonefist himself. Still, many feel that his time has passed, and wait for a leader who will be strong enough to challenge him. [LGG - 109]

    Revenge is widely sought against the northern barbarians for the burning of Vlekstaad, but Iuz's forces are hated even more. Conspiracies are suspected between Iuz and several war band leaders to gain control of Stonehold. Murders of war band leaders (by their fellows) are on the rise. [LGG - 110]


    The Sea Baron Fleet returned from expedition across the Solnor.

    Ships from resource-hungry lands of the eastern Flanaess are striking out in search of trading partners, hoping to rebuild from the wars. The Sea Barons and the east coast city-states of Rel Astra, Ountsy, and Roland are now exploring the mini-continent of Hepmonaland, returning with fantastic tales and riches. (Many fall prey to disease, pirates, monsters, and privateers from the Scarlet Brotherhood and Lordship of the Isles, however.) Several major kingdoms full of new peoples are said to lie in this tropical land, some rumored to be at war with the slave-taking Brotherhood. [TAB - 38]

    The Sea Barons do not desire a permanent alliance with the Cities of the Solnor Compact, distrusting Drax's motives, but they feign friendship. The Sea Barons fear assassination or worse by the Scarlet Brotherhood, and treat with strangers in their lands harshly. Expeditions launched to the mysterious south in the last few years have returned with tales of fantastic wonders and riches. [LGG - 100]


    Rovers of the Barrens:   The Rovers are a feeble folk now, but they still mount small raids into neighbouring lands. They spend most of their time hunting bear, wolf and northern deer. They fish the Icy Sea. They harvest pine and fur from the Forlorn Forest. They hunt deer and bison. They lay low. As they must. For they must rebuild their strength, as they did after the Battle of Opicm River.

    A secret alliance with the Wolf Nomads is being negotiated. Scouts are searching for survivors from the scattered war bands, including allied centaurs and elves. Horses are supplied to tribes loyal to new war sachem, Nakanwa. All forces of Iuz that hunt Rovers (including Grossfort) are closely watched, to be either avoided or destroyed. [LGG - 95]


    Iuz:         Iuz retains a precarious hold on the East. The Bandit Kingdoms chaff under his rule. The remains of the Rovers of the Barrens and the remnents of Tenh strain against his rule. Stonehold has no love for Iuz, and he must resort to influence and stratagems to retain control when that does not appeal to his paranoid and visious self, who’d rather rule by bane magics and brute force.

                    Though some remain, the loss of the bulk of Iuz's fiends has resulted in low morale, revolts, and disorganization within an already chaotic regime. [LGG - 63]


    Now embroiled in what Furyondy has termed a "permanent and unalterable state of. war," Iuz's attention has been drawn to his southwestern border, perhaps at the expense of holding in Tenh, the Barrens, and the old Bandit Kingdoms. Though bereft of the bulk of his demonic aid, Iuz's armies are far more numerous than those of his enemies. They not only follow the Old One, but worship him, believing that to fail their infernal master is not only to fail their liege, but their god, as well. [LGG - 62,63]



    Did I not mention Vecna? How thoughtless of me. Last we saw of him, he was imprisoned in the Shadowfell after an epic battle with Iuz back in 581 CY. But, ever the paranoid soul, Vecna would never have lived as long as he had were he not a cagy one. He knew that one day he might be defeated. He knew that one day he might need a means of return. And he prepared for such a day. And that day had come.
    He’d been plotting. He’d been scheming.
    And he wanted revenge. Against Iuz.

    "No matter how powerful a being is, there exists a secret that can destroy him. In every heart is a seed of darkness hidden from all others; find that evil seed, and your enemies are undone. Strength and power come if you know and control what others dare not show. Never reveal all that you know, or your enemies will lake your seed, too." [LGG - 186]


    Vecna

    Despite Vecna’s entrapment in the Demiplane of Dread, long-laid plans have come to fruition. In Vecna’s quest to achieve full and permanent godhood, he instigated several alternative strategies in the millennia of his existence. Many of these designs have played out with little to recommend them, but elements of more sinister schemes continue to move unnoticed.

    One such plan has promise at this point. Sometime during the span of years before his imprisonment, Vecna went to a lot of trouble secretly fabricating two tablets inscribed with a true dweomer in the Language Primeval. Then he buried them in a plausible archeological site. […]

    Though any of a handful of demipowers would have served Vecna’s purpose, the corpse king Iuz took the bait. Having stolen the tablets from their original discoverers several years ago, Iuz has slowly brought his considerable resources to bear on the tablets. The more Iuz learned, the more the ancient formula seemed, to him and all his divinatory means, an ancient dweomer of stupendous strength, whereby a demipower might bootstrap itself to full ascension! […]

    The tablets lie. [Die Vecna Die - 2,3]


    Iuz enacted the formula, and the formula drew the power from him, a conduit to Vecna, who then had the means to break free from the Shadowfell and emerge with the power of a greater god. Vecna then entered the city of Sigil, where he came perilously close to rearranging all existence to his whims. When Vecna was ejected from Sigil by a party of adventurers, Iuz was freed and Vecna returned to Oerth greatly reduced in power, though still a lesser god.


                   


                   







    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, WGA4 Vecna Lives, Die Vecna Die, WGS2 Howl from the North, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.


    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Stillness-And-The-Fading by ardak
    Failed-Crusade by seven-tenth

    Vatun, by Ken Frank, from WGS2 Howl from the North, 1991
    Tovag Baragu, by Ken Frank, WGA4 Vecna Lives!, 1990

    Portrait-of-a-Rogue by kirin12090

    Pirate-Wizard by kashivan

    Battle Looming by David Shong

    The Death of Alain IV, by Joel Biske, from Living Greyhawk Gazatteer, 2000
    Ocean-Wind by nele-diel

    Arrival Again by David Shong

    Vecna by juliedillon



    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1043 The City of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1989
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    2138 Book of Artifacts, 1993
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    9317 WGS1, The Five Shall be One, 1991
    9337 WGS2, Howl from the North, 1991
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    11442 Bastion of Faith, 1999
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda 

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 09-20-2021 06:09 pm
    I'm published!


    Oerth Journal #31

    Although I'm likely known for my History of Oerth posts, I'm deviating from the norm to announce weird and wonderful news. I'm published!

    I've been writing for years, and have completed two novels and a handful of short stories, none of which could be considered Fantasy, or even speculative in any shape or form. I wrote contemporary stories, and turn of the century novels, one set in Timmins, my hometown, in the year of its birth, and the other a faux history of my great grandfather's supposed experiences in the Great War. I say "supposed history" because he never once spoke about his experiences while in uniform.

    This is not to say that I'm not acquainted with fantasy or Dungeons and Dragons, because I most certainly am. I read science fiction when I began reading, and then Lord of the Rings in my early years of high school. I picked up Gary Gygax's "Gord" of Greyhawk novels, and the original Dragonlance trilogies as they came out. I must say that I tired of the Forgotten Realms novels rather quickly, even as I continued to buy and read them for many years. I preferred the Black Company series to them. Time passed, my friends who played D&D moved away, and the game slipped into the past. That's likely a similar story to many readers of this blog.

    I swapped fantasy for classics and histories and literary novels like Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Faulkner, and a host on Canadiana I won't bore you with since you've likely never heard of Findley and Robertson and so many other Canadian authors, and there I stayed until relatively recently, when the nostalgia bug hit me.

    I was "lured" back to D&D by a friend at work. We played for about a year, then not as we had a hard time finding players not on shiftwork, or inclined to play with a couple of middle-aged old farts. But the desire remained. I browsed my old modules, and felt the tingle of nostalgia. 5e was fine, it's good in fact, but it was those old books of my glory years that brought on those feelings of love and longing. I've a reverence for those old books. That's probably the memory of the love of old friends, but there you have it. I got the bug, and began watching YouTube videos of Matt ColvilleSeth SkorkowskyRPGmodsFanCritical Rolecaptcorajus, and AJ Pickett. I also watched a few streams too, like Lord Gosumba's game and Return to the Bandit Kingdoms and the like.

    And then Legends and Lore, where I was inspired by a number of Greyhawk contributors who'd never lost the love of that old setting. I thought that maybe I could take a stab at contributing to the Greyhawk community, too.

    So, I began a blog. But I had to delve deep into all those old sourcebooks to refamiliarize myself with Greyhawk. Did I really know it, back then? Not really. It was intimidating. It seemed so much work to flesh it all out, when I leafed through its pages. So I created my own stuff, doing exactly what Gary Gygax wanted me to do with the Greyhawk setting; the funny thing is that my homebrew world was almost identical to Ratik and the North Kingdom and the Thillonrian Peninsula. Was I having a Freudian moment when I was brewing it? Maybe.

    Oerth Journal #31

    Long story short, I submitted some of my stuff to Greyhawk Online, and I soon saw my work posted on a website that was not my blog.

    Then the unthinkable happened: they asked me to contribute to the Oerth Journal. My deadline? About 2 weeks. I ought to have panicked. I'd never written fantasy before. But I didn't. I had 1400 words of a short story written within a few hours. And a 1st draft a few days later. I rewrote. I refined. I had a few people read it and make suggestions. Actually, only one person made suggestions. I completed the last rewrite and sent it in for rejection.

    But they did not reject it. They published it! Wonders never cease. So, here it is! I give to you my first published work of worry (we writers are a particularly self-denigrating sort, always convinced that no one will actually like what we've done). But don't just read my story; there's lots of creative material within. And don't stop there, download all 31 issues if you're a fan of that wonderful old setting.
    You must be. You're reading a blog called "Greyhawk Musings," after all.



    Posted: 09-17-2021 11:17 am
    History of Oerth, Part 10: Of The Fog of War


    Fruztii Barbarian

    Iuz was loose upon the land. But he was not alone. The Horned Society had risen in his absence. Banditry had sprung up as prolific as spring flowers across the breadth of the north. The sun that had once shone across the Great Kingdom had set, and in its twilight, that once celestial nation lay in disarray, riven by schemes and betrayal. Orcs had sundered the Bone March. The high seas of the Solnor Coast were beset with conflict and piracy.
    And those east of the Rakers found themselves ever more isolated.

    574 CY  The Fruztii consulted with Ratik concerning what wonders may be hidden within their mountains, eager to see whether the lore of their skalds was to be found in the dusty tomes the southerners worshiped so. So, Ratik consulted the Library in Marner, and those sages and wizards employed there, and within those dusty tomes they exhumed references to lost cities of the Flan, to ancient relics of the dwerfolk, and to sunken cities of the Solnor Sea. And of course, they dug up references to dragons and the hordes they amassed. All these they brought to the attention of the Fruztii, and the Fruztii listened with great interest. And armed with this knowledge, the Fruztii and those of Ratik brave enough to accompany them, they climbed into the Griffs and the Corusks in search of such things.


    The History of The Ice-Shard Tome

    While searching for the lair of a white dragon, the barbarians chanced upon an illusion-cloaked dungeon entrance and ventured inside. There they fought evil, cold-dwelling creatures and passed through strange areas of chilling, life-sapping vapor. Finally, they reached a great ice-encrusted chamber. While the intruders were busy digging out a chest from the ice, their activity awakened the dungeon’s most dangerous guardian: a massive automaton fashioned—so swear the barbarians—of steel-hard ice.

    Although the golem slew two of their number, the barbarians were ultimately triumphant and claimed the icy dungeon’s treasures as their own. Among the hoard was the book that was to become known as the Ice-Shard Tome. Of the book’s owner there was no sign. [Dragon #243 - 89, by Anthony Nixon and David Head.]

    The Frost Barbarians were distrustful of wizardly magic and eager to sell what came to be known as the “Ice-Shard Tome” upon returning from their expedition into the Corusk Mountains to Crylandren, a wizard of Marner.

    He copied what he wished from the book before selling it, and over the next few years, the Ice-Shard Tome was sighted variously in Rel Astra, Rauxes, and Rel Mord, moving ever deeper into central Flanaess. On its journey the tome acquired both its popular title and a sinister reputation.


    The Kelten Pass

    575 CY  Where the Schnai sent promises and warriors to support the Fruztii front lines as a rear guard within the Bluefang-Kelton Pass, Ratik did one better. Although already hard pressed in the south with the orcs and gnolls, they understood that they must also secure their north, so, they sent battle hardened troops to stand shoulder to shoulder with their northern kin. The Fists came, as they knew they must, and they came with ogres and orcs and gnolls, and the alliance held the pass against them. But holding the pass was not enough. Securing it was essential, as was securing the lands north of it.


    The Battle of Kelten Pass, as the Fist called it, only severed to divide the Atamans of Stonefist. Were it not for Vlek’s iron rule, the Hold might have fallen into strife.

    The Coltens, despite generations of servitude to the invaders, have slowly emerged as a competing form of leadership, offering their method of election of the most popular warrior as an alternative to the Rite of Battle Fitness. So many aspiring leaders were slain in the often useless raids of the latter method that its proponents have grown scarce. When Ratik and the Fruztii made peace, the subsequent battles for the Kelten Pass brought several telling defeats to “fists” led by the descendant warband leaders. The Hold was then divided between those who followed the laws laid down by Vlek Col Vlekzed, and those who claimed that Stonefist’s methods are no longer appropriate and the Coltens Feodality should be restored. The nomads and settlers west and around the Frozen River championed the ways of Stonefist. The population around Kelten and the Hraak Forest wished to establish new forms of leadership. [Dragon #57 - 13]


    The successful alliance of the Barony of Ratik and the Frost Barbarians has caused much consternation in Bone March. A joint Ratik-Fruztii army wreaked havoc within the March after the signing. Leaders of the humanoids have determined that the northern alliance must be dissolved. [WoGG - 29]

    Knight of Ratik


    576-582 CY         The alliance between Ratik and the Frost Barbarians was mutually beneficial. Not only had they begun to secure the Fruztii’s northern pass, they had begun to make gains against the Bone March to the south, too. But at a cost. They were small nations, their resources were limited, and were the orcs not soundly defeated, and soon, they knew all might be lost.

    The humanoids so soundly defeated in the campaign of 575 were again raiding over the border, and the gnomes of the Lofthills (west of Loftwood) were being continually besieged. Losses from the campaigns in Bone March and with the Frost Barbarians could be replaced by mercenaries and volunteers from foreign lands only. [Dragon #57 - 14] 


    Zeai upon the Icy Sea

    The Frost Barbarians had not turned their backs on their cousins, the Schnai and Cruski, for they had common cause. They each hated the Hold of Stonefist, as did their distant cousins, the Zeai, the whaling Sea Barbarians who dwelt upon the far Brink Isles and Tusking Strand, east of the Black Ice. And the Snow and Ice Barbarians shared common cause against the North Province and Sea Barons, for life was harsh upon the Thillonrian Peninsula, and thought their seas were plentiful, their slim growing season could not support them.

    The Schnai noticed their Fruztii cousin’s absence from the seas. And they saw their cousin’s increased reliance upon Luxnor of Ratik. But they were not worried. Let them break themselves upon the Fists and the Bone March, the Schnai said. They will weaken beyond recovery, and will be forever under our suzerainty when Ratik finally fell, for fall it must, in the end. 

    And in the Fruztii’s absence, the Schnai increased their raids on the Great Kingdom, knowing that they needn’t share the spoils with them.

    The Schnai weren’t the only ones to note the Fruztii’s increased presence in the northeastern theatre. Tenh had heard of the Frost Barbarian’s alliance with Ratik, and they’d heard of their joint strike into the Bluefang-Kelten Pass, and they sent emissaries to treat with them, for, as they explained to them, we have common cause against the Fists of Stonehold, and the Fruztii listened.


    576 CY  Bonded by blood, and having shed blood to protect one another, the Fruztii and Ratik ratified their bond in the eyes of both their gods, for they knew that their only hope of their standing against their enemies, they would need to stand as one.

    This symbolic parchment was endorsed and blessed by the gods of both Ratik and Fruztii, and the superstitious Frost Barbarians place great store in its safety. [WoGG - 29]


    577 CY  Bellport grew tired of the repeated raids by the Schnai, and demanded the protection due them as a city of the North Province and the Great Kingdom. Lord Captain Aldusc was dispatched from Asperdi of the Sea Barons with a squadron of warships and troops to do just that.

    The warships are now reported to be operating along the coast. Included are no fewer than six large galleys and perhaps a score of other war ships. The troops were divided after landing into main [joining Herzog Grenell] and reserve [defending Bellport's landward approaches] groups. [Dragon #63 - 15]


    Although the Schnai had not raided as far and as often as the Fruztii had in their days of glory, they were no strangers to such things; indeed, they were the most accomplished of seafarers, and they were truly as fierce as their cousins, as were the Cruski. They increased their raids, and their longships swept down the coast, striking the North Province and the Baronial Isles both, luring those who chased them or sought to stop them far out to sea where they could lose them with ease.

    But not all were so lucky.

    Some raiders were met and actions were fought; some slipped through, some turned elsewhere. Reportedly a squadron of seven Schnai longships were set upon whilst sinking the hulks of two provincial merchants, the vessels Marntig and Solos. Guided by the smoke and flames, a flotilla of Baronial warships surprised the barbarians. Three of the Schnai were rammed and sunk. In hand-to-hand action, the flagship of the barbarians’ fleet was captured, but the three remaining longships escaped after jettisoning all of their captured cargo.

    In hand-to-hand action, the flagship of the barbarians' fleet was captured. Jarl Froztilth, leader of the Schnai, many of his men, and the captured ship were all taken to Asperdi. News of this success was said to have greatly heartened the Herzog. [Dragon #63 - 16]


    The Schnai recalled how once they and the Fruztii were the terror of the seas, and they wished the southerners to fear them so again. So, the Schnai treated with their cousins, the Cruski. And the Cruski were glad to treat with them, for the Schnai held what was theirs. The Schnai gave up the lands south of Glot along the east coast [and] the Cruski regained their southern harbors. This made the raids into North Province and the Isles of the Sea Barons all the easier next year, and most of the able-bodied men were away on those journeys when the warbands of Stonefist (now Stonehold) rode into the tundra which the King of Cruski claimed. The few wandering tribes of Coltens there welcomed the invaders, while surviving Cruskii headed east as quickly as possible. The returning warriors were enraged at the boldness of the invasion. [Dragon #57 - 14]


    The History of the Ice-Shard Tome

    Crylandren’s corpse was found shortly after selling the Ice-Shard Tome, his corpse frozen, his veins reputedly filled with ice. The windows to his study were thrown open, despite that winter being the bitterest in living memory. Rumors persist that the tome is under some kind of curse, that a powerful, extraplanar mage has been tracking the book, slaying those who have handled it, but always failing to possess it himself. A list of similar deaths follow in its wake, always grisly, if never substantiated. [Dragon #243 - 89]


    578 CY  Despite his youth, King Ralff II of the Fruztii understood subjugation. His people had turned to their cousins to the east in their hour of need and found the duplicitous hand of the perfidious Schnai. The Schnai had lent their support. Yes, they had. But that help came at a cost: suzerainty. The Fruztii had lost their governance. Indeed, they’d lost their pride. Once, they were the terror of the Solnor Sea. Now, they were a subjugated people. The Shnai commanded them, calling their commands guidance. They had learned their lessons well from the diplomats of Shar, long ago.

    No more, he thought. He extended his hand to Ratik and they’d taken it, and they’d been true to their words. They’d stood side by side with his people when the tribes of Schnai had not. And so, he turned to Ratik again: Train my people, he said, and when he sent the pride of their youth to Marner, the Archbaron not only trained them in the modern art of War, he equipped them for such. And so, when Ralff looked again to the East, he understood that he had kin there, he had obligations there, but he also understood that he had no friend there.

    The Fruztii sent raiding bands to sea with the Schnai, but due to careful urgings, numbers of mercenary troops also moved southward into Ratik and joined the Baron’s troops there. These Fruztii returned with knowledge of organized warfare and good-quality arms and armor and formed the core of a new standing army organized by King Ralff II in 578. The four companies of foot and one troop of horse actively patrolled and brought most of the realm under order. Chief men and nobles not raiding were prevailed upon to contribute men to patrol their own territories, so that by the end of the year, the frequency of banditry and humanoid raiding bands had been reduced to an all-time low. Even the high country around the head of the Jenelrad River was peaceful, and its Jarl swore an oath of fealty to Ralff. Without actually declaring independence from Schnai overlordship, the King of Fruzti showed that he was again capable of fielding an army capable of either defending his territory or taking another’s. The Schnai conveniently ignored the resurgence, probably hoping that the involvement in Ratik would again reduce the Frost Barbarians to vassal status. [Dragon #57 - 14]


    Battle of the Loftwood
    Battle of the Loftwood

    Their expedition into Bluefang-Kelten Pass thus far successful, the Ratik-Frutzii alliance turned their attention south, their aim to destroy the humanoid forces under the Vile Rune orcs of the Bone March.


    The manpower pool of the Archbarony was totally dry in 577. Because of the relatively good relations between the Fruztii and Ratik, the woodsmen and elven warders of the Timberway were moved south to the Loftwood, and new recruits were formed into units of light troops called the Volunteer Borderers. [...]

    The usefulness of the new Volunteer Borderers was proved in the summer of 578 when one of this formation’s patrols discovered that the orc tribe of the Vile Rune was indeed moving northward. In addition to 5,000 tribe members, the force had 2,000 goblins, 1,000 norkers and xvarts, and 1,000 hobgoblins, orgrilIons, gnolls, and ogres. With this detestable agglomeration were nearly 2,000 bandits and brigands serving as mercenaries. Its forerunners were worgmounted goblins, a handful of whom were slain to obtain the intelligence.

    Thus alerted, the Marshal of the Archbarony laid a trap which the unsuspecting invaders blundered into. The humanoid horde moved north along the fringe of the Loftwood where it butts against the hills. At the northern terminus of the trees there awaited the full army of Ratik, its numbers made to appear three times greater by magical means. The gnomes held the western (hillside) flank, while the light forester troops and elves formed the other arm of the “U,” well concealed in the dense timber. 

    The Battle of the Loftwood saw considerable magical competitions in addition to the standard hand-to-hand combat between the strongest fighters on the opposing forces. The real fighting was between the masses of troops, however, and this was fierce in the extreme. At one point, a score of foreign volunteers saved the day because their leader, Queg, a Fruztii, had prepared an extensive ambush with rocks, tree trunks, pits, and trees to set fire to. This action turned back 250 or more hobgoblins, killing or wounding half of them, so that the flank of the Archbaron’s army couldn’t be turned. Simultaneously, the gnomes on the left flank were nearly broken by a rush of gnolls, bandits, and goblins, and were saved only by the superb slinging of a flanking group of the Hillrunners and the innate tenacity of the gnomes themselves. 

    Finally, the scale was tipped by an attack on the right (of the orc horde) by the elves and foresters. The humanoid invading force broke and fled, and in the rout there was a great slaughter. [Dragon #57 - 14,15]


    Seuvord Redbeard saw dissention among his Atamans, and knew he had to suppress it. He knew that he could not afford to be embroiled in a civil war. His “nation” was surrounded by enemies: The Rovers were once again increasing in strength to the west, and raids into those Barrens were far more perilous than they had been short years before. And except by all but the strongest of efforts, the passes to Tenh and Fruztii were closed to him. Were civil war to divide his lands, those enemies were sure to fall upon them and destroy them. He needed to unite his people. He also wished his own line to retain the Mastership of the Hold as a hereditary right, so he called a great council at Purmill, with promise safe conduct for all who attended. The Atamans were dubious. And they had right to be. Vlek had promised the very same, and look what happened to the Coltens? They came, but they came with a show of strength. With spears extended, and hands upon the pommels of their swords.

    In CY 578, shortly after Tenh had coronated its new Duke, the Master of the Hold became Rhelt Seuvord I of Stonehold. Several of his cousins took ill from a mysterious flux shortly after the coronation, and about a dozen others were reported fleeing into the Griff Mountains with a small band of loyal followers. [Dragon #57 - 14]


    Magic is not the only force that can wreak havoc. Those of the Old Faith can tell you that those who dismiss the forces the natural world do so at their peril. Nature can and will do more damage than mere wizards, indeed, most wizards, arcane or divine. Those who live in the shadow of smoking volcanoes can attest to such, as can those who live on the banks of rivers, and the sea…. Hurricane "Ivid" is one such reminder. It ravaged the Solnor Coast, crippling the Sea Barons’ majesty over the sea lanes of the north. Trade ground to a halt. So did piracy, for that matter. But that was the least of the coastal settlement’s concerns, as they fled before “Ivid’s” landing.

    [Most] people [of the Sea Barons] recall this three-day storm, which some laughingly called "Hurricane Ivid." [Ivid - 90]


    579 CY  Baron Lexnol’s heir, Alain IV, marries Lady Evaleigh, the daughter of the count of Knurl.

    In 579 CY, Lexnol's only son, Alain IV, the heir to the throne of the archbarony, married Lady Evaleigh, the daughter of the count of Knurl. The county was the only surviving province of Bone March, and the union was arranged to improve the lot of both realms. [LGG]

    Alain acquired the dream of uniting Ratik and Bone March, but failed to convince the king of the Frost Barbarians of his plan to drive out the nonhuman tribes. Many whispered that Alain was encouraged in these ambitions by his step-family, particularly the count of Knurl, whose position between Bone March, North Province, and Nyrond was grossly precarious. In certain agreement were the immigrants from Bone March, who were driven from their lands by the invaders. [LGG - 91]

    The Ratik-Fraztii alliance cleared the Kelten Pass to the Hold of Stonefist, pressing the Fists back, but not taking the town of Kelten. Rhelt Seuvord rallied his forces, pushing the Fruztii back into the Griff Mountains.


    580 CY  The Bone March was displeased. Had the Fruztii not allied with Ratik, they’d have surely overwhelmed the little nation. Ratik could only fortify and man so many passes and still secure the wide expanse of the Loftwoods. If only the pact could be broken.  To break the alliance between Ratik and the Fruztii, the Bone March conspired with the North Province, for they could not enter Marner undetected. Thus, the Seal of Alliance stolen from Ratik's Baronial Vault.

    In 580 CY, intruders from Bone March attempted an audacious act of treachery by stealing the Seal of Marner, an object blessed by the gods of the Suel barbarians that was the symbol of the new Northern Alliance. The plot was foiled when the raiding party was captured in Kalmar Pass before making it back to Spinecastle with their prize. [LGG  - 36,37]

    [But] not before news of the theft drove a small wedge between the Fruztii and Ratikans. [LGG - 91]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

     Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine 57, 63, 243.

    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Viking Repose by sebmckinnon
    Snow by all-my-life-i-dream
    Medieval-Knight by lijinbo78
    Vikings by kristmiha
    North-war by castaguer93


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Dragon 57, 63, 243
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 09-16-2021 08:34 am
    History of Oerth, Part 9: Of A Rumour of War


    Chaos Has Risen

    The Great Kingdom has all but collapsed under the weight of its own wickedness. New powers have taken to the field in the wake of its collapse, each eager to snap up what is unclaimed. But in the absence of law and order, chaos has risen. Evil is sweeping the land.
    Two names will enter the fray: Iuz and Ivid, and the Flanaess will fall into such tyanny as it had not known since the name Vecna was whispered by those under the weal of his Occluded Empire.

    505 CY  King Avras of Furyondy took note of the doings of Iuz, for what king wouldn’t be concerned about the rise of Evil on his border. The Vesve was already hard pressed by this Iuz, as orcs and hobgoblins bearing Iuz’s mark had penetrated their canopy and were laying waste to all they encountered. Avras mustered his troops and sent them north. But even as they engaged his vile forces, the armies of Iuz had already begun to break apart. For Iuz was not to be found. And it was his tyranny that had held them together.

    But neither Furyondy nor Vesve was directly involved in the banishment of Iuz, generally dated to 505 CY. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil - 3]


    St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel has been allowed to strike against Iuz, when his avatar assisted those imprisoning Iuz in 505 CY. That St. Cuthbert would wish to fight Iuz is not unexpected. Of the "martial" [...] Powers, Heironeous has his great struggle with his hated brother Hextor [....] But St. Cuthbert is a doughty, tough fighter, and he hates Iuz's [...] nature. That he was allowed to strike against the Old One is surprising. He could only have done so if [the other] Powers agreed to this, for all Powers must agree to such an action. Istus could tell us that Incabulus cared not, but Nerull's croaking voice was decisive in giving permission. [WGR5 - 6]  


    Other blows beset [Iuz]. His mother offended Graz'zt, who drew her to the Abyss and imprisoned her there; Iuz's growing alliance with Zuggtmoy, tanar'ri Lady of Fungi, never had the chance to grow to fruition. Within Iuz's own lands, many factions struggled for power when their master left. Tanar'ri and gehreleth came to odds with each other and decided to leave the barren lands to their own fate. Orcs and evil humans began to squabble and fight. Chaos reigned, and the good folk of Furyondy and the Vesve breathed a sigh of relief. [WGR5 - 3]


    511 CY  Evil was on the rise across the lands. It rose from the marshes and fens just as it had flowed out of the mountains, unexpected, and en masse. What stirred the trolls so, none can say, though the name Iuz was whispered more than once. It’s the Old One, they said, nodding knowingly. But Iuz was imprisoned, as those privy to such information knew, so it couldn’t have been him. Other names were whispered alongside his: Keraptis, for one, for all the Tenha know it, and all expect him to return.


    Battle of Dour Prentess

    Dour Pentress was so named because of a spectacular siege-battle there in 511 CY when over two thousand trolls surrounded the castle, cutting it off from supplies in a Troll Winter, for a period of over three months before it was relieved. [WGR5 - 70]

    513 CY  Despite Iuz’s absence, Evil flourished everywhere in the North. A new force rose up and took the name of The Horned Society, a foul haven of deviltry. And like Iuz before them, they had designs on the North. But first, they must gather their forces were there plans to come to fruition.

    Deprived of their lord [Iuz], the euroz and jebli armies massing on Furyondy's borders rapidly dissolved. The barbarous creatures fought the regents of Iuz and won for themselves the east and west shores of Whyestil Lake. East of the lake, savage chieftains and unscrupulous humans founded the Horned Society. [Chronological History of Eastern Oerik, by Keith Horsfield]


    The Horned Society

    515 CY  The Horned Society sought to make great gains in Iuz’s absence, and indeed, so did the petty despotic fiefs that were once under Iuz’s heel. They each and all sought to expand south, for that was where the riches lay, and that was where the yet untapped sources of slaves lay. But they could not march south, not whilst the Nomads and the Rovers were ever a nuisance to them, raiding across the Cold Marches and Howling Hills. So, they put aside their differences and gathered as one and marched north to put an end to that nuisance, once and for all.

    The Nomads and Rovers darted in and out of their armies’ reach, and revelled in their early successes, but as those armies marched ever north and as the Barrens open to their maneuvers were ever squeezed smaller, they had no choice but to turn and fight. The inevitable battle did not go well for the Rovers. They were all but massacred at the Battle of Opicm River.

    The Nomads were more fortunate. They did not have the Icy Sea and the Corusks blocking their flight. They did not have the Fists of the Stonehold at their back, either. They broke into smaller bands and slipped away into the vast expanse of the northern plains and the tangles of the Boreal Forests and vanished as though they were one with the wind and trees.

    At the great battle of Opicm River, the might or the Rovers of the Barrens gathered to war upon a combined host from the land of luz and the newly formed Homed Society. The wardog soldiers and light cavalry of the Rovers were decimated and scattered, and many of their chieftains were slain. Perhaps three or four clans of but a few tribes each are all that now remain of the force which once sent the tumans of the Wolf Nomads flying back across the Dulsi without their gray-tailed banners. [Greyhawk Gold Box]

    There were those who remained loyal to Iuz, though, for they knew the Old One could return, would return. They knew they must survive were they to be of use to their absent master when he did, so, they feigned allegiance, and added their strength to that gathering, their aim to placate those who would otherwise take His lands, and as they seemed lend aide, they held back, all the while watching their foes weaken their selves. They bided their time, and waited.


    520 CY  To the east, those upon the Thillonian Peninsula had little concern for the doings of those across the Griff Mountains, excepting those few Fists who managed to cross those imposing peaks. Their relative security aside, they understood that one day those Evils to the West might come; so, they searched for what uncharted passes might be hidden from them. And they searched for fabled Skrellingshald, for the elder wives wove tales of the wonders that one might find there. But where was it? None could say, but the fancy tales told of a becalmed climate and rich soils and steeply walled, easily defended, paths to it. That in itself made it worth seeking out. But did it ever actually exist? Or was it just the grist of fancy tales?

    Most scoffed. It was just the stuff of fancy, they said. But there were those who thought differently. There’s a kernel of truth in even the wildest of fables, they believed, and so, they shouldered packs and girded themselves for the great dangers that lurked within those peaks. And of those who did, few returned.

    Skrellingshald

    Hradji Beartooth was one who had. He returned with wonders and curiosities and what they hoped was a tale to tell. They expected him to gather the clan around the hearth and regale them with the tale of his exploits and heroism. But he didn’t speak on it. Not to a single soul. And neither did those who’d staggered out of those lofty mountains with him.

    What, you’ve never heard of Skrellingshald? Maybe you have, for Skellingshald is what the northern barbarians called that long forgotten city of Tostenhca.

    Hradji returned later that year with a diminished following and with greatly increased wealth which consisted largely of […] golden spheres. He quite naturally refused to disclose the location of the mountain, as he planned to gather a stronger force for the next season and return with still greater booty. Unfortunately, Hradji and the majority of his men died within the year, some of them as soon as they arrived home. What is more, all those who had any prolonged contact with the gold similarly sickened and died. Hradji’s heir disposed of the hoard by trading it to merchant interests in the Great Kingdom, and reputedly the curse still circulates as the coin of that land, although this last may be a tale fabricated to weaken the Emperor’s currency. [GA - 93]


    c.550 CY               In truth, Hradji Beartooth, although as ever distrustful of magic as all Fruztii, had braved the dangers of the Griff Mountains because he knew his people might need a haven, and that they sorely needed what wonders Skrellingshald might have wielded to keep them safe those eons past, for the Fruztii had been greatly weakened by the Battle of Shamblefield, and were a shadow of their former selves.

    Not so the Schnai. They had not spent themselves against the shields of the south. They had taken to the seas instead. And so, when the Fists of the Stonehold had swept out from the Griff Mountains, the Frutzii had little choice but to treat with their cousins to the East. Help us fortify the passes, they pled. And the Schnai were only too willing to help. They sent warriors to strengthen the Bluefang-Kelten Pass. But not so many as did the Fruztii, for they sent longships to Krakenheim to protect their poor cousins from what retaliation might come from the Great Kingdom’s North Province and the fleets of the Sea Barons. And the Fruztii found themselves under the suzerainty of the Schnai. Their king was but a puppet. And they chaffed under their cousin’s rule.

    While the Fruztii were historically the most persistent in their raids upon the Aerdy, the Schnai explored the seas and the northern isles. Their discovery of Fireland during the early years of Fruztii raids southward was a great distraction. Rather than seek conquest in the Flanaess, they chose to explore the Lesser and Greater Isles of Fire, while they built settlements on the more habitable islands of Sfirta and Berhodt. They would inevitably return home with tales of monsters and giants, and of treasures almost obtained. [LGG - 16]


    555 CY  The turmoil in the Great Kingdom settled once Ivid V was crowned Overking. But much to the displeasure of the Scarlet Brotherhood, the new Overking banished all foreign advisors from the courts of his nation. The Brotherhood had lost its foothold in Suundi, so they took measures that they hoped would distract the Overking. Indeed, they hoped for far more than that. 6071 SD


    558 CY  The Scarlet Brotherhood set out to stir up trouble for the Great Kingdom. They sent agents into the Rakers and whispered into the ears of the Euroz, the Kell, the Eiger, and others, to encourage the orcs and the gnolls there to raid the Bone March, for if Ivid’s attention was in the north, they might once again gain influence in the south. 6074 SD


    559 CY  Humanoids began raids into Bone March. These were limited in scope at first, for the orcs and gnolls did not fully trust the red-robed agents that whispered in their ears. They are not prepared, the whispers said. They look to the barbarians to the north and have not guarded against you, they said. But the orcs were cautious. For they knew not what these red-robed whisperers hoped to gain. And because they had heard the whispers of Men before, and knew that Men had always used their people to blunt the swords of their enemies with orcish blood. The gnolls were less cautious, for the whispers promised them blood, and they do so love the smell of it.


    560 CY  Finding resistance limited, the orcs and gnolls made more forays into Bone March, striking widely so as to keep the Marquis’ forces rushing to and froe across the breadth of his lands to defend against them, never once conceiving that the orcs were acting far more strategic than they ever had before. They were a savage species, after all.


    561 CY  The forces of Marquis Clement tired. And still the orcs came. And when the orcs found no resistance, the whisperers said, “The time is ripe. He has not the strength to defeat you!” The orcs still did not trust the whisperers from Shar, but they saw the truth in their words. And so the tribes flowed from their mountains into the Bone March and laid waste to all that stood against them.

    They flowed out into the Theocracy of the Pale, and into neighbouring Nyrond. They flowed out into Ratik. Because that was what the agents of Shar instructed them to do. But the greatest of their hosts spilled out onto the Bone March, for the agents of the Brotherhood knew that turmoil within the Great Kingdom was so great that it could not muster effective opposition. And because they had parleyed with Herzog Grace Grennell of The North Province, and he had promised to delay his defense. But also because they’d parlayed with others, far darker in purpose than Grennell.

    Thus, the orcs and the gnolls made great gains into the March in so little time. But not so in the Theocracy of the Pale, Nyrond, or Ratik, for there resistance was stiff, swift and sure.


    563 CY  The Bone March fell to the humanoids and all humans in that area were either enslaved or killed, Lord Clement among them, as he was held up within the walls of Spinecastle, waiting for succor from Ratik and the North Province, when it fell after a prolonged siege, virtually overnight. Survivors say that the orcs and gnolls had nothing to do with its fall, that it fell from within, that dark forces rose up from its very foundations, causing those within to throw open the gates in their haste to flee, and only then did the humanoids gain entry. It was the castles’ curse, they said, making some gesture they thought would ward off the Evil they said they saw that day.

    Spinecastle


    The hordes did not hold the castle for long; for they too were struck by such horrors that drove them from its halls. While within, they were driven mad; and those that survived said that blood flowed from its walls, that rooms rippled and disappeared, and that they were induced to strike one another down. Retreating from Spinecastle’s horrors, they never again entered it.

    The Knight Protectors of the Bone March were overwhelmed by the hordes, and those who could fled to Ratik, bolstering the defenses of Ratikhill.

    This land fell to the horde of invaders [Euroz, Kell, Eiger and others], its lord slain, and its army slain or enslaved. Humans in the area were likewise enslaved or killed, and the whole territory is now ruled by one or more of the humanoid chiefs. [Chronological History of Eastern Oerik]

    The Euroz orcs and the gnolls continued to flow out of the Rakers, betraying and attacking the North Province in their blood frenzy, even as Spinecastle held out against them.

    Grennell expected as much and was prepared. He met them within the March, and drawing them into defensive redoubts, he slowed their advance, and then halted it altogether; and having done so, he parleyed with them and allied with them against Nyrond and Almor, for he believed that such a force could not be defeated until it had blunted itself against hard resolve, and he much rather it do so against that of other lands and not his. Then he would turn on the humanoids, and take their spoils as his own.


    What did the Scarlet Brotherhood think about their success? They were elated. They were infuriated. The orcs slaughtered their agents along with all the other humans, for the orcs understood that those red-robed whisperers were not their friends. They understood that they were pawns in a greater game that was not their own. And they recognized the scent of slavery when they smelled it.


    The Death Knight Lord Monduiz Dephaar made good use of the chaos that ensued, craving a kingdom for himself out of the lands surrounding his stronghold somewhere in the Blemu Hills in the wake of the collapse of the Bone March, and even now commands legions of humanoids and bandits, who call him Dreadlord of the Hills.

    Both Prince Grenell of the North Kingdom and the humanoids of Spinecastle gave the Dreadlord wide berth.


    565 CY  Ratik was in need of allies. Their most stalwart ally, Marquis Clement of the Bone March had fallen and his lands were in the thrall of orcs and ogres and Death Knights. Tenh was beset by Stonefist and the Theocracy of the Pale, and indeed, the Fists had raided Ratik’s very north. Their only “ally” was the Theocracy of the Pale, if having a common enemy could necessitate their being allies, for the Theocracy was, if anything, hostile to all who weren’t blind adherents to the Faith of their Blinding Light, and the people of Ratik were not.

                    But they were not entirely without hope. They had kin. Of a sort. The Fruztii had passed them by in their raiding. Why? They’d been enemies once, after all. Because the Fruztii had kin within their domain, and their kin had become a people of Ratik.

    Marner gathered those elders of Fruztii descent and asked them, “Will your brothers to the north treat with us?” After much talk and deliberation, the elders agreed that the Frutzii would. The Fruztii wished to be free of the Schnai. They were beset upon by the Fists. And their strength had been broken upon the shield of the Great Kingdom.


    Korund of Ratik

    But who? They chose Korund of Ulthek, for his mother was of Fruztii decent and his father was the Ward of the North. And Korund sailed north to visit his kin north of the Timberway. And with their aid, he secured a meeting in Djekul. And then in Krakenheim, where His Most Warlike Majesty, King Ralff listened carefully and was intrigued.

    Soon, Marner came to Krakenheim, and Krakenheim came to Marner.

                “Where else might we find allies,” His Valorous Prominence, Lexnol, the Lord Baron of Ratik asked.

                The Fruztii pondered this question. Fireland, they said.


    Fireland

                 In 565 CY, the explorer Korund of Ratik sailed with a number of barbarian friends to Fire-land, returning with a crude map made with respectable instruments and a bit of magic. From this, the Savant-Sage and I have concluded that Fire-land is a collection of islands. No single island is great enough to be a continent, though the largest might be the largest island on Oerth. The whole surface area of Fire-land would likely cover less than one million square miles. We would so like to have a more accurate and recent assessment! [TAB - 11]


    566 CY  The Rovers may have been defeated by the Horned Society at the Battle of Opicm River, but they could still be a thorn in its side. Pride dictated that they spit in the face of defeat. Pride dictated that they regain their lost lands. They allied with the Weigweir and together, they began raiding northeastern edge of Fellreev. 

    The young tribesmen who matured into warriors during the last two generations avoided their old battling and hunting grounds along the Fellreev Forest and the plains of the Dulsi, for they feared the might of luz’s hordes. Instead, these nomads and woodland hunters withdrew to the steppes and other sites to the north and east. Their numbers increased, and they practiced their fighting skills against the men of the Hold of Stonefist and the savages and humanoids they met on raids into the Cold Marshes. Despite the difficulties of communication, the western tribes of the Rovers of the Barrens actually made alliances with the Wegwiur.

    In 566 CY there were a few light raids into the northeastern edge of the Fellreev. In a few years, wardog parties were reported in the forest west of Cold Run. [Dragon # 56 - 28]


    570 CY  Though few knew of it, Iuz had been freed from his imprisonment beneath Castle Greyhawk.

    Whether this was by error or perhaps design on the part of Robilar, who secretly carried a pair of highly unusual dispelling magics about himself on that fateful day, sages cannot say. What is known is that at the moment of Iuz's being freed, Archmage Tenser arrived on the scene together with Bigby the mage and a powerful fighter going by the unlikely name of Neb Retnar. Tenser had learned of Robilar's plan, feared that Riggby was being duped, and came post haste to prevent their action. Tenser and his cohort began battling the freed, enraged demigod. Riggby at once aided the assault. Robilar and Quij considered flight and felt their chances would be best if they made odds of four against one into six against one. Iuz was very nearly destroyed in that conflict, escaping to the Abyss just before Bigby would have destroyed him with his infamous crushing hand spell. He left behind him a backwash of chaotic evil magic which altered the alignment of Retnar, left Riggby catatonic for days, and caved in a large part of Castle Greyhawk's deepest dungeon complexes. Since that time, Iuz has always protected himself with a carefully secreted soul gem hidden on an unknown, unbelievably well-guarded Abyssal plane. [WGR5 - 5]


    Iuz

    He seethed. He raged. He could think of nothing but revenge. Against those who’d imprisoned him, against that overblown pup Robilar who’d tried to kill him, against Bigby who almost had. Indeed, against all of the Flanaess. And he was far more powerful than when Cuthbert had locked him away.

    He returned to Dorakaa, and finding his fiefs disloyal, he exterminated most of the “independent” lords of the lands he still claimed as his own.  Their bones, along with those other “unfaithful” he murdered, lengthened his Road of Skulls.

    After his release, Iuz was filled with a desire for vengeance and conquest. Sixty-five years of banishment had concentrated his mind wonderfully. With a savagery and cruelty allied to plans formed over many long years of thought, Iuz acted to gather together the warring bandits and humanoids of his land with an iron grip. He drew together his Boneheart, a Greater and Lesser circle of spellcasters, six in each echelon. His agents began to scour the Flanaess, seeking arcane evils and relics. Iuz readied his forces for a great war. [WGR5 - 3]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

     Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine 56, 293.

    The Art

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    It's Medieval Time by kozivara
    knight-full-plate-armor Wallpaper
    Elsest Fortress by aikurisu
    Spinecastle, by Kalman Andrasofszky, Dragon 293
    Viking by matejko77
    Viking Metropolis by ourlak
    Iuz, Age of Conan


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1043 The City of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1989
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9386 WGR3, Rary the Traitor, 1992
    9398 WGR4, The Marklands, 1993
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    11374 The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    WGR Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon 56, 293
    OJ Oerth Journal, produced by the Council of Greyhawk, and appearing on their website
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 09-13-2021 10:37 am
    History of Oerth, Part 8: Of The Dissolution of the Great Kingdom


    Court of Deception

    The Great Kingdom had waxed and waned, and it its waning, the western principalities declared their sovereignty, for in truth, they were already self-determining and self-governing. Others closer to its heart were soon to follow, for in its Turmoil Between Crowns the Great Kingdom’s reach was surely foreshortened. And the Houses of the Celestial Circle, knowing this to be true, were plotting and maneuvering, but then again, when were they not?
    Why had the Great Kingdom fallen so? Had depravity outweighed morality? Had personal gain outstripped duty? Had Evil bettered Good? Its Houses schemed against one another, dread Death Knights had risen, and with them, the much-celebrated Knights Protector had fallen. Raids and piracy plagued her seas. And lesser races, when not actually serving the Malachite Throne, were snapping at the hand that had once kept them at bay, for they could smell its death on the wind.
    To make matters worse, a madman was set to soon sit upon the Malachite Throne.

    The Houses used what tools were available to them in their intrigue. Rumours. Misdirection. Subterfuge. But there were other, more direct, means at their disposal, and they were not above or loathe to use them: the dirk and a dram of poison. Such crass deeds would always be hired out, of course. And only if they couldn’t be traced back to them.

    c. 300 CY              The History of the Book of Darazell

    This spellbook has a dark and evil history—a legacy that mirrors the land from where it came, the blighted Kingdom of Aerdy. Its spells were first put to paper sometime in the 4th Century by the assassin-wizard Darazell. Little is known of the history of this evil mage save the infamous and rare spells he perfected, especially his trademark Darazell’s noose. Darazell met an ironic fate when he himself was assassinated by unknown hands, his body found slumped over his beloved spellbook. It is a puzzle to those who know his tale that such an efficient killer was taken unawares and murdered. It is sometimes said that Darazell knew rare rituals and had made a pact with a dark power, one that would allow him to rise in eternal undeath. Indeed, it is said that Darazell ordered his own assassination as the final stage of the ritual.  [Dragon #243 - 92, by Anthony Nixon and David Head]


    Such deeds were not just the purview of the luminary Celestial Houses. They were used far and wide, albeit with less flair and plum, by those the luminaries deemed unsophisticated and savage. Although, those “savages” were usually more direct in their application. After all, once all their enemies were dead, what did they have to fear?

    430 CY  Some say that Vlek Col Vlekzed was a Rover, who after years of plundering the lands around his, had fled his lands for the northern peninsula, and with those Rovers and bandits who followed him, took the lands of the Colten Feodality for his own, having lured them to their deaths on the pretense that they were to treat and come to an accord of peace. Others contend that he, himself, was one of the Colten Atamans, and that he seized control of all their lands when he betrayed his peers, slaughtering them while they revelled in his Hold, besotted on his wine. Still others contend that he was from Tenh. Wherever he came from, and however he came to control the Atamans, he drew them into his fold, and collectively, they came to be known as the Hold of Stonefist.

    The inhabitants of the area, the Coltens Feodality, were tricked into negotiation with Vlek. These negotiators and their escorting force were slaughtered, the remainder of the Coltens host routed by surprise and ferocity, and Vlek settled down to rule over the whole territory. [Folio - 16]

    The Coltens folk had no place in this hierarchy, and many fled to the Hraak Forest, or beyond the Big Seal Bay and the northern thrust of the Corusks to dwell in the Taival Tundra, in the land of the Ice Barbarians). [LGG - 109]


    c.440s-460s         Torn by its turmoil, the Great Kingdom began to break apart. Beginning with the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, Veluna soon followed suit, Furyondy being less devout than she wished. Then Perranland. The Malachite Throne took no action against them, could up as it was in its own tribulations. But as the tapestry of state continued unravelling, it had little choice but to rise from its stupor, lest it lose the entirety of its lands. But try as it might, it could not stem the tide. The Iron League formed. Nyrond seceded. Alain II of Ratik declared his fief an arch-barony, not entirely willing to completely sever ties with the mother country, as yet. But in truth, he ruled Ratik as though it was indeed independent, as did the Marquis of Bone March. What choice did they have? The Crown was embroiled in what came to be known as the Turmoil Between Crowns, and it took no interest in the administration of its provinces.                                                


    446 CY  Paradoxically, the disintegration of the Great Kingdom paused a while, despite a wretched change at its very crown. The House of Rax became decadent, self-absorbed, weak, and ineffectual. Petty nobles began to scheme, to openly flout the Overking's edicts, and to enact their own laws and pursue their own mean-minded grudges. It was only a matter of time before Rax was overthrown and a new tyrant installed as Overking and, in truth, many petty nobles were glad when it happened. After decades of pointless strife, it was almost a relief to have central power and authority again. However, few of them would have chosen Ivid I as their new master.

    No direct evidence links Ivid, ruler of the North Province at the time, with the assassination of the entire House of Rax in 446 CY. But Ivid ensured his ascension by the simple expedient of killing every other minor princeling who made a claim on the throne, and plenty more besides. Madness had gripped the Malachite Throne when Ivid I, scion of the House of Naelax, was proclaimed His Celestial Transcendency, Overking of Aerdy, and many knew it.

    The Malachite Throne became known as the "Fiend-seeing Throne." It was whispered that the House of Naelax had willingly entered into a pact with fiends—lords of the infernal tanar'ri—a pact that would endure down all the generations of their descendants. A time of terror had begun. Blood would wash the feet and hands of the madman enthroned in Rauxes. Little wonder that further secessions beset his lands.

    Civil war erupted in the Great Kingdom. The North Province, now ruled by Ivid's nephew, soon established independence, as did the wily Herzog of Ahlissa in the the South Province. He allied himself with the seceding Iron League: the lands of Onnwal, Idee, Sunndi, and the Free City of Ironwall.

    The Holy Censor, High Priest to the Overking, sought freedom for the See of Medegia. Almor grew in strength and freedom, supported by Nyrond as a buffer state between itself and the declining power of Rauxes, although Ivid managed to drag it back under his influence in later years. Momentous change beset the Great Kingdom. Not until Ivid V ascended the Fiend-seeing Throne would the Great Kingdom appear to increase in might again. This would take a century to happen and also be ultimately a temporary hiccup in the terminal decline of Aerdy. If all eyes were on the Great Kingdom for decades after Ivid's rise, it would help explain why they missed seeing the rise of a new power far to the west and north. [FtAA - 4,5]


    448 CY  The isles of the Sea Barons had always been given a degree of autonomy not enjoyed by the Baronies of the mainland. They’d been tasked by Overking Manshen in 102 CY to pacify the seas, to contain the Barbarians in the north, and to stamp out piracy in the south. They required freedom to do so, they said. They could not accomplish these tasks were they to account for each and every action, they said, citing the impossibility of their fleets to communicate with their home ports when they could be at sea for months at a time. Rauxes reluctantly agreed to their terms. But the crown made it abundantly clear that the Barony’s autonomy in these matters was contingent on results. The Sea Barons agreed to the Throne’s terms.

    They never truly succeeded in containing the Barbarians, but in 168 CY, they finally defeated the fleets of Duxchan, all but eliminating piracy in the south. But the Barony and the Overking had grown accustomed to reaping the spoils of captured pirate ships, thus the Crown bestowed writs of privateer to those ships sailing the Azure Sea against those vessels of the Iron League.

    The captains of the fleet were accustomed to keeping their own council as to who the foes of the Kingdom were, and long voyages without the oversight of the throne strengthened that sense of independence. Asea, and then in their home ports.

    In time, the authority over the seas was divided between the Sea Barons and the Lordships of the Isles. Never friendly, the two provinces became heated rivals, vying for control of trade routes. The Lordship were given the writs of privateer, and preyed upon merchant fleets, while the Sea Barons weathered the far more vicious conflict with the savage Barbarians during the raiding season.

    All that changed with the continued dissolution of the Kingdom.

    In 448 CY, the Sea Barons suddenly gained sole authority over naval pursuits in the eastern Great Kingdom, following the affiliation of the Lordship of the Isles with the Iron League. Overnight, the prince of Sulward and the baron of Asperdi became nemeses instead of rivals, with the Aerdi Sea as their field of battle. [LGG - 100]


    450 CY  Dunstan I of Nyrond realized that once The Great Kingdom stabilized, he would need allies. His borders must be secure. But mostly, he would need others to come to his aid in his time of need, should that time come, and who else would stand by him than those that had also recently seceded for the Malachite Throne’s fierce rule.

    He called the Great Council of Rel Mord, and representatives from Almor, the Iron League, the Duchy of Urnst, and Greyhawk arrived to treat with him. There was a cost. He need withdraw Nyrondal troops from the Pale and the County of Urnst, for those who would ally with him would not do so if he too occupied lands not his, for they would not throw off the yoke of one Overking only to treat with another. They came to an accord, and roundly condemned the Great Kingdom.

    By 450 CY, Aerdy had survived two distinct civil wars. Ivid and his court had defeated their enemies in the aristocracy, and had entrenched themselves in the empire's political machine. With a stabilized foe, Dunstan realized in his old age that he still needed willing allies, should Aerdy take the offensive. In Harvester, he called the Great Council of Rel Mord. Delegates from every Nyrondal principality and subject state attended, as did representatives from Almor, the Iron League, the Duchy of Urnst, and even Greyhawk. After a month and a half of negotiation, Dunstan the Crafty withdrew Nyrondal troops from the Pale and the County of Urnst, and realigned the internal borders of his subject lands. Furthermore, he publicly threw his considerable support behind the Iron League, and rebuked the Great Kingdom of Aerdy as a "corpulent reanimated corpse, spreading contagion and sorrow to all that it touches."  [LGG - 77,78]                


    From its “Emancipation,” The Theocracy of the Pale was not a tolerant land; indeed, it never had been. It chaffed under the lack of self-determination and freedom they themselves denied any who didn’t proscribe to their narrow view: that was only one god, Pholtus, henceforth known as The Blinding Light, and that there was only one Truth and that was His. Nyrond saw otherwise, and had seen fit to exert their authority to that effect. The Theocracy determined that no other authority would supress their Truth again. They were the Chosen of The Blinding Light, selected by the god Himself, and governed by His priests. His Word was Law, and woe to those who deviated from His path. The Theocrat demanded that an “Inquisition” be enacted, heretics were rooted out, imprisoned and even slain. Those not of the faith were discouraged from entering their domain, lest they spread their false gods among the faithful. Judgement was always swift when “under the Question,” for the defendant was always considered Sinful until proven Innocent.

    Not all were pleased with the Council of Nine and its inquisition. A splinter group rebelled against Wintershiven, claiming that faith was a personal path, not to be interfered with by the State and the Council. The Council saw the matter differently. They swiftly put down the heretical clerics with a division of the army personally led by three members of the council. And thus the Church Militant was born, the paramilitary body of warrior priests responsible for ensuring the purity of doctrine and safeguarding church properties, especially the Basilica of the Blinding Light.

    They and the Council did not always see eye to eye.


    467-469 CY         Plague swept the lands, beginning in Rookroost and fanning out faster than a man could run. It arrived as all plague does, suddenly: one week they were disease free, or as free from such as any populace ever is, and then scores were afflicted the next. The afflicted complained of lassitude, joint pain, and headache; soon, red boils appeared and the headache grew crippling. Hours later copper coins rested atop eyelids. Poultices, infusions, leeching were ineffective; indeed, even magics and the ministrations of the clergy proved useless. Thousands died; and just as swiftly as it began, it disappeared having burned itself out. Rookroost was ever vigilant of The Red Death’s return. But as in all of these cases, vigilance lasts only as long as a generation before it becomes the grist of old-wives tales and fairy fancies.

    Old records describe a plague that decimated the Bandit Kingdom's population as it swept across the Flanaess some four score years ago. [WG8 - 6]

    [A] bardic song talks of a 'wasting disease' that swept Oerik nearly a century ago[....] [WG8 - 40]


    476 CY  The Hold of Stonefist is an unforgiving land. It was born of deceit and violence. It has poor soil, a growing season shorter than any save Blackmoor. Only the Coltens have ever shown any inclination to till the land, to fur, and to fish. The rest proved as cruel and restless as their master. They wished to roam and raid widely, for to do otherwise invited subjection. Vlek Stonefist knew this, for he believed the same. Thus, he set about occupying his people in the manner to which they were accustomed: raiding. The Rovers were poor, and they moved about too much to be easy prey, so he set his people upon the Tenh. When they mobilized against his “Fists,” he sent them over the mountains to raze the Fruztii and Ratik. He sent raiding parties north against the Cruski. Resistance was everywhere, but the Fruztii, gravely weakened by having repeatedly thrown their might against the shield of the south were ill-prepared for attacks from the north. The Fists grew ever bolder, so the Fruztii began to raise palisades against them, but they no longer had the strength to man the breadth of the Fists’ onslaught. The Frost Barbarians parlayed with their cousins, and together, they came to an accord, they must ally against the Hold of Stonefist.


    Iuz

    479 CY  When was Iuz born? Where did he come from? None know. It is believed that he was the son of a forgotten despot of a petty fief. It truth, only the wide ruled there in that rock, heathered marsh. It was a petty land, ruled by a petty man, who when he died in 479 CY, few if any mourned him. His dismal patch of marsh fell to his son, a boy who was named Iuz. Was he the despot’s son? Few deny the claim. None believe it.

    Iuz was born of a human mother, the necromancer Iggwilv, and a great tanar'ri lord, Graz'zt, ruler of several Abyssal planes. The young cambion tanar'ri soon used his powers to great effect. Realizing that his warriors could not hope to triumph by simple force, Iuz began to ally his men with other minor clan leaders to beat off stronger enemies. Of course, those allies always ended up suffering most of the casualties and their leaders died in battle with astonishing predictability. Slowly, the size of Iuz's warband increased. Celbit and Jebli ores of the Vesve margins began to join. The human scum serving Iuz didn't like the ores overmuch, but they soon saw how their enemies liked them even less. And of course, there was Iuz's magic. Many cambions wield magic, but that of Iuz, aided by his mother, was far more powerful than anything the competing hordes could muster. Iuz had control of the entire Land of Iuz in little over a decade. [Iuz]


    Iuz

    Few took note of this new presence in that secluded northern waste, despite the tales of refugees that fled south of slavery and ghastly abominations, the risen dead, and the road of skulls that stretched from Dorakaa to the Howling Hills. The fiefs always fought one another. Petty lords rose, and fell with regularity. This Iuz would do just the same, they imagined. He had risen. He would fall in due course. And if he didn’t, his was a secluded land of no consequence. What harm could he do?


    c.500 CY               The History of the Book of Darazell

                So, the book was sold, bartered, stolen, lost and found from the See of Medegia to North Province and back over the next 200 or so years, falling into the hands of various lesser mages. The common thread that bound these mages together was that none kept the book for any length of time, and many reported strange phenomena surrounding the book. A rumor persists that Darazell, cheated by the dark power, lives on within the book as a rare form of undead, a “tome-haunt.” Supposedly, he searches for a particular type of owner to possess in order to finish some unknown goal. It has been said that there are a couple of secret pages within the book that give clues to what this is, but no one has been able to record what they hide. The spellbook is compact and bound in bleached, patchy, green leather. It has silver corner caps and an ornate silver dagger device, blade pointing downward, painted on the front.

    [In addition to a list of hitherto unrelated necrotic spells, [t]here are also descriptions of methods of assassination, and writings on efficient and subtle ways to commit murder. Oddly, there are 10 blank pages at the end of the book— pages that defy any attempt to write on them. [Dragon #243 - 92]




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

     Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Ivid the Undying, WGR5 Iuz the Evil, WG8 The Fate of Istus, the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, From the Ashes Box Set, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine.

    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Cleopsis-Eater-of-the-Dead by steveargyle
    Plague, by Karl Waller, WG8 Fate of Istus
    Iuz, by Eric Hotz, WG5 Iuz the Evil
    Iuz, Age of Conan

    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2138 Book of Artifacts, 1993
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, #1, #11
    LGJ et. al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 09-12-2021 09:07 am
    History of Oerth, Part 7: Of The Rise and Fall of The Great Kingdom


    Orb of Power

    The Aerdy have migrated across the Flanaess and have gazed upon the Solnor Sea, scattering those Flan and Suel who would not submit to their dominion to the far reaches of the land. The Ur-Flan resisted the Oeridian tide, but they too fell, no match for the Aerdian ferocity. Their settlements grew with their waxing, and upon those foundations, their great cities rose: Rauxes, Rel Astra, Rel Deven, Rel Mord. Thus began the Pax Millennius, the peace that would last a thousand years. And thus began the Great Kingdom, for that is what they eventually named that vast land of theirs that stretched from the Solnor Sea in the east to the Yatels and Crystalmists in the west, and from the Barrens to the north and the Azure Sea to the south. From the heavens to sea to sea, as they said. I leave it to you to decide if it was truly great or not, for sometimes the best of intentions can be led astray, and the Great Kingdom was eventually led very far astray, indeed.


    1 CY       With his Declaration of Universal Peace, the first Overking was crowned in Rauxes.

    The Aerdy calendar dates from the crowning of the first overking, Nasran of the House of Cranden, in Rauxes in CY 1. Proclaiming universal peace, Nasran saw defeated Suloise, Flan and rebellious humanoid rabbles of no consequence and no threat to the vast might of Aerdy. [Ivid - 3]

    But for all his well-meaning words, all power was to be his, and all Houses were to bend the knee to his magnificence.

    However, it quickly became clear to all the noble houses of the Aerdi that power in the Great Kingdom was being centralized in the hands of the rulers of Rauxes, and that the fortunes of the Great Kingdom would now rest with them. The needs and intrigues of the Celestial Houses would soon become subordinate to the politics of the Malachite Throne. [LGG - 23]


    The Oeridians were all but invincible, it seemed, to those who stood before them, but they had artifacts of old, some taken by the fabled Johydee from the Suel. They used them well, and were served by them well, but such things should be handled with care, for they care not who wields them.

    Crown, Orb, and Sceptre of Might:
    According to tradition, great items of regalia were constructed for special servants of the deities […] when the gods were contending amongst themselves. Who amongst them first conceived the idea is unknown. The champion of each [ethos] - Evil, Good, Neutrality - was given a crown, an orb, and a sceptre. These items have been scattered and last over the centuries of struggle since they first appeared. [DMG 1e - 157]
    And woe to he who should touch them who is not of its ethos.

    Iron Flask of Tuerny the Merciless:
    This artifact is reported to be a small and heavy urn, easily carried in o pack or by hand despite its weight. The Flask is stoppered with a turnip-shaped plug, engraved and embossed with sigils, glyphs, and runes of power so as to contain the spirit therein. The possessor need but know 3 words to have the Flask function properly, i.e. the word of OPENING, the word of COMMAND, the word of CLOSING AND SEALING. Tuerny's Flosk is rumored to imprison one of the following: a greater devil, a groaning spirit, a major demon, a night hag, or a nycadaemon. [No one can say which, for it is said that these are WORDS for each.]
    It is generally conceded that the Servant of the Flask can be loosed only to perform evil deeds, and it must always kill before it can be commanded to return to its prison. [DMG 1e - 158]


    11 CY     The Flan continued to be pacified. Theirs was a futile struggle, as the lands of their dominion shrank and shrank, they retreated into high valleys and the northern barrens. But still they fought where such resistance could be gathered. Until they threw all their remaining might into one last stand at Arrowstrand against the ever waxing Aerdian Kingdom. They were brave. They were valiant. But fate was against them that day, and they fell. But their fall was glorious.


    c. 100CY                The fell sword Druniazth, servant of Tharizdun, had passed from hand to hand in its quest to release its master. Those who wielded it were themselves wielded, used and discarded as each in turn were found wanting, until, centuries after being lost by Baron Lum the Mad at the Battle of the Bonewood, it came to one who would not be so used, and it was cast into the Rift Canyon as she sought to rid herself of its influence.


    108 CY  Overking Manshen desired to secure his northern border. The Fruztii Barbarians were a constant threat, and he meant to pacify the North once and for all.

    In the spring of 108 CY, Aerdi forces massed in the frontier town of Knurl. With Knight Protectors of the Great Kingdom in the vanguard, the force swept northeast, between the Rakers and the Blemu Hills, in a march to the sea. By autumn, after having been met with relatively light resistance, the Aerdi succeeded in uprooting most Fruztii encampments, and the foundations of a great stronghold were laid at Spinecastle. The Aerdi freed Johnsport in a pitched battle with the barbarians before the onset of winter. Sensing that this would be only the first phase of a long struggle, Aerdi commanders summoned thousands of contingents from North Province over the objections of the herzog, a Hextorian who had wanted to lead the forces into battle himself.

    With the defeat of the Fruztii at Johnsport, the call went out that winter, and thousands of their kinsmen poured south along the Timberway the next year. Marching through passes in the Rakers, they assembled and attacked the works underway at Spinecastle, focusing their assault on the heart of the Aerdi fortifications. The defenders, including the bulk of the elite Aerdi infantry, were quickly outflanked and surrounded. A young Knight Protector of the Great Kingdom, Caldni Vir, a Heironean cavalier from Edgefield, commanded a large cavalry force patrolling the hills when the barbarian force struck. As part of the contingent led by the herzog into the north, he pivoted and headed back to Spinecastle while anticipating orders from his liege to counterattack. When the courier of the herzog delivered orders for Vir to pull back to the south in retreat, he spat in disgust and ordered the standard of the Naelax prince to be trampled in the mud. He then raised the standard of the Imperial Orb and charged.

    Approaching the site of the battle from the north, he descended upon the barbarians from higher ground, and they were unprepared for the hundreds of heavy horse and lance that bore down on them in the next hour. Their lines were quickly broken, and the Imperial Army was rescued to eventually take the day in what would be called the Battle of the Shamblefield. The Aerdi drove the surviving barbarians out of the hills, controlling the land all the way to the Loftwood by the following spring. Overking Manshen recognized the courage of the young knight Vir, and raised him as the first marquis of Bone March. The land was so named for the high price paid for its taking, as the fallen imperial regulars numbered into the thousands. [LGG - 36]

    Thus the Overking named Vir the first Marquis of the Bone March. And thus were the Fruztii broken.

    It is said that the blood of those thousands of unsanctified and unburied Barbarian and Imperial corpses was pressed into the mortar of Spinecastle. It is also said that the Fruztii laid a curse on its unfinished walls. 


    122 CY  Further buffer was required if the new lands were to be protected from further incursions by the Barbarians. The Fruztii were broken, and the Overking wished to capitalize on their weakness. General Sir Pelgrave Ratik of Winetha was commanded to lead an expeditionary force to push the Aerdian frontier back to the foothills of the Griff Mountains. 

    Ratik and his forces inaugurated their expedition by crossing Kalmar Pass, taking the town of Bresht in a blustery winter campaign that cost the Fruztii dearly. After brokering an alliance with the dwarven lords of the eastern Rakers, Ratik proceeded to force a retreat of the Fruztii up the narrow coast and into the northern fastness of the Timberway. He wisely refused to follow them into an obvious trap and instead broke off the pursuit and fortified his gains. He was immediately hailed a hero in the south and his legend grew quickly. [LGG - 89, 90]

    He established a fort overlooking Grendep Bay at Onsager Point that he named Marner, and used it as a base to solidify his gains. He fostered an alliance with the dwerfolk, with the gnomes. And he was also fair with those Fruztii who remained on their freeholds, so long as they declared fealty to the Overking.


    128 CY  The Fruztii and Schnai pooled their strength to launch a concentrated naval attack on Marner. And almost defeated Ratik and his forces for theirs were far greater in number than his, but Sir Percival Ratik knew that he could never defeat fuch a force in the field, so he set the approaches to Marner aflame, forcing the Barbarians into a narrow salient where they were cut to pieces by the siege engines of his fort and a squadron of the Imperial Navy. Bruised, the Barbarians retreat, only to find their longships ablaze.


    130 CY  The Overking was pleased and elevated Pelgrave to Baron, and gifted him the Timberway as his personal fief. His doing so was a small thing, it cost him nothing. And the Timberway was hardly secure and he and Sir Percival knew it; but Percival was pleased, too, nonetheless, and he campaigned hard to defeat what resistance remained there. And so, again, the Overking was pleased. The walled town of Bresht was renamed Ratikhill in honour of Sir Percival’s victory. That too was another small thing that cost the Overking nothing.


    141 CY  Kargoth of Mansbridge was born, a fiesty lad, noted for his bravery and ambition from an early age. He was destined for greatness, most said. They said as much again when he was elevated to the ranks of the Knights Protector.


    166 CY  The east coast of the Great Kingdom had never truly been pacified. Barbarians raided the North Coast unmolested, and piracy was ever a problem on the South Seas. The Overking was losing patience, and he committed forces to deal with it, once and for all time. He set his sights upon putting the Duxchaners to task for their misdeeds.
    Following a particularly terrible attack on Pontylver, during which the shipyards were set ablaze,Overking Erhart II was determined to put an end to the marauding. In 166 CY, he committed the combined navies of the Great Kingdom to breaking the power of the Duxchaners. Old Baron Asperdi's young but powerful naval force from the Sea Barons was brought to bear on them, led by Lord Admiral Aeodorich of House Atirr, then accorded the finest naval captain of the time. The town of Dullstrand was specifically founded to act as a base of operations for the invasion of these southern islands by the Aerdi fleet. [LGG - 71]


    167 CY  Monduiz Dephaar was born in Bellport to noble lineage. He was elevated at a young age to its Barony when his family fell to Fruztii raids along the Solnor Coast.


    168 CY  The naval forces of the Great Kingdom defeated the Duxchan forces in the Battle of Ganode Bay with the naval power of the Sea Barons at the fore. Thus the Duxchan Isles became The Lordship of the Isles.

    Within two years of hotly fought battles in the Aerdi Sea, Atirr and his armada, which was outfitted with mages and powerful clerics of Procan, finally defeated the Duxchaners and their allies at the Battle of Ganode Bay. This won greater fame and praise for the Aerdi admiral, who eventually rose to the throne of North Province some years later. The most militant of the surviving Suel buccaneers retreated to the port of Ekul, on the Spine Ridge of the Tilvanot Plateau, but were no longer a significant factor. The Aerdi settled these islands in large numbers, founding Sulward as the capital, though the population remained largely Suel, particularly on Ansabo and Ganode, where local Suel lords were absorbed into the government of the realm. An Aerdi lord was appointed prince of the new realm and he was made responsible to the herzog of South Province, but given the right to carve up the islands into provinces as he saw fit and award them to his kin. [LGG - 71]


    CY 189 History of the Pyronomicon
    A large and powerful band of adventurers from the Great Kingdom, having learned of the Legend of Harak col Hakul Deshaun and the Pyronomicon, pushed all the way to the great wyrm’s lair intent on dispatching the dragon once and for all, but when they entered the place, it was completely empty. Apparently, Harak col Hakul Deshaun, crafty even by dragon standards, had already relocated to parts unknown; an assumption based on the fact that, without a corpse or sign of struggle to say otherwise, the dragon could not be presumed dead. And with the disappearance of the dragon, so too did The Pyronomicon vanish from the chronicles of men. [Dragon #241 - 78]

    c. 187 CY              As a member of the Knights Protector, Monduiz Dephaar distinguished himself defending against the seasonal Barbarian raids, fighting alongside such heroes as Lord Kargoth. He fought with a fierceness that was frightening to behold, and in time, as his reputation spread up and down the coast, his name came to be known and then feared by the Barbarians. His atrocities were initially overlooked; but eventually they could not be ignored. He was censured by the Knights, but he carried on unabated, then shunned; and in his fury, he left, and settled for a while among the Schnai, where his sword was welcomed, and where he could continue to raid and vent his rage upon the Fruztii.


    198 CY  The Sage Selvor the Younger proclaimed a coming time of strife and living death for the Great Kingdom. Those in power had no ears for such words in their time of unprecedented contentment.

    202 CY  During the reign of Overking Jiranen, Lord Kargoth was reputedly the greatest knight of the day. So, when the standard bearer of the Knights Protector passed into legend, Lord Kargoth fully expected to be named his successor, a fitting tribute to his long and illustrious career. When a much younger Sir Benedor was proclaimed successor, the realm gasped in disbelief, despite it being rumoured that the youth had been touched by the spirit of Johydee. Kargoth’s pride was much wounded. The Banner should have been his, he seethed!  He challenged the young knight in the Court of Essences to a contest of arms, and although fearful, the young knight accepted the challenge. The clearly weaker young knight parried Kargoth’s attacks, never giving up the floor, and held his own until sunset, upon which the challenge was called. Stalemate! According to custom, Kargoth had lost. He refused the young knight’s hand of truce and stormed from court and the sneers of his peers. He vowed revenge.

                

    Kargoth Takes Refuge

    Kargoth took refuge from the deluge that accompanied his flight. He came upon a ruin, and a stair down into the dry darkness beneath it. An ancient shrine greeted his torch upon reaching its base, that and the whispered words of the demon Ahmon-Ibor, the Sibilant Beast. Kargoth knew this beast, Demogorgon, to be a fell fiend worshipped by the decadent Flan until they were pacified by the Aerdy.

    Lord Kargoth

    The whispers promised a plan of revenge and Kargoth was seduced by those whispers, and he swore a blood pact to seal his deal. Tentacles sprung out of the darkness and tore out his eyes, and Kargoth became the first Death Knight. He emerged to discover the Knights Protector riven by the slight given him. And he was pleased.

                Monduiz Dephaar returned to the Great Kingdom upon hearing of his mentor’s supposed disgrace, seeking to join Kargoth in his revenge. Others joined him.

    Dephaar did not see Kargoth’s disfigurement. Kargoth kept it hidden at all times. He kept his distance; he held his meetings in darkened rooms, his incensed ravings woven with belching clouds of acrid incense.

    The whispers instructed him on when it was time to act upon his vengeance. When it was time, he gathered those who sided with him, and raided the Temple of Lothan, and taking its holy artifact, the Orb of Sol, in hand, he bent the Orb’s power to his will. He raised it high, and speaking words of power, summoned the draconic tentacle demon beast Arendagrost, as he was bid. And set it free upon the world. Arendagrost began to cut a swath of destruction from Rel Deven to Rauxes.

    Temple of Lothan

    Sir Benedor rode hard to Rel Deven upon hearing the news. He arrived in time to witness those thirteen knights who’d accompanied Kargoth rise from their death sprawls, their clothing scotched, their flesh burned, their eyes aglow with malevolence. He summoned all of his courage and closed with Kargoth. He attacked with abandon, sure in the knowledge that if he did not, he was lost. Near his end, he managed to wrest the Orb from Kargoth, and instructed by it, he too spoke words of power and he scattered those deathly knights that he once called peers, and began his relentless quest to destroy them.

    His victory came too late for the royal family, though. They had fallen victim to the rampaging fiend. Indeed, one had fallen and was raised by Kargoth in his own image to mock their feeble power, and set him too upon the world.

    Was Benedor successful? No. The Death Knights were swift, and they laid a trail of undead in their wake to slow him.


    The Death Knights:

    Monduiz Dephaar

    St. Kargoth the Betrayer, Lord Monduiz Dephaar, Lady Lorana Kath of Naelax, Prince Myrhal of Rax, Sir Maeril of Naelax, Sir Farian of Lirthan [destroyed by Benedor], Lord Andromansis of Garasteth, Sir Oslan Knarren, Sir Rezinar of Haxx, Lord Thyrian of Naelax, Sir Minar Syrric of Darmen, Duke Urkar Grasz of Torquann, Sir Luren the Boar of Torquann, and Lord Khayven of Rax.

    [History by Gary Holian, Dragon  #290, 291]


    213 CY  Royal Astrologers at Rel Astra proclaimed the coming of the Age of Sorrow, vindicating the discraced Sage Selvor the Younger.

    The new Overking Zelcor began to distance himself from the Knights Protector, for public opinion had swayed against them and their favour.


    233 CY The fell sword Druniazth, servant of Tharizdun, was discovered in the Rift Canyon “by a group of illithids, who traded it to drow merchants in 233 CY. Their caravan, however, was attacked and destroyed somewhere in the Underdark between the Rift Canyon and the Crystalmists and the blade passed out of living memory.” [Dragon #294 - 92]


    247 CY  Lord Kargoth’s castle walls were pulled down by the Knights Protector, and its secrets have remained buried ever since. Rumours persist that he settled on the Isle of Cursed Souls, but if truth be told, Kargoth had only been seen once upon that northern coast, and that during the Flan Festival of the Bloody Moon.


    254 CY  Far from the influence of the Malachite Throne, the Viceroyalty of Ferrond declared independence from the Great Kingdom, and was thereafter called Furyondy. This marks the beginning of the dissolution of the Great Kingdom. Never again would their influence reach as far. But in truth, its influence had not swayed Ferrond for some time.


    The migration of Pholtusians from the Great Kingdom increased with the independence of Furyondy, citing religious persecution. The people there had turned away from the Flan gods, remembering the time of the Ur-Flan and Occluded Empire, and having embraced the gods of Oerid, they no longer wished to be reminded of those times and of Pholtus’ failure. Most travel through Nyrond and settle in the western valleys of the Rakers among the Flan in a semi-independent Flannae state.


    Tenh, still independent of mind, wished a return to their own dominion. They had heard of the Great Kingdom’s fall into depravity and despotism, and encouraged by the its attention being drawn increasingly inward as the Death Knights ran amok and its provinces gradually sought their own council, they declared independence. They prepared for what response might come. And waited.


    300-350 CY         As anarchy crept into the Great Kingdom, more and more of its northern provinces became increasingly independent. And in some cases lawless. Petty fiefs sprang up, their rulers declaring themselves kings and barons and dukes and such. And where ruffians seized power, banditry prevailed. Some banded together and became known as the Bandit Kingdoms, a loose confederacy of tyrants that preyed upon one another and clung together to ward against those who’d wish to annex them.

    The Bandit Kingdoms are a collection of petty holdings. Each little kingdom is ruled by a robber chieftain claiming a title such as Baron, Boss, Plar, General, Tyrant, Prince, Despot and even King. In all there are 17 states within the confines of the area, ruled by 4 to 6 powerful lords, and the rest attempting either to become leading rulers or simply to survive. [Folio - 8]


    The Death Knights had become so powerful in the Great Kingdom that they began to hunt down the Knights Protector. Few came to the Knights’ aid.

    Veralos

    318 CY  Zagig Yragerne sought to find the fabled city of Veralos, for he believed that a culture that could produce Vecna and sunder the Elven Empire must have produced something worth seeking in their time. He and his Company of Seven, a young Murlynd and Keoghtom among them, left to much fanfare, and returning a year later, they claimed to have found and plundered the city, producing a wagon laden with treasures to prove their claim. Their expedition revived the legend of the lost citadel, and indeed, that of the Ur-Flan and their civilization, which had all but been forgotten since their Aerdy conquerors pulled down their ancient settlements and built their new ones on top of them, laying waste to Flan magic, art, and writings.

    320 CY  Nomads began to appear in the North, coming into conflict with the Rovers of the Barrens, but indeed, the northern steppes were so vast, the Rovers remained unaware until what came to be known as the Relentless Horde had already gained a foothold. And, by then, it was already too late to stop them.

    Mixed Oerid-Baklunish nomad bands had gradually moved into and laid claim to the steppe lands beyond the Yatil range, pushing eastwards as far as the Griff Mountains. Border skirmishing with the southern nations went on as these wild horsemen pushed into the Flanaess. Perhaps the civilized states could have stopped their eastward progress had they not been busy fighting with the Aerdi for their independence. [Folio - 6]

     Forced east by the Brazen Horde, the Baklunish Relentless Horde entered the Flanaess, sweeping across the Northlands. They pressed the Rovers of the Barrens east. Victorious, Ilkhan of Tiger Nomads ruled the western steppes under Kha- Khan Ogobanuk, ruler of the Restless Horde. The Wolf Nomads pressed on but could advance no further than the Cold Marshes and the Howling Hills. Their horses could not race across the former, and they met with the Rover’s resolve in the valleys of the latter.

    Following the lead of the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, the outer dependencies of Aerdy too began to claim sovereignty. The Great Kingdom, ever riven by inner turmoil, and its increasing decadency, was shrinking. And in its lessened state, it could do nothing to stem the tide.

    Perranders, Velunians, Furyondians and Tenhas achieve success, establishing independent status one after the other in a series of minor but bloody wars. [Folio - 6]


    342 CY  The Council of Nine selected its first Theocrat to rule as a semi-independent leader of the Pale.

    356 CY  The founding of Nyrond marked be beginning of the Great Kingdom’s decline. One might think that the founding of Furyondy marked such, but in truth, though it did mark the beginning of its dissolution, the Great Kingdom had not looked to their Western Provinces for decades, and those provinces had not sought their aid or council for decades, so when the Viceroyalty of Ferrond declared its sovereignty, the Great Kingdom hardly took note. Its attention was firmly focused on the East; so, when its Eastern protectorates began to secede, the Kingdom chose to take note, and to act.

    The House of Rax, ruling Aerdi dynasty, was at the time sundered by an internal feud, and the junior branch, then known as Nyrond, declared it lands free of the rule of the reigning Overking [Portillan] and sovereign. [Folio - 6]

    [T]he ruling dynasty of Aerdy, the Celestial House of Rax, had grown especially decadent. In response, the western province of Nyrond declared itself free of the Great Kingdom and elected one of its nobles as king of an independent domain. Armies gathered from all loyal provinces of Aerdy to suppress this brazen act. [LGG - 14]


    Just as the Aerdi dynasty was marching troops north to deal with Nyrond’s illegal declaration of independence, an allied host of Fruztii and Schnai invaded, threatening to overwhelm the Bone March and Ratik and sweep into the North Province. The Rax Overking Portillan had no choice but to divert his forces headed to contest Nyrond to counter the barbarian invasion. They were successful, but at a great cost. So many perished at in the kingdom’s defence that it had to accept Nyrond’s independence.

    A coalition of Fruzt, Schna and mercenary barbarians mounted a major foray into the Aerdian North Province. The Overking's army, raised to invade Nyrond, swung northeast and soon the invaders were crushed. The end of the campaigning season arrived before any action could be taken against Nyrond. [Folio - 6]


    The Battle of Redspan. Tenha cavalry route Aerdian forces, Tenh duke ends fealty to Aerdian

    Crown.

    Eventually, the Great Kingdom showed signs of decay. When the Nyrondal princes declared the end of their allegiance to the overking, the duke was persuaded to follow suit.The Battle of Redspan signaled the end of the duke's fealty to the overking of Aerdy. The Aerdy force was routed by the Tenha cavalry and pushed down the "Red Road to Rift Canyon" in an action made famous in the ballad of the same name. The army of the Great Kingdom was not actually swept into the Rift Canyon, as the ballad proclaims, but they were so thoroughly defeated that many of the Aerdi officers and soldiers chose exile in the Bandit Kingdoms over the punishments awaiting them at home. [LGG - 113]

                 Theocracy of the Pale, already self-determining, proclaimed its autonomy.

    As the rot of cultural and social decay started to penetrate the Great Kingdom, many of the more devout and outspoken followers of the god Pholtus withdrew from the increasingly corrupt core of the land. Some of these settled between the Rakers mountain range and the Yol River. When Nyrond declared its independence from the Great Kingdom, so did these religious refugees. Thus was the Theocracy of the Pale formed. [WG8 - 47]


    359 CY  Nyrond, unfortunately for the Theocracy of the Pale, did not recognize the Pale’s right to independence. Nyrondal forces marched into Wintershiven, and annexed the newly formed Theocracy of the Pale, and, later, the County of Urnst. While occupied, Wintershiven was burned to the ground, and ultimately abandoned. And so it came to pass that New Wintershiven was founded twenty miles north of the old.

    Some still claim that the invaders razed the city to the ground. Calmer heads disagree, citing nothing more than carelessness: apparently some drunken Nyrondese soldiers set fire to a barn, and the fire spread to destroy the city. [WG8 - 47]

    The occupation was short. Nyrond chose to accept Theocracy and Urnst independence after the treaty of Rel Mord, in return for pledges of mutual protection. The Pale celebrates this day as the Emancipation.


    c.390 CY               History of the Pyronomicon

    The Pyronomicon’s absence from recorded history lasted roughly 200 years before turning up again circa CY 390. This time, the owner was Foltyn, a capable Water Elementalist residing on a small island along the east coast of the Nyr Dyv. Though brilliant within his specialty, Foltyn was not known for his common sense, and he foolishly announced to the world his intention to destroy The Pyronomicon before the Joint Courts of Urnst during Richfest, when both Luna and Celene were full. Needless to say, it seemed like every powerful Fire Elementalist in the Flanaess descended upon Foltyn’s island abode exactly one week before the Midsummer festival, and in a spectacular, fiery display that lit up the night sky over an area some 100 miles in diameter, Foltyn and his island were wiped clean from the face of Oerth. [Dragon #241 - 78]

    403 CY  History of the Pyronomicon
    Although there is no record indicating which Fire Elementalist made off with the tome, it eventually found its way to the city of Greyhawk in CY 403, and into the possession of the sage Warfel II, the head of a generations-old family of scholars. When Warfel II died some years later, The Pyronomicon was passed on to his eldest child, Warfel III, who passed it down to his eldest child who, in turn, passed it on to the next generation, thus quieting the tome’s storied existence. [Dragon #241 - 78]

    Skipping ahead …
    576 CY  History of the Pyronomicon
    So it was until CY 576, when a new wrinkle appeared in the tapestry that is The Pyronomicon’s history. Warfel VI reported that, while poring over an old adventure journal, the very shadows within his study began to coalesce and solidify at a frightening pace, eventually leaping off the walls as twisted and deformed gnomes. With no reason to expect an attack in his very home, Warfel was quickly overwhelmed by the diminutive invaders and rendered unconscious. Upon waking, he found that his entire abode had been ransacked, but upon further inspection, nothing had been taken, save for The Pyronomicon.
    This strange twist of fate did not end there. Elsewhere in the city, and at roughly the same time Warfel’s home was assaulted, a trio of powerful magical items (a sword, a hammer, and a trident, respectively) mysteriously vanished from the magically-protected vaults of their owners. In place of each weapon was a taunting riddle daring the owners to retrieve the items from a hidden location beneath haunted White Plume Mountain. Even more shocking than the weapons’ theft was the individual claiming responsibility. The archwizard Keraptis, thought to have died more than a millennium before, had apparently returned, for the riddles bore his personal symbol. Not surprisingly, Warfel assumed the theft of The Pyronomicon was linked to the theft of the weapons, so when adventurers were recruited in order to recover the weapons, the sage made sure that they kept an eye out for The Pyronomicon as well. But of those few intrepid adventurers who escaped White Plume Mountain with their lives, none indicated that The Pyronomicon was there, or even Keraptis for that matter.
    Consequently, as of CY 585, the location of The Pyronomicon remains a mystery. [Dragon #241 - 78, 79]





    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

     Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, The Living Greyhawk Journals, Dragon Magazine (especially #241, 290, 291, 293), WG8 The Fate of Istus, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box.

    Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Wizard by andrebdois
    The-Secret-Place by freelex30
    No-rolling-back-Dark-souls by anatofinnstark
    Lord Kargoth, by Greg Staples, Dragon 290
    Monduiz Dephaar, by Adam Rex, Dragon 291
    Veralos, by Kelman Andrasofszky, Dragon 293



    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1043 The City of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1989
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    2138 Book of Artifacts, 1993
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9253 WG8, Fate of Istus, 1989
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine
    OJ Oerth Journal, #1, #11
    LGJ et al.
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, byt Jason Zavoda
    The map of Anna B. Meyer


    Posted: 09-06-2021 02:10 pm
    History of Oerth, Part 6: Of The Great Migrations


    Suel Wizard

    The Peoples of the West had rejoined our Narrative. When we first left them, they become a people under singular Empire, had mastered great magics and used them to subjugate those around them. The Flan had fled, but the Suloise had not followed them, content with gathering up all the lands of the West; so they told themselves, neglecting to mention their fear of the dark elves in the mountains to the east. Their doings had been just as turbulent as those of the Ur-Flan. Their Great Houses were ever fighting over the Throne. And while they were occupied thus, the Bakluni freed themselves. Then the Oeridians.


    Needless to say, the Suel were not pleased; so, it was not long before they and the Bakluni came to blows. What began as small raids and minor skirmished escalated into widespread hostilities. War had swept the West.  And, if that were not enough, Tharizdun had slipped back into Oerth through ever widening cracks.

    The Peoples of the West were on the move. And the Flanaess would never be the same.

    -457 CY Freed from their oppressors, Queen Johydee led her people, the Oeridian tribes, east from Ull, fighting north and eastward through the vast savage humanoid hordes employed as mercenaries by the Suel and Bakluni, taking with them those secrets of the Suel they knew or could steal, and what debris the Suel had left scattered about the fields in those days of conquest, for they knew not what may be useful in days to come.

    Some Suel fled their increasingly erratic empire, as well, and moved northward through the Kendeen Pass of the Hellfurnaces, coming into mostly peaceful congress with the migrating Oeridians, and open conflict with the native Flan who sought to keep them out. The Oeridians defeated hostile Suel and Flan alike, pushing them to the peripheral, wild places of the Flanaess. 

    A large number of savage humanoids followed in their wake, infecting the Flanaess with a brutal violence it had previously been spared. (187 OR/ 5059 SD/ 1694 FT)


    -448 CY The Year of the Prophets. They read doom in the cards, the bones, and the tea leaves. Within the span of a generation the empire would fall, they predicted. Repent, they cried. Turn from your wicked ways, they plead, warning against worship of the Chained God, and warding against something they named Shothragot. To no avail. The masses laughed and turned their backs on the doomsayers. But it was plain in their eyes that their laughter was false. They turned their backs on their prophets because they knew their emperor was displeased, and they feared their emperor’s wrath more than their prophets’ doom.


    Seven different prophets foretell of the destruction of the Suel Empire within 30 years. The Emperor, Yellax-ad-Zol has all seven drawn and quartered, even though one of the prophets is a High Priest of Beltar. [OJ11] (196 OR/ 5068 SD/1703 FT)


    -447 CY Not all were deaf to the prophets’ warnings. The Emperor’s son took heed, for, if seven prophets should face certain death to warn of impending disaster, who was he dispute them. He knew more than most, and heeded their warnings because he’d read the Lament for Lost Tharizdun, that foul scripture penned by that mad priest Wongas, who’d mysteriously vanished into the East a century earlier, and he’d seen with his own eyes what that dark lord demanded at his worship when it had been fashionable to be seen to attend such things, and knew what that Chained God desired even if those other revellers did not.


    Zellifar-ad-Zol, son of the Emperor, mage/high priest of Beltar, breaks with his father and takes over 8,000 Suloise loyal to himself, and flees the kingdom, eastward. The ferocity and magical might of the movement scatters the Oerdians in its path, causing the remainder of the Oerdian to migrate. Slerotin, called “the Last High Mage” causes a huge tunnel to be bored into the Crystalmists, through which the Zolite Suel flee. He then seals the tunnel closed at both ends, trapping one lesser branch of the family, the Lerara, inside. The Zolites continue eastward heading toward the southeast as well as to Hepmonoland. [OJ11] (197 OR/ 5069 SD/1704 FT)


    -446 CY The Emperor was not pleased! Traitor! he screamed, when he heard of his son's betrayal. His advisors and courtiers bowed and slunk away from their emperor's wrath, for they knew it all too well, and feared their being heir to it in his son's absence.

     The emperor commands that the Houses Schnai, Cruskii and Fruztii move [and] bring his son, and the "Unloyal" back to face justice. [OJ1] (198 OR/ 5070 SD/1705 FT)


    -445 to -423 CY  The Zolites scatter the Flannae before them, and move south to the Tilvanot Peninsula. Zellifar carries with him two of the lesser Binders and the Chief Binder. The three pursuing houses, unable to find the magical tunnel, turned north, where they are met by regrouped Oerdians and fearful Flannae who harry and drive these Suel Houses south. Many are lost and remained in the Amedio Jungle. They eventually [turn] back east and march toward what is now the Rift Canyon. [OJ11] (199-221 OR/ 5071 – 5093 SD/1706-1728 FT)


    -424 CY Kevelli Mauk, leader of the Scarlet Brotherhood, also heeded the warnings of the seven prophets. He gathered his servants and his ten most ardent students, and managed to escape to the Flanaess just before disaster hit. They crossed the Hellfurnaces and found those Suel who’d first fled to the Sheldomar Valley as the Great War began and had already begun to settle there. But those Suel had not held true to the Path of Purity, having already consorted with the lesser Oeridians. They were not entirely without use, Mauk found, for they had news of Zellifar-ad-Zol and those thousands who had followed him into the east. (222 OR/ 5092 SD/ 1727 FT)


    -423 CY Zellifar was not the saviour his followers had imagined; indeed, his reading the Lament for Lost Tharizdun had twisted him and he proved as much a tyrant as his father, so, soon after taking flight, there were those among them who saw that they had traded one cruel emperor for another, and they began to steal away in the chaos he fostered as they were driven further east.

    One of Zellifar’s minions, the High Priest Pellipardus, slips away from the Zolites and takes his family. Zellifar does not pursue, fearing that this will take his attention away from the Three Houses of Pursuit: the Schnai, the Fruztii, and the Cruski. [OJ11] (223 OR/ 5093 SD/1728 FT)


    -422 CY Zellifar parleys with the Houses of Pursuit. His Archmage, Slerotin, unleashes a mass enfeeblement on the mages of the three Houses, and a mass suggestion upon the other members of the Houses. Slerotin is blasted by magical energies upon the casting of these mighty spells, leaving the Rift Canyon as the only physical remains of this energy. The remnants of the Three Pursuing Houses flee northeastward.

    The Houses of Pursuit have been mind-swept. They have no purpose and no direction and no mages whatsoever after they are hit by these spells. They do not know why they are searching or what they are searching for. They have two binders but do not realize it! As they move aimlessly, they begin to seek a homeland. They do not remember where they came from. The memories of their gods are virtually blotted out.

    The three houses that eventually settle in the Barbarian States lose almost all contact with the more ‘civilized’ and good gods of their people. As they begin to multiply and prosper Kord and Llerg become major gods to them but Fortubo, Lendor, Lydia and Jascar are forgotten.

    Farther south in Ratik a slightly different mix of peoples assembles. Gods like Phaulkon, Norebo and Phyton are still remembered. [OJ11] (224 OR/ 5094 SD/ 1729 FT)


    Invoked Devastation and Rain of Colourless Fire Strike

    Rain of Colourless Fire, Erol Otus

    The Great War had reached its height. Thousands had perished, and thousands would perish still. Each revelled in their atrocities, citing moral and racial superiority, eager to cleanse the land of the filth that tainted it.
    In the Suel Empire proper, the Suel mages gather their magical energies and cast the Invoked Devastation. No Bakluni cities survive this blast of magical energy. But Bakluni mages gather at Tovag Baragu, using the arcane powers of the Binders, and drawing upon the energies of their holiest site, withstand these energies and counterstrike with the Rain of Colorless Fire. The remains of this expenditure of energy are now called the Dry Steppes, and the Sea of Dust. The holders of all Four Binders are utterly destroyed but the binders themselves are not. [OJ11] (224 OR/ 5094 SD/1729 FT)

    When the Invoked Devastation came upon the Baklunish, their own magi brought down the Rain of Colorless Fire in a last terrible curse, and this so affected the Suloise Empire as to cause it to become the Sea of Dust. [Folio - 5]

    The Suloise lands were inundated by a nearly invisible fiery rain which killed all creatures it struck, burned all living things, ignited the landscape with colorless flame, and burned the very hills into ash. [Folio] (224_OR/ 5094 SD/1729 FT)

    Cup and Talisman of AI'Akbar:

    Cup and Talisman of Al'Akbar

    This pair of holy relics were given by the gods of the Paynims to their most exalted high priest […] in the days following the Invoked Devastation. It was lost to demihuman raiders and was last rumored to be somewhere in the Southeastern portion of the Bandit Kingdoms. [DMG 1e - 157]

    And thus the world was sundered, its rending felt from sea to sea, and all the peoples to the east looked to the west and thought that those great magi and their Binders had brought doom to them all. The skies lit up as never before, and, for a time, there was no night, so bright was the firmament to the west. But the end did not come. The tremors persisted, then faded, the eerie red glow slaked and withdrew to the horizon, and finally below the towering mountains there until it too faded from sight, if not from memory.

    How could it? The tattered remnant of the Suel fled their homeland as the devastation rained down upon them. They crossed the Hellfurnaces into the Sheldomar Valley where the Oeridian tribe of Keogh took pity on them and welcomed them, and together they began to build what would become a vast kingdom, settling swiftly and (so they say) peacefully under the guidance of their seers. They defeated the remnants of Vecna’s Occluded Empire and drove the Flan to the fringes of the Valley.

    That’s the story, anyway. But, Mordenkainen wrote otherwise in On The Rise of Magecraft and Modernity. The Suel were not peaceful, he wrote. They’d never been peaceful. Their Houses fought for control of one another even as they established themselves, and even drove their own minor Houses from the Valley altogether. Indeed, the Suel were striking pacts with those Ur-Flan who still held sway over Vecna’s Lands, even as they were seen to fight against them.

    Some remained aloof. Or maybe they were just biding their time. Their seers stood apart from such petty struggles, and joined together as “Those Who Must Not Speak,” to serve all the Houses, guiding them. It’s been suggested that the Order was actually founded to keep certain aspects of Suel Magic from the Oeridians, who, as yet, still lacked great sorcerers of their own. However the circumstances of their formation, “Those Who Must Not Speak” were tasked with restraining the spread of magic, and seeking out and stopping those who would unleash such death and destruction as had already been unleashed on them. In time they came to be known as the Silent Ones.

    -419 CY Zellifar enters the Griff Mountains alone. None know where he goes or what he does there. [OJ11] (225 OR/ 5097 SD/1732 FT)


    -417 CY The Three Houses of Pursuit move into the Thillonrian Peninsula. They turn to the gods they deem to be strong in the face of the harsh climate; Kord and Llerg. Magic is not practiced, and only priests, wise men and skalds may use it without fear. Witches are not uncommon, but are forced away from “normal” men. The skalds and priests develop a runic alphabet that carries mystic powers.

    They do not know where they have come from. Their skalds do not know of the Suel Empire. They have retained memory of their more primitive gods such as Kord and Llerg. Some others like Phaulkon are still remembered but the more civilized gods (Lydia, for example), are forgotten! [OJ11] (227 OR/ 5099 SD/1734 FT)


    -416 CY Zellifar, last scion of Emperors, teleports from the Griff Mountains back to the remains of the Suloise Empire. He is destroyed by the lingering magics and final throes of conflict in the area. Thus ends the Suloise Empire, mightiest and longest lived of Empires on Oerth, and its reckoning (although some skalds of the Northern Barbarians, and the Scarlet Brotherhood still use it to keep records). [OJ11] (228 OR/ 5100 SD/1735 FT)             


    c.-400 CY              The Flan Ahlissan Kingdom was in full “decline” by this time. In the wake of the Ur-Flan and the devastating war with the elves, they’d become a peaceful folk, having reverted to a tribal existence, content to tend their flocks and fields. They were no match for the coming Suel or Oeridians ... militarily. That is not to say that they were a helpless people, either. (244 OR/ 5116 SD/ 1751 FT)


    Queen Ehlissa's Marvelous Nightingale: 

    Queen Ehlissa's Marvelous  Nightingale

    The origin of this artifact is unknown, although the Mage Mordenkainen is reported to have asserted that the Nightingale was made by Xagy and the goddess of volcanic activity, Joramy, some 17 centuries ago. Queen Ehlissa bent all to her will with the enchantments of the device, and throughout her reign […] several Suel [were] banished to margins of the Flanaess. [DMG 1e - 160]

    -366 CY Not all Flan kingdoms were as formidable. The coming of the Aerdy tribes incited panic among the citizens of Veralos, for it was only a city of artisans, highly skilled in creating the wonders of ages past, magical tablets and statuary and ensorcelled jewelry, even weaponry that was coveted by all the lords of Sulm, Itar, Ahlissa, and Nuria; but alas, they were not skilled in those arms. Legends say that an Ur-Flan prophet came to that ancient citadel of Veralos, and reaping their fear, he persuaded them to seek the succor of an ancient and sinister force. (278 OR/ 5150 SD/ 1785 FT)

    -365 CY Veralos committed the Dark Rites bid them, and the sleeping power rose up from the depths of the Rift Canyon and the city of Veralos was no more. 

    When the Aerdy came upon the Rift Valley, all they found were steep cliffs, howling winds, undulant grasses, and dust-devils. They said the dust-devils swooned and wailed. They said their dreams were plagued by visions of untold horrors. And they quit the cliffs of the Rift Canyon before too long, having never raised a single palisade to defend the howling plains or the twisted forests that surrounded it. (279 OR/ 5151 SD/ 1786 FT)


    The Oeridians swept the Flan aside with ease. They were fierce. They were relentless. And they’d come prepared. They had learned from their former masters, and remembered those lessons well. They studied those Suel books and artifacts they’d taken with them. They tinkered. They failed at first to comprehend what they studied, and then one day they didn’t. Great magics were revealed to them. And the art of artifice. Leuk-O was particularly adept at such studies. And he was a wonderful tinkerer. He recreated those marvelous machines the Suel had used against them with such deadly effect. And he used them well.

    Mighty Servant of Leuk-O:

    Mighty Servant of Leuk-O

    Those who are most knowledgeable regarding ancient artifacts believe that this device is of the same manufacture as the Machine of Lum. The Mighty Servant of the famous General Leuk-O is a towering automaton of crystal, unknown metals, and strange fibrous material. It is over 9' tall, 6’ deep, and some 4' wide. Inside is a compartment suitable for holding 2 man-sized creatures, and there is space for 4-5 others to sit outside. If the possessor knows the proper command phrases, he or she can use the Mighty Servant as a transportation mode, magical attack device, or fighting machine.
     The Mighty Servant regenerates [damage done to it]. [It is reputedly immune to magic.] Acid, cold, fire, heat, vacuum, and water have no effect on the device. [DMG 1e - 159]

    Science of Temporal Waves, by Leuk-0 [Dragon #82 - 58]

    Machine of Lum the Mad:
    Perhaps this strange device was built by gods long forgotten and survived the eons since their passing, for it is incredibly ancient and of workmanship unlike anything known today. The Machine was used by Baron Lum to build an empire, but what has since become of this ponderous mechanism none can say. Legends report that it has 60 levers, 40 dials, and 20 switches (but only about one-half still function). Singly or in combination, these controls will generate all sorts of powers and effects. [DMG 1e  - 159]

    The Minds of The Unknown, by Baron Lum [Dragon #82 - 58]

    Baron Lum wielded Druniarzth against the Ur-Flan sorcerers until he lost it in the Battle if the Bonewood. Druniarzth is a fell blade, an artifact that exists only to serve Tharizdun and free him from his endless slumber. Lum spent his remaining years trying to recover the sword, the search eventually driving him mad.

    -217 CY Founding of the Kingdom of Aerdy.

    The strongest tribe of the Oeridians, the Aerdi, settled the rich fields east of the Nyr Dyv and there founded the Kingdom of Aerdy, eventually to be renamed the Great Kingdom. [Folio - 5] (427_OR/ 5299 SD/ 1881_FT)


    -194 CY Exploration of the Solonor Ocean begins.

    In eastern Oerik, some small but farsighted groups living near the Gull Cliffs of the coast developed some skill at maritime travel. The travelers were of mixed stock, Oerid and Flannae, and part of the newly formed kingdom of Aerdy. The persistent Aqua-erdians generated two major seafaring explorations, both of which successfully returned with news of land far eastward. [Aqua] (450 OR/ 5322 SD/ 1967 FT)


    -171 CY The Battle of Chokestone.

    The Flannae could only watch as the Aerdy flooded into the east, a relentless tide that had no ebb. They sought to parley with these newcomers, for there was an abundance of uncultivated land and room for all. But, the Aerdians saw the fertile lands of the Flannae and meant to take them for their own. The Flan sought to defend them, but their cause was hopeless compared with the fierceness and resolve of the Oeridians.

    They clashed at Chokestone, and the Flan fell. (473 OR/ 5345 SD/ 1980 FT)


    Chokestone
    This place, and the lands around it are deserted, not farmed by anyone. The site is that of a great battle between Aerdi men and a small Flan tribe in -171 CY. The Oeridians were easily triumphant, and an excessively brutal general ordered the torture and sacrifice of all surrendering Flan folk in thanks to Erythnul. The following day, the Aerdi army woke from its camp to find that the land for several square miles around had been stripped of vegetation. Only slate-like stone remained. As they trod upon the stone, it cracked as if it were brittle paper, releasing clouds of oily, choking smoke. Less than a third of the army managed to march away from the accursed area, and those who survived suffered lung infections and disease which brought their lives to very premature ends. From time to time since this slaughter, a huge black smoky serpentine shape has been spotted prowling the lands around Chokestone, slaying any who dare approach the land where the Flan were slaughtered. Astrologer-sages can predict this wandering; it occurs around once every 17 years, with the "snake" manifesting for […] days. At other times, mages will sometimes try to obtain some of the stone for use in making dust of sneezing and choking, but they invariably send servants to obtain it rather than risking entry themselves. [Ivid - 53]

    -122 CY Aqua-erdians struck out east across the Solonor Ocean.

    Disenchanted by a warlike turn of events in their homeland, most of the remaining Aqua-erdians left Aerdy by sea, migrating eastward across the Solnor Ocean. Those who remained became the ancestors of the Sea Barons, now virtually independent, but swearing fealty to the Overking at Rauxes. [Aqua] (522 OR/ 5394 SD/ 2029 FT)


    -110 CY After the Battle of a Fortnight’s Length, the Duke of Tenh pledged fealty to the King of Aerdy, giving the Aerdian monarch authority over the duke and his personal holdings in Tenh and the Coltens, thus ending Flan dominion over the Flanaess.

    Not all nobles and officials of Tenh bent the knee to the King of Aerdy, maintaining Tenh’s independence, but without support and armies to field, their declaration was tantamount to posturing. They were living in the Great Kingdom now, regardless their delusions of the supposed continuance of a bygone age.

    After several decades of increasing growth, power, and prestige, Aerdy embarked upon a series of conquests, the greatest of which was the defeat of the Nyrondal cavalry squadrons at the Battle of a Fortnight's Length. [Folio - 5] (534 OR/ 5406 SD/ 2041 FT)


    -107 CY Ur-Flan insurgents attempted to assassinate the King of Aerdy by summoning a "winged horror." It was their last fruitless gasp at freedom.

    It occurred in the year 537 OR (-107 CY), when an attack upon the traveling train of the king of Aerdy was foiled by a group of young men, primarily woodsmen and farmers from a nearby village. Ur-Flan insurgents released a winged horror upon the royal tent city in an effort to assassinate the leader of their conquerors. The young men of the village thwarted the attack, at the cost of most of their lives. The king was so impressed with the courage of the survivors that he raised them up as his "Knight Protectors." [LGG - 157] (537 OR/ 5409 SD/ 2044 FT)


    So ended the Flan kingdoms.
    So began the Aerdian Great Kingdom.

    But what of the Houses of Pursuit? What befell them is as much legend and myth as it is truth.
    Stories tell of a barbarian empire created by the warriors of Vatun, the "Great God of the North." The empire, if it existed at all, lasted only for the lifetime of the first fasstal of the Suelii. Some say Vatun was betrayed by a companion deity, but others blame a rival Oeridian god (Telchur) and his clerics; a few even say that the barbarians proved unworthy, being unable to sustain a mighty god's presence. Regardless, as recorded history dawned in the north, the barbarians' empire was only a tale of old. [LGG - 44]
    Legend has it that should the Five Blades of Curusk be united, Vatun would be freed from his imprisonment and work his revenge against Telchur and the Oerids.

    The Fruztii settled in the lands north of the Timberway and west if the Spikey forests where the climate tended towards a more temperate temperament. They farmed their fertile lands; they harvested the bounty of Grendep Bay; they even mined the eastern Griffs; but they also raided the southern coasts with abandon, for those people were weak, and Vatun taught them to do so, and punished those tribes that did not, sending quakes and high seas and fierce winds until they set sail south once again.

    The Schnai settled the land between the Corusk Mountains and the wide Grendep Bay, with only the Spikey Forest separating them with the Fruztii. Despite their identical climes, the landscape of the Schnai is more rugged than the Fruztii’s, though not so rough as the Cruski’s. The same could be said of the people, who are more factious than the Fruztii, but more united than the Cruski. It was these differences that inevitably brought their kin under their dominion.
    They may not have always been the most powerful of the Suel barbarians, but they never come under the rule of either of their cousin states. Perhaps this is due to the superior seamanship of these barbarians, for they have never been attacked by land. [LGG - 106]

    The Cruski settled further east upon Rhizia, the Thellonrian Peninsula, than any of their kin. Theirs is the coldest and most severe of the Suel barbarian kingdoms. Fiercely independent, they hunted and fished and whaled from their seaside towns and their mountain steadings. And like all of their kin, they built longships, for it was and is their way to raid south, and prey upon those plying their trade at sea.
    The Cruski themselves are a people of pure Suel race, speaking the Cold Tongue as their native language. Though they have always been the least numerous of the Suel barbarians, their royal lineage is the oldest. The king of Cruski holds the title "Fasstal of all the Suelii," indicating his preeminence among the nobles of the Suel race and giving him the right to pronounce judgment on any of them. Politically, this has little real importance, for he has no power to enforce his judgments. However, it is said by some that the god Vatun granted this authority to the fasstal of the Suelii; if Vatun awoke, the full authority of the office would return to the fasstal, and a new barbarian empire would emerge under his leadership. [LGG - 54]

    The Barbarians and the Kingdom of Aerdy were destined to clash.
    And they did.
    But that is another tale.






    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.



    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Deathrite-Shaman by steveargyle
    War-Relic by artursadlos
    Rain of Colourless Fire by Erol Otus, Greyhawk Gold Box, 1983 TSR
    Art of Artifacts can be found in the Book of Artifacts, 1993 WotC


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2138 Book of Artifacts, 1993
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    Dragon Magazine 82
    OJ Oerth Journal, #1, #11
    Living Greyhawk Journals
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.

    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer 

    Posted: 09-04-2021 01:43 pm
    History of Oerth, Part 5: Of The Peoples of the West


    Automaton-Unearthing

    Let’s look way back shall we?

    The Suloise were a cruel and haughty people who aspired to the power they saw in the Grey Elves. They coveted that power, but as chance would have it, the Elves saw the wisdom of their having released their Magic into the world as folly, and closed their schools. The Suel were enraged. Their relations with the Elves suffered and in time, when the Grey Elves went to war against their dark brethren, they sided with the Drow and Giantkind against their former tutors. The Drow were victorious, but both they and their allies saw their forces all but wiped out. The Suloise did not venture East after that. The Drow were not as the Grey Elves were, and despite their having fought side by side with the Drow, they knew those dark elves were not their friends. So they looked to the North and West for conquest.

    They had learned much while at the knee of the Grey Elves. And they had learned far more since. They sought to know all and sent out missions in all directions to gather up what knowledge they could, some even as far north as the Barrier Peaks to spy upon their past allies, for they knew one must be prepared against the duplicity of the perfidious. They unearthed spells of great power, and they grew adept at artifice. Their foes were no match for them.

    Machine of Lum the Mad:
    Perhaps this strange device was built by gods long forgotten and survived the eons since their passing, for it is incredibly ancient and of workmanship unlike anything known today. The Machine was used by Baron Lum to build an empire, but what has since become of this ponderous mechanism none can say. Legends report that it has 60 levers, 40 dials, and 20 switches (but only about one-half still function). Singly or in combination, these controls will generate all sorts of powers and effects. [DMG 1e - 159]

    Mighty Servant of Leuk-O:

    War-Relic

    Those who are most knowledgeable regarding ancient artifacts believe that this device is of the same manufacture as the Machine of Lum. The Mighty Servant of the famous General Leuk-O is a towering automaton of crystal, unknown metals, and strange fibrous material. It is over 9' tall, 6’ deep, and some 4' wide. Inside is a compartment suitable for holding 2 man-sized creatures, and there is space for 4-5 others to sit outside. If the possessor knows the proper command phrases, he or she can use the Mighty Servant as a transportation mode, magical attack device, or fighting machine.
     The Mighty Servant regenerates [damage done to it]. [It is reputedly immune to magic.] Acid, cold, fire, heat, vacuum, and water have no effect on the device. [DMG 1e - 159]

    -4414 CY              But first, the Suel had to sort out their own House. Only one must rule if they were to stand against their enemies. And they had enemies at all points of the compass. But as some Houses soon discovered, some enemies are closer than one might think. In time, each bowed the knee until there was but one. And so it was that a scion of the House of Rhola was proclaimed the First Emperor of the Suel Empire. Worshippers of Jascar and other Suloise deities of weal, they held their holds with an iron fist. (1102 SD/ -2263 FT/ -1753 BT)


    -2660 CY              The Bakluni took note of their neighbours and saw what power would be needed if they were to keep from being fitted for chains, for the reputation of the Suel was well known to them. A Holy Man, El-Baklun-bar-Gash, prayed for guidance and was sent a vision of massive stone blocks set in five concentric circles upon the shores of Lake Udrukankar. He must build this circle of stone, the vision said, and he was to name it Tovrag Baragu, "The Naval of the Earth." He shared his vision upon waking, and his brethren raced off to all corners of the steppes to gather in those holy men known to them. They raised the stones, and understood them to be the window to all existence. The Suloise did not see, for the nomads were sparse and scattered, and they did believe that such savage nomads could raise such a thing. The Bakluni count the completion of this place as the beginning of the Bakluni calendar. (2856 SD/ -509 FT/1_BH)


    The Suel had their holy men, too. And they, too, were blessed and given favour. Some were so blessed, in fact, that their very essence was infused with their boon, and persists eons after their demise. But beware, for their boon may be your bane.

    The Teeth of Dahlver-Nor:
    If any cleric was more powerful than the renowned Dahlver-Nor, histories do not tell us. The gods themselves gave special powers to him, and these have passed on to others by means of the great relics of Dahlver-Nor, his teeth. Each of the Teeth has some power, and if one character manages to gain a full quarter, half, or all of them, other grand benefits accrue. In order to gain the power of one of these teeth, however, the character must place it into his or her mouth, where it will graft itself in the place of a like missing tooth. The teeth can never be removed once so emplaced, short of the demise of the possessor. [DMG 1e - 161]

    -2328 CY              The Suel were always a cunning and covetous people. Their Houses were always mindful of their place, and each in their wisdom knew that they were better suited for the throne than they who occupied it. But how to unseat those in their way. They plotted and schemed. They whispered into ears, and watched for weakness. They also knew that those whispers should never reach the ears of any who might expose them. One must keep plans close to their chests. And trust no one. And never, never, act openly, for to do so exposed their family to annihilation. And so, assassination became the vehicle of succession in the Empire. Thus, the throne fell to the House of Zolax, worshippers of Beltar. (3188 SD/ -177 FT/ 333 BT)

    -2269 CY              The Years of Conquest and Prosperity

    The Flanae in the southeast, already persecuted and pressed upon by the Suel for decades, were the first to fall; then the Kersi, the long distant descendants of those who first sailed from AnaKeri, to the south; then the Oerid to the north and east. Several unnamed small tribes to the west eventually fell to the Suloise as the Suel reached and stretched until they could reach no more. And with them, all the lands of the known world were under their yoke. Beyond lay only great wastes. But no lands east; the Drow and darker forces, and a fear of other elves, halted their eastern expansion.
    Convinced of their power and their undeniable destiny of dominion over the lesser peoples around them, the Suel began their "Slavery Raids.” They slipped across the Sulhaut Mountains and captured an entire family of Bakluni and took them back to their lands in chains. Such were those first raids, small, a trifling of what were to come, as though to test the resolve of the nomadic Bakluni to the north. None were noticed at first, for the Bakluni were a people scattered across the wide and windy steppes. (3247 SD/ -118 FT/ 392 BH)


    -2266 CY              The Flanae, under the protection of Beory, Pelor and Rao, fled their lands en masse, making a perilous crossing of the Hellfurnaces. They moved north into Eastern Oerik, later called the Flanaess, and were the first humans to inhabitant those lands. Initially, the elves welcomed them. The Dwarves hardly took notice, so fixated were they in their quest for gold and trading bitter blows with the humanoids in the depths of those ancient eroded mountains, the Lortmils. (3250 SD/ -115 FT/ 395 BT)


    -2150 CY              The Flan spread across the Sheldomar Valley, always settling at the foot of Elven settlements for protection. They were still convinced of the coming of the Suel, for they knew that those cruel and greedy people would sulk in their land west of the Hellfurnaces for only so long. So, when they did finally plant the seed of their civilization, they did so high in the Lortmils, where they could look to the West for their former master’s coming. They named their city Haradaragh, after Harad, the holy man who first climbed into the Lortmils to commune with the skies. Pilgrims came to learn his wisdom, calling him Druid (Father, or, Learned One), and those he taught were told to go out into the forests and hills and be as one with the all they surveyed, and they too came to be known as druids. And those who sought to protect and serve them learned their ways and ranged the lands with them.
    The Dwarves took no action against their raising this city in their mountains, for the Flan had settled in a land less rich than theirs, and more importantly, these newcomers had drawn the hated humanoids away from their unending conflict, at least for a time.
    The founding of the first Flannae City in the Lortmil mountains in eastern Oerik, this is counted as year [OJ11] (3366 SD/ 1 FT/ 511 BH)


    -2064 CY              The Great Betrayal.
    The Bakluni had not yet taken note of the Suel’s slave raids. The Steppes were a hostile place, and on occasion, small groups disappeared; what’s more, family units ranged far and were sometimes only seen at the annual gatherings.
    But, after treating with seven nomadic merchant clans at a trade gathering, the Suloise Odiafer attacked the merchants, attempting to take their goods and enslave them. The Bakluni families drew their trains together and fought to the last.
    The Bakluni came upon the field of battle in the months that followed, and reading the signs, looked to the south for those responsible. The tribes had finally taken notice of the Suel, and they knew hatred. (3452 SD/ 87 FT/597 BH)


    -2055 CY              The Suloise armies marched into the northern plains and finding scant resistance at first, claimed all they could see as their domain. The Suloise built their first palisades to defend their newly acquired territories, and then their first fortresses as they gained ever more ground, tall walls that the nomads could neither breach nor scale. They did so until they stood upon the high cliffs of the Dramidj Sea, and for the next 600 years the Bakluni were subjugated by the Suel. (3461 SD/ 96 FT/ 606 BH)


    [-1547 CY             Vecna began his 400 Year War against the Galitholian and the elves.]


    -1545 CY              The Bakluni united under one of their wandering chieftains, one Ali-ben-Onar, in an effort to throw off the Suloise yoke. (3971 SD/ 606 FT/ 1116 BH)


    -1540 CY              Five years later, they won their "First Victory." During the War of Seven Score Nights, one of the Suloise Binders was captured and the war ceased when the Bakluni threatened to use it. The Bakluni claimed all lands north of the Sulhaut Mountains by treaty with the Seul. The family Amirs and Sultans gathered and elected Ali-ben-Onar, by proclamation, "Caliph of All the Families of the Baklun." (3977 SD/ 611 FT/ 1121 BH)


    -1539 CY              The Suel-Bakluni peace was always an uneasy one. The Suel did not suffer defeat easily. They planned to never suffer such again. The House of Zolax began to plot against Bakluni influences and sent out spies into Bakluni lands. They whispered fear into the ears of all those in their fold to ensure that they would never have such dreams as the Bakluni revolt might rouse. (3977 SD/ 612 FT/ 1122 BH)


    -1399 CY              The Emperor Zeeckar looked upon his empire and saw that the blood of the Suel had become tainted, and knew that such taint had been why the Suloise Empire had been much diminished. He decided to strengthen his realm, and declared his “War of Purity.” He selected those Houses he deemed loyal and chose those individuals from within them he saw as most pure and gathered them together for his Great Mission, and set his “The Scarlet Brotherhood,” to the task of returning his People to the Grace they once knew. The Brotherhood were instructed to erase the Houses of Ulmar and Opell, for those western Houses had long interbred with the Lesser Peoples to the west. Both Houses fled the Empire, flying west over the Steppes to the Vast Ocean where they passed out of memory. Zeeckar was pleased, and set his own House and those most loyal to him in their place, for he knew that their Purity was not in question. Then he decreed that the Brotherhood sift those other Houses whose skin was less pale, whose eyes were not as violet or clear. And they did. They then turned on those Houses who suggested that the Brotherhood wielded too much power. Why, asked Zeeckar, were they not loyal to his War on Purity, were they not Pure? The Houses, in patriotic fervour, began to select those best suited to breed. And they held their council behind closed doors and thick walls. And thus they were made Loyal and Pure. (4117_SD/ 752 FT/ 1262 BH)


    [-1151 CY             Vecna was weakened by the energies he expended during his attack on The City of Summer Stars. At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a human vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed, using a magical sword that Vecna himself had crafted for him, now known as the Sword of Kas. (4365 SD/ 1000 FT/ 1510 BH)]


    -1079 CY              House Schnai, both fearful of and enraged by centuries of the Brotherhood’s Purity pogroms, conspired with the Schnai and the Cruski, and seized the throne of the Empire after a short struggle, and Ovrung the First began to restore the kingdom to a shadow of its former self. He sought out the Scarlet Brotherhood, set upon cleansing the Empire of them. But the Brotherhood faded into the shadows and bided their time. (4437 SD/ 972 FT/ 1282 BH)


    -1028 CY              The Bakluni were watchful. They saw the Suloise embroiled in their internal struggles, and they struck, sending a series of plagues, some magical and some mundane, across the Sulhaut Mountains into the Empire, and its population there collapsed, with not a family left untouched.  Indeed, many towns were completely emptied, and the border defenses were greatly weakened. This was the first of The Plague Years. (4788 SD/ 973 FT/ 1633 BH)


    -1027 CY              The Bakluni watched as the Suloise population collapsed from the plagues, and saw their weakness. And they knew the time to strike was ripe. They broke the tenuous peace and began to raid across the Sulhaut Mountains. But not for slaves. For revenge. (4889 SD/ 974 FT/ 1634 BH)


    -728 CY Weakened by the Plague Years, the Suel Empire slipped into stagnation, too weak to do more than fend off the ever increasing waves of raids from the Bakluni. The Oeridians saw the Empire’s weakness, and began to dream that they too might someday be free. (4788 SD/ 1423 FT/ 1933 BH)


    -645 CY The Oeridian High Priestess Johydee, of the Aerdi House Crandon, dreamed that one day her people would be free. She put the question as to how this might be done to the gods, and they sent her a vision of Guile. Trick your cruel masters, the vision said, and the visage of a mask resolved before her. And in her cunning, she tricked their oppressors into moulding it, infusing the porcelain with her blood. And in their hubris, they created it in her image, for they meant to mock her. She let them laugh. For she had seduced them. And using her cunning further, she called it to her, for it was a part of her, and used the conduits of Phantasm within it to free the Oeridians from their dark overlords.
    She ultimately became a queen in her own right, though the location of her realm is lost to time. But not her writings, for there is rumoured to be a copy of Mental Impressions of the Retina within the secret archives of in the Great Library of Greyhawk. (1 OR/ 4871 SD/ 1506 FT/ 2016 BH)

    Johydee's Mask: The high priestess Johydee supposedly tricked the powers of evil into making this strange artifact and then wisely used it to overthrow their hold upon her nation. The Mask completely covers the wearer's face and enables him or her to assume the likeness of any human or human-like creature. It also prevents all forms of mind contact, detection or attack. [DMG 1e - 158]




    -627 CY The Suel population had truly begun to recover, but peace had become an illusion. Skirmishes with the Bakluni had become common in the passes, with probes into each other’s territories ever more brazen. (4889 SD/ 1424 FT/ 1989 BH)


    -604 CY The Suloise noble houses were always maneuvering for power, and woe to those who did not anticipate treachery and assassination at court. The first of The Succession Wars began, and the Schnai were removed from the throne. (4912 SD/ 1547 FT/ 2057 BH)


    -563 CY Evil always finds a foothold. Temples devoted to Tharizdun had secretly spread all over the Suel Empire, spilling out over the borders in all directions, their grim devotees eager that their Master’s dark doctrine should find purchase wherever it might be whispered.
    A temple to Tharizdun is located near the Realm of the Highfolk, it is cleared, but a mystic force keeps it from being destroyed. [OJ1] (4957 SD/ 1588 FT/ 2098 BH)


    -505 CY The last of The Succession Wars swept across the Suloise Empire. After 500 years of the throne falling to nine different Houses, the House Zolax regained control of the Imperium.
    Monks from the hidden Temple of Tharizdun in Highfolk returned to the Suloise Empire and began winning converts. (5011 SD/ 1646 FT/ 2156 BH)


    -504 CY Zunid-ad-Zol, the Prince of House Zolax was crowned Emperor of the Seul Peoples. The Scarlet Brotherhood whispered in his ears. We are a great people, they said. We must keep out all the lesser peoples, they said. And he agreed. His first act was to command that the mountain passes be strengthened, that their fortifications were to span from peak to peak, and watchtowers were to be raised high.  The Bakluni protested the construction of fortifications upon what the declared to be their lands. The Backluni have been attacking us for centuries, the Brotherhood whispered. Zunid-ad-Zol accused the Backluni of having raided his lands for centuries, accusing them of having attacked his lands with plague. So whispered the Brotherhood. He declared the Bakluni an enemy of the Suloise Empire. Then he too commanded raids to probe the Steppes. The Bakluni withdrew their ambassador from the Seuloise Empire. And they too began to raise their armies. (5012 SD/ 1647 FT/ 2157 BH)


    -485 CY The Great War began with lightening swiftness when nine thousand Bakluni were slaughtered in the Salhaut Pass. The Suel thrust out into the Steppes with a vengeance they had not known since first conquering the northern nomads. Zunid was pleased, and promised to destroy the Bakluni entirely, even if the majority of mages of his own House died in the process. (5031 SD/ 1666 FT/ 2176 BH)


    -466 CY Both Bakluni and Suloise began to go east into the mountains, recruiting humanoids as mercenaries in their battles for the first time. [OJ11] (5050 SD/ 1685 FT/ 2195 BH)


    -458 CY Heeding their prophets, many Oeridians began moving eastward, coming into contact and conflict with the Flannae. (186 OR / 5058 SD/ 1693 FT/ 2203 BH)


    But what of the Flan? Did they not mount a defence against the Peoples of the West? Their first city, Haradaragh had been built in preparation for the assault of the Se-Ul People that they knew must someday come. Surely they must have been prepared. They were. They had been. But the Se-Ul did not come. They grew lax. And were not prepared for what did.

    The Flan of Haradaragh found that their presence in the Lortmils was left unchallenged by the elves for a simple reason -- the existence of the orcs and goblins of the central peaks. The humans had nearly a century of relative peace in which to build their great capital. During this time, the human miner Bleredd led several explorations of the deep caverns below the mines, and on one such occasion, was ambushed by a goblin scouting party. Separated from his companions, and facing a howling band of goblins, he prepared for his death at their spears. He was amazed to discover that he was no longer fighting alone; a strong faced matron battled at his side with her hammer, slaying the goblins as easily as the most skilled warrior. When the battle was over, Bleredd turned to thank his rescuer and found he was alone again. He there swore an oath that he would find her and repay his debt, unto his dying days if need be. Long and far he traveled, and terrible were the hardships he endured to follow his oath -- all of which have been expounded upon elsewhere.
    Although no written descriptions of the city of Haradaragh have survived, there are cryptic fragments of songs still sung among those of Geoff, Sterich and the County of Ulek who count themselves of Flan descent. These tell of the spectacular visions of sunrise in the high plateaus of the mountains, the great wide boulevards and plazas of the city, the many-stepped pyramids devoted to the Sun-God, the agricultural terraces of the slopes, the labyrinthine walls protecting the city, and the tremendous wealth brought from the mines below. The more tragic lyrics sing of the last days of the city, when the mines boiled forth with rampaging humanoids who slaughtered all who would stand against them.
    The humanoids had known of the presence of the humans within a few decades of the Flannae arrival, but the goblin shamen urged the tribes to wait until the portents were favorable. The goblins and allied orcs patiently waited for the humans to drive tunnels deeper into caverns that the goblins had already reached via other passages. Present-day goblin shamen recall only small fragments of the victorious battle chant, but it speaks of the spear of Maglubiyet waiting in the darkness for the humans. Whether this was an appearance of the avatar, or an epic exaggeration by the shamen, is unknown.
    Although the songs are quite descriptive of the birth and death of the city, they leave out any clear description of its exact location, other than that it must have been among the highest peaks of the range. The mountain dwarves who have roamed the peaks in the centuries since have found no ruins of any such city, and have tunneled for miles without encountering other mining tunnels -- active or abandoned.
    With the destruction of their great city, the few survivors fled into the lowlands, and reverted back to a [simpler], nomadic life. The leaders that later emerged among them forswore any return to the cursed mountains, or any attempt to build great cities again, citing the wrath of the gods.
    When the waves of Oeridian and Suel refugees arrived in the Sheldomar valley region some 1,500 years later, the descendants of the Lortmil Flannae were completely absent of any signs that they had the skill, knowledge and daring to have built a city on the very peaks of the mountains. [OJ2by Sobhrach]

    -448 CY The Year of the Prophets. Seven different prophets foretell of the destruction of the Suel Empire within 30 years. The emperor has all seven drawn and quartered, even though one of the prophets is a High Priest of Beltar. (196 OR/ 5068 SD/ 1703 FT/ 2213 BH)


    -447 CY Zellifar-ad-Zol, son of the emperor, mage/high priest of Beltar, breaks with his father and takes over 8,000 Seuloise loyal to himself, and flees the kingdom, eastward. The ferocity and magical might of the movement scatters the Oeridians in its path, causing the remainder of the Oeridian to migrate, who in turn attack the beleaguered Flanae. The Zolites continue eastward. (197 OR/ 5069_SD/_1704 FT/ 2214 BH)


    -446 CY The emperor sends commands that the Houses Schnai, Cruskii and Fruztii move bring his son, and the "Unloyal" back to face justice. [OJ1] (198 OR/ 5070 SD/ 1705 FT/ 2215 BH)


    -445 to -423 CY  The Zolite scatter the Flanae before them, and move south to the Tilvanot Peninsula. The three pursuing houses, unable to find the magical tunnel, turn north, where they are met by regrouped Oeridians and fearful Flanae who harry and drive these Suel Houses south. (5071 to 199-221 OR/ 5093 SD/ 1706-1728 FT/ 2216-2238 BH)


    The Peoples of the West were on the move. The Great Migration had begun. But what begins as a trickle would eventually become a flood.






    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weinig. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    It should be noted that without Lenard Lakfka there would not be such a detailed account of the Suel Migration, or the Pantheon of Suel Gods, for that matter. I cannot at this time give credit to all those others who’d contributed to it over the years, because I myself am still learning it and who wrote it.


    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Automaton-Unearthing, by 000fesbra000
    War-Relic, by artursadlos

    Sources
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    Book of Artifacts, Dave Cook, 1993
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9027 S2, White Plume Mountain, 1979
    9309 WGA4, Vecna Lives, 1990
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    Dragon Magazine, 82
    OJ Oerth Journal, #1, #2, #11; produced by the Council of Greyhawk, and appearing on their website
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    TSR11348 Return to White Plume Mountain, 1999

    Book of Artifacts, David Cook, 1993.

    Posted: 08-31-2021 05:33 pm
    History of Oerth, Part 4: Of The Dark Age Of The Flan


    Flan warrior

    The Ur-Flan were not idle as Vecna rose to power. They were a greedy and covetous lot, never satisfied to live under the rule of another, so they each sought to carve out their own realms while Vecna threw his forces against the shield of the Elven Kingdoms.

    They were not all so. Some sought refuge from the tyranny of their peers. Thus, Tostenhca was born. Those who sought the Wisdom of Pelor fled from their evil brethren into the high and frigid Griff Mountains, where, to their delight, they discovered a green plateau that was of temperate climate in those days. They came upon the Dwarves, who, wary at first for they knew of the Ur-Flan and their war with the Elves, were convinced of the honour and goodness of these people. And it was with the help of the Dwarves that they carved their city from the greenish-black rock of the mountain, and it was a wonder to behold. Ramps, broad avenues, and good roads of such quality were cut through the mountains that they’ve withstood the ravages of time and are still used today by the local dwarves. Their broad avenues were lined with tall statues, backed by the facades and courtyards of the noble estates that were hued into the rock is such a way as to be sky lit by tapestries of coloured glass. Murals adorned their walls. And gardens bloomed and spilled out over the dappled streets in a floral canopy. Enormous cisterns caught the rains and fed their statues and fountains and pumped running water throughout the city.

    They flattened terraces for the sake of agriculture around it and in the surrounding valleys as they sought and found others as gentle and fertile.

    And what’s more, Pelor shined on them, as their valleys proved rich with gold and jade. Their artisans grew adept in the art of glass, the loom, and the kiln, and as such, they grew rich, and richer still as they traded with Dwarven clans of Ukauric and Ukargic. So rich in fact, that Tostenhca’s central, domed, Temple of Pelor, and the Theign’s pyramid Palace shone brightly with roofs of gold.

    They were ever vigil, for they knew that one day Vecna, or one like him would come. And one day, one did come. But they were blind to it when it did come.

    It is commonly held that the Flan peoples of eastern Oerth were simple tribesmen before the events that led to the Suel and Oeridian migrations. There remain to be explained certain ruins found in the Griff and Corusk Mountains. The massive stone foundations, straight level roads, and flattened or terraced areas of mountainside seem from the proportions of the rarely preserved door- ways to be intended for creatures of human size, and it seems unlikely that elves or humanoids would have had the inclination to produce such works. What is more, the occasional jade carvings and green ceramic figurines found both at these sites and occasionally in rivers flowing out of the mountains show a people of Flannish features and dress, and there remain in the Duchy of Tenh and among the Coltens stories of a powerful mountain state of Flann- ish race. Perhaps the dwarves of the region know more, but if so, they show the typical reticence of demi-human races concerning prehistoric events. One of the greatest works of this ancient people, whoever they were, is the mountain known in Flan as Tostenhca, but more commonly known by the name the Suel barbarians gave it, Skrellingshald. It is a place which has been discovered many times, and as often lost again from human knowledge. [GA - 92]

    Keraptis

    c.-1500 CY           The Ur-Flan wizard-priest Keraptis came to the Golden City of Tostenhca, and unknown to the People, he unleashed a horde of aberrations and monstrosities upon its populace; and then announcing himself to them, he told them that he alone could rid them of the hordes. They were skeptical. They already had an abundance of heroes, and great and accomplished magi, and a temple of divine power that had kept them from harm until then. But had they, Keraptis asked, were they not beset by monsters; had their heroes and magi and priests protected them from the beasts that plagued them still? They had not, said the people of Tostenhca. So, the people agreed that if Keraptis could rid them of the ravaging hordes, they would make him Protector of Tostenhca and lavish him with gold. And he did, with a wave of his hand. Tostenhca paid him his gold. They made him their Protector.

                The Dwarves saw the Evil in Keraptis. But when they tried to warn the Council of Elders of Tostenhca of it, the Council would not hear of it. They were blind to it. He rescued us from Great Evil, they said. Had he, asked the Dwarves He did, said they, and they turned their backs on the Dwarves. And the Dwarves turned their backs on Tostenhca, and guarded the paths from that once good city to theirs’.


    Keraptis warned the People that their great good fortune would being even greater evils upon them, for Evil despises Good. And Keraptis’ Great Evils did. Demons fell upon the city. Then a Wasting fell upon their flesh. And Keraptis demanded an ever-increasing stipend for his protection, for time and again the monstrosities came. Before long, Keraptis was demanding most of the wealth of the Tostenhca and its valleys. And in their fear, they gave it freely.


    Keraptis sent out his warriors out from their heights, gathering in the foothills, and then the plains surrounding them.


    Nearly 1300 years ago, in a time when the Flan tribes still dominated eastern Oerik, the archwizard Keraptis rose to power in the lands abutting the southern Rakers, and while most historians agree that the mage’s kingdom encompassed what is now known as the Bone March, a few scholars believe the territories that later became Ratik and the Pale were part of this empire as well. (651 FT) [Dragon #241 - 77]


    -1151 CY              At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a human vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed. (1000 FT)


    But what of the Elves? How did they fare after their disastrous 600-year stalemate with Vecna? They persevered.
    After the Gray Elves last city in the Crystalmists fell, the remnants fled eastward. They, in conjunction with their High Elven and Sylvan kindred, developed the four Elven Kingdoms. The Westernmost of these, the "Realm" of Highfolk in the Yatils and the Vesve was established as a guardian against the Seul and the Drow. This realm was established with the Sylvan elves of the Vesve. Of all the Elven realms, it was the most open to other races, allowing humans, gnomes, halflings and even dwarves to partake of its society. The second Kingdom, Celene, the [High Elven] "heart jewel" of Elvendom, [took in those Gray Elves who fled to their realm]. It, alone of the realms, is always ruled by an elven queen. The third Kingdom, Aliador, was established in the Griff Mountains and the plains to the west to the shores of the Nyr Dyv, it is also called the "Lost Kingdom." This was the Crown of the Elven seat, and was inhabited solely by Gray Elves and their servants. The High King of All Elves had his place here. The Fourth Realm, Arrisa, was established by a council of mages and priests in the southern islands now known as the Spendrifts. It is called "The Secret Realm" and it has been closed for long. Little traffic passes between this realm and the remainder of the Flanaess. And its purpose, until recently, has been hidden (even to the other elven Realms). [OJ1]

    -1142 CY              Despite Vecna's destruction, the three remaining hidden Gray Elven cities of Aliador do not reveal themselves.  [OJ1] (4374 SD/ 1109 FT)


    -1138 CY              Envoys from Celene are sent to contact the three hidden cities of Aliador, they do not return. This is the beginning of "The Sleeping Years". The Elven Realms do not communicate with outsiders and rarely with each other. [OJ1] (4378 SD/ 1113 FT)


    -1034 CY              Vecna’s vast empire collapsed with his passing, and the Flan found themselves lost and leaderless. The Flaneass fell into a Dark Age, where petty states raided and preyed on their neighbours.

    Founding of the Flanae Kingdom of Sulm in the Bright Desert Region. [OJ1] (1117 FT)


    c.-1100 CY           Keraptis ruled Tostenhca with an iron fist for fear for 400 years, but even fear can only surpass a People for so long. His grip was too tight. And when a grip is too tight, that which is held can escape from the cracks. His greed brought his downfall, its grip opening a path for those who aspired to his throne, and he was eventually driven out of Tostenhca.


                    History of the Pyronomicon

    Yet, as is well documented in the little-known Legend of Keraptis, the archwizard was a cruel man, so brutal in fact that, near the end of his reign, he demanded his tormented subjects turn over to him one-third of their newborn children as part of their taxes. The peasants did not take this atrocity lightly, and under the leadership of the high priest Gethrun Shoiraine and his ranger followers, the kingdom of the tyrant mage was sundered. During the resulting chaos, Keraptis and his gnome bodyguards escaped to the south, but in his haste to evade capture, Keraptis was forced to leave behind several objects of particular value. Among them was The Pyronomicon, a huge tome devoted to the lore of Elemental Fire, which Gethrun claimed as his share of the spoils.

    Despite his inability to use the spells it contained, Gethrun retained the book some 50 odd years before turning it over to the elves of the Gamboge Forest. [Dragon #241 -77,78 ] (1051 FT)


    Keraptis waxed and waned in the Northeast, as did Tzunk in the North.

    Legend has it that The Isles or Woe once stood in the Nyr Dyv, but no one can pinpoint their location, their size, or even their number (some say three, some say seven). Who can say? No one has seen them in nigh a thousand years, though some have sought them out. Ancient maps hidden away in a secret room in the Great Library of Greyhawk show their location as southwest of the Scragholme Island upon a much smaller Nyr Dyv, rising from its wasters as though an extension of the Cairn Hills.

    All sources say they were ancient, and they must have been, because they were gone when the People of Aerdy arrived. All sources say that they were highly magical. It is written that Tzunk wrote (or perhaps discovered, as the massive book has also been named Yagrax's Tome) The Codex of the Infinite Planes there, and Tzunk is said to have been a lieutenant of Vecna’s. Even Vecna is said to have built his Black Tower upon one of the Islands, and that he ruled his vast Empire from his “rotted tower” and “spidered throne” there.  Maybe he did; that ancient map indicates a small tower ore lighthouse on one, an open eye with a cat-like pupil placed upon a spindled base.

    But the Wizard Priest Tzunk left no records. Only speculations follow his exploits, dim recollections of his ruling in Vecna’s absence, and of his raising an army to march against the City of Brass. But he was no match for an army of four million efreet. He was bested and brought to the efreeti sultan in chains, his body was cut into a hundred parts, the portions scattered to the winds, burned in fire, dissolved in acidic waters, and buried below the earth. And yet the power of the Codex would not let him die. Rumour has it that there is said to be a tomb holding Tzunk's hands. Constructs with arcane powers guard it, and the tomb itself is filled with magical and mundane traps, secret portals, passages, and mazes. Legends say the hands will animate themselves if uncovered from their burial place and serve their rescuer as divinatory tools but slowly dominating their user in order to seek out the other parts of Tzunk's indestructible, scattered body.

    Mo matter. Those are but rumours and legends, even if the Archmage Marinian of Willip has set out into the Barrens for Blackmoor with evidence of the site of their burial, despite the dire warning that a Sisterhood of Ur-Flan Witches guards it from any who might seek it. But that is another tale.

    What is known is that the Isles are no more, or not upon the surface of the Lake of Unknown Depth, at any rate. The Rhenne have a tale that says that the Elemental Kings took their revenge upon the Isles of Woe, rending the earth with tremor and storm and fire, and that the waters rose as though the world might be taken whole by them, drowning those fell wizard-priests as the price for Tzunk’s ambitions, and as a warning to any who might try their hand against them again. The Rhenne swear that those dire isles rise when Solune and Celene are both new, swallowing up any who might land there. But the Rhenne say a lot of things, and are notorious liars.

    But in time, the Flan gathered themselves up after the tyranny of the Ur-Flan.
    After this several small Flanae kingdoms arise, but none match the might of the Ur-Flanae under Vecna, several northern Flan fearing the both the wrath of the elves and the brutality of another lich-king flee their cities and turn back to tribal systems of government. One exception to this general dissolution is the area under an able Theign named Tenh. He manages to keep his people from scattering, although incursions by roaming monsters and undead into this area are frequent. [OJ1]

    c.-1100 to -400 CY            Another Flan kingdom prospered, the Kingdom of Ahlissa, despite the passing of their beloved Queen Elhissa during the war, reigning over most of the land east of the Nyr Dyv. It remained a peaceful place until the coming of the Oeridians. (1051-1751 FT)


    But what of Keraptis?


    Keraptis with Blackrazer

                Homeless, the wizard and his followers fled to the cities of the south and west. But wherever Keraptis went, his reputation preceded him, and he found no other settlements willing to accept his "protection." During these travels, which lasted most of three centuries, the wizard acquired several implements of surpassing power. The secret gnomish conclave from which he drew his bodyguard gave him the hammer called Whelm. In return for aid that would enable them to crack their divinely ordained prison, the mythical Cyclopes presented Keraptis with the trident named Wave. While future-communing with the last living entities of a dying multiverse, he received the sword called Blackrazor. But true immortality still eluded his grasp. [Return to White Plume Mountain - 3]

    [Historical Development of Keraptis: Erik Mona, Lisa Stevens, Steve Wilson]

    c.-800 CY              Keraptis, ever scheming for more power, ranging far and wide in search of secrets, discovered the lava tubes beneath White Plume Mountain.
    Three hundred years after leaving Tostenhca, Keraptis learned of a great volcano called White Plume Mountain, in which still-living druids of the Elder Age guarded the secrets of immortality. Within the volcano, the wizard found a tangled maze of lava tunnels and an ancient druid serving as the sole protector of Elder secrets. The two fought a titanic battle for ownership of White Plume Mountain and its ancient mysteries, but in the end the wizard prevailed. After casting the druid's remains into a sea of magma, the triumphant Keraptis penetrated to the Druid's Fane, a secret chamber protected by molten rock.
    There, among other treasures of ancient sorcery, he found the archetypal iceblade Frostrazor and an enigmatic statuette. Keraptis used the figurine’s power to pronounce a heinous curse that laid waste to distant Tostenhca, thus exacting his revenge at last. Thereafter, Keraptis focused all of his vast faculties on the problem of death. He embarked on a dozen separate research efforts, all aimed at achieving eternal life without the need for constant magical maintenance and healing. It was one such project, empowered by the four enchanted implements he had obtained, that eventually allowed Keraptis to step forth from the Prime Material Plane into a distant shadowy realm where, he hoped, he would leave behind the constraints of mortality forever. [RtWPM - 3,4]  (1351_FT)

    c.-700 CY              The Flan Kingdom of Sulm fell, destroyed by its last king. The king, Shattados, used the power of a dark artifact known as the Scorpion Crown in an attempt to gain perpetual dominion over his subjects. Instead, the crown turned Shattados into a gigantic scorpion and his people into manscorpions and (possibly) dune stalkers. A few became asheratis instead due to the grace of Geshtai. (1451 FT)


    -600 CY History of the Pyronomicon

    The elves, in turn, held the tome for more than 500 years, until the coming of the Oeridians. The Oeridians, in their efforts to subdue all who would stand against them, roused the ire of a great red wyrm that had been lairing near the border where the Rakers, the Gamboge, and the Flinty Hills meet. It seems that a large Oeridian force lured the dragon out and away from its abode while a much smaller unit emptied out the place. In its rage, Harak col Hakul Deshaun, as the Oeridians later named the dragon, which loosely translates to “he who comes with fire and fury,” rampaged across the countryside, destroying anyone it found. Eventually, its wrath fell upon the elves of the Gamboge, and when all was done, Harak col Hakul Deshaun was the new owner of The Pyronomicon. For generations thereafter, the land within 50 miles of Harak’s lair was carefully avoided by humans and demihumans alike, and in time, the legacy of Harak col Hakul Deshaun became little more than myth. This situation could not last forever, of course, and soon enough, the abandoned lands were reclaimed and settled anew. [Dragon #241 - 78] (1551 FT) 


    -563 CY Evil always finds a foothold.

    A temple to Tharizdun is located near the Realm of the Highfolk, it is cleared, but a mystic force keeps it from being destroyed. [OJ1] (4957 SD/1588 FT)


    We must pause to now consider what was happening in the East, as events there would draw the Peoples there back into the narrative of the Flanaess.




    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Special thanks to Erik Mona, Lisa Stevens, Steve Wilson for the work on the historical development of Keraptis in Return to White Plume Mountain,
    Special thanks to Βικτώρια Κανελλοπούλου (Maria Viktoria Kanellopoulou) for allowing her most excellent artwork to grace this work. See ladyloth for more.



    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    the-hunter by ladyloth
    Keraptis and Blackrazer details, by Wayne Reynolds, Return to White Plume Mountain, 1999


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988

    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9027 S2, White Plume Mountain, 1979
    9309 WGA4, Vecna Lives, 1990
    9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
    9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
    9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
    Dragon 241, November, 1997
    OJ Oerth Journal #1, #11
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 08-30-2021 07:22 am
    History of Oerth, Part 3: Of Vecna


    Vecna
    And now, back to the history of the Ur-Flan. You can’t talk about the Ur-Flan without delving deeply into Vecna.

    Vecna is very much a figure of mystery. He dates back to a time of near-prehistory in Greyhawk, before the migrations, before the wars between Suel and Baklunish, perhaps even before the ascendancy of the Suloise Empire itself. He is a figure more of legend than fact and, like all legends, there are embellishments, exaggerations, distortions, contradictions, and confusions attached to his name. [WGA4 Vecna Lives - 6]

    -1746 to -1711 CY             Vecna is said to have been born as a member of the Untouchable caste in the Flan city of Fleeth, in the Sheldomar Valley. He was initially trained by his mother, Mazell, in the arts of witchcraft before she was executed by the government of Fleeth for the crime of practicing unsanctioned magic, forbidden to the Untouchables. Vecna was devastated. He was enraged. He had nothing but the love of his mother and they had taken that away from him for harmless tinkering. Vowing revenge, Vecna eventually assumed a mastery of the dark arts achieved by no mortal before or since. Some say this achievement was due to direct tutelage by Mok'slyk the Serpent (I’m going on a limb and suggest that Mok’slyk might have been a Yuan-ti priest-magi), believed to be the personification of arcane magic itself.

    But I’m getting ahead of myself. He ran away. Or tried to. Young and inexperienced, he was easily apprehended. He was deemed harmless, but the government of Fleeth understood that young rage can become future vendetta, so they sold him to a caravan of settlers setting out for the North who needed hostages for the Glitter King. And he was used for just that.


    And Vecna was accepted as such, even though the Ur-Flan supposed deception of sending Untouchables in the place of their own was well known by the Grey Elven King Galitholian Glitterhelm. But Galithonian took no steps to let that be known; he didn’t want the hostages as a shield against any future aggression of the Ur-Flan, he never expected that they’d ever be much of a threat to his People; he wanted the children to mould them, to teach them, to guide the Flan back onto the Path of Light.


    Vecna impressed the king with his intelligence so much that the king took it upon himself to teach the young Flan, himself, in the arts of court and language and diplomacy, and when Galithonian discovered that the boy was already versed in the Art, he was both surprised and pleased. He saw, in his hubris, the vehicle in which his scheme could find its end. He took Vecna aside and trained him further in it.


    Vecna as an apt pupil. He excelled in everything. So pleased was Galithonian, that he allowed Vecna to read as widely as he wished. And he did. Left unsupervised, he discovered an ancient Seul book entitled "The Fate of Tilorop" in the libraries, a book the elves had kept as a warning to themselves of how Men (and indeed, Elves) could be swayed by the Darkness. They kept it as a reminded of their own folly in how widely they had taught Men in Magic. And the result. Had Galithonian had read it. But it was old and dusty, and Galithonian was sure in his own wisdom and saw no need to consult such things. Vecna read that book, and was reminded of his rage and desire for revenge. And within it, he came to know of the rage and power of Tharizdun. And unbeknownst to Galithonian, Vecna was seduced.


    Venca was given leave to return to his homeland, where he challenged the High Chieftain and kills him. He erected his Black Tower, and beneath it, his Dark Cathedral. He began gathering in the surrounding tribes by pitting one against the other, and then coming to their aid, each in turn. He taught them hate and a lust for power and conquest, and in time, they too saw the goodness in such things.

    In his time, Vecna was considered the mightiest of all wizards, unsurpassed in his knowledge of all the arcane arts. From the loneliest chamber of a black tower, he ruled over a now-forgotten nation. Some say his realm was beyond the great mountains to the west. Another theory holds his tower once rose from the very depths of the Nyr Dyv. A few writers even go so far as to claim Vecna’s dominion extended over another plane and that he was ultimately destroyed by a revolt of the greater powers that dwelled there! [WGA4 Vecna Lives - 5]

    But Vecna found the spark of youth leaving him. That would not do, he thought, and he undertook arduous researches into the nature of life itself in his hidden temple.  (404 to 440 FT)

    With time, like all things human (although some tales claim he was half-elven. Vecna grew old and neared death. The black oblivion caused no terror in hi, only anger and rage. He was determined not to die and in his conceit came to believe that immortality was not merely possible, but was is right. He began a search for the ultimate power needed to overcome the Greater Power, Death. [WGA4 Vecna Lives - 6, 7]

    Vecna

    c.-1710 to -1683 CY             Vecna succeeded in becoming a lich. And having subverted his people, he gathered in a humanoid host to increase his holdings. He struck north first, expanding into the Barrens.


    Vecna shields his presence from the Elves by use of magic. He studies "The Fate of Tilrop" and was driven by an insatiable lust to live as long as the elves. His established towns on the model of the Gray Elves, and began to experiment with his Ur-Flanae for the "Ultimate Solution to Death." Several undead are created. [OJ1] (441-468 FT)


    c.-1669 to -1566 CY         Vecna’s great and terrible Occluded Empire of the Whispered One expanded, stretching across the Flannaes from Perrenland across the plains to the extent of the Barrens, and across the Nyr Dyv, as far south as the Wooly Bay. He vowed to destroy the elven kingdoms as they acted to restrain his reign of terror. (482 to 585 FT)


    He knew that someday the Elves would rise against him, and he knew of their power, and he also knew of the power of the Ur-Flan magi, so he prepared himself. Not only did he gather in new and greater magics, he forged a sword from the stuff of stars, one he knew to be the match of his tutor’s, the Glitter King’s. (469 FT)

    As a sign of Kas’s authority (and to protect his lieutenant from the intrigues of others), Vecna forged the sword of Kas, a magical weapon like none ever known. ale-spinners say its iron was taken from the heart of a frozen star and forged in flames stolen from the sun. Though dull and unadorned, it shimmered with evil. Its edge could bite any metal and its blade never dulled. When Kas wielded it, no man could withstand him.

     Fashioned by Vecna’s hand, the sword was evil, even when compared to its creator. It whispered to Kas in secret voices, feeding the warrior’s pride and vanity. “You are greater now than your master,” it said. “You are the true ruler of all his lands.” Slowly it seduced him, urging him to usurp Vecna’s throne and send the arch-lich to death forever. And gradually Kas came to believe its words. [WGA4 Vecna Lives - 7]

    Vecna’s prediction proved true. Galitholian raised a host to suppress him. Vecna met them and drove them from the field. (482-576 FT)


    Celene fielded an army to assist Galitholian. But Vecna foresaw their coming and was prepared. He called upon Tharizdun and unleashed a burning that created the Bright Desert. Celene retreated. (580 FT)


    With Galitholian in his mountains and Celene in full retreat, Vecna lay siege to the city of Fleeth with an army of arcane spellcasters and undead. Legend has it that Vecna was nearly slain in this battle by clerics channeling the power of Pholtus, the god of light. The clerics unleashed a great burst of light, which hit Vecna primarily on his left side. Vecna was rescued and brought to safety by one of his wizard generals, a cambion named Acererak, who would one day himself become a mighty demilich.


    Vecna eventually recovered. On the verge of conquering Fleeth, certain citizens of the city came before him to beg for mercy. They offered up the entire city and her wealth if only Vecna would spare the lives of her citizens. When Vecna was not satisfied, the officials offered their own lives. Vecna gave one of their number, Artau and his family, over to his lieutenant, Kas, who spent the entire day torturing and murdering them before the other officials. Still unsatisfied, Vecna slaughtered all within the city, and had their heads stacked before the officials, with those of their family members prominent. Vecna then granted his mercy, granting the officials leave to depart, and promising them his protection for the rest of their lives. (585 FT)


    “The morning after the Feast of Himar, certain citizens of Fleeth came out of the town and entreated upon the besiegers to speak with Lord Vecna, the Whispered One, in his spidered pavilion. They told him they were ready to place the city and all their possessions at his discretion, provided their lives were spared. The Whispered One replied that he could not agree to such terns, nor indeed to any others, and that he would see the heads of all Fleeth stacked before him.

    “Hearing his terrible utterance on their fate, these same burghers beseeched him to mercy, offering themselves if he would spare the good people of Fleeth. Perhaps the Whispered One was amused, for he ordered them to place one of their number, his family and slaves into Lord Vecna’s hands.

    “Lots were taken and an upright burgher, Goodman Artau, called his family from within the walls. ‘Join me, for the Great Lord has granted us safety to leave this land,’ he told his wife, seeking to ease her mind. Reassured by his gentle words, she and her children passed through the gate to join her husband. Pleased, the Whispered One gave them all over to Kas the Hateful.

    “For a day, the burghers watched Goodman Artau and his family die at the hands of Kas. When at last it was done, the burghers pleaded to take their leave, certain their city had been saved. But the Whispered One turned to his barons and spoke to them. ‘My lords,’ he said, ‘the people of this city are ready to surrender it at my discretion, on condition that their lives are spared. However, I will not make peace with them on these terms, nor any others, except with your consent.’

    “‘Our sagacious master,’ replied the barons, ‘we advise, and even beg you, to accept the terms they offer.’ But the Whispered One did not listen. That very day the mangonels and war-wizards were set up outside the walls. The assault went on for about five hours and then the wizened lord broke the walls of Fleeth with a wave of his hand.

    “By the dawn, the heads of citizens were stacked before the burgers. Their own wives and children stared at them foremost. This was the humor of Vecna, and as his final cruelty, he allowed these burghers to depart in peace and guaranteed their safety for the remainders of their sorrowful lives.”

    -from The Chronicle of Secret Times by Uhas of Neheli [WGA4 Vecna Lives - 3]


    c.-1566 to -1150 CY         Vecna’s Flan Empire reached its fullness, spanning the continent. (586 to 01_FT)


    Tzunk, High Wizard Priests of the Isles of Woe discover the Codex of Infinite Planes. During the nation's height, the High Wizard-Priest had used the powers of the Codex to conquer the surrounding realms, and even other planes, but the same forces that brought so much power also brought much destruction and woe. It is said that at one point, the danger presented by the dominion of the Isles of Woe became so great that the sleeping hero Krovis emerged from his tomb to do battle. 


    Tzunk sets out to conquer the City of Brass. He was no match for an army of four million efreet. He was bested in battle and brought to the efreeti sultan in chains. His body was cut into a hundred parts; the portions scattered to the winds, burned in fire, dissolved in acidic waters, and buried below the earth. And yet the power of the Codex would not let him die.


    In the northern wastes beyond the Barrens, there is said to be a tomb holding Tzunk's hands. Constructs with arcane powers guard it, and the tomb itself is filled with magical and mundane traps, secret portals, passages, and mazes. If uncovered from their burial place, legends say the hands will animate themselves, serving their rescuer as divinatory tools but slowly dominating their user in order to seek out the other parts of Tzunk's indestructible, scattered body. 


    -1547 CY              Vecna knew he would never be secure in his Empire so long as the Elves stood against him. He took the war to them. The first elven city fell, marking the beginning of the 400 Year War. (604 FT)


    -1230 CY              Vecna had destroyed all but five of the Elven Cities in the Griff Mountains. Despite valiant attempts by Celene and the Highfolk, no aid reached Galitholian. (921 FT)

    Galitholian Glitterhelm

    -1163 to -1169 GY            Galitholian marched out to meet Veca. They faced one another, their armies arrayed behind them. Gallitholian demanded single combat between them. Vecna agreed, revealing his black sword forged of stars, and Galitholian was afraid. He was right to be, for it was on that day that Galitholian’s spirit died. (988-994 FT)

    -1156 CY              Vecna, pleased by Kas’ cruelty and skill, elevated Kas to be his chief lieutenant, and blessed him with Tharizdun’s kiss, turning Kas into a vampire of great power. He then gifted Kas his fabled sword. (995 FT)

    -1154 CY              The City of Summer Stars finally fell, but Vecna’s armies were broken on its walls. (997 FT)

    Points of Legacy from the War with the Elves

    Darnakurian's Doom

    At the heart of what is now the Coldwood, a great and majestic elven city once stood. Crafted from living woods, marble, silver, and even ice, the City of the Summer Stars was home to perhaps 2,000 gray elves. They were an introverted, studious, mystical people, and they sought no dominion outside their homelands. The spells and lore known to them is virtually beyond comprehension in the Flanaess now. By a wave of her hand, Queen Sharafere could make winds ripple through all the endless miles of the great forest, and summon unicorns, treants, and the beasts and birds of the forest to her glittering palace. 
    The City of the Summer Stars received emissaries from the Ur-Flannae. Those necromancers and wizards spoke honeyed words, but Sharafere saw the lust for magical power in their hearts and sent them away. In their rage and desire to possess the magic of the elves, the Ur-Flannae brought their own magic to assault the city. Fire and acid rained down from the skies. Fiends stalked the forests. Bulettes, xorn, and other monsters erupted from the very earth to strike at the foundations of the city. Sharafere knew the city could hold against this assault, but the forest around was screaming its agony at the defoliation and slaughter which covered thousands of square miles. The undead and monsters of the invaders seemed countless in number; the elves slew thousands and still the Ur-Flannae mounted wave after wave of attack. Sharafere's eldest son, Darnakurian, could take no more. A peerless enchanter, he called on many sources of power, even across the planes. From corners of the void dark voices came to him, seducing him with the promise of supreme power—power which could destroy the Ur-Flannae and save the city and the forest. Darnakurian grew gaunt and sleepless, barely ceasing his work to memorize more spells he needed in his race against time. Finally, he crafted the appalling sword the elves named Hunger. Marching to the throne room, he presented it in triumph to his mother as the instrument by which the elves could triumph and banish their evil foes. Sharafere was appalled. The weapon's evil was apparent to her, hidden beneath the waves of magical power which emanated from it. She ordered him to destroy the malign sword, at which Darnakurian was aghast. Driven half-mad with bitter anger at what was happening to the forest and frustration at the thought that his endless work was valueless in his mother's eyes, he raised the sword and slew her in the Palace of the Heavens. Looking down at her body, the enormity of his crime came over him and the elf-prince was plunged into madness, his mind broken. He fled into the forest and came upon a conclave of necromancers. Then his doom came upon him in earnest. Darnakurian slew thousands in a matter of hours. The circle of destruction his sword emanated cut a great swathe of horrific deaths before him as he charged the Ur-Flannae and drove them in terror from the forest. Finally, the elf-prince took himself back to the city. So weak was he by now that the sword controlled him utterly, and it drove him to slay his own people in the hundreds. Every gray elf alive in the City of Summer Stars either fled, never to return, or perished in that single day. [Ivid - 74]


    The Sentinels

    At the heart of the Coldwood the old City of the Summer Stars has simply disappeared. The magic of the elves has faded, and the city with it. Some say that its ruins can be found within the Fading Grounds, but the portal to it within the Coldwood is unknown. All of the city is gone from Oerth—save Darnakurian's own keep. The elves named this Bitterness, a word with a more intense double meaning than in the Common tongue. It refers both to the dreadful tragedy of the prince, and also to the intensely bitter chill which gives the Coldwood its name. The Coldwood generally has temperatures below zero, but within five miles of Bitterness the temperature is virtually unbearable, all vegetation is frozen into stark, leafless forms—killed by the black permafrost which covers everything here.
    No living man has ever entered Bitterness. Within it, Darnakurian's form is still alive—in some sense. A powerful temporal stasis spell, crafted by the last of the great gray elf wizards before they fled the city, imprisons him inside. He still holds Hunger on his lap as he sits frozen, staring out blindly into the great marbled hall of his home. No living man (or other sentient creature) is going to get anywhere near Bitterness if the guardians who prowl the margins of the Coldwood have their way. These gray elves are known as the Sentinels. [Ivid - 74, 75]


    -1151 CY              Vecna was weakened by the energies he expended during his attack on The City of Summer Stars. At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a human vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed, using a magical sword that Vecna himself had crafted for him, now known as the Sword of Kas. Only his left hand and his eye survived the battle, perhaps because of the previous events in Fleeth.

                At last, emboldened by the sword’s sweet voice, Kas struck at his lord. No man saw the battle, but with its end Vecna’s dark tower crumbled into dust, leaving only the sword and a pile of ash. The body of Kas was never found. Of Vecna, all that remained were his lifeless Hand and Eye. [WGA4 Vecna Lives - 7]   


    Sword of Kas:  There is recorded this additional information regarding the lich, Vecna: "When Vecna grew in power he appointed a most evil and ruthless lieutenant to serve as his bodyguard and right hand. This henchman was the lord, Kas, and for him Vecna found a weapon of potency, a long and thin flatchet of dull gray metal; a sword of unsurpassed hardness with sharp point, keen edges, and magical properties. For a long, long time Kas faithfully served the lich, but as his power grew, so did his hubris, for his Sword was constantly urging him on, saying that Kas was now greater than Vecna himself, and with the might of the Sword to aid and direct him, Kas could rule in Vecna’s stead. Legend says that the destruction of Vecna was by Kas and his Sword, but at the same time Vecna wrought his rebellious lieutenant’s doom, and the world was made brighter thereby."
                Although the powers and effects of the Sword are only hinted at, there can be little doubt that Kas became the most renowned swordsman of his age because of it. [DMG 1e - 161]


    Eye of Vecna:   Seldom is the name of Vecna spoken except in hushed voice, and never within hearing of strangers, for legends say that the phantom of this once supreme lich still rooms the Material Plane. It is certain that when Vecna finally met his doom, one eye and one hand survived. The Eye of Vecna is said to glow in the same manner as that of a feral creature. It appears to be an agate until it is placed in an empty eye socket of a living character. Once pressed in, it instantly and irrevocably grafts itself to the head, and it cannot be removed or harmed without slaying the character. The alignment of the character immediately becomes neutral evil and may never change. [DMG 1e - 157]
             
               The Hand of Vecna: The arch-lich Vecna supposedly imbued both his hand (left) and his eye with wondrous and horrible powers enabling them to persist long after his other remains mouldered away into dust. Tales say that the Hand appears to be a mummified extremity, a blackened and shriveled hand, possibly from a burned body. If the wrist portion is pressed against the stump of a forearm, i.t will instantly graft itself to the limb and become a functioning member with [great] strength in its grip. The Hand will eventually turn the alignment of the host character to neutral evil as explained hereafter.

                The host [...] may use any minor power without fear, but as soon as a major power of the Hand is used, he or she awakes a spirit of great evil. When a primary power is used, the host will instantly become neutral evil very evil. The Hand can be severed from the host at any time before its powers are used…, but [with each] use [it becomes] less likely [until] there is no possibility of [ever] removing the Hand […]. [DMG 1e - 157]


    Vecna did not stay gone forever, and returned to Oerth as a demigod of magic and secrets. But that is a story for another day. (1000 FT)






    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.


    Primary sources for this history were the DMG 1e, The World of Greyhawk Folio, and The World of Greyhawk Gold Box, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Ivid the Undying, the Oerth Journal, and Ivid, the Undying (Sargent, Carl, WotC {TSR}, 1995 as noted.



    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Dream by baxiaart
    Vecna
    Reflections-before-the-battle by candra
    The Hand and Eye of Vecna, by Daniel Frazier, from the Book of Artifacts, 1993


    Sources
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    2138 Book of Artifacts, 1993
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9309 WGA4, Vecna Lives, 1990
    11662 Die Vecna Die! 2000
    11742 Gazetteer, 2000
    11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
    OJ Oerth Journal, #1, #11
    Shadis 50, August 1998

    Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda 

    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 08-30-2021 07:18 am
    History of Oerth, Part 2: Of The Ur-Flan Kingdoms


    The Flan

    Where did we leave off? The Se-Ul had allied with the Drow against the Grey Elves. The Grey elves had quit the Hellfurnaces after a costly defeat in their war with the Drow and giantkind. The Drow may have been victorious, but their victory over the Grey Elves had all but wiped them out. They retreated into the depths of Oerth to recover, leaving the Crystalmists and Hellfurnaces to giantkind. The Suloise slinked back within their borders, their army all but destroyed.

    This is here the Flan join our narrative:

    -2269 CY              The Flan originally dwelt where all humankind did in times of yore, in the western shadow of the Southern Crystalmists. They traded with the Suloise and prospered by that trade. But as the Suel grew cruel and powerful, so too did they subjugate the peoples around them, and soon the Flan found themselves in thrall within a vast Suloise Empire. The Secrets of Magic were forbidden to them. Their faith was surpassed, and then banned outright.


    The Suloise were the Flan’s first glimpse of power. They chaffed to be free of it. But they learned from it, too. But that’s a tale for another day.


    The Years of Conquest and Prosperity begin.


                    No major foe opposes the might of the empire of the Suloise, although they do not push Eastward, because of some fear of the elfin hosts. Magic is rigorously pursued. Old grey elven texts are discovered and studied. The might and haughtiness of the Elves is copied in manner in the courts, but their wisdom is not. Slavery becomes common and widespread in the Suloise lands; this continues for many centuries. The Flan in the southeast (just west of the Hellfurnaces), the Oerid to the east, the Kersi to the south (the long distant descendants of those who first sailed from AnaKeri), the Bakluni to the north, and several unnamed small tribes to the west; become the slaves of the Suel. The entire of the western half of Oerik is controlled by the Suel. Drow and darker forces halt the eastern expansion. [OJ11] (3247_SD/-118 FT)           


    -2266 CY              Living under the yoke of the Suel could not have been easy. Or safe. Suloise mages wielded unspeakable power, and fell Lords vied for control of the Land for centuries in one Regency or Succession war after another, where surfs and thralls made a convenient source of grist for the mill and fodder for the magics that would inevitably be flung into the ranks of those amassed conscripted armies. The Suel found the Flan to be an especially talented light cavalry, and used them as such.


     Horrors rose from the earth as had hitherto never been seen by Elves or Men. The Flan were terrified of their masters. And truly awed by them. They also understood the wisdom of being free of them, if they wished to survive. It took them centuries to work up their courage, but they did. They fled across the Crystalmists and made first contact with the elves in the Sheldomar Valley. This is not to say that the elves and they weren’t already familiar with one another, they were; this is to say that they now met the elves as supplicants. The elves took pity on the refugees and welcomed them. The Flan looked upon the cities of the Elves and were awed. These were not the cities of the Suel; those were pale imitations of what they espied now. There were truly works of wonder, where one could not differentiate the works s of Elves for that of Nature herself.


    Prior to humans coming to the eastern part of the continent, great Elven empires had thrived. The City of Summer Stars, The City of Autumn Leaves, The City of Winter Snow, and the City of Spring Waters reigned over the wide expanse of the East. (I invite you to check out Mike Bridges article on the Elven Civilizations in his blog, Greyhawkery.)


    The Flannae, under the protection of Beory, Pelor and Rao flee their lands in mass, making a perilous crossing of the Hellfurnaces. They move north into the lands of Eastern Oerik, later called the Flanaess, as the first human inhabitants of the area. Initially, they are well received. [OJ11] (3250 SD/ -114 FT)


    The Flan looked upon the works of Elves and sought to know the mysteries of the earth itself, with many dedicating their lives to such studies, and erecting crude stone circles where they found the forces of Nature to be the strongest. Their holy sites grew larger and more sophisticated over time, until even the elves marveled over the ingenuity of these Men, the Flan.


    Harad, the Holy Man of Haradaragh
    -2150 CY              The Flan spread across the Sheldomar Valley, always settling at the foot of Elven settlements for protection. They were still afraid of the coming of the Suel, for they knew that those cruel and greedy people would only sulk in their land west of the Hellfurnaces for only so long. So, when they did finally plant the seed of their civilization, it was high in the Lortmil Mountains, where they could look to the West for the Suel’s coming. They named it Haradaragh, after Harad, the holy man who first climbed into its heights to commune with the skies. Pilgrims came to learn his wisdom, calling him Druid (Father, or, Learned One) and those who he taught were told to go out into the forests and hills and be as one with the all they surveyed, and they too became known as druids. And those who sought to protect and serve them learned their ways and ranged the lands with them.
                    The founding of the first Flannae City in the Lortmil mountains in eastern Oerik, this is counted as year [OJ11] (3366 SD/1 FT)


    The Elves having already taught the Suloise magic, were wary to do so with the Flan. But the Flan were far more kindred to the elves than the Suloise ever were, the Flan lived as one with nature as the elves did. So, in time, they selected those Flan who not only showed great promise in the Art, but those who did not seem to wish to bend Nature to their will. The Elves, in their hubris, mistook desire with reverence, and reverence with ambition. The chose the Ur-Flan to whom they would reveal their secrets.


    The Uri-Flan (an ethnic group of the Flan people, more formally known as the Ur-Flannae) learned their lessons well. They proved most adept at the Art of Magic, as adept as their Se-Ul pupils once were.


    They proved as ambitious as those Se-Ul mages, too. They remembered the works of the Suloise mages and sought to recreate those wonders, to ensure that they would never fall prey to the Suloise ever again. What they did fall prey to was their own ambition. They sought Dark secrets and their pleas were heard by Dark beings who seduced them with even darker ambition.


    The Ur-Flan rose to power and soon the Flan tribes are ruled by them. Exact details of the Ur-Flannae are difficult to determine as they mostly vanished during the Great Migration.  What is known is that they were small in number, evil, and known to be powerful wizards. Feared, or at least respected, by their Flan kin, they were known to follow the teachings of Nerull in many regions (most notably Perrenland). They had a strong association with necromancy magic, many of whom later becoming undead.


    Three of the greatest of the Ur-Flannae mystics are said to be buried beneath the Isle of Cursed Souls. The Northern Adepts of Old Blackmoor are believed to have been Ur-Flan wizards, though their magic was primarily protective in nature. Poems of the Northern Adepts have been passed down that contain the secrets to strengthening abjuration spells.


    -1990 CY              The Flan wizard, Galap-Dreidel builds Inverness to protect his "Soul Gem." [OJ1] (3526_SD/161 FT)


    -1750 CY              The Grey Elves grew wary of the Ur-Flan as their settlements spread across the continent. They had seen the corruption of the Se-Ul peoples and they had recognized the Ur-Flan’s fall from grace. But they still had hopes that the Flan would find they way back, for just as the Ur-Flan had sought and found Darkness, so too had the Flan found their way to the blessings of the Old Ways.


                    
    Galitholian Glitterhelm
    So, they kept watch. And they sought to keep the Ur-Flan in check, endeavouring to guide them back into the Light. They demanded hostages for land, and the Ur-Flan, eager to grasp more and more, sent members of the Untouchable Caste to them, “raising them up” and “adopting them,” claiming them to be true scions of Ur-Flan noble families. Decidedly dispensable ones.


    The Boy
    One such settlement on eastern shore of Nyr Dyv were bid by the Grey Elven King Galitholian Glitterhelm to do the same and send “servants” to his kingdom in the Griff Mountains. A boy was among them.

    The boy’s name was Vecna. 3766 SD/402 FT




    This seems a good spot to pause to consider those Flan kingdoms that had sprung up across the continent.

    Ur-Flannae Kingdoms:

    Ahlissa: The ancient Flan kingdom of Ahlissa was founded c. -2100 CY by the legendary Queen Ehlissa the Enchanter. This state lasted some 1700 years (several hundred years watched over by Queen Ehlissa herself), reaching its apex at -1100 CY (probably at the passing of Ehlissa), but was crumbling by the time the Aerdi reached it in approximately -400 CY, 700 years later.


    Sulm:    The Bright Desert. The Kingdom of Sulm came to prominence circa -1900 CY after it was bolstered by the necromantic adepts of Caerdiralor, who taught them dark secrets and promised wealth and glory in exchange for the favor of the Sulmi royal house. Throughout its history, the kingdom spent much of its time crushing its neighbors, the rival kingdoms of Durha, Itar, Ronhass, Rhugha, and Truun. Only the Kingdom of Itar was strong enough to stand against Sulm, though it, too, would eventually fall.


    After centuries of expansion, Sulm began its slow decline circa -1400 CY, some say due to the influence of Nerull and other dark powers. Kyuss was a powerful priest of Nerull during Sulm's imperial age, shortly before its destruction. He was exiled for his profane experiments on undead in the sacred mortuary city of Unaagh, and traveled with hundreds of followers to the Amedio Jungle.


    Circa -700 CY the Kingdom of Sulm fell, destroyed by its last king. The king, Shattados, used the power of a dark artifact known as the Scorpion Crown in an attempt to gain perpetual dominion over his subjects. Instead, the crown turned Shattados into a gigantic scorpion and his people into manscorpions and (possibly) dune stalkers. A few became asheratis instead due to the grace of Geshtai. The land itself was even changed, transformed into a vast wasteland now known as the Bright Desert.


    The Isles of Woe:             A now-lost archipelago in the Lake of Unknown Depths, once ruled by wizard-priests. Depending on the tale, the number of islands in this chain varies between three and seven, but is usually said to be three. The capital of this tyrannical domain was known as Heraan.

    In a 900-year-old map now in the Great Library of Greyhawk, the islands are shown in the eastern region of the great lake, appearing to be extensions of the Cairn Hills. If this map is accurate, the size of the Nyr Dyv was smaller in those days. The island upon which Admundfort now sits was much larger, and two islands that do not now exist stood southeast of Scragholme Island. However, there are reasons to doubt the authenticity of this document.


    Veralos was contemporaneous with ancient Flan nations such as Sulm, Itar, Ahlissa, and Nuria, it seems likely that the Isles of Woe were also populated by the Flan people. Furthermore, the Isles must have sank before the Great Migrations, as Veralos itself lasted until that period.


    Itar:        Only the Kingdom of Itar was strong enough to stand against Sulm, though it, too, would eventually fall.


    Nuria:   Potentially Nyrond and Almor.

    Veralos:               At the Rift Canyon, encompassing Tenh and the Pale. North of the Nyr Dyv and the Isles of Woe, the city of Veralos is said to have encompassed a hundred or so buildings, spaced tightly together and surrounding a wall made from the same stone as the canyon. Much of the citadel is built into the canyon wall itself. Veralos traded magical wonders, including magic tablets, statues, jewelry, and weapons.


    Sites of Note:

    The Causeway of Fiends
    This unnatural geographical feature is shunned by all save the most fearlessly evil. A great pathway of granite slabs, up to 25' wide and 12' high, descends in a perfectly orderly formation down to the sea from a half-mile inland, with the causeway heading to the Isle of Cursed Souls (known to some as the Isle of Lost Souls). Extraordinarily, this causeway is never submerged by the tides, even though sea water might stand 80' or more high either side of it shortly before it rises to the shoreline of the magical Isle. The whole causeway radiates intense evil, and magic, if such is detected for. During the fullness of Celene, fiends of many kinds stalk the causeway. Tanar'ri and baatezu rend at each other, tearing each other apart. They gleefully attack anything foolish enough to approach within a half-mile or so of the causeway. The fiends appear to be bound to that distance, however, and cannot travel farther inland. Usually, but a handful of fiends will appear at full moon. Very rarely—perhaps once every 80 years or so—countless numbers of lemures, manes, dretches, and least fiends of all kinds will appear as great legions driven on by a few greater fiends in an orgy of mindless slaughter and destruction. Stone fragments from the causeway have, rarely, been taken and enchanted by men of great evil to craft dark magical artifacts. This is surpassingly dangerous. One tiny slip in a process which might take dozens of spells and months of time will leave the enchanter helpless in the face of a gate opening and a powerful fiend emerging, enraged, to slay him. Some of the oldest books of Flanaess Oeridian mages give riddles and allusions to the work of Ur-Flannae mystics with this ghastly substrate. But such artifacts are lost to Oerth—perhaps. In more modern times, only Delglath of Rinloru is known to have crafted any items from the stone of this atrocious place. Even masters of the dark arts such as Xaene and Karoolck would hesitate to follow his example. Across the causeway lies the Isle of Cursed Souls, which is avoided by all sea vessels. In a radius of roughly 10 miles, it is said that the very rocks of the sea bed will rise and hole any vessel approaching more closely. Further, any lost at sea will become bound to the isle as ghosts, tormented by unknowable horrors for eternity. Sailors will jump overboard into stormy seas with a prayer to Procan for their souls rather than enter these waters. Intelligent sea dwellers such as sea elves, selkie, or dolphins warn ships away from the area. The isle itself appears only to have the ruins of an ancient monastery or mansion house atop its sheer cliffs, but distant scrying reveals an intensity of evil and magic beneath that site which is powerful enough to threaten insanity to the diviner studying the place. In texts which are now no more than a rumor in the night between old sages, the place is said to be the last resting place of three of the greatest of the Ur-Flannae. If this is true, the perils below it do not bear even thinking about. [Ivid - 53]

    The Gull Cliffs
    Apart from the small dwarf and gnome settlements here, the Gull Cliffs are riddled with caves and natural passageways. There are certainly several magical locations. The best-known is the Fading Ground of the Blood Obelisk of Aerdy (From The Ashes, Campaign Book) but there are also said to be at least two burial chambers of Ur-Flan mages or necromancers. Many come seeking them, but they have not yet been located even by the most penetrative magical scrying. There are also traveler's tales of an albino clan of gnomes far below the hills, said to be extraordinarily swift of movement and able to meld into stone as a natural ability. One or two claim they are guardians of some site sacred to a gnomish deity, others that they restructure deep passageways to the Underdark to keep intruders and adventurers away from some site of dark magic, possibly a temple of Tharizdun. [Ivid - 100]



    And to think that I thought the Flan were boring.


    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.



    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Thungar by Gonzalo Kenny
    Little-Gifts by Manuel Castanon
    Reflections-before-the-battle by candra
    Declan by charlie-bowater

    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9309 WGA4, Vecna Lives, 1990
    11662 Die Vecna Die! 2000
    Ivid the Undying, 1998
    OJ Oerth Journal, #1, #11
    Shadis 50, August 1998
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.

    The map of Anna B. Meyer

    Posted: 08-28-2021 10:20 am
    History of Oerth, Part 1: Of The Grey Elves and The Suloise Empire


    Our History Begins with the Elves

    I thought I would be able to research the history of Ratik and its neighbours sequentially, beginning with the Greyhawk Folio, continuing on with the Gold Box, then to the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, etc. That was incredibly naïve of me. The history of the Flanaess was not laid down in that manner; it evolved in leaps and bounds over decades, and not sequentially, either. Its lore grew in fractals, haphazardly through modules at first, then rather meticulously in sourcebooks. Let’s not forget the reams of articles written about the setting in Dragon and Dungeon magazine.


    I invite you to search out and memorize Steven B. Wilson’s “History of Oerth” and and Len Lakofka’s “History of the Suloise” in the Oerth Journal, Steven B. Wilson’s later GREYCHONDEX, and Keith Horsfield’s “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.” Doing so can only enrich your campaign. They’re detailed. Their exhaustive. But, their source materials’ publication dates bounce around like jack rabbits. I discovered that I would have to do the same if I were to really understand the events that led to the Common Era. What can I say? The best laid plans of mice and men, and all that.

    The history I will begin to lay out here will be more a more focused one, only concerning those peoples who would ultimately settle in the far northeastern corner of Flanaess. But, after searching though those indexes for what each had on Ratik and its neighbours, and for those Oerth-shaking events of Flanaess’s past that moulded all events that followed them, I discovered that they were just bullet points and that I would have to take my exploration slowly, diving into the source material of each dated event to discover what actually happened. I’m okay with that. Doing so will only make me more familiar with that world we love and admire so much.

    So, I must read broadly. Maybe I need to read everything.

    And so, down the first rabbit hole I go!

    A long time ago, there were the Flan…. And the Suloise…. And of course, there were the Elves….

    Suffice it to say, Great things happened in the dawn of time. There certainly were great and greater civilizations that rose and fell prior to the coming of the Elves and the Dwarves, as I speculated on prior to this post. There were Dragons, most certainly; the elves wrote of them.  But what of others? Who else may have risen to power in the eons before the Elves walked the earth? The Yuan-ti? Bullywugs? Slaadi? Lovecraft’s Elder beings? Whoever, or whatever, might have walked the earth, those tales have been lost to time.

    Our history begins with the Elves.

    In the beginning there were the Elves and the Dwarves. They did not love one another, but they agreed to stand together against their common enemies: the humanoids, the evil giants, trolls, and primitive man.

    In time, the Seven Elven Fathers learned to tap energies from other planes of existence and created what they called “New Magic.” Cherbon, chief among them, claims that he was visited by an ancient and wizened elder, who advised him that New Magic could be a path to great evil and conflict; but Cherbon, in his wisdom, dismissed the warning as the insane ramblings of a madman.  Cherbon then said that the elder transformed himself into a platinum coloured beast that took wing and flew into the heavens. He named the beast Draggonus: flying monster.

    The Grey Elves were not an idle lot. New Magic intoxicated them and they quickly unlocked the secrets to greater power. They kept a watchful eye on their enemies, most notably the primitive men. Their spies reported that Men were worshipping Demonic and Diabolic Beings, and they were not pleased. They kept closer watch.

    It came to pass that the Grey Elves met with Men and discovered that they were not the primitives they found centuries before. But for all their long lives and long memories, the Elves were not without their faults; they were vain and haughty, and in their wisdom they were prone to hubris; they took no heed that those humans has once worshipped Evil elder beings.

    -6416 CY             The first of a group of traveling Grey Elves, exploring the South Central portion of Oerth, meet with tribal leaders of the Se-Ul (the People of Ul). They strike up a friendship and the elves began tutoring the humans in mathematics, language, art and non-clerical magic. The Se-Ul proved apt students and soon were constructing cities and delighted the elves both with their creativity and their productivity. The cities of the Se-Ul were patterned similar to those of the Grey Elves set mountain fastness, but these occupied the plains and river deltas of the southlands. [OJ1] (-900 SD/-4264 FT)


    ...and soon were constructing cities...

    And their talent for magic promised to be as great.

    And like the elves before them, they made mistakes. A young Se-Ul mage erred while demonstrating a spell at the limit of his skill, killing those around him. This awful incident caused the elves to rethink the wisdom of their having taught magic to Men so widely. They closed down their magic schools and many of the elves departed the Se-Ul cities for their mountains cities. The Se-Ul chaffed at this and were not pleased. They plead with the elves to return and teach them more. But their pleas fell on deaf ears. The tension between men and elves grew.

    Time passed, and as spiteful children might do, the Se-Ul turned their backs on the elves. They found new friends. They met the Kersi, a beautiful dark-skinned people from an Island called AnaKeri in the south, the Orid to the east, then the Flan tribes to the southeast, and the Bakluni to their north, and they began to look to Men and not Elves for trade.

    -6067 CY              The Suel began systemized trading with the tribes to the north and east. The Bakluni in the northern plains and the Flan who dwelt just west of the mountains were among these. Sea trade routes to AnaKeri are developed. The Thirteen Cities of the Suel develop into separate city-states, but all are ruled by a single council of lords under the watchful eye of the grey elves, watchfulness that men begin to dislike intensely. [OJ11] (-551 SD/-3915 FT]
             

    Kendaris' Unrequited Love

    Great prosperity blessed the Se-Ul, and Elves and Men become more distant still; so much so that when Kendaris, a young elven mage, fell in love with the Se-Ul ambassador’s daughter and asked her father for her hand, the ambassador laughed in his face. Kendaris was enraged. He decided to get revenge, and he decided that the instrument of his revenge would be the Se-Ul, themselves. He trained nine disreputable Se-Ul mages, greedy for more power, magic hitherto restricted to Men. Then he set them loose. The Nine attacked the ambassador, killing him. But they also killed Kendaris’ love as well. Then the Se-Ul mages turned on Kendaris, killing him too. And wrought terror and mayhem throughout the land until they too were brought down. But two slipped away and escaped to the north into the lands of the Bakluni, where they set up shop and spread their magic further.


    -5775 CY              The Grey elves departed the lands west of the Crystalmists after the events of the Nine Mages. They had grown to dislike the Se-Ul, but the true reason was that they’d begun to wage a great war with their dark cousins in the East. Smoke and ash begins to rise up from the mountains, where the Grey Elven cities stood, and the Southern Crystalmists were renamed The Mountains of Fire, and The Mountains of Hell. (-259 SD/-3393 FT)


    -5739 CY              The Se-Ul grew cruel. They cities began to wage war against one other, and as each one fell to the might of those who were stronger and luckier, one city grew in prominence: ReAtryniBa. Once all the Se-Ul cities were under its control, the ReAtryniBa was renamed Seula, the City of the Seuloise. Then the “Seuloise” began to subjugate the peoples around them.

    Relations between the Se-Ul city states, deteriorate. The last council of the cities is held. Each city arms itself against the other. [OJ1] (-223 SD)


    Tharizdun
    -5537 to -4463 CY             The Suel continued to gain greater power, but it cost them dearly. They trapped Genies with bindings. They imprisoned Elemental Kings. The Elementals struck back and placed a curse over the Suel lands. The Dead rose all over the Empire. The Nine Binders were hidden away. The Emperor died without an heir and the Regency Wars began and the Great Houses tore the Empire apart for centuries as they vied for control of it. Travel outside the Empire ground to a halt as the Regents and Houses exerted more control over their people. The Cult of Tharizdun rose, the worship of Good and Neutral Gods was suppressed, then banned outright as the worship of Tharizdun took hold of the Empire. The Empire was wooed by the Drow and they fell in with them against the Grey Elves. That alliance would cost them though. In fact, it would almost destroy them. [OJ1, OJ11] (-21 – 1005 SD/-3385 to -2359 FT)


    -5011 CY              Arinanin and Tilorop mount a campaign against the Regency, but are defeated in the Second Regent War. Tilorop uses arcane energy to transform himself into the first lich on Oerth. Arinanin is blessed by Tharizdun to become the Oerth’s first vampire. His creation plagues all of mankind to this very day. (505 SD/-2859 FT)


    -4666 CY              The last of the Grey Elven cities in the Crystalmist Mountains is discovered and is destroyed by a concerted effort on the part of the drow/Suloise and giantkind. The defense of the city is so great, however, that drowkind and giantkind is also nigh exterminated. The Suloise army, which aided in the destruction of the elven city, is destroyed to a man, and no word of them can be obtained. The remnant of the elves flee eastward to the interior of the eastern portion of the continent.  (850_SD/-2514 FT)

    The Suel Rise Up
    -
    4616 to -4516 CY             After years of quiet plotting the remaining chief houses of the Suel rise up in unison to overthrow the Priest Regent. This is commonly referred to as the Century War of the Houses. (900 to 1000 SD/-2464 to -2364 FT)


    -4514 to -4511 CY             Using the Binders Alberk drives Arinanin and the priesthood of Tharizdun from the Suel Empire. The Council of Noble Families is formed to rule the Suel and the Binders are distributed among nine of them. Alberk is unaware of whom the Binders hold prisoner; he only sees them as items of great power to be used in his struggle to save the empire from evil. (1002 to 1005 SD/-2362 to -2359 FT)


    -4463 CY        The Grey Elves retreat from the Hellfurnaces and rebuild their civilization in the East.

    The four “Elven Realms of the East” are established, and a new calendar is used for the first time among the elves to count the days of these realms. Highfolk is established in the Northwest to guard the northern ways, Celene the Central Kingdom, Aliador in the Griff Mountains, and Lendore in the Southeast Aerdi Sea (then called the Lendore Sea). (1053 SD/-2311_FT)


    The Suel were injured, but they were not done. In fact, they were just getting started.

    But our narrative need shift now to another People, as the Suloise were decidedly focused on the West, and ours must now look East of the Crystalmists.



    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Special thanks to the contributors to the Oerth Journal, without whose efforts, this piece would not be possible.


    The Art:

    All art is wholly owned by the artists.

    Elven-City-in-Forest by ferdinandladera

    Assyrian-Nineveh by iraqi-pictures

    Inanna-Colored-Graphite by dee-morgan999

    Wraiths by dmckay20

    Alexander-Magnus-by-Tom-Lovell by alexanderaeternus


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    OJ Oerth Journal, #1,#11
    Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B. 
    The map of Anna B Meyer

    Posted: 08-28-2021 10:11 am
    A Hero has passed into Legend today.



    A Hero has passed into Legend today.

    Edgar Elmer Leonard

    October 20, 1936 to November 12, 2019


    I love you, Dad.

    I miss you already.


    Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

    Do not go gentle into that good night,
    Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

    Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
    Because their words had forked no lightning they
    Do not go gentle into that good night.

    Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
    Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

    Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
    And learn, too late, they grieve it on its way,
    Do not go gentle into that good night.

    Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
    Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

    And you, my father, there on the sad height,
    Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
    Do not go gentle into that good night.
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


    Dylan Thomas


    Posted: 08-28-2021 10:09 am
    Speculation On The Prehistory of Ratik and Its Environs


    I suppose there’s much speculation about events prior to the chronicled timeline. It’s a mystery to me, as yet. What do I know at present? Demi-humans ruled the Flanaess prior to the Flan entering the field. I’ve read passages about Elven and Dwarven civilizations, but little to nothing about what Gnomes or Halflings were up to before the Great Migrations. I expect more reading may expose clues to those centuries and eons past. But I’ve already come across a few cryptic hints in the Greyhawk Adventures [GA] hardcover (if you don’t have a copy, I highly recommend that you pick one up from DMs Guild):


    Regarding The Pinnacles of Azor’alq:

    The difficulty of the terrain, and the mists, numerous waterfalls, and thick vegetation at first conceal the fact that the Pinnacles are not natural formations, or even shaped ones, but are composed of titanic blocks. On rare occasions one encounters openings leading to the interior of these constructions. There is no report of what may be found if one ascends or descends the broad stairways leading away from these bat-haunted cave mouths, or rather doorways. [GA - 89]

    That has a particularly Lovecraftian feel to it. It’s definitely reminiscent of the description of the city of the Elder Ones in Lovecraft’s novella “At The Mountains Of Madness.”


    Regarding Skrellingshald (Tostenhca):

    Attir also discovered a book sealed against the water in a lead casket. All of these were returned to the court at Rauxes in honor of the Overking. The patient Atirr hoped to study them further in his retirement. He declared the book in particular to be most interesting, being among other things a recording in a lost language of “an ancient history together with magical secrets.”

    Tragically, Atirr was never to attain his goal. [GA - 95]

    Could that book be the Necronomican? The Greyhawk Adventures hardcover says that it’s a libram of ineffable damnation and a book of vile deeds, but you can make it whatever you’d like. And I’d imagine that the Necronomicon could very well be just such things.


    Regarding The Sinking Isle:

    The Sinking Isle has haunted the waters near the Isles of the Sea Barons from time immemorial. The earliest Oeridian tribes to fish the Solnor there knew of it; the Flan before them had legends of it; the seagoing elves of Lendore Isle have tales yet more ancient. Neither our own civilization nor even that of the Elvenfolk was the first in the Flanaess; there were others in times so far past that the very shape of the lands has since changed. The Sinking Isle is a reminder of them. [GA - 93]

    So, what came before? A Yuan-ti Empire? A draconic one? Bullywugs? Slaadi? Lizardmen? Deep Ones?


    Gary Gygax definitely wanted the Dungeons and Dragons to have a Lovecraftian feel. Lovecraft’s tales were mentioned in the DMG’s Suggested reading list, after all. And his love of Lovecraftian descriptions certainly makes its way into the prose of his earlier modules:


    From “Steading of the Hill Giant Chief”:

    WEIRD ABANDONED TEMPLE: This room is of faintly glowing purplish green stone, carved with disturbing shapes and signs which seem to stare out from the walls and columns, to shift position when the watcher's back is turned. Touching the walls makes one chilled, and contact with a pillar causes the one touching it to become nauseous. At the far west end of the temple is an altar of pale, yellow-gray translucent stone. It feels greasy to the touch, but it has no effects upon those who touch it. Behind this altar is a flight of low, uneven steps which lead to an alcove with a concave back wall of purplish-black, glassy appearing substance. If any creature stands before this wall and gazes upon it for one round, a writhing amorphous form of sickly mauves and violets will be seen stretching its formless members towards the viewer. [G1 - 7]

    He meant the passage to be creepy, and it is. And these are just lingering aftereffects, as this temple was abandoned, and not fully functioning. We need not imagine what it might have been like when it was active because the “Hall of the Fire King” tells us so.


    From “Hall of the Fire Giant King”:

    TEMPLE OF THE EYE: Note the illusion walls which screen this area. This place is illuminated by a strange swirling light which seems to be part of the very air of the place. Eddies of luminosity drift and swirl here and there, causing the whole scene to be strange and uncertain. Distances and dimensions are tricky to determine in the shifting light of rusty purple motes and lavender rays. Globs of mauve and violet seem to seep and slide around. The ceiling of the Temple is out of visual range, 50' at the lowest, and well over 65' where it vaults upwards. [G3 - 9]

    This temple is far more lethal than the other. It is Evil. It is sensitive to presences within. Insanity beacons. Doom beckons. The Elemental evil may even reach out from the veil and drag some unfortunate character to his death.


    Gary most definitely had Lovecraft in mind as he crafted his G1-3, D1-3 adventure path. The subtext was also in Village of Hommlet and largely the focus of The Temple of Elemental Evil before it took a back seat to Lolth and Zuggtmoy. I’d hazard a guess that Gary’s Elemental Evil God is actually meant to be Azathoth, whose introduction somewhat parallels the Elemental Evil’s:

    [O]utside the ordered universe [is] that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity—the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes. [The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, H.P. Lovecraft]

    Gary’s mature warning reminds us that Evil never leaves us. It lurks in dark corners and untraveled places, in fetid swamps and dank dungeons, in sleepy hamlets like Hommlet and Orlane, and in isolated and passed over coastal towns like Saltmarsh and Innsmouth, cultivated by such unexpected peoples as Lareth the Beautiful, rising again and gain regardless how many times it’s thought destroyed.


    Personally, I think Gary was slipping this idea into most of his earlier work.

    From “The Keep on the Borderlands”:

    CHAPEL OF EVIL CHAOS: This place is of red stone, the floor being a mosaic checkerboard of black and red. The south wall is covered by a huge tapestry which depicts a black landscape, barren trees, and unidentifiable but horrible black shapes in silhouette — possibly demons of some sort — holding aloft a struggling human. A gray sky is torn by wisps of purple clouds, and a bloody moon with a skull-like face on it leers down upon the scene. Four black pillars support the domed ceiling some 25' overhead. Between these columns, just in front of the tapestry, is a stone altar of red veined black rock, rough-hewn and stained brown with dried blood. Upon it are 4 ancient bronze vessels — a shallow bowl, a pair of goblets, and a ewer, a vase-shaped pitcher.

    … any character possessing them will not part with them or sell them nor allow others to handle them.

    … the character will rapidly fall under the influence of a demonic spell and within 6 days become a servant of chaos and evil, returning to this chapel to replace the relics, and then staying as a guard forever after. [B2 -22]
    The description of this temple is too similar to those others to be a coincidence.

    Where's all this going? I don't know. Thoughts are gathering in my head. And I've only just begun to read the reams of source material that graces my shelves.

    If you don't have the above mentioned modules, you should seriously consider getting them. They may be old, but they are fantastic stories, worth playing, worth spending the time to adapt to whatever system you happen to be playing. Where can I get them, you ask? DM's Guild, of course.
    Links below:
    World Of Greyhawk Folio
    World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
    G1-3 Against the Giants
    D1-2 Decent into the Depths of the Earth
    D3 Vault of the Drow
    B2-The-Keep-on-the-Borderlands
    T1-The-Village-of-Hommlet
    T14-Temple-of-Elemental-Evil
    N1-Against-the-Cult-of-the-Reptile-God
    U1 The-Sinister-Secret-of-Saltmarsh



    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”
    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

    Special thanks to James Ward for his work writing, and compiling the material within the covers of Greyhawk Adventures, without which this piece would have been impossible. 


    The Art:
    All art is wholly owned by the artists.
    Greyhawk Adventures cover, by Jeff Easley, 1984


    Sources:
    1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
    1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
    1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979
    2023 Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
    9034 B2 Keep on the Borderlands, 1979
    9059 D1-2 Decent into the Depths of the Earth, 1981
    9021 D3 Vault of the Drow, 1981

    9058 G1-3 Against the Giants, 1981

    9063 N1, Against the Cult of the Reptile God, 1982
    9026 T1 Village of Hommlet, 1979
    9147 T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil, 1985
    9062 U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, 1981
    The map of Anna B. Meyer 


    Posted: 08-28-2021 09:59 am
    A Beginning...


    Does the world need another Greyhawk blog? You bet it does. For those of you who campaign in the setting, you know that Greyhawk doesn't get the love it deserves as the setting that started it all off.
    Some would argue that Dave Arneson's Blackmoor was the first setting of OD&D, and they'd be right; but most of the first adventure modules  were set in Greyhawk. One could even argue that Basic D&D was originally set in Greyhawk too before The Known World was created by Tom Moldvay. The monochrome edition of "In search of the Unknown" specifically states that suggested locations for the module were Ratik, Tenh, or the Pale. And "Keep on the Borderlands" could be connected to Quasqueton by the collapsed tunnel within, so it too could be placed in Greyhawk. Moreover, Greyhawk was referenced again and again in the AD&D Players' Handbook and DM's Guide. The Forgotten Realms may be the most popular setting; it certainly has the most novels set in it; it certainly has more sourcebooks dedicated to it; and it most likely has been the most supported setting over the decades. But it's Greyhawk that holds the grognards' hearts.

    That said, what do I hope to do here? I was inspired by the continuing love for the setting by others of the Gaming community. Much more was added to it during 3rd edition when Living Greyhawk fanned out over the globe and OSR licensing permitting fan content. And even more has been added since. I'm giving a shout out to Anna B. Mayer (that's a sample of Anna's wonderful map, a labour of 20+ years), Mike BridgesJoe Bloch, and too many more to name here. Gary Gygax opened up a can of worms when he invited us to make it ours. Many have. And I hope to do the same. I'm going to try to flesh out a small corner of the Flanaess and see where that takes me.

    Where to begin...? Ratik. It's isolated. It's surrounded by Barbarians to the North, the Rakers to the West, the Bone March to the South, and an altogether trackless sea to the East. Pirates scour those seas, sea monsters dwell in their depths, too. Giants dwell on high. Ratik has few allies, yet it perseveres. What's not to like? So, Ratik it is!

    There's little written about it. Some may argue the point, but there is little canon. Living Greyhawk didn't contribute that much to it either, from what I've read.

    I expect the going to be slow. I've been away from the setting for a while. There's much reading to be done from decades past. There's much pen and papper mapping to be done. Cultures and communities to think on and scatter about. But mostly, there's this techy stuff to master.

    Then what? If all goes well, there's the Thellonrian Peninsula, the lands of the Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruskii, to tackle, and the Holds of Stonefist (Stonehold) too. That ought to keep me busy for a while. Then maybe I'll head East, or South. But that's for another day.

    I hope you'll be patient. I hope you'll be supportive. I hope that you'll embrace my little project.

    Thanks for now. Long live Greyhawk!





    One must always give credit where credit is due. This History is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable. Thanks to Steven Wilson for his GREYCHRONDEX and to Keith Horsfield for his “Chronological History of Eastern Oerik.”

    Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.


    Great contributions were made by David Cook, Tom Moldvay and Stephen R. Marsh, who penned the Basic and Expert Sets of Dungeons & Dragons.



    Sources:

    2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979

    9023 In Search of the Unknown, 1979

    9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980

    9034 Keep on the Borderlands, 1980

    9043 Isle of Dread, 1981

    Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, 1981

    Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set, 1981

    The map of Anna B. Meyer 


    Posted: 08-28-2021 09:53 am