[Justin]

Howdy All,

long time reader, first time poster (i think).

Was wondering anyone has got any info on the Fraternity of the Brazen Blade (LGG pg 102). Is supposed to be some remnants on the Sea Princes worshipping Kelanen and bent on revenge....

Am about to start Savage Tide and am looking to tie some background material to the Holds (rather than Cauldron), so any info on the Holds, Canon or otherwise, would be much appreciated...

[mortellan]

Welcome to the forums Justin. What I like about fresh threads like this is how whenever I think I've seen it all in GH someone finds something I am not familiar with. This Fraternity of the Brazen Blade is new to me, I guess I just never perused the Sea Princes section in the LGG before. Good luck with the campaign and I hope you get some answers.

[Justin]

Thanks Mortellan - you and me both. I have a player who wants to play a cleric of Kelanen, and he found what i think is the one line in the whole LGG refering to it (and he's computer illiterate, so am fairly sure he did it the hard way.)

Never ceases to amaze...

[rasgon]

[Justin]

That's excellent, many thanks.

[rasgon]

Actually, re-reading Samwise's timeline, it seems likely that "Derik Drakkonheart" was actually King Tavish I of Keoland. The name-changes are explained by the fact that the connections between the ruling Sea Prince and the Keoish royal house were kept secret as part of the agreement made after the Siege of Westkeep and the Battle of Jetsom Island. I don't know if this was intentional on the part of the authors of the timeline (Samwise and Gary Holian), but the parallels are exact.

The story that Jeon II tells the PCs in Treasures of Greyhawk was that "Derik Drakkonheart" was king of an unnamed land "many years ago." He was the greatest of their line - his oldest son was "not intellectually blessed" and the next two generations embroiled the land in reckless wars. "Some seized buffer lands that became the source of endless skirmishes. Others started wars of such magnitude that whole armies were doomed to inevitable destruction." In the third generation, the king died in battle, but one of his brothers came to the Hold of the Sea Princes "to make a name for himself." His descendant is Jeon II.

This fits with the story of Tavish I being the greatest of his line, and Tavish II and Tavish III embroiling the kingdom in ruinous wars. Tavish II seized Ket and started a war with Veluna, while Tavish III invaded Ket again and started wars with Veluna and Geoff. Tavish III died at the Siege of Westkeep, and his half-brother Luschan founded the Hold of the Sea Princes.

Naturally Jeon wouldn't tell the real story to the PCs, since it's a carefully protected family secret. So he changes a few names here and there - he calls Tavish I "Derik Drakkonheart," he calls Tavish III (whose given name was Malv) "Marcus," and he calls the Siege of Westkeep "the Battle of Lost Hope." And he doesn't name the kingdom from which his ancestors hailed (although, as the Flanaess has precious few true kingdoms, the possibilities are limited).

Looking at it in this light, the parallels are too strong to be denied. This suggests that Tavish I was a powerful dual-class wizard/fighter and a devotee of Kelanen. I don't see anything anywhere else that would either support or undermine that that thesis. This also means that the Sword of the Dragon, an intelligent weapon created by "Derik" to advise his less-gifted heirs, is as important to Keoland as it is to the Hold of the Sea Princes, for all that Jeon II feels his status as a direct descendent of Tavish I and worshiper of Kelanen makes him more entitled to it than Kimbertos Scotti.

Realizing Jeon II's ancestry also sheds light on his liberal, anti-slavery attitudes, unusual among the Sea Princes.

[Cebrion]

Kewl info. Kelanen(as well as Celestian and Wee Jas) has long held a special place in my ongoing campaign, though much of the religion's influence was centered in Elredd (pre-Greyhawk Wars) where there was a temple(sword school). As far as my campaign goes, worshipers of Kelanen are still active among the Elredd underground. Nice to be made aware of this seemingly off-hand reference to a Kelanen group in the Hold of the Sea Princes.

[rasgon]

[Simpi]

Living Greyhawk module COR5-18 Kusnir features Fraternity in supporting role. Their campsite has 20 members, led by a man named Murquel the Blade-Blessed (Ftr5). I only read through it quickly but I think it is indicated that Fraternity has lots of more soldiers in it.

I think the author Stuart Kerrigan hangs around these boards occasionally.

Cheers.

Sampo Haarlaa
Naerie Triad

[PaulN6]

My home campaign pc became Guardian of Adlerweg way back in 581 CY (way back in 1992 I think) so I'm really interested in knowing how LG has developed the region.

At the moment, in 587 CY, she is playing a dangerous game with Brotherhood agents by having her doppelganger cohort impersonate the Brotherhood's representative who is supposedly in charge of the Keep while information gathering from the forces that pass through.

I'd love to know more about the Brotherhood and other stuff that's going on in the region, especially how Kusnir and the other local towns have fared following the Brotherhood occupation, the eastern troubles, the slave revolt, and, most importantly, the apparent return of a certain gauntlet around 595CY!

[Justin]

Krikey.

Folks, many thanks that's given me more ideas than i know what to do with.

nice one,
Justin

[iquander]

I threw that line in the LGG to specifically riff on "Treasures of Greyhawk" and its Prince Jeon background. Nice to see some of the more obscure bits in that book coming to light. Lord knows there are hundreds of them.

--Erik Mona

[rasgon]

As Gary Holian pointed out to me, the "Silent Ones" article in LGJ #4 adds more parallels: Tavish III did indeed have an intelligent sword that was lost at the Siege of Westkeep, and the House of Rhola was indeed full of worshippers of Kelanen.

The sword, Vilharian, was actually forged during the Suel Imperium (which means that Tavish I didn't make it, as Jeon II implied; but he still could have carefully taught it everything he knew about being a king, enlisted friends from all over the world to teach it, and had a gold dragon worship secrets to it). It is a Rhola heirloom, and it was once wielded by Kelanen himself, who won it from the hero Sellanus of Zelrad in present-day Cryllor.

Treasures of Greyhawk doesn't stat the Sword of the Dragon, and LGJ #4 doesn't describe how Vilharian looked, so putting them together we can deduce that the sword is a longsword +5, spellcaster bane, with powers over weather. It also gives immunity to fire and cold energy. Physically, it's made of mithral "as pure as moonlight on a pond," its hilt encrusted with emeralds and its pommel set with six glowing rubies.

Perhaps the cultists of Nerull who capture it in Treasures of Greyhawk are actually being manipulated by the Scarlet Brotherhood. That sounds like something they would do.

Good to hear from Erik Mona that the parallels are deliberate, too.

[DMPrata]