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