"All was lost,
But that the heavens fought."
Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1611)
 |
| Blackness had blotted the North |
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 |
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 |
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 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... |
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 |
[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 |
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.
The Art:
Orcish-Warrior by voxelkeely
Prophet-s-Secret by miggymntmyr
Prophet by crucifiedmajesty
Quoth-The-Raven-Nevermore by kxg-witcher
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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment