“Presume not
that I am the thing I was.”
William
Shakespeare 'Henry IV, Part 2' (1597)
act 5, sc. 5, l. [61]
 |
| Northern Ratik |
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
 |
| Duchess and Candella |
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.
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 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 |
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 |
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 |
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.
Conflicts and
Intrigues:
 |
| The Seeds of Discontent |
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.
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:
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
Study by pho001boss
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
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
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
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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment