Friday, 6 November 2020

The Cruski Primer


“It is always better
to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.
For every one of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,
that will be his best and only bulwark.”
― Seamus Heaney, Beowulf 

The Chosen People
Few things grow upon the eastern shore of the Thillonrian peninsula. Wind and wave thrash it, allowing only the hardiest of things to take root, let along thrive. The Cruskii are one such. They are as chiseled as the landscape they cling to, yet they have long prospered there, trapping, fishing, whaling, and raiding.
They are the chosen people; so their tales profess, destined to rule the Rhizians and the world. So Vatun decreed. It is their king that holds the title “Fasstal of all the Suelii.” No other.
It was they who led the Houses of Pursuit before the Rain of Colourless Fire fell, and they who ventured furthest out upon this cold land, even so far as to round its tip and colonize its north shore, ice-locked nine months of the year. They adapted to their new land, and were named for it, the Ice Clans. And though their numbers are fewer than those of their cousins, the Schnai and Fruztii, they are by far the most fierce, the great white bear Nanook their totem.

The Cruski Coast
They were deceived once, and members of the clan were lured from their hard home in the north to the soft south, but in time they came to know a false tongue when they heard it. Was it not Old King Cralstag who judged the southern Suel of Sharm false? And did they not murder him for it, as southerners do, with the cup and not the blade? His nephew Lolgoff pronounced his judgment: The Brothers of the Scarlet Sign should receive only death in the kingdom of Cruski. Indeed, anywhere met.
The Cruski war upon the Stonefist and the southerners, using kayaks in the north and longships to the south. They are loyal to their cousins, and have long sought their lost tribe across the eastern horizon.
 
Those wishing a Nordic, or Viking game will be well suited to campaigning here.
Great inspiration for this area can be found in: Beowulf, the Kalevala, Nibelungenlied, The Last King (TV), Vikings (TV), The Eagle (film). 

Country specific resources:

There are none specific to the Cruski, but most pertinent information can be found in:
The Greyhawk Folio, The Greyhawk setting boxed set, Greyhawk Adventures, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Greyhawk Wars, From the Ashes Boxed Set, Dragon magazine #52,55,57,63,87,88,89,253
WGS1 The Five Shall Be One
WGS2 Howl From the North




Adventures in the country include:
From His Cold Dead Hand

C13 From His Cold, Dead Hands, by Carlos Lising, casl Entertainment, 2019, Jotsplat & the Icy Sea
Blood on the Snow, Dungeon #3
Glacier Seas, Dungeon #87
Ill Made Graves, Dungeon #133, Jotsplat & the Icy Sea
Arctic adventures in the Taival Tundra; Big Seal Bay (and the outer doors of and ancient dwarven clanhold)
Forest adventures in the Sable Forest. Winter wolves and sable firs.
Mountain adventures (and possibly Underdark adventures) in the Corusks and Griff mountains (alternate placement of G1-3). Dragons. Remorhaz. Yeti.
Intrigue in Glot. Scarlet Brotherhood agents, perfidious Schai!
Border skirmishes with the Bone March.
Fey fading lands.
Ruins of the Ur-Flan from the time of Keraptis. 

Adventures in nearby adventures include:

WGS1 Five Shall Be One, Bandit Kingdoms
WGS2 Howl From the North
WGR5 Iuz the Evil
The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga
Fright at Tristor, Theocracy of the Pale
Forge of Fury, Bone March
A Slight Diversion, OJ#9,  Redspan, Bandit Kingdoms
Out of the Ashes, Dungeon #17, Bandit Kingdoms
Ghost Dance, Dungeon #32, Rovers of the Barrens
The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, Dungeon #37, Bone March
Ex Keraptis Cum Amore, Dungeon #77, Burning Cliffs
Deep Freeze, Dungeon #83, Theocracy of the Pale
Armistice, Dungeon #84, Griff Mountains
The Sharm’s Dark Song, Dungeon #87
The Witch of Serpent's Bridge, Dungeon #95, Schnai
Beyond the Light of Reason, Dungeon #96, Tenh
Raiders of the Black Ice, Dungeon #115, Blackmoor
In the Shadows of Spinecastle, Dungeon Magazine #148
The Stolen Seal, World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, Ratik
FB1 While on the Road to Cavrik's Cove, casl Entertainment, 2021, Ratik
Tomb of Zhang the Horrific, by William Dvorak, Rovers of the Barrens.
Although later retconned into the Yeomanry, B1 Into the Unknown (in the monochrome edition) was originally suggested as located in Ratik. That would make north Ratik an ideal location for B2 Keep on the Borderlands, as well.
Forest adventures in the Hraak Forest.
Sea adventures upon the Solnor and the Icy Seas.
Border skirmishes and raids into the Hold of Stonefist.
Mutual defense negotiations with the Barbarian tribes.
Mutual defense with Fruztii barbarians of the Kelten Pass.
Expeditions into the Griff mountains in search of lost Skrellingshald (also known as Tostencha).
The Land of Black Ice, and the Zeai Clan (Sea Barbarians, or the Leopard Seal Clan) upon the Icy Sea.
Trade expeditions to The Sea Princes and the North Province.
The search for and discovery of Fireland, and the arrival of a ship from Fireland.
Espionage with the North Kingdom.
The Hunt for agents of the Scarlet Brotherhood.




KINGDOM OF CRUSKI
Ice Barbarians:
chaotic neutral, chaotic evil; Suloise, Common, Cold Tongue 
[DRG#52 – 20]

His Most Ferocious Majesty, Lolgoff Bearhear, the King of Cruski; Fasstal of all the Suelii
Capital: Glot (pop 5,100)
Population: 60,000
Demi-humans: Few
Humanoids: Likely in mountains
Resources: furs, copper, gems (I)
[WOGA - 26]

Lolgoff Bearhear

Proper Name: Kingdom of (the) Cruski
Ruler: His Most Ferocious Majesty, Lolgoff Bearhear, the King of Cruski, Fasstal of all the Suelii (CN male human Bbn15)
Capital: Glot
Major Towns: Glot (pop. 5,100), Jotsplat (pop. 3,200)
Resources: Furs, copper, gems (I), rare wood (sablewood, not exported)
Population: 158,800—Human 96% (S), Dwarf 2% (mountain 65%, hill 35%), Halfling 1% (stout), Other 1%
Languages: Cold Tongue, Common, Dwarven
Alignments: CN, N
Religions: Kord, Llerg, Norebo, Xerbo, Vatun
[LGG - 54]





One must always give credit where credit is due. This piece 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. 
Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.

 

The Art:
viking by 0bo
WGS1 Five Shall Be One, cover art by Jeff Starlind, 1991
C13 From His Cold, Dead Hands, cover art by Daniel Govar, 2019
WGR2 Howl From the North, cover art by Jeff Starlind, 1991
Cruski heraldry, from the World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980


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
11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 1999
9577 The Adventure Begins
9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
Dragon Magazine
OJ Oerth Journal, appearing on Greyhawk Online
Living Greyhawk Journal
Greychrondex, Steven B. Wilson
Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
Anna B. Meyer’s Greyhawk Map

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