“Dark clouds
are smouldering into red
While down the craters morning burns.
The dying soldier shifts his head
To watch the glory that returns:
He lifts his fingers toward the skies
Where holy brightness breaks in flame;
Radiance reflected in his eyes,
And on his lips a whispered name.”
― Siegfried Sassoon, The War Poems
The Great War had enveloped the Flanaess. No nation was
spared. But some were better prepared than others. The Scarlet Brotherhood
continued to bide its time.
Our time is now, the Millennialists urged,
eager to prove the predictions of their prophet, Huro, long defamed after being
sentenced to death by ritual torture for blasphemy. The Strong Hand agreed, but
they most certainly would have agreed to any plan that began the immediate
conquest of the mainland.
But they waited, as all did, for none would act without
the approval of the Father of Obedience. Patience is a virtue, Jellevi
Mauk had taught them, and the Father of Obedience agreed.
Such wisdom served the Brotherhood well; for the longer
they waited, the weaker their prey became.
584 CY
Throughout the first year of the war, one
faction had remained notably silent—the ominous Scarlet Brotherhood of recent
legend. While other nations hurled massive armies against each other, the
Brotherhood insidiously wormed advisors into courts of kings. Against armies
the Father of Obedience sent agents. Though the isolated Brotherhood seemed a
mere bystander in the wars, nothing could have been further from the truth. The first phase of the
Scarlet Brotherhood’s plan was simple-wait and watch. The Father of Obedience
spent the opening months of the war assessing who would fight whom and where
the true centers of power lay. So long as the war stayed in the north, the
Father of Obedience contented himself with reports from agents in all camps.
These men, posing as tutors and learned sages from before the start of
hostilities, advised lords and commanders and thereby added the Brotherhood’s
invisible hand to every battle. In all things, these spies worked to assure
that neither side came too close to victory or treaty. The Father of Obedience
commanded that the war continue, and so it did.
Another group of the
Brotherhood’s agents work even further afield, in desolate and horrible places.
These men sought out foul things and whispered promises in their ears. “Arise,
take the lands of men as your own, and you shall find great reward,” was their
song. From the Crystalmists to the ‘Roll Fens, fell creatures responded. Thus,
like the silent and inexorable tug of the moon, the Father of Obedience raised
the tide of evil. [Wars - 20]
The Amedio remains a place of
mystery to most of the Flanaess because so little information has been brought
back from it. It wasn’t until 584 CY, when the Matreyus expedition brought back
detailed notes and artifacts from the jungle, that the Amedio became something
other than a distant hazard to be avoided. These notes allowed some to realize
that certain unusual items traded by the Sea Princes were products of the
Amedio. The Jungle became even more real to the people of the Flanaess when the
Scarlet Brotherhood began unloading slaves and warriors in Flanaess ports.
[SB - 63]
“We are ready,” Brother
Renho, the Father of Arms declared when asked by the Father of Obedience. The
Brotherhood had waited long enough, he thought; but he would never be so bold
as to tell the Father of Obedience that.
There are three major
divisions within [the Brotherhoods armed forces]: the Suel armies and navy,
consisting of citizens (mainly officers and special operatives), subcitizens
and “promoted” Hepmonaland or Amedio Suel; the humanoid armies, consisting of
goblins, hobgoblins and orcs; and the slave armies, consisting of human and
demihuman slaves from across the Flanaess, including Suel savages from the
jungles who have not been promoted. These branches work in tandem, although
each branch has its own chain of command leading to the Father of Arms. [SB - 20]
Brother
Marshenref, the Father of Thralls, was not as sure as was his brethren. He
understood patience, even if Brother Renho did not. He understood the need for
deliberation. Long planning inevitably defeated quick action. “One must not squander
our resources needlessly,” he cautioned. It was well and good for the
Millennials and the Strong Hand to call for action, but it was his slaves they
meant to spend in doing so, and waste if their reach proved greater than their
grasp.
If there was
one thing Brother Marshenref could not tolerate, it was waste.
But if the
Father of Obedience saw the need that those slaves should be spent in the
pursuit of the greater good, that was what they were meant for; and they should
be happy to sacrifice themselves. “Be happy in your toil,” the writings
of Jellevi Mauk instructed them, “for salvation is found in your dedication
to servitude.”
Brother
Marshenref was happy to oblige, if that was the bidding of his Master, but in
truth, Brother Marshenref was far less interested in the war than were his
brethren.
Under his leadership, the
Brotherhood has produced two additional slave races, the Komazar and the Kurg. [SB - 19]
After many failures in trying
to recreate the derro slave race, the Office of Thralls set its sights a little
lower and developed […] the komazar. Resembling stunted humans [, and] are an
inbred mix of [Flan] and dwarves. […] The komazar work the mines of the Scarlet
Brotherhood. [SB - 87]
The Scarlet Brotherhood
desired a slave race to move heavy objects, and the creation of the kurg
fulfilled this nicely. Tall, with tiny bovine horns, […] and stiff fur on their
heads, shoulders and backs, the kurg are very strong, gentle and not too
clever. [SB - 87]
The result of a crossbreed
between captured Olman and a lemur-like native of the jungles, the rullhow are
hairy humanoids with […] very large eyes and short tails. […] Agile climbers,
the rullhow are responsible for keeping the streets and buildings of the
Brotherhood cities clean. [SB - 88]
Sister Arinohal, Mother of
Purity, abhorred waste, as well.
One of the few remaining Pure
Suel faction members, she makes sure that the youth of the Brotherhood are
raised with the certainty of Suel superiority over every other sentient race. [SB - 19]
The Office of Purity has the
most influence on [the’ Brotherhood, for it is this Office that selects
citizens to produce children, coordinates the upbringing and training of these
children, and directs them onto paths that allow them to best utilize their
skills in service of the Brotherhood. [SB - 19]
The Father of Obedience listened,
deliberated, weighted what he had heard, and decided. The time was indeed now.
He gave his blessing. Go forth, he decreed.
Because of its ambivalent
position in the Brotherhood’s plans, the Iron League received strange helps and
hindrances in the war. Irongate, threatened by armies of the South Province,
received secret support: equipment, money, advisors, and mercenaries all flowed
into the city, evidently from diverse sources. In truth, the Scarlet
Brotherhood guided everything to the city. Apparently unsuspecting of the
source of this aid, Cobb Darg, Lord High Mayor of Irongate, put it to good use.
The mayor, an able and energetic leader with good sense and tactical cunning,
used the resources to repeatedly trounce the South Province’s Grand Field Force
with his drastically outnumbered Army of Irongate. Cobb Darg, aided by many
wise advisors, made astute use of deceptions, magic, fortifications, and traps-luring
more than one Ahlissan army to destruction.
While defending Irongate, and
thus Onnwal, the Brotherhood worked elsewhere to destroy the unity of the Iron
League. Confident the Vast Swamp would block any overland attack, the Father of
Obedience did not lift a finger when Osson liberated Sunndi. Under Ivid’s rule,
the courts of Sunndi were impervious to the Brotherhood’s advisors, but
liberated from the yoke of the Great Kingdom, the people would welcome the
Scarlet Brotherhood—at least for a time. [Wars - 22]
The Scarlet Brotherhood’s plan
was complex, indeed. Even as they lent aid, its agents and “uncles” spread
discontent, and also began its program of targeted assassinations.
The demesnes of Count
Cadwale, the “Tunneling Count,” has again risen to prominence in Onnwal. The
long dead noble (thought to be horrifically ugly or diseased but in fact
handsome and fanatical about his privacy) was renown for the tunnels he
constructed. Brotherhood agents slew the incumbent count and occupied the manor
in 583 CY. [LGJ#0 - 12]
And very soon Onnwal fell.
No plan ever works out
perfectly, however, no matter how meticulous its planning, or how deft its
execution.
The Brotherhood made a move
for Irongate as well, but crafty Cobb Darg, who had known the allegiances of
his "advisers" all along, survived the sudden onslaught. [LGG -98]
Onnwal, unlike Irongate,
failed to recognize the treachery that caused it to fall into the hands of the
Scarlet Brotherhood during the Greyhawk Wars. The land had never been invaded
and had previously been subjected only to periodic naval raids by South
Province. The Scarlet Brotherhood assassinated Szek Ewerd Destron and took over
the land almost overnight. Some anticipated the takeover just in time,
particularly the thieves' guild in Scant, which absconded from the city to the
countryside in 584 CY. [LGG - 80]
Next fell the Lordship of the Isles.
The Duxchan Isles had always been an unpredictable port of call. One
always had to wonder where its allegiances lay. The answer to that question had
always been obvious to any who had laid foot upon its beaches: With itself, for
the most part.
This chain of islands has
been occupied by the Suel for nearly one thousand years, and this race remains
the most dominant population of the isles, most notably on Ansabo and Ganode. [LGG - 70]
These pirates and buccaneers
were the terror of the south, holding a near stranglehold over traffic through
the southern straits and raiding the southern coastal cities with ease. [LGG - 71]
But they had been put to rights,
brought into the fold, and once the Aerdi had placed one of its own upon its
throne, flown the colours of the Kingdom.
The island lords became very
rich over the next few centuries, profiting from the trade that flowed through
their islands, a portion of which was due the herzog of South Province. [LGG - 71]
But one always had to wonder,
even if it had been properly cowed and held at bay….
And so it had been. Until it
joined the Iron League. And so it seemed it would remain. Would the Lordship
have stood with the League? It might have, but it was never given the chance to
prove what faith might have been laid upon that decision.
During the Greyhawk Wars, the
wintry Latmac Ranold was abruptly deposed and an unheralded successor
immediately took his place. The Lordship of the Isles quickly became a hotbed
of intrigue. [LGG - 72]
Was the elderly Aerdian
assassinated? Some thought so. Most Aerdi believed so. For in no time, the
Lordship steered the Duxchans on a hitherto unforeseen path.
The new prince, a
little-known Suel lord named Frolmar Ingerskatti of Ganode, immediately
withdrew the Lordship from the Iron League and set about lending his naval
forces to the maneuvers of the Scarlet Brotherhood, including the blockade of
the Tilva Strait that continues to the present day. It is clear to most that
Ingerskatti is a puppet of the Scarlet Brotherhood, but little can be done
about it, as these cultists are very successful at putting their operatives in
key positions within the realm, deposing Oeridians whenever possible in favor
of loyal Suel. Most of Ansabo, the port of Sulward, and the whole isle of
Ganode are now completely under their control. [LGG - 72]
The Lordship of the Isles and
its new lord declared support of the Brotherhood during the winter of 583-584,
and Irongate reacted with revulsion at the activities of its former ally. These
included raids on ports of the Iron League and assisting in the subsequent
isolation of Irongate by blockading the city. The city's fleet suffered greatly
at their hands, and now has standing orders to attack the ships of the Lordship
of the Isles upon sight. [LGG - 58]
 |
| An Uncle Arrives |
With the Iron League under
control and the Great Kingdom headed for certain decline, the Father of
Obedience initiated the third phase of his plan. A red-hooded ambassador
arrived at the court of the Sea Princes, bearing an ultimatum: “Submit to the
Scarlet Brotherhood or be destroyed.” When the lords of the land mocked the
messenger, he presented them with a list of 30 names, all petty nobles of the
Sea Princes’ lines. Before the next sunrise, 27 of those names had been crossed
off the rolls of heraldry, slain by red-hooded assassins. Only three of the
listed nobles survived the attacks, and two of them were seriously injured. The
mockery stripped from their ashen faces, the Sea Princes surrendered and signed
a treaty stating as much. Within a fortnight, ships bearing the Scarlet Sign
docked at Port Toli and Monmurg, off-loading strange, savage warriors from the
jungles of the south. [Wars - 23]
Irongate was largely
untouched by the Greyhawk Wars until a new enemy revealed itself from the
south. The Scarlet Brotherhood and its agents usurped the governments of three
member states of the Iron League, but old Cobb Darg proved to be one step ahead
of them and prevented the same from happening in Irongate. [LGG - 58]
By 584 CY, decade-old
paranoia regarding the Scarlet Brotherhood came true, as advisors in courts
throughout the Flanaess were revealed as Brotherhood agents. The Lordship of
the Isles, [Idee,] Onnwal, and the Hold of the Sea Princes fell under the
influence of the Scarlet Brotherhood thanks to treachery or invasion. [WoG
Gaz 3e - 4]
The Scarlet Brotherhood soon
took Idee and Onnwal from the alliance. Irongate and Sunndi, geographically
isolated and deeply enmeshed in their own struggles with the Scarlet Sign and
Aerdy, wen impotent to back up their promises of aid. [LGG - 78]
Osson’s Fall
As the clouds of spring
cleared in the east, Commandant Osson, still encamped in Medegia, could little
deny the fate dealt him and his men. The hope he had posted on the Lordship of
the Isles proved misplaced. [Wars - 19]
Though Osson planned an orderly
dash for safety, it was not to be. As the cavalry charged across the Flanmi
River, most of its officers fell to the bowmen of the entrenched Aerdi Army.
[Wars - 19]
So many fell, in fact, that
even the energetic and brilliant commandant could not reign in the cavalry.
Before even securing the field, every horseman who still drew breath rode hard
for the hills and the safety of Sunndi. From there, the ragged line of cavalry
wormed its way home by way of the Iron League. Commandant of the Field Osson of
Chathold did not return, and his final fate remains a mystery. The Great
Almorian Raid had finally met its end. [Wars - 19]
Some folk believe that Osson
of Almor is similarly imprisoned in the unspeakable dungeons, swarming with
evil priests, lesser and least baatezu, undead of most kinds, and worse. [Ivid - 32]
While the heroism of Osson of
Chathold is celebrated in song and verse, there is little doubt that his
exploits cost Almor the lives of tens of thousands of people and plunged it
into a nightmare which endures still. Osson's raids so enraged Ivid that he
struck against Almor as brutally and forcefully as he did against Medegia.
Ahlissan armies, the Army of the North, and Bone March humanoids converged on
Almor and simply overwhelmed its armies. On the 17th day of Goodmonth, 584 CY,
mages and priests in Ivid's armies razed Chathold by fire, lightning, acid,
earthquake, poisonous gas, and more. The Day of Dust, as it is now known, saw
the nation of Almor disappear from the maps of the Flanaess, probably forever.
[Ivid - 145]
Almor burned like dry wood
following Commandant Ossor's eventual defeat. By the end of 584 CY, Nyrond
could count only on aid from the Urnst States to protect it against Ivid's mad
bid for revenge. [LGG - 78]
The Beginning of the End
Ivid was elated. He was truly
thrilled when he heard that the upstart Osson had met his end. To celebrate, he
launched attacks upon those other upstarts: Nyrond, Almor, and the Iron League.
Ivid launched an attack upon
Nyrond, Almor, and the Iron League states, but the conflict served only to
bring ruin to the heartlands of the Great Kingdom and destruction to many tens
of thousands of citizens. Ivid made terrible enemies of his kinsmen. North
Province declared independence from the Great Kingdom in 584 CY, dragging
itself out of the Greyhawk Wars, and the empire shattered within weeks into
many pieces. [LGG - 24]
Despite his madness, Ivid came
very close to defeating Nyrond. So very close. But he hadn’t. Nyrond had been blessed in that Ivid had taken
command of the field from his plush chambers in Rauxes. If it were not for his
incompetence, and the valor of the Nyrondese, that most august nation, which
had shouldered so much of the Aerdy’s wrath, would surely have fallen.
Though the tide of evil
seemed certain to flood the land [,] fate intervened, wearing the guise of
madness. The mad Overking Ivid V compared the success of the Almorian campaign,
in which he had played a small part, with the previous handling of Osson’s
raid. He concluded not that Osson had been a brilliant commander, but that his
own generals were incompetent bunglers, requiring his aid to be successful. In
short, Ivid decided he was a military genius and all his generals were fools.
[Ivid] personally assumed
complete command of all the armies of the Great Kingdom, despite the counsel of
his best advisors. Ivid did not just overrule or even sack his generals: he
executed them, sparing only his favorites. The military campaign that
followed was, predictably, a disaster. Flushed with victory over Almor, Ivid
pushed his leaderless armies into Nyrond, believing that through magic and
messengers he could command them from the distant Malachite Throne. The first
efforts to cross the Harp River near Innspa ended in disaster. The few
commanders who had escaped Ivid’s wrath feared to act on even the smallest
tactical details without explicit commands from Rauxes. Such orders required
hours to arrive, if they came at all, and even then were illogical or clearly
surpassed by battlefield developments.
Ivid responded to these
failings with more executions. Fear began to spread through the nobility: the
death of a commander led to the appointment of a “trusted” noble, who was
placed in an impossible situation and thus became the next candidate for
execution. Intended as an honor, command appointments became the mark of death.
Generals quickly learned the only way to survive was to do nothing. All
progress in Nyrond ground to a halt, but the armies continued the futile
attack, mindlessly following the Overking’s orders.
Nor did Ivid stop there.
Believing—with good reason—that his generals conspired to mutiny, the Overking
sought even greater control over them. The priests of Hextor, seeking favor in
the eyes of the mad Overking, devised a solution to his problem. Through secret
rituals, the priests revived each dead general as an animus—a being that,
though dead, retained its intelligence and abilities. Perhaps the Overking
believed such beings would serve him better or be more amenable to his will. In
fact, Ivid was so taken with his animus generals that he broadened the program,
first slaying and reviving those nobles who offended him and eventually working
the death and revivification as a reward for all his favored courtiers.
Though Ivid’s nobles were
undeniably decadent, they were not mad: they considered Ivid’s gift an
unenviable “reward.” Because winning the Overking’s favor had become as deadly
as incurring his wrath, most nobles sought refuge in mediocrity, obscurity, and
anonymity. A few of the more courageous and less astute nobles attempted to dissuade
Ivid from his insane schemes, but succeeded only in convincing Ivid to “reward”
them on the spot. Fear gave way to defiance as the nobles plotted against their
mad lord. Thus, Ivid’s prediction of mutiny became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The crisis reached its climax
during the Richfest celebrations of that year. An assassin emerged from the
thronging crowds and struck Ivid a mortal blow with a poisoned dagger. When
news spread of Ivid’s death, the gloom over the land lifted. The nobles stoked
the fires of celebration, joyously preparing for the power struggle to come.
The Great Kingdom was spared
that turmoil, however, by an even greater one. Just as the cunning of the mad
Overking had saved Ivid from countless threats past, it saved him now from the
grave. Secret arrangements, perhaps made with fiends summoned while on the
Malachite Throne, resulted in the Overking’s revivification. Ivid V—who had
seemed cold and soulless in life—seemed doubly so in death.
The vengeance visited by the
animus Ivid was swift and terrible. The orgy of execution and revivification
soared out of control. Ivid rewarded even the slightest suspicion with death.
Nobles falsely implicated enemies, seeking to settle old scores, but Ivid cared
little whether the accusations were false or true. The mad Overking, now styled
the Undying One, revelled in the chaos and destruction in his lands.
Hearing of massacres in Ivid’s lands, King
Archbold in Nyrond counterattacked the Army of the North between Womtham and
Innspa. Though Ivid’s animus generals fought wellbeing themselves unafraid of
death—the chaotic heartlands of the Great Kingdom offered no support to the
Northern Army. [Wars - 21,22]
The great battle of
Karndred's Meadows occurred towards the end of the war. King Archbold of Nyrond
was trying to reclaim as much of the kingdom's land as he could. Nearly five
thousand of Nyrond's best soldiers fell in a single day against the demented,
fiend-driven armies of the Overking. Nyrond fought them to a bloody standstill,
but the losses were enormous. The cost is still being felt today, and Nyrond's
future looks grim indeed. [WGR4 The Marklands - 58]
The cost of Ivid’s mad displeasure
was a tithe too dear to pay for some. Grenell, Herzog of North Province, had
enough! Ivid and his Glorious Kingdom be damned! Grenell had been able to keep
his cousin at bay for years, but if he did not rid himself of that lunatic
then, while the iron was hot, he too would surely be rewarded with Ivid’s great
gift; and he enjoyed his pleasures and his women far too much to consider
joining the ranks of the animus anything but a boon. Grenell led his North
Province in rebellion against his cousin. The other herzogs were soon to
follow, and the Great Kingdom of Aerdy fractured into hundreds of petty states.
North Province declared
independence from the Great Kingdom in 584 CY, dragging itself out of the
Greyhawk Wars, and the empire shattered within weeks into many pieces. [LGG - 24]
Freed from constraint, the Grenell
did what he always did best, he saved his own skin.
Grace Grenell, Herzog of the
North Province, rebelled against his cousin in a desperate attempt to hold his
lands against the march of King Archbold. Freed of the mad king, the Herzog and
the orcs of the Bone March halted the Nyrondese armies in the rugged Flinty
Hills. The Herzog callously sacrificed both human and orcish troops to grind
King Archbold’s advance to a halt. Though the Nyrondese could advance no
further against the combined armies, Archbold, tantalized by the prospect of
ultimate victory, refused to break off his assault. [Wars - 21]
This “new” realm has not
changed in character from the old, being cruel and tyrannical in the extreme.
The new imperial capital was proclaimed to be Eastfair, to no one’s surprise.
[TAB - 23]
Grenell was not the only one to
strike while the iron was hot. There were others, even within his own
“Kingdom,” who saw opportunities arise; the House of Garasteth, for instance,
when they soon liberated the Highland Castles, and took them for their own.
They have, in effect, seceded
from North Province. Their war leaders swore an oath of allegiance to
Baron-General Shalaster, who commands them from his base at the southernmost
castle. [Ivid - 55]
Grenell does not have the
military might to march on local rulers he would like to subdue. With thousands
of orcs in armies along his western frontier, Grenell simply cannot risk
internecine war among the human armies of North Province. It would weaken the
control Grenell has too much, and it would make the orcs feel more confident
about attacking a divided human enemy. Grenell might take control of some small
estate in such a manner—but he might lose Bellport, the northwest, even
Eastfair itself, to invading orcs if he used this tactic. [Ivid - 44]
Others have taken measures, even
if Grenell could not. Castle Greenkeep is proof of that.
This ruin marks the
easternmost point of the highlander castles. In Suns' Ebb CY 584, the castle
was decimated by an immensely powerful magical strike. A boiling black cloud
settled in the sky above Greenkeep, and vast strokes of lightning and acid rain
cascaded down on the building. The walls and towers were shattered and the keep
ruined, with most of the garrison here slain and only a few managing to escape
westward to safety.
It is still unknown who
mounted this formidable attack. The most often-rumored theory connects the
attack with the necromancer Raspalan, garrisoned with the troops here. Raspalan
was a minor princeling of the House of Garasteth, and was known to have fled
his birthplace west of Rinloru and no few other eastern and southern cities
during his lifetime. He left behind a trail of murder, outrage, and bitter
enemies. The destruction of Greenkeep is generally believed to be due to one of
those enemies catching up with him.
The ruin takes its name from
a radiant green glow which still emanates from the keep on exceptionally cold
nights. The few who have ventured anywhere near the place mumble about moving
stones, the keep swelling and contracting before their eyes, and blood-freezing
screams that seem to come from far beneath the ground. But this is probably
just a hallucination. Nonetheless, survivors are rumored to speak with horror
of Raspalan's experiments in the keep dungeon and to tell tales of wretches and
the strange supplies which were ferried down to those dungeons to enable the
grisly wizard to continue his malign research. [Ivid - 55]
The question rises: Who might
have destroyed Greenkeep? The Dreadlord Monduiz Dephaar?
Few were so lucky as Grenell.
Ivid’s Kiss graced more than would have wished it. Granted, the Kiss was better
than the eternal torment of the Endless Death.
The North Province’s
defection from the Great Kingdom unleashed the pent-up fears and ambitions of
all nobility in the Great Kingdom, both living and animus. The Herzog of the
South, among the first nobles rewarded with death and revivification,
reasserted his claim to the South Province. The wave spread outward from there:
living nobles turned their fiefs into armed camps and animus lords sought to
expand their realms. The Overking’s authority collapsed entirely, leaving Ivid
with only his personal estates. Thus, the always fragile Great Kingdom
shattered into a hundred petty principalities, dukedoms, baronies, counties,
and earldoms. The Aerdi Empire was no more. [Wars - 21,22]
Nyrond had defeated Aerdy. But
at such a cost.
Nyrond lost nearly seventy
thousand soldiers in the Greyhawk Wars. Though her armies held off Aerdy's
siege, they did so at terrible cost. Archbold had expended the nation's entire
treasury, and had depleted much of his family's wealth. Hideously in debt to
the Urnst States, the king faced a future of mined fields and horrible food
shortages. Nearly half of his holdings were in tax rebellions. Many of the
nation's best mages, craftsmen, and nobles fled Nyrond for easier lives to the
west. Whether Nyrond would fall was never an issue. The question was simply
that of timing. [LGG - 78]
War’s End
For three years, the whole of
the Flanaess flew banners of war. Nations fell as new empires were born. Demons
and devils from the Outer Planes were summoned en masse by Iuz and Ivid V, and
hundreds of thousands of mortals died. Finally, the battle-weary combatants
gathered in Greyhawk to declare peace. Harvester 584 CY was to see the signing
of the Pact of Greyhawk, fixing borders and mandating an end to hostilities. [LGG - 16]
Strangely, the Pact was
suggested by the Scarlet Brotherhood, which may have sought to consolidate its
gains from the war. [PGtG -11]
Sensing that his reach was
nearing his limit, the Father of Obedience halted the troop advances and
instructed his agents to solidify their holds in the Brotherhood-controlled
governments, where new laws suppressed previous officials, and temples to
Brotherhood Faiths rose. The Father’s agents, acting as representatives of the
nations in his grip, called for a Flanaess-wide truce. Some nations welcomed
the chance for a rest; others were convinced via diplomacy and assassination.
In the end, the countries of the Flaneass agreed to the Brotherhood’s peace
proposal, hurriedly signing the Greyhawk Pact in 6099 SD in the City of
Greyhawk. [SB - 6]
Autumn of 584 CY saw the
signing of the Pact of Greyhawk, an event that would close various hostilities
plaguing the continent. On the Day of Great Signing, however, Greyhawk suffered
a great treachery, as Rary, one of the Circle of Eight, destroyed his
companions, Tenser and Otiluke, in a great magical battle. Many suspected that
Rary wished to hold the ambassadors hostage, but instead, he fled to the Bright
Desert to form his own kingdom. Fearing further disruptions, the delegates
hurriedly signed the pact. Ironically, due to the site of the treaty signing,
the conflicts soon became known as the “Greyhawk Wars.” [Gaz 3e - 4]
Ivid signed the Pact of Greyhawk to give himself time to prepare for a
final, crushing onslaught of Nyrond. Yet, that will almost certainly never
come—at least not from Ivid himself.
The mad overking can claim direct control over not much more than a few
hundred square miles around Rauxes. And his leigemen find pursuing their own
squabbles—building their own empires within old Aerdy—much more interesting
than sending their armies to Nyrond. They have no intention of leaving their
own landholdings vulnerable to opportunistic conquest by their neighbors.
Ivid believes himself to command great provincial armies, which have in
actual fact long marched homewards. [Ivid - 5,6]
When peace came in Harvester
584 CY, the whole world was weary of war. Many hoped that the treaty signed
then marked the end of the marching armies, bloody fields, and the burning
cities. But this was not to be. The peace of the Greyhawk Wars is now seen to
have marked the end of only the first part of a great period of conflict that
has reached into every part of the known world and affected every creature from
the highest prince to the lowest peasant farmer. [TAB - 19]
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:
Renho illustration, by Sam Wood, from The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
Suel illustration, by Sam Wood, from The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
Suel Slave Races illustration, by Sam Wood, from The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
Scarlet Brotherhood Assassin illustration, by Sam Wood, from The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
Sources:
1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed
Set, 1983
1043 The City of Greyhawk
Boxed Set, 1989
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
9253 WG8, Fate of Istus,
1989
9398 WGR4, The Marklands,
1993
9399 WGR5, Iuz the Evil,
1993
9577 The Adventure Begins,
1998
9578 Player’s Guide to
Greyhawk, 1998
11374 The Scarlet
Brotherhood, 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.
The
Map of Anna B. Meyer
