“What is the son but an extension of the father?”
― Frank Herbert, Dune
Is the son the
measure of the father? No, never. One
is never the equal of the other. Some prove greater. Others not. Some sons must
walk in the footsteps, or in the shadow, of great men, and their boots may be too
large to be filled, their stride or shadow too long, their fame too widespread—either
in light or shadow—for those who follow. Yet some do rise to the occasion.
In this we might
measure Hundgred Rälffson. Rälff was indeed a great king. He raised his people up form the vassals
they were, to the truly independent people they became, even if the Schnai
would declare otherwise. They might declare what they wish, but they never once
pressed the point whether they still kept the Fruztii under heel, as they had
for decades, if not generations. Is Hundgred Rälff’s equal? He may be. He may not. But Hundgred
is heroic. And Hundgred would surely have been his father’s match in
hand-to-hand combat; but as a stateman, Hundgred has never been tested as his
father was.
Has he?
549 CY
Hundgred
Rälffson is born. Pure conjecture on my part.
Rälff had been king of the Fruztii for 7 years (also
conjecture on my part), and had yet to make his mark upon his world. His people
have lived under the suzerainty of the Schnai for decades, long weakened by
their having spent their youth and strength upon the shield of Aerdy.
560 CY
Orcs and the gnolls had boiled out of the Rakers into the
Bone March when Hundgred was 11 years old
In 560, nonhuman tribes from the Rakers and Blemu
Hills struck into Bone March, subjugating the land in 563 and slaying its
leaders. [LGG – 91]
Having been raised on sagas of glory, he wonders why his
father does not attack Ratik. The Ratikians are the enemy, and always have been
since they invaded the Fruztii’s southern lands. They were occupied, and vulnerable.
Rälff
agreed. Now is the time, he had said; but their Schnai overlords would have
none of it. We shall raid, they commanded, but we will not invade. Let the orcs
and the Aerdi kill one another, they said. Then we will see.
563 CY
The orcs and gnolls proved too much for the March, and it
fell.
In 563 CY, orcs invaded Spinecastle by secret ways
that offered its defenders little warning or means of preparation. Within just
three years, the nonhuman masses had laid low the nation from the outside in
and the inside out, dominating the realm from Johnsport almost to the Flinty
Hills. [LGG – 36]
It was then that Hundgred beheld what he would never have
expected: his father treating with the enemy.
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. [LGG – 91]
Rälff sent his longships to the southern shores of Ratik, not to raid, but
to aid.
A raid into Ratik was
attempted, but an alliance between Lexnol and the Fruztii prevented its
success. [LGG – 36]
Hundgred did not then understand the wisdom of his father.
He had been raised on the notion that Ratik and its Aerdy masters were the
enemy, and had been since their people had spilled their lifeblood upon Marner
and Spinecastle. Weakened, they could never again hope to evict them from the
pastures south of the Timberway. How could his father treat with them?
For years they were
subject, directly or indirectly, to their Snow Barbarian cousins. It was not
until the reign of the current king's father that they truly emerged from the
Schnai's yoke. [LGG – 44]
The alliance with Ratik
that has flourished in the last twenty years has given the Frost Barbarians
greater influence in the region. [LGG – 44]
575
CY
In time, Hundgred understood his
father’s wisdom. Long had the Fruztii lived under the heel of the Schnai. No more.
The Fruztii had risen from their long sleep, and were again masters of their
fate, even if they were still, presumably, ruled by the Schnai.
When he was 26, Hundgred
spearheaded his people’s push north into the Bleufang-Kelten Pass, to rid their
northern pastures of the ever-present threat of raiding Fists.
A recent pact concluded between Fruztii and Ratik saw
a joint army wreak havoc in the Bone March, and during the next campaigning
season [576] clear the north pass of the "Fists" (see Hold of
Stonefist). [WOGA – 21]
577
CY
Word reached
Hundgred that the Schnai are not as powerful as they had always appeared to be.
The flagship was occupied with the help of prisoners
who broke free during the confused fighting and set fire to the vessel’s sail.
Jarl Froztilth, leader of the Schnai, many of his men, and the captured ship
were all taken to Asperdi. News of this success was said to have greatly
heartened the Herzog. [Dragon #63 – 16]
578 CY
Rälff sent his son into the lands of his newfound allies, so
that he might learn the tactics of the southerners. It was time that Hundgred
made his own allies amid the Ratikians, Rälff reasoned, if his Northern
Alliance was to survive his reign.
The Fruztii sent raiding bands to sea with the Schnai,
but due to careful urgings, numbers of mercenary troops also moved southward
into Ratik and joined the Baron’s troops there. These Fruztii returned with
knowledge of organized warfare and good-quality arms and armor and formed the
core of a new standing army organized by King Ralff II in 578. The four
companies of foot and one troop of horse actively patrolled and brought most of
the realm under order. Chief men and nobles not raiding were prevailed upon to
contribute men to patrol their own territories, so that by the end of the year,
the frequency of banditry and humanoid raiding bands had been reduced to an
all-time low. Even the high country around the head of the Jenelrad River was
peaceful, and its Jarl swore an oath of fealty to Ralff. Without actually
declaring independence from Schnai overlordship, the King of Fruzti showed that
he was again capable of fielding an army capable of either defending his
territory or taking another’s. The Schnai conveniently ignored the resurgence,
probably hoping that the involvement in Ratik would again reduce the Frost
Barbarians to vassal status. [Dragon #57 – 14]
Hundgred’s
absence was deliberate. It was best, Rälff believed, that Hundgred should no longer
listen to the whispers of those emissaries from the Kingdom of Shar who advised
abandoning trust in the sons of Aerdy, and placing it in them, their distant
kin, instead. Why should they, Rälff wondered, when these emissaries had never
once had cause to prove their claim. What they had done was to seduce those who
might into visiting their southern climes, never to return. Just as they
whispered those very same words to the Schnai. Rälff had heard their words, but he had not heeded. But he
worried that Hundgred might.
Hundgred need meet this true ally, Rälff decided. He need meet Alain, who
Hundgred would need rely upon when both he, Rälff, and Luxnol had taken to the flame, and to
the grave.
Those emissaries even then urged the Fruztii to abandon
the Ratikians to their fate in the Loftwood, for without the Fruztii, they
surely could not hold out against the orcs of the March. How could it help the
Fruztii that Ratik fall, Rälff wondered?
Rälff saw fit to sent his
most courageous of champions to Ratik so that should not happen.
The Battle of the Loftwood saw considerable magical
competitions in addition to the standard hand-to-hand combat between the
strongest fighters on the opposing forces. The real fighting was between the
masses of troops, however, and this was fierce in the extreme. At one
point, a score of foreign volunteers saved the day because their leader, Queg,
a Fruztii, had prepared an extensive ambush with rocks, tree trunks, pits, and
trees to set fire to. [Dragon #57 – 15]
579 CY
But Hundgred had heard those whispers, and he
wondered: If the Ratikians were such fast allies as they claimed, they why were
their eyes set so firmly upon 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]
And why did his father have need to buy the friendship of
the dwurfolk?
CY 579 can be the year of the Fruztii if things go
right. If an alliance to conquer Bone March is struck, the price to archbaron
Lexnol will probably be the entire Timberway forest. If, instead, the Snow
Barbarians choose to turn upon their allies, they might indeed take all of
Ratik to the Loftwood. A nucleus of about 2,000 infantry and 500 light cavalry,
with noble and chief contingents of about five times that number of foot, makes
King Ralff a power to be reckoned with in the Thillorian area. It is also
rumored that certain mountain dwarves have been won over to the king by large
gifts of gems and gold taken from actions in the eastern end of the Griff
Mountains. If this is actually so, then it is quite possible that Ralff has
greater plans than are now evident. [Dragon #57 – 14]
580 CY
Indeed, the Ratikians could barely be trusted to
safeguard their own borders, it would seem!
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]
c. 580 CY
Lexnol had
been working on a treaty with the Schnai to shore up his position against Bone
March and its allies in North Kingdom [….] [LGG – 89]
The Scarlet Brotherhood was not pleased by
this development. They were pleased that the old king, Orvung, had
always viewed Lexnol and the Ratikians with distrust. Th Ratikians were scions
of the Great Kingdom, Orvung had always said, and despite the fate its mother
country, its true allegiance lay with them, and not the Rhizians. Yet Orvung
was treating with Ratik, potentially undermining Shar’s influence on the
peninsula. The old man had to go. They panned for potential gold, and
discovered Ingemar Hartensen. He is old, they whispered. Ancient,
they said. Venerable. Past his time, they said.
The old tyrant is assassinated at age 90 by Ingemar
Hartensen, who seizes the throne in Soul in his 41
st year. Pure
conjecture on my part. He is not Orvung’s son, else he would be named
Orvungsen.
[Orvung is king of the Schnai as of 576 CY,
as noted in the Greyhawk Boxed Set, and Ingemar Hartensen is king in 584 CY, as
noted in the from the ashes Boxed Set. References in the Living Greyhawk
Gazetter hint that the Fruztii and Cruski thrones are passed down through the
ruling family, and I would assume the Schnai no different. No mention was made
of Ingemar’s ancestry, so I took the liberty to add a little drama to the
succession.
I have placed Ingemar’s
birth (in 532 CY) before Hundgred Rälffson’s,
because Hundgred is referred to as the “young” king of the Fruztii in the
Living Greyhawk Journal.
Ingmar is noted
as a CN male human Bbn16 in the same work, and I would imagine that it
should take a number of years to gain that level of experience.]
Few rejoiced at
the old king’s passing. Fewer still protested. Even fewer too measures
afterwards. To no avail. Few mourned their passing, either.
Rälff reeled at the news. And worried.
His spies in Soull hinted at who might be behind the assassination. And why. What
might this young hothead on Shnai’s throne do, he wondered? Would he press
their suzerainty? At the point of a sword?
More importantly,
Rälff wondered what his supposed
distant kin to the south might be planning concerning his own succession.
581 CY
Although Trust had been tasked when the Seal of Marner
had been stolen from Marner, the two beleaguered nations carried on out of mutual
need.
The alliance between Ratik and the Frost Barbarians
against the humanoids of the Bone March has born fruit over years of
cooperation. The forces of Ratik now occupy the Loftwood and are preparing for
a major assault on the city of Johnsport, backed by a naval attack along the
coast to the east.
The other joint operation of these states has been
against the Hold of Stonefist. Fruztii forces have now secured the pass south
of the Hraak forest and control the land for some 20 miles around.
The Ice Barbarians have supported the Fruztii to some
extent by making naval raids along the northern coast of Stonefist. The Snow
Barbarians have concentrated on attacks on Great Kingdom and Sea Baron
shipping, although some of the Schnai have been seen “assisting” the Frost
Barbarians in Stonefist.
It is rumored that the King of the Snow Barbarians was
not taken with a plan for the three barbarian groups to ally with Ratik—not
because he didn’t trust the Baron of Ratik who proposed the plans—but for
simpler reasons. Major invasion of the Bone March would drive humanoids in
their tens of thousands into North Province and might precipitate an allout
attack from the Great Kingdom. The King, being wily and crafty, prefers more
opportunistic and piratical actions.
One final piece of the puzzle is the attitude of the
Duchy of Tenh. Duke Ehyeh has become notably more friendly to the Frost
Barbarians of late. The actions of Ratik and the Frost Barbarians stir up the
Bone March, which causes trouble for the Great Kingdom and for the Theocracy of
the Pale. Both states have hostile attitudes to the Duchy. So, Ehyeh discreetly
allows Frost Barbarian emissaries across his lands to organize shipments of
weapons from the best source of weaponry in the whole of Oerth—the Bandit
Kingdoms.
From here, weapons make their way up the Zumker river
to Calbut and then through dangerous foothill territory at the very edge of the
Griff Mountains to the pass east of Kelten. The trade is discreet, but everyone
knows about it. [WGS1 - 4]
582
CY
When
Hundgred turned 33, it came to pass that the hopes and dreams of the Rhizians
had come to fruition. Vatun had returned! It was time, Hundgred realized, for
the Fruztii and Schnai and Cruski to shrug off their presumed separate
identities, and be the singular people they were always meant to be.
Rälff was not so easily convinced. He urged caution. But his wisdom was
rejected, by his people, and more disturbingly, by his very son.
In 582 CY, the god Vatun appeared to his subjects
among the barbarian tribes of the Thillonrian Peninsula. Ancient legend
predicted that the return of Vatun, who had vanished centuries ago, would
signal the birth of a barbarian empire in the north. Unfortunately, this
particular "Vatun" was actually Iuz, whipping the northmen into a war
frenzy. [LGG – 15]
583 CY
Lies. It was all lies!
How could they be so fooled?
[The Rhyzians] were drawn in by the false Vatun that
briefly deceived them all. When it was revealed that this was a deception of
Iuz the Old, the Suel barbarians withdrew from the alliance created between
their nations and the Stonehold.
A major raid into Stonehold was mounted several years
ago by a combined force of Schnai and Cruski, though they were ultimately
driven back. [LGG – 15]
584
CY
No man lives forever. Rälff’s great strength was
failing him; and one day, his would body too. Wenta’s hold on him was waxing,
he realized. He feared that Wee Jas would soon pay him a visit.
And one day, She did. He collapsed and would rise no
more. Indeed, his limbs refused to heed his commands, his words frozen upon his
tongue.
Healers were summoned. The Sisters of Mercy sang over his
frozen form, smudging the smoke that had never failed to loosen the limbs of
the stricken. To no effect.
Doctors were brought from Ratik. Even priests of Oerid.
Rälff weakened. Silently. The light faded from his eyes. He
slipped away.
He was 75. That’s a ripe old age, I imagine, for a Nordic
warrior. And was succeeded by his son (age 35, total conjecture; I’ve chosen
this seasoned age to give him time to have risen to Bbn13).
Hundgred mourned his father's passing. But even as the flames cast up for his longship into the night, the jarls were demanding his attention.
What of the Schnai? they asked.
What shall be done about Ratik? The Fists?
Shall we raid? War?
Trust our council, they wheedled, as your father did.
Did he? Hundgred wondered. Did he, indeed?
Trust us, those others of the distant south implored. We are your kin.
Had his father been so counceled? Hounded?
Hundgred wondered. Can I? Trust? Hundgred truly wondered.
Ruler: His Most Warlike Majesty, King Hundgred Rälff son of the Fruztii (CN male human
Bbn13) LGG - 44
Capital: Krakenheim (pop. 3400)
The Frost Barbarians are the weakest of the three Suel
peoples inhabiting the Thillronian Peninsula (which they name Rhizia). For
nearly 30 years, they have been under the thumb of the Snow Barbarians, but
their defiant young king, only [35*] years of age, has made it plain that he
regards the Fruztii as equals to their eastern neighbors. As yet, the Snow
Barbarians have not brought matters to a head, because all the barbarians have
happily cooperated in opposing the Great Kingdom and allying with Ratik to fight
the Bone March humanoids. The Fruztii are foremost in friendship with Ratik;
this has increased their prominence in the barbarian alliance.
The Frost Barbarians are a strong-willed people,
stubborn and chaotic, but honorable and people of their word. They are fine
seamen; their longboats are masterpieces of both construction and decoration.
They are fearless fighters and suffer privations and hardship without
complaint. They feast and drink to excess, and have no time for tact or
manners. They do not respect book learning or wizards, but they hold their
bards (skalds) in very high esteem indeed. Like the other barbarians, they feel
the deception of Iuz keenly, and skirmishes against Stonefist across the Griff
Mountains are currently planned by King Hundgred. [FTA – 25]
[* Note: official text states Hundgred is 20; I have taken creative liberty.]
586
CY
Infighting soon broke out between several of the
nonhuman tribes, and the sides remained stalemated until 586 CY, when Alain IV,
Archbaron Lexnol's son and heir, launched a raid into the fallen realm that was
composed in large part of expatriates of the march, it was a doomed mission.
The unusually organized nonhumans laid a trap for the force in the hills north
of Spinecastle. Horrified survivors who escaped back to Ratikhill reported that
the trapped raiders were dragged from their horses, torn apart, and eaten alive
before their eyes. Raids into the archbarony from Bone March have resumed. [LGG – 37]
Hundgred bewailed
Alain’s passing. Why? he screamed! Why indeed had that dirty old hag, Syrul,
lured his friend to such a fate.
Upon hearing of his son's demise, old Baron Lexnol
collapsed. He awakened the next morning with a shock of white hair and a palsy
that confined him to bed. Lady Evaleigh, now widowed, assumed the throne and
has guided Ratik through the trouble that has befallen it. Raids from
Bone March have become progressively stronger and more organized the last few
years. [LGG – 91]
And why, had fickle fate decreed that his father’s friend
should be laid so low, and that a maiden should take up the reins of Ratik?
589
CY
Ruler: His Most Warlike Majesty, King Hundgred Rälffson
of the Fruztii (CN male human Bbn13)
Population: 144,500—Human 96% (S), Dwarf 2% (hill 50%,
mountain 50%), Halfling 1%, Other 1%
Major towns: Djekul (pop.
3,100), Krakenheim (pop. 4,500) [LGG - 44]
Time marches on.
Hundgred, now
40, has long since understood the wisdom of his father. He has renewed his
faith in the Northern Alliance…for now. Ratik has proven its allegiance and
held true, despite its continued desire to foster ever closer relations with
Knurl. But that was to be expected, what with Lexnol’s line having failed, and
its nation’s course steered by a child of that southern city.
The Fruztii are strongly allied to the Archbarony of
Ratik in the south. […] Changes are already apparent in the royal court at
Krakenheim, with more formal (or "civilized") trappings in the
organization of the government and the military. These changes do not meet with
the approval of many of the older jarls, but they remain loyal to Hundgred out
of respect for his noble father. [LGG – 44]
But Hundgred has not seen fit to rid Friztii of the
whispers from Shar, either.
Ambassadors from the Scarlet Brotherhood were spied in
Djekul. [LGG – 91]
Nobles from Ratik have great influence at court but
are not always trusted. Scarlet Brotherhood agents are well received but bring
strange news and promises. Merchants from the Lordship of the Isles have a
growing presence, offering unusually generous trade deals that make some jarls
suspicious. Hundgred's court is growing isolated from other northern barbarian
nations. [LGG – 44]
One wonders: How long can Hundgred withstand the sweet
promises of his distant “kin”?
Or has he already been seduced by their whispers?
For many
years, Ratik and the Fruztii nation have lived in relative peace under the
Northern Alliance, an agreement forged by Baron Lexnol. All looked well; the
monarch of the Fruztii, King Hundgred Rallfson, even married a Ratikkan
noblewoman. But now, as Ratik teeters on the brink of political collapse,
skirmishes have erupted between the northernmost nobles and the Fruztii clans.
The [Ratikkan] crown has yet to take action, either politically or militarily,
once again leaving its nobles to stand alone. This time House Ulthek and the
Order of the Hart guard the border. [LGJ#3 - 29]
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:
The Death of Alain IV, by Joel Biske, from Living Greyhawk Gazetteeer, 2000
Sources:
1015
World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
2023
Greyhawk Adventures Hardback, 1988
1064
From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
9577
The Adventure Begins, 1998
9578
Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
11742
Gazetteer, 2000
11743
Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
Living
Greyhawk Journal, #1
Dragon
Magazine 55,56,57
Greyhawkania,
Jason Zavoda
The
map of Anna B. Meyer
