“Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n.”
― Paradise Lost
 |
| Keoland |
But alas, the Great Kingdom was not the whole of the
Flanaess. It never was.
It ruled Old Ferrond, but only in name. So too Veluna and
Perrenland, the Pale, and Tenh. The gods know that it never really ruled the
Bandit Kingdoms. Had anyone? And it had never, ever, held dominion over the
Wild Coast, no matter what they might claim in sight of the Malachite Throne. I
doubt that anyone could claim that.
 |
| Steeped in Secrets |
The most successful union of Suel and Oeridian came in
the Sheldomar Valley, where Keoland was founded eighty years after the Twin
Cataclysms. The Suel Houses of Rhola and Neheli joined with Oeridian tribes on
the banks of the Sheldomar and pledged themselves to mutual protection and
dominion of the western Flanaess, an agreement that set the course of history
for the region for the next nine centuries. Of all the new realms formed during
those tumultuous days, only Keoland remains. [LGG – 13, 14]
The Kingdom of Keoland, located between the Javan and
Sheldomar Rivers, is the oldest surviving nation in the Flanaess. Since the
Twin Catalysms forced the Great Migrations of prehistory, Keoland has had the
most impact upon the history of the Flanaess of any nation outside the Great
Kingdom. [LGJ #1 – 8]
The Silent Ones are a guild of mysterious spellcasters
who hail from the Sheldomar Valley in the Flanaess. The are an eldritch order
of ascetics dedicated to uncovering and safe-guarding ancient secrets of magic
and arcane history. The Silent Ones are often called “Those Wo Must Not Speak,”
a phrase roughly translated from their original name in the ancient tongue of
their Suel ancestors. Their more common sobriquet derives primarily from the
name of their central meeting which from ancient times has been called the Silent
Tower. […]
The Silent Ones are nominally servants of the Keoish
Throne, however no actual authority can be exercised upon them by that crown
that is not explicitly given to it by age-old writs. [LGJ #4 – 11]
278-286 CY
Gillum I of Neheli (aka The
Mad] [LGJ #1 – 11]
Keoland had never realized its promise. It remained a
backwater as the Great Kingdom swelled. It surely would have fallen under the
suzerainty of Dyvers had it stayed its course.
In 49 CY, the throne reverted to House Neheli, where
it remained for nearly two centuries. A long stagnant period in Keoish history
ensued, during which the country remained a benevolent, if slumbering and
introverted land. [LGG – 65]
287 to 299 CY
The Hool Marshes have always been an inhospitable place.
Few prosper here. The lizard folk do, but they are native to such places, their
flesh thick and scaled, a natural defence against the clouds of insects that
plague its marshlands and bogs and sinkholes that know no bottom.
The Flan have long adapted to its trials, their towns
perched on poles driven deep into the marsh, their boats shallow-draught,
narrow and nimble betwixt the reeds and mangroves.
Suel pirates had long settled Port Toli, too, and none
had yet succeeded in ridding their presence from those fair shores. Worse, the
most decrepit of brigands skulked in the marshes, venturing out into the
Dreadwood and beyond, sowing havoc as they did.
Tavish had had enough of the brigands and bandits. He
meant to tame borders and his seas, once and for all time.
 |
| Port Toli |
The Hool Marshes have long been both a boon and a bane to the people of Keoland. The vast expanse, produced by the confluence of the Javan and Hool rivers, is primarily a trackless marsh filled with too many dangers to settle and civilize. And while the marshes are most notable for their bottomless bogs, tribes of lizardmen, and countless monsters, the natural terrain has also protected the southern border of the kingdom from widespread invasion from the south for centuries.
King Tavish the Great was the first to march around
these marshlands to conquer the wilderness between the Hellfurnaces and Jeklea
Bay [….] Until the 3rd Century, these lands were controlled by
isolated Suel brigands (based at Port Toli) and largely inhabited by Flan and
humanoid tribes. The new Keoish conquerors changed all this. [LGJ #1 – 18]
287-347 CY
Tavish I of House Rhola (The Great) [LGJ #1 – 14]
The rise of Tavish the Great in the late 3rd
Century CY finally broke the tight hold that the Silent Ones held over the
magical arts in the Sheldomar valley. The brash young Tavish envied the might
of the Aerdi Empire (which was then at its apex) as much as he reviled the
stagnancy of his own kingdom. Tavish attributed this primarily to the pervasive
superstition which prevented Keoland from fielding the magical power of its
neighbors and he vowed to bring this stupor to an end. [LGJ #4 – 13]
287 CY
 |
| Tavish the Great |
When the last Neheli king died without issue in 286
CY, the summer conclave of the following year recognized the ascension of the
first Rholan king in more than two centuries, King Tavish I. Tavish, the duke
of Gradsul, was the scion of his house and its most formidable leader. He was
determined to make the aspirations of Keoland rival that of the Aerdi and the
nascent Furyondy, both of which already dominated the neighbors of Keoland and
its rivals in the north and across the Azure Sea.
Tavish immediately brought a cosmopolitan air and
youthful dynamism to sleepy Niole Dra when his court assembled the following
year in the capital. He quickly reversed the course of the nation and raised
armies in great numbers. He accelerated castle-building across the frontiers of
the nation and abolished certain magical prohibitions that had stood for
centuries amid the strong opposition of the anchorites of the Lonely Tower, the
Silent Ones. [LGG – 65]
289 CY
 |
| Taking Fals Gap |
Keoish forces verged on the Fals Gap, where the city
of Thornward was founded by the Knights of the Watch as a northern outpost to
ward and tax the trade roads between the Baklunish and Furyondy. While a brief
skirmish was fought with the Baklunish of Ket, large-scale actions were as yet
unknown. [LGG – 65]
292 CY
Tavish was not a rash ruler. Why conquer what could be
won through diplomacy?
Peers of Ulek join the Council of Niole Dra [LGJ #1 – 14]
Tavish negotiated a treaty to formalize the union of
the Ulek states to Keoland, bringing them into closer cooperation with the
Throne of the Lion. Keoish ambassadors were dispatched even to Enstad, and
distant outposts were soon tolerated by Celene and its fey court. Tavish
accomplished the near total confederation of the Sheldomar Valley, from the
Crystalmists to the Azure. [LGG – 65]
301 CY
Tavish set his sights south as well as north.
Tavish I established the port of Monmurg in 301 CY and
set about cultivating the central lands between the Hool River and the Azure
Coast. [LGJ #1 – 18]
Unfortunately, the lands to the south were far less
hospitable than those north.
304 CY
Was Tavish a tyrant? There were those who might think him
so. He meant to increase his holdings, after all, by any and all means at his
disposal. And he did. But he also meant to raise his people up from the depths
of their superstitions. He certainly tried. And he sought to rid his lands of
slavery; that in itself might make him the greatest sovereign of his age.
After abolishing slavery in these new territories
[Tavish I] ordered built the fortress city of Westkeep […] in order to shield
the central lands from incursions from the swamp and facilitate widespread
settlement of the south. [LGJ #1 – 18]
mid 4th century CY
 |
| The Buccaneers of the Azure Sea |
In the mid-fourth century CY, as Keoland made war in
the north, the buccaneers of the Azure Sea and Jeklea Bay grew courageous,
correctly assuming that the king's wartime ambition would leave much of his
southern holdings for the taking. Operating from hidden island and mainland
bases, these pirates harried the coastline as far as the Sea of Gearnat, from
Monmurg to Gradsul, from Blue to Scant. [ LGG – 101]
Alas, he failed; but he had left Keoland a far more
modern and profitable nation than he had found it.
346 – 395 CY
Tavish II of House Rhola (The Blackguard) [LGJ #1 – 14]
Following the death of Tavish the Great in 346 CY, the
throne was taken by his eldest son, Tavish II (called The Blackguard), a move
that was grudgingly approved by the Council of Niole Dra. [LGG – 65]
The king’s son and successor, Tavish II […] further
marginaliz[ed] the role of the Silent Ones by abolishing the advisory post
traditionally held by Wyrd the Tower and appointing his own court wizard. A
thirty year underground conflict broke out between both magical guilds which
only ended with the death of Tavish II in 395 CY. [LGJ #4 – 13]
 |
| Manifest Destiny |
The Suel and the Celestial Houses of the Great Kingdom
were not the only ones to believe in manifest destiny.
Wealsun Proclamation [LGJ #1 – 14]
During the early summer of 348 CY, the new king [Tavish
II] made his so-called "Wealsun Proclamation," over the objections of
the members of the Council. In it, he asserted the manifest destiny of the
Keoish to hegemony over the Sheldomar Valley and all its borders. [LGG –
65]
350 CY
Tavish II began with the "Poor March.”
In 350 CY, the whole region was absorbed into the
Empire of Keoland and set up as a march of its own (the Poor March, a title
that was eventually shortened to the “Pomarj”). The region was called the Poor March because of its
distance from Niole Dra, which was then considered the center of learning and
culture in the western Flanaess, from whence all intellectual wealth flowed.
[Dragon #167 – 11]
c. 357 CY
One wonders if those who raised objections to the Weaslun
Proclamation still did as evil and decadence corrupted the Great Kingdom. Mayhap
they did even more vehemently. They must have watched, first with concern, and
then horror, as that powerful force fell from its supposed grace. Did they see
that Kingdom’s pride and hubris mirrored by their own throne? And did they
worry that their own nation might suffer the same fate?
It was at this time that the evil began to grow within
the rulers of the Great Kingdom. The House of Rax became decadent, its policies
ineffectual and aimed at appeasement. The powerful noble houses took this as
their cue to set up palatinate-like states, and rule their fiefs as if they
were independent kingdoms. [Folio – 6]
c. 375-399 CY
The Great Kingdom’s fall was long and slow, torturously
slow.
Local rulers who were members of other royal houses
began to use their titles of prince rather more aggressively. They began to
enact more laws of their own, to administer local taxes increasingly
independently of the overking, to build fortifications not only for themselves
but for their own liegemen who came less and less to answer to the overking and
more and more to obey only their own local lords.
Mercenary armies became more common, and some princes
conquered slices of other princes' lands. The drunken, enfeebled, or effete
overkings allowed this to happen.
The House of Naelax was the first to use humanoid
mercenary troops around the Adri Forest for provisioning raids late in the
fourth century. And it was this royal house which came increasingly to the
fore.
At this time, the Great Kingdom still had a relative
freedom and equality of many priesthoods, although those of Lawful alignments
were dominant. In Rauxes itself, the priesthood of Pholtus still played a
commanding role as advisers, judges, and mediators. However, Naelax aligned
itself firmly with the burgeoning priesthood of Hextor. In a land with
increasing strife and struggle, this aggressive evil priesthood became more
influential as the decades passed. [Ivid – 3]
395 CY
Nemonhas of Nehali refuses the crown (The Spurning) [LGJ #1 – 14]
Keoland's aggressions took a lengthy hiatus under the
rule of Duke Luschan, the new regent who had no stomach for war. [LGG – 65]
413 – 453 CY
Malv Sellark becomes Tavish III of House Rhola (The Boy
King) [LGJ #1 – 14]
414 CY
In 414, the old regent became ill and died, and his
young nephew assumed the title Tavish III. [LGG – 65]
430s CY
House Naelax reached its [apex] in North Province with
the rise of Herzog Ivid I of the North in the 430s CY. Over the intervening two
centuries, the Naelax had grown to be the strongest individual house in the
kingdom, and by this time an undeclared war was raging between Rax and Naelax.
[LGG – 74]
 |
| A Victim of Pirates? |
Tavish III’s younger brother, the Duke of Gradsul,
disappears in the Amedio Jungle. [LGJ 1 – 14]
Tavish Ill's errant younger brother and the heir to
the duchy of Gradsul disappeared, and reports placed the duke as lost in the
Amedio, the victim of pirates or other foul play. [LGG – 65]
Pitates would be a safe bet, I would say, considering
what was about to transpire. Piracy had been a thorn in Keoland’s hide for
longer than anyone could say, and they had been far more brutal regarding
Kaoish shipping than other nations’ since prior Tavishs’ crusades against their
numbers.
434 – 453 CY
Tavish III was distracted by the Small War in the north. A
few Suel pirates took advantage of his armies being occupied. Others soon
followed their lead. They revolted against his depleted garrisons and declared
themselves free of Keoland’s “tyranny.” Soon they began to refer to their
selves as princes of the sea.
 |
| Harrying the High Seas |
The rise of the Sea Princes […] proved fateful to
Keoish efforts in [the Hool coastlands], and these lands eventually fell to the
usurpers under the rein of Tavish III. His ill-fated attempt to regain the
lands from the pirates resulted in the Seige of Westkeep (453 CY). [LGJ #1 – 18]
The old king attempted to salvage some dignity in a
doomed expedition to reclaim the south, culminating in the Siege of Westkeep,
453 CY. In a prolonged battle against the insurgents, King Tavish III was
himself slain. [LGG – 65]
And still the endeavour failed.
c.
440s-460s CY
Torn by turmoil, the Great Kingdom began to break apart.
At first the Throne took no action. But as the tapestry of state continued
unravelling, it had little choice but to rise from its stupor and take action,
lest it lose the entirety of its lands. But try as it might, it could not stem
the tide. What choice did it have? The Crown was embroiled in what came to be
known as the Turmoil Between Crowns, and it took no interest in the
administration of its provinces.
Rel Astra has been essentially independent for nearly
a century and a half, since the end of the Turmoil Between Crowns, when it
gained palatinate status from the Malachite Throne. For most of that time, it
controlled a large swath of the Solnor coast in a great arc extending over 30
leagues from the city's walls in all directions. This border begins in the
north and includes nearly all of the Lone Heath to the town of Ernhand,
proceeding west into the vast expanses of the Grandwood, and south to the
border of Medegia at the town of Strinken. While the city of Ountsy is largely
independent of Rel Astra, its lord has been subject to the latter for a large
part of its history. [LGG – 92]
444 CY
The pirates of the Azure Sea and Jeklea Bay bound
together as one.
 |
| A Loose Confederation |
Okay, that may be an exaggeration. They were pirates,
after all, and free by any measure of the sea. They bowed to no man, not even
their selves. But they had put aside their differences to defend against their
common foe.
They fought Keoland and all comers. And survived the
ordeal. By the skin of their teeth, so to speak. Even as their besiegers tired
and quit the field, the pirates were tiring too, exhausted, if fact, and all
but defeated, and surely would have been had Keoland continued to press them.
Over the ensuing decades following [the Seige of
Westkeep], the border of the Kingdom of Keoland slowly retracted northward to
the Deadwood [….] [LGJ #1 – 18]
446-447 CY
What was to be known as the Turmoil Between Crowns, rocked
the Great Kingdom. Wars were waged over the succession, and wars, being
expensive affairs, had to be paid for.
The third recent split in the Great Kingdom came in
the south, in 446-447 CY. Extreme repression and taxation of the population led
to a general rebellion among commoners and nobles alike. [TAB – 18]
446 CY
Ivid I of House Naelax assassinated Overking Nalif of
House Rax, and claimed throne of Great Kingdom, putting the Rax/Naelax dispute
to bed, once and for all.
Overking Nalif was the last of the Rax line descended
directly from the overkings. A flock of misbegotten cousins, exiles and
ne'er-do-wells of Rax could lay some claim to the title of overking when Ivid
had Nalif assassinated, but after a century of hopelessly ineffectual Rax rule
all of the royal houses agreed that another Rax overking was simply
unacceptable. [Ivid – 4]
 |
| Ivid I of Naelax |
Ivid proclaimed himself overking immediately (in 446
CY) and plunged the Great Kingdom into civil war. [Ivid – 4]
Ivid must be mad, some said. Ivid must be
deposed, others said. And thus civil war broke out within the Great Kingdom.
I suppose some few must believe that was how the war began, but in truth, the
war had been brewing for some time, steeped in a cauldron of ambition, avarice,
and hate.
Among the competing houses, the House of Cranden
opposed Naelax, as did many elements of the House of Garasteth and the remnants
of Rax. But in all houses’ princes were busy using the civil war as a cover for
settling old scores and attacking their inhouse rivals. Ivid certainly had some
such princes assassinated; the blame would be laid upon their own blood for
this, increasing within-house divisions and making opposition to him less
organized. [Ivid – 4]
 |
| Imprisoned, Tortured, and Executed |
The tyrannical Ivid I assumed the Malachite Throne at
the price of granting greater autonomy to the provinces, notably Medegia, Rel
Astra, and Almor. The recalcitrant herzog of South Province was quickly deposed
and replaced by a prince from House Naelax, who sought immediately to bring the
southern insurgents back into line.
In 446 CY, the herzog granted an audience to
representatives of Irongate, who went to Zelradton to air their grievances. The
offer turned out to be a ruse, and the ambassadors were imprisoned, tortured, and
executed for Overking Ivid's enjoyment. The whole of the south arose again in
violent rebellion, and one year later formed the Iron League and allied with
Nyrond. [LGG – 24]
Onnwal was shocked. Onnwal was incensed. Onnwal declares
itself a Free State.
Onnwal was originally a lesser fief of the Herzog of
South Province, to be granted as he saw fit to his faithful followers. The
oppressive rule of the Great Kingdom brought great discontent and instigated
open rebellion, the whole of the South Province being in arms. All of the lower
portion was lost to the empire when the Iron League was founded. [Folio –
13]
When the Turmoil of Between the Crowns sowed rebellion
and caused widespread division in the Great Kingdom, Onnwal joined the other
southern states who broke from the Malachite Throne. [LGG – 80]
Long-standing pressures upon South Province to bring
the southern fiefs into line drove Damalinor of Naelax, the new herzog
appointed by Ivid, to attempt to break the rebellion with an infamous act of
villainy. In 446 CY, the lord mayor of Irongate petitioned to have his
grievances heard in Zelradton and accepted an invitation to attend the herzog
at his palace. When he and his party arrived, they were imprisoned and tortured
to death for the overking's entertainment. Their remains were on display for
weeks in the Traitor's Garden in Rauxes. So horrified were the people of
Irongate by the account of the mayor's demise that the city revolted against
the herzog and the overking. South Province was plunged into civil war and
chaos. [LGG – 57]
Hextor's Faith gains ascendency in the Great Kingdom with
Ivid I's rise to power.
[The alliance between the Hextorians and the House of
Naelax] led to the faith’s ascendancy over all other faiths in the Great
Kingdom as of the coronation of Ivid I in 446 CY, but also resulted in the
church of Hextor falling under the thumb of successive overkings. [Bastion
of Faith – 90]
 |
| Taking Port Toli |
The Sea Princes wrested control of Monmurg from Keoland,
breaking the kingdoms control of the southlands.
The Sea Princes raided the mainland coast, conquering
even Port Toli and finally Monmurg in 446, breaking Keoish control of the
southlands in a flurry of naval actions. As Tavish III's northern holdings crumbled,
however, he ordered the eradication of the Sea Princes, charging his military
commanders to regain all of the land lost to the seafaring opportunists. The
Sea Princes' operations had expanded even to the mainland, a fact that
infuriated the king. The pirates openly scoffed at his decrees and challenged
the monarch to a battle by sea. Tavish III would not oblige. [LGG – 101]
447 CY
Ivid’s treatment of the envoys shocked the entirety of
the Great Kingdom. How dare Ivid! Onnwall screamed. So too the other southern
provinces. The entirety of the southern Great Kingdom rebelled, with only the
core of the South Province, Ahlissa, remaining loyal to Rauxes.
The oppressive rule of the Great Kingdom brought great
discontent and instigated open rebellion, the whole of the South Province being
in arms. All of the lower portion was lost to the empire when the Iron League
was founded in 447 CY. This alliance joined Onnwal with the Free City of
Irongate (which barred the Onnwal peninsula), Idee, Sunndi, and the demi-humans
of the Glorioles and the Hestmark Highlands in economic and military alliance.
Onnwal and Irongate supplied the sea power, while the other members furnished
troops for land actions – although strong contingents from both of the former
places were also sent into battle. [Folio – 13]
Onnwal and Irongate provided the primary naval support
for the Iron League, with the Szek responsible for shuttling league business
between the Azure Sea and their allies in Nyrond and the north. [LGG – 80]
[The] whole of the south was in arms against the
realm, and after a brief struggle the Iron League was founded, an alliance of
mutual support which aided the rebellious states to throw off the yoke of the
Aerdi tyrants. [Folio – 11]
When the Turmoil of Between the Crowns sowed rebellion
and caused widespread division in the Great Kingdom, Onnwal joined the other
southern states who broke from the Malachite Throne. The herzog of South
Province failed to force them back into line, and Szek Parmus Destron became an
independent lord in the aftermath. [LGG – 80]
Onnwal had to
pay. Ivid and the South Province believed that if Onnwal’s sedition was put to
task, the city and its allies would fall and come to heel. Forces were
gathered. Ships put to sea. Never before had such an armada been raised by the
Great Kingdom against one of its own.
 |
| The Battle of a Thousand Banners |
lrongate was besieged by Aerdian forces for several
months, but in the Battle of a Thousand Banners the siege was lifted when a
ruse panicked the northerners, and great numbers of them were subsequently
slain by a combined host of men and gray elves of the League. While never
invaded, Onnwal is subject to periodic sea raids from the Herzog's squadrons.
[Folio – 13]
Word of the success of Irongate's defense quickly
spread, and a great conference was called in the city, including
representatives of other various rebellious states once a part of or governed
by the vast South Province. Irongate, Onnwal, Idee, Sunndi, and the Lordship of
the Isles declared independence from the Great Kingdom, witnessed by
ambassadors from Nyrond and dwarf nobles from the Glorioles, Hestmark
Highlands, and Iron Hills. This was followed by the formation of the Iron
League by Irongate, Onnwal, and Idee in late 447 CY. Irongate became the
headquarters of the alliance, accepting ambassadors from the other states. [LGG
57, 58]
The world as all knew it was coming to an end.
Or so it seemed.
But as the saying goes, when one door closes, another
opens.
“With rebellion, awareness is born”
―
“A little rebellion is good now and then.”
―
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:
The Silent Tower illustration, by Sam Wood, from Living Greyhawk Journal #4, 2001
Bullywug illustration, by Louis Vasquez, from Living Greyhawk Journal #4, 2001
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
9025
World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
9577
The Adventure Begins, 1998
9578
Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
11374
The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
11442
Bastion of Faith, 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 Anna B. Meyer
Good stuff David!
ReplyDeleteLove it!
ReplyDelete