“Was this strange mode of life to go on and on?”
―
 |
| The Opportunity to Spill Ever More Blood |
Few had a choice in the matter, though; not when Iuz
employed fiends in the field, not when Ivid’s armies were thick with jebli and
euroz wishing little more payment than the opportunity to spill ever more
blood, and to feast on ever more flesh. They plodded on, those brave souls, wondering
if this battle would be their last.
Yet, never once did a single soul think to question why,
or say “no more.”
583-584
CY
The war pursued upon the Relmor was a vicious as any campaign
upon the land. Perhaps even more viciously. Once engaged, ships were all but
committed to the end. Retreat was doubtful. Relief unexpected. Quarter
unexpected. Ships exchanged fire, were blackened with Suloise Fire, were
rammed, boarded, and such blood was spilled that the decks were made as slick
as though sheathed with ice. More blood was shed in Dunhead Bay than any other
as the South Province sought to cut Onnwal off from its allies at the neck.
A shallow arm of Relmor Bay separating Onnwal from
Ahlissa, Dunhead Bay was for years the scene of bitter naval battles between
the Iron League and the Great Kingdom's South Province, particularly between
579-580 CY, during the War of the Golden League, and 583-584 CY, during the
Greyhawk Wars. Since Scant fell to the Scarlet Brotherhood, the bay has been
very quiet, but Ahlissa has made its presence felt more strongly here. [LGG
– 148]
583 CY
The powers sought what powers they might find throughout
the waging of the war. Who knew what value these ancient artifacts might have
in tipping the balance in the favour of the forces of weal? Thus, seasoned
adventurers were encouraged, nay, ordered, to follow what threads lead to their
whereabouts and return them to those who might employ them to end the horrors
that had befallen the whole of the Flanaess.
(Ready’reat)
Rod of
Beguiling was recovered from the Echo Crypt.
ECHO CRYPT
This series of catacombs stretches some six miles
below the mountains of the Abbor-Alz, and is fiendishly hard to explore. Much
of its length comprises tunnels a halfling can barely squeeze through. Burial
chambers with fine treasures have been looted in its upper length, and there
are surely more to be found; however, the crypts have a bizarre magical feature
that deters most explorers. Simply, the sound of voices here takes on amplified
magical form and returns to assault those breaking the silence. […] Thus, for
obvious reasons, wizards and priests avoid the crypts like the plague. Since
there are many mindless undead things in the lowest catacombs, their presence
is sorely missed by explorers.
Great cave lizards, semi-transparent ropers,
gelatinous cubes, and other monsters lurk in the farthest recesses. However,
the rumored recovery of a rod of beguiling from Echo Crypt as recently as
Ready'reat, 583 CY, ensures that the foolhardy continue to enter the place. [FtAC – 29]
584
CY
(Readying)
 |
| Turrosh Mak |
The madness of war bred more war. In 584, south of
Greyhawk, a half-orc named Turrosh Mak united the vile nonhuman tribes of the
Pomarj. [LGG – 15]
By a stroke of fortune, Turrosh struck at the most
opportune time. Great crusading armies had just left the lands of the south,
taking with them some of their nations’ ablest men and generals. With others’
attention focused to the north, the newly proclaimed orc nation found time to
organize and grow. [Wars – 15]
Mak's armies boiled north, conquering several of the
cities of the independent Wild Coast, then capturing nearly half of the
Principality of Ulek. The appeals of Prince Corond of Ulek to Yolande, the
elven queen of Celene, fell upon uncaring ears. Celene closed its borders to
even its most trusted allies, refusing to let elf blood fall in human wars.
[LGG – 15]
The
first to fall was Elredd.
Elredd, on the Wild Coast, was conquered and assumed
destroyed by the Orcish Empire in 584 CY. [TAB – 3]
The orc invasion of the southern Wild Coast left major
ports in flames. The walled city of Elredd was razed, though the nearby Port of
Elredd was largely spared. [Slavers
– 38]
The
people of Fax, forewarned by the rush of refugees driven north by humanoids,
fared better, if only for so long as to muster defence to Turrosh Mak’s coming.
Though valiant, their perishing enabled their loved ones the time to escape the
wrath that fell upon their beloved town.
The people of Fax were driven out in 584 CY and would
like to return, but most have lost hope. [Slavers – 46]
(1st
day of Growfest)
 |
| Tales of Terror |
Most half-orcs in the northern Wild Coast were slain
in 584 CY, in reaction to the rise of the Orcish Empire in the Pomarj under
Turrosh Mak. [PGtG – 59]
Indeed,
the rage was felt as far as the Free City.
Half-orcs
are less numerous than they were only a decade ago, largely thanks to public
prejudice against anyone with orc features following the Orcish Empire’s strike
into the Wild Coast in 584 CY. Some half-orcs left the city [of Greyhawk]
following several unsolved murders of their kind and general public harassment
of them, but those with strong human features who could “pass” in Greyhawk
stayed on, keeping a low profile around human refugees from the Wild Coast. [TAB
– 69]
Those
half-orcs who could not “pass” suffered in the cause of freedom. Indeed, one
need not actually have been orcish; one only need be suspect.
Safeton's defenses are being strengthened as a matter
of priority. A complete wooden stockade wall has been erected, and within that,
a stone wall is being built with two massive entry gates. Sea defenses are
strong, but the land threat is the greatest, so slave labor is being used
'round the clock to construct the walls. Slaves always existed in Safeton, and
many used to be sold to the Pomarj, a horrible irony. Greyhawk law does not
allow slavery, but the slaves have been appropriated as workhouse-billeted
people for this essential construction work. [FtAC – 50]
Osson’s
Raid was far more successful than he would ever know. In time, the Great
Kingdom would have rallied and pursued him. They would have hounded him until
he found no safe haven, no succour, no rest. But, just when he needed a
miracle, one occurred. Even if he was unaware that it had.
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. After this realization, 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. [Wars - 20]
More
than a few were, in fact, incompetent, but Ivid also included many able
commanders in his assessment. [Wars – 29]
 |
| A "Trusted" Noble |
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. [Wars - 21]
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. [Wars - 21]
(Richfest)
 |
| The Undying One |
Though Ivid’s nobles were undeniably decadent, they
were not mad: they considered Ivid’s gift an unenviable “reward.” […] 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. [Wars - 21]
One
might think the Kingdom and its gentry was saved. But in that they would be
mistaken.
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. [Wars - 21]
Things
were about to become far worse. Ivid have become "The Undying One."
While
Ivid saw and sought enemies everywhere, his cousin, Herzog Grenell, was left to
wage Ivid’s war with Nyrond without support. Moreover, Grenell had no desire to
be blessed by Ivid’s Kiss. So, when Ivid summoned his “faithful” cousin,
Grenell decided that a different destiny be pursued.
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. [Wars – 21]
[T]he lands that now constitute the notorious North Kingdom
included both North Province and other northern possessions of the old Great
Kingdom. After the sundering of the empire following the Greyhawk Wars (584 CY)
and the subsequent devastation of Rauxes, these lands united as an independent
realm, ruled from the old provincial capital at Eastfair. [LGG – 72]
 |
| His Grace Grenell |
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. [Wars – 21,22]
With the
north and south ceding from the Kingdom’s greatness, the whole of Aerdy soon fractured
into hundreds of petty states.
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 – 22]
While
the East fractured into hundreds of petty states, the southern seas were about
to be transformed into what the Father of Obedience believed would be the
rebirth of the Imperium.
Long had
they schemed. Long had they probed and explored. But so had others. Keoland had
probed into the Amedeo, just as they had.
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]
And now,
with The Lordship of the Isles and The Sea Princes under their command, the
time had come, many believed, that their destiny was at hand.
Renho carefully examines all reports of enemy military
actions to learn the strategies and weakneses of his nation’s. enemies. [SB
– 20]
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]
 |
| Komazar, Kurg, Rullhow |
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 |
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 demesne 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. [LG#0 – 12]
And very soon Onnwall 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]
 |
| Savage Warriors |
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, [were] impotent to back
up their promises of aid. [LGG – 78]
However
Ivid’s, or the South Province’s, armies engaged Osson, he and his forces
slipped from their grasp. This time Osson drove into Sunndi, and there found
allies in the sylvan resistance forces.
Within two months of invasion, however, Sunndi gained
hope with the arrival in late 583 of Almor's Commandant Osson, who had led most
of Ivid's army on a distracting chase throughout much of the southlands, away
from Chathold. Osson's host met the Glorioles army at the Battle of Rieuwood.
Aided by native sylvan elves, Chelor's army was decimated and shamed. [LGG
– 111]
(Autumn)
 |
| Osson of Chathold |
Osson claimed Pitchfield in the autumn of that year.
As light snows blanketed much of Ahlissa, Osson and his men took a month to
recuperate in the relative warmth of the Pawluck Valley. A failed attempt at
taking Nulbish eroded at his army's already fragile morale, and word that the
Aerdi Army had cut off any hope of return to Almor painted a landscape of
desperation. Finally, the Almorian army surged north to the See of Medegia,
which fell quickly without support from Rauxes. Ultimately, Osson's army was
put to the sword, its few survivors returning to the villages of Sunndi that
supported them. Some say that Osson himself lives on here, though this has
never been confirmed. [LGG – 111]
Despite
this victory, the south seas were denied to those of weal. Prince Ingerskatti
used his ships to harry traffic on the Azure Sea, especially Irongate forces,
but this harassment also included any others that might aid them: Urnst, for
instance; Nyrond, most certainly, as well. And Keoland, as well; for weren’t
the Kaoish traitors to the Suel’s ancient cause?
In 584 CY, Ingerskatti used his fleet to terrorize
ports on the Azure, first by attempting a failed raid on Gradsul, then by harrying
the vessels of Irongate, whom they view as their most important rival. [LGG – 72]
Fall
of Scant
With a newly enlarged fleet and armies from the
steaming jungles, the Brotherhood struck fast and hard. Idee and Onnwal
collapsed in a single stroke, undone by traitors within and invaders from the
sea. [Wars – 23]
 |
| Into the Hands of the Scarlet Brotherhood |
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]
Onnwal continued to struggle against the Scarlet
Brotherhood. The core of the rebelling force consisted of the entire thieves’
guild of Scant, led by a notorious master thief, Rakehell Chert. Guildmaster
Chert apparently caught wind of the Brotherhood’s plot just prior to the fall
of Scant in 584 CY, and moved his headquarters into the countryside,
reorganizing his thieves into cell groups. [TAB – 25]
Cobb
Darg was of sterner stuff. He knew who his allies were. And he knew a false
tongue when he heard one.
Irongate proved stronger. Despite appearances, Cobb
Darg had known the precise origin of the aid that Irongate had received, and
used that knowledge to his best advantage. Just before the Brotherhood armies
closed in, Darg expelled or executed every agent he could find. When the armies
did arrive, Darg met them with his customary skill and energy. Safe from
betrayal, Irongate stood, the last bastion of freedom in the Iron League. [Wars – 23]
The
Great War, the Greyhawk War as it came to be called, did not end as much as
exhaust itself. Coffers were depleted. Armies sundered. Indeed, even those who
might be considered victors had stretched themselves so taut, so thinly, that
they could not reap more, lest their tenuous hold snap. There was nothing to be
done then but pause, and pant, and try as they might to catch their breath for
the resumption all knew was coming. One and all prayed that they would be able
to defend what remained when it did.
By the end of the Greyhawk Wars in 584 CY, however,
Greyhawk had gained control of not only all of Hardby's territory, but all the
remaining free lands of the northern Wild Coast, a sizable portion of the
Gnarley Forest, and much of the Cairn Hills once claimed by the Duchy of Urnst.
Moreover, almost no one contested this expansion, as the domain was seriously
threatened by the Orcish Empire of the Pomarj to the south. Greyhawk's military
might was commonly seen as the only bulwark against the complete collapse of
the Wild Coast, and its economic strength quickly lifted the poorest regions of
its domain into unexpected prosperity. [TAB – 54]
 |
| Trouble Out of the Pomarj |
“War must be, while we defend our lives against a
destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its
sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I
love only that which they defend.”
― The Two Towers
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:
Father Rehno, by Sam Wood, from The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
Komazar, Kurg, Rullhow, by Sam Wood, from The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
Savage Warriors, by Ken Frank and Charles Frank, from Greyhawk Wars, 1991
Battle's End, by Ken Frank and Charles Frank, from Greyhawk Wars, 1991
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
11621
Slavers, 2000
11742
Gazetteer, 2000
11743
Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
Ivid
the Undying, 1995
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
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