“When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”
― Orestes
 |
| Abandoned |
And what of the Olman? Why had they not colonised the
Tilvenot peninsula? Only a narrow strait separated the north from the south.
Surely the Olman would have settled the southern shores of the Flanaess,
wouldn’t they? Surely the coastlands of Idee and Onnwal were within the grasp
of mariners capable of reaching the far shores of Keoland and the Amedio. Or
had the Flan beat them there? Indeed, they had. The Kingdom of Caerdiralor
thrived upon Onwall, and presumably Idee, 4,000 years ago. [OJ27 – 16] The
Olman would have been hard-tasked to create a toehold against the Ur-Flan. More
importantly, though, perhaps the Olman did not because they were entangled by
concerns that kept them from straying too far from home.
 |
| Lost Tamoachan |
As the Olman fled the Tuov colonised their cities.
Tolanok was once an Olman city
in the highlands of Hepmonoland. Abandoned during the Olman exodus, the Touv
moved warriors into the city to hold the front line and to initiate attacks
against the yuan-ti of Xapatlapo. After several years when the Olman did not
return and the Xapatlapoans closed their borders, the Touv capital allowed civilians
to settle [Tolanok]. The hillside mines were reopened, and precious metals and
gems flowed back to the capital [.] [SB – 54]
Had the Olman remained, had they held firm, had they not
been so fractious, history might have unfolded differently. They might have
dominated the whole of the southeastern coast once Caerdiralor fell to the
dwarves and gnomes of the Headlands. But alas, they did not, and would not; they
had all but abandoned their homeland for other shores. Those who remained were
but a shadow of their former selves, unequal to the task of defending against
the peoples who were migrating into the lands that might have once been theirs.
-422 CY
Hitherto unheard-of destruction was unleashed upon the
two greatest empires to have ever existed, wiping them off the face of the
Oerth.
When the Invoked Devastation came upon the Baklunish,
their own magi brought down the Rain of Colorless Fire in a last terrible
curse, and this so affected the Suloise Empire as to cause it to become the Sea
of Dust. [Folio – 5]
When the Rain of Colorless Fire ended the Age of Glory
and brought down the Empire, the tribes [of the Suloise] decided to seek their
fate to the east, in the lands of the Flan. [WoGG – 61]
And thus, the Flanaess would never be the same.
The peoples of
the west, the Oeridians and the Suel, were on the move, migrating ever east.
The Oeridians
kept to the north for the most part, the Suloise to the south, supposedly
driven there by the Oeridian Aerdi. I wonder about that: The Suloise had long
ago spilled out of their vast valley. They explored. They traded. And they
waged war, as they were wont to do, conquering and enslaving those they met. They
surely had posts from which to do so. And being Suel, I imagine those early
coastal ports were fortified, first by stockade, then by wall. Though tales
tell that the Suel fled the Colourless Fire – which I do not doubt – I imagine
they fled with purpose to those places they already knew, to coastal Keoland, to
the Woolly Bay, to the Headlands of Onnwal, to Gearnat, Relmor, and Idee….
…unto the
Tilvenot.
The refugees struck south across a great swamp […].
Eventually the travelers emerged from the swamp, at
the narrowest part of the Tilvanot (“south-hill”) peninsula. Liking the cool
breezes and misty skies of the place, they continued south and came at last to
the great mesa, where they found a colony of several thousand followers of the
Suel Emperor’s sun Zellif, who had been living there since 2071 SD. Zellif’s
people had claimed the peninsula as their own, driving away, beginning with, or
enslaving the humanoid and Flan tribes there. [SB – 3]
[The Duxchan] 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]
Those first Suel upon the Tilvenot were far from cruel,
no more than any others are, I expect. They were farmers and fisherfolk,
settlers of yore who found that lonely peninsula to their liking, far from
emperors and war, far from oppression and strife. Until the Brotherhood came,
and ideology had found them once again.
 |
| Kavelli Mauk |
Kavelli and his cronies conquered those sleepy farmers
and fisherfolk with ease and altered their course in history.
While aloof and sometimes cruel, the new Suel
nation—now known by the unassuming name Shar, meaning “purity”—was careful not
to reveal its true intentions.
Suel from across the Flanaess continued to migrate
into the Brotherhood lands; those that agreed with the Brotherhood philosophy
stayed; others crossed the shark-infested waters of the Tilva (“southern”)
Strait to the jungles of the continent to the south. [SB – 3]
It was Kavelli then that can be thanked for the Suel
colonising the Dark Continent.
-413 CY
The majority of the Suelites were pushed to the
extreme south, into the Amedio Jungle, the Tilvanot Peninsula, the Duxchan
Islands, and even as far as across the narrow Tilva Straight into Hepmonaland.
[Folio – 5]
Zar was the first region of Hepmonaland to be settled
by the refugees of the Suel Kingdom. Those who stayed here were the most
stubborn and intractable of the lot; the more adventurous moved on, as did
those seeking greater security from the people of the Flanaess. The city of Zar
was founded in 5103 SD, little more than a cluster of rounded stone and wood
buildings in a cleared space in the jungle. It grew as Suel refugees arrived
and occasionally shrank as strange jungle diseases or infestations took their
toll. [SB – 55] (5103 SD)
Though pale of skin they adapted.
Those bands that migrated into the vast Amedio Jungle
and Hepmonaland are so altered as to be no longer typical of the race; they are
tan to brown with heavy freckling. [Dragon
#55 – 18/ WoGA – 13]
-402 CY
 |
| The Olman |
In the early
days of the Suel migrations into Hepmonaland, certain of the houses traveled
deep into the jungle and encountered small tribes of Olman who had missed or
avoided the great western migration. Seeking safety in numbers, these desperate
Suel proposed an alliance with the Olman, who accepted the pale strangers and
their weapons and magic. [SB
– 55]
These Olman were primitive, and savage; but the Suel
discovered that the Olman thrived in this hostile environment. They watched,
and learned, and adapted, and they too thrived, plunging ever deeper under the
canopy. Indeed, they all too soon became like their tutors. Had they not, they
would not have survived in the jungle for long.
The fair
refugees built their own cities in the northlands, normally keeping themselves
separate from the other races, but in some cases merging with the Olman or Tuov
people they discovered. Over the years, the Suel adapted to their jungle
environment and lost most of their original culture and history. [SB – 36]The Suel who sailed here so long ago forgot their
seagoing skills in their war for survival. [SB – 37]
Anomalous populations of Suloise are found in
Hepmonaland and the Amedio Jungle; while many have developed tanned skins with
heavy freckling, pale and albino faces that look utterly incongruous in the
steaming jungles can still be seen. [FtAA – 12]
They did not
adopt Olman gods, however. They had no need. Their pantheon was as well suited
to their needs in this new environment as they ever were.
 |
| Llerg |
The savage armies from Hepmonaland and the Amedio
worship Llerg, whose worship edges out that of Kord in the latter region.
[SB – 10]
[Llerg] is
mostly worshipped by the Tilva peoples, Amedio and Hepmonaland savages and
northern barbarians [.] [SB
– 77]
Kord is worshipped more than any other
Suel deity. Thriving churches dedicated to him can be found in the Barbarian
States, northern Ulek, Almor, the Great Kingdom, Hepmonaland, and on Lendore
Isle. [Dragon #87 – 24]
Kord is worshipped by the savage troops brought from
Hepmonaland, but not those from Amedio. [SB – 12]
Bralm is worshiped mainly in hot
regions, especially in Hepmonaland and the Vast Swamp [.] [Dragon #92 – 24]
Humans worship [Beltar] in the barbarian
states, the Amedio Jungle, Hepmonaland, the Pomarj, and even in the Great
Kingdom. [Dragon #89 – 22]
Some savages esteem her as their patron, although they
tend to come from the more primitive tribes. [SB – 12]
The gods, it would seem, were forced to adapt, just as
their people were. And those who did not, or would not, were marginalised, if
not abandoned.
Secret temples to Pyremius can be found in many
large cities throughout the Flanaess. He has some worshipers among the
barbarians, in the Amedio Jungle, and in Hepmonaland, but these are very few.
[Dragon #89 – 21]
It is very doubtful if [Phaulkon’s] temples
appear in the barbarian north or in Hepmonaland. [Dragon #87 – 26]
 |
| Shar Comes to Hepmonaland |
Turashar
The first Hepmonaland town to be founded by the modern
Scarlet Brotherhood, Turashar is a busy place that ships people and goods into
and out of Hepmonaland. Much of the work force is made up of people of Zar with
working knowledge of Ancient Suel. [SB – 28]
Lerga
Lerga was settled in 5114 SD by a group of Suel nobles
led by Duke Medajar, a noble priest of Llerg. According to legend, the priest
had a dream vision of a great stone bear, and his group of refugees spotted a
great bearlike formation of rock on a hillside, Megajar declared a halt and
proclaimed the spot sacred to the God of Force. Using stone plundered from
abandoned Olman ruins, Medagar’s people built shelters for themselves sand
established the city of Lerga. [SB – 52] (5114 SD)
The Hepmonaland Suel architecture favors domes and
onion-like spires. [SB – 46]
One imagines that these civilised Suel had no love for
that fetid jungle. Indeed, they did not. It was a foul place, and if they had
their way they would have put the jungle to the torch. But it was too wet. And had
they, they would have lost the reason why they remained, the riches to be
reaped from its interior.
[R]are spices
and ivory […] from Hepmonaland [.] [COG:FFF – 3]
Hepmonaland is very rich in resources, including rare
woods, spices, ivory, gems, and platinum [.] [FtAA – 35]
c. -300s CY
When wandering Suel encountered the city [of Anatal]
after their flight from the Rain of Colorless Fire, they were welcomed by the
Anatali with open arms; the Suel mixed well with the Touv population [.] [SB
– 47]
But they were not welcomed everywhere.
When the first Suel trickled into Jolan they were
received coldly, the nationalism and zeal of the Jolani bordering on
xenophobia; most Suel turned back and settled in Anatal. [SB – 50]
-386 CY
The city of Sharba was founded in 5120 SD by members
of a Suel house who traveled along the coast for over 500 miles before being
driven into the jungle by a fierce storm. [T]hey came across a ruined city
dedicated to the Olman fire god. [W]hile many Suel nobles had died [,] the
survivors – mostly slaves – recovered, and the predators that had hounded them
were nowhere to be found. Desperately hungry, the slaves consumed the bodies of
their former masters. [T]hey stayed in the city, reworking it for their own
needs [,] dedicated to the goddess of insects and industriousness – whose
citizens have a habit of eating their dead. [SB – 52]
c. -350 CY
Sharba, it would seem, was ill-fated.
Near the start of the war against the Lergal, a number
of tribes decided to leave the protection of the city of Sharba and head deeper
into the jungle, seeking refuge further from the followers of the Beast God.
They discovered the abandoned Olman city of Xanoxetlan and adopted it as their
own, giving it the name Sharbakal. They settled there and began exploring and
hunting in their new home, continuing the traditions of their parent city.
Unfortunately, their explorations discovered a temple to Tlaloc, the Olman rain
god, and he cursed the defilers of his temple: Half the children born to the
people of Sharbakal would be reptilian monsters who feasted on nothing but
human flesh. [SB – 53]
-252 CY
Why did the Tuov hate the Olman so? Why indeed? For good
reason: the Olman worship of serpentine gods held up a mirror to their own
darkest beliefs. For they too had a serpent god, an evil and abhorrent god by
the name of Meyanok.
In -252 CY, a disguised priest of Meyonok worked his
way into the inner circle of advisors to the Jolani prince and began to poison
his mind and body. [SB – 55] (1157 TC)
That was the beginning of the end of 1200 years of the
Kingdom of Kundali.
 |
| Meyanok |
[The Jolani] prince was so deluded that he believed
that his other advisors and the king were plotting against him, so he declared
his city-state independent of the Kunda Kingdom in -250 CY. Appeals and
diplomatic measures from the capital were turned aside or twisted by the
snake-priest, and the secession precipitated similar acts from Ichamamna and
Byanbo. […] [SB – 50] (1159 TC)
The rebellion of Jolan came just after King Ikate’s
wife had died bearing a stillborn son; when a priestess of Vara animated the
dead infant and sent it to kill Ikate, the man’s mind snapped. Retreating to
the innermost rooms of his palace, he refused to speak to anyone and spent most
of his time in a restless sleep. While the Kingdom waited headless, state after
state left the embrace of their parent [.] [SB – 51]
[W]hen Jolan broke from the Kingdom, Ichamamna
followed less than a month later. [SB – 49]
Trouble within the capital prevented the king from
acting, and his successor was unable to reunite the states. [SB – 37]
When Jolan seceded from the Kingdom, Vay Nama followed
after Ichamamna and Byanbo, and has kept a greedy eye on what lies outside
their frontier swamps. [SB – 54]
In the latter days of the Kunda Kingdom, Kunda
responded less frequently to [the town of] Byanbo’s calls for support than Byanbo’s
prince would have liked. When Jolan and Ichamamna broke from the Kingdom,
Byambo followed, seeing little point in paying tribute to a King who wouldn’t
aid his own territories. [SB – 48]
When Jolan seceded from the Kingdom of Kunda in -250
CY, Anatal remained loyal to the Harvest King. [SB – 47]
Ikelan is the westernmost of the original Kunda
city-states, and stayed loyal to the Kingdom until its collapse. [SB – 49]
When the daughter states of the Kunda started
quarreling, Kundaxa stayed loyal to Kundanol. [SB – 52]
The general collapse of the Kingdom [of Kunda] over
the next decade left Ichamamna fighting against Ikelan, first as a rebel to the
king, then as a defender against the southern prince’s lust for more land.
[SB – 49]
After Ichamamna rebelled, the people of Ikelan were
called upon to punish them, though their unfamiliarity with the jungle gave
them such a disadvantage that they did not achieve any decisive victories. [SB
– 49]
 |
| Yuan-ti |
The Xapatlapoans […] held fast onto their original
lands despite repeated attacks from Ichamamna when it was under human control. [SB
– 54]
Cuhuetla found itself stranded among foreign and
inhuman neighbors. They declared neutrality and proposed peace with those near
them. [SB – 49]
-240 CY
 |
| The Harvest King |
There were those states that remained loyal to the
capital of Kundanol, even as their confederacy began to unravel.
The fragmentation of the [Kunda] Kingdom […] came as a
disappointment to the Anatali, but they have maintained friendly relations with
Kundanaol and are cordial with the other city-states. They have increased their
patrols near Alocotla, hearing reports that the snake-men are taking people for
some dark ritual. [SB – 47] (1169 TC)
When the Kingdom shattered, [the city-state of] Kevot
weathered the turbulence between city-states and kept its lands, property and
people safe; the god of inevitability and time is a popular deity here, and the
people tend to accept change as a part of life. [SB – 50]
Kunda was no more.
The kingdom of Kunda lasted a little over [1100]
years. [SB – 37]
c. -230 CY
After the Kingdom’s collapse, Prince Brovan [of
Ikelan] saw an opportunity to increase his holdings and attacked Ichamamna,
although the jungle thwarted him once again. [SB – 49]
The Olman had collapsed as a great nation. And in their
turn, so too had the Tuov. One wonders if either would ever rise again or
whether the Dark Continent would by subsumed by the serpent.
“Round and
round they went with their snakes, snakily...”
― Brave New World
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.
Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an
invaluable research tool.
The Art:
Lost Tamoachan, by David C. Sutherland III, from Lost Tamoachan, 1979
The Rain of Colorless Fire, by Vince Locke, from Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
South Seas map detail, by Darlene, from World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
Hepmonaland map details, by Sam Wood, from The Scarlet Brotherhood, 1999
Llerg, from Dragon #89, 1984
Serpent god, by David C. Sutherland, from Deities & Demigods, 1980
Yuan-ti, by Jim Roslof (?), from I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City, 1981
Bust of an African King, from the Wallace Collection in London
Sources:
1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed
Set, 1983
1043 The City of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1989
1064 From the Ashes Boxed
Set, 1992
9025 World of Greyhawk
Folio, 1980
11374 The Scarlet
Brotherhood, 1999
Oerth Journal #4
Dragon Magazine #55, 87, 89,
92
Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven
B.
Greyhawkania,
Jason Zavoda
The
map of Anna B. Meyer
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