“What strange creatures brothers are!”
―
 |
| Terik |
I exaggerate.
There could not possibly have been innumerable characters; but I imagine core
players had a great many PCs – and a great many of them died in their pursuit
of fame and fortune, I would expect – some more successful than others; I also
suppose that a great many players came and went over those early years, as well
– some more noteworthy than others.
We’ve all heard
tales told about Gary Gygax’s famous menagerie, to say nothing of his sons,
Ernie’s and Luke’s: I speak of Mordenkainen and Bigby, of Tenser and Riggby and
Melf, etc. Perhaps the most famous of those early players, aside from the
Gygaxs, was Rob Kuntz: who hasn’t heard of Robilar.
There were
others, of course. I must admit that I’d never heard of Rob’s brother, Terry,
nor of his Terik, until rather recently. My introduction to him preceded my
reading Scott Casper’s and Mike Bridges’ Castle Greyhawk Blog, but not by much.
In the Greyhawk Campaign, Teric was played by Theron
"Terry" Kuntz, Rob's real brother, though the characters themselves
shared no familial relationship (this having been added by Gygax during the
writing of Isle of the Ape). [OJ#7
– 41]
I had heard the
name, Terik, even if I’d long ago forgotten that I had. You must have too, if
you are of a certain age; indeed, who has not if you’ve read WG6 Isle of the
Ape? (More on that below.) So, I had at least read of Terik. But, truth be
told, he did not leave much of an impression. I’d never read that adventure too
deeply, never expecting to run it – no player in my campaign had ever had a
character rise to such lofty levels at the time of my perusing its pages. Thus,
Terik was spilled into a memory drawer, never to be peered into again.
Until Scott and
Mike brought Robilar’s all-but-forgotten brother back to life for me.
I thought it
interesting that Scott and Mike devoted nearly as many panels to Terik as too
his far more famous brother….
513 CY
Terik is born in
the City of Greyhawk. [Date conjecture – see 520 CY]
I surmise he was
born into poverty. Dire need. So many are. I believe this to be true, since
Robilar appears hard done by in his early years. We can expect that Terik’s
origin to be no less trying.
520 CY
 |
| He grew up on the streets... |
[Calculated from 551 CY {LGJ#0 – 4}]
Age: 31 [COR1 – 00 The Citadel PCs – 7]
Robilar’s backstory is a little more fleshed out than
Terik’s, so we must extrapolate what we can from him to apply to his brother.
Robilar was born in the City of Greyhawk. His mother
died in childbirth, and he never knew his father. [OJ#7 – 41]
No mother, no father; how might Robilar have survived?
His sibling raised him, obviously.
Module WG6, Isle of the Ape, introduces Terik (or
Teric), Robilar's [older] brother. [OJ#7 – 41]
[If Robilar’s mother died in childbirth, Terik must be
older than his brother; he must also be old enough to have served as Robilar’s
caregiver, however young. I decided that Terik must then be about 7 years older
than Robilar to be even remotely capable in that role.]
Terik is 7 years old in 520 CY.
520s CY
 |
| His First Instruction |
Robilar started his career as neutral in alignment [.]
[OJ#3 – 41]
What applies to Robilar must apply to Terik. They would
have lived hand to mouth, taking what they might to survive in the cruel slums
of the city of Greyhawk. Terik takes up the sword in that pursuit.
I doubt that he was what could be considered a “fighter,”
proper at first. Not then. I expect he began his career as an opportunistic
street urchin, killing his first man at a very young age. He would have then
survived as a member of the city Beggars Guild, where he received his first
instruction.
Was he evil? That would presume him self-serving; which
he was not: He was Robilar’s caregiver, his guardian. I would guess that he
would be True Neutral, then, caring only for himself and his brother.
529 CY
Terik’s “training” is complete.
He is 16 years of age. [DMG 1e – 12]
Did he remain in the Beggars Guild? For a time, long
enough until Robilar could fend for himself.
530s CY
Terik sells his sword for the first time.
In time, while others fell, he’d have gained a reputation
as a good man in a pinch. In time, he would have joined what mercenary bands
would have him.
He then ventured up and down the Wild Coast, earning what
he could, in what bands paid best.
Legendary natives of the Wild Coast include such
persons as Mordenkainen, Robilar, and Tenser, to name but a few. [WoGA – 42]
Terik would always be in need of money. Meat shields are
rarely paid well. Or expected to survive long. I expect that he sent what copper and silver he could home to Robilar,
with instruction that he gain better training than he, himself, had had,
ensuring that Rob would never have to stoop as low as he once had to, to ensure
their survival.
Note that he is
not noted among those faring from the Coast as one of the legendary. Because he
wasn’t. He was a mercenary.
540s CY
 |
| Terik sells his sword |
In his adventurous youth, he
traveled throughout the Flanaess and beyond [.] [Rot8 – 58]
Regardless
whether these passages were penned about Robilar’s early years, they could just
as easily apply to Terik, too.
Robilar soon followed
in his brother’s footsteps. Mostly. Where Terik had had to sell his sword early
on, Terik’s tutelage and stipends would have opened doors for Rob that would
not have been open to his older brother.
[Robilar] met
Mordenkainen, Riggby, Merlynd (now the quasi-diety Murlynd), Robilar, Bigby and
other now-famous personages. [Rot8 – 58]
We do know that
Terik eventually escaped mere mercenary work. He very well began his own
adventuring career as a hireling for some other fellowship, perhaps rising to
membership within them as others fell. Or perhaps he accepted Robilar’s
invitation to join his….
Either way,
Terik and Robilar began plunging into whatever adventure shoulder to shoulder,
Robilar in his pursuit of fame and fortune, Terik to protect his reckless and
ambitious brother.
Castle
Greyhawk
 |
| Robilar |
Even as a
spell was cast to keep the Jeweled Man from acting, warriors were rushing to
come to grips with this marvel. Alas for the adventurers, the spell had no
effect, and before the eager fighters were near, the figure was off and away,
running so quickly that even boots of speed could not keep pace. Down a
passageway went the glittering form, the party in pursuit. In all too brief a
time, however, the Jeweled Man was lost, vanished in the labyrinth of the
surrounding passages. Swearing to return, the adventurers went away empty
handed, settling eventually for far less precious items taken from likely more
fearsome opponents. [Dragon #290 – 22]
Delving into the
dark depths of Castle Greyhawk was good to them. Lucrative. Terik being almost
a decade older than Robilar, he rose to some distinction before his brother
did.
Terik had become
Lord Terik [Dragon #293 – 18] along the way and must
surely have built a stronghold somewhere, given all the loot he had his
adventuring companions have unearthed beneath Lord Zagig’s deadly funhouse.
Somewhere close to the Free City, given he continued to explore the Castle’s
depths in the years to come.
When a
fighter attains 9th level (Lord), he or she may opt to establish a freehold.
This is done by building some type of castle and clearing the area in a radius
of 20 to 50 miles around the stronghold, making it free from all sorts of
hostile creatures. Whenever such a freehold is established and cleared, the
fighter will [a]utomatically attract a body of men-at-arms led by an
above-average fighter. These men will serve as mercenaries so long as the
fighter maintains his or her freehold and pays the men-at-arms [.] [PHB 1e
– 22]
Did Terik’s
newfound success drive Robilar to ever greater daring? It might have, sibling
rivalry being what it is.
Robilar fears
nothing, and to prove that point, he often adventures alone, even when the odds
appear greatly stacked against him. Three things drive him: magic, adventuring
and information, three things he can never seem to get enough of. [OJ#3 –
41]
Perhaps.
 |
| Tenser |
The next day, Robilar’s companion, Terik,
searched the city for his [brother]. He learned that Robilar had adventured
alone into the ruined castle, so he decided to seek his companion there. I was
astonished by what followed. Somehow Terik managed to follow much the same
course Robilar had taken. It took him about six hours, but eventually the
worthy fighter also came to the lowest level of the dungeons, and he likewise
was transported to the other side of the planet. The very next day, Tenser […]
sought his usual cohorts, but soon discovered that both Robilar and Terik were
gone, vanished into the dungeons without a trace. Of course Tenser then went
into the dungeon to search, and [followed them to their distant destination]! [Dragon
#295 – 20]
All too soon, Terik found himself without
his constant companion. But Lord Terik was easily as brave as Rob.
Indeed, he was far more skilled, then, than Robilar.
 |
| Lord Terik |
Assuming that he had been far deeper in the dungeon
than was actually the case, Terik led a party of adventurers to the special
complex, […] they went around in circles, down stairs, and up ascending
passages to take the same steps downward again. After “descending” to what they
felt was a near-infernal depth, they altered their route so as to explore. […]
[L]ong passages sloped gradually down to a central
area where a flight of stairs conveyed the wayfarer back up to the elevation of
the surrounding area. However, once inside, the number of direction choices was
seemingly Far greater, although all eventually led back to the central
declivity, the stairway back up. [Dragon
#293 – 18]
He was far more
experienced than he gave himself credit. Perhaps Rob did introduce Terik to the
adventuring life; but Terik was as seasoned as his far more ambitious brother.
He realised that he would do just fine without Rob, even if he had no desire to.
550 CY
 |
| Mordenkainen |
Was that Robilar’s choice, solely? Or was he convinced
to?
Mordenkainen, approach you a couple months back about
joining an adventuring group he was forming. He prattled on about Balance and working
to prevent anyone from getting the upper hand, but all that meant nothing. To
you, the invitation looks like a call to adventures that you cannot pass up.
[COR1 – 00 – 3]
I can’t help wondering whether that caused a bit of
friction between Terik and Robilar? Then again, perhaps Robilar desired greater
independence from his elder – aging – mothering brother father-figure.
Also, Terik was getting on in years. He was 37, then. Old!
His best years were behind him, whereas Robilar was only 30. Still young! Or so
he told himself. He still had a great many years ahead of him. Terik, perhaps,
did not…
So, perhaps it
was high time that he parted from his protective, over-mothering, elder
brother.
551 CY
And Robilar did
just that. He sought opportunities outside of those with Terik.
Within months, Mordenkainen had brought the renowned
warrior Robilar to his cause, as well as the cleric Riggby, and his zealous
assistant, Yrag. From the shores of the Nyr Dyv, Mordenkainen recruited the
righteous Tenser, who in turn introduced the dim-witted though well-meaning
Serten to the assembly. [LGJ#0 –5]
That group of supposed
like-minded individuals became the Citadel of Eight.
They called themselves the Citadel of Eight, taking
the name from Mordenkainen’s renowned Obsidian Citadel, in the Yatil Mountains.
[LGJ#0 – 5]
550s CY
Terik may not
have originally been invited to join the Citadel of Eight, but membership was
what we might call fluid over the years in that yet unknown adventuring group.
 |
| Quij |
Who followed
whom in this ever-shifting dramatis personae? Your guess is as good as mine. It
has been suggested that Quij was a founding member, as possibly presumed in the
7-round 2000 GenCon Tournament “Finger of the Wind,” by Robert Weise. But I doubt that, given Quij’s henchman
status (of Robilar) at the time. [The timeline of the Citadel is a bit dodgy,
depending on how one interprets certain vague canonical references. The more
people added to the narrative, the more it gets muddy. Did characters come and
go, repeatedly, or did they stay for a time and leave once and for all time? I
might make some decisions as who who and when that you may disagree with, which
is fine. Decide as you will.]
I suggest that
Merlynd the mage was an early member of the Citadel.
The Crook of Rao
 |
| Merlynd the Mage |
To the average man of the modern era, the Crook [of
Rao] existed only in scripture and hymn. In the mid-sixth century CY, however,
the adventurers Tenser, Terik, Merlynd, and Robilar discovered the artifact in
the depths of Castle Greyhawk, only to lose it again in a bizarre demiplane
known as the Isle of the Ape. [Dragon #294 – 95]
[*OJ#3 says the Crook was borne by the Citadel circa 569
CY, implying its membership of that year. It’s one of those muddy passages I
refer to earlier.]
I tend to follow
Scott Casper’s (implied?) suggestion in his Castle Greyhawk blog that the events
therein occurred before the Citadel formed, or soon afterwards, thus Merlynd
could have been a founding member. Maybe I’m in error. Whatever. In for a
penny, as it were. Let us then throw caution to the wind and suggest Terik followed
Merlynd.
 |
| Terik |
One wonders how
long Terik was a member of Mordenkainen’s Citadel. And why he left.
We know why
Robilar left.
Robilar never quite bought into Mordenkainen’s
philosophy, and he and Tenser often bickered over matters of morality. [LGJ#0 – 5]
I would not
doubt that Robilar’s departure inspired Terik’s.
[Mordenkainen’s] philosophy has gained the archmage a
virtual army of enemies, not a few of whom once considered him a good friend.
Among these last can be counted Evard the Black, Terik and, of course, Rary.
luz and his underlings, particularly Kermin Mind-Bender, have hated
Mordenkainen from their first meeting. [LGJ#0 – 9]
Did Terik,
perchance, discover that he and Robilar, and perhaps the whole of the Citadel,
were mere pawns in Mondenkainen’s schemes?
After decades of viewing himself as a chessmaster,
Mordenkainen naturally began to view his friends and companions as pawns. [EttRoG
– 9]
That would have been a revelation too dire to bear.
Regardless Robilar’s bickering, he never drifted too far
from Mordenkainen’s circle.
After the dissolution of the Citadel, Mordenkainen
remained great friends with the organization’s most cunning fighter, Lord
Robilar, and together they traveled the length and breadth of the Flanaess,
from the City of the Gods in the northern wastelands of Blackmoor to the vine-choked
crumbling pyramids of the Amedio Jungle. [OJ#25 – 15]
Perhaps
Mordenkainen believed Robilar was still of use to him.
I expect that
Terik was not pleased with Robilar’s decision. But Robilar would not be
mothered by his brother anymore.
560s CY
Who then
followed Robilar and Terik? I will suggest Melf followed Robilar, and Otis
replaced Terik (in 560 CY, as per my blogpost suggestion). Quij and Felnorith would only have been associate members of
the Citadel, to my mind. Quij was Robilar’s henchman and would have left with
him. And Felnorith? Felnorith was Mordenkainen’s hireling – if also his
friend – an elite guard of his Citadel [CoG:FFF – 21]; if Felnorith were indeed
a member of the Eight, he might have been for mere days before it split asunder, forevermore (in 569 CY).
569 CY
 |
| The Bandit Kingdoms |
What then,
became of Terik?
Rumour has it that Terik ventured into the Bandit
Kingdoms, although this has never been substantiated.
Terik and Yrag vanished, some
said to the anonymity of the Bandit Kingdoms. Even the loyal Bigby left the
side of his one-time master and returned to Oldridge, where he adventured for a
time with a band of boyhood friends. Mordenkainen, the man who had brought the
Citadel together, simply shrugged and returned, with cold eyes, to his studies.
[LGJ#0 – 5]
When did Yrag
and Terik venture north. The passage does not say. That year? A decade prior?
And where
exactly was Terik’s stronghold? Could it have been in the Bandit
Kingdoms? Doubtful. Why then did he not just go home?
No matter. Terik
left. Terik did not leave a forwarding address. Terik is lost to time.
Terik is 56.
576 CY
 |
| Tenser |
Tenser: “Most of you are familiar with the name
Robilar, and perhaps a few have knowledge of his brother, Terik. It was in this
company, and with Merlynd as well, that I first ventured to the Isle of the
Ape...” [WG6 Isle of the Ape
– 6]
“Robilar’s feet are now on a path unspeakable. Terik?
Who knows. Dead, probably. Merlynd too is now elsewhere, and of the four only I
remain to speak of the misadventure. [”] [WG6 – 6]
So suggests
Tenser; but Tenser is not sure, is he.
Terik could
still be alive.
If he is, he
would be 63 in 576 CY.
I doubt he would
be wielding a sword at that advanced age.
But he could
very well have changed his name.
And taken charge
of some petty kingdom in that land where rogues take what the will. Because he
could, if he chose to.
Bandit
Kingdoms
 |
| Bandit Lord? |
You decide.
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
― The Fellowship of
the Ring
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.
Special thanks to Jason Zavoda for his
compiled index, “Greyhawkania,” an invaluable research tool.
The Art:
Robilar, by Kristoph Nolen, from Oerth Journal#29, 2019
Terik, by Mike Bridges, from the Castle Greyhawk blog/graphic novel, 2015
Mordenkainen detail, by McLean Kendree, from Mordenkainen's Tome of Marvelous Magic II, 2020
Murlynd, by Mike Bridges, from the Castle Greyhawk blog/graphic novel, 2015
The Bandit Kingdoms, from Dragon #63, 1982
Tenser detail, by Gary Williams, from WG6 Isle of the Ape, 1985
Sources:
1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed
Set, 1983
2011 Players Handbook 1e, 1978
2011A Dungeon Masters Guide,
1979
9025 World of Greyhawk
Folio, 1980
9153 WG6 Isle of the Ape,
1985
9576 Return of the Eight,
1998
9577 The Adventure Begins,
1998
Expedition to the Ruins of
Greyhawk, 2007
Dragon Magazine
#290, 291,292, 293, 294, 255
LGJ #0
Oerth Journal #3, 7, 25
COR1 – 00 The Citadel PCs
Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
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