Friday, 5 April 2024

Circle of Eight Membership

 

“Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always”
― Dante


The Circle of Eight
If brevity is the soul of wit, then I am sorely lacking. Select any of my blogposts for the proof of this. But the devil is in the details, and I have always endeavoured to be thorough in my deep dives. If that means I am continually long-winded, so be it.
I suppose the proof of this is in my exploration of the Circle of Eight, which was long, indeed. But in my defence, there has been a lot written about these luminous figures of the Flanaess. Their story is long, commencing even before their formation, even before the formation of its predecessor, the Citadel of Eight.
I suspect we all know it and their tales. But do we remember those tales in detail, and in strict chronological order? That’s a hard thing, considering those facts are scattered across the entirety of Greyhawk source materials, innumerable Dragon and Dungeon magazines, and even Oerth Journal issues. I did my utmost compiling all that information.
Was I successful? I leave it to you, Gentle Reader, to weigh judgement on my success, in that regard.
I recently pared down the salient dates concerning the membership of the Circle’s predecessor, the Citadel of Eight, so, it’s only fitting that I should do the same for the Circle, as well.
And let’s face facts, its an easier task doing this than it was compiling the biographies of each and all of the Circle’s members. Far shorter, too.
So, without further ado, I present to you the dates of induction and departure of the Circle’s membership.

We begin with the Citadel’s failure.
569 CY
In the years of their companionship […] and Riggby was promoted speedily within the church of Boccob in Verbobonc. Tenser, Bigby, and Mordenkainen likewise advanced in their own wizardly ways, gaining arcane knowledge and power. [LGJ#0 – 5]

Who then was striving to achieve the Citadel’s goals by this time?
Serten. He alone.
Only he of their number was present for perhaps the most important event that transpired while they professed to continue to exist.
Battle of Emridy Meadows
A great battle was fought to the east, and when villagers saw streams of ochre-robed men and humanoids fleeing south and west through their community, there was great rejoicing, for they knew that the murderous oppressors had been defeated and driven from the field in panic and rout. [T1 The Village of Hommlet – 2]
When Serten fell, none of his friends stood at his side. [LGJ#0 – 5]

Serten’s death was the last nail in the Citadel’s coffin.
Tenser
Tenser blamed Mordenkainen for the death of his friend, and retired inward to his castle. […] 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. [LGJ#0 – 5]
Yrag left the Citadel of Eight […] following a falling-out with Mordenkainen over long-term strategic policy. [TAB – 114]
Mordenkainen, the man who had brought the Citadel together, simply shrugged and returned, with cold eyes, to his studies. [LGJ#0 – 5]

The Citadel of Eight no longer existed. But its dissolution paved the way for another, perhaps loftier, fellowship.
570 CY
Robilar freed Iuz.
In 570 CY, Lord Robilar, his orc henchman Quij and Riggby, Patriarch of Boccob, freed Iuz. [PGtG – 24]
Mordenkainen
The chaos surrounding the return to power of the demigod, luz, in CY 570 prompted Mordenkainen to consider a new paradigm. […]
The Citadel's primary failure, he surmised, had been its inclusive philosophy. As its founding concept had been arcane, he had been foolish to assume that men like Robilar or Riggby would rally to his cause without subtly working against it for reasons personal, spiritual or political. Men of intellect and sorcerous skill, whose primary interests were more than material, would replace them. Thus was born the Circle of Eight.  [LGJ#0 – 6]

Over the next year, Mordenkainen invited some of the most prominent magi in the Flanaess to join him. [LGJ#0 – 6]
Bigby
The first were members, supposedly [according to Gary Gygax] were Bigby, Yrag, Riggby, Felnorith, Zigby, Vram & Vin, but these first came and went, never committing.
Historians would be in error, here. Because Yrag was not a mage; nor were Riggby, Felnorith; and Yrag had left Mordenkainen’s Citadel. Indeed, Mordenkainen had also already decided against Riggby’s inclusion.
Yrag left the Citadel of Eight […] following a falling-out with Mordenkainen over long-term strategic policy. [TAB – 114]

And Bigby, however loyal to his former master, needed to be coaxed back into Mordenkainen’s fold. He would only have returned after Modenkainen’s initial choices had departed. I assume these were Zigby, Vram & Vin, but in truth, I have no clue who these people are/were. I will refrain from comment.
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. [LGJ#0 – 5]

Leomund
571 CY
Better candidates were drawn into Mordenkainen’s scheme with Bigby’s help.
By the first month of 571 CY, he had gathered eight mages to his cause, among them Bigby, Otto, Rary, Nystul, Drawmij, and the affable Bucknard. [LGJ #0 – 6]
[K]nown to have joined the Circle [was] the ancient mage Leomund, an immigrant from the east [.] [TAB – 60]
With Mordenkainen, the Circle were eight in number.

Otiluke
574 CY
The membership of the Circle changed little in the years between its inception and 574 CY, when Tenser, still bitter over the dissolution of the Citadel, sought membership. [LGJ#0 – 6]
He was denied, then. Mordenkainen had his eight; and it would seem that, at least in Mordenkainen’s view, eight is, and will forever be, the optimal number of all his fellowships.

576 CY
Leomund, an immigrant from the east […] retired from the Circle in 576 CY and has been little seen since. Otiluke replaced him later that year. [TAB – 60]
Kieran [Jalucian] was considered unacceptable to join the Circle by virtue of alignment [.] [CoG:FFF – 27]

Bucknard
Membership now is:
Bigby, Bucknard, Drawmij, Mordenkainen, Nystul, Otiluke, Otto, and Rary.

579 CY
Bucknard, who vanished in 579 CY while exploring an unknown demiplane. [PGtG – 23]
After one of the founding mages of the group abandoned Oerth to explore other planes of existence, [Tenser’s] petition was granted, and Tenser brought his unique, if less-than-subtle, ambition to the ideology of the group. [LGJ#0 – 6]

Membership now is:
Bigby, Drawmij, Mordenkainen, Nystul, Otiluke, Otto, Rary, and Tenser.

581 CY
Jalarzi Sallavarian
In 581 CY Jalarzi Sallavarian replaced the powerful wizard Bucknard [.] [PGtG – 23]

Mordenkainen ceases to be an active member of the Circle at this point; thus, membership is:
Bigby, Drawmij, Jallarzi, Nystul, Otiluke, Otto, Rary, and Tenser.

Until this happened, anyway:
An important though seldom noticed event took place in 581 CY, when an agent of Vecna, the Whispered One of ancient Flan legend, struck down the entire Circle of Eight […]. The Circle had acted subtly as a balancing agent for years, preventing any one power from dominating too much of the Flanaess. [LGG – 15]
The recent deaths of the members of the Circle of Eight was the prelude to an attempt by the evil Vecna to overthrow the entire pantheon of Greyhawk’s deities and install himself as absolute ruler of the gods. [WGR2 Treasures of Greyhawk – 32]
Drawmij
Therefore, there is a brief time between 581 and 582 CY when there is no Circle of Eight, at all.

582 CY
Though the Circle's leader, Mordenkainen, returned his colleagues to life using powerful magic, the group was in disarray when war again erupted in the distant north in 582. [LGG – 14]

Early 580s CY
In the early 580s, the Circle of Eight included Bigby, Drawmij, Jallarzi Sallavarian, Nystul, Otiluke, Otto, Rary of Ket [,] and the archmage Tenser. [PGtG – 21]

584 CY
Otto
Autumn of 584 CY saw the signing of the Pact of Greyhawk, an event that would close various hostilities plaguing the continent.
[WGG 3e – 4]
The treaty to end the war was to be ratified in the Grand Hall of Greyhawk, but brief moments before the signing ceremony, an explosion destroyed the area [.] [Rot8 – 3]
When the fire and dust cleared, constables discovered smoldering robes belonging to two powerful members of the mysterious Circle of Eight—Otiluke and Tenser. The murderer of these wizards, undeniably a powerful mage, was discovered to be a third member of the Circle of Eight – Rary. [Wars – 24]

Nystul

Mordenkainen, [is now the] leader of the Circle of Five
[Rot8 – 5]
These are: Bigby, Drawmij, Jallarzi, Nystul, and Otto.
Mordenkainen resumed active membership after the betrayal.

585 CY
Nearly a year ago, the Circle of Eight was shattered by treachery, but its leader, Mordenkainen, has decided to return it to its full strength. While Mordenkainen won’t announce his selections until all members of the new Eight are in the City of Greyhawk, Warnes is a certainty to be one of them [.] [Rot8 – 2]
Before Mordenkainen can come to his decision, Tenser, it was discovered, could be revived, after all.
Tenser was returned to life in 585 CY […], but chose not to return to the Circle of Eight. [PGtG – 21]

Warnes Starcoat

With Tenser’s departure the Circle was (still) down by 3 members.
No matter, because Mordenkainen had made his selection even as Tenser’s clone was discovered. He had only to declare them.
Alhamazad the Wise

Theodain Eriason
New members include the redoubtable Warnes Starcoat (N male human Wiz20) of Urnst; Alhamazad the Wise of Zeif (LN male human Wiz19); and the cold, unemotional Theodain Eriason (CN male elf Wiz17). Mordenkainen remains the ninth member, a "shadow leader" dictating his agenda to others and influencing the Flanaess through his powerful network of agents and servitors.
[LGG – 156]

Membership is now:
Alhamazad, Bigby, Drawmij, Jallarzi, Nystul, Otto, Theodain, and Warnes.
Mordenkainen

And thus it remains until 591 CY.
Mordenkainen, of course, continues to guide them – if that is what a shadow leader does....


How’s that? Short and sweet. I can do that on occasion when I focus. Besides, this piece is merely about names and dates, not detailed events, underlying cause or reasons.


“He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear. But so long as he uttered it, in some obscure way the continuity was not broken.”
― George Orwell, 1984





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:
The Circle of Eightby Mark Zug, from Living Greyhawk Journal #0, 2000
Tenser detail, by Gary Williams, from WG6 Isle of the Ape, 1985
WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure cover, by Clyde Caldwell, 1984
Bigby, by Jeff Easley, from WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure, 1985
Jallarzi Sallavarian, by Sam Wood, from LGJ#0, 2000
Drawmij, by Sam Wood, LGJ#0, 2000
Otto, by Sam Wood, LGJ#0, 2000
Nystul portrait, by Sam Wood, from LGJ#0, 2000
Warnes Starcoat, by Gary Williams, from WG6 Isle of the Ape, 1985
Theodain Eriason, by Sam Wood, from LGJ#0, 2000
Alhamazad the Wise, by Sam Wood, from LGJ#0, 2000
Mordenkainen, by Thomas Denmark, from Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, 2007

Sources:
1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
1043 The City of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1989
1068 Greyhawk Wars Boxed Set, 1991
9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
9026 T1 The Village of Hommlet, 1979,1981
9360 WGR2 Treasures of Greyhawk, 1992
9576 Return of the Eight, 1998
9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
9578 Players Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
11742 World of Greyhawk Gazetteer 3e, 2000
11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
LGJ #0
Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
The Greyhawk Wiki

2 comments:

  1. Well done sir, you can do brevity after all! After reading the timeline it made me think, wait till the next iteration of the Circle of 8! Bigby and Mordy are still in play for D&D. What does the future hold?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amazing. Well done.

    ReplyDelete