 |
| The Hold of Stonefist |
But such was the case.
579 CY
The mage sits down in front of the five
Blades of Corusk and meditates for a minute. His hands move over the blades as
he reads the magical writings. A frigid wind comes from the west, blowing the
powdery snow in swirling whirlwinds. The words coming from his mouth sound like
gibberish to you. As he reads the spell, a loud thunderclap sounds above you.
As the echoes of the thunder die down, the swords shake and hum. Suddenly the
swords disappear with an abrupt popping noise, and the snow turns to steam
beneath them. You all hear a sharp “crack” behind you, and a sudden blast of
wind pushes you forward. Surprised, the mage stops reading and spins around
to see what happened.
As you turn about, you see a barbarian giant standing before you. Appearing perfectly human, except for his 12-foot height, the man smiles down at you with a kind face. Two huge wolves stand on each side of him: these four beasts eye you with amber eyes. Meanwhile, the troops from the north and the south-west continue approaching.
“Thank you, my children. You have awakened me from centuries of cursed sleep. In gratitude, I shall grant you your most intimate desires as long as they do not alter the path events are destined to follow. Speak to me.” [WGS2 - 41]
‘The deity looks over your heads toward the northeast. A smile breaks across his leathery face, showing pearly white, perfect teeth. “Look, the great armies of the Ice Barbarians come to fight at our side. Behind them, the Snow and Frost Barbarians prepare to join the fray. Our peoples are finally as one. This is the way it was meant to be since the dawn of Oerth.” As you turn to look behind you, the faint sound of seal skin drums and mammoth tusk horns reaches your ears. Riding on beasts ranging from horses to musk oxen, the barbarians approach just as the Great God said. The god turns and looks at the ap- proaching enemy armies. A glint of pleasure gleams from his night-black pupils. He heaves a sigh and turns to look at you. “It has begun.” [WGS2 - 42]
Vatun's appearance surprised even those most convinced by the rumors of
the Five Blades, including the barbarian kings who had used the rumors to
further their power. Vatun must have somehow proved his power to these doubtful
rulers, for the kings of Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruski each surrendered their
ancestral sovereignty to "all-powerful" Vatun. [Wars - 7]
The Duke and Duchess of Tenh were
as surprised by the fury of the assault as the Redbeard had been. Though their
forces fought valiantly to defend their lands, they were stretched thin, having
recently fought to clear the Troll Fens. Their army was entrenched upon the
Theocracy, and by the time they had marched to face the Fists, their cause was
already lost. The Duke and Duchess fled to the County of Urnst, and their
people to the borders of Nyrond.
The Circle of Eight sensed a great danger, but somehow their
divinations were blocked. Mordenkainen sent some of his most trusted mages to
investigate. And they died. Every last one of them: Bigby, Drawmij, Jallarzi
Sallavarian, Nystul, Otiluke, Otto, Rary, and Tenser. Of course, death was not
the end of all of them, but that is another tale. Mordenkainen sent others;
their path led ever west and the name Vecna was raised time and again. And Kas.
And Iuz.
Bone March is now steeped in
discord, ruled by a coalition of invading nonhuman tribes, particularly orcs,
gnolls, and ogres. Humanity, which once thrived here, is generally enslaved and
subject to the capricious whims of petty bandit chiefs and nonhuman warlords
who raid Ratik and even North Kingdom at will, going as far as Nyrond and the
Flinty Hills to pillage. [LGG - 35]
The Lordship of the Isles
quickly became a hotbed of intrigue. The new prince, a little-known Suel lord
named Frolmar Ingerskatti of Ganode, immediately withdrew the Lordship from the
Iron League and set about lending his naval forces to the maneuvers of the
Scarlet Brotherhood, including the blockade of the Tilva Strait that continues
to the present day. [LGG - 72]
Infighting soon broke out
between several of the nonhuman tribes, and the sides remained stalemated until
586 CY, when Alain IV, Archbaron Lexnol's son and heir, launched a raid into
the fallen realm that was composed in large part of expatriates of the march,
it was a doomed mission. The unusually organized nonhumans laid a trap for the
force in the hills north of Spinecastle. Horrified survivors who escaped back
to Ratikhill reported that the trapped raiders were dragged from their horses,
torn apart, and eaten alive before their eyes. Raids into the archbarony from
Bone March have resumed. [LGG - 37]
Trade need be found if the markets to the west were closed to the East.
Maybe there were markets to the east? There was the rumoured Fireland. And
there had to be other lands east of there. There was only one way to find out. Small
Fleet from Asperdi (Sea Barons) sets sail across the Solnor Ocean.
The fleet from the Sea Barons had set sail
three long years earlier and had not yet returned. Had they found Fireland? If
they had, that is a tale for another day. But in truth, whether they had found
Fireland or not, Fireland found Ratik. One day, much to Marner’s surprise, a longship
from Fireland sailed into its port, its flanks scorched, its sails torn and
tattered.
Did I not mention Vecna? How thoughtless of me. Last we
saw of him, he was imprisoned in the Shadowfell after an epic battle with Iuz
back in 581 CY. But, ever the paranoid soul, Vecna would never have lived as
long as he had were he not a cagy one. He knew that one day he might be
defeated. He knew that one day he might need a means of return. And he prepared
for such a day. And that day had come.
The Art:
Sources:
1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
2138 Book of Artifacts, 1993
9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
9317 WGS1, The Five Shall be One, 1991
9337 WGS2, Howl from the North, 1991
9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
11742 Gazetteer, 2000
11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
Ivid the Undying, 1998
Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
As you turn about, you see a barbarian giant standing before you. Appearing perfectly human, except for his 12-foot height, the man smiles down at you with a kind face. Two huge wolves stand on each side of him: these four beasts eye you with amber eyes. Meanwhile, the troops from the north and the south-west continue approaching.
“Thank you, my children. You have awakened me from centuries of cursed sleep. In gratitude, I shall grant you your most intimate desires as long as they do not alter the path events are destined to follow. Speak to me.” [WGS2 - 41]
‘The deity looks over your heads toward the northeast. A smile breaks across his leathery face, showing pearly white, perfect teeth. “Look, the great armies of the Ice Barbarians come to fight at our side. Behind them, the Snow and Frost Barbarians prepare to join the fray. Our peoples are finally as one. This is the way it was meant to be since the dawn of Oerth.” As you turn to look behind you, the faint sound of seal skin drums and mammoth tusk horns reaches your ears. Riding on beasts ranging from horses to musk oxen, the barbarians approach just as the Great God said. The god turns and looks at the ap- proaching enemy armies. A glint of pleasure gleams from his night-black pupils. He heaves a sigh and turns to look at you. “It has begun.” [WGS2 - 42]
Vatun, Great God of the North
had returned, and he had a plan for his people. They would conquer the North,
as they had always been destined to do. And not just the North, they were
destined to conquer the world.
 |
| Vatun |
All the barbarians were
inflamed by a rumor that swept their lands: that four of five legendary magical
swords, the Swords of Corusk, had been found, and that when the fifth was
obtained, a "Great God of the North" would rise and lead them to
conquest and greatness. The fifth sword never was found, but one calling
himself Vatun and claiming to be the Great God of the North appeared before the
barbarians of Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruskii, and they swept west into Stonefist
under his leadership. [FtAA - 6]
It wasn’t Vatun. It was Iuz. And
he set them upon the Holds of Stonefist.
The first strike was a stroke of unusual cunning and ingenuity.
Constructing an elaborate fiction about a "Great God Vatun," Iuz
managed to ally the barbarian nations together. Deluded by dreams of greatness,
the barbarians subjugated the Hold of Stonefist. [WGR4 Iuz the Evil - 3]
The Barbarians swept across the
Stonehold with fierce resolve. They would not be defeated. Vatun had returned
and said as much. Sevvord Redbeard, Master of the Hold, desperately tried to
fend off their assault, but he could not muster his forces fast enough.
Even as Vatun appeared before his dread-filled followers, the Fists
converged upon them to stop the ceremony. In the brief battle that ensued,
Vatun easily routed the Fists and thereby won the prostrate praise of the
barbarians. [Wars - 7]
Redbeard was run down, and
brought before Vatun for judgement. No one can say what the Great God of the
North said to the Redbeard, Vatun cleared the hall of all but him and the
vanquished leader, but when the audience was concluded, the Redbeard had
committed not only his atamans, but his life to that northern god.
The Fists were overwhelmed
and their leader, Seword Redbeard, underwent a dramatic, if not to say magical,
change of allegiance. [FtAA - 6]
“I have seen the light of a Great Northern God, my brothers,” the
Redbeard said to his atamans, “and he showed me the error of our ways! We have
spent our strength against the barbarians and the horsemen of the Barrens for
too long. We have dribbled it away in small raids, when we should have crushed
them under our Fists! Let us not waste it any longer when there is greater loot
to be had in the south! The riches of Tenh is ours for the taking! Who’s with
me?”
And although they did not entirely trust the barbarians and their
northern god, they trusted in the Redbeard’s strength.
The Hold of Stonefist remained a threat to Tenh for more than a
century, and ultimately brought about its destruction. The first action of the
Greyhawk Wars was an invasion of war bands from Stonehold, though this was
unlike any previous attack. The Fists had new tactics, and demonic assistance,
that overwhelmed the defenses of the city of Calbut, and soon thereafter,
Nevond Nevnend. Had the duke been in the city at the time, perhaps he could
have rallied his troops to stand; as it was, both citizens and soldiers gave
way to panic—though in hindsight, many have suggested that this was demonically
inspired fear. The duke and his family fled to the County of Urnst, leaving
their nation to the Stoneholders, and the clerics and demons of Iuz. [LGG - 113]
The men of Stonefist never conquered [the] castles [of Dour Prentress]
and they have no living occupants now. The Fists have no desire to meet the
ferocious fen trolls and the eastern lands are virtually unpatrolled by them.
All that is known for certain is that madness and plague broke out among the
thousands of defenders of these castles as the Fists stormed into Atherstone.
Of course, Iuz had a hand in this. Some of the survivors say that fiends
stalked the battlements and that black stinking fogs drifted across the walls
for a week of unremitting horror. The defenders fled, some insane enough to
flee even into the fens, and others from Dour Pentress went across the border
to the Brilliant Castles where a few score now serve the Theocracy. The
defenders left much behind such as wands, scrolls, magical weapons, magical
arrows, and other valuables. Whether the minds and bodies of those entering
could survive the ordeal they would face is most uncertain. To be sure, the
Fists are wiser than to try. [WGR5 - 70,71]
 |
| The Subjection of Tenh |
Within less than two weeks the capital of Tenh had fallen as well, and
its duke fled to the County of Urnst. The rhelt of Stonehold was now overlord
of Tenh, though under the supernatural control of Iuz, for a powerful and
nearly undetectable charm had been placed on [Redbeard]. [LGG - 109]
All good things must come to an
end. Iuz dared too much. He commanded the Barbarians to attack Ratik, and they
began to doubt their newly returned northern god. Raiding the Sea Barons and
the North Kingdom was one thing, so too striking Tenh, but they had kin in
Ratik. And, for the Fruztii, a friend.
The Vatun ruse did not last long. Commanding the barbarians to strike
into Ratik, a long-time ally of the barbarians, was a mistake by Iuz, some
think. Others say that he wished to abandon this part of the Flanaess to
confusion, since its role as a ruse and feint was played to the full. In any
event, the barbarians began to slink quietly home, though the Fists remained in
Tenh and occupy it still. Now Iuz could concentrate fully on the war. [WGR5 - 4]
581 CY
Not all things go as planned. Sometimes, the most unexpected things can happen,
things that even the Old One could never have planned for.
Gradually, Vecna’s cult grew
and he assumed the powers of a demigod. The process took a long time—gathering
his power, responding to his worshipers, and settling himself among the greater
powers. Vecna persevered and eventually reached the point where he was accepted
as a minor demigod in the legions of evil.
Guaranteed immortality, Vecna
was still not satisfied. With his scheming mind, he has devised a plan to ascend
to greater godhood and humble his rival deities. With his usual long patience,
Vecna has been working on this plan for centuries. Working through his avatar
or others, the Whispered One has carefully found seven magical items. Each item
has been placed in a secret location, the position strategic to his plans.
These items, when fully powered,
will cast a mystical web of energy over all of Oerth, cutting off all other
gods from their followers. Already they are creating interference on a local
scale. Only Vecna will receive the adulation of his worshipers: the other gods
will weaken and leave the path open for Vecna to rise to the fore. Then the
Whispered One will open the gates of time and bring forth his faithful
followers from the past. Feeding on their devotions, Vecna will become the
greatest of gods.
There is only one difficulty
that remains for Vecna—finding his Eye and Hand. They are the final keys to
fully empower the web, the final keys that open the gate of time. He knows not
where these are. In the final confrontation with Kas, when they were sundered
from his body, the gods (perhaps foreseeing his powers) hid them from his
senses. Vecna cannot detect their energies; he can only find them by seeing
their effects on others, much like finding a boat by the wake it creates. Too
many times he has come close, only to have them escape his grasp. This time, he
is determined not to fail. [WGA4 Vecna Lives! - 7]
 |
| Tovag Baragu |
Their investigations led them to Tovag Baragu, where they came
upon an avatar of Vecna, who had opened a portal to Vecna’s past, the ruins of
the palace of the Spidered Throne.
Through the gateway can be clearly seen a great mass of people. They
are all surging and milling forward, their attention focused on the window as
if they can see through into the present. They, too, seem drawn by Turim’s
chant. The first are just preparing to step through the opening. [WGA4 - 66]
Against such odds, the Circle’s
heros couldn’t hope to win, so they did the unthinkable, they summoned Iuz, for
only a demigod could hope to defeat a demigod.
Iuz came, and Iuz battled Vecna,
and very nearly perished. He didn’t perish, though, but had had he, the world
might have been in very dire straights. Had Vecna won, he would have severed
Oerth from the celestial and outer planes, and it would certainly have plunged
into an age darker than it had ever known, an age from which it would never be
freed. But, he hadn’t; and it hadn’t. But Iuz didn’t win either. He and Vecna
plunged into the portals of Tovag Baragu. What became of them? The heroes couldn’t
say.
And so, strangely, to our most
beleaguered incredulity, we owe a debt of gratitude to Iuz, for if it were not
for him, the universe would have been plunged into darkness. But let’s not get
carried away, his confrontation with Vecna gave Iuz ideas. He imagined a world
which bowed to him, and him alone.
584-585 CY
The Loftwood burned. The orcs had
attacked Ratik and been thrust aside. Little Ratik! In their rage, the orcs set
their wood ablaze. And when the men of Ratik rushed to save their precious
trees, the orcs meant to set them ablaze, too.
The
site of a great Ratikkan victory over Bone March orcs (578 CY), the wood was
partly despoiled by nonhumans setting fires (584—585 CY). It is once again a
battleground between Ratik in the north and orcs and gnolls in the south. [LGG - 141]
584 CY
The Bone March skirmishes with Ratik and
Nyrond.
 |
| Grennel |
Despite the fact that those
tribes abut the North Kingdom still raided those towns with impunity, the Bone
March still expected the debt of their having helped the North Kingdom by
attacking Nyrond to be paid: "We helped you fight Nyrond, now you help us
storm Ratik." They and the North Kingdom shared a border, and common
interests, were mentioned. Grennell could not help but notice the implied
threat.
For himself, Grenell doesn't
give a fig about Ratik. Unfortunately, no few of his most powerful local rulers
care a great deal about Ratik—as do many ordinary folk. Many of them share the
same Oeridian-Flan racial mix as the men of Ratik, and they admire the rugged
bravery of Ratik's warriors in having kept the humanoids at bay for so long.
They are opposed to any plan to conquer Ratik, and some of them are ready to go
and fight for Ratik should Grenell dare act against that nation.
There is another twist to
this. The barbarian nations are strongly allied with Ratik. At the present
time, their raids are focused on the Sea Barons and they do not often raid most
points along the eastern North Province seaboard, save for Bellport. This is
because many of the rulers and armies of that eastern seaboard have managed to
make a peace of sorts with the fierce [Suel] barbarians, Prince Elkerst of
Atirr being a notable example. Indeed, the barbarians increasingly trade with
some North Province coastal towns and villages, and that trade brings much needed
wood, furs, and other commodities in short supply in North Province. [Ivid - 44]
Kaport Bay
Kaport Bay is the most rugged
of North Province's towns, a whaling station and fishing town of 5,200 souls.
Together with its twin satellite villages of Low and High Scarport, this town
has a characteristic atmosphere. The people here are hardy men and women with
little time for frivolity—or outsiders. They term themselves
"Kaportlanders" and are proud of this. Flan blood is strong, and the
Kaportlanders are no friends of Grenell and his court. Kaport Bay maintains
three stout war galleys used to protect its whaling fleet, not least against
the attacks of deep-sea kraken in the Solnor Ocean. Barbarians rarely raided
here in the past, given their blood ties with the fair-haired Kaportlanders,
and they do not do so now. [Ivid - 56]
Grennel thought on what might
happen if he honoured his debt to the orcs. If he attacked Ratik, the Barbarian
raids would surely recommence. His was a precarious balance. And besides, he’d
already aided the orcs when he sent agents to liberate the Seal of Marner from
the Baronial Vault. And they did, and they passed the Seal on the orcs waiting
in the Kelmar Pass. It wasn’t his fault the orcs had lost the Seal to the
Ratikkans pursuing them.
Besides, hadn’t he already
helped them enough?
The influence of North Province
(now North Kingdom) has led to greater organization and military effectiveness
among these barbaric tribes. [LGG - 35]
Trade shrank as the Tilva Strait
closed, and piracy had plagued the seas north of it since, if the reduction of
trade could actually be conceived as its cause, for indeed, the Solnor Coast
had always been beleaguered by pirates and privateers.
In truth, the Scarlet
Brotherhood controled the sea lanes between the Aerdi Sean and the Densac Gulf,
and the Azure Sea.
Spindrift Sound itself is navigable,
but shipping is menaced by the Scarlet Brotherhood and the activities of a few
pirates based on the eastern Medegian coast. [LGG - 68]
 |
| Frolmar Ingerskatti |
The Brotherhood commands the
southern seaways, with naval blockades in the shark-infested waters of the
Tilva Strait, and in the so-called "Southern Gates" of the Azure Sea,
between the Amedio Jungle and the Tilvanot Peninsula neat the Olman Isles. [LGG - 98]
Ratik understood its peril, and
it began an ambitious project, one that taxed its resources, but was deemed
essential by Luxnol. What good would minding the nations finances do were they
slaughtered by the orcs and gnolls to the south, and the Fists to the north. Castles
and fortresses and redoubts sprang up along the Kelmar Pass and the Flinty
Hills, and in the northern Timberway. More rose up within the Kelten Pass, for
surely the Fists would come again.
Ratik is developing an
ambitious castlebuilding program, constructing strong keeps along its southern
margins not far from the foothills of the eastern spur of the Rakers. They are
digging in for a long struggle against the humanoids of the Bone March. Ratik
is seeking mercenaries to defend the builders during the coming spring and
summer. [FtAA - 73]
c. 586-591 CY
Grennell wondered about the tactics of the
orcs, for in truth, they had developed a cunning and patience hitherto unknown
to those savage tribes, and strategies he had not taught them. Rumours abounded
that the hierarchs of the Horned Society were not dead after all, that a few,
if not all, had escaped Iuz’s wrath, and were now headquartered along the coast
of the Pomarj, or even in the Bright Desert or Rift Canyon. Rumours persisted
that they had found their way into the Bone March.
 |
| The Hierarchs of the Horned Society |
The Hierarchs and the rest of the leadership of the Horned Society were
presumed destroyed in Coldeven 583 CY, during the night of the Blood-Moon
Festival. Demonic forces sent by Iuz slew the Hierarchs there and allowed Iuz
to quietly take command of their nation. It is possible that one or more
Hierarchs survived the incident and is attempting to rebuild the organization,
but most assume that the group is no longer a threat. Still, Arkalan Sammal,
the renowned sage of Greyhawk, made an interesting appraisal based on reports
gathered by the old sage in recent years. The society, he claims, survives in
the present day and has metamorphosed from a group centralized within a single
nation to one with its secret tendrils buried across the Flanaess. "The
Horned Society must surely have known that the return of Iuz would spell its
ultimate downfall," he reasons. "It would have planned for this
eventuality, most likely by moving its operations out of Molag before the Old
One's axe fell." Rumors during the last five years have placed the group's
headquarters along the coast of the Pomarj, in Bone March, or even in the
Bright Desert or Rift Canyon. Most people no longer care, for Iuz is now
perceived as the true threat. However, suggests Arkalan, the Horned Society has
become even more dangerous since its dispersal. As the Archmage Mordenkainen
was heard to comment last year during a conclave in Greyhawk, "Are their
members now dozens, hundreds, thousands? Where are they headquartered? What do
they plot? Can we rest assured of the death of the Unnamable Hierarch? To the
one who could answer these questions would go the thanks of a free
people." [LGG - 156,157]
Fellreev Forest: This entire expanse of birch and scrub oak
is claimed by Iuz, though the Old One enjoys little power here. Most of the
forest is ruled by clans of sylvan elves allied with Reyhu refugees since the
Greyhawk Wars. A significant force of undead is also here, rumored to be led by
an escaped Horned Society Hierarch. Iuz gains little by sending traditional
soldiers here, so he uses the Fellreev as a hunting ground for trained
monsters. [LGG]
586 CY
The
Flight of Fiends
In Coldeven 586, Canon Hazen of Veluna employed the Crook of Rao, a
powerful artifact, in a special ceremony that purged the Flanaess of nearly all
fiends inhabiting it. Outsiders summoned by Iuz, Ivid, or independent evils
fell victim to this magical assault, which became known as the Flight of
Fiends. [LGG - 16]
No one knows how many demons survived the Flight of Fiends in 586 CY;
few have surfaced. [LGG - 61]
Alain IV, Archbaron Lexnol’s
son, was never a patient man. He had a vision the Bone March and Ratik as one,
just as his father and the Marquis Clement had intended, and had discussed. He
vowed to make it so. And thus, he launched a raid to repatriate Bone March.
It failed.
Disastrously.
Bone March is now steeped in
discord, ruled by a coalition of invading nonhuman tribes, particularly orcs,
gnolls, and ogres. Humanity, which once thrived here, is generally enslaved and
subject to the capricious whims of petty bandit chiefs and nonhuman warlords
who raid Ratik and even North Kingdom at will, going as far as Nyrond and the
Flinty Hills to pillage. Nomadic bandit gangs, survivors and descendants of the
onceproud human culture, prey on one and all. Only the small, autonomous county
of Knurl is secure at present, aside from a handful of nearly forgotten gnome
strongholds in the Blemu Hills. [LGG - 35]
Baron Lexnol collapsed from the
news and was rendered unfit to rule. Lady Evaleigh, Alain’s wife, understood
that were he to fail, Ratik would be lost, so she hid his infirmity at first,
ruling in his proxy. But the state of his health could not be hidden forever.
And soon, she dropped the pretence of her speaking on his behest and became Her
Valorous Prominence, Evaleigh, the Lady Baroness of Ratik. Not all were
pleased. The Fruztii had loved the old Baron, and the Schnai were less inclined
to treat with a woman, especially one as young as she.
Upon hearing of his son's
demise, old Baron Lexnol collapsed. He awakened the next morning with a shock
of white hair and a palsy that confined him to bed. Lady Evaleigh, now widowed,
assumed the throne and has guided Ratik through the trouble that has befallen
it. Raids from Bone March have become progressively stronger and more organized
the last few years. Her father's realm, the county of Knurl, was attacked a few
months ago and was only saved by the snows of winter. [LGG - 91]
 |
| Across the Solnor Sea |
Ships from resource-hungry lands
of the eastern Flanaess are striking out in search of trading partners, hoping
to rebuild from the wars. The Sea Barons and the east coast city-states of Rel
Astra, Ountsy, and Roland are now exploring the mini-continent of Hepmonaland,
returning with fantastic tales and riches. (Many fall prey to disease, pirates,
monsters, and privateers from the Scarlet Brotherhood and Lordship of the
Isles, however.) Several major kingdoms full of new peoples are said to lie in
this tropical land, some rumored to be at war with the slave-taking
Brotherhood. [TAB - 38]
Several ships captained by half-elven smugglers joined a flotilla of
the Sea Barons in their journey over the Solnor. They had an ulterior motive.
The half-elves were reportedly searching for the last members of the
dispossessed Council of Five of Lendore.
In the years since the
Greyhawk Wars, some of the surviving exiles have joined together with
half-elven captains on the Medegian coast. It is an open secret that they are
smugglers, willing to transport any cargo for a price. Several of these ships
secretly accompanied the flotilla of the Sea Barons in their voyage over the
Solnor in 586-589 CY. The Spindrift exiles were thought to be searching for the
last members of the Council of Five, who had fled across the waves when the
clerics of Sehanine usurped their authority. It is not clear what benefit they
seek by contacting their deposed leaders, but the half-elves clearly wish to
return to their birthplace and free it of the magical affliction of Sehanine. [LGG - 69,70]
588 CY
What became of Vecna and Iuz? Who can say? But
where Vecna could not be scyed, Iuz somehow remained upon Oerth. Iuz’s empire
remained intact. And his tyranny marched on, unabated.
But, all good things must come
to an end. The fiends had fled and Iuz was stretched thin, tasked not only with
administering his newly acquired empire, but beset with rebels and banditry and
the persistent attacks of those who didn’t appreciate his desire to remake the whole
of Flanaess in his own image.
The use of the Crook of Rao by Canon Hazen of Veluna, in 586 CY, had
dire repercussions for Iuz's armies. Bereft of their powerful masters, many
lesser nonhumans and ambitious human generals attempted to stage coups
throughout the occupied lands, even as rebel bandits and indigenous populations
took advantage of the Flight of Fiends to strike back at their oppressors.
[LGG - 62]
It was inevitable that he would
lose control of Sevvord Redbeard of Hold of Stonefist. He cared not for that
cold and distant land. It had little of value, except grist for the mill. And
he knew that it would continue to slip into the state of chaos it has always
courted. So, he turned his back on the Stonehold, so as to focus on the conflict
that really mattered, Furyondy.
Sevvord flew into a rage when he
awoke and realised that he’d been played a puppet to another’s schemes. He
fumed! He raged! And all those within his gaze cowered from his anger. He gathered
Fists from across Tenh, and killed every cleric of Iuz he could find, impaling
them on posts and leaving them to rot in the wind. He and his slaughtered
hundreds, if not thousands, of Tenha slaves when he could not find enough
Iuzian clerics to sate his need. He wished to kill more, to line every road
with the spiked corpses of an entire nation as a warning to any who might ever
try to subjugate him again. However, he had not the time. He need return home. When
he ran out of slaves, he left a rearguard to occupy Calbut and marched to drive
the hated barbarians from his homeland. He would paint the Kelten Pass with
their blood, he promised, and its flowing would thaw the Frozen River for all
time.
For six years after the
invasion, the Stoneholders held the Tenha enslaved. The evil of Iuz was present
throughout the land as well, though never in plain sight. Perhaps this state of
affairs would have persisted indefinitely had not an unnatural rage come upon
the rhelt of Stonehold, during a meeting in the ruins of the duke's palace at
Nevond Nevnend. [LGG - 113,114]
By means not yet known, Iuz's
charm-like control of Sevvord Redbeard was broken in mid-588 CY. Enraged at the abuse he
suffered, Redbeard vowed revenge. [TAB - 22]
In an astonishing turn of
loyalty, he gave the command to put the clerics and agents of Iuz to the sword,
also letting his warriors murder Tenha slaves out of hand. [LGG - 114]
Iuz priests, soldiers, and
advisors in the area were slaughtered on sight, and Tenh was plunged into
bloodshed once again. The Master then ordered a looting of Tenh and a retreat
to Nevond Nevnend and Calbut. Stonefist warriors meant to keep this area so as
to guard Thunder Pass (called Rockegg Pass by the Tenha), the route through the
Griff Mountains back to Stonefist. Reports were already filtering back to the
Stonefist troops that a force of Ice and Snow Barbarians was raiding and
burning its way across the Hold, and all wished to go home and do battle. [TAB - 22]
The Fists then withdrew from
all but the northernmost part of Tenh, which they still hold. Armies from the
Pale and forces loyal to the exiled duke quickly crossed the borders, battling
each other for possession of the southern and eastern regions of the duchy,
including the Phostwood. [LGG - 114]
There are 20,000 Stonefist
men in Tenh, with conflicting desires. On the one hand, rulership of this
fertile land is good, but on the other, their instincts are to pillage, maraud,
decimate, and then go home with all the loot they can carry. Instead, they stay
here as slave drivers. Spending days overseeing slave farmers is not exactly
what Fist men find exciting. The Stonefist nation is young, born in adversity
and constant marauding. Constant movement on attack and retreating to defensive
fortifications after that attack, not occupying their conquests, is what makes
the Stonefist men feel comfortable. There is another problem weighing on the
minds of the Fists. Since the sham of the "Great God Vatun” was exposed
and barbarian shamans and priests have begun to see that Iuz was behind it all,
the Fists face more hostility and raids from their traditional foes, the
eastern barbarians. No longer are these two uneasy allies. Having occupied
Calbut and secured Thunder Pass is useful to the Fists, but keeping men in Tenh
when they are needed to defend Stonefist against the barbarians is irksome.
Many seek to go home, putting Tenh through one last ordeal of slaughter and
pillage before they go. In the interim, many are restless and bored, prone to
drunkenness and mindless violence against the Tenhas. [WGR4 - 67]
[A] many-sided war began in
Tenh, involving the mutually hostile forces of Iuz, Stonehold, the Pale, and
Tenha expatriates. The war goes on today. [LGG - 16]
 |
| From Distant Fireland |
In Marner, capital of Ratik,
a lone long ship sailed into port in late 590 CY. The pale barbarians aboard
the ship spoke a dialect of the Cold Tongue and claimed to be from a distant
northeastern island called Fireland. They came with four other ships in search
of help for an undisclosed problem facing their people; their other long ships
were sunk by sea monsters or Ice Barbarian raiders. The aged explorer Korund of
Ratik can supply maps and some information to anyone wishing to return to
Fireland with these barbarians, but he is too infirm to travel and is growing
senile as well. Frost Barbarians believe “Firelanders” are descended from
sailers from the Thillonrian Peninsula who settled there centuries ago; the
barbarians wish to establish contact with them. The glaciated land is called
Fireland for its volcanoes, visible for many miles at night as red fountains in
the sea. [TAB - 38]
Ratik:
Alain was not the only one to desire the
freedom of the Bone March. Lady Evaleigh wishes the same, for her father’s city
of Knurl is hard pressed and in need of succour. And in truth, war will continue
between the Bone March and Ratik, as it must, for each cannot rest while the
other exists. The Bone March shall never forgive Ratik or the Frost Barbarians
for their incursions into its territory.
In 590 CY, a full-scale
assault over the Blemu Hills into Knurl was also attempted, but failed. Thus
far, the defenses of the count have held firm, but he expects another wave of
attacks this year. [LGG]
Humanoid tribes and bandit
gangs appear to be cooperating of late. Masked advisors were seen by spies in
the councils of the orcs and gnolls at Spinecastle. Treasure seekers have
entered the abandoned keep at Spinecastle, but few have returned alive. Without
aid from Ratik, Count Dunstan of Knurl might ally with Ahlissa or North Kingdom
to save his realm. [LGG - 37]
Ambassadors from the Scarlet
Brotherhood were spied in Djekul. Ratik wants to expand the alliance against
Bone March and North Kingdom to include the Snow Barbarians, but the Schnai
will negotiate only with Lexnol. Agents of the Sea Barons have approached
Evaleigh to gain access to Marner. A half-orc spy working for North Kingdom was
discovered in Ratikhill but escaped. [LGG - 91]
Frost
Barbarians:
Nobles from
Ratik have great influence at court but are not always trusted. Scarlet
Brotherhood agents are well received but bring strange news and promises.
Merchants from the Lordship of the Isles have a growing presence, offering
unusually generous trade deals that make some jarls suspicious. Hundgred's
court is growing isolated from other northern barbarian nations. [LGG - 45]
Snow
Barbarians:
An intermittent
war smolders with Stonehold. King Ingemar generously feasts and rewards his
chaotic jarls to insure their loyalty. Frost Barbarian jarls also being feted
to gain their friendship and influence; this is viewed as blatant bribery, but
it works. The king receives Scarlet Brotherhood agents at court, but privately
says he does not trust them. [LGG - 106]
Ice Barbarians:
Royal hatred of the Scarlet Brotherhood
grows, as does distrust of the Frost Barbarians. Stonehold accuses the Ice
Barbarians of attacking Vlekstaad. There are secret parlays between the Snow
and Ice Barbarians for raids against the Sea Barons and possibly the Lordship
of the Isles. [LGG - 55]
Stonefist:
Rhelt Sevvord is the absolute
master of these people, and his troops are expected to obey him without
question. The punishment for disobedience is slow death, though the rhelt
always rewards his loyal troops with plunder and captives. So far, Reword
Redbeard has maintained his personal authority and become the most important
figure in his nation's history since Stonefist himself. Still, many feel that
his time has passed, and wait for a leader who will be strong enough to
challenge him. [LGG - 109]
Revenge is widely sought
against the northern barbarians for the burning of Vlekstaad, but Iuz's forces
are hated even more. Conspiracies are suspected between Iuz and several war
band leaders to gain control of Stonehold. Murders of war band leaders (by
their fellows) are on the rise. [LGG - 110]
The Sea Baron Fleet returned from expedition across the Solnor.
Ships from resource-hungry
lands of the eastern Flanaess are striking out in search of trading partners,
hoping to rebuild from the wars. The Sea Barons and the east coast city-states
of Rel Astra, Ountsy, and Roland are now exploring the mini-continent of
Hepmonaland, returning with fantastic tales and riches. (Many fall prey to
disease, pirates, monsters, and privateers from the Scarlet Brotherhood and
Lordship of the Isles, however.) Several major kingdoms full of new peoples are
said to lie in this tropical land, some rumored to be at war with the
slave-taking Brotherhood. [TAB - 38]
The Sea Barons do not desire
a permanent alliance with the Cities of the Solnor Compact, distrusting Drax's
motives, but they feign friendship. The Sea Barons fear assassination or worse
by the Scarlet Brotherhood, and treat with strangers in their lands harshly.
Expeditions launched to the mysterious south in the last few years have
returned with tales of fantastic wonders and riches. [LGG - 100]
Rovers of the
Barrens:
The Rovers are a feeble folk
now, but they still mount small raids into neighbouring lands. They spend most
of their time hunting bear, wolf and northern deer. They fish the Icy Sea. They
harvest pine and fur from the Forlorn Forest. They hunt deer and bison. They
lay low. As they must. For they must rebuild their strength, as they did after
the Battle of Opicm River.
A secret alliance with the
Wolf Nomads is being negotiated. Scouts are searching for survivors from the
scattered war bands, including allied centaurs and elves. Horses are supplied
to tribes loyal to new war sachem, Nakanwa. All forces of Iuz that hunt Rovers
(including Grossfort) are closely watched, to be either avoided or destroyed.
[LGG - 95]
Iuz:
Iuz retains a precarious hold on the
East. The Bandit Kingdoms chaff under his rule. The remains of the Rovers of
the Barrens and the remnents of Tenh strain against his rule. Stonehold has no
love for Iuz, and he must resort to influence and stratagems to retain control
when that does not appeal to his paranoid and visious self, who’d rather rule
by bane magics and brute force.
Though some remain, the loss of the bulk of Iuz's fiends has resulted
in low morale, revolts, and disorganization within an already chaotic regime.
[LGG - 63]
Now embroiled in what
Furyondy has termed a "permanent and unalterable state of. war,"
Iuz's attention has been drawn to his southwestern border, perhaps at the
expense of holding in Tenh, the Barrens, and the old Bandit Kingdoms. Though
bereft of the bulk of his demonic aid, Iuz's armies are far more numerous than
those of his enemies. They not only follow the Old One, but worship him,
believing that to fail their infernal master is not only to fail their liege,
but their god, as well. [LGG - 62,63]
 |
| Vecna |
He’d been plotting. He’d been scheming.
And he wanted revenge. Against Iuz.
And he wanted revenge. Against Iuz.
"No matter how powerful a
being is, there exists a secret that can destroy him. In every heart is a seed
of darkness hidden from all others; find that evil seed, and your enemies are
undone. Strength and power come if you know and control what others dare not
show. Never reveal all that you know, or your enemies will lake your seed,
too." [LGG - 186]
Despite Vecna’s entrapment in
the Demiplane of Dread, long-laid plans have come to fruition. In Vecna’s quest
to achieve full and permanent godhood, he instigated several alternative
strategies in the millennia of his existence. Many of these designs have played
out with little to recommend them, but elements of more sinister schemes
continue to move unnoticed.
One such plan has promise at
this point. Sometime during the span of years before his imprisonment, Vecna
went to a lot of trouble secretly fabricating two tablets inscribed with a true
dweomer in the Language Primeval. Then he buried them in a plausible
archeological site. […]
Though any of a handful of
demipowers would have served Vecna’s purpose, the corpse king Iuz took the
bait. Having stolen the tablets from their original discoverers several years
ago, Iuz has slowly brought his considerable resources to bear on the tablets.
The more Iuz learned, the more the ancient formula seemed, to him and all his
divinatory means, an ancient dweomer of stupendous strength, whereby a
demipower might bootstrap itself to full ascension! […]
The tablets lie. [Die Vecna
Die - 2,3]
Iuz enacted the formula, and the
formula drew the power from him, a conduit to Vecna, who then had the means to
break free from the Shadowfell and emerge with the power of a greater god. Vecna
then entered the city of Sigil, where he came perilously close to rearranging
all existence to his whims. When Vecna was ejected from Sigil by a party of
adventurers, Iuz was freed and Vecna returned to Oerth greatly reduced in
power, though still a lesser god.
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:
Vatun, by Ken Frank, from WGS2 Howl from the North, 1991
Tovag Baragu, by Ken Frank, WGA4 Vecna Lives!, 1990
Tovag Baragu, by Ken Frank, WGA4 Vecna Lives!, 1990
Sources:
1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992
2138 Book of Artifacts, 1993
9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980
9317 WGS1, The Five Shall be One, 1991
9337 WGS2, Howl from the North, 1991
9399 WGR 5, Iuz the Evil, 1993
9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998
9578 Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, 1998
11742 Gazetteer, 2000
11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000
Ivid the Undying, 1998
Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.
Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
