The Isles of Woe

 

“But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea.”

― Plato, Timaeus and Critias

The Isles of Woe

Little is known about the past. It is lost to time, buried under layers of lava, windswept dunes, the contemporary tiers of conquering cities, even beneath the undulating surface of the seas. But it persists, too, on the walls of tombs, the etchings of baked clay tablets, on shards of pottery, in song, and in the memory of the aged, who keep it alive in the tales they tell, when the night is cold and dark and the firepit crackles.

One persistent legend among the Flan is that of a wondrous citadel, said to have sat near the very heart of the Flanaess in ancient times, when kingdoms of the Ur-Flan spanned the length and breadth of the subcontinent. Known as Veralos, a word meaning “aerie” in the ancient tongue of the Flan, the structure was supposedly erected somewhere near the cracked and broken ridge of the Rift Canyon, in what is now referred to as the Bandit Kingdoms. According to the oral traditions, the stronghold was the retreat of princely Ur-Flan scholars, artisans, and mystics in ancient times. It was a repository of great knowledge, learning, and contemplation, drawing disciples from many neighboring kingdoms. These highly-skilled Flan were said to have created extraordinary wonders (such as magical tablets, statuary, ensorcelled jewelry, and astounding weapons) often by commission for the lords of lands such as Sulm, Itar, Ahlissa, and Nuria. The gathered lords of the citadel even paid fealty to the Wizard-Priests of the Isles of Woe, until that fell dominion sank beneath the waves early in prehistory. [Dragon #293 – 90]

Sulm, Itar, Ahlissa and Nuria; and the Isles of Woe.

The Mysterious Magical Isles

What became of the mysterious Isles of Woe, and who dwelled there? [LGG – 13]

According to legend, the Isles of Woe once stood in the Nyr Dyv, but no reliable source catalogs their size, exact location, population, or even their number (usually put at three but ranging up to seven, depending on the story). The isles are said to be so ancient as to predate the arrival of the Oeridians. The origin of their name is unknown, but they are always said to have been highly magical. [TAB – 5]

The lake of Unknown Depths is said to have once held a number (sources vary between three and seven) of very magical islands called the Isles of Woe, which apparently sank beneath the waves over a thousand years ago. [Slavers – 17]

A great deal of mystery revolves around the Isles of Woe. Did they exist at all or were they an allegory of evil, designed to frighten children and wayfaring mariners?

Rumors abound that the lake holds the sunken remains of an ancient pre-Migration civilization known as the "Isles of Woe," though many have explored the lake to no avail. [LGG – 149]

Long story short, they did indeed exist.

The isles seem to be peaks associated with the easternmost branch of the Cairn Hills, just north of the Duchy of Urnst. [TAB – 5]

North of the Cairn Hills

Clues to that wash up upon the shores in the wake of winter’s storms.

Occasionally, strange silver coins and jewelry and even stranger obsidian carvings, found by lucky divers, make their way to market, but these are generally discounted as forgeries. [LGG – 149]

But are they? Scholarly circles believe that the Isles existed, even if the cause of their ultimate fate remains in question.

The fate of the so-called Isles of Woe has also caused much controversy amongst scholarly circles. What prompted the isles to be swallowed by the waters of the Nyr Dyv and why do ancient maps show the inland sea strangely shrunken? [OJ#21 – 4]

Perhaps the Lake of Infinite Depth rose upon their sinking? Who can say? Legends suggest that the Isles hosted fabled beings and enclaves of great wizards, both of which are reputed to have been able to reshape the very Oerth, itself.

Lake Aqal is thought to have once hosted a reclusive group of wizards as powerful as those of the Isles of Woe or the Wind Dukes of Aqaa. Indeed, tales tell of how their magic still pervades the place, giving the islands that dot the lake an unnatural sentience and the fauna of the region incredible fecundity. This civilization may have been destroyed by a falling meteor. [OJ#21 – 7]

Some of the [Nyr Dyv]'s islands are likewise said to have been home to a group of very seclusive and ancient wizards as powerful as the Wind Dukes of Aqaa or the Glittering Wizards of the Isles of Woe in Oerth's pre-history. These islands are said to be almost alive as entities in themselves, assaulting those who set foot on them with hails of stone and rock as the very earth churns underfoot. Whether any of these tales are true and what remains of the long-dead wizards' magical treasures and hoards, is a matter of pure conjecture. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil – 60] (1993)

The Glittering Wizards

Who then lived there? Legends suggest the Wind Dukes. Tales tell of the Glittering Wizards. Were the Isles themselves alive? Are these little more than local lore and legendarium, fragments of myth and song, likely sullied over centuries in the retelling?

Nightsong knows the burial laments for the victims of the Invoked Devastation, the poetry of the necromantic invocations of the Ur-Flannae, and he can sing the whispering hymns of the long-dead Wind Dukes of Aaqa. [Ivid – 86]

When then did these isles thrive above the waves? Surely the Wind Dukes predated all, didn’t they? One wonders though when these Glittering Wizards shone upon their shores? Did they weave their Art before the Ur-Flan? Where they Ur-Flan? Or did they come after? What is known is that the Isles disappeared long before the Great Migrations. That would mean they are old. Ancient, in fact.

Sages claim that the Isles [of Woe] predate the Oeridian migration. Others believe that the isles were once the location of Vecna’s spider-throne. [LGJ#2 – 19]

-1711 CY

Vecna erects a black tower in the middle of the Nyr Dyv. He claims chieftanship of his tribe, the Ur-Flanae and slays the former chieftain in combat by use of magic. (3805 SD/2752 OC/440 FT) [OJ#1 – 13]

Might the Glittering Wizards have been Flan then? Might Vecna have been a Glittering Wizard? That’s doubtful. He’s been called a great many things, but never that. Who then were they? Which other magi are mentioned in the same breath as the Isles of Woe? Yagrax and Tzunk.

Yagrax

Next to nothing is known about Yagrax, except that he wrote a book.

“Alterations of Tangibles and Intangibles” by Yagrax

(melt, transmute water to dust, item, material, fabricate, crystalbrittle) [Dragon #82 – 58]

As did Tzunk.

“Dissimulation and Obscuration” by Tzunk

(blink, invisibility, invisibility 10’ radius, improved invisibility, darkness, continual darkness, vacancy, avoidance , mass invisibility) [Dragon #82 – 58]

Tzunk

Although Tzunk is far more famous in his use of anther, far more powerful tomb.

Codex of Infinite Planes

An ancient book containing forbidden lore and the secret to travel between planes and dimensions. Also called Yagrax’s Tome, after the fanatical wizard-priest of the Isles of Woe. [Dragon #299 – 101]

Yagrax, it would seem, was a resident of the long-lost isles.

As was Tzunk:

Long ago the wizard-cleric who ruled the Isles of Woe lost in the Lake of Unknown Depths used this work to gain knowledge of great power. It is told that this arcane wisdom is what eventually wrought the downfall of the mage-priest and caused the waters to swallow his domain. In any event, the Codex of the Infinite Planes somehow survived the cataclysm, for the Wizard Tzoonk, before his disappearance, recorded the following:

“. . . and thereupon the voice belled forth in tones of hollow iron and spoke of the Coming of the City of the Gods. Such future events interested me not, so I gave the command: ‘Answer in th …’ (here the fragment becomes entirely illegible) … so knowing both the secret and the spell which would unlock the Way to this horde of the Demon Prince Nql … (another break in the writing unfortunately occurs here) … gathered the nine as required and proceeded forth. With me in addition were the dyoph servants necessary to transport the Code, for I would not leave it behind on even so perilous a journey as this.” (Here the entire fragment ends.)

[Eldritch Wizardry – 43]

In the distant past the High Wizard Priest of the Isles of Woe (now sunken beneath the waters of the Nyr Dyv […]) discovered this work and used its arcane powers to dominate the neighboring states, but legend also has it that these same powers eventually brought doom to the mage-priest and his tyrannical domain. It must be that somehow the Codex survived the inundation, for the archmage Tzunk scribed the following fragment prior to his strange disappearance:

“… , and the two strong slaves lifted it [the Codex] from the back of the Beast. Thereupon I commanded the Brazen Portals to be brought low, and they were wrenched from their hinges and rang upon the stone. The Efreet howled in fear and fled when I caused the page to be read, and the Beast passed into the City of Brass. Now was I, Tzunk, Master of the Plane of Molten Skies. With sure hand I closed Yagrax’s Tome [the Codex], dreading to – ”

[DMG 1e – 156]

Did Tzunk eclipse his predecessor, and presumed master? I propose that he did.

[I]t was reported that the archmage Tzunk once used the power of the Codex of Infinite Planes to raze the armies of his enemies and subjugate the entire region. [LGJ#2 – 19]

The Isles are reputed to have been the home of the wizard-priest Tzunk, who used the Codex of Infinite Planes to rule an empire. [Slavers – 17]

But Tzunk, in his ambition and hubris, would reach too far. And it cost him his life.

The Tomb of Tzunk's Hands: Tzunk, Wizard-Priest of the quasi-mythical Isles of Woe which sunk below the Nyr Dyv in prehistory, is said to have had his body sundered into a hundred parts to thwart any attempt at resurrection. The portions were scattered to the winds, burned in fire, dissolved in acidic waters, and buried below the earth. Great golems with special powers such as paralysis, petrification, and worse are said to guard a tomb holding his hands here. The approaches to the tomb chamber are riddled with traps, mazes, secret portals and passages, and many magical hazards. [WGR5 – 64]

c. -500 CY

Sunken Woe

When then did the Isles of Woe sink below the dark surface of the Lake of Infinite Depth?

Legend suggests that they met their fate more than a millennia ago. Legend also suggests that they fell to the vengeance of a single hero. A Flan hero-deity.

Krovis’s avatar has, in the past, emerged from his crypt to bring down several empires that dominated the central regions of the Flanaess, including the dominions of the Isles of Woe and the Empire of Lum the Mad (both of which occurred more than 1,000 years ago). [Dragon #167 – 13]

Be that as it may, the Isles fell and sank below the waves, whether by the wrath of Krovis, or the hubris of Tzunk, we might never know. We will only know that sink they did.

Perhaps the best known of the mythic kingdoms of Oerth’s prehistory are the Isles of Woe, said to have sunk beneath the waters of the Nyr Dyv millennia ago. [OJ#21 – 7]

-330 CY

One wonders then why there are those who persist in believing that this fabled kingdom of yore was Oeridian?

The Isles of Woe, a small Aerdian enclave ruled by Wizard Priests (led by Yagrax), sink into the Nyr Dyv. (5186 SD/315 OR) [OJ#1 – 15]

Aerdian? I think not! How might that enclave be Aerdian when the Isles are the sunken remains of an ancient pre-Migration civilization [LGG – 149], when the Oeridians had still to conquer the Flanaess?

If [t]he Flan were the first known humans to live in eastern Oerik, [LGG – 5] then surely Yagrax must have been Flan. One could argue the word “known” predicates the possibility of other peoples, but as they are never noted in any published sourcebook, who might they be?

What became of the mysterious Isles of Woe, and who dwelled there? [LGG – 13]

The islands now lay somewhere beneath the surface of the Lake of Unknown Depths. [LGJ#2 – 19]

Gone, but not forgotten.

591 CY

Concerned by stories of the resurfacing of the Isle of Woe, Warnes Starcoat is sponsoring an expedition into the Brass Hills to explore a site called the Zochal. According to the Nesser Opuscule, [the] only surviving fragment of a greater work attributed to Tzunk, the Zochal is an echo point for the planar confluence that infuses the once lost sunken isles. [Dragon #297 – 91/ COR2-08 Echo]

I wish Warnes Starcoat luck. His sponsored expedition, as well.

I would let long-dead Flan wizard-priests lie, myself. They were/are all obsessed with the continuance of their life – the necromantic ones, anyway.

If retrieved from their resting place, the hands are said to animate themselves, serving the one who rescued them as divinatory tools, but seeking out the other parts of Tzunk's indestructible, scattered body and slowly beginning to take over the mind of their owner. [WGR5 – 64]

Tzunk, like others of his ilk, doesn’t care a whit for the expedition members’ lives. Or Warnes Starcoat’s.

Or yours, for that matter.

Heraan

The long trek through the limestone caves has brought you to this strange underground cove. The cave entrance to this place is obscured by seaweed, and only a little light trickles in through the vegetation. The walls are decorated with strange symbols and artwork in a style unlike anything you have ever seen.

Upon the shore sit three longships. None have sails, and all are made of what appears to be corroded copper. In the center of each ship stands a column with a steering wheel attached. [Dragon #295 – 96]

This is the Heraan Boathouse—the once-lost passage to the strange, obscured city that dominates the Isles of Woe. [Dragon #295 – 96]

Memory keeps the Past alive. Memory and myth and song. Who then could forget fabled Heraan, the capital of the long-lost empire ruled from the Isles of Woe?

Sail on to the Isles of Woe

“Gone, like the three of Heraan.” – A strange saying among the Flan hillfolk of the Cairn Hills. [Dragon #294 – 90]

[A]ncient Heraan – the city where the Codex of the infinite Planes was supposedly first inscribed and where countless other treasures still rest. [Dragon #294 – 90]

“Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.”

― George Orwell, 1984

One must always give credit where credit is due. This piece 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:

Numenor by felixsotomayorart

Haven-of-the-Eldar by benef

The Isles of Woe map, by Sam Wood, from The Adventure Begins, 1989

The-Mystic by rodmendez

Thoth-Amon by shenfeic

Qurad by theflyingdevil

Atlantis by kalypsya

Falcon-Cover

Sources:

1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983

1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992

2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979

9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980

9309 WGA4 Vecna Lives, 1990

9399 WGR5 Iuz the Evil, 1993

9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998

11621 Slavers, 2000

11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000

COR2-08 Echo

Oerth Journal #1, 2

Living Grayhawk Journal #2

Dragon Magazine #82, 167, 293, 294, 295, 297, 299

Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.

Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

The map of Anna B. Meyer

On Tzunk

“When avarice takes the lead in a state, it is commonly the forerunner of its fall.”

― Alexander Hamilton

Tzunk

Little is known about the Flanaess’ Pre-Migration history. Mayhap we have the Oeridians to blame for that. They marched across the continent, sweeping its history aside as they went, declaring “Hail the conquering hero!” There was nothing there before them, they say. A few elves, a scattering of gnomes and dwarves, a few hunter-gatherers, and one or two agrarian groups of little concern: The Flan, a people of little note or consequence.

The Flan were the first known humans to live in eastern Oerik, and it is from them that the Flanaess gets its name. [LGG – 5]

The fierce Oeridian tribes likewise moved east, thrusting aside Flan and Suloise in their path. [Folio – 5]

Migrating bands began settling the eastern portion of the Oerik Continent, Flanaess, over a millenium ago. The Flan tribesmen were hardy and capable hunters but not particularly warlike, and their small and scattered groups made no appreciable civilizing effect. [Folio – 5]

Thus, the history of the Flanaess is theirs.

That’s what the Oeridians believe, and that is what we now believe, seeing that theirs’ is the written history we have. Such is the spoils and legacy of victors.

But they could not erase what came before, not entirely. The Past persists, in song, in sagas and legends, carved in clay tablets and stone.

Veralos

One persistent legend among the Flan is that of a wondrous citadel, said to have sat near the very heart of the Flanaess in ancient times, when kingdoms of the Ur-Flan spanned the length and breadth of the subcontinent. Known as Veralos, a word meaning “aerie” in the ancient tongue of the Flan, the structure was supposedly erected somewhere near the cracked and broken ridge of the Rift Canyon, in what is now referred to as the Bandit Kingdoms. According to the oral traditions, the stronghold was the retreat of princely Ur-Flan scholars, artisans, and mystics in ancient times. It was a repository of great knowledge, learning, and contemplation, drawing disciples from many neighboring kingdoms. These highly-skilled Flan were said to have created extraordinary wonders (such as magical tablets, statuary, ensorcelled jewelry, and astounding weapons) often by commission for the lords of lands such as Sulm, Itar, Ahlissa, and Nuria. The gathered lords of the citadel even paid fealty to the Wizard-Priests of the Isles of Woe, until that fell dominion sank beneath the waves early in prehistory. [Dragon #293 – 90]

The kingdoms of the Ur-Flan?

Varalos. Sulm. Itar. Ahlissa. And Nuria. These names endure. So too the wizard-priests of the Isles of Woe, however forgotten and mysterious.

The Long Lost Isles of Woe

Isle of Woe

Rumors abound that the lake holds the sunken remains of an ancient pre-Migration civilization known as the "Isles of Woe," though many have explored the lake to no avail. [LGG – 149]

According to legend, the Isles of Woe once stood in the Nyr Dyv, but no reliable source catalogs their size, exact location, population, or even their number (usually put at three but ranging up to seven, depending on the story). The isles are said to be so ancient as to predate the arrival of the Oeridians. The origin of their name is unknown, but they are always said to have been highly magical. [TAB – 5]

The isles seem to be peaks associated with the easternmost branch of the Cairn Hills, just north of the Duchy of Urnst. [TAB – 5]

The lake of Unknown Depths is said to have once held a number (sources vary between three and seven) of very magical islands called the Isles of Woe, which apparently sank beneath the waves over a thousand years ago. [Slavers – 17]

Occasionally, strange silver coins and jewelry and even stranger obsidian carvings, found by lucky divers, make their way to market, but these are generally discounted as forgeries. [LGG – 149]

So much for there was nothing here before We arrived.

Indeed, there was an entire history upon the Flanaess pre-Migrations. An ancient history. None of it detailed in Oeridian annals, except what little has leaked through the cracks in the whitewash.

The Glittering Wizards

Some of the [Nyr Dyv]'s islands are likewise said to have been home to a group of very seclusive and ancient wizards as powerful as the Wind Dukes of Aqaa or the Glittering Wizards of the Isles of Woe in Oerth's pre-history. These islands are said to be almost alive as entities in themselves, assaulting those who set foot on them with hails of stone and rock as the very earth churns underfoot. Whether any of these tales are true and what remains of the long-dead wizards' magical treasures and hoards, is a matter of pure conjecture. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil – 60] (1993)

The Wind Dukes? The Glittering Wizards of the Isles of Woe? Once one scratches the surface the Past begins to reveal itself.

Krovis’s avatar has, in the past, emerged from his crypt to bring down several empires that dominated the central regions of the Flanaess, including the dominions of the Isles of Woe and the Empire of Lum the Mad (both of which occurred more than 1,000 years ago). [Dragon #167 – 13]

What’s this? Evidence that there were empires that date from more than 1,000 years ago? But … the Great Migrations were a 1,000 years ago, at the dawn of recorded history. And the only Great Civilisations that existed prior to the Twin Cataclysms were the Baklunish and Suel empires, and those were to the west of the Crystalmist mountains.

Evidence of Civilisations of Yore

So, what empires are we referring to, then? Sulm, Itar, Ahlissa, and Nuria. And Vecna’s Occluded Empire. Could there have been other, older, empires?

That’s impossible, isn’t it? The Aerdi have informed us that there was no civilisation of note east of the Yatals and Crystalmists when they arrived. No great cities. Just migratory nomads and a few agrarian groups dwelling in adobe and sod.

Perhaps that was what they encountered. Perhaps that is what they would have us believe. Conquering heroes have little to gain by admitting to what came before, lest those who live beneath their benevolence have thoughts that they themselves are the heirs of the fields they toil for the benefit of their “betters.”

Who then were these Glittering Wizards of the Isles of Woe? We don’t know. We only have glimmers of who they might be.

Sages claim that the Isles [of Woe] predate the Oeridian migration. Others believe that the isles were once the location of Vecna’s spider-throne. [LGJ#2 – 19]

One could never imagine the Whispered One to be a Glittering Wizard, though. He was never referred to as such, ever. There are only a couple other names associated with the Isles: One is Yagrax.

Yagrax

The Isles of Woe, a small Aerdian enclave ruled by Wizard Priests (led by Yagrax), sink into the Nyr Dyv. (5186 SD/315 OR) [OJ#1 – 15]

Aerdian? I think not! That enclave could not be Aerdian when the Isles are the sunken remains of an ancient pre-Migration civilization [LGG – 149], when the Oeridians had still to conquer the Flanaess. [Such is the difficulty of reconciling Apocrypha with accepted published canon.] If [t]he Flan were the first known humans to live in eastern Oerik, [LGG – 5] then surely Yagrax must have been Flan. [One could argue that “known” predicates the possibility of other peoples, but who might they have been? There are none noted in any published sourcebook. One might point to the Wind Dukes of Aqaa, but those fabled Dukes were declared by Skip Williams not to be human at all, but extraplanar vaati. Had he left well enough alone we might then have pointed to the Grey Elves or some long-forgotten civilisation of Flan to their origin. But alas…] Was Yagrax a Glittering Wizard?  We know next to nothing about him.

“Alterations of Tangibles and Intangibles” by Yagrax

(melt, transmute water to dust, item, material, fabricate, crystalbrittle) [Dragon #82 – 58]

Nor much about another Pre-Migration [thus presumably Flan] wizard coupled with the Isles, Tzunk, either. He too wrote a tome.

Tzunk

“Dissimulation and Obscuration” by Tzunk

(blink, invisibility, invisibility 10’ radius, improved invisibility, darkness, continual darkness, vacancy, avoidance, mass invisibility) [Dragon #82 – 58]

But it is not that tome with which he is most associated. He is best known by his use of Yagrax’s most famous creation, the Codex of Infinite Planes.

Codex of Infinite Planes

An ancient book containing forbidden lore and the secret to travel between planes and dimensions. Also called Yagrax’s Tome, after the fanatical wizard-priest of the Isles of Woe. [Dragon #299 – 101]

Long ago the wizard-cleric who ruled the Isles of Woe lost in the Lake of Unknown Depths used this work to gain knowledge of great power. It is told that this arcane wisdom is what eventually wrought the downfall of the mage-priest and caused the waters to swallow his domain. In any event, the Codex of the Infinite Planes somehow survived the cataclysm, for the Wizard Tzoonk, before his disappearance, recorded the following:

“. . . and thereupon the voice belled forth in tones of hollow iron and spoke of the Coming of the City of the Gods. Such future events interested me not, so I gave the command: ‘Answer in th …’ (here the fragment becomes entirely illegible) … so knowing both the secret and the spell which would unlock the Way to this horde of the Demon Prince Nql … (another break in the writing unfortunately occurs here) … gathered the nine as required and proceeded forth. With me in addition were the dyoph servants necessary to transport the Code, for I would not leave it behind on even so perilous a journey as this.” (Here the entire fragment ends.) [Eldritch Wizardry – 43]

Tzunk

In the distant past the High Wizard Priest of the Isles of Woe (now sunken beneath the waters of the Nyr Dyv […]) discovered this work and used its arcane powers to dominate the neighboring states, but legend also has it that these same powers eventually brought doom to the mage-priest and his tyrannical domain. It must be that somehow the Codex survived the inundation, for the archmage Tzunk scribed the following fragment prior to his strange disappearance:

“… , and the two strong slaves lifted it [the Codex] from the back of the Beast. Thereupon I commanded the Brazen Portals to be brought low, and they were wrenched from their hinges and rang upon the stone. The Efreet howled in fear and fled when I caused the page to be read, and the Beast passed into the City of Brass. Now was I, Tzunk, Master of the Plane of Molten Skies. With sure hand I closed Yagrax’s Tome [the Codex], dreading to – ” [DMG 1e – 156]

Aside from these missives, what is actually known about the life and times of Tzunk?

[I]t was reported that the archmage Tzunk once used the power of the Codex of Infinite Planes to raze the armies of his enemies and subjugate the entire region. [LGJ#2 – 19]

The Isles are reputed to have been the home of the wizard-priest Tzunk, who used the Codex of Infinite Planes to rule an empire. [Slavers – 17]

There’s that word again: Empire. One presumes an empire is a subjugation of peoples, of city states, and not a confluence of nomads and sod hut dwellers.

Empire (noun)

1. an extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority, formerly especially an emperor or empress
2. a large commercial organization owned or controlled by one person or group
3. a variety of apple

I think we can eliminate the latter.

The Flan did indeed then have cities. There was, of course, Varalos, as noted above, and fabled Haradaragh: The founding of the first Flan city in the Lortmils "Haradaragh." This is counted as (3365 SD/1 FT)

First year of Flannae Tracking system (1 FT). [OJ#1 – 9] (-2150 CY)

Although no written descriptions of the city of Haradaragh have survived, there are cryptic fragments of songs still sung among those of Geoff, Sterich and the County of Ulek who count themselves of Flan descent. These tell of the spectacular visions of sunrise in the high plateaus of the mountains, the great wide boulevards and plazas of the city, the many-stepped pyramids devoted to the Sun-God, the agricultural terraces of the slopes, the labyrinthine walls protecting the city, and the tremendous wealth brought from the mines below. [OJ#2 – 16]

And Tostencha:

Some two thousand years ago, the wizard Keraptis established himself as "protector" of Tostenhca—a grand mountainside city of wide streets and towering ziggurats. [Return to White Plume Mountain – 3] (c. -2150 CY)

And Fleeth:

“The morning after the Feast of Himar, certain citizens of Fleeth came out of the town and entreated upon the besiegers to speak with Lord Vecna, the Whispered One, in his spidered pavilion. They told him they were ready to place the city and all their possessions at his discretion, provided their lives were spared.” [WGA4 Vecna Lives! – 3]

And Heraan [on the Isles, themselves]:

Heraan

[A]ncient Heraan – the city where the Codex of the infinite Planes was supposedly first inscribed and where countless other treasures still rest. [Dragon #294 – 90]

Sail on to the Isles of Woe

“Gone, like the three of Heraan.” – A strange saying among the Flan hillfolk of the Cairn Hills. [Dragon #294 – 90]

The long trek through the limestone caves has brought you to this strange underground cove. The cave entrance to this place is obscured by seaweed, and only a little light trickles in through the vegetation. The walls are decorated with strange symbols and artwork in a style unlike anything you have ever seen.

Upon the shore sit three longships. None have sails, and all are made of what appears to be corroded copper. In the center of each ship stands a column with a steering wheel attached. [Dragon #295 – 96]

This is the Heraan Boathouse—the once-lost passage to the strange, obscured city that dominates the Isles of Woe. [Dragon #295 – 96]

An empire on Oerth wasn’t good enough for one such as Tzunk. Tzunk moved on to bigger and better things, in time: The City of Brass, for one.

Now was I, Tzunk, Master of the Plane of Molten Skies. [DMG 1e – 156]

Not bad for a scion of a people of little note.

But Tzunk, in his ambition and hubris, would reach too far. One might think that it cost him his life.

The Tomb of Tzunk's Hands: Tzunk, Wizard-Priest of the quasi-mythical Isles of Woe which sunk below the Nyr Dyv in prehistory, is said to have had his body sundered into a hundred parts to thwart any attempt at resurrection. The portions were scattered to the winds, burned in fire, dissolved in acidic waters, and buried below the earth. Great golems with special powers such as paralysis, petrification, and worse are said to guard a tomb holding his hands here. The approaches to the tomb chamber are riddled with traps, mazes, secret portals and passages, and many magical hazards. [WGR5 – 64]

What became of the mysterious Isles of Woe, and who dwelled there? [LGG – 13]

The islands now lay somewhere beneath the surface of the Lake of Unknown Depths. [LGJ#2 – 19]

Gone, but not forgotten.

Warnes Starcoat 

Concerned by stories of the resurfacing of the Isle of Woe, Warnes Starcoat is sponsoring an expedition into the Brass Hills to explore a site called the Zochal. According to the Nesser Opuscule, [the] only surviving fragment of a greater work attributed to Tzunk, the Zochal is an echo point for the planar confluence that infuses the once lost sunken isles. [Dragon #297 – 91/ COR2-08 Echo]

I wish Warnes Starcoat luck. His sponsored expedition, as well.

I would let long-dead Flan wizard-priests lie, myself. They were/are all obsessed with the continuance of their life – the necromantic ones, anyway.

If retrieved from their resting place, the hands are said to animate themselves, serving the one who rescued them as divinatory tools, but seeking out the other parts of Tzunk's indestructible, scattered body and slowly beginning to take over the mind of their owner. [WGR5 – 64]

Tzunk, like others of his ilk, doesn’t care a whit for the expedition members’ lives. Or Warnes Starcoat’s.

Or yours, for that matter.

“You’re some kind of thief, then?”

“That’s a very narrow-minded way of looking at it. I prefer to think of myself as a merchant of delicate tasks.”

― S.A. Chakraborty, The City of Brass

One must always give credit where credit is due. This piece 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:

Serris-god-of-builders-son-of-Lodril by pecadordelapradera

Veralos, by Kalman Andrasofszky, from Dragon #293, 2002

Atlantean-Port by peteamachree

Isles of Woe map, by Sam Wood, from The Adventure Begins, Adventure Maps, 1998

The-Mystic by rodmendez

Fabula-Training-Arena by janiscki

Thoth-Amon by shenfeic

Qurad by theflyingdevil

Assyrian-army's by iraqi-pictures

Falcon-Cover by shenfeic

Warnes Starcoat, by Sam Wood, from Living Greyhawk Journal #0, 2000

Sources:

1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983

1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992

2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979

9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980

9309 WGA4 Vecna Lives, 1990

9399 WGR5 Iuz the Evil, 1993

9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998

11434 Return to White Plume Mountain, 1999

11621 Slavers, 2000

11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000

Eldritch Wizardry, 1976

COR2-08 Echo

Oerth Journal #1, 2

Living Grayhawk Journal #2

Dragon Magazine #82, 167, 293, 294, 295, 297, 299

Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.

Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

The map of Anna B. Meyer

The Wind Dukes of Aaqa

 

“It is indeed a mistake to confuse children with angels”

― Douglas Coupland, Hey Nostradamus!

The Wind Dukes of Aaqa

Mysteries abound in Greyhawk:

Tales of the era before the migrations are fragmentary and poorly understood. Did monstrous creatures rule Oerik before the advent of humanity? Did the great races of humans, elves, dwarves, and the like arise by fiat of the gods or journey here from elsewhere? Did the elves raise humanity to civilization, or did humans achieve this on their own? Did the Flan once have their own empires and civilizations? Who built the oldest tombs in the Cairn Hills, the half-buried ruins in the Bright Desert, or the deserted stone cities in the Griff Mountains? Where were the fabled realms ruled by Johydee, the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, Vecna the Whispered One, the High Kings of the dwarves, or the elven King of Summer Stars? What became of the mysterious Isles of Woe, and who dwelled there? No one knows with any certainty. [LGG – 13] (2001)

These are but a few. Some of these were introduced to us within the pages of the OD&D Little Brown Books: Vecna, the Codex of Infinite Planes, and the Axe of the Dwarven Lords, for instance; some from modules: the Ghost Tower and White Plume Mountain; still others like Tuerny and Johydee and Ye'Cind and their artifacts came to us in the AD&D 1e Dungeon Masters Guide; most are but scant paragraphs, perhaps only a line or two attached to some artifact of old.

Rod of Seven Parts: The Wind Dukes of Aaqa are the legendary creators of this artifact. It is said that they constructed the Rod to use in the great battle of Pesh where Chaos and Law contended. There, the Rod was shattered, and its parts scattered, but the enchantments of the item were such that nothing could actually destroy it, so if its sections are recovered and put together in the correct order, the possessor will wield a weapon of surpassing power. [DMG 1e – 160] (1979)

Who might those Dukes have been? They most certainly found their first mention in early play when alignment was limited to Law and Chaos, or Gary Gygax would have spoken of Good and Evil. But aside from the need to create the mentioned Rod (to which we had to furnish with its powers, both baneful and benign), used at the then unknown Pesh, we were left to wonder. And to fill in the gaps.

There were so many gaps then. That leads me to marvel at how unique individual campaigns were then.

Who were these Wind Dukes of yours? Did you even care to ponder; or were such ancient mysteries as these always left unresolved, just names gleaned from a long-forgotten past, etchings on a wall.

Were these mysteries ever resolved? No, not at all, then. Pesh and the Wind Dukes were never mentioned again. Not in the Dragon, not in the Folio or the Boxed Set, not anywhere, despite the expectation that those names and artifacts in the 1e DMG would to be elaborated on. Indeed, we expected they would be, given the clues.

We were invited to obtain one of the commercially available milieux, and place the starting point of your campaign somewhere within this already created world. At the risk of being accused of being self-serving, I will mention parenthetically that my own WORLD OF GREYHAWK, (published by TSR) [….] [DMG 1e – 47]

THE WORLD OF GREYHAWK. This work provides a complete campaign milieu in which to base adventures and characters, place dungeons, etc. Two large full-color maps, a folder, and a 32-page booklet full of ready-made historical and geographical information. [DMG 1e – 236]

Codex of Infinite Planes

Codex of the infinite Planes: In the distant past the High Wizard Priest of the Isles of Woe (now sunken beneath the waters of the Nyr Dyv - see THE WORLD OF GREYHAWK from TSR) [.] [DMG 1e – 156]

Jacinth of Inestimable Beauty: Legend relates that the Jacinth was possessed by the fabled Sultan Jehef Peh'reen for a time and then passed into the Land of Ket and southward into Keoland (see THE WORLD OF GREYHAWK), where all trace disappeared. [DMG 1e – 158]

That setting booklet would not be made available for another year. And when it was, it was sparse in detail. And alas, the mysteries in the DMG remained just that … mysteries. We were informed that the setting was “ours to do with as we wished.” [Folio – 3]

Pesh and the Wind Dukes were left dangling in the wind, so to speak.

It would come to pass that those who followed in Mr. Gygax’s considerable wake would drop as equally enigmatic hints as his to whom or what the Wind Dukes might be and where they might have sallied forth from to battle upon fabled Pesh.

UNKNOWN LOCATIONS

The following places exist, but their exact locations are unknown or have been lost to time.

The Eternal Storm of the Wind Dukes:

The Eternal Storm of the Wind Dukes

This terrible magical manifestation is said to be invisible to everyone until they enter its half-mile radius, when they are magically drawn toward the eye of the storm. Constant hailstones fall from leaden skies, visibility is greatly reduced, and monstrous, slithering, eel-like reptiles ferociously attack those entering the storm area. Ball lightning and thunderbolts within the storm also beset those entering it, yet in the very eye of the storm is said to be a teleportation device leading to the location of the first part of the fabled Rod of Seven Parts, a mighty magical artifact of great antiquity.

Those who have sought out the storm have never found it; most who encounter it do not return to speak of what they have seen. [FtAC – 37] (1992)

Location unknown? An eternal storm a half-mile in radius should be a beacon, I would think. Perhaps it winks in and out of existence, and never appears in the same place twice?

Was Carl Sargent privy to special knowledge? Did he have access to notebooks and napkins Gary left behind upon his ousting to draw upon? Most likely not. I suspect Carl was as drawn to those relics and hitherto unelaborated references in the DMG as we were and had a burning desire to flesh them out. It make them his own, so to speak. They were wide open, after all – canonically; so, why not lay claim to them, why not fill in the gaps? He could have left well-enough alone. But he did not.

The Isles of Woe

Some of the [Nyr Dyv]'s islands are likewise said to have been home to a group of very seclusive and ancient wizards as powerful as the Wind Dukes of Aqaa or the Glittering Wizards of the Isles of Woe in Oerth's pre-history. These islands are said to be almost alive as entities in themselves, assaulting those who set foot on them with hails of stone and rock as the very earth churns underfoot. Whether any of these tales are true and what remains of the long-dead wizards' magical treasures and hoards, is a matter of pure conjecture. [WGR5 Iuz the Evil – 60] (1993)

For however reason, the Wind Dukes would henceforth be forever linked to the long-lost Isles of Woe.

All well and good, thus far, though. The Wind Dukes remained mysterious, a glimmer in the imagination, figures in the epic sagas like the whispering hymns of the long-dead Wind Dukes of Aaqa. [Ivid – 86] (1995)

I like that. But I’m from an era when adventure modules were hard to come by and sourcebooks were few, when these vague and leading lore drops inspired us to create our own adventures, our own worlds.

2^nd Edition changed all that. The pace of publications was swift; adventures exceeded 30 pages; and descriptions of magic items filled a page or two, and not just a paragraph or two. Why make mere mention of the Dukes and Pesh, as was the case in the 1e DMG, when an epic ancient war between Law and Chaos could be told in full?

Eons ago, a great war was waged between the Wind Dukes of Aaqa (the guardians of Law) and the Queen of Chaos. Those polar forces each craved the annihilation of the other, and were so obsessed with enforcing their ideologies that they spared no thought for Good and Evil. For many years the balance of power shifted back and forth, and neither side could achieve the upper hand.

The Captains of Law Surrounded the Wolf-Spider

Then the Queen of Chaos found and appointed a new commander: Miska the Wolf-Spider, who was so brutal and terrible to behold that the Queen also took him for her consort. With the arrival of the evil Miska, the forces of Chaos were bolstered and the Wind Dukes began to fear eventual defeat.

Therefore, they left the Captains of Law to hold the line while they combined all of their powers and created a magnificent ebony rod. With the newly created artifact in hand, the Wind Dukes rejoined the war at the battle of Pesh. The Dukes gave the Rod to the Captains of Law and bade them vanquish Chaos.

A fearsome battle raged for weeks, and the advantage shifted repeatedly between the foes. Finally, the Captains of Law surrounded the Wolf-Spider, and before the legions of Chaos could swarm to their leader's side, the Rod was driven through Miska's body. For a moment, every soldier stood terrified by the horrible scream of the general. Miska's foul blood covered the Rod and penetrated it as he writhed on the ground, and the magical forces of Law that had been infused into the Rod were combined with the essence of Chaos in Miska's blood, which ruptured the Rod and shattered it into seven pieces. Meanwhile, the Wolf-Spider was cast through a planar rip created by the explosion, and he remains lost on an unknown plane. The Queen's soldiers converged upon the site in an attempt to capture the parts of the Rod, but the Wind Dukes intervened and magically scattered the pieces across the world.

Ever since that time, agents of the Queen have been ordered to seek out the Rod at any cost. It is rumored that if she regains all the parts, she can use the reconstructed Rod to find the Wolf-Spider and return him to her side, whereupon the wars will begin anew. [Book of Artifacts – 91] (1993)

That passage in the Book of Artifacts is epic. I wonder, though, at the level of detail expounded in the above passage. It’s as if this were but a blurb of what was already in the production queue.

And lo and behold, could it be anything but? Just two years on, the Wind Dukes were raised from obscurity, indeed from their long-dead [Ivid – 86] presumption, for a boxed set!

Vaati

Aeons ago, in the Age of Legends, a great war arose between Law and Chaos. The roots of the conflict are obscure, shrouded in the mists of antiquity. Perhaps Chaos arose to spread decay and promote autonomy, maybe Law embarked on a crusade to stamp out discord and promote unity. Or perchance a monumental conflict between the two opposing forces was simply inevitable. [Ri7P 3 – 2] (The Ring in Seven Parts, 1996)

I won’t share the entirety of the passage – it’s easily twice the length of the one above – it’s altogether identical to the other, too, if far more detailed. It’s far “bigger,” too.

Warfare raged on several worlds (dozens by some accounts). The opposing armies were mighty. The guardians of Law were the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, scions of an empire already ancient at the way's beginning. [Ri7P 3 – 2]

Bigger, greater, and far more ancient: Prior, in the DMG 1e, only the battle of Pesh was mentioned, with no hint where said Pesh might be; in the Book of Artifacts the was is described as "great," equally mum on location; but this boxed set takes it to an entirely different level: It’s larger than life: THE WAR – full caps intended – so to speak, maybe the First War, presumably; the War that decided the ultimate fate of the multiverse; a war that found its climax on Oerth.

When the Rod was completed, the seven champions rejoined the conflict at the battle of Pesh, on the world of Oerth. After weeks of maneuvering, the two armies clashed on a vast, volcanic plain. [Ri7P 3 – 2]

Some presume that vast, volcanic plain to be in the shadow of White Plume Mountain.

The eons of conflict between the two opposing forces finally reached a conclusion of sorts on the Fields of Pesh, a land in the shadow of White Plume Mountain on the world of Oerth. [Age Before Ages, GreyhawkWiki]

As to the Wind Dukes, all their past mystery has been set to rest.

The Vaati

The Vaati (VAH tee), or Wind Dukes, are a race of immortals dedicated to Law. [Ri7P 4 – 13]

Aeons ago, the vaati ruled a vast empire spread over several worlds on the Prime Material Plane, with footholds throughout the planes. When war between Law and Chaos erupted, the vaati were nearly annihilated. They survived only by creating the Rod of Seven Parts and using it to end the war. [Ri7P 4 – 13]

Indeed, no detail is left to the imagination. People, society, classes, castes, are laid bare. As are they.

Vaati look like statuesque humans. They are tall, muscular, and androgynous. As a rule, they wear no clothing, but usually wear belts or harnesses to carry weapons and equipment. Vaati have smooth, ebony skin, brilliantly white eyes that sparkle with inner light, and velvety black hair (which usually is kept closely shaved). [Ri7P 4 – 13]

This race of lawful immortals has mostly withdrawn from the affairs of mortals as it tries to recover from the losses it suffered during the war against Chaos. A small, dedicated cadre of vaati have remained to dedicate themselves to tracking the Rod and thwarting the queen. Yet all is not well in the beautiful Vale of Aaqa. One Wind Duke has grown impatient with the uneasy truce that has existed between Law and Chaos, and seeks to reopen the war by releasing Miska. [Ri7P 1 – 3]

A couple of the Wind Dukes are named:

Vaati

Arquestan

Arquestan, a good-hearted vaati [Ri7P 1 – 3]

He is a Wind Duke, a member of the race that created the Rod of Seven Parts. [Ri7P 1 – 28]

Qadeej

His thirst of for a new war with Chaos has been festering for millenia [.] [Ri7P 2 – 62]

Qadeej's answer is a complete fabrication. The queen wants the Rod assembled so Miska can be restored to full health and escape the cocoon of law, and Qadeej knows it. Once he has convinced the PCs that assembling the Rod is the best thing to do, Qadeej vanishes back to Aaqa. [Ri7P 2 – 44]

Others are named later: Amophar, Darbos, Emoniel, Nadroc, Penader, and Uriel. [Wind Dukes of Aaqa, Greyhawk Wiki]

So too those slain: Icosiol and Zosiel [Dungeon #129 – 40] (2005)

This is all well and good. It’s an adventure. For high level characters, characters that are higher level than most kings in the Gold Box.

[T]his adventure is written for a party of five to seven characters at the 10th to 12th level of experience (60-70 character levels in all). [Ri7P 1 – 4]

And high level characters require greater challenge. Greater stakes.

But, to my mind, the cost of this epic adventure is mystery and wonder.

Are the Wind Dukes of Aaqa still the legendary creators [DMG 1e – 160] of the Rod in Seven Parts when [a]ny sage can tell the party that the vaati are a lost race of immortals more commonly known as the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. [Ri7P 3 – 4]

A sage versed in folklore, history, or law […] can tell the party the whole story of the battle of Pesh and the events leading up to it. [Ri7P 3 – 4]

Theories from sages and historians tend to reveal more about their authors' preferences than they do about the truth of the matter. [Ri7P 3 – 2]

Indeed, they are no longer “a group of very seclusive and ancient wizards as powerful as the Wind Dukes of Aqaa” [WGR5 – 60] at all if they are the vaati, an ancient race that seems to have more in common with divine and infernal beings than mere mortals.

The Battle of Pesh

In ages long past, before the rise of elves, dwarves, or humans, the legendary Wind Dukes of Aaqa ruled a vast empire, bringing Law and elemental magic to many barbaric worlds. Air and lightning powered their magic, and their ties to the Plane of Elemental Air were very strong. In time, they mastered other elements as well, and as they grew more and more powerful, dozens of other elemental and lawful races swore fealty to them, from the lofty djinn and the proud salamanders to the least of the mud sorcerer cults and the inevitables, servants of the Wind Dukes. At its peak, the empire of the Wind Dukes comprised most of the elemental planes, from the oceanic palaces of the marid to the City of Brass. The Inner Planes were harmonious, united under one rule, and their civilization thrived — until forces led by the demonic Queen of Chaos rallied slaad, demons, and others against them.

The fight against the Queen of Chaos was long and relentless, and it culminated in the Battle of Pesh. The Wind Dukes won a pyrrhic victory there — the loss of so many of their greatest leaders (including the great Wind Duke General Icosiol) weakened their hold on not only the Material Plane but the Inner Planes as well. Over time, their elemental allies drifted away, and more realms were sealed from the planar byways.

The decline of the Wind Dukes took centuries. In that time, they built enormous tombs to honor their dead, choosing sites on the Material Plane near to where they fell as the locations of their eternal rest. One of the greatest of these tombs was that of Icosiol, the general who defeated the Queen of Chaos and her lackey, Miska the Wolf Spider. Icosiol used a potent artifact called the Rod of Law to cast them into the outer darkness. This great victory came at a significant cost, for the Rod of Law fragmented to become the Rod of Seven Parts , and Icosiol himself was slain in the final battle. Millennia later, the Wind Dukes have passed into legend, and this tomb still remains hidden under the Fields of Pesh, its entrance concealed hundreds of miles to the south behind a collapsed section of tomb for another Wind Duke (Zosiel, slayer of the demon Kizarvidexus) known today as the Whispering Cairn. [Dungeon #129 – 40] (2005)

Figures of Myth and Legend

I suppose the Wind Duke’s rise from myth and legend to extraplanar elemental beings was inevitable. I can’t prove this, but it seems that each edition saw higher and higher levels of play.

Your PCs should hit 12th level at some point in this adventure […] [Dungeon #129 – 39]

Adventure Paths in Dungeon Magazine are quite similar to the weighty tomes of 5e that followed, taking their cast of characters from infancy to eventual epic feats, defeating the likes of archdevils, elder evils, and Queens of Chaos; so much so that I expect the first made the latter possible. Bigger and better, some may opine. They got what they wished: heroic characters engaged in epic exploits.

Am I a fan? No, but I see the appeal; so, I don’t judge.

I prefer a smaller scale, one reminiscent of when I began, of a decidedly mortal man, delving ever deeper into the dark depths of an ancient tomb, his torch sputtering, his arrows or spells few. The light of the torch plays across the glyphs etched into the limestone. They’re old, ancient in fact; but he’d come across similar ones before. One stands out from the others: Aaqa!

There are others who share my view, I imagine, who harken back to those days of yore, before PCs began flitting about the multiverse. Note this passage:

Rod in Seven Parts

Created by the Wind Dukes of Aaqa in prehistory to defend Oerth from armies of Chaos, the Rod was split into seven parts and scattered. [Dragon #299 – 103] (2002)

I detect no mention of elemental vaati or planar travel. What I detect is a potential for creation.

“Without myth, however, every culture loses its healthy creative natural power: it is only a horizon encompassed with myth that rounds off to unity a social movement.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy

One must always give credit where credit is due. This piece 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-Mysteries-03 by nfatin

Codex of Infinite Planes, by Daniel Frazier, from Book of Artifacts, 1993

Wings-of-Black by sinistereternity

Atlantean-Port by peteamachree

The Captains of Law Surrounded the Wolf-Spider, from The Rod in Seven Parts, 1996

Vaati, by Glen Michael Angus, from The Rod in Seven Parts, 1996

The Vaati, by Glen Michael Angus, from Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 4, 1998

Vaati tomb detail, from Dungeon #124, 2005

Dragon, by Erol Otus, from The Rod in Seven Parts, 1996

The-Mysteries-02 by nfatin

 

Sources:

1015 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983

1064 From the Ashes Boxed Set, 1992

1145 The Rod in Seven Parts, 1996

2011A Dungeon Masters Guide, 1st Ed., 1979

2138 Book of Artifacts, 1993

9025 World of Greyhawk Folio, 1980

9399 WGR5 Iuz the Evil, 1993

9577 The Adventure Begins, 1998

11434 Return to White Plume Mountain, 1999

11621 Slavers, 2000

11743 Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, 2000

Oerth Journal #1, 2

Living Grayhawk Journal #2

Dragon Magazine #82, 167, 293, 294, 295, 299

Dungeon Magazine #129

The Greyhawk Wiki

Greychrondex, Wilson, Steven B.

Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda

The map of Anna B. Meyer