The Greyhawk Wars
by David "Zeb" Cook, edited by J. Robert King
The defining event in the recent history of the
continent of Oerik was the series of conflicts known collectively as the
Greyhawk Wars. This file presents, in its entirety, the actual campaign history
of the fighting, taken from the Adventurer's Book in the Greyhawk ADVENTURES
WARS boxed board game (1991). This material should be common knowledge to any
characters in a Greyhawk campaign who have paid the slightest attention to
current events or their history lessons. Any number of adventures may spring
from this material--but that is for the Dungeon Master to create.
Introduction
Philosophers say that war is always born of
lust--lust for power and loot. Perhaps this holds true for the petty forays and
border raids that have plagued the Flanaess through history. However, the grand
carnage of recent years cannot be explained by mere lust. Rather, the complex
alchemy of mortal passions, foibles, and dementia is what hurtled nation against
nation in the wars that reworked the Flanaess.
To understand the so-called Greyhawk Wars,
therefore, one must understand the cast of characters. The cast ranges
widely--from demi-gods to outcasts and from heroic warriors to red-hooded spies.
Together they comprise a grand dramatis personae, the cast of a great tragedy.
Dramatis Personae: Antagonists
Iuz the Old
"His Most Profane Eminence, Lord of Pain,
Fiend of the North, Child of the Evil One, Master of the Dread and Awful
Presences, Iuz the Evil, Iuz the Old"--so was this foul demi-god hailed by
the corrupt and evil things that served him. Ruling from blood-black Dorakaa,
City of Skulls, Iuz harbored an undisguised desire to dominate all of the
Flanaess. He first gained notice, however, a century before the Greyhawk Wars.
In 479 CY, the land now called Iuz was a
fractious collection of independent fiefs. The petty princes who ruled these
plots of land vied to inherit the lands of Furyondy, which at that time reached
far north. Among these princes was a paltry despot of the Howling Hills, who
died in that year and left the land to a son of questionable origin--Iuz. Oddly,
rumors alternately described the "son" as an old man and a
7-foot-tall, feral-faced fiend.
After the incipient Lord of Evil reorganized
his small estate into a military camp, his attention swung to neighboring fiefs.
Feigning a merely defensive stance, Iuz worked covertly to pit his despotic
neighbors against each other. In time the resources and wills of these princes
were whittled away by conflict, and Iuz seized the land. By the end of his first
year on the throne Iuz had assimilated the three fiefs surrounding his.
Iuz's domain began to spread like mold upon an
overripe peach, primarily due to his use of humanoid tribes. Most human princes
considered orcs and goblins vermin-ridden inferiors, an attitude best typified
by His Eminence Count Vordav, who swore to "burn on sight any hovel of
those miserable scum."1 Though this attitude allowed the petty princes to
"maintain a false sense of purity for the old Aerdi traditions,"2 it
also meant their armies were quickly overmatched by Iuz, who made full use of
orcish cruelty and fecundity.
As more and more fiefs fell to the humanoids, a
swelling stream of refugees carried wild tales of Iuz's powers to Furyondy in
the south. According to such rumors, Iuz had constructed a road paved with
skulls between the Howling Hills and Dorakaa, his new capital. The watchtowers
guarding the road were said to be fueled on the flesh of living men. Iuz himself
had sloughed off his withered form and grown to colossal size--or so the tales
said. Though hindsight may dismiss the most outlandish of such claims, the
rumors at that time spread panic along the southern shores of Whyestil
Lake.3
The King of Furyondy, Avras III, shifted
attention to his northern frontier to prevent expansion of Iuz's power into the
heartlands of Furyondy.4
Yet King Avras's position was compromised by
the independence of his nobles--particularly the Great Lords of the south, who
remained unthreatened by Iuz. Many of these southern lords seized the
opportunity to wring concessions from their hard-pressed king, depriving him of
the taxes and control he was soon to need.5 Such concessions roused the ire of
the northern-border margraves, who felt betrayed by the Great Lords. In
reaction, the margraves infiltrated the Order of the Hart, a small religious
faction at the time, and patiently, deliberately transformed it into a military
brotherhood loyal to them.
So it was that Iuz's external threat sundered
Furyondy internally. By 505 CY, a three-way split had grown in the ranks of the
nobility. The most powerful faction was the Great Lords of the south, who used
Iuz's threat to lever their lands from the king's control. Second in power was
the Order of the Hart, which grew in unity and strength to oppose Iuz's border
raids. Least in power was King Avras III with his estates and kin. Trapped in
the lands between the more powerful factions, the king futilely strove to
appease both.
At this crisis point, however, Iuz's growing
power was checked. Whether by luck, wisdom, or courage, a small party of
adventurers managed to seize the Lord of Evil and imprison him beneath the
towers of Castle Greyhawk. How or why they undertook this feat has long been
lost to the tides of time--lost along with all but one of the heroes' names: the
wizard Zagyg the Mad.6
Whatever the adventurers' motives and means,
their labors resulted in salvation for Furyondy. Deprived of their lord, the orc
and goblin armies massing on Furyondy's borders rapidly dissolved. The barbarous
creatures fought the regents of Iuz and won for themselves the east and west
shores of Whyestil Lake. East of the lake, savage chieftains and unscrupulous
humans founded the Horned Society by 513 CY, but the depths of the Vesve Forest
remained untamed up to the Greyhawk Wars over half a century later.
Though the humanoid armies had retreated from
the borders, Furyondy was too wracked by internal dissension to give chase. As
pressure from the north ebbed, Prince Belvor III, King Avras's son,
energetically courted the Order of the Hart. By playing on the suspicions of the
Great Lords of the south, Belvor III swung the Order of the Hart into the royal
faction. After his father's death, Belvor used his monarchial power to force the
Great Lords back into the fold as well. Though his reign was
relatively short,7
Belvor's coalition lasted, holding the fractious kingdom together during the
years of his son's regency.
Since assuming the throne from Lord Throstin,
Regent of the Realm, Belvor IV has striven to strengthen Furyondy, planning the
eventual conquest of the Horned Society and Iuz. Relations within the kingdom
are far from settled, though. The rival factions, though much weaker, still
remain and have found new causes to champion. In Belvor's efforts to reform and
strengthen the empire, he has undone much of his regent's handiwork.
Disgruntled, Lord Throstin has gained increasing control over the Order of the
Hart and thus slowed the king's reassumption of full power.
With all the turmoil within his borders, King
Belvor IV virtually ignored Iuz's return in 570 CY. Iuz, for his own part, had
not sought to draw the attention of the southern lands. His sudden departure
left disorder in the kingdom and until he could reassert absolute authority over
the quarrelsome humanoid tribes, he was content to be ignored by his enemies.
The Mad Overking
Before the conflict between Iuz and Furyondy
began its slow festering, events of equal import developed in the east. In the
palace of Rauxes at the heart of the Great Kingdom, scions of House Naelax swept
through the halls, brutally slaying every last member of the ruling House of Rax.
Brought to power by blood and treachery, the House of Naelax was destined to
rule by terror, for madness flowed in the blood of its progeny.8
The tale of the Great Kingdom of Aerdi begins
almost 40 years prior to Iuz's rise. In those days, the North Province was ruled
by Prince Ivid, a charismatic and able--though thoroughly debauched--nobleman.
Because decades of weak kingship under the House of Rax had eroded imperial
power, nobles such as Prince Ivid grew bold in their claims, pressing demands
upon the Malachite Throne. The kingship, weak as it was, folded beneath the
pressure and the Great Kingdom plunged into the Turmoil Between Crowns.
When Nalif, the only remaining heir of Rax, was
assassinated,9 a host of rival princes claimed right to the Malachite Throne.
Through a campaign of diplomacy, war, and assassination, Prince Ivid solved the
problem of succession by eliminating all contenders and leaving himself the sole
surviving prince of blood. Thus, the House of Naelax achieved the throne and
Prince Ivid became His Celestial Transcendency, Overking of Aerdy, Grand Prince
Ivid.
Included in his chain of titles were Herzog of
the North; Archduke of Ahlissa, Idee, and Sunndi; Suzerain of Medegia; Commander
of the Bone March; and Protector of Almor and Onnwal. Fate, however, quickly
made these titles little more than grandiose claims. The chaos unleashed with
the assassination of Nalif did not cease when Ivid seized the throne. Indeed,
the peasants of Onnwal, Idee, and Sunndi rebelled, and the Herzog of Ahlissa
asserted his own independence.10
Ivid hurried to deal with his southern cousin
(the nobility of the Great Kingdom were all related) only to find his lands
exhausted and ill-administered after years of civil war. Unable to raise a
sufficient army from his own fiefs, the Overking reluctantly called upon his
remaining cousins for aid. Like sharks scenting blood, they closed in on the
seemingly helpless king, intent on a kill.
The history of this second wave of civil war is
even more confused and incomplete than that of the first. The sack of the
University of Rauxes in 449 CY destroyed all imperial records of the
war.11
Likewise, Duke Astrin's considerable library at Eastfair went out in rucksacks
and up in flames during the final imperial campaign. Though some fairly complete
histories survived in the monasteries of Medegia, they are heavily tinged with
the Holy Censor's degenerate philosophies. Their accuracy is highly
questionable, especially concerning their main topic: the battles between Rauxes
and Medegia.
Though reliable accounts of the battles are
lost to time, the results stand clear: the Overking retained his throne but
suffered losses of territory and power. A nephew that Ivid left as steward of
the North Province rebelled against his uncle and established his fief as a
sovereign state. So too, the chief prelate of Ivid's empire--the Holy Censor of
Medegia--defied the Overking and established an independent see. The Sea Barons
were not as successful: though they gained control over the Aerdi fleet, the
Overking closed all mainland ports to them. Left with only hostile non-Aerdi
neighbors, the Sea Barons sued for peace.
Little is known of the campaigns in the
heartlands of the Great Kingdom, though certainly Ivid earned the title
"the fiend-seeing" during these battles. When Almor rebelled, the
Overking struck back with a vengeance, demonstrating his
"fiend-seeing" abilities. Drawing upon hellish aid, the Overking's
armies routed the rebels. Even in the empire's weakened state, Almor could not
stand to the diabolical fury of the Companion Guard12 until Nyrond sent its aid.
In the end, the exhausted armies fought to a draw along the current borders.
Since that time, the Great Kingdom has seen a
progression of Overkings. Ivid ruled for 48 years and, though he never regained
control of his lost provinces, he bound the rest of Aerdi to him through fear
aath his fingernails, Ivid
III imprisoned his children in richly appointed cages. He provided his heirs
with tutors and countless lavish debaucheries lest he seem the neglectful
father. When he reached advanced age, however, Ivid III declared that his
surviving child would succeed him. The announcement unleashed a bloodbath of
fratricide in his children's velvet prison. The sole survivor became Ivid IV.
The new ruler of Aerdi emulated his father:
those children not slain at birth were imprisoned, and their mothers monstrously
tortured for the Overking's amusement. With their father's throat out of reach,
the children practiced their Naelaxan butcheries on a succession of nursemaids
and governesses. Some survivors of the children sadly came to the Overking's
attention and joined his ever-changing stable of concubines. After a brief
dalliance or pleasing interlude, these women disappeared into the bowels of the
torturers' dungeons: the Overking loved pain more than passion.
Otherwise Ivid IV's reign accomplished little.
The Overking excelled in debauchery, not administration. He perennially launched
military campaigns to retake Almor and Nyrond and always managed only to shift
the borders a few miles in either direction. No matter--the battles provided a
summer spectacle to occupy the Overking, who was more interested in fury and
thunder than real military gain.
While Ivid IV dallied, his someday successor,
Ivid V, set to work. Second among the Overking's sons, Ivid V thought to
simplify the appointment of an heir by exterminating his
siblings.14 Though Ivid
V completed this task with skill and dispatch, his father still refused to yield
the throne to him. The heir apparent therefore hired the Overking's latest
favorite to pour acid in the emperor's ear.15
Ivid V ascended the throne and has held it for
28 years. Though as a commander of armies he is dissolute and weak, Ivid V
ruthlessly governs his empire with a genius for political machinations.
Undeniably, the few campaigns he has fought ended in disaster, but madness has
not obscured his diplomatic skill. The North and South Provinces have once again
fallen into line behind the Overking's banner and his emissaries have even
brought the humanoids of the Bone March closer to the imperial fold. With his
strength growing, the Overking looks for an excuse to again press his claims on
the rebellious western lands.
The Father of
Obedience
The third and perhaps most decisive figure in
the looming tragedy of war was also the most mysterious. Known only by a
title--His Peerless Serenity, the Father of Obedience--the head of the Scarlet
Brotherhood purposely fostered secrecy and rumor about himself and his
followers. Most of what is known is only unfounded speculation.16
Though this organization of the Suel humans is
purported to be ancient,17 the Scarlet Brotherhood only came to the notice of
the rest of the Flanaess in 573 CY.18 This year also saw the abduction of the
Prince of Furyondy and the Provost of Veluna. The coincidence of these events
seems significant, particularly to conspiracy theorists who suspect the hand of
the Scarlet Brotherhood in all dark and mysterious deeds.19 Whether or not a
connection exists, the Brotherhood has remained notoriously silent on the
subject.
Without question, though, the Scarlet
Brotherhood is a fanatical people. Their harshly monastic society has earned for
them the epithet "monks," though the religion practiced by the
Brotherhood remains a mystery. They deem all other races as inferior to the Suel
People, and with cold, methodic evil set these beliefs to practice. Despite
unfailing stealth and treachery when dealing with those beyond the pale, members
of the Brotherhood apparently obey their leader--the Father of Obedience--unto
death.
Though vague rumors of the Brotherhood had
existed for centuries, the first official act of the organization was the
dispatching of emissaries to the courts of the Iron League in 573 CY. Traveling
robed and hooded in red, these strangers claimed to be ambassadors from the Land
of Purity. Most were excellent scholars and sages who observed in the courts of
the Iron League and generously offered their talents to those who needed them.
Through this insidious process, the robed strangers patiently wormed into
sensitive and even vital offices in the courts of many southern lords.
While the robed sages became confidants to
kings, assassins of the sect infiltrated the courts under subtler guises. The
time when this silent invasion actually began remains unknown, and estimates of
the number of assassins are pure guesswork. Some revealed themselves prior to
the war, advancing the Brotherhood's cause through assassination and terror.
Even in these strikes, though, the extent of the Brotherhood's role remains in
doubt: assassins seldom proclaimed allegiance as they struck the blow. Was the
roof tile that slew the Steward of the Principality of Ulek wielded by an
assassin, or by the capricious hand of fortune?20
Of the Brotherhood's other prewar activities,
only rumors speak. In the last years before the war, reports reached the
southern Flanaess that red-hooded mystics were enslaving and martialing vast
savage empires in Hepmonaland. Travelers described these savages in the most
horrific terms, mercilessly detailing their cruel rites and debased
customs.21
According to travelers' tales, vast nations following the ancient ways of the
Suloise were mustering in the steamy gardens of Hepmonaland.
Still, Hepmonaland was too far from the
beleaguered borders of the Flanaess kingdoms to cause much concern. Travelers'
tales fell on deaf ears, and no one noticed the growing stranglehold of the
red-hooded sages. Had anyone taken note, countless lives could have been saved.
The Course of the War
Given the delicate balance of good and evil in
the Flanaess and the tragically flawed natures of the land's tyrants and kings,
the question was not whether a war would erupt, but how, when, and where it
would. By 582 CY, these questions had met with some startling answers.
Rise of Stonefist
In the frozen north, far removed from the power
struggles of the ancient Aerdi kingdoms, dwelt several tribes of barbaric folk:
the Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruski, and the raiders of the Hold of Stonefist. For
centuries these bands attacked anything or anyone that moved across their barren
lands or seas. Three of the four groups--Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruski--claimed
Suloise heritage and common foes. Numbered first among their foes were the folk
of the fourth group, the raiders in the Hold of Stonefist.
The squabbling skirmishes of these small and
primitive peoples should have remained merely a parenthetical aside in the epic
chronicle of the Flanaess. Rumors surfaced, however, concerning an ancient
artifact--the Five Blades of Corusk: the barbarian birthright of five swords
imbued with otherworldly magic and lost for all ages. Four of the blades had
purportedly been found in the heart of the Corusk Mountains. When the final
sword was united with its mates in the proper ritual, the Five Blades of Corusk
would combine their power and invoke the Great God of the North. This
supernatural being would then muster the barbarian tribes and lead them to
victory over the warm lands farther south.
Though countless young warriors died upon
vision quests in the high mountains, no one discovered the fifth blade.
Regardless, in 582 CY, a leader of great power and charisma arose among the
barbarians. He called himself Vatun, Great God of the North--and had the power
to support his claim. 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.
Vatun, though, was hardly what he seemed: The
entire episode was a fraud. Iuz, with his evil cunning and demi-god powers,
fabricated the god Vatun and masqueraded as messiah of the barbarians. Perhaps
the Five Blades of Corusk were genuine and perhaps the Great God of the North
might really have appeared were the fifth blade found, but Iuz's evil schemes
ended all search.
Vatun wasted no time deliberating. War was
imminent between the barbarians and Stonefist. 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. However, instead of completely crushing the
Fists, Vatun sought them as allies. Over the course of a few weeks, Sevvord
Redbeard- -once noted for his stubborn independence--underwent a radical (if not
magical) change of heart and joined forces with Vatun and his barbarian hordes.
The Rovers of the Barrens, perhaps scenting the
familiar stench of Iuz's evil upon winds from the east, proved less pious toward
Vatun. Fiercely independent, the leaders of the few surviving wardogs refused
Vatun's offer to ally. Retreating into the great plain between Stonefist and Iuz,
the Rovers were both protected and plagued by their icy and forbidding lands.
Though Vatun seemed inconsequential to sages in
civilized lands and though the Great God was in fact a sham, his appearing
irretrievable unbalanced the delicate scales of good and evil. Iuz's alter ego
clutched the northern tribes in a fist of iron, and with a single gesture he
flung them southward.
The Hold of Stonefist, now ally rather than
enemy of the barbarians, massed for an assault to the south. Demonstrating a
savagery that surpassed even his reputation, Sevvord Redbeard, Master of the
Hold, bloodily crushed all opposition to his rule. He turned the yearly Rite of
Battle Fitness into a massacre to prove his ascendancy, then gathered his cowed
forces for war talk. He said the time had come for the Fists, robbed of their
lands and glory, to bring their southern neighbors to task.
With such demagoguery, the Master of the Hold
assembled a huge and loyal barbarian army. The Fists were hungry for war and
Sevvord Redbeard planned to let them feast. Under Vatun's orders, the Master of
the Hold led his army through Thunder Pass and swept down on Calbut in the Duchy
of Tenh.
The Fall of Tenh
For decades upon decades, the atamans of
Stonefist had coveted the Duchy of Tenh--a land warm and lush by the severe
standards of the barbarians. Yet for as many years, the Duke of Tenh and his
armies blocked the way into those wealthy lands. Based in the walled city of
Calbut,22 Duke Ehyeh's patrols watched and guarded Thunder Pass, repelling small
forays and delaying larger raids until reinforcements from the city garrison
could arrive. For centuries the walled cities and garrisons of Tenh limited the
Fists to minor border raids. Preoccupied by skirmishes with the Fruztii, the
Fists had not mounted a major attack through the pass for over 30 years.
In that time the Tenhas grew complacent.
Believing the northern frontier secure, Duke Ehyeh siphoned warriors from
Thunder Pass to more pressing assignments: patrols to intercept foul creatures
from the Griff Mountains and the Troll Fens, task forces to hunt down desperados
of Rookroost and the Bandit Kingdoms, and standing armies along the increasingly
hostile border with the Theocracy of the Pale. With Thunder Pass quiet and the
Hold preoccupied, Ehyeh allowed the Tenhas guard in Calbut to dwindle
dangerously.
By 582 CY, Calbut lay completely unprepared for
the storm of barbarians sweeping through Thunder Pass. The once-great gorge wall
that sealed the heights of the pass toppled before the Fists' onslaught and
Tenhas runners bearing word of the attack fell between footfalls. The relentless
tide of Fists flooded through the pass, inundated the walls of Calbut, and
stormed the still-open gates, catching the garrison commander completely
unawares.23 Every man among the townsfolk was slaughtered and many women and
children carried off to captivity.
Though the loss of Calbut grieved the Duke of
Tenh, he expected the invasion to follow the course of previous incursions: the
advance would grind to a halt while the undisciplined hordes looted Calbut.
During the days--perhaps weeks--the Fists would spend in savage plunder, Duke
Ehyeh would carefully muster his army and trap the barbarians in their camps.
Slowly the duke drew the army of Tenh together, secretly withdrawing troops from
other fronts.
This invasion, however, did not follow the same
course as past attacks. While Tenh's forces mustered to waylay the Fists,
Sevvord Redbeard pushed his troops forward again. In the brief campaign that
followed, the Fists marched down a branch of the Zumker River, easily
overwhelming the thin ranks of the Tenhas militia in their path. Within five
days of the fall of Calbut, Sevvord's horde laid siege to the walled capital of
Tenh, Nevond Nevnend.
Without the assuring presence of Duke Ehyeh,
the citizens panicked. Rumors of empty granaries ignited a mob of fearful
peasants, who marched on the citadel. In grotesque overreaction, the Council of
Lords loosed the citadel guard upon the mob. The protest festered into a riot
that spread to every corner of the city. As mob panic reach a rolling boil
within the walls of Nevond Nevnend, Sevvord Redbeard laid siege to the walls
without. The capital fell, and with it all authority in Tenh.
After the twin disasters of Calbut and Nevond
Nevnend, the armies of Tenh were decimated. Sevvord's Fists easily fanned out
through the countryside and into the Phostwood. The Duke and Duchess, along with
their children, fled their homeland, finding refuge in the court of Countess
Belissica of Urnst.
Diplomacy
News of the fall of Tenh spread through the
Flanaess like a rolling cloud of doom, triggering reaction on all sides. Sevvord
Redbeard's conquest rung like a death knell across the land. The messengers
whispered the news in the ears of kings and emperors, saying "The hammer
has fallen. The time has come." The great war had drawn its first blood.
Most devastated by the fall of that hammer was
deposed Duke Ehyeh. In Radigast City, he and his courtiers cobbled together a
court-in-exile. The decisiveness of the defeat left the duke's reputation
hobbled. Miscalculations were magnified into character flaws, misfortunes
considered ineptitude, desperation labeled despotism. The shattered duke
appealed to his benefactress for funds and an army to regain his homeland. The
Countess of Urnst, unwilling to abuse the age-old traditions and rights of the
nobility, provided him refuge and even funded his court, but refused further
aid.
Other nations were no more obliging. The
Theocracy of the Pale, though unhappy to have Sevvord Redbeard next door, had
long distrusted and disliked the Tenhas anyway. The Supreme Prelate of the Pale
refused to volunteer an army for Duke Ehyeh to command, choosing instead to
strengthen his own borders and prepare to seize Tenh for himself. The king of
Nyrond, though sympathetic to Duke Ehyeh's cause, reserved his troops and funds
to counter the ominous rumbles coming from its old rival, the Great Kingdom.
At the same time, Iuz suffered his first
reverse. The folk of Fruztii, Cruski, and Schnai, long-time rivals of Stonefist,
took exception to Sevvord's bold stroke. Tenh had always supported the
barbarians in their struggles against the Great Kingdom and the Bone March. As
part of that support, Duke Ehyeh customarily turned a blind eye to the arms
trade traveling across Tenh from Rookroost to Krakenheim. Now, however, the
Master of the Hold closed the caravan routes, seizing all weapon shipments for
his own people. Angered by their loss and feeling betrayed by the "Great
God of the North," the barbarians began to doubt Vatun. Iuz's alliance of
trickery had begun to erode.
The barbarian kings resisted Vatun's call to
overrun Ratik and invade the Bone March. Though the humanoids of the March were
bitter foes, the barbarians were loathe to swarm Ratik. The tiny archbarony had
cooperated with the barbarians for many years, developing strong ties between it
and the lands of the north.24 Though quite willing to launch sea raids against
the Bone March and Great Kingdom, the barbarians refused even Vatun's orders to
march through Ratik. As the first few months of the war drew to a close, the
northern alliance collapsed altogether.
And so the deception that triggered the great
war met its end, but not before Iuz had firmly allied Stonefist to his cause.
Though the alliance farther east collapsed, Iuz had successfully turned the
barbarians' attention away from the west: instead of pouring though the mountain
passes, the barbarians launched daring longship raids along the coast of the
Great Kingdom.
Martyrs of the Holy
Shielding
In 583 CY, Iuz returned to his homeland. The
short absence he had taken to work his deceptions upon the barbarians threatened
to reduce his evil empire to turmoil once more. Stung by setbacks in the east
and determined to silence internal unrest, Iuz savagely restructured his nation.
The straggling human nobles from the old Furyondy houses--worms of men, too weak
to oppose Iuz and too morally bankrupt to flee--were deposed or executed. In
their stead, Iuz placed unholy things from the Abyss: nabassu, cambions, hezrou,
mariliths, and vrock. Somehow he forced them to his will.25
Nor did the Lord of Evil stop at rebuilding his
own lands, but reached also into the Horned Society to replace leaders there.
The Dread and Awful Presences, the Hierarchs, made the task easy for him. The
Hierarchs reigned in veiled seclusion, hiding their human identities from their
humanoid minions. Rumors that the Hierarchs were fiendish overlords arose among
the humanoids of the Horned Society--rumors the Hierarchs fostered to cement
their power. Iuz decided merely to make the rumors reality. In the month of
Coldeven, at the height of the Blood-Moon Festival, the citadels of Molag ran
red with blood as Iuz staged his coup. In less than a fortnight, the Hierarchs
became creatures of mere legend and Iuz held absolute control over the Horned
Society.
Iuz's assumption of power and armament for war
did not pass unnoticed. Furyondy's spies headed back to King Belvor IV with word
of the swelling humanoid armies. The news could well have been written in the
spies' blood, though, for most of the human agents were discovered and slain,
virtually closing King Belvor's eyes and ears. When the few spies did reach him,
though, the Furyondy king heeded the fate of Tenh and immediately set to
building his defense. The citadels along the Veng River were stocked and
garrisoned in expectation of immediate attack. Belvor's vassals raised militia
and shifted troops to the Veng border. Emissaries rode to the Shield Lands and
Veluna to brace them for war. Belvor was determined that Furyondy would not
fall.
King Belvor's emissaries to the Shield Lands
met with an icy reception from Lord Holmer, Earl of Walworth and Commander of
the Knights of the Holy Shielding. Relations between the two rulers had always
been prickly. Though ostensibly allied with Furyondy, the earl long suspected
that Belvor intended to annex the Shield Lands. Thus the messenger's news of the
mustering of Molag struck Lord Holmer as suspicious: he did not entirely dismiss
the warning, but suspected King Belvor of overstating the danger. Holmer felt it
more perilous to admit powerful knights of Furyondy into his lands to aid in its
defense than to face the rabble of the Horned Society with his own knights.
In the coming of Flocktime, Iuz struck. In the
dead of night along the banks of the Veng and Ritensa, the humanoids of the
Horned Society launched probing attacks. None made more than small headway
against the knights of the Hart and Shielding, but the attacks still achieved
their aim. While King Belvor and Lord Holmer peered myopically at their river
frontiers, Iuz's true legions marched east, fording the Ritensa north of the
Shield Lands and striking into the Bandit Kingdoms. The petty warlords were
easily cowed by Iuz's might and, given the number of spies recently executed,
the evil lord was confident that Belvor and Holmer were blind to his maneuvers.
Indeed they were. Lord Holmer learned of Iuz's
flanking march only after the humanoid hordes had breached the eastern border.
Raging like a grass fire across the open fields of the Shield Lands, they drove
on Critwall. When this dark report reached Lord Holmer, he pulled all but a
screen of knights from the river frontiers and personally fought his way back
toward the undefended capital, Admundfort. More than half of the knights fell in
the drive toward the island, but those who reached the Nyr Dyv set fire to as
many vessels as they could, then sailed across the channel to the capital.
Ragged and weary, the remaining knights could not hold the capital before the
onslaught of humanoids, though they came across in dories and trawlers.
Admundfort and Critwall fell, and so too did Lord Holmer, borne away in clawed
hands to the dungeons beneath Dorakaa.
The fall of the Shield Lands left Furyondy's
eastern flank exposed, a threat King Belvor moved quickly to block. Lords
scoured the countryside, raising vast militias to complement the thin ranks of
the Order of the Hart and troops were hurriedly transferred from the Vesve
Forest frontier. The newly raised troops and reinforcements confronted the
advancing humanoids at the Battle of Critwall Bridge, dealing Iuz's forces a
severe blow. The armies of Furyondy repelled the humanoids and held the Veng
River line against further advance.
Stroke and
Counterstroke
Though ill-prepared, Furyondy was not
complacent. King Belvor IV, while raising troops at home, dispatched his most
silver-tongued advisors to the southern courts. Ambassadors bore the alarming
news to Celene, Bissel, Veluna, the Uleks, and--most important of all--Keoland.
With impassioned eloquence, the emissaries warned of dire consequences should
the northern kingdoms fall. They urged the nations to ally and thus check the
tide of evil, finally and forever. Nor were their words in vain: most of the
leaders heeded the call, but wondered how little aid they could provide and how
long they could delay before sending it.
Meanwhile in the east, Archbold III of Nyrond
finally rallied himself from the shock of Tenh's defeat. Smarting from
accusations that he had allowed the troublesome dukedom to collapse, King
Archbold decided to undeniably prove his support for his former colonies. Armed
with reports that the Fists were mercilessly pillaging the fallen duchy,
Archbold marched north into the Nutherwood. Elven contingents in his army
allowed him to easily infiltrate the Phostwood and overwhelm the few Fists
posted there. Without further warning, the Nyrondese burst from the forest.
Unlike the Tenhas though, the Fists did not
simply crumble: Archbold found himself facing a determined foe. Angered at the
surprise attack, Sevvord executed a few lackluster commanders as examples to the
others, then sacrificed Fists to delay the advance as he mustered his forces
outside the village of Ternsmay. Though outnumbered, Sevvord held the
advantageous ground. In the ensuing battle, neither side could gain the upper
hand. After fighting well into the night,26 the Fists withdrew farther and
fortified their position. Though Archbold had emerged victorious, the victory
was bitter, for he could risk no further advance into Tenh. He had, however,
forced Redbeard into a defensive stance as well. The battle ended in stalemate
and the armies spent the next tedious weeks watching their enemies across a
mile-wide no man's land.
Iuz had no intention of letting his string of
victories end, however. Using loot captured in the Shield Lands, Iuz hired
humanoid mercenaries in the Vesve Forest.27 The mercenary army descended from
the Vesve, overrunning the frontier guard of Furyondy and capturing Crockport.
Furyondy's capital, Chendl, lay open and unguarded across the belly of the land.
But for a hasty confederation of Highfolk and knights, Chendl would have fallen
by the next dusk. The ragged force of Highfolk and knights refused to grant the
orcs an open fight, harrying them instead. Though the orcs' advance continued,
it slowed sufficiently for the defenders of Chendl to prepare. By the month of
Reaping, however, Chendl lay surrounded.
Furyondy Besieged
The news from Chendl struck a heavy blow on
King Belvor IV. Iuz held the Shield Lands, the Horned Society probed constantly
across the borders, and now Fairwain Province and Chendl--perhaps the most
beautiful city in the whole Flanaess--lay besieged.
Worse yet, no help had come. The reports from
the ambassadors were discouraging. Lord Kendall wrote from Celene to say that
Her Fey Majesty, Yolande, was "distinctly ambiguous when pressed on how
many troops she might consider as fulfilling her obligation, or when she might
think fit to mobilize them." Word from Bissel was no better: the margrave
expressed concern that the horsemen of Ket might attack his weakened frontier.
The Commandant of the Gran March insisted it could only act in concert with
Keoland and Keoland remained maddeningly silent.
Internally, the Seven Families (the noble
houses of Furyondy) began to grumble at the costs of the war. In addition to the
revenues spent, they lamented the revenues lost. The new militias had stripped
the countryside of able young men, leaving the ripening harvest to rot in the
fields. Meanwhile Iuz's agents permeated the land, stirring up unrest among the
hungry poor. King Belvor hardened his face to these setbacks where any lesser
man would have surrendered to despair.
Not all news was bleak, though. The knights had
managed to stop the orcish advance into Fairwain and the humanoids could do
little more than surround Chendl. The Horned Society's incursions across the
Veng occurred less often and grew less concerted. Best of all, the Canon of
Veluna sent word that his forces were hurrying to Furyondy's side. The news from
Nyrond, too--though not the best--at least indicated that the Fists were
contained. After considering these encouraging matters, King Belvor rallied his
spirit and returned to the fight.
Furyondy's first task--more political than
strategic--was to sunder the siege of Chendl. Gambling on the chaotic nature of
the tribes surrounding the city,28 Belvor left most of his strength on the Veng
border and personally led a picked command of elite units against the siege
force. Belvor's knights were severely outnumbered, but by strategic cunning and
sorcerers' aid, they gained the upper hand. The knights sliced through the
humanoid lines and pinned the besiegers to the city walls. In short time, the
fields around Chendl became a smoldering graveyard of goblinkind and the way to
Chendl was open once more.
By this time both Iuz and Furyondy were
stretched to their limits. The furious pace of the war had exhausted their
reserves of trained manpower and supplies. Through the months of Patchwall,
Ready'reat, and Sunsebb, both nations scrambled to reprovision their forces.
The Great Kingdom
Wakes
To this point, the conflict that was to become
the great Greyhawk War was viewed by most nations as just another regional
dispute--albeit a particularly volatile one--between a few northern nations. The
states of the Iron League and those around Keoland saw little reason to help the
besieged nations, or even to fortify their own borders against attack. But the
rulers of these nations were, as all mortal folk, blind to the plans of Fate.
Whether due to madness--as some have
suggested--or political ambition, the Overking of the Great Kingdom chose that
moment to enter the arena of war. The mad ruler had long coveted Nyrond and
Almor, but the two nations had always stood united against his legions. The
recent troubles in Tenh, though, provided the Overking a perfect distraction for
Nyrond: King Archbold was away in the far north with a large contingent of his
army, and the remaining troops, though not helpless, would be matched two to one
by the Overking's forces.
Other factors convinced Ivid V that Nyrond and
Almor were ripe for harvest. For some time, the Overking had courted the
humanoids of the Bone March, but being blood-thirsty and primitive, they saw no
gain in his offers. Now an ambassador flew north on one of the Overking's
personal carpets to make a new proposal. In exchange for alliance, the orcs of
the Bone March would gain both land and loot--all from Nyrond.
While the emissary delivered this proposal, the
Overking drummed up war fever in his own land to compel his independent-minded
cousins to join the fray. The North Province, sensing a dangerous shift in the
wind, stood by Ivid,29 reasoning that though he made an unreliable friend, he
was a truly horrific enemy. The South Province dithered, fearing retribution for
its past failures against Onnwal. The See of Medegia remained defiant, the Holy
Censor confident in his power to keep the mad Ivid in check. Though the Overking
was displeased by this refusal, he took no action against his chief
prelate.30
To further expand his army ranks, the Overking reached into the state's depleted
coffers and paid out huge sums for mercenary bands. News of his largess spread
beyond the City of Greyhawk. Even the ranks of Furyondy and Nyrond thinned as
hired soldiers sought better pay in the east.
With sizeable but unreliable armies, the
Overking struck in several directions at once. His Glorioles Army crossed the
Thelly River and entered the Glorioles. After hacking through stiff resistance
there, the army broke south into the County of Sunndi. Ivid's Aerdi Army marched
slowly toward Chathold in Almor. His Northern Army entered the Adri Forest near
Edge Field, bound for Innspa in Nyrond. Meanwhile the Grand Field Force of the
South Province marched into the Iron Hills, again intent on taking the city of
Irongate.
Osson's Raid
The Great Kingdom's intentions could hardly
pass unnoticed. One country that held an anything-but-casual interest was the
Prelacy of Almor. This small nation had long witnessed the brutal ambition of
the Overking at work and therefore knew not to be caught unawares. The Prelate
Kevont had personally organized an extensive spy network to monitor the lands of
the madman. That network now reported the mustering and movement of massive
armies in all landed quarters of the kingdom. When he received this
intelligence, Prelate Kevont dispatched messengers to Nyrond and the Iron League
and sent the war banner throughout the country. With the speed of a people ever
poised on the brink of war, Almor's defenses were fully manned.
A prudent ruler, Kevont did not personally take
command of Almor's troops. The old prelate had long led his country by wisely
recognizing the best man for every job. In this case, the best man was the
Honorable Osson of Chathold. Kevont appointed the energetic young knight as
Commandant of the Field, with every knight and yeoman of Almor's forces under
his command.
Commandant Osson had little difficulty
assessing the grave situation facing Almor. The Great Kingdom could squash the
tiny country through sheer numbers--and apparently intended to do so. Though the
dilemma was clear, the solution was not. Recognizing that Almor could not be
defended against such a foe, Osson decided to take the offensive--committing a
daring raid into the Great Kingdom's lands to keep its forces from attacking.
The plan would have met with insurmountable objection from older and
"wiser" knights had the prelate wavered even momentarily in support of
his young protege.
The plan was simple and daring. Osson divided
his army into two forces, posting the first along the border with the Great
Kingdom. Too small to block a major attack, this army aggressively patrolled and
probed the frontier. Their rigor would make them seem twice their actual number
and thus hopefully forestall any major assault by the Aerdians.31
The second half of the army consisted of all
available cavalry, riding under Osson's personal command. Baggage, notoriously
cumbersome and complicated for most armies,32 was all but forbidden. Osson
ordered that each man live in the saddle, forsaking all the comforts normally
carried. For the outnumbered forces of Almor, speed could make the difference
between life and death.
Having divided his forces, Osson set his plan
in motion. Knowing that neither of his armies could long withstand the full
attention of the Great Kingdom, the commandant hoped to divert Ivid's armies
away from Almor. Almor needed time for Nyrondese aid to arrive, and if Osson
could fluster the mad Ivid like a wasp in the helmet, the Overlord might never
attack. Either way, Osson preferred to keep the battle on Aerdian soil.
Osson first struck south, passing through the
Thelly Forest. With speed and surprise on their side, the horsemen brushed away
Ahlissa's ill-trained troops and plunged into the South Province. The land fell
quickly into disarray. The peasants, long oppressed by their Herzog, welcomed
the Almorian forces. The Herzog himself was slow to respond, for the bulk of
Ahlissa's troops were massed on her western border, preparing to assault
Irongate. Rushing detachments of his army toward the east, the Herzog
reluctantly accepted offers of aid from the Overking.33 The Aerdi army marched
southwest to engage the intruders, but before either force could catch him,
Osson advanced again.
Instead of returning to Almor, Osson led his
horsemen into the Rieuwood. The Glorioles Army of the Overking, though
victorious, had suffered badly in its conquest of Sunndi. Osson calculated that
a defeat in Sunndi would swing Ivid's attention from Almor. Once through the
wood, Commandant Osson found the Overking's forces arrayed and ready for him.
Even badly hurt, the Glorioles Army would have proved an equal match for the
Almorians but that the Aerdians did not have a general of genius on their side.
At the Battle of Rieuwood, Osson initiated the tactic of false retreat that was
to become his hallmark. Believing the cavalry routed, the Aerdians gave chase,
only to blunder into a deadly trap. The Glorioles Army was decimated.
After a brief delay to reorganize, proclaim
Sunndi's liberation, and recruit volunteers, Osson set off again. Crossing the
Glorioles, the commandant made a stab at Nulbish on the Thelly River. Sadly, the
good fortune that had followed him to this point fled. The garrison commander at
Nulbish, Magistar Vlent, had the military training that other Aerdi commanders
lacked. Refusing to fight outside the city, Magistar Vlent used a heavily armed
river flotilla to maintain supplies and harry the Almorians. After several weeks
of futile siege, Osson received word that the Aerdi Army was descending from the
north. Any return to Almor was clearly impossible, for a massive army now
blocked the path.
Many options--all of them grim--came under
debate in Osson's war council.34 Some of the knights argued for fighting back to
Almor, others suggested wintering over in Sunndi, and a handful even proposed a
drive for Rauxes, capital of the Great Kingdom! In the end, Osson chose none of
these, calling instead for a march on the See of Medegia. For Almor's sake,
Osson argued, the cavalry must continue to pressure the Great Kingdom. If
reports held true that the Lordship of the Isles and the Iron League were
planning to ally, surely the Lordship's fleet could provide an escape to the
Almorian cavalry.
Though the attack into Medegia surprised the
Overking, his reaction was equally surprising. As soon as Osson's intentions
were clear, Ivid ordered his armies to stop their pursuit. Rebellious Medegia
would receive no aid from the Great Kingdom. In a series of stunning field
battles, Osson's army crushed the forces of the Holy Censor and seized the land
from Pontylver to Lone Heath. Spidasa, the Holy Censor, fled to Rauxes to beg
his imperial majesty's forgiveness. Compassion failing him, Ivid V arrested the
chief cleric and sentenced him to the Endless Death.35
Aid from the South
The coming of winter brought respite to all the
warring states. In the north, snow and ice covered the land and freezing wind
whipped across the plain. Along the south rim of the Vesve Forest, Iuz's
humanoids, far from their warm and secure caves when the frigid winter blasts
descended, dug crude shelters as best they could. Once entrenched, the miserable
humanoids refused to venture beyond their warm dens. King Belvor used the
resulting quiet in the north to plan and reorganize.
In the east, rains had an equally retarding
effect. Mired in mud and hamstrung by the Overking's pettiness, the Great
Kingdom's armies massed on the borders of Medegia, Almor, and Nyrond. Osson's
raid and the coming of the rains bought the Almorians time to fortify their
borders and gather new reserves. Nyrond also raised new armies to meet the
threat from the Great Kingdom.
Though the winter halted armies, it seemed to
spur diplomatic efforts forward. The Bone March, fairly reeling from promises of
gold and land, cast its lot with Ivid V, pledging to march when the snows
lifted. Ahlissa, sensing its fate could have been like Medegia's, affirmed its
intention to fight at the Overking's side. The Sea Barons too expressed their
steadfast resolve, while the North Province crowed about its ever faithful
loyalty to the crown.
The Overking's entry into the war simplified
one task for Almor and Nyrond--persuading the Iron League to join the alliance.
With Irongate, Idee, and Sunndi threatened, the land-based members of the League
met in Oldred at Archbold's invitation and signed the Eastern Pact, formally
allying themselves against "the mad aggressions of the Great Kingdom."
The County of Urnst also signed the pact, but the Theocracy, citing Nyrond's
many heresies, efused to join.
However, the worst setback for the alliance
came when a sudden coup replaced Prince Latmac Ranold of the Lordship of the
Isles with his distant cousin, Prince Frolmar Ingerskatti. The new ruler
surprisingly proclaimed his support of the Great and Hidden Empire of the
Scarlet Brotherhood. This proclamation not only pulled the Lordship from the
alliance, but effectively trapped Commandant Osson of Almor in Medegia. Though
the Brotherhood's hand had heretofore gone unfelt, its effect would become
increasingly undeniable.
In the west, the diplomats' alarms finally
penetrated. Realizing that Iuz's threat was neither quick nor contained, the
southern states consented to ally. First to sign the Treaty of Niole Dra came
the largest and most important nation--Keoland--quickly followed by the Gran
March, Yeomanry, Duchy of Ulek, and County of Ulek. Celene was last to agree,
the elves begrudgingly consenting to send a token force. Citing threats on their
borders, the remaining countries declined to aid, although all vowed they would
give no aid to Iuz. With the treaty in hand, King Belvor returned to Chendl with
hope for his people.
In his own heavy-handed fashion, Iuz concluded
alliances--all obscenely lopsided in his favor. After the Bandit Kingdoms were
cowed into submission, agents traveled to Ket, Tusmit, and Perrenland, urging
them to take up the sword. Ket and Tusmit responded favorably while Perrenland
offered only mercenaries and a promise of neutrality in the coming years. Other
agents penetrated into the Crystalmists, hoping to rouse the creatures there to
attack and harry the good lands.
When at last spring came, several new armies
were on the march: Keoland's main force moved through passes of the Lortmil
Mountains; a small but experienced army from the Gran March passed through the
Lorridges; Celene sent a small detachment north through the forests; and the
Iron League gathered in Idee and Irongate. Among the evil forces, Ket was poised
to strike into Bissel; the Bone March threatened Ratik and Nyrond; and ships
from the Sea Barons and the Lordship of the Isles raced to Grendep Bay to end
the barbarians' longship raids.
An Empire Where None
Has Stood
While fresh armies marched north, startling
events unfolded in a long-neglected part of the world--the Pomarj. Once part of
the Keoland Empire, this wild tangle of mountains and woods had long since
passed into the hands of savage humanoid tribes. Over the decades, the
Principality of Ulek made numerous attempts to reclaim the region, but none
could defeat the fierce resistance of the orcs and goblins who now sheltered in
this wilderness. The Pomarj quickly earned the reputation of a place of death,
slavery, degeneracy, and treasure. Only corrupt or adventurous humans and
demihumans intentionally entered there.
This savage reputation hid from the neighboring
lands of Celene and Ulek the events unfolding in the Pomarj. A revolution had
occurred like none that land had ever seen: a half-orc leader had emerged. After
claiming chieftainship of the Nedla peoples, Turrosh Mak seized control of the
neighboring tribes.36 Proclaiming himself Despot, Turrosh Mak proceeded to forge
the mismatched collection of tribes into a single confederation. What might have
seemed folly to even attempt, Despot Mak achieved.
To gain a grip on this quarrelsome collection
of orcs, goblins, gnolls, ogres, and the like, Turrosh united them behind a
common cause. Tales of the Hateful Wars, which drove the tribes from the
Lortmils, still circulated around the council fires, so Turrosh needed little
persuading to convince his chieftains to reclaim their "birthright."
By a stroke of fortune, Turrosh struck at the
most opportune time. Great crusading armies had just left the lands of the
south, taking with them some of their nations' ablest men and generals. With
others' attention focused to the north, the newly proclaimed orc nation found
time to organize and grow.
Boastfully proclaiming that he would
"forge an empire where none has stood," Turrosh fielded his savage
armies in the month of Readying. He chose his first conquests carefully, looking
for easy victories. In quick succession Elredd, Badwall, and Fax fell to the
humanoid armies, and thus the southern Wild Coast was overrun. Flushed with
victory, the tribes turned southwest, marching through the dreaded Suss Forest
and into the Principality of Ulek.
As noted before, the stroke fell at an
opportune time. Though the Principality had not joined the alliance, any
neighbor who could have offered aid to the small nation had joined, sending the
picked troops well north of the Lortmils. The Principality's small army, though
determined and professional, was caught completely unawares by the united mass
of tribes that assaulted it. The dwarven Warden of the Jewel, Augustos
Clinkerfire, fought his best, but in the face of such numbers, could only manage
a careful and organized retreat. Finally in the hills of the lower Lortmils
where his dwarves were at their best, Lord Clinkerfire could make a stand,
though by that time all of eastern Ulek was lost.
Recognizing the fragility of his tribal
confederation, Turrosh did not press the assault. His orcs needed victories to
maintain their enthusiasm and the Despot was determined to avoid a prolonged and
inconclusive battle. Satisfied with his gains, Turrosh stationed his human
contingents on the Ulek line and turned his orc hordes north.37 The time had
come for the Despot to reclaim the ancient birthright of the Pomarj.
Avoiding the large tracts of forest due north,
Turrosh swung his armies northwest, down the ridge of the Lortmils between
Celene and the County of Ulek. The gnomes, halflings, and dwarves of the hills
fought with courage and skill, but many of the boldest and best trained soldiers
were away in Furyondy. The orcs drove further northwest, virtually unopposed
until they reached Celene pass. There a combined force of reservists--humans,
dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and even elves from Celene--made their stand.
The Battle of Celene Pass was bloody and
hard-fought. The advance scouts of the League of Right (as the defenders styled
themselves) had just reached a sharp bend in the pass when they sighted the
first orcs, advance scouts like themselves. By order of Rourk Splinterstone of
the Ulek dwarves, the scouting party, no more than 200 strong, piled up a hasty
barricade of dirt and stone--a wedge-shaped redoubt along the far side of the
pass. Realizing his command was hopelessly outnumbered, Splinterstone dispatched
runners under the cover of night to both Celene and Ulek. Though the messengers
risked the dangers of the pass, unknowing whether the orcs roamed there as well,
those who remained faced a grimmer fate. If the messengers were slain, or
reached civilized lands too late for relief parties to effect a rescue,
Splinterstone and his men could do nothing save fight to the bitter end.
The first assault came under cover of
darkness--a standard orc tactic. The attack was nothing more than a wild charge,
an attempt to overwhelm the defenders by sheer numbers. Under Splinterstone's
cool command, though, the barricade held. Waves of orcs pounded the bulwark
through the hours of darkness, only retreating with the dawn. The morning sun
revealed a scene both stunning and horrifying: countless orc bodies lay in gory
heaps before the rocky wall, as though adding their mass to the redoubt. The
dwarven casualties, though far fewer, were still severe. Despite his troops'
dire need of rest, Splinterstone ordered a second and even a third wall erected
behind the first.
For the next three days, the Defenders of Right
clung to their rocky position against wave after wave of orcs and goblins. When
the relief column from Ulek finally arrived,38 the grim troops were astonished
to find Splinterstone and 30 of his men still alive, tenaciously holding the
pass behind the last redoubt. The relief force's commander had long since given
then up for dead. For his bravery, Rourk Splinterstone received a small barony,
and his troopers were gratefully pensioned for the remainder of their lives.
Rourk's defense halted the orcish advance. Once
again the Despot of the Pomarj broke off his attacks, this time to deal with
rebellious chieftains back home. Though Turrosh Mak could yet hold his empire
together, further expansion would have to wait.
With Turrosh halted, the Uleks prepared to
counterattack, but even combined their armies were too bruised and weak. Though
Celene on the other side of the Lortmils could have virtually assured victory,
Celene had no intention of assisting.
Long distrustful of outsiders, Her Fey Majesty
Yolande now let fears and suspicions paralyze her nation. To her mind, humans
from the north had "demanded" her aid and thus drained vital troops
from her lands. Now dwarves and gnomes, no friends of the elves, pressed her for
help in the mountains. No country offered to assist Celene in defending its
woodlands from the Pomarj threat, she reasoned, so Celene would aid no others.
In a brief and emphatic proclamation, the Queen of Celene recalled her troops
from Furyondy and closed the borders of her nation. Others had started these
wars and others would solve them--without the loss of elvish lives.
Conquest of Almor
As the clouds of spring cleared in the east,
Commandant Osson, still encamped in Medegia, could little deny the fate dealt
him and his men. The hope he had posted on the Lordship of the Isles proved
misplaced. Ships of the Sea Barons--the sharks of Ivid V--patrolled the waters
of the Aerdi Sea while the rested and refitted Aerdi armies awaited Osson across
every border. Even the peasantry that Osson hoped would arise remained
quiescent, fearing retribution when the Overking's legions returned. Thus, with
certain knowledge of their doom, the cavalry took the field one last time, in a
break-out attempt toward the Hestmark Highlands.
Though Osson planned an orderly dash for
safety, it was not to be. As the cavalry charged across the Flanmi River, most
of its officers fell to the bowmen of the entrenched Aerdi Army. So many fell,
in fact, that even the energetic and brilliant commandant could not reign in the
cavalry. Before even securing the field, every horseman who still drew breath
rode hard for the hills and the safety of Sunndi. From there, the ragged line of
cavalry wormed its way home by way of the Iron League. Commandant of the Field
Osson of Chathold did not return, and his final fate remains a mystery. The
Great Almorian Raid had finally met its end.
Only after the fiends among the Aerdi legions
had sated themselves on the dead did the Overking occupy Medegia. Ivid ordered
the land--protected from looting during Osson's brief tenure--raped and looted.
Unsatisfied by the eternal punishment meted out to his Holy Censor, Ivid wanted
every man, woman, and child of the upstart province to suffer. The Overking
authorized plundering and spoils for every soldier, and commanders even fought
minor battles over the right to sack each town. Ivid's commitment to despoiling
Medegia thus, removed his mightiest army from combat for some time.
Osson's raid accomplished much for Almor:
destroying the Glorioles Army, redirecting the Aerdi army to conquest of Medegia,
and providing Almor time to raise armies and fortifications. Even so, Almorian
resistance ultimately proved futile. The Overking--with Ahlissa, Medegia (what
remained of it), the North Province, and the Bone March at his side--unleashed
all his might against the hapless Prelacy.
Historians hesitate to call the invasion of
Almor a battle: it was more accurately a massacre. Armies from Ahlissa and the
heartlands converged upon Chathold from the south and east; the Army of the
North marched through the Adri Forest to seize the border between Almor and
Nyrond; and orcs of the Bone March boiled through the Flinty Hills, cutting into
the flank of Nyrondese forces. Ivid thus overran Almor on three fronts and
prevented Nyrond from aiding the Prelacy.
Ironically, both the attack and fall of Almor
came within Goodmonth. Though Chathold contained a large garrison,
well-provisioned for conventional siege, its defenders fell to the magical fury
unleashed by the Overking's wizards and clerics. In a single day, now called the
Day of Dust, fell mages and priests leveled the walls, buildings, and citizens
of Chathold with an onslaught of earthquakes, fireballs, floods, clouds of
poisonous gas, and worse. When the smoke cleared, nothing remained of Chathold
to loot and despoil. Ivid did order, however, that the body of Kevont, Prelate
of Almor, be hunted out and exposed for a month on the toppled city gates. Thus,
the nation of Almor passed from the face of the Flanaess.
The Horsemen of Ket
Meanwhile in the west, Iuz faced a powerful
coalition of good-aligned armies. Furyondy, Veluna, Gran March, the Uleks (news
of Pomarj had not yet reached the treaty troops), Keoland, and the Yeomanry all
arrayed their banners against the Lord of Evil. With the Horned Society and
Stonefist as his only willing allies, Iuz's doom seemed certain.
The Lord of Evil's own diplomacy finally bore
fruit, however. At the beginning of Goodmonth, Bissel guardsman in watchtowers
along the Fals sighted banners of Ivid's new ally, Ket. The vigilant armies of
Bissel moved to block the enemy advance and held the riders for several weeks
along the river line.
Veluna, fearing the horsemen might turn and
march on Mitrick, withdrew troops from the Furyondy frontier. At the same time,
news of the Pomarj's attack reached the commanders of Ulek. Torn between
promises to King Belvor and needs of their homeland, the Duke of Ulek (supreme
commander of the two states' armies) divided his forces, hurrying one back home
and keeping the other in Furyondy.
Atop these other setbacks came a new threat
from the Crystalmists: giants, ogres, and other hideous creatures, long held at
bay, surged into the mountain vales of Geoff and Sterich. The rulers of these
lands sent frantic appeals to King Skotti of Keoland, but, with the bulk of his
army gone, the king had little help to offer. Even his reserves were largely
committed to the Ulek frontier. Nonetheless, King Skotti scraped together what
forces he could and offered them to Earl Querchard of Sterich, provided the earl
recognize Keoland's authority over him. Negotiations wasted precious time:
before the two could come to terms, Sterich and Geoff were overrun.
Giants and ogres also descended from the
mountains to attack the Yeomanry, which--unlike its northern neighbors--repulsed
the beasts. The solid Yeomanry peasants were long accustomed to mustering in
defense of their land. By becoming an armed camp, the Yeomanry repelled its
attackers, but lacked the strength to uproot the creatures from their mountain
strongholds. These giant troubles, as they came to be called, prevented the
Yeomanry from sending more reinforcements to Furyondy.
To the minds of some statesmen and sages, the
forces of evil seemed united in some grand scheme39 in the aftermath of the
Pomarj invasion and the giant troubles, Iuz launched a new round of attacks. The
Lord of Evil first drove on Chendl, but when his armies were repulsed he quickly
shifted the attack east of Crockport. At the same time, the Horned Society
forded the Veng and laid siege to Grabford. Pressed hard by these assaults, the
Furyondy forces fell back and Iuz's armies took the shores of Whyestil Lake. The
Whyestil fleet, which had long assured Belvor's dominance on that water, barely
escaped, sailing down the Veng to the Nyr Dyv.
The forces of evil also tasted defeat, however.
While Iuz marched east, Belvor counterattacked into the Vesve Forest. Aided by
the elves of that wood and the rangers of Highvale, he systematically decimated
the old orcish tribal grounds. With the destruction of each petty chieftain's
lair, Belvor eliminated a little more of Iuz's ability to reinforce and rebuild.
Meanwhile, the forces of Veluna checked the Ketish advance on Mitrik.
Bissel was not so fortunate: its soldiers could
not hold the frontier against the mounted warriors of Ket. After breaching the
Fals River line, Beygraf Zoltan, Shield of the True Faith, forced the Margrave
of Bissel to accept his terms of surrender. With the peace that was concluded,
Ket controlled the vital trade routes through the Bramblewood Gap.
The Mad King Takes the
Field
Though the tide of evil seemed certain to flood
the land--even to the gates of Greyhawk City--fate intervened, wearing the guise
of madness. The mad Overking Ivid V compared the success of the Almorian
campaign, in which he had played a small part, with the previous handling of
Osson's raid. He concluded not that Osson had been a brilliant commander, but
that his own generals were incompetent bunglers,40 requiring his aid to be
successful. In short, Ivid decided he was a military genius and all his generals
were fools.
After this realization, Ivid personally assumed
complete command of all the armies of the Great Kingdom, despite the counsel of
his best advisors. Ivid did not just overrule or even sack his generals: he
executed them, sparing only his favorites.
The military campaign that followed was,
predictably, a disaster. Flushed with victory over Almor, Ivid pushed his
leaderless armies into Nyrond, believing that through magic and messengers he
could command them from the distant Malachite Throne. The first efforts to cross
the Harp River near Innspa ended in disaster. The few commanders who had escaped
Ivid's wrath feared to act on even the smallest tactical details without
explicit commands from Rauxes. Such orders required hours to arrive, if they
came at all, and even then were illogical or clearly surpassed by battlefield
developments.
Ivid responded to these failings with more
executions. Fear began to spread through the nobility: the death of a commander
led to the appointment of a "trusted" noble, who was placed in an
impossible situation and thus became the next candidate for execution. Intended
as an honor, command appointments became the mark of death. Generals quickly
learned the only way to survive was to do nothing. All progress in Nyrond ground
to a halt, but the armies continued the futile attack, mindlessly following the
Overking's orders.
Nor did Ivid stop there. Believing--with good
reason--that his generals conspired to mutiny, the Overking sought even greater
control over them. The priests of Hextor, seeking favor in the eyes of the mad
Overking, devised a solution to his problem.41 Through secret rituals, the
priests revived each dead general as an animus--a being that, though dead,
retained its intelligence and abilities. Perhaps the Overking believed such
beings would serve him better or be more amenable to his will. In fact, Ivid was
so taken with his animus generals that he broadened the program, first slaying
and reviving those nobles who offended him and eventually working the death and
revivification as a reward for all his favored courtiers.
Though Ivid's nobles were undeniably decadent,
they were not mad: they considered Ivid's gift an unenviable "reward."
Because winning the Overking's favor had become as deadly as incurring his
wrath, most nobles sought refuge in mediocrity, obscurity, and anonymity. A few
of the more courageous and less astute nobles attempted to dissuade Ivid from
his insane schemes, but succeeded only in convincing Ivid to "reward"
them on the spot. Fear gave way to defiance as the nobles plotted against their
mad lord. Thus, Ivid's prediction of mutiny became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The crisis reached its climax during the
Richfest celebrations of that year. An assassin emerged from the thronging
crowds and struck Ivid a mortal blow with a poisoned dagger.42 When news spread
of Ivid's death, the gloom over the land lifted. The nobles stoked the fires of
celebration, joyously preparing for the power struggle to come.
The Great Kingdom was spared that turmoil,
however, by an even greater one. Just as the cunning of the mad Overking had
saved Ivid from countless threats past, it saved him now from the grave. Secret
arrangements, perhaps made with fiends summoned whOverking, now styled the Undying
One, revelled in the chaos and destruction in his lands.
Hearing of massacres in Ivid's lands, King
Archbold in Nyrond counterattacked the Army of the North between Womtham and
Innspa. Though Ivid's animus generals fought well--being themselves unafraid of
death--the chaotic heartlands of the Great Kingdom offered no support to the
Northern Army.
Grace Grenell, Herzog of the North Province,
rebelled against his cousin in a desperate attempt to hold his lands against the
march of King Archbold. Freed of the mad king, the Herzog and the orcs of the
Bone March halted the Nyrondese armies in the rugged Flinty Hills. The Herzog
callously sacrificed both human and orcish troops to grind King Archbold's
advance to a halt. Though the Nyrondese could advance no further against the
combined armies, Archbold, tantalized by the prospect of ultimate victory,
refused to break off his assault.
The North Province's defection from the Great Kingdom unleashed the
pent-up fears and ambitions of all nobility in the Great Kingdom, both
living and animus. The Herzog of the South, among the first nobles
rewarded with death and revivification, reasserted his claim to the
South Province. The wave spread outward from there: living nobles
turned their fiefs into armed camps and animus lords sought to expand
their realms. The Overking's authority collapsed entirely, leaving
Ivid with only his personal estates. Thus, the always-fragile Great
Kingdom shattered into a hundred petty principalities, dukedoms,
baronies, counties, and earldoms. The Aerdi Empire was no more.
The Scarlet
Brotherhood Strikes
Throughout the first year of the war, one
faction had remained notably silent--the ominous Scarlet Brotherhood of recent
legend. While other nations hurled massive armies against each other, the
Brotherhood insidiously wormed advisors into courts of kings. Against armies the
Father of Obedience sent agents. Though the isolated Brotherhood seemed a mere
bystander in the wars, nothing could have been further from the truth.
The first phase of the Scarlet Brotherhood's
plan was simple--wait and watch. The Father of Obedience spent the opening
months of the war assessing who would fight whom and where the true centers of
power lay. So long as the war stayed in the north, the Father of Obedience
contented himself with reports from agents in all camps. These men, posing as
tutors and learned sages from before the start of hostilities, advised lords and
commanders and thereby added the Brotherhood's invisible hand to every battle.
In all things, these spies worked to assure that neither side came too close to
victory or treaty. The Father of Obedience commanded that the war continue, and
so it did.
Another group of the Brotherhood's agents work
even further afield, in desolate and horrible places. These men sought out foul
things and whispered promises in their ears. "Arise, take the lands of men
as your own, and you shall find great reward," was their song. From the
Crystalmists to the Troll Fens, fell creatures responded. Thus, like the silent
and inexorable tug of the moon, the Father of Obedience raised the tide of evil.
When the Great Kingdom awoke from its slumber,
the Brotherhood initiated the second phase of its plan: to shift the power bases
to its advantage. The Father of Obedience considered certain countries and
alliances vital to his plans. Chiefest among these was the Iron League: the
Brotherhood neither wanted the neighboring League to prosper nor to die. As long
as the little states remained sovereign but impotent, they acted as a useful
buffer between the Brotherhood and the menacing Great Kingdom to the north.
Though he equaled or exceeded Ivid in evil, the Father of Obedience held no love
for the mad Overking.
Because of its ambivalent position in the
Brotherhood's plans, the Iron League received strange helps and hindrances in
the war. Irongate, threatened by armies of the South Province, received secret
support: equipment, money, advisors, and mercenaries all flowed into the city,
evidently from diverse sources. In truth, the Scarlet Brotherhood guided
everything to the city. Apparently unsuspecting of the source of this aid, Cobb
Darg, Lord High Mayor of Irongate, put it to good use. The mayor, an able and
energetic leader with good sense and tactical cunning, used the resources to
repeatedly trounce the South Province's Grand Field Force with his drastically
outnumbered Army of Irongate. Cobb Darg, aided by many wise advisors, made
astute use of deceptions, magic, fortifications, and traps--luring more than one
Ahlissan army to destruction.
While defending Irongate, and thus Onnwal, the
Brotherhood worked elsewhere to destroy the unity of the Iron League. Confident
the Vast Swamp would block any overland attack, the Father of Obedience did not
lift a finger when Osson liberated Sunndi. Under Ivid's rule, the courts of
Sunndi were impervious to the Brotherhood's advisors, but liberated from the
yoke of the Great Kingdom, the people would welcome the Scarlet Brotherhood--at
least for a time.
One other part of the Iron League held
parti was securely on the throne, the
Brotherhood signed him to a favorable treaty and then took over. By the Father
of Obedience's demand, Ingerskatti installed Brotherhood agents in powerful
offices. Priests of the Scarlet Sign opened temples and preached to the
disaffected. New laws suppressed the old nobility. In short, the Scarlet
Brotherhood swiftly remade the isles in its own image.
With the Iron League under control and the
Great Kingdom headed for certain decline,43 the Father of Obedience initiated
the third phase of his plan. A red-hooded ambassador arrived at the court of the
Sea Princes, bearing an ultimatum: "Submit to the Scarlet Brotherhood or be
destroyed." When the lords of the land mocked the messenger, he presented
them with a list of 30 names, all petty nobles of the Sea Princes' lines. Before
the next sunrise, 27 of those names had been crossed off the rolls of heraldry,
slain by red-hooded assassins. Only three of the listed nobles survived the
attacks, and two of them were seriously injured. The mockery stripped from their
ashen faces, the Sea Princes surrendered and signed a treaty stating as much.
Within a fortnight, ships bearing the Scarlet Sign docked at Port Toli and
Monmurg, off-loading strange, savage warriors from the jungles of the south.
With a newly enlarged fleet and armies from the
steaming jungles, the Brotherhood struck fast and hard. Idee and Onnwal
collapsed in a single stroke, undone by traitors within and invaders from the
sea. Irongate proved stronger. Despite appearances, Cobb Darg had known the
precise origin of the aid that Irongate had received, and used that knowledge to
his best advantage. Just before the Brotherhood armies closed in, Darg expelled
or executed every agent he could find. When the armies did arrive, Darg met them
with his customary skill and energy. Safe from betrayal, Irongate stood, the
last bastion of freedom in the Iron League.
In the west, the Brotherhood blockaded Gradsul,
but the Keoland fleet prevented their landing. The Father of Obedience sent a
savage army through the Hool Marshes and into the Dreadwood. There a strong
force of Keoland elves fought the savages to a stand-still. Though the defenders
held, fresh reinforcements from the Hold kept tight pressure on Keoland.
Unlike other nations in the war, the
Brotherhood did not press its gains or attempt to overreach its resources. The
Father of Obedience, again taking the long view, halted further advances to
develop governments in the newly conquered lands. Brotherhood agents replaced
key officials, priests of the Scarlet Sign established temples, and new laws
slowly tightened the stranglehold of the Father of Obedience over the new lands.
The War's End
For two long years (582 to 584 CY), the nations
of the Flanaess had schemed, murdered, and warred against each other until
nearly all sides lay bloodied and beaten: war had exhausted the land and the
people. Furyondy and Iuz ground to a stalemate; Nyrond's vast coffers were
drained dry and its overtaxed peasants were rebellious; the Great Kingdom was
shattered into a swarm of petty landholdings vying for power; Keoland fought
invasion on all sides; countless men, dwarves, elves, and orcs marched off to
war, never to return; farms stood empty; fields lay fallow. . . . The Flanaess
could make war no longer.
Proposals for a peace conference met with
greater and greater acceptance. The puppets of the Scarlet Brotherhood, taking
orders from the Father of Obedience, issued a call for a grand
truce44 every
nation would cease hostilities and put its own house in order.
In the end, through negotiation, intimidation,
and even assassination, the Brotherhood's proposal found
acceptance.45 The City
of Greyhawk, untouched by the war, became the site of the
conference.46 In the
month of Harvester, the Great Council (as it came to be known) convened.
The proposed truce, though simple in theory,
proved an enormous undertaking, what with the countless ambassadors present. In
the six months of the Great Council, intrigues abounded as each side attempted
to gain the upper hand. The conference nearly collapsed more than once when
ambassadors took umbrage over some real or imagined slight.
The final act of the immense drama of war
occurred on the Day of the Great Signing. A pact had been resolved and nearly
all the nations had agreed to sign it. As this solemn ceremony got underway,
however, a tumultuous event occurred.
Even today a haze obscures the details:
apparently someone plotted to annihilate the entire diplomatic corps in
attendance, but the scheme misfired. A blazing explosion destroyed a good part
of the Grand Hall only minutes before the ambassadors assembled for the day. A
fierce magical battle immediately ensued, spreading havoc through much of the
old city. When the fire and dust cleared, constables discovered smoldering robes
belonging to two powerful members of the mysterious Circle of Eight--Otiluke and
Tenser. The murderer of these wizards, undeniably a powerful mage, was
discovered to be a third member of the Circle of Eight--Rary. Using secrets
gained in confidence, Rary not only vaporized his two fellows but also tracked
down and destroyed every clone the pair held in preparation.
The motive behind Rary's treachery remains
clouded. According to many who knew him, the wizard probably saw an opportunity
to seize power and land in the confusion that would follow the assassinations.
Others suggest Rary was a pawn of the Scarlet Brotherhood.
With the plot discovered, though, Rary and his
co-conspirator Lord Robilar fled the city. Unable to return to Robilar's castle,
which was immediately seized by the troops of Greyhawk, the pair escaped into
the Bright Desert. There they conquered the savages and established a kingdom of
their own. Though small and mysterious, this growing state could someday
threaten the very borders of Greyhawk.
Fearing further disruptions, the delegates
hurriedly signed the Pact of Greyhawk, and so the wide-ranging war of the
Flanaess came to an end, and gained the misleading title, the Greyhawk Wars.
Footnotes
-
Annals of the Family Vordav. Count Vordav's
fief included large portions of the Vesve Forest, an area well-known for its
vicious humanoid population. The quoted command appeared in an order to one
of Vordav's knights guarding the frontier. The knight, now unknown,
apparently carried out the order to the letter, for Iuz rallied the goblins
and orcs of the Vesve several years later simply by reminding them of
Vordav's butchery.
-
The Savant-Sage, A Catalogue of the
Land of Flanaess, Being the Eastern Portion of the Continent Oerik, of Oerth
(Vol. III); A Guide to the WORLD OF Greyhawk Fantasy Setting.
-
Quite possibly--as P. Smedger the Elder has
suggested--Iuz himself concocted and disseminated these rumors. G. Ivril
argues, however, that such speculation has only poetic, not historic,
significance.
-
This distraction prevented Avras III from his
planned assimilation of the Shield Lands. Freed from the threat of military
action, the Earl of Walworth resisted the demands for fealty to the Furyondy
crown. This resistance produced grave repercussions a century later.
-
Earl Kirhk of Attstad was the most aggressive
and effective in pressing his demands. In exchange for a mere 20 knights and
his signed pledge of assistance, the earl secured rights to assess and
collect taxes within his demesne, freedom from royal levies, the right to
collect tolls on the Att River, a bishopric for his nephew, and even a
favorable marriage between the king's third son and Earl Kirhk's daughter!
-
Tales of Zagyg's capriciousness and
power suggest that he may have performed the kidnapping alone. More likely,
however, Zagyg was assisted--possibly by St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel or one
of his priests. St. Cuthbert's participation in the capture could certainly
explain Iuz's great hatred of that faith. Note: The author of this
tome has chosen to use the "Zagyg" spelling, though "Zagig"
also has full acceptance among sages. Documents unquestionably penned by
Zagyg bear signatures of both spellings, hinting that the madman himself was
uncertain which to use.
-
Belvor III died in his sleep in 537 CY
after a reign of 15 years. Some nobles accused the Great Lords of
assassination despite the fact that the Dread and Awful Presences--the
Hierarchs of the Horned Society--claimed their magic wrought the king's
death. A commission of wizards and priests led by Lord Throstin of the Hart
determined that King Belvor died naturally in his sleep. The Great Lords
were exonerated, but the Hierarchs never withdrew their claim: the deed only
increased their standing in the Horned Society.
-
The precise cause and nature of that madness
has sparked much debate among scholars of the Great Kingdom. Pomfert the
Elder, one of the Eight Sages of Rel Mord, considers the Overkings' madness
magical in nature. Citing the Overking's epithet "the
fiend-seeing," Pomfert argues that the lunacy of the Overkings arises
from their trafficking with fiends of the Abyss. He continues to state that
no similar hereditary madness has ever been witnessed, arguing strongly
against congenital causes. Lorall of Almor postulates another source: the
madness is a curse from the gods for the Overkings' evil treacheries. As Eye
of the Faith for the clergy of Almor, however, Lorall's judgement in the
matter must be considered suspect: the Almorians have long preferred to see
the gods' support in their struggles with the Great Kingdom. Furthermore, as
a curse, the madness has done far more to harm the foes of the House of
Naelax than its members: the Ivids seem almost to relish their insanity.
-
Though commonly credited to Prince
Ivid's hand, no direct evidence links the future Overking to the
assassination.
-
The Herzog of Ahlissa gambled that his
army alone could crush the nascent Iron League, formed in 447 CY and
consisting of Onnwal, the Free City of Irongate, Idee, Sunndi, and the
Gloriole and Hestmark demihumans. By defeating this economic and military
alliance, the Herzog of Ahlissa hoped to create for himself an empire.
-
The principal surviving source is The
Death-Code of Eeas, a pithy listing of crimes for which execution was
mandated. Though this corpus displays early tinges of the madness that would
infect the Naelax line, it offers only limited vision into the political
events of the era.
-
G. Ivril has indisputably shown that some but
not all units of the Companion Guard were barbazu, lesser baatezu from the
Nine Hells. This fact accounts for the highly erratic performance of the
Overking's armies.
-
The Overking's symbols of office are the
Staff of Naelax (staff of thunder and lightning), the Orb of Rax (equal to a
brooch of shielding) and the Aerdian crown (a helm of brilliance). In
addition, the Malachite Throne itself is believed to be a minor artifact.
Fashioned from a piece of star-fallen crystal, the throne was built by an
imperial wizard centuries ago. Its powers have remained a closely guarded
secret of the Overking. When the last heir of Rax took the secrets of the
throne to the grave with him, Ivid I consulted the finest sages to deduce
the throne's power. The sages served him well, and as reward, he slew them,
jealous of his new-found secret. The Ivid line has learned that the throne
allows anyone sitting on it true sight and surrounds him with an invisible
globe of invulnerability. In addition, anyone knowing the command word can
open a gate once per week. This gate leads to the uppermost level of the
Nine Hells. The throne does not offer protection from creatures passing
through the gate, however. Using the gate power of the throne is also
dangerous because each use carries a 5% chance of causing insanity--a bitter
curse on a line already plagued by madness.
-
Ivid IV had been a prolific sire. Before his
ascension could be assured, Ivid V had to dispose of 123 brothers and
sisters. Though suckling babes proved easy prey, Ivid V's older brother
easily matched him. For many years the pair waged a war of assassination and
intrigue in their prison-palace before Ivid V prevailed.
-
Ivid V's role in the affair is
doubtless: the new ruler boasted of the ruthless deed. Recognizing the
danger of keeping a treacherous concubine on hand, however, Ivid V sentenced
his accomplice to the Wheel of Pain.
-
By far the best source on the Scarlet
Brotherhood and its activities is L. Marquel's An Honest Traveler's Strange
Tales of the South. Marquel, a paladin of Nyrond, accepted a commission from
King Archbold III to investigate rumors coming from the Densac Peninsula.
Traveling in disguise, Marquel wandered in his investigation into lands even
farther south. Although unable to penetrate the forbidding ranks of the
Scarlet Brotherhood, Marquel faithfully recorded every rumor, tale, and
experience of his journey. The result is an odd admixture of petty details
and grand impossibilities, but once again, it provides the best source of
information on the Scarlet Brotherhood.
-
Rumors that the Scarlet
Brotherhood is a nonhuman order (e.g., that they are surface-adapted drow or
creatures that arrived through a magical gate) fail to account for the easy
infiltration of Brotherhood spies and assassins into human courts.
-
According to the chronologies of
P. Smedger the Elder and the Savant-Sage, in 573 CY emissaries from the
Scarlet Brotherhood appeared in the courts of the Iron League, offering
their sagely services.
-
Morrev Ironseeker of Scant has gone to
great lengths to connect the Scarlet Brotherhood to most major prewar
events. He ties the group to the kidnappings previously mentioned, the
release of Iuz from Zagyg's prison, the Great Fire of the Celadon, and the
tribulations that plagued the city of Greyhawk. Unfortunately Ironseeker's
"proofs" are as fabricated and groundless as they are interesting
and popular.
-
M. Ironseeker ascribes almost all
prewar deaths of nobles in the good lands to the hand of the Scarlet
Brotherhood. His proofs, though lacking in research, bespeak an unequalled
(and unbridled) imagination.
-
The paladin wanderer L. Marquel was
particularly disgusted by the rituals he witnessed in the jungles of
Hepmonaland. Underlying his vehement protestations of disgust, however, the
reader may note a fascination with the myriad indecent details of the rites.
Amusingly, after leaving Hepmonaland, Marquel spent two months in a Sunndi
monastery "seeking respite from dark thoughts and tortured
dreams."
-
The fortification of the frontier actually
predates the founding of the Duchy of Tenh. The first defenses were built by
the Aerdi, a towered wall at the top of the pass. Calbut evolved naturally
at the base of the pass and was already fortified at the time of the Tenhas
Rebellion.
-
The less-than-illustrious career of
Margeist of Redspan won him the back-waters post of Steward of Calbut, a
position in which he "could cause the least harm." Vain and
incompetent, the new garrison commander quickly came under investigation by
the Knight-Magistar of Tenh for supposedly diverting funds from the garrison
treasury. Margeist's guilt or innocence became moot when he disappeared in
the sack of Calbut. Rumors suggested Margeist betrayed Calbut, using the
capture to screen his escape.
-
In particular, the king of the weakest
barbarian nation, the Fruztii, profited greatly from his pact with Ratik.
The archbarony aided the Fruztii in clearing the northern pass of the Fists
and in amassing enough strength to virtually pull free from the domination
of the powerful Schnai.
-
A. Yamoskov, a sage of Rel Mord, theorizes
that according to the Codex of Mordenkainen Iuz held the life-force items of
his minion fiends and could thus force them to his will. He argues that
during Iuz's "imprisonment" in the dungeons of Zagyg, the demi-god
was actually banished from the Prime Material plane. During this exile,
Yamoskov suggests, Iuz collected the items he needed.
-
Sevvord Redbeard defied the normal
custom of breaking off at nightfall, instead relying upon troops with
infravision to press the attack.
-
Indisputably, the money came from the
Shield Lands. An adventuring party from Perrenland looted the treasure of a
Vesve orc chieftain and found silver from Lord Holmer's table!
-
G. Ivril believes the siege force consisted
of at least five major orc tribes: the Vrunik, Faarsh, Jukko, Haggnah, and
Karaki. However, the Vesve army must certainly have included other races,
particularly goblins and hobgoblins, and so Ivril's list of tribes is surely
incomplete.
-
Though not too close, lest the Herzog of the
North find a dagger in his side.
-
Tales say that, livid at his impotence to
force the Holy Censor of Medegia into alliance, the mad Overking ordered the
assassination of 100 of the Holy Censor's concubines to soothe his anger.
-
Osson correctly measured his foes. The Aerdi
Army, strongest in the Great Kingdom, was staffed not with warriors, but
courtiers--experts in pandering and fawning to the Overlord. The Grandee
Despotrix of the army, his Highness Yimdil of Jalpa, customarily commanded
his regiment from the comfort of his palace at Jalpa rather than endure the
rigors of an actual campaign 200 miles away. His subordinates were no
better, vying among themselves more than against the enemy and each seeking
to discredit his colleagues and thus gain favor in the eyes of the
Overking's dreaded censors.
-
The Aerdi Army provided a fine example of
wasteful military baggage. Though no accurate counts were made, the provost
of the Aerdi Army estimated in a letter to his wife that the baggage train
for his troops stretched 40 miles behind the back ranks and took three days
to properly assemble in any one place. Among the notable items in the train
were 5,000 women, 500 young boys, two theater troupes, and 50 nightingales
in gilded cages!
-
Ivid extended these offers not out of
friendship or kinship, but because the Overking saw a chance to secure a
grip over his wavering cousin.
-
Thredus, Commandant Osson's personal
wizard and chronicler, faithfully recorded these war councils. Thredus' True
Account of the Great Almorian Campaign spans five volumes and provides both
historical accounts of battles and biographical information about Osson
himself.
-
Victims of the Endless Death are forced
to wear a ring of regeneration while torturers endlessly perform their arts
on them. These torturers, trained from youth to perfectly gauge the
intensity and extensity of pain, always stop one step short of inflicting
death. Rumors tell that victims of this punishment have been tortured by
grandfathers, fathers, and sons of the same executioner families.
-
How a half-breed--normally ostracized
by orcs--gained command of one of the largest tribes in the Pomarj is a
mystery. Some scholar speculate that Mak was aided by a wizard or perhaps by
the Scarlet Brotherhood.
-
The Despot both loathed and needed his
human troops. Though he despised them as weak and lacking in savagery (when
compared to his orcs), he knew they had more patience for a protracted
campaign. The orc forces, on the other hand, would dwindle if not constantly
provided with battles and victories.
-
No relief ever arrived from Celene. The elves
at the time claimed they never received word of trouble. Several weeks
later, however, a messengers returned to the pass saying he personally
delivered news of Rourk's plight to the Luminous Elf-Commander Jevrail. No
evidence exists to support the messenger's claim, and many (certainly the
elves) believe he was lying to hide his own desertion from duty.
-
G. Ivril, more than any other, has championed
this view. He holds that the precise timing of attacks from Iuz, the Pomarj,
and the Crystalmists bespeaks a central plan. To be sure, Iuz's agents
sought to incite the inhabitants of the latter two regions, but inciting
goblinkind and giantkind is far easier than martialing them for coordinated
attacks. More likely, as Pomfert suggests, the attacks were roughly
simultaneous because the beasts of the Pomarj and the Crystalmists
simultaneously noted their neighbors' preoccupation with Iuz and decided to
strike. According to Pomfert, therefore, Iuz's agents merely incited attacks
rather than leading armies of beasts on precisely plotted invasions.
-
More than a few were, in fact, incompetent,
but Ivid also included many able commanders in his assessment.
-
With the arrest and "living
execution" of Holy Censor Spidasa, the cult of Hextor suffered a
grievous loss of prestige and power in the Overking's court. Logically, the
surviving members of the cult sought to curry Ivid's favor by assisting the
Overlord in "restructuring" his army.
-
The identity and political alignment of this
assassin remains a mystery: the blow was only seconds old when Ivid's
bodyguards blasted the assassin into dust.
-
G. Ivril confidently asserts that the
Scarlet Brotherhood engineered the Great Kingdom's eventual collapse. Most
other historians consider Ivid V's insanity reason enough for the kingdom's
fall.
-
Why the Scarlet Brotherhood
sought a universal peace remains unclear. Peace would certainly allow the
Father of Obedience to establish governments in Onnwal, Idee, and Hold of
the Sea Princes as well as infiltrate new agents into other lands. The true
motivations, however, remain unknown.
-
For example, the Yeomanry signed
the truce only after the border between it and the Sea Princes was clearly
defined. The Hold of Stonefist signed following the mysterious deaths of
several atamans.
Greyhawk actually prospered immensely from the
war. Refugees fled to Greyhawk to escape the war-torn lands--among them the
world's greatest scholars, artists, and wizards. Having fled with their gold and
little else, the refugees needed food, clothing, and shelter--and had the money
to buy them. This influx of people expanded Greyhawk's small borders to include
the northern Wild Coast and the hills as far as the Duchy of Urnst.
©1999 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights
reserved.
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