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Guide	-	Glossography	-	Greyhawk

His Celestial Transcendency, the Overking of Aerdy,
Grand Prince Ivid V of the North;
Archduke of Ahlissa, Idee, and Sunndi;
Suzerain of Medegia;
Commander of the Bone March;
Lord of the Sea Barons;
Protector of Almor and Onnwal;
Hetman of all the Aerdi;
etc., etc.
?, former Lama (C7) / current Wizard (MU12)

CAPITAL: Rauxes (pop. 41,000)
POPULATION: 5,000,000 (includes N. and S. Province and Medegia)
HUMANS: OS
DEMI-HUMANS: Some (scattered on fringes of kingdom)
HUMANOIDS: Some (mixture)
RESOURCES: foodstuffs, cloth, copper, silver, gold, gems (IV: base value 1,000 gp)

ALIGNMENT: Any
LANGUAGE: Common, Oeridian

CLIMATE:
TERRAIN:

The history of the Great Kingdom is too well known
to dwell upon here. Once the most powerful force for
order and good, the Aerdians have declined over the
last century to an unspeakable state of decadency.
After a millenium of leadership, its rulers and nobles
turned to evil and irrationality. Its current monarch,
Ivid V of the royal house of Naelax, is reported to be
quite mad, but crafty and deviously capable nonetheless.
His writ extends to the Royal Demesne surrounding
the capital, the Grandwood, and further
only by threat and persuasion of the Peers whose fiefs
comprise the balance of the realm. The Overking's
Companion Guard consists of 10 select companies of
various arms (heavy, medium, and light cavalry,
crossbowmen, archers, and five companies of pole
armed foot).

Noble contingents allow the Overking to field an
army numbering over 15,000 troops in a relatively
short time, and if necessary a force of four or five
times that can be called up.

Both the North and South Provinces are under the
suzerainty of Aerdi royal houses and are ruled almost
as independant states. The troubles in the Bone March have
caused the Herzog of the North to fall
into line, as the difficulties with the Iron League
brought his southern counterpart into closer cooperation
with the Malachite Throne (see North Province,
South Province, and also See of Medegia.) The Sea
Barons pay a token tribute to the Overking and conduct
their piratical operations under letters of marque
bearing the Overking's Seal.
 
 

Kingdom	Encounter
01-03	Demi-humans (01-05 = Dwarf, 06-70 = Elf, 71-80 = Gnome, 81-100 = Hobbit)
04-10	Humanoids (01-05 = Gnoll*, 06-10 = Goblin, 11-15 = Hobgoblin, 16-94 = Orc**, 95 = Qullan, 96-100 = Xvart)
11-15	Men, Bandits
16-20	Men, Brigands
21-40	Men, Merchants
41-44	Men, Patrol, Heavy
45-47	Men, Patrol, Medium
48-50	Men, Patrol, Slaver
51-53	Men, Pilgrims
54-67	Men, Raiders
68-70	Orcs1
71-00	Use Standard Encounter Tables

¹ Orc soldiery in the Great Kingdom, Medegia, and South Province.

* 10% of all gnoll encounters will include flinds.
** 5% of all orc encounters will include ogrillons.

TEMPERATE CIVILIZED Plains and Scrub (d8+d12)
 

2	Lammasu, Greater
3	Ghost
4	Lycanthrope, Wererat
5	Castle
6	Ankheg
7	Owl
8	Man, Pilgrim
9	Man, Bandit
10	Cattle, Wild
11	Man, Merchant
12	Falcon, Small
13	Man, Patrol
14	Character Party (RG)
15	Bugbear
16	Hobbit
17	Man, Dervish
18	Goblin
19	Oliphant
20	Quasi-elemental, Lightning

 
 

In the same vein Aerdi has Gothic architecture, BTW,
while the Great Kingdom has Byzantine...

Cheers,
Gary
 
 

DMPrata wrote:
Col_Pladoh wrote:
Spot on in my book, amigo. In the same vein Aerdi has Gothic architecture, BTW, while the Great Kingdom has Byzantine...

Cheers,
Gary
 

Um, aren't those both the same place? 
 

Noppers! The Great Kingdom has parts other than Aerdi, does it not?

Cheers,
Gary
 

DMPrata wrote:
Not that I'd ever deign to disagree with the guy who wrote the book  , but the Great Kingdom is "The Kingdom of Aerdy."
Are you referring to the outlying dependencies (North/South Province, Medegia) as "The Great Kingdom" (with Byzantine architecture) whilst the central lands around Rauxes are "Aerdi" (with Gothic architecture)? Please enlighten the uninformed masses. 
 

The United Kingdom is often referred to as England, but it included Wales, Scotland, and various parts of Ireland during the middle ages;
it also included Normandy and various other parts of contemporary France.

Think of the Great Kingdom as en empire, Aerdi as the core. It is the Great Kingdom because it rules all the other parts outside of Aerdi, just as Great Britain was and is more than England.

Cheers,
Gary
 

DMPrata wrote:
Ah! That makes sense. Thus, architecturally speaking, the Great Kingdom's Byzantine influence would likely be seen in Almor, Nyrond, Ratik, Sunndi — all lands that were once part of the empire, but have since seceded — while the central Aerdi lands would feature the more Gothic style. Methinks I understand now. Much obliged!

Of coiurse I made that all up, and it isn't graven in stone anywhere,
so you could as well have the Aerdian architecture being of the Roman style and the former dependencies have Grecian,
and Byzantine styles as their base.

In short, whatever makes a region interesting and vital to you is what counts 

Cheers,
Gary
 

Julian Grimm wrote:
Gary,
 

If someone wanted to run Gaxmoor in Greyhawk where would you suggest placing it?

Whoa!

I have not given that a single thought, but...

I believe that the best place for the area to be is somewhere on the borderlands of the Great Kingdom, exact location up to the DM, but I should think east and south somewhere.

Ciao,
Gary
 

merkholz wrote:
Gary, I was wondering what your view was on the mad Overking V, Ivid. Rob Kuntz described him as a lost, innocent soul in the clutches of an evil wizard in his Maze of Zayene series. In Saga of Old City it is obvious that the ruler of the Great Kingdom was a tyrant and in the '83 box it seems evident that the line of Naelax are mad, evil, devilworshipping fiends. Did you see Ivid as a non-evil monarch in an evil nation or an evil madman at the head of a court of evil nobles?

M
 

As the one that conceptualized the character of Ivid V, Overking, I assure you he is demented, malign, and thoroughly evil.
Think of the Emperor John Ominer in The Broken Lands by Fred Saberhagen, and then make the mental image more vile and scheming.

Cheers,
Gary
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by haakon1
...
BTW, my take on the GK is that it's something like the Holy Roman Empire -- so, claims to ancient grandeur, lots of messy little territories and feudal patchworks, and probably lots of robber barons (tolls every 10 ft, like the Garden State Parkway) if you have to move around there.

Can't argue with that take in the least, and I have been on the Garden State Parkway--highway robbery <mad>

Heh,
Gary
 

With the sad news of Fred Saberhagen's passing fresh in my mind, I must say that the Great Kingdom I pictured as akin to John Ominer's Empire of the East.