Re: Greyhawk Timeline

From glholian@MIT.EDU Tue Oct 24 23:39:18 1995
To: greytalk@MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: Greyhawk Timeline
Content-Length: 4052
X-Lines: 69
Status: RO


>This thing is beginning to attain the status of Old Cheastnut, but is still
>troubling if you are hearing about it/ realizing it for the first time.
>
>Although I don't have it with me now, I beleive what TEE says is that Iuz
>was active in the *construction* of the Temple, not its fall. Thus, his
>involvement would have to have occurred several years earlier, making it a
>more difficult problem to fix than just moving the date of a Battle by one
>year.
>
>I believe TEE was pretty vague on what Iuz's "involvement" was, however,
>other than lending aid and conspiring with Zugg. That is, I do not think he
>was necessarily personally, physically, involved. Thus some (Gary?) have
>resolved that Iuz's support of the Temple did come while he was imprisoned,
>just as he was supporting many things - through his minions, with whom he
>had some kind of contact.
>
>For myself, I have moved the dates of Iuz's appearance, capture, and release
>back by more than a century. I prefer this, as it also gives time for Iuz
>to ascend to godhood. There is not enough time for this, in my style
>campaign, in the official time alloted to Iuz. This solution,
>unfortunately, results in a very Unoffical chronology.

Yup Kirt,

I think it is possible, if not particularly satisfying, to attempt to rationalize the inconsistency. As I think I mentioned to you long ago, I think Iuz worked with Zuggtmoy (and certain Princes of Elemental Evil such as Ogremoch, Cryonax, and Imix) to lay down the foundation for the temple prior to the Lord of Evil's capture by Zagig Yragerne et. al. in CY 505. That, I contend, is his direct assistance as intimated by T.E.E., even though it did not come to fruition for decades. Further, due to the nature of the prison holding the Nine Demigods, I also assume that they were conscious and sensate during their imprisonment (mostly becuase of the many tasks to which Zagig Yragerne directed their combined powers.) Thus Iuz was able to collect devotional power supplied to him by his faithful servants, who went on to found the plague of cults across the Flanaess between CY 510-570. The most prominent was in the City of Greyhawk (led at one point by the infamous Falcon.) Iuz was conscious, able to communicate with and return priestly powers to his followers, and even indirectly influence events in the Flanaess. The one thing he did not
know, the one thing that pained him most, was not knowing where the hell he was. The magical power of the Obelisk beneath Castle Greyhawk, kept this knowledge from both men and gods, so that while Iuz was able to reach out to the world, he did not know where he was reaching out from. Only the nascent demigod Zagyg, his patron Boccob, and those who assisted him knew where the Nine were trapped. In many ways, this explains why Iuz's priest-hood began leaving their holds and fastnesses in the Lands of Iuz to spread across the Flanaess and search for their Master after his untimely
disappearance (which they claimed for propaganda reasons was their Lord's
Assumption into the Abyss to be reborn in the fires of Eternity.) I further contend, that only the leaders of the Spurned Cult of Iuz knew what had truly happened to their master, lest their juniors and adherents lose faith. The High Priest Patch and the Archmage Ormuz, acting as temporal leaders, coordinated the efforts of all the various sects, including lending assitance to their Master's efforts in Verbobonc (T.E.E.). And so, while Iuz embarked upon the plan that resulted in the Temple of
Elemental Evil, the show was really Zuggtmoy's, despite paltry efforts to make her succeed. Of course, who could predict that one of the Spurned Cult's spies would be sitting in the same tavern in the City of Greyhawk when a drunken lord by the name of Robilar, let slip his discovery of a certain chamber beneath the ruins of Castle Greyhawk on a previous journey with his compatriots Riggby and Tenser...thus setting
about a series of events which will be a tale for another time....

-Gary