[Greyhawk] The Aerdian Church of Law

Nomism (not to be confused with Gnomism!) is the umbrella term for the doctrinally diverse and often competing churches of Law in the Flanaess. These traditions all hold the belief that cosmic order derived from the divine force of Law must be maintained and supported against destructive Chaos which threatens all existence.

Nomism in the Eastern Flanaess developed from Oeridian polytheism and philosophical ideas borrowed from the Bakluni and Suel. The various traditions hold in common that Law is divine and transcendent and has transmitted through holy writ a body of rules for orderly society and virtuous living. Faithful adherents are promised an afterlife in a Lawful Plane. The traditions often differ in regard to cosmogony, the status of gods, ordination of priests, and interpretation of scripture. 

The primary canonical text of the churches of the Eastern Flanaess is the Book of The Eternal Law, which is a liturgical manual, code of clerical behavior, and collection of aphorisms. Also important are the Twelve Tablets of the Law of the Aerdi which lay out the foundations and principles of Aerdian society and jurisprudence. Various commentaries on both the Twelve Tablets and Aerdian common law are also considered canonical.

The hymns and verses of the Book of The Eternal Law reveal a cosmology wherein certain gods of the Oerid tradition are viewed as "Lawful" and so worthy of veneration as "of the substance and essence" of Law. Chief among these is Pholtus, the Oeridian polytheistic god of heavenly light, though many others are considered important.

Other old gods are deemed "Chaotic" and deprecated if not outright suppressed as "antinomian" and thus, anathema. The faith also recognizes hosts of "rebel angels," beings of "the substance of Law" who broke their oaths of fealty and now work to establish their own, flawed order in the universe. These are the Devils.

Nomism views no law as entirely secular, though it does differentiate between immutable, divine principles and customary law. Nomist priests act as advisors for temporal rulers and higher-level clerics serve an appellate function for decisions of local temporal powers. The Aerdian Church which co-developed with the Great Kingdom of Aerdy, has a supreme Hierarch who is elevated above the others in their role as "Holy Censor," the highest religious authority and (theoretically) final arbiter of legal disagreements within the churches sphere.

Commentary: This is admittedly a fair bit of additional material when compared with the sparseness on this topic in the Folio and is fairly divergent in some details. Canonical Greyhawk is polytheistic (or henotheistic) with religious institutions that gesture toward historical, monotheistic models. I chose to adapt the polytheism to something more like the implied D&D setting monotheism, and got a religion that has elements of, well, a lot of real-world belief systems but in a way a think seems plausible and playable.

Setting Presentation Again

 Not for the first time, I've been thinking about the best presentation style for setting material. This time it was prompted by re-reading the Greyhawk Folio and noting it's ergodic nature. While I'm partial to the format I used in Strange Stars, it is very picture heavy and probably works better for science fiction than for fantasy. I am fond of the approach Jack Shear took in Krevborna and here's an attempt at the Holy See of Medegia (which I've covered before. Sorry!) presented in a format that borrows a bit from that and a bit from other places like Fabula Ultima and Strange Stars OSR.

MEDEGIA

The Holy See of Medegia

Theocrat fiefdom ruled by a corrupt cleric allied to the Overking of Aerdy

While nominally still the supreme religious authority in the Aerdi lands, the Holy Censor has seen his clerical authority decline with the weakening of the Great Kingdom, even as his temporal power has increased over holdings granted and seized around the city of Mentrey. The Censor remains an ally to the Malachite Throne, if a cautious one, he cares little for the moral or temporal restoration of Aerdy so long as he can continue to fill his own coffers.

Aesthetics: High-spired temples; imposing and stern marble statues of Lawful gods; clergy dressed in finery, the poor groveling for alms outside the temple doors; swaggering mercenaries in livery of the temples, chained debtor in public stocks

Locales: forbidden, hidden library of the Holy See, reliquary with the remains of saints of heroes, secret site to worship chaos gods in the forest

People:

• Spidasa, His Equitable Nemesis, Holy Censor of Medegia. Unimaginative as he is venal and grasping.
• Sister Hildegrund, Imposing, scarfaced former paladin with a vow to aid the poor. Abbess of a hospital in Pontylver.
• Captain Ribaldo Belswagger, Captain of the City Guard, mustachioed dandy who is always looking for a bribe.
• Delienn Goodfellow, Wood elf bandit, Robin Hood-type figure to the rural peasantry.

So with this I was looking to convey the basics of the area so that a DM could understand it quickly and know how to convey it features in game. I also wanted adventure seeds to immediately come to mind. I probably would even suggest some possibilities, but I also want to keep it short. The bit of history paraphrasing the Folio might be unnecessary, but I feel like it helps the entirety of the setting cohere, maybe.

Postcards from the Flanaess

 In thinking about Greyhawk for my recent posts, I've been inspired by Anna Meyer's great maps. Particularly her climate map which has challenged me to consider locations in the context of not just their historical European cultural inspirations, but their often not-European climate.

Ket

I didn't mention it in my post on Ket, but Meyer places it in the Dfa (humid continental) region which would make it like much of the American Midwest, perhaps Nebraska as pictured above.

Perrenland

Greyhawk's Switzerland Meyer puts in the Bsk (cold, semi-arid) Köppen climate region. Something like Denver or Boulder CO would be similar.

Lordship of the Isles

On Meyer's map, these islands fall into the Cfa (humid subtropical) region like the American Southeast or Bermuda. Given that they are in the tropics, though, I wonder if they might be better represented by Cuba or the Florida Keys and be mostly tropical savanna (Aw)

Keoland

Though the U1 describes the area of Saltmarsh being like the coast of Southern England, its location would put it in a climate region Af (tropical rainforest). 

Greyhawk: Ket

Ket sits astride a major route of commerce between the Oeridian East and the Baklunish West. Its people are a mixture of those cultures, though the ruling class is generally drawn from the descendants of Baklunish horse lords. Ketite leaders have sometimes been bellicose in their rhetoric, but one neighbor or the other, but they have seldom sought to impede the follow of trade through the region, so long as taxes are paid. They defend their territory zealously, however.

It is perhaps in the name of balancing their neighbors that the upper classes have adopted the so-called True Faith, a religion of the broad Lawful tradition but distinct from the predominant denominations of either East or West. Adherents hold to the mystic teachings of a succession of five prophets, each associated with a heavenly body and an age in human history. The faithful seek to escape the cycle of reincarnation and ascend to the plane of Law by emulating the prophets.

Greyhawk: The Horned Society

The origin of the so-called humanoids of eastern Oerik is something of a mystery. They first entered history as mercenaries and foederati of the Suloise and Baklunish in their wars. When the conflict toppled both empires, the humanoid groups fell upon their former patrons as well as their enemies as every people scrambled for their own survivable. A confederation of hobgoblin comitatus and various allies of other humanoid groups settled in the steppe north of the Nyr Dyv between the Veng and Ritensa Rivers.

In recent decades, one or more high priests of a diabolic cult have managed to convert the fractious tribes and bring them under their sway, forming the Horned Society. While the name is applied in human lands to the region, only a portion of the humanoid tribes residing there are actually directly in the service of the Horned Society Hierarchs. Though much has been made of the superstitious fanaticism of humanoids, it seems likely that the Hierarchs rule as much by their success in delivering lucrative plunder through banditry and by canny manipulation of rivalries between groups. The theatrics employed by the Hierarchs, to say nothing of the invocation of diabolic power, likely serve as a deterrent against would-be usurpers, however.

Greyhawk: Rel Astra

Rel Astra is one of the major port cities of the Great Kingdom. It is an old city of the Aerdy, the original seat of the early Aerdian Church of Law and once a capital of an Aerdi kingdom until the crowning of the Overking. Once the Great Kingdom was declared in Rauxes, control of Rel Astra was given over to a ministerialis who served as constable and mayor in the Overking's name. The post continues, but it now belongs to a hereditary noble line whose interests have diverged from those of the Malachite Throne.

Like the lords of the Iron League region, the Constable's financial interests lie with the burghers and trade, and he resents the grasping and peremptory ways of the Overking. He is also wary of the covetousness of Medegia's Holy Censor.

While the more fierce-tongued members of the city's council urge swift action, the Constable chooses to slowly build his forces and bide his time.

The original Folio had an apparent editing mistake that listed Rel Astra as the capital of Medegia, so a thought it was worth making a nod to that in the history. Though the Folio never mentions it, the title of Overking suggests their were (at least once) subordinate kings. I figure there must have been multiple, petty Aerdian kingdoms that were united.

Greyhawk: Medegia

The See of Medegia is a territory ostensibly within the Great Kingdom of Aerdy that is under direct sovereign rule of the Holy Censor of the Aerdian Church of Law. Though the reach of the Censor's ecclesiastical authority has diminished with the decline of the Great Kingdom, he remains one of the most powerful and wealthy rulers in the eastern Flanaess.

The Church of Law has ever tied to the Aerdi, their kings, and kingdom. While the various Hierarchs of Law of the Flanaess were independent, they were in communion, and the Hierarch of Medegia was invested as Holy Censor, guardian over the doctrine of Law and moral guide to the Malachite Throne and the entire Kingdom.

Most Medegian church houses, including its great basilica, were originally dedicated to Pholtus, the Blinding Light, though Legalism being a transtheistic faith, this was not true of other churches in other lands. Today, the iconography of Pholtus persists, but the stern-faced deity is little favored by the current Holy Censor, his most senior clergy, or the other highfolk of the land. The Divine Law has varied manifestations and champions, so why should they not pray to Zilchus, whose doctrine of material prosperity for the faithful is more amiable to their wealth and privilege?

Despite the Holy Censor's roll as advisor to the Overking, neither the indolent Hierarch nor his flattering and generous orthodoxy are favored at court. Ivid is rumored to have become enamored of an antinomian heresy wherein, as a divinely favored monarch, he is above the precepts that bind others. The Censor is, of course, concerned, but not overmuch, so that his enjoyment of his position isn't soured.

Greyhawk: The Iron League

by Anna Meyer

The Iron League was a separatist alliance formed in 447 CY for mutual defense against the Great Kingdom. While the members made much rhetorically of the demoniac apostasy and madness of the Naelax, the League's greatest concern was economic. None of the trading cities wished to allow the profligate Aerdy nobility to root like pigs in their accumulated wealth.

The association's core members had histories stretching back to ancient, Suloise, maritime city-states. While the Aerdi gained suzerainty over the region, the regional lords were content to allow a great deal of local self-rule (so long as they benefited from the ongoing trade), and in time became intertwined with the Suloise population through marriage and alliance with the local oligarchic families. Intra-region conflict between local nobles, powerful families and guilds was a more pressing concern until the Herzog's heavy-handed treatment prompted the member states to set aside their differences. At least for a time.

Although the League was founded primarily for military purposes, it did possess a confederal civil government. The ruling council, composed of representatives of the individual states, was fairly limited in its power outside of military matters, but was given the ability to control custom duties and adjudicate disputes between regions.

This is a follow-up to this post. I drew inspiration for the Iron League from the Lombard League and communes of North Italian and their relationship with the Hohenstaufen Holy Roman Emperors. Given their Suloise history and their climate (Hot summer Mediterranean, according to Anna Meyer's climate map), I felt like their Suloise history might well amount to something like the Phoenician city-states. Visually, the continental states would look something like Sicily, Southern Italy, or parts of the Iberian Peninsula, except the Lordship of the Isles which is more humid and more like Florida.

Thinking Greyhawk

Over the past month, I've been reading some historical fantasy (Between Two Fires and His Black Tongue), some straight historical stuff (rpg supplements from Codex Integrum and the season on Frederick II of the podcast History of the Germans), and most recently, taking a real look at the World of Greyhawk (1980) folio.  All this stuff knocking around in my head led me to believe it might be interested in borrowing an old idea from Miranda Elkins and doing a series of blog posts developing a version of Greyhawk derived from the folio, with a Medieval history sort of feel.

I'll be using the 1980 folio as the only "canon" though I'm not opposed to taking material from the 1983 boxset and the Dragon articles written between and around the time of both publications. I'm trying to avoid more recent Greyhawk material. In keeping with the other recent inspirations, I'm going channel the historical wargamer Gygax over the pulp fan Gygax, and also I'll be using some of the ideas derived from examination of the pre-Greyhawk implied setting of D&D.