Races of Greyhawk

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

ripvanwormer

Mar 03, 2006 15:30:06
I was looking at pictures of the D&D Iconics and, for my own amusement, decided to connect them explicitly with the human races of Eastern Oerik.

IMAGE(http://www.wizards.com/books/images/naullsized.jpg) The Baklunish have golden-hued skin. Their eyes are gray-green to green. Their hair is blue-black to dark brown. The Baklunish esteem honor, piety, generosity, and family, virtues they call the Four Feet of the Dragon.
IMAGE(http://www.wizards.com/books/images/ember_300pix.jpg) The Flan were the first human inhabitants of eastern Oerik; the name of the land, the Flanaess, is derived from them. Their skin tone varies from coppery to deep brown, their eyes dark brown, black, brown, or amber, their hair black, brown-black, dark brown, or brown. Their hair tends to be curly or wavy.
IMAGE(http://www.wizards.com/books/images/regdarsized.jpg) Oeridians have skin tones ranging from tan to olive, and hair ranging from honey blonde to black. The Oerids descend from tribes of horse-riding barbarians who invaded the Flanaess en masse a thousand years ago, and went on to found some of the region's greatest and longest-lived empires.
IMAGE(http://www.wizards.com/books/images/jozansized.jpg)The Suel were the rulers of an ancient, magical empire destroyed by their own hubris. Their skin is fair, almost albino. Their eyes range from blue to gray. Their hair is wiry, often curly or kinky, usually blond or red in color.
IMAGE(http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/dx0302iw_Shadowblade.jpg) Rhennee are not native to Oerth; they are accidental travelers from another plane. Today they are wanderers and gypsies with no homeland to call their own. Their complexion ranges from olive to tan; their hair is usually curly and tends to be black or dark brown.
#2

mortellan

Mar 03, 2006 17:46:28
Great line up! I especially like that last pic. What is that from?
#3

ripvanwormer

Mar 03, 2006 17:57:18
Great line up! I especially like that last pic. What is that from?

It's from the Tome of Magic preview. The Master of Shadow on that page would also make a decent Flan.
#4

cwslyclgh

Mar 03, 2006 18:51:56
I think the master of shadow would actually make a better flan then the one you used.
#5

ripvanwormer

Mar 03, 2006 21:38:06
I think the master of shadow actually make a better flan then the one you used.

Strictly speaking yes, but the main point of this was to give Ember the Monk a place in the Flanaess without her having to come from south of the Sea of Dust. Those folk are pretty different from the Flan, though they're not really very defined.

The Green Star Adept from Complete Arcane is a perfect example of the Suel (so is the Suel Arcanamach, of course), but I thought I'd use Iconics for consistency whenever possible.

I think if WotC had released a full-color World of Greyhawk hardcover in 2000, the illustrations would have looked exactly like this. Putting them together helps me visualize what might have been.
#6

thanael

Mar 04, 2006 4:25:01
huh? I see no pics?
#7

scoti_garbidis

Mar 04, 2006 9:50:15
they were there yesterday but i am betting that either the address changed the pictures were sourced from or the boards has thing about pictures sourced from either their webpage or another... or maybe I am just full of it and they will be back later....
#8

ripvanwormer

Mar 04, 2006 10:39:11
I think the main wizards site is down, actually. I can't get it to load.
#9

cwslyclgh

Mar 04, 2006 11:09:33
they are working for me, as of now
#10

Mortepierre

Mar 04, 2006 12:02:46
Kind of ironic to have chosen a priest of Pelor as the iconic Suel.. :P
#11

Amaril

Mar 04, 2006 12:42:56
Kind of ironic to have chosen a priest of Pelor as the iconic Suel.. :P

I agree; Jozan is definitely not Suloise. Additionally, I would have chosen Hennet as another example of flan, too.
#12

ripvanwormer

Mar 04, 2006 22:26:40
I decided Hennet was mixed-blood, probably Flan and Oerid. He's got the Flan tattoos, though.

The pantheons are long dead, though; I'm sure lots of Suloise worship Pelor.
#13

Mortepierre

Mar 05, 2006 9:16:40
The pantheons are long dead, though; I'm sure lots of Suloise worship Pelor.

I am not so sure. Those of the SB do not, that's for sure. Those found in the (former) Great Kingdom (and neighboring provinces) could (they do in Sunndi at the very least) but are more likely to have turned to Oeridian deities since those belong to the pantheon of the dominant human subspecies.

To the West, Suloise from the Sheldomar Valley should actually have less chances to worship Pelor than their brethren from the East due to the fact that their ancestors either defeated and/or slaughtered the Flan tribes occupying the area when they tried to move in.

I could see some Suloise bloodlines from South Province (United Kingdom of Ahlissa in LG) going for Pelor given they used to be allies of the ancient Flan kingdom of the legendary queen but that should be it.
#14

ripvanwormer

Mar 05, 2006 14:02:14
I don't think that's right. Pelor's listed as a common deity as well as a Flan one, which means people in most areas will worship him, regardless of whether the people there have any Flannish blood or not.
#15

Mortepierre

Mar 05, 2006 16:37:00
Sure, that's because the majority of the Flanaess' inhabitants are now "mixed-blood". Still, not all gods are venerated everywhere (nor should they be).

That is not to say you can't find Suloise folks worshipping Pelor. On the contrary, you probably can and will.

On the other hand, methink the historical and geo-political factors should also be taken into account. It's all well and good to say that pantheons are "dead" (figuratively speaking) because everybody now worships any and all gods but, after a while, it becomes a very convenient excuse to justify pretty much any weird combo (such as a Suel worshipping a Baklunish deity, etc..)
#16

ripvanwormer

Mar 05, 2006 22:53:22
Sure, that's because the majority of the Flanaess' inhabitants are now "mixed-blood".

If that were the only reason, I'd expect all the gods to be listed as Common. Yet most Suloise gods, for example, are not. Some gods are just more popular than others, and have spread far beyond their original purview; they're no longer associated specifically with descendents of a single race, if they ever were.

On the other hand, methink the historical and geo-political factors should also be taken into account.

Definitely. Much as in the real world religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Mithraism, Islam, and the cult of Cybele spread far beyond their original homelands, the same thing would happen on Oerth. The people of the Duchy of Urnst aren't going to care if 1000 years ago Pelor was exclusively worshipped by Flan; they'll worship him as a gigantic glowing man with features like theirs because they appreciate that he brings light to the world, heals the sick, and opposes the undead, a combination that doesn't appear so strongly among any of the Suel gods.

I agree that the Urnstan are less likely to worship, for example, Istus (though there's apparently a major monastery of Zuoken in Urnst), but with gods that satisfy basic needs like Beory and Pelor, I think they'll be almost universal (areas like the Scarlet Brotherhood obviously excepting).
#17

max_writer

Mar 06, 2006 10:58:36
Personally, I would have made Ember a Touv and Retgar too (especially after the DVD of him ... crap, can't remember the name - with Lidda and the elf wizardress).
#18

scoti_garbidis

Mar 06, 2006 12:12:01
Scourge of Worlds - A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure
#19

ripvanwormer

Mar 06, 2006 13:10:37
Personally, I would have made Ember a Touv

Touv have blue eyes, though, and straight hair; they look like Thulsa Doom in the Conan movie. I think Flan is a much closer match for Ember. The Touv also live much further away, making Ember's presence within the Flanaess more of a hassle to explain.
#20

max_writer

Mar 06, 2006 15:15:39
Thank you Scoti.

What color are Ember's eyes?
#21

zombiegleemax

Mar 06, 2006 15:23:15
Touv have blue eyes, though, and straight hair; they look like Thulsa Doom in the Conan movie. I think Flan is a much closer match for Ember. The Touv also live much further away, making Ember's presence within the Flanaess more of a hassle to explain.

Yeah, I agree that Ember doesn't work as a Touv. I don't think she works as a Flan either. If she has to be included in the discussion maybe she works as a native of Anakeri. :shrug:

It certainly would be nice if a enterprising artist would work up some new character portraits for the races of Greyhawk....

If only I wasn't so lazy.
#22

scoti_garbidis

Mar 06, 2006 23:27:07
What color are Ember's eyes?

I would say they are the standard illustration black in this depiction and don't really have a color. But that is just me. Don't know if there are stats including eye color published anywhere for the iconic 3.x D&D characters.
#23

zombiegleemax

Mar 07, 2006 9:32:53
Yeah, I agree that Ember doesn't work as a Touv. I don't think she works as a Flan either. If she has to be included in the discussion maybe she works as a native of Anakeri. :shrug:

It certainly would be nice if a enterprising artist would work up some new character portraits for the races of Greyhawk....

If only I wasn't so lazy.

Hmmm... Sounds like a job for mortellan. Then he can show you guys that he can draw "serious" as well as funnies. Come on mort! Wake up! Set your steno notebook down and start drawin!
#24

mortellan

Mar 07, 2006 13:54:25
Um, no.
#25

zombiegleemax

Mar 08, 2006 15:22:38
#26

mortellan

Mar 08, 2006 16:58:43