First, I'm assuming that the timeline of events as presented in Steve Wilson's Oerth Journal article are roughly correct. I'm also assuming that the recent article in OJ15 about Norebo is correct in saying that Vatun is Norebo's son, which makes him Lendor's grandson.
Without further ado, here's the story thus far, and I welcome comments or other feedback:
Lendor the Prince of Time looked into the future and saw that his Grandson, to whom had been granted overlordship of the Barbarian North, would be imprisoned by the Jealous god Telchur. In order to ensure that his grandson would not spend eternity rotting in confinement, and would someday be able to lead the last Suel line that retained any kind of purity (he did not consider the Scarlet Brotherhood pure, for they had been poisoned by the teachings of Tharizdun) he sent visions to powerful priests of Vatun and bade them fashion the Five Blades of Corrusk, which together would have the power to summon the Great God of the North to them, should the need arise, no matter what kind of Binding Telchur placed upon Vatun.
But how could the priests possibly power such a high-level spell?
The answer lay with the Five Binders that now resided in the North of Oerik. Now, most of the Suel in the Houses of Pursuit had forgotten about the Binders when Slerotin released the great magic that wiped their minds, but Lendor revealed their importance and locations to the priests and bid them go on quests to gather these artifacts together.
Zellifar, who had possessed the Great Binder Etheresra and one other, did not take them back with him when he teleported into the remains of the Suel Imperium. Instead, he hid them somewhere in the Griff Mountains and appointed guardians to keep them.
Meanwhile, Pellipardus, when he broke off from Zellifar's group, had taken one of the Binders to the Ratik area. The settlers of Ratik retained their knowledge of the importance of the Binders and it was not without a fight that the Priests of Vatun regained it.
The other two Binders were obtained easily, for the Schnaii and Cruskii houses that held them had had their memories erased by Slerotin and thought them merely pretty baubles to adorn their chieftains' crowns.
So it was that in the earliest days of the settlement of the Thillonrian peninsula, priests of Vatun fashioned the Five Blades of Corrusk, using the runic language revealed to them by Lendor, incorporating the Binders into their construction as pommel stones. They then divided the Blades up among the chieftains of the tribes.
However, over the years, through infighting and the vicissitudes of time, the Blades were lost until some adventurers found them again prior to the Greyhawk Wars.
Why didn't the Blades summon Vatun when they came together?
When Iuz heard the legend of the Five Blades of Corrusk, he came up with a scheme to help further his own aims. He found one of the Blades and popped out the Binder pommel stone, replacing it with a bloodstone that would instead summon him when the spell etched in runes in the blades was cast.
Thus, he was able to convince the Barbarians that he was the Great God of the North and set the Greyhawk Wars in motion. It wasn't until much later that (I forget his name) the Barbarian Chieftain realized that the gemstone in the pommel of one the Blades did not match the legends and songs pertaining to the Blades and guessed at Iuz's deception.
Well, that's it for now. It's just a start and I would really appreciate some feedback.
Thanks!
This was the line-up - they were all related to Vorlag in some way or another
Vorlag Konig, Fighter/Northman (kit), Sword:Edge (became King of the Schnaii through intrigue and treachery, King of the Rhizians by marriage and conquered the Fists and "occuppied" Tehn during the GH Wars)
Thormod, Bard/Skald (kit), Sword
?) (Cousin to Vorlag, brother to Geirrod, died in GH Wars but not before recording the Saga of Vorlag up to that point)Orec, Druid(I picked a Norse nature deity but I can't remember who), Sword: Greenswaithe (Vorlag's Great Uncle, now a recluse tending the Sable Wood and cursing Vorlag's name)
Geirrod, Ranger, Sword: Stalker(?) (Cousin to Vorlag, not paritcularly bright, brother of Thormod, Died in GH Wars with his brother during a naval engagement with the Great Kingdom)
Bjorn, Thief/Assassin, Sword: (?) (Vorlag's thrall since they were children, helped facilitate Vorlag's rise to the throne, ran away with his sword after the GH Wars, now Plane hopping I do believe some where along the Ygdassil)
I remember getting sidetracked in the sub levels of Castle Greyhawk during the Gathering of the Blades. Our "Big" group had already plundered most of the center tower (that's how they became "Big" actually, Valkaun, Mortellan, Br. Wyrth, et. al.) and had reconstructed them on the surface as our base of operations. That's a story for another time. Anyway Vorlag talked his way in using Valkaun's good name. I want to say it had something to do with actually freeing (Vatun/Odin). I believe it was the "Power Tower" and there was some kind of temple to Nerull there (why Zagig would do that I have no idea). Vorlag stuck the Edge in some sort of magical device in the temple, intending to destroy the device and Nerulls temple. Instead it disintigrated the Edge! I was horrified! That started a whole new adventure/ordeal to restore the Edge.
I'm rambling. Later,
Valkaun
Lendor looked into the mists of time and saw that his future grandson would be imprisoned by the jealous god Vatun. Grandfather time mentioned his vision, but made no move to do anything about it saying, "The trajectory of his fate is set, and I will let it run its course."
Like any good father, Norebo wanted to provide for the future of his son and went walking the planes. He came upon Valhalla and the Norse and learned the tales of their gods. He too thought that the names Vatun-Woden-Odin were too similar to having nothing to do with one another and in his mind decided that Vatun was an alternate world incarnation of Odin.
So, of course, being the god of thieves, when he decided to steal the mythology of the Norse and implant it in the minds of the three Houses of Pursuit (the ones whose minds were wiped by Slerotin) he gave his son a future as overlord of the Northern Barbarians, and had an excuse (though somewhat flimsy) for Wee Jas (Vatun's mother) and Lendor, both of whose lawful natures would not approve of this outright theft.
In altering the memories of the three Houses of Pursuit, he altered every so slightly the role of the various Suel gods to fit the Norse Mythology he had stolen.
He took on the character of Loki, Odin became Vatun, Phaulkon became Thor, Wee Jas became Hel, Pyremius became Surt, Balder became Phyton, Kord became Magni, and so on. He even allowed for Obad-Hai and Beory to enter the pantheon as the Vanir and they became like Frey and Freya.
The other Suel gods didn't appreciate Norebo's "joke," but they had to admit that at least it kept them in the hearts of their worshippers and so at least didn't put them behind in the follower game, so they didn't punish him too badly.
His next step was to insure that Vatun would have a way of getting free and he designed the Five Blades of Corusk in the way I've already described.
The history of Zellifer and the Suel Binders (which imprisoned the elemental princes: Olhydra, Yan-C-Bin, T' Magnus, Za Ooze, Imix, Cryonax and Whisp) and the Great Binder Etheresra I pulled from Steve Wilson's Oerth Journal Timeline. I've been using it for some time in my campaigns, and I've always fancied the idea of the Binders and the idea that some of them helped bring about the Twin Cataclysms. Those particular binders: Smoke, Magma, Fire and Air, respectively (at least the way I got it figured, Wilson's timeline doesn't actually say) are still in the Sea of Dust and the Dry Steppes, but the other five ended up in the North with the rest of the migrating Suel. So I thought it made sense that the Five remaining Binders went into to fashioning the Five Blades of Corusk.
Yes, I agree Kabloona is a dumb name for a barbarian belonging to group based loosely on Norse mythology. It's a great name for some other Barbarian and actually sounds a little more benevolent than this character is supposed to be.
Anyway, I plan on changing the Five Blades of Corusk adventures considerably when I run them, because they seem a little contrived and just plain dumb in some places. But I like the shadow dragon lair, and I really like the Orc City.
Man I'm glad I found this board. I don't know how I never looked for it before.
Greyhawk rules. You hear me WOTC? We're not going away!
Oh, a minor point, but I forgot to mention that Norebo stole Lendor's Matrix and used it to go plane hopping. And Llerg became the Fenris Wolf!
Still looking for a suitable Tyr, though.
I'll have to do some research.
BTW My DM finally told me he posts as Mortellan. Sound familiar?
Valkaun