Rary
Rary of Ket is a powerful archmage and ruler of the Bright Lands, also known as Rary the Traitor.
In a storyline developed by TSR for a resetting of the Greyhawk campaign in 1991, Rary, a member of the Circle of Eight, betrayed the Circle at the end of the Greyhawk Wars and was responsible for the deaths of Circle members Otiluke and Tenser. After his betrayal, Rary fled with his ally Lord Robilar to the Bright Desert, where he established the Empire of the Bright Lands.
Rary is 71, 6'0" tall, 170 lbs., with thinning auburn hair and green eyes, and a tanned complexion. Rary dresses in a tan-colored robe with highly intricate gold patterning of Baklunish origin. He is growing old, but he is still sprightly, and the glittering green eyes in his handsome face are not watery or dimmed with age.
Rary has major sage abilities, and he still devours knowledge and learning. He is ever eager to find and buy, or trade for, books and other items which convey knowledge of the history of the peoples of Oerth. He is quiet, dignified, and a skilled mediator and peacemaker.
Rary is Archmage of Ket, and largely retired from the Circle of Eight, living in his tower in Lopolla. He still attends meetings when there is peril in the land, however, and his advice and judgments are often sought by the others. His gentleness, and his duties as Archmage, prevent him from leading the Circle of Eight, but he has never sought this position. He would, in any event, have found it hard to deal with the aggression of Otiluke, and regularly expresses irritation at the younger mage's intemperance.
Rary is of mixed Baklunish-Suloise stock, and is a living legend within Ket. His sage and archmage talents are legendary, but his strange affinity with the marauding Paynim is as well-known and causes Ket folk to shake their heads in wonder. Certainly, the wild raiders from the plains have great respect for "The Rider," as they simply call him.
This is only partly attributable to Rary 's specially enchanted stone destrier, an "animal" which can travel tirelessly at a gallop in the usual manner on Oerth, but across all terrains, and also across the Astral plane, rendering its rider astral also. On Oerth, this magnificent beast is unequaled for size and strength (having 52 hit points, twice the normal amount), and the Paynim speak in hushed tones of awe about the stallion. Further , Rary knows the history and beliefs of the Paynim in great detail, and has spent many days talking with Paynim shamans and wise men, bringing back to the wild men long-lost echoes of their ancestors, legends, and past. The Paynim thus hold him in the greatest respect, and the frequency of their raids into Ket has greatly diminished in recent years.
In the event that Rary should meet with real hot-heads, he uses his rod of beguiling and similar magic to subdue, eschewing offensive spells. Rary's own personalized spells reflect his preference for "mental magic" over what he disparagingly refers to as "blood and thunder stuff." He also favors defensive magic for self-protection, and has been able to create a pair of bracers of defense unequaled for their protection.
Rary travels to the City of Greyhawk upon occasion to visit his brother, Arkalan Sammal, who is a sage in residence. Rary sometimes grows tired with his duties in Ket and regards a few weeks with his brother as relaxation. Those who have attended their ferociously learned conversation s, which stretch well into the early hours, come away from them exhausted and with a deep sense of intellectual inferiority.
In material developed by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) in 1998 as a further update to the Greyhawk storyline, Rary was described as a man of mixed Baklunish and Suel stock, six feet tall, 170 lbs, with auburn hair, bright green eyes, and a tanned complexion who favors tan robes with intricate gold patterns. (See Gallery, below) Although originally described in TSR material as a man in his eighties, the new WotC storyline had Rary looking like a man in his fifties, having somehow reversed his aging by 30 years. The explanation was that this was not for reasons of vanity, but because Rary knows his current plans may take many decades to come to fruition and is prepared for every eventuality.
Rary's personality is given as thoughtfully contemplative. Apparently he dislikes those who acted foolishly or rashly, and Otiluke was a particular target of his scorn, though even Mordenkainen is characterized as too volatile for Rary's tastes.
Relationships
Robilar—former ally of Rary and Lord in the Domain of Greyhawk. After Rary betrayed the Circle of Eight, it was discovered Robilar had been replaced by a mirror-double from an alternate Prime known as Uerth. His double, Bilarro, was lawful evil and aided Rary in the looting of Tenser's citadel, the Fortress of Unknown Depths, and fled the Domain of Greyhawk with him to the Bright Lands.
Arkalan Sammal of Ket—Rary's younger brother (LN human male, 0-level), who has been known to frequent the Savant Tavern (C11 in the Free City) and has stuggled with alcoholism. Disowned Rary in 584 CY, but still lost his position at Grey College.
The following information is outlined in material developed for the Greyhawk campaign world by TSR and WotC between 1988 and 2008. Origins
Born around 511 CY in Ket, Rary was known as a quiet, dignified scholar and a skilled mediator and peacemaker. He was a living legend in his homeland, and held in the greatest respect by the Paynims, and would confer with their shamans and wise men, telling them tales of their past. The frequency of Paynim raids into Ket decreased dramatically because of his influence. He was apparently invited to join the Circle of Eight in or around 575 CY.
Rary betrays the Circle
After a decade's careful deliberation, Rary decided that the Circle of Eight was too quarrelsome to ever be effective in its goals. On the day of the signing of the Treaty of Greyhawk, he tried to eliminate the Circle but only succeeded in killing Tenser and Otiluke. Simultaneously, Robilar besieged the castle of Tenser, sacking its treasures and destroying all of Tenser's known clones. Having largely failed in their quest to destroy the Circle, the two conspirators fled to the Bright Desert, where they founded a kingdom.
Further plans
In the Living Greyhawk campaign, Rary desired to recreate the ancient kingdom of Sulm by recovering an artifact known as the Scorpion Crown. (Players of the campaign were often unwittingly employed as agents of Rary to help fulfill his goal.).
Spells
From the Ashes, Reference Card #13, art by Ken Frank. When Gary Gygax developed new spells for Dungeons & Dragons, he often borrowed wizards' names to give the spell names more verisimilitude. He borrowed the name of Brian Blume's retired wizard for the spells Rary's mnemonic enhancer, and Rary's telepathic bond, which appeared in the original Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook.
Because Rary's two original spells seemed to involve psychic or mental powers, whenever a new spell was developed that involved these powers, authors often attributed them to Rary:
Rary's aptitude appropriator
Rary's arcane conversion
Rary's empathic perception
Rary's hesitation
Rary's interplanar telepathic bond
Rary's memory alteration
Rary's mind scan
Rary's mind shield
Rary's plane truth
Rary's protection from scrying
Rary's replay of the past
Rary's spell enhancer
Rary's superior spell enhancer
Rary's urgent utterance
Rary's vicious missiles
In a similar fashion, further background material on Rary has given him credit for authoring the following works:
Arcane Puissance of the Memory
The Lost Spellbook of Rary the Traitor
In 1988, Rary's spells were included in the hard-cover Greyhawk Adventures. In 1989, in The City of Greyhawk boxed set, Carl Sargent and Douglas Niles took Gygax's original Circle of Eight and re-purposed the concept as a powerful collection of wizards dedicated to the proposition that no group or entity, no matter how good (or evil), should dominate the Flanaess. Gygax's own wizard, Mordenkainen, became the head of the Circle, while eight wizards from the Greyhawk campaign, made famous from their spells published in the original Players Handbook, became the actual Circle. Several of the wizards, including Rary, had not been particularly powerful characters in Gygax's home campaign, but in the new Greyhawk storyline, all of the Circle were dominant spell casters.
Living Greyhawk campaign
During the Living Greyhawk campaign, several adventures set in Rary's home region of Ket referred to him as Rary the Patriot, and Ketite characters in these adventures sometimes tried to convince players that Rary was not evil, merely misunderstood.
Creative Origins
Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons & Dragon fantasy game, created a home campaign based in the World of Greyhawk in order to test new rules. His playtesters were friends and acquaintances, one of whom was Brian Blume, co-owner with Gygax of the nascent game company TSR. Rary was a low-level wizard created by Blume for play in Gygax's home campaign. However, Blume was not interested in developing the character into a high-powered wizard; he only played Rary until the wizard character reached 3rd-level and then retired him, having reached his objective, which was to be able to introduce the character as "Medium Rary".[9] Gygax borrowed the name "Rary" for the spells Rary's mnemonic enhancer and Rary's telepathic bond. Ironically, the original Rary was never powerful enough to cast either of "his" spells.
Rary was not a member of Gygax's original Circle of Eight, which was made up of eight of Gygax's own characters that he had developed during solo play, when his friend Rob Kuntz acted as DM. Gygax: "The original [Circle of Eight] was composed of my PCs--Mordenkainen, Bigby, Yrag, Rigby, Felnorith, Zigby, Vram & Vin. In the novel version the Circle was expanded to encompass other PCs in my campaign such as Tenser. It came into being because Mordenkainen and Associates had a lot of wealth stored up from successful adventuring, located a place for a stronghold deep in enemy territory to assure plenty of action, and then went to work building the citadel." However, in 1985 the company took over creative control of the published Greyhawk setting.
AC - 7 (bracers of defense AC 0, ring of protection + 5, st.aff of the magi MV 12; M23; hp 50; THAC0 14; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6 +5 (quarterstaff +5 Str7, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 19, Cha 16 (18 to Paynim AL N.
Spells: 51st, 5 2nd, 5 3rd, 5 4th, 5 5th, 5 6th, 5 7th, 5 8th, and ach o 3 9th. Magical items: bracers of defense AC 0, ring of protecrion + 5, staff of the magi, gem of seeing, helm of brilliance, ring of animal control, ring of mind shield ing, robe of stars, rod of beguiling, stone destrier (see below), and wand of paralization.
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