Recent Recovery

The "Year of Peace" (585 CY) saw little of the sort. War raged in the Principality of Ulek against orc invaders from the Pomarj, and efforts to retake Sterich were ini tiated in the west. The Circle of Eight was brought to full membership once more and began acting against every power its wizards perceived as tyrannical or dan gerous to the common welfare.

In the fall of 585 CY, King Archbold III of Nyrond was almost assassinated by his younger son, Sewarndt. Fighting erupted in the capital, but Arch bold's eldest son, Lynwerd, won the day, taking the throne in Fireseek 586. In 587, King Lynwerd incor porated much of ruined Almor into Nyrond, but he now struggles to maintain his tottering realm in the face of staggering difficulties.

In Coldeven 586, Canon Hazen of Veluna employed the Crook of Rao, a powerful artifact, in a special cere mony that purged the Flanaess of nearly all fiends inhabiting it. Outsiders summoned by Iuz, Ivid, or independent evils fell victim to this magical assault, which became known as the Flight of Fiends. King Belvor III of Furyondy quickly joined Canon Hazen in declaring the Great Northern Crusade, an ambi tious military action aimed at regaining land lost to Iuz during the Greyhawk Wars. By the end of 588 CY, the armies of Furyondy had restored the nation, as well as Critwall and Scragholme Isle in the old Shield Lands. The destruction and debauchery revealed as Iuz's agents fled sickened the crusaders, king Belvor declared eternal war upon the Old One, pledging to settle for nothing short of the complete destruction of Iuz himself. Raids against Iuz from Furyondy and the Shield Lands continue to the present.

Wars on the border of Iuz's empire burned in the east as well. Iuz's control over the ruler of Stonehold ended in 588. Swiftly afterward, a many-sided war began in Tenh, involving the mutually hostile forces of Iuz, Stonehold, the Pale, and Tenha expatriates. The war goes on today.

Immediately after the Flight of Fiends, it was announced in Rauxes that Ivid V was no longer overk ing, though it was unclear if he had actually died. Con flict engulfed the capital in a matter of hours as many of Ivid's generals and nobles, filled with rage and ambition, marched upon Rauxes. No one can explain the events that followed, but the city itself was soon engulfed in a strange magical field. Few willingly approach Rauxes now, given the bizarre eldritch forces that prevail where the ruined city stands.

The provinces of the broken Great Kingdom are now reunited, but into two mutually hostile powers. In 586 CY, Herzog Grenell of North Province declared himself overking of the Great Kingdom of Northern Aerdy. Overking Xavener I rules the United Kingdom of Ahlissa (founded in 587) from his new capital of Kalstrand. Both leaders would like to destroy each other, but financial problems and internal power struggles have forced them to devote their energies toward rebuilding their armies and infrastructure. Sunndi, the largest surviving member of the Iron League, became a kingdom in 589.

The Scarlet Brotherhood gained much in the Grey hawk Wars but suffered later reversals. In 586, the people of Onnwal rose up against their occupiers, reduc ing the Brotherhood's holdings to the capital, Scant. Idee was lost to Ahlissa in 587, and the Hold of the Sea Princes collapsed in a bloody civil war that began in 589 CY. Still, the Lordship of the Isles remains under the Scarlet Sign, and agents of the Brotherhood creep into courts across the Flanaess, sowing their evil plots.

The Flanaess today stands on the verge of a dynamic new age. The last decade has seen terrific wars, refugee migrations, the rise and fall of whole nations. The exploration of foreign lands is on the rise, trade is surg ing upward once more, and opportunities for heroism (and profits) are unlimited. The Flanaess awaits those who would seize its adventures and shape its future.