Storm Clouds

The years from Iuz's return to the Greyhawk Wars (570-581) are often seen in retrospect to be the prelude to later conflict. Several destabilizing forces came into play, upsetting the old balance of power in the Flanaess. The most insidious of these powers was the Scarlet Brotherhood, a secretive monastic order first reported in 573 CY, the same year in which Prince Thrommel of Furyondy, hero of Emridy Meadows, vanished from the world.

Semiregular skirmishes between Aerdy's South Province and Nyrond erupted into open hostilities in early 579, when Overking Ivid V made war against the so-called "Golden League" (Nyrond, Almor, and the Iron League). Though this dreary war lasted through to the end of 580, it resolved nothing except to drain the coffers and manpower of both Aerdy and Nyrond, leaving them weakened when continental war erupted in 583.

The ravaging of the Shield Lands by both the Bandit Kingdoms and Horned Society in 579-583 CY similarly served to weaken this entire region, leaving the Shield Lands in ruins. Iuz took note of this and made use of it in his grandiose plans for conquest.

An important though seldom noticed event took place in 581 CY, when an agent of Vecna, the Whis pered One of ancient Flan legend, struck down the entire Circle of Eight (see Chapter Six). The Circle had acted subtly as a balancing agent for years, pre venting any one power from dominating too much of the Flanaess. Though the Circle's leader, Mor denkainen, returned his colleagues to life using pow erful magic, the group was in disarray when war again erupted in the distant north in 582.