The World of Oerth
The world on which the City of Greyhawk stands has not been extensively explored. The majority of the world hasn't been visited at all by adventurers from the Flanaess, and what little broad knowledge exists is superficial and misleading. Several reasonably accurate descriptions of the world follow, from the accounts of learned ones.
It was established long ago, as everyone knows, that Oerth is a great rotating sphere floating in a void, around which its sun and moons revolve. Careful mathematical measurements and magical divinations reveal that the circumference of Oerth is 25,200 miles. Thus, the diameter of Oerth is about 8,021.5 mules, and the total surface area 1s about 202,139,540 square miles. Of this grand figure, we have sure knowledge of only a tiny fraction, and sketchy fragments of only a little more. Our mathematical reach exceeds our physical grasp.
Dominated by a vast and partially civilized continent called Oerik (named for — and by — the tribes that conquered and settled so much of the eastern part in the last thousand years), our world of Oerth also sports three lesser continents and countless islands, great and small, possessed of their own cultures of savagery and enlightenment. Four mighty oceans and many smaller seas and bays surround these lands, and within those waters dwell monstrosities of nature that beggar the imagination and threaten the tiny ships that dare to cross them. The lands and air of Oerth are also inhabited by beasts of every sort, some fearful and some friendly, but most indifferent to us unless we intrude on their territory or society.
But what is the appearance of the whole? This age-long mystery is slowly being resolved. It is a cruel irony that even tales that ring of truth, told by explorers who have conquered these trifles and set foot on the shores of alien lands, are not always believed. So many liars and charlatans prey upon public gullibility and hunger for knowledge of the world that it is impossible for common folk (and even those with access to magic) to distinguish between truth and illusion. The desire for fame is intense in the adventuring world, and some gain it by deceptive means, It is also understood that magical illusions are cast by wizards, monsters, or gods to conceal the existence of certain regions, and explorers themselves do not always share the same standards by which they measure the world. What one explorer would call a savage might be called noble and civilized by another. The existence of magic, monsters, and many deities — some of whom are actively involved in affairs on Oerth — distorts even the most carefully documented accounts.
Nonetheless, advances are made. An explorer of repute might deliver a map to our University that shows certain major features of the whole Oerth in common with similar past maps. Some adventurous souls claim to have flown over parts of the world by means of rocs, magic carpets, dragons, magical ships, winged boots, and so forth. Several wizards have created spells that allow them to spy down upon the world from on high, using spells similar to wizard eye or allowing the mages to see through the eyes of summoned elementals or genies. Once in a while, the gods pass along limited information through divination spells or wishes on the nature of the world, though these divine authorities are strangely reluctant to do so. And clever experiments have been designed that give us a very accurate idea of the size of Oerth without even leaving our homes.
Over the centuries, we have accumulated many maps and tidbits of information, and the majority show agreement on certain points that we have come to regard as representative of our Oerth’s true appearance. I myself have been in a position to verity the accutacy of some of these drawings, and it does appear the majority are cottect, though most are poorly rendered or Jabeled. (If all explorers could only be taught to spell!) Additionally, tales collected from adventurers and merchants from many foreign lands also reflect a degree of similarity, so that some reliability can be attached to the combined result of such reports.
I describe here those Jands immediately neighboring the Flanaess for the reader's examination. This description includes those features most often reported by explorers, as well as anomalous regions worthy of further study. Certain large islands and other features are ignored as phantoms if no more than one report exists of them, though this, of course, cannot completely rule out their existence. “Magic,” the ptiests of Boccob are fond of saying, “makes the world stranger than we could possibly imagine.”
The Northern Border of Day and Night is the latitude above which the sun fails to set during the nights of summer and fails to rise during the days of winter. This effect is said to become more pronounced as one travels farther north, and using models of the Oerth we can confirm that, in theory, this should occur exactly as described. This border lies at exactly 60 degrees north latitude; during the summer, from Growfest 4th to Brewfest 4th, the sun is always above the horizon, reaching its zenith on Richfest 4th. It is believed that this cycle is reversed south of the Southern Border of Day and Night (at 60 degrees south latitude), where the sun is high during our own winter, since the seasons of the northern and southern hemispheres are reversed. This is a consequence of our-Oerth’s tilted axis, which varies the degree of sunlight each hemisphere receives throughout the year. The climate above the northern border and below the southern border is frigid in the extreme, and not well understood. Curious lights in the sky, like colorful ribbons, stripes, or flashes, are often reported in the skies here.
The northernmost part of our world is covered by a vast, snow-white continent marked with many anomalies. It ts difficult to verify observations of particular Iand features here, since the terrain is so dangerous and confusing as to inhibit any explorer. Many names have been given to this land, with High Boros (“boros” means “north” in the Cold Tongue) being most common, though it vaties in form (Hi-Boros, Hy-Bora, Hibore, Hybrea, Hyborre, and so on). Telchuria (after the Oeridian god of winter) was a popular appellation given this area by explorers from the Great Kingdom in its heyday, and it, too, seems suitable. Icebergs (islands of ice) seen in the Dramidj Ocean and the Icy Sea undoubtedly once broke off from the fringes of this arctic land.
“Several explorers say that a single, unwinking light shines high over the northern pole itself like a sun, above a great circular valley with a tropical interior, but these reports differ on specifics, except that they agree that beasts long believed extinct inhabit this valley. Several regions of yulcanism have been discovered at the top of the world, with many high mountains, great crevasses, and howling blizzards. Frost giants, white dragons, and other predictably cold-dwelling creatures are said to inhabit this land. Human inhabitants have been reported in a barbaric condition, warring with all of the above and some humanoid tribes as well. Demihumans are unreported, except for a curious note about gnomes or dwarves living underground in one mountainous region.
The size of this arctic continent is unknown, and its outlines are unfortunately vague, as no expedition has ever circumnavigated this and. A huge bridge of ice is said to link this continent to Oerik in the far west, reaching to the largest mountain range on Oerik and the world (about which more later). A second, smaller bridge of ice appears to link the Flanaess’s Land of Black Ice with High Boros during the long winter night. It appears that most or all of High Boros lies above 60 degrees north latitude. Assuming that the outer edges of this icy land melt and shrink in the arctic summer's long day then grow wide again during the dark, frigid winter, the total area of High Boros could vary from five million to ten million square miles — respectable enough to count it as a true continent, assuming it has solid rock somewhere beneath its ice and snow.
As aside note, Oerth’s southern pole appears to have a region that resembles High Boros in climate. This land is reportedly very small and might not be a true land at all, but a thin cap of ice that encompasses several mountainous islands. It is interesting that of the six reputable sources for information on this little-known region, usually named Polaria, four claim nothing lies here at all except mountainous islands of ice or rock in a gray, frigid sea. However, those explorers were present only during the long days of the southern hemisphere’s summer (our winter). The ice cap may have vanished during that time, leaving only icebergs drifting among the true islands. The other two exploring parties each stayed over for a long period of time on one true island, and they both report the rapid formation of thick ice over the sea once the sun sets and the long night of winter begins (see Exile from Aerdy, by Sonderrako of Rauxes, and Two Years’ Record of the Hidden Sea, by anonymous, in the Guild library). Measurements by the reclusive Savant-Sage suggest that all of Polaria lies below 80 degrees south latitude.
The barbarians of the Thillonrian Peninsula have long told sagas of an island east of them, which they called Fire-land for the many volcanoes there. These legends frequently claim that colonies of Cruski and Schnai (Ice and Snow Barbarians) were established here along long fjords, battling various giants, dragons, native barbarians,’ and other fell beasts for their survival. These tales also mention ruined cities, long broken walls, huge metal monuments, marvelous geysers, horrid things frozen in glacial ice, and intelligent races unknown to us in the Flanaess. It may be that Fire-land is subject to volcanic cataclysms that destroyed all previous civilizations there.
The existence of Fire-land (also written as Fireland) has been confirmed in the last century, though public mention of it is limited; it is of little interest to most traders due to its remote location and unfriendly reputation. The Thillonrian barbarians, however, accept its existence as casually as we do the existence of Admundfort Island across the Nyr Dyv, and they occasionally send out longships to trade goods and news with their fellows across the Solnor Ocean.
In 565 Cy, the explorer Korund of Ratik satled with a number of barbarian friends to Fire-land, returning with a crude map made with respectable instruments and a bit of magic. From this, the Savant-Sage and I have concluded that Fire-land is a collection of islands. No single island is great enough to be a continent, though the largest might be the largest island on Oerth. The whole surface area of Fire-land would likely cover less than one million square miles. We would so like to have a more accurate and recent assessment!
The smallest continent on our world (or the largest island, say a few authorities) is the wholly tropical realm we call Hepmonaland. Information regarding this region has increased with the development of deep-water ships such as the caravel. Numerous modern ships have been used in the last two centuries by merchant-explorers from the Sea Barons, Rel Astra, and other old seaports of the Great Kingdom, as well as by the Lordship of the Isles, Lendore Isle, and Onnwal. A detailed map of this Jand, drawn a century ago by a Sea Barons’ captain, was apparently verified by a Rel Astran ship that recently sailed into Hardby, claiming to have rounded Hepmonaland’s southern cape using a copy of this map. If the map ts accurate, then Hepmonaland ts about two million square miles — precisely on the border between continent and island, but favoring the former in the opinion of most learned minds.
Despite the crippling blockade on maritime traffic that the Scarlet Brotherhood has placed between the Solnor Ocean and the Azure Sea at the Tilva Strait, and the censorship of information on newly discovered realms often imposed by governments wishing to gain a monopoly on foreign trade or create their own slave empites (and here I refer directly to the Scarlet Brotherhood), geographical reports continue to filter into our halls in the Guild of Wizardry. Some have related Rel Astran and Sea Barons’ experiences with the kingdoms and barbaric tribes of Hepmonaland. Indeed, circumnavigation of Hepmonaland seems possible if one can run the Scarlet Brotherhood’s gauntlet at the Olman Isles (and survive piracy, storms, and sea monsters elsewhere). This journey, though trying and audacious, ts likely to be attempted more often in future years, and it could develop into a major sea route from east to west if its dangers can be even partially managed. The legendary natural riches of Hepmonaland’s jungles, combined with reports of civilized (if exotic) states along its middle and southern coasts and islands, are sure to move the greedy heart of any footloose adventurer or trader.
To the south, beyond the long reaches of the Amedio Jungle and the isles of the Densac Gulf, is said to lie one of the great seas of our world, which, because of its most famous product, is called the Pearl Sea. Of the cultares and peoples here and beyond, we know less than we would like. The little-known and nameless fourth continent of our world is known to lie to the south in this region, but only divination spells give us knowledge of it.
Such spells also hint that an ocean so large as to be a sibling of the Solnor also lies far to the south of us, a vast sea racked by violent tempests and thus called the Sea of Storms. No adventurer has ever visited the area and lived to give a reliable account of it. A third, frigid ocean, called the Sea of Thunder for the endless roar of cracking ice as summer arrives, encompasses the southern pole and Polaria. Less than a half dozen civilized voyagers have seen these waters, having reached it and survived its dangets only by magical means. The fourth and last of Oerth’s great oceans, usually called the Dramidj Ocean, abuts part of the northern continent of High Boros, merging with the Solnor and almost encircling the arctic wastes, Some cartographers believe the Icy Sea is part of this great circumpolar ocean and not part of the Solnor.
To the west of our wondrous Flanaess lies the great mountain-bordered Baklunish Basin, where an empire ruled a millennium ago. This region ts generally believed to be a dry steppeland, but its interior ts rumored to be fertile and mild, with rivers and small lakes about. The Dramidj Ocean narrows and reaches down through this land, cradling countless islands and strange societies on its shores. The climate here is thought to range ftom temperate to hot, as the Dramidj Ocean is so warm itself. Beyond the vast mountain range to the far west is said to be a great and ancient empire, the likes of which we can scarcely dream. Of this imperial realm we know little, though explorers and merchants would dearly love to know more. A couple of adventurers in times long past have told of passing through this empire and even beyond it, meeting a range of mountains that dwarfs even our own mighty Crystalmists. Of western Oertk, we can say little, except that some believe it can be reached if we sail far enough to the east across the Solnor, a thousand leagues or more past islands we have never seen and sea monsters we could not conjure even in nightmares. Perhaps we shall hear more of these marvels in our lifetimes, but I doubt it.
— Master Cartographer Jawan Sumbar Guildmaster of Cartographers, Free City of Greyhawk from An Inspection of the Nature of Oerth
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