Guldor
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Guldor (also known as Moraad) is a world on the Material Plane, best known as the former home of the dwarven kingdom of Maldev.
While accessible from the World of Greyhawk, it is presumed to not be in Greyspace and to be somewhere else on the Material Plane.[1]
Description
Guldor is filled with mountains that seem unnaturally pointed and tall, like titanic stalagmites upthrusting from the earth. Dozens of irregular seas fill the valleys between the mountain ranges. Guldor's sky is bluish-purple and overcast, and the "stars" (known as asters) are so large and heavy they seem like small moons drifting randomly through the heavens. Guldor's sun is white in color. The planet has a 25-hour day and a 500-day year.
The rock of Guldor's mountains is granite-like, but it grows in a manner similar to crystals, naturally increasing in size by about an inch every year.
Inhabitants
Native races of Guldor include humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, bugbears, orcs, werebears, and gnolls. The orcs of Guldor are neutral in alignment and not enemies of the dwarves, though they are barbaric and the last of their kingdoms has been destroyed. Intelligent, talking bears are also found on Guldor.
Religion
Guldor was conquered several decades ago by the demon queen Lolth, whose drow followers mustered local bugbears, gnolls, and other evil races to conquer the others. The world's primary god of evil, Abrogard, was slain by Lolth, who is in the process of assuming his aspect. Guldor also has a creator-god who resembles a bear, and as a result reincarnated humans always return in werebear form.
Kiaransalee, driven from Thanatos by Orcus, has taken the fortress of Kandelspire on Guldor's dwarven kingdom of Maldev as her new center of operations.
Structure
Guldor is connected to the Demonweb Pits by means of a permanent portal.
Publishing history
The kingdom of Maldev and its fortress of Kandelspire were originally described in Queen of the Demonweb Pits by David C. Sutherland III. At the time that adventure was set, Maldev was described as "the last kingdom of mountain dwarves in this world," Kandelspire was still being besieged by the forces of Lolth, with the possibility that the player characters might lend their aid to the beleaguered dwarves. Officially, they must have failed, for Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss by Ed Stark, James Jacobs, and Erik Mona, which is set decades later in the World of Greyhawk Timeline, stated that both fortress and kingdom had fallen. It was Fiendish Codex I that gave the world a name, Guldor, and mentioned the god Abrogard and that Kiaransalee had made Kandelspire, haunted by the ghosts of the fallen dwarves, as her new home.
Roger E. Moore, in his essay "Gates in the World of Greyhawk," stated that Maldev "must be in another Crystal Sphere; the celestial phenomena are too strange to be in Greyspace." In Polyhedron #112 he greatly expanded on the world, calling it Moraad.
Expedition to the Demonweb Pits by Wolfgang Baur and Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel revisited the setting of Queen of the Demonweb Pits, but rather than mentioning Maldev it included a portal in the Demonweb Pits leading to a fallen dwarven empire called Truegard which had been enslaved by driders in the service of Lolth. Whether this empire is also on Guldor has not been specified.
See also
References
Notes
Citations
- ↑ Gates in the World of Greyhawk (1995)'.
Bibliography
- Baur, Wolfgang, and Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel. Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2007.
- Gygax, Gary. Queen of the Spiders. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1986.
- Moore, Roger E.. "Gates in the World of Greyhawk." Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1995. Originally appeared in TSR's America Online folder, later moved to its website. Available online:[1]
- ———. "A World of Your Own." Polyhedron #112. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1995.
- Stark, Ed, James Jacobs, and Erik Mona. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006. Page 125.
- Sutherland III, David C, and Gygax, Gary. Queen of the Demonweb Pits (TSR, 1980) ISBN 0394515412.
Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index
The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.
| Topic | Type | Description | Product | Page/Card/Image
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kandelspire | Settlement | Settlement, Defensive Structure, | GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders | 110 |
| Kandelspire | Settlement | Settlement, Defensive Structure, | Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits | 17 |
| Maldev (Demonweb) | Kingdom | GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders | 110 | |
| Maldev (Demonweb) | Kingdom | Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits | 17 |