Gord the Rogue

Greyhawk Character

Gord
Gord the Rogue, as depicted on the cover of Saga of Old City (1985). Art by Clyde Caldwell.
General info
Home:	Free City of Greyhawk
Alignment:	Neutral
Gender:	Male
Species:	Human
Class:	Thief-Acrobat

Gord the Rogue is a young thief who reluctantly becomes a crusader for neutrality. Gord the Rogue is also the name of the series of books written by Gary Gygax that continued the story of Gord once Gygax left TSR.

Description

Gord is small for a human, a hand's breath above five feet tall, slender and wiry. His eyes are iron gray in color. He has black hair and olive-toned skin (which allows him to fit in among the Rhennee).

Early History

Gord was born Carl Quapardus. His father, Karal, was the grandson of the seventh son of Rexfelis, the Cat Lord. Karal, through his own merit, ascended to the status of Prince of Panthers, but he deserted the realm of the Balance for the world of Oerth for the sake of his love, Ataleena Carona. A violet-eyed human with second sight and distant elvish blood, Ataleena was the last in a long line of female seers. Betrayed by their own kin, Ataleena and Karal were slain by the forces of evil. The orphaned Carl was raised in Greyhawk's Old City by a brutal woman called Leena, who renamed him Gord.

Series overview

The series follows the progress of the orphan beggar Gord, from his lowly youth to celestial heights as the avatar of the Balance. These books appealed to a largely male readership, with writing styles reminiscent of Fritz Liber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series. Gord is somewhat less than heroic, but his early mentors, Gellor and Curley Greenleaf, continually steer him toward honorable ends. Eventually Gord is revealed to have a kinship with the enigmatic Cat Lord. The series also spawned a collection of short stories. The books also provide some world details otherwise missing from the first edition Greyhawk campaign box set.

Individual novels

Gord the Rogue depicted by Roberto Campos, The Return of Gord, Dragon magazine #344, p46

Note: It should be made clear only the first two novels were officially published material from the IP holder (TSR) at the time.
The remaining novels, while written by Gary Gygax, were published independently by New Infinities Entertainment and are not official Greyhawk content. Although, they are viewed variously by fans as part of Greyhawk or not.

• Saga of Old City was the first novel in TSR's "Greyhawk Adventures" series. It starts in Gord's childhood and ends with his triumphant return to Greyhawk City as a young man and master thief. He learns his trade in the 'beggars' guild', and gets involved in the gang war touched off by the beggars encroaching on the official thieves' guild's territory. Gord travels and has a variety of swashbuckling adventures, ranging from participating in a war to liberating a young noblewoman held hostage.

• Artifact of Evil is a continuation of Saga of Old City. This is the second, and final, "Greyhawk Adventures" novel written by Gygax that was published through TSR. An ancient artifact of world-shattering power is uncovered. It is up to Gord and his companions to try and stop this artifact of evil from falling into the wrong hands.

• Sea of Death has Gord traveling far afield to the Sea of Dust, on a quest for a 'Theorpart', hidden in a lost city. He must face rivals sent by demon lords; the psychopathic dwarf Obmi, who serves Zuggtmoy, and the drow priestess Eclavdra, serving Graz'zt. He meets and falls in love with Leda, a clone of Eclavdra. Leda and Gord part at the end of the book as she returns to the Abyss, impersonating Eclavdra in Graz'zt's service for the sake of higher ideals.

• Night Arrant is a collection of nine short stories about Gord's adventures, in his early twenties, in the City of Greyhawk.

• City of Hawks is a retelling of the events that occurred in Saga of Old City. Gord's rise from simple beggar to master thief are detailed as is his search for his heritage

• Come Endless Darkness continues where Sea of Death left off and has Gord continuing his quest to stop Tharizdun & Lord Entropy from taking over the multiverse.

• Dance of Demons is the finale, in which Gord and Gellor enter the Abyss, on a mission from the world's most powerful forces of Balance, to retrieve the remaining Theorparts. The goal is nothing less than to free Tharizdun, the long-imprisoned god of ultimate evil and entropy, and to finally destroy him.

Uncollected Short Stories

• "At Moonset Blackcat Comes" is an early tale of Gord and his friend Chert, accepting a mission for the Cat Lord. Published in Dragon #100 (Aug 1985). It was the first published story of Gord and was a preview of sorts for Saga of Old City which was coming out at the same time. It takes place between Saga of Old City and Artifact of Evil.

• "Evening Odds," which appeared in an anthology of fiction inspired by Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythos, takes place sometime after the events of Dance of Demons. Gord has been deposed from his position as the new Cat Lord and is traveling the alternate realities as a Champion of Balance. In the course of the story he upsets a plot by the archfiend Baphomet on modern Earth.

• "The Return of Gord" is a caper story set during Gord's days as a master thief in the City of Greyhawk. Dragon magazine #344. (June 2006)

Publication history

The logo of the Gord the Rogue novel series by Gary Gygax, c.1987.

Gord was born Carl Quapardus. His father, Karal, was the grandson of the seventh son of Rexfelis, the Cat Lord. Karal, through his own merit, ascended to the status of Prince of Panthers, but he deserted the realm of the Balance for the world of Oerth for the sake of his love, Ataleena Carona. A violet-eyed human with second sight and distant elvish blood, Ataleena was the last in a long line of female seers. Betrayed by their own kin, Ataleena and Karal were slain by the forces of evil. The orphaned Carl was raised in Greyhawk's Old City by a brutal woman called Leena, who renamed him Gord.

Even before Saga of Old City rolled off the presses in November 1985, Gygax wrote a sequel, Artifact of Evil. He also wrote a short story, "At Moonset Blackcat Comes", that appeared in the special 100th issue of Dragon magazine in August 1985. This introduced Gord the Rogue to gamers just before Saga of Old City was scheduled to be released.

However, at the same time, various board members of TSR had different visions of the company's future, which caused a power struggle, and Gygax resigned all positions with TSR, Inc. in October 1986 and settled his disputes with TSR in December 1986.. By the terms of his settlement with TSR, Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue as well as all D&D characters whose names were anagrams or plays on his own name (for example, Yrag and Zagyg).

After Gygax left TSR in 1985, he continued to write a few more Gord the Rogue novels, which were published by New Infinities Productions: Sea of Death (1987), Night Arrant (1987), City of Hawks (1987), Come Endless Darkness (1988), and Dance of Demons (1988). In Gygax's absence, however, TSR moved the Greyhawk storyline in new directions that Gygax did not appreciate, and the line of Greyhawk Adventures novels (without Gord the Rogue) continued to be written by Rose Estes. In a literary declaration that his old world of Oerth was dead, and wanting to make a clean break with all things Greyhawk and D&D, Gygax destroyed his version of Oerth in the final Gord the Rogue novel, Dance of Demons.

External links

Disclaimer:Any lore presented through the following links does not necessarily adhere to established officially published content, and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of this wiki.

• Krista Siren's "Gord's Greyhawk" on GreyhawkOnline.com.
• Txt-file with summaries by Paul Stormberg, web.archive.org, Date Accessed: September 27, 2016

References

Bibliography

• Gygax, Gary. Artifact of Evil. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1986.

———. "At Moonset Blackcat Comes: A Tale of Gord of Greyhawk." Dragon #100. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1985.

———. City of Hawks. Delavan, WI: New Infinities, 1987.

———. Come Endless Darkness. Delavan, WI: New Infinities, 1988.

———. Dance of Demons'. Delavan, WI: New Infinities, 1988.

———. "Evening Odds." Pawn of Chaos. Clarkson, GA: White Wolf Publishing, 1996.

———. Night Arrant. Delavan, WI: New Infinities,, 1987.

———. Saga of Old City. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1985.

———. Sea of Death. Delavan, WI: New Infinities, 1987.

• Gygax, Gary, and K. R. Bourgoine. "The Return of Gord." Dragon #344. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2006.

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
Blackcat {Gord the Rogue}	Non-player character		Reference	SEE Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Artifact of Evil	33, 36, 274, 279
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Artifact of Evil	All
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Come Endless Darkness	All
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		City of Hawks	All
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Dance of Demons	All
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Dragon magazine #093	23, 24
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Dragon magazine #100	24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Dragon magazine #344	46-55
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Dragon magazine #AN2	99
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Night Arrant	67, 277, 278, 280-285, 287-289, 292, 294, 295, 300-302, 305
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Night Arrant	All
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Sea of Death	58
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Sea of Death	All
Gord the Rogue {Blackcat}	Non-player character		Saga of Old City	All