Great Kingdom

Greyhawk Realm

The Great Kingdom of Aerdy
File:Great Kingdom02.JPG The arms of the Great Kingdom, as depicted in the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (1980).
General information
Region:	Old Aerdy East, Old Aerdy West
Government
Ruler:	[Final] Ivid V
Government:	Feudal monarchy
Established:	-110 CY
Demographics
Capital:	Rauxes
Groups
Religions:	Baalzy*, Pholtus, Zilchus, Sol

The Great Kingdom, or the Great Kingdom of Aerdy, refers to a now-defunct empire of the Flanaess that varied in size at various points in its history.

History

The Great Kingdom arose from the Kingdom of Aerdy in -110 CY, when the Aerdi forces of Grand Prince Almor II defeated the Nyrondese in the Battle of a Fortnight's Length. Aerdy nearly doubled in size, and was thereafter known as the Great Kingdom, though its ruler still held the old national title and office of Grand Prince. Despite the new moniker, power in the new empire would not become truly centralized until 1 CY, when Grand Prince Nasran I declared universal peace throughout the land and took the title of Overking of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy.

By the sixth century CY, however, the Great Kingdom had shrunk to a fraction of its size, limited to the lands east of the Harp River and Teesar Torrent, and north of the Iron Hills and Thelly River. It began with the breaking away of Nyrond in 356 CY. In the century that followed the provinces of Medegia, Almor, North Province, Bone March, Ahlissa and Rel Astra grew increasingly more independant, as the Malachite Throne degenerated into the chaos known as the Turmoil Between Crowns. The Overking, Ivid I, was eventually forced to recognize their complete independence.

Regrettably, the Turmoil Between Crowns also resulted in the destruction of the Royal Guild of Navigators, the august body responsible for developing a more accurate method of navigating the oceans and seas of Oerth, by creating a system of longitude and latitude. (0° longitude was established so as to run through the capital, Rauxes, while 0° latitude was determined to run along the Oerth's equator).

In 586 CY, Ivid V, last Overking of the Great Kingdom, was rumored to be dead after the devastation of Rauxes, the nation's capital. This essentially brought an end to the Great Kingdom. Two successor nations, the United Kingdom of Ahlissa and the Great Kingdom of Northern Aerdy, now vie for control of the region.

Geography

At its greatest extent, the Great Kingdom stretched from the isles of the Sea Barons in the east to the Viceroyalty of Ferrond in the west; and from Sunndi in the south to Ratik in the north.

Bibliography

• Cook, David. "History of the Greyhawk Wars." Wars. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1991. Available Online: [1]

• Cordell, Bruce R. Bastion of Faith. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1999.

• Gygax, Gary. The World of Greyhawk. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1980.
• -----. World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.

• Holian, Gary, Erik Mona, Sean K. Reynolds, and Frederick Weining. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000.

• Moore, Roger E. The Adventure Begins. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.

• Niles, Douglas, and Carl Sargent. The City of Greyhawk. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1989.

• Sargent, Carl. From the Ashes. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1992.
• -----. Ivid the Undying. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, unpublished. Available online: [2]

• Ward, James M. Greyhawk Adventures. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1988.

External links

• Guarhoth, Taras. "Timeline of Aerdi Grand Princes and Overkings." Canonfire!. Available online: [3]

• The Great Kingdom at Wikipedia.