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{{Greyhawk Realm
{{Greyhawk Realm
|image=
|caption=
|name = Viscounty and Town of Verbobonc
|name = Viscounty and Town of Verbobonc
|motto = ''Earth and stone, man and gnome''
|motto = ''Earth and stone, man and gnome''
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==History==
==History==
==History==
Overview: Long before the
coming of humanity, Verbobonc
was an elven settlement
set on a wooded hilltop
overlooking a spot where a
minor tributary, Gillendyl’s
Run, enters the Velverdyva
River’s wide expanse. The
small river town featured an
impressive elven tower fortress
surrounded by yet more tall, thin towers,
narrow walkways, lofty houses, and parkways
filled with delicate wood and ceramic statuary.
Considered a safe haven on the great river, a market
place developed along the riverbank attracting
goods from near and far.
The local elves shared their lives and livelihood
with the good gnomes of the Kron Hills to the
south, banding together to battle off threats from
the north and east. Verbobonc, then, was a military
town, aligned with the gray elves of Enstad,
though a political entity unto itself. Her elven
patrols ranged into the deep Gnarley Forest to
the east, the Kron Hills to the south, and through
the Iron Wood to the west. The surrounding hillocks
still hold relics of those ancient days, slowly
crumbling towers of unsurpassed beauty, troves
of buried arrowheads and
still-useful armor. It is even
said there remain elven Old
Places, sacred refuges hidden
in the magical folds of wood
and hill.
As civilized humans entered
the Flanaess and most elves
receded into the woodlands,
Verbobonc gained more importance as a trade
port on the Velverdyva River. At this time, many
elves quit Verbobonc, leaving the town to the
gnomes and the new arrivals. Humans soon took
over the great elven fortress for which the ground
dwelling gnomes had little interest. What few
elves remained were content with their ipphouses.
Thus began a new period in the history of
the region, in which the two majority races
worked together to improve and grow Verbobonc
into a state of its
own, not beholden to any
greater power.
At the dawn of the first century
CY, the two primary
races of Verbobonc encircled
their growing town with
walls. They constructed hundreds
of new buildings, mixing
a distinctly gnome architecture
with the existing
elven structures, and more human styles. In this
spirit was the slogan “Earth and Stone, Man and
Gnome” carved above the city’s east gate, a motto
and approach to life that endures to this day.
The viscounty was formally incorporated into
Veluna and the viceroyalty of Ferrond in 119 CY.
Verbobonc became the primary river port for
Veluna, a fact that made it a primary target of
Keoish aggression in the 350s CY. By 355 CY the
Second Keoland Expeditionary Force had taken
Devarnish and fanned out into the lands south all
the way to the Lortmils and east passed the Iron
Wood and into the Kron Hills. Only Canon Turgen
IV of Mitrik’s negotiation of the Treaty of
Devarnish saved the remainder of Verbobonc
territory from annexation. However, much of the
western lands of the viscounty were occupied.
The looming Castle Estival,
just east of the Iron Wood
housed the furthest eastward
Keoish garrison. From there
the forces of Keoland controlled
all trade traveling on
the Great Western Road and
controlled the western and
southern approaches to Verbobonc Town itself.
In 415 CY, however, a new governor for the
northern Keoland provinces arrived, Commander
Berlikyn of Gran March. He initiated a
program of grim oppression in the occupied
lands, and by 436 CY publicly
threatened to violate the
Treaty of Devarnish and annex
the whole of Veluna, including
Verbobonc, in the
name of the Keoish crown.
Whether the king of Furyondy
decided to act due to
the agents dispatched by the Velunese canon in
that year, or because the looming threat of Keoland
had simply become too large to ignore, act
he did. The armies of Furyondy surged into Veluna,
battling south of the Velverdyva in a ferocious
series of actions soon known as the Short
War. Several volunteer companies from Verbobonc
assisted a small Furyondian force in isolating
the Keoland garrison in Castle Estival, rendering
them helpless. The bulk of the Furyondy
armies battled to the west through Veluna, the
Fals Gap, and capturing all of Bissel in the process
by 438 CY.
Following the Short War, Verbobonc grew distant
from Mitrik. Its viscount still sent a delegate
to sit on the Celestial Order of the Moons, but
never again would the people of the Viscounty be
considered completely willing vassals. The Velunese
College of Bishops, rallied by a contingent of
orthodox Cuthbertine Overseers, voted overwhelmingly
to break from Furyondy in 446 CY
signing an agreement known as the Concordat of
Eademer. In these years, the church of St.
Cuthbert came into great prominence in Verbobonc,
inspired in no small part by the actions
of the Cuthbertine Overseers in the College of
Bishops. To many in the Viscounty
it was taken as a sign
of autonomy. Gradually, over
time, clerics of St. Cuthbert
displaced Raoan clerics in
important government roles
throughout Verbobonc.
In the early 500s CY Verbobonc
forces assisted their gnome-friends in the
Kron Hills. Gnome volunteers from the Kron in
turn assisted their relatives in the Lortmils during
the Hateful Wars, when the dwarves and
gnomes of the mountains forced out nearly all the
major humanoid tribes. Verbobonc
forces helped patrol
those areas of the Kron left
unprotected by the gnomes
fighting away from home
and protecting their southern
frontiers from humanoid
incursions.
The trading town might have fallen from the gaze
of history if not for the development, in the late
550s of a nexus of evil southeast of the town, I the
Kron Hills. This outpost, the infamous Temple of
Elemental Evil, soon became a beacon for vile
men and humanoids from across the Flanaess.
These evil forces began raiding the overland caravan
routes which pass through or near Hommlet,
thus threatening this avenue of trade between
Dyvers and Verbobonc as well as the local hill
folk and gnomes. The raids did not appear alarming
at first, but gradually increased over time. Efforts
by the Gnarley rangers, mounted patrols
from Verbobonc, local woodsmen, and gnomes
from Ostverk apparently checked, but did not
stop, the spread of outlawry and evil.
In the year 560 CY various troubles began to crop
up between the Viscounty and the Kron Hill
gnomes. Trade goods disappeared on their trek
from the Kron Hills to Verbobonc City, gnome
merchants reported being
harassed by Verbobonc patrols,
Verbobonc patrols
reported defeating humanoid
raiding parties paid by
gnomish coin, and gnome
claims of human raids on
their caravans. Worst of all
was an attempted assassination
of Prince Jimm of the
Gnomes of the Kron Hills, a
resident of Verbobonc City. All of these troubles
proved to be the doings of an agent from the
Temple of Elemental Evil. He was revealed and
chased out of the city.
By 568 CY, it became clear
that the Temple villains had
established an army, and the
following year saw a banding
together of the forces of good
to clear the Verbobonc lands
of its evil scourge. Contingents
of men-at-arms and
cavalry from Verbobonc,
Furyondy, and Veluna, together
with a force of
dwarves from the Lortmils,
gnomes from the Kron Hills,
and an army of elven archers
and spearmen gathered together
against the vast horde of evil men and humanoids
based at the Temple of Elemental Evil.
The opposing forces initially met on the grassy
fields south of the Velverdyva River and several
leagues to the east of Verbobonc Town. The allied
forces of good maneuvered against the evil
forces, closing upon the stronghold of the evil
creatures, the walled Temple near Nulb, not far
from Hommlet. Elven scouts reported that a
huge evil army was approaching from the south.
The Marshall of Furyondy, leader of the combined
forces, ordered a withdrawal northward to
a position scouted earlier. This new position
would afford more open ground for the heavy
cavalry and pikemen to effectively operate. Light
cavalry skirmishers were sent out to screen the
withdrawal, and no real fighting took place that
day.
The horde of evil creatures
and men marched forth the
next morning into the Emridy
meadows northwest of
Nulb. These meadows were
so named from the Emridy
Run, a small tributary of the
Imeryds Run, which enters
the larger river from the west.
The allied army waited with
formed ranks, pike-men from
Furyondy, Veluna and Verbobonc were arrayed
so that their right flank was secured by the Emridy
Run; in the center were the banners of horse,
and on the allied left were deployed bands of
dwarves and gnomes, with a
few units of elven archers
place in the intervals between.
The flank of the demihumans
protected by the
Imeryds Run. The humanoids
fell immediately upon
the allied left, while the men
in the evil ranks rode to engage
the allied center and
right. The hordes of orcs,
gnolls, and ogres thrust aside
their hated foes and rushed
to encircle the balance of the
allied army. But, this fell into
the Marshall of Furyondy’s
planned trap. The whole human portion of the
allied army pivoted backward to the left as the
demi-humans pivoted backward and right, and a
large contingent of previously screened heavy
cavalry charged into the right flank of the humanoids.
Meanwhile, squares of elves emerged
from the Imeryds Run where they had remained
hidden until this moment. Trapped in this
pocket with the pike-men now advancing into
their left flank, the cavalry in their front, the
demi-humans on their right and the elven
squares at their rear, the packed mass of evil humans
and humanoids fought hopelessly.
When the great slaughter was finished, the allies
went on to besiege the Temple of Elemental Evil
itself. It fell after a fortnight. Powerful mages and
clerics sealed the temple ruins with arcane bindings,
claiming to have trapped a powerful demon
within its golden doors.
The peace was short lived. The so-called “Second
Rising” of the Horde of Elemental Evil surprised
no one. Viscount Wilfrick, alerted to the growing
evil by agents in the south, ordered the construction
of a castle at the sleepy Village of
Hommlet. In the late 570s, dozens of parties of
adventurers sallied forth
against the temple. After
much loss of life, the horde
seemed at last to have met
defeat. The castle at
Hommlet was completed in
581 CY, and the folk of Verbobonc
began cautiously to
return to a life unhindered
by the shadow of evil.
Verbobonc was not an official participant in the
Greyhawk Wars, though dozens of volunteer
companies native to the viscounty bolstered the
armies of Furyondy and Veluna. It was rumored
that Scarlet Brotherhood agents and “advisors”
had counseled the Viscount to sit tight in those
troubled times., yet no proof
was ever discovered. When
the volunteers returned
from the wars in the north,
they found their homeland
embroiled in a desperate
political struggle with the
nations they had left to assist.
The Viscount’s influence
over his own vassal lords also declined to
the point where they nearly exerted free rein to
rule their small holdings
In 585 CY, the Furyondian Knights of the Hart
called for the annexation of Verbobonc and Dyvers.
Wilfrick, more loyal to Veluna, hosted a
visit from a Velunan representative. The representative
assured Wilfrick and a gathering of the
populace in Verbobonc Town itself that their
Furyondian allies would do no such thing. But,
the emergence of the Great Northern Crusade in
586 CY, in which Veluna and Furyondy acted as
a single political unit, frightened many in the
town who had long preferred the reason (and
liberal tax laws) of Mitrik to the zeal (and active
monitoring of the finances of the aristocracy) of
Chendl.
Wilfrick’s age appeared to weigh heavily upon
him during this time. He began to lose interest in
maintaining patrols into the Gnarley Forest and
the Kron Hills. Also, he did little after the visit of
the Velunan representative to quell the fears of
his own people. The situation
came to a head when
the old Viscount died in his
sleep in Harvester 587 CY,
leaving Castle Grayfist to
his eldest known son, the
Right Honorable Sir Fenward
Lefthanded.
The new Viscount publicly
denounced all talk of annexation
and embarked on a series of wellpublicized
raids into nonhuman lairs of the
Gnarley Forest. At first, the people and nobles of
the Viscounty were pleased with the boldness of
their new leader. But, Fenward then enacted a
number of rash policies that harmed the city and
its allies. He declared he had “eradicated all enemies
of the viscounty, both
imaginable and otherwise.”
He ordered the withdraw
all patrols from the Gnarley
Forest and the Kron Hills,
calling them too costly and
no longer necessary. Nonhuman
communities that
depended on those patrols to protect them from
real and still present threats exploded in uproar
against this new policy. Fenward responded to
the Kron Hills gnome protests with an illthought
insult; “the craven little moles can take
care of themselves.” The gnomes of the Kron
Hills summarily declared themselves free from
Verbobonc’s authority, swearing themselves to
their Clan lord, Urthgan the Eldest of Tulvar,
and to the Assembly of the Kron Hills, a council
of gnome elders. The sylvan elves of the Gnarley,
though hard pressed without human patrols,
scarcely acknowledged the change.
A series of slanderous dispatches between Viscount
Fenward and the Kron Assembly followed
and left many city gnomes unsure of their
allegiance. This dangerous development worsened
when papers implicating the viscount as an
agent of the Scarlet Brotherhood were discovered
in Fenward’s chambers. They hinted at
plots to cut off all river trade along the
Velverdyva and the assassination of those nobles
who supported increased patrols. Later, the papers
were revealed to be forgeries, a fact that
helped Fenward little. As
the captain of his own
guard attempted to place
Fenward under arrest for
treason, Fenward resisted
and was slain in the resulting
struggle by the captain.
Shortly after, the guard captain
killed himself, supposedly
over the humiliation
and shame of having killed his Viscount. Again,
suspicion fell on the possible involvement of
Scarlet Brotherhood. And as before, no real proof
could be found. However, a known minor advisor
to both former Viscounts had disappeared
without a trace.
Thereafter, rulership of Verbobonc
fell to Langard of
the Gnarley Border, a halfelven,
half-forgotten bastard
son of Viscount Wilfrick.
The new viscount was surprised
to find himself in charge of the town, and
he is a cautious though naively open ruler
(hoping that his past affairs as a minor smuggler
do not come to public attention). In a land so
controlled by fear (of monsters, evil cults, and
annexation), many look upon Langard’s
“discovery” with the suspicion that he is a Scarlet
Brotherhood agent and no relation to the former
viscount. No less a personage than the city’s
venerable Haufren, Bishop of St. Cuthbert,
vouches for him. However, he does not have the
support of a majority of the nobles, who would
rather see one of their own, take control. Langard
quickly became popular with the lower
classes for his openness. He quickly established
fair relations with Veluna and Furyondy. He also
wants smoother relations with the Kron Hill
gnomes, boost internal security, and improve
trade with Dyvers.


==Geography and climate==
==Geography and climate==

Revision as of 21:04, 18 June 2008

Greyhawk Realm
Viscounty and Town of Verbobonc
General information
Motto:Earth and stone, man and gnome
Region:Old Ferrond
Government
Ruler:Viscount Langard
Government:Semi-independent nation owing fealty to Veluna, but nearly autonomous in practice
Alignments:LG*, N, LN
Demographics
Capital:Verbobonc
Provinces:Fourteen freeholds and fiefs, all under 500 square miles; entire viscounty is a bishopric under Saint Cuthbert, divided into eight "guardianships"” overseen by abbots; some guardianships include more than one political fief.
Population:177,800
Races:Humans (Ofsr) 79%, Elves (sylvan) 9%, Gnomes 5%, Halflings 3%, Dwarves 2%, Half-elves 1%, Half-orcs 1%
Languages:Common
Groups
Religions:Saint Cuthbert*, Ehlonna, Zilchus, Fharlanghn, Obad-Hai, Beory
Allies:Veluna, Furyondy (distrusted), Knights of the Hart (distrusted), Kron Hills gnomes (distrusted, technically in rebellion currently), Dyvers, Greyhawk
Enemies:Empire of Iuz, Pomarj, various evil cults (especially Iuz, Vecna, Zuggtmoy, Temple of Elemental Evil)
Miscellaneous
Resources:copper, gems, timber
Coinage:[Modified Furyondy] leaf (pp), wheatsheaf (gp), knight (ep), spire (sp), common (cp)

Verbobonc, properly known as the Viscounty and Town of Verbobonc, is a semi-independent nation of the Flanaess. Though Verbobonc owes fealty to the Archclericy of Veluna, it is nearly autonomous in practice.

History

History

Overview: Long before the coming of humanity, Verbobonc was an elven settlement set on a wooded hilltop overlooking a spot where a minor tributary, Gillendyl’s Run, enters the Velverdyva River’s wide expanse. The small river town featured an impressive elven tower fortress surrounded by yet more tall, thin towers, narrow walkways, lofty houses, and parkways filled with delicate wood and ceramic statuary. Considered a safe haven on the great river, a market place developed along the riverbank attracting goods from near and far.

The local elves shared their lives and livelihood with the good gnomes of the Kron Hills to the south, banding together to battle off threats from the north and east. Verbobonc, then, was a military town, aligned with the gray elves of Enstad, though a political entity unto itself. Her elven patrols ranged into the deep Gnarley Forest to the east, the Kron Hills to the south, and through the Iron Wood to the west. The surrounding hillocks still hold relics of those ancient days, slowly crumbling towers of unsurpassed beauty, troves of buried arrowheads and still-useful armor. It is even said there remain elven Old Places, sacred refuges hidden in the magical folds of wood and hill.

As civilized humans entered the Flanaess and most elves receded into the woodlands, Verbobonc gained more importance as a trade port on the Velverdyva River. At this time, many elves quit Verbobonc, leaving the town to the gnomes and the new arrivals. Humans soon took over the great elven fortress for which the ground dwelling gnomes had little interest. What few elves remained were content with their ipphouses. Thus began a new period in the history of the region, in which the two majority races worked together to improve and grow Verbobonc into a state of its own, not beholden to any greater power.

At the dawn of the first century CY, the two primary races of Verbobonc encircled their growing town with walls. They constructed hundreds of new buildings, mixing a distinctly gnome architecture with the existing elven structures, and more human styles. In this spirit was the slogan “Earth and Stone, Man and Gnome” carved above the city’s east gate, a motto and approach to life that endures to this day.

The viscounty was formally incorporated into Veluna and the viceroyalty of Ferrond in 119 CY. Verbobonc became the primary river port for Veluna, a fact that made it a primary target of Keoish aggression in the 350s CY. By 355 CY the Second Keoland Expeditionary Force had taken Devarnish and fanned out into the lands south all the way to the Lortmils and east passed the Iron Wood and into the Kron Hills. Only Canon Turgen IV of Mitrik’s negotiation of the Treaty of Devarnish saved the remainder of Verbobonc territory from annexation. However, much of the western lands of the viscounty were occupied. The looming Castle Estival, just east of the Iron Wood housed the furthest eastward Keoish garrison. From there the forces of Keoland controlled all trade traveling on the Great Western Road and controlled the western and southern approaches to Verbobonc Town itself. In 415 CY, however, a new governor for the northern Keoland provinces arrived, Commander Berlikyn of Gran March. He initiated a program of grim oppression in the occupied lands, and by 436 CY publicly threatened to violate the Treaty of Devarnish and annex the whole of Veluna, including Verbobonc, in the name of the Keoish crown.

Whether the king of Furyondy decided to act due to the agents dispatched by the Velunese canon in that year, or because the looming threat of Keoland had simply become too large to ignore, act he did. The armies of Furyondy surged into Veluna, battling south of the Velverdyva in a ferocious series of actions soon known as the Short War. Several volunteer companies from Verbobonc assisted a small Furyondian force in isolating the Keoland garrison in Castle Estival, rendering them helpless. The bulk of the Furyondy armies battled to the west through Veluna, the Fals Gap, and capturing all of Bissel in the process by 438 CY.

Following the Short War, Verbobonc grew distant from Mitrik. Its viscount still sent a delegate to sit on the Celestial Order of the Moons, but never again would the people of the Viscounty be considered completely willing vassals. The Velunese College of Bishops, rallied by a contingent of orthodox Cuthbertine Overseers, voted overwhelmingly to break from Furyondy in 446 CY signing an agreement known as the Concordat of Eademer. In these years, the church of St. Cuthbert came into great prominence in Verbobonc, inspired in no small part by the actions of the Cuthbertine Overseers in the College of Bishops. To many in the Viscounty it was taken as a sign of autonomy. Gradually, over time, clerics of St. Cuthbert displaced Raoan clerics in important government roles throughout Verbobonc.

In the early 500s CY Verbobonc forces assisted their gnome-friends in the Kron Hills. Gnome volunteers from the Kron in turn assisted their relatives in the Lortmils during the Hateful Wars, when the dwarves and gnomes of the mountains forced out nearly all the major humanoid tribes. Verbobonc forces helped patrol those areas of the Kron left unprotected by the gnomes fighting away from home and protecting their southern frontiers from humanoid incursions.

The trading town might have fallen from the gaze of history if not for the development, in the late 550s of a nexus of evil southeast of the town, I the Kron Hills. This outpost, the infamous Temple of Elemental Evil, soon became a beacon for vile men and humanoids from across the Flanaess. These evil forces began raiding the overland caravan routes which pass through or near Hommlet, thus threatening this avenue of trade between Dyvers and Verbobonc as well as the local hill folk and gnomes. The raids did not appear alarming at first, but gradually increased over time. Efforts by the Gnarley rangers, mounted patrols from Verbobonc, local woodsmen, and gnomes from Ostverk apparently checked, but did not stop, the spread of outlawry and evil. In the year 560 CY various troubles began to crop up between the Viscounty and the Kron Hill gnomes. Trade goods disappeared on their trek from the Kron Hills to Verbobonc City, gnome merchants reported being harassed by Verbobonc patrols, Verbobonc patrols reported defeating humanoid raiding parties paid by gnomish coin, and gnome claims of human raids on their caravans. Worst of all was an attempted assassination of Prince Jimm of the Gnomes of the Kron Hills, a resident of Verbobonc City. All of these troubles proved to be the doings of an agent from the Temple of Elemental Evil. He was revealed and chased out of the city.

By 568 CY, it became clear that the Temple villains had established an army, and the following year saw a banding together of the forces of good to clear the Verbobonc lands of its evil scourge. Contingents of men-at-arms and cavalry from Verbobonc, Furyondy, and Veluna, together with a force of dwarves from the Lortmils, gnomes from the Kron Hills, and an army of elven archers and spearmen gathered together against the vast horde of evil men and humanoids based at the Temple of Elemental Evil. The opposing forces initially met on the grassy fields south of the Velverdyva River and several leagues to the east of Verbobonc Town. The allied forces of good maneuvered against the evil forces, closing upon the stronghold of the evil creatures, the walled Temple near Nulb, not far from Hommlet. Elven scouts reported that a huge evil army was approaching from the south. The Marshall of Furyondy, leader of the combined forces, ordered a withdrawal northward to a position scouted earlier. This new position would afford more open ground for the heavy cavalry and pikemen to effectively operate. Light cavalry skirmishers were sent out to screen the withdrawal, and no real fighting took place that day.

The horde of evil creatures and men marched forth the next morning into the Emridy meadows northwest of Nulb. These meadows were so named from the Emridy Run, a small tributary of the Imeryds Run, which enters the larger river from the west. The allied army waited with formed ranks, pike-men from Furyondy, Veluna and Verbobonc were arrayed so that their right flank was secured by the Emridy Run; in the center were the banners of horse, and on the allied left were deployed bands of dwarves and gnomes, with a few units of elven archers place in the intervals between. The flank of the demihumans protected by the Imeryds Run. The humanoids fell immediately upon the allied left, while the men in the evil ranks rode to engage the allied center and right. The hordes of orcs, gnolls, and ogres thrust aside their hated foes and rushed to encircle the balance of the allied army. But, this fell into the Marshall of Furyondy’s planned trap. The whole human portion of the allied army pivoted backward to the left as the demi-humans pivoted backward and right, and a large contingent of previously screened heavy cavalry charged into the right flank of the humanoids. Meanwhile, squares of elves emerged from the Imeryds Run where they had remained hidden until this moment. Trapped in this pocket with the pike-men now advancing into their left flank, the cavalry in their front, the demi-humans on their right and the elven squares at their rear, the packed mass of evil humans and humanoids fought hopelessly. When the great slaughter was finished, the allies went on to besiege the Temple of Elemental Evil itself. It fell after a fortnight. Powerful mages and clerics sealed the temple ruins with arcane bindings, claiming to have trapped a powerful demon within its golden doors.

The peace was short lived. The so-called “Second Rising” of the Horde of Elemental Evil surprised no one. Viscount Wilfrick, alerted to the growing evil by agents in the south, ordered the construction of a castle at the sleepy Village of Hommlet. In the late 570s, dozens of parties of adventurers sallied forth against the temple. After much loss of life, the horde seemed at last to have met defeat. The castle at Hommlet was completed in 581 CY, and the folk of Verbobonc began cautiously to return to a life unhindered by the shadow of evil. Verbobonc was not an official participant in the Greyhawk Wars, though dozens of volunteer companies native to the viscounty bolstered the armies of Furyondy and Veluna. It was rumored that Scarlet Brotherhood agents and “advisors” had counseled the Viscount to sit tight in those troubled times., yet no proof was ever discovered. When the volunteers returned from the wars in the north, they found their homeland embroiled in a desperate political struggle with the nations they had left to assist.

The Viscount’s influence over his own vassal lords also declined to the point where they nearly exerted free rein to rule their small holdings In 585 CY, the Furyondian Knights of the Hart called for the annexation of Verbobonc and Dyvers. Wilfrick, more loyal to Veluna, hosted a visit from a Velunan representative. The representative assured Wilfrick and a gathering of the populace in Verbobonc Town itself that their Furyondian allies would do no such thing. But, the emergence of the Great Northern Crusade in 586 CY, in which Veluna and Furyondy acted as a single political unit, frightened many in the town who had long preferred the reason (and liberal tax laws) of Mitrik to the zeal (and active monitoring of the finances of the aristocracy) of Chendl.

Wilfrick’s age appeared to weigh heavily upon him during this time. He began to lose interest in maintaining patrols into the Gnarley Forest and the Kron Hills. Also, he did little after the visit of the Velunan representative to quell the fears of his own people. The situation came to a head when the old Viscount died in his sleep in Harvester 587 CY, leaving Castle Grayfist to his eldest known son, the Right Honorable Sir Fenward Lefthanded.

The new Viscount publicly denounced all talk of annexation and embarked on a series of wellpublicized raids into nonhuman lairs of the Gnarley Forest. At first, the people and nobles of the Viscounty were pleased with the boldness of their new leader. But, Fenward then enacted a number of rash policies that harmed the city and its allies. He declared he had “eradicated all enemies of the viscounty, both imaginable and otherwise.” He ordered the withdraw all patrols from the Gnarley Forest and the Kron Hills, calling them too costly and no longer necessary. Nonhuman communities that depended on those patrols to protect them from real and still present threats exploded in uproar against this new policy. Fenward responded to the Kron Hills gnome protests with an illthought insult; “the craven little moles can take care of themselves.” The gnomes of the Kron Hills summarily declared themselves free from Verbobonc’s authority, swearing themselves to their Clan lord, Urthgan the Eldest of Tulvar, and to the Assembly of the Kron Hills, a council of gnome elders. The sylvan elves of the Gnarley, though hard pressed without human patrols, scarcely acknowledged the change.

A series of slanderous dispatches between Viscount Fenward and the Kron Assembly followed and left many city gnomes unsure of their allegiance. This dangerous development worsened when papers implicating the viscount as an agent of the Scarlet Brotherhood were discovered in Fenward’s chambers. They hinted at plots to cut off all river trade along the Velverdyva and the assassination of those nobles who supported increased patrols. Later, the papers were revealed to be forgeries, a fact that helped Fenward little. As the captain of his own guard attempted to place Fenward under arrest for treason, Fenward resisted and was slain in the resulting struggle by the captain. Shortly after, the guard captain killed himself, supposedly over the humiliation and shame of having killed his Viscount. Again, suspicion fell on the possible involvement of Scarlet Brotherhood. And as before, no real proof could be found. However, a known minor advisor to both former Viscounts had disappeared without a trace.

Thereafter, rulership of Verbobonc fell to Langard of the Gnarley Border, a halfelven, half-forgotten bastard son of Viscount Wilfrick. The new viscount was surprised to find himself in charge of the town, and he is a cautious though naively open ruler (hoping that his past affairs as a minor smuggler do not come to public attention). In a land so controlled by fear (of monsters, evil cults, and annexation), many look upon Langard’s “discovery” with the suspicion that he is a Scarlet Brotherhood agent and no relation to the former viscount. No less a personage than the city’s venerable Haufren, Bishop of St. Cuthbert, vouches for him. However, he does not have the support of a majority of the nobles, who would rather see one of their own, take control. Langard quickly became popular with the lower classes for his openness. He quickly established fair relations with Veluna and Furyondy. He also wants smoother relations with the Kron Hill gnomes, boost internal security, and improve trade with Dyvers.

Geography and climate

The Viscounty of Verbobonc is bordered to the north by the Velverdyva River, and extends roughly 15 miles into the Kron Hills to the south. Verbobonc is bordered to the east by the Gnarley Forest and the lands of Dyvers.

People

Population

As of 591 CY, the population of Verbobonc totaled 177,800 persons, the vast majority being humans of chiefly Oeridian stock. Elves, halflings, dwarves, and gnomes make up less than 20% of the total population.

Religion

Languages

Government

Administrative Divisions

Executive Branch

Legislative Branch

Heraldry

Economy

After Dyvers, Verbobonc is the second-largest port on the Velverdyva, and brings much wealth to the Viscounty.

Resources

Verbobonc does a brisk trade in gems and copper from its local mines, and also harvests timber from the nearby Gnarley Forest. The town is renowned across the Flanaess for its gnomish smiths.

Currency

The Verbobonc standard coinage is a modified version of Furyondy's coinage, consisting of the platinum leaf (pp), gold wheatsheaf (gp), electrum knight (ep), silver spire (sp), and copper common (cp).

Transportation

Military

Verbobonc in the Living Greyhawk campaign

In the Living Greyhawk campaign, Verbobonc corresponds to the states of Illinois and Indiana. It pioneered a system for allowing Living Greyhawk player characters to develop towns, open businesses, and establish strongholds, something previously beyond the scope of the Living Greyhawk campaign. Player-created towns include Cienega Valley, which is located in the Kron hills and is known for its fine wines; and Irondelve, a subterranean dwarven community beneath the Lortmill Mountains.

Bibliography

  • LaMontagne, Chad, Michael Maenza, and Vernon L. Vincent. The Walker's Guide to Verbobonc. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006. Available online:[1]
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