Murlynd: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 15:38, 16 April 2020
| Murlynd | |
|---|---|
 Murlynd as depicted in Dragon#71, 1983 | |
| General information | |
| Portfolio: | Magical Technology |
| Home: | Special; see below |
| Alignment: | Lawful Good |
| Gender: | Male |
| Class: | Paladin 12/magic-user 12/illusionist 12 (18th level magic-user in EX2) |
| Superior: | Heironeous |
| Rules items | |
| Domains: | Good, Knowledge, Law, Nobility |
Murlynd (MURR-lind) is the Oeridian hero-god of Magical Technology. Murlynd's symbol is a solid, six-pointed star with rounded points.
Murlynd dwells in a variety of unusual planes and demiplanes, moving between his various abodes as suits his mood. He has a house in the Land Beyond the Magic Mirror.
Description
Murlynd takes the form of a handsome Oeridian male with weathered features. He is clothed in worn leather, and wears a light-colored hat of a type unfamiliar to the Flanaess. He appears aloof and taciturn, though he is quite personable among his allies. Murlynd is dangerous only when provoked by evil beings. He is known to wield the longsword, battle axe, and crossbow, as well as weapons of more unusual make. Murlynd is especially fond of a pair of strange, hand-held weapons that emit powerful projectiles. He has referred to these weapons variously as "45's," "six shooters," and "hog legs."
Relationships
Murlynd was sponsored to godhood by Heironeous. He is also known to be an ally of Celestian, Phaulkon, Zagyg, Keoghtom, Mordenkainen, and Heward. Iuz is one of his most fierce enemies. He was once a member of Zagyg's Company of Seven. Later, he adventured in disguise with members of the Citadel of Eight. He is currently on another plane contending with Saint Kargoth over a weapon known as the Quannon.
Dogma
Murlynd encourages others to learn from the advancements of civilized races in order to improve the lives of the common folk. His followers will not use inferior items if superior ones are available to them; they are commanded to protect the weak and innocent and to act with honor. They are always to consider Heironeous's followers their allies and Hextor's followers their enemies.
Scriptures
Murlynd's holy book, which often bears his symbol, is titled Murlynd's Early Adventures & Subsequent Ventures.
Worshipers
Clergy
Murlynd's priests strive to uphold the virtues of law and good, and often work with the clergy of Heironeous toward this end. They use their knowledge of technology to aid the common man, and are encouraged to invent new devices and improve upon old ones. They work to destroy extremely dangerous magical or technological devices, and often find themselves working toward this end with followers of Phaulkon.
Spells past by clerics of Murlynd look different from standard divine magic, adding elements of a technological nature as Murlynd's own spells do.
Paladins
Paladins dedicated to Murlynd are called the White Paladins. They are actually an extremely rare sect of the church of Heironeous rather than an independent faith. They share Murlynd's fascination with otherworldly weapons and technology, seeking to use such items in their crusade against Evil. They can usually be recognized by their eccentric hodgepodge armor and clothing, much of it created themselves. They jealously guard the secrets of the firebrands, strange devices that can fire metallic balls at high speeds. They travel in search of exotic new equipment.
Their motto is Technology is an instrument of Justice so long as the hand that wields it is True.
Associated magic items
Murlynd's spoon is a magic item, a typical-looking spoon. When placed in an empty bowl, cup, or dish, the vessel fills with a thick, pasty gruel that tastes like wet cardboard, but nourishes a creature as much as a full meal.
Other magical items created by Murlynd include Murlynd's Hat and Murlynd's Rattlesnake Whip.
History
Murlynd's origins are unknown, other than his ethnic background. What is known is that he was a paladin of Heironeous and a member of the Company of Seven. He aided Zagyg in imprisoning Iuz beneath Castle Greyhawk, which has earned him the enmity of the Old One for life. At some point, Murlynd was sponsored to godhood by Heironeous. In disguise, he adventured for a time with members of the Citadel of Eight, including Tenser, Robilar, and Terik.
Spells
The following arcane spells are attributed to Murlynd:
- Murlynd's Ogre
- Murlynd's Void
Creative origins
Murlynd began as a player character created by Gary Gygax's closest friend Don Kaye in 1972 for the second-ever session of the game that would become D&D. Kaye continued to play Murlynd in Gygax's nascent Greyhawk campaign, developing him as a crossover between swords & sorcery D&D and the Wild West. After Kaye's unexpected death in 1975, Gygax subsequently created a tribute to his friend by highlighting Murlynd as one of the unique characters of the world of Greyhawk. In later editions of D&D, Murlynd was elevated to deityhood, becoming the Oeridian god of Magical Technology.
Gary Gygax's childhood friend Don Kaye created Murlynd for the second-ever session of Gygax's Greyhawk campaign in 1972, rolled up on Gygax's kitchen table at the same time as Rob Kuntz's Robilar and Terry Kuntz's Terik.[1] Gygax later recalled that, in those early days when most players including Gygax himself simply used their own name as a basis for their character's name — Tenser/Ernest, Yrag/Gary — "Murlynd" was the first attempt by a player to make a creative name for a character.[2] Don Kaye was a fan of the Western genre,[3] and at one point during the early days of the Greyhawk campaign, Gygax had Murlynd transported to an alternate universe set in the Wild West. When Murlynd was eventually transported back the Greyhawk setting, he sported the Stetson, cowboy boots, Colt revolvers and stereotypical outfit of a cowboy. Although Gygax did not allow the use of gunpowder in his Greyhawk setting, he made a loophole for Kaye by ruling that Murlynd actually carried two "magical wands" that made loud noises and delivered small but deadly missiles.[4] (Many years later, Gygax created a similar item called "Kaydon's Thunderous Bolters" for the Lejendary Adventures role-playing system. Gygax made it clear that these items fired their six charges using magic, not gunpowder.)[5]
The game Kaye and Gygax were playing would become D&D, and Kaye would go on to help Gygax start up TSR. In late 1974, Kaye also helped develop the rules for a Western-genre game called Boot Hill. However, Kaye died unexpectedly in 1975. As a tribute to his friend, Gygax published Boot Hill in 1975 in memory of Kaye. In 1983, Gygax would pay additional tribute to Kaye's memory by referencing Murlynd in the published version of EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, which also included the spells Murlynd's ogre and Murlynd's void,[6] and further highlighted Murlynd in the March 1983 issue of Dragon magazine.[7] The following year, Gygax paid further tribute to Kaye when he borrowed Murlynd's name for Murlynd's spoon, a magical spoon described in Unearthed Arcana that created a bad-tasting but nutritious gruel when placed in an empty bowl.[8]
Original Description in first edition D&D
In Gygax's Dragon article, Murlynd was described as a handsome Oeridian male with weathered features, clothed in worn leather and wearing a light-colored hat of a type unfamiliar to the Flanaess. A pencil illustration shows a stereotypical cowboy of the Wild West genre, wearing a Stetson and chaps, and holding two Colt .45 revolvers. His personality is described as aloof and taciturn, though he is quite personable among his allies. Murlynd is described as being dangerous only when provoked by evil beings. In addition to his pistols, which are simply described as a pair of wands in the shape of six shooters that shoot projectiles, Gygax notes that he is also proficient with longsword, battle axe, and crossbow.[7] However, Gygax describes Murlynd's origins as unknown.
Second and third editions of D&D: Deityhood
Following Gygax's ouster from TSR in 1985, Murlynd was subsequently only briefly referenced eight years later in the 1993 sourcebook Iuz the Evil.[9] (He was mentioned in passing in Carl Sargent's sourcebook Ivid the Undying, but TSR cancelled that project just before publication, later releasing it as a computer file.[10])
It was not until Wizards of the Coast bought TSR and wrote a new storyline for Greyhawk, that Murlynd made a dramatic reappearance in Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (1998) as the Oeridian god of Magical Technology,[11] and was also mentioned in the sourcebook Slavers (2000).[12]
In the third edition of D&D, Murlynd took on the same role as deity of Magic Technology in Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins, the introduction to RPGA's massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign that ran from 2000–2008.[13]
References
Citations
- ↑ Gygax: The next day they played, and with their PCs were two new ones, that of Rob Kuntz and Don Kaye's Murlynd." Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part VI, Page 9). EN World , 2004-03-26. Retrieved on 2009-03-15.
- ↑ Gygax: "In general most of the players, myself included when initially adventuring and not DMing, thought little of the PC's name, but more about what thrilling things would transpire. Thus my first character was named Yrag, and some of the younger fellows in the group didn't even name their PC. Don Kaye was a semi-exception with Murlynd. As I became a bit more engaged in the broader possibility spectrum of the game I did a more seriously considered PC [Mordenkainen]... That became common with most of the veterans in our group around that time."Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part X, Page 14). EN World , 2006-06-15. Retrieved on 2009-03-15.
- ↑ Kuntz: "Don was a great fan of the Western and an avid supporter of the Boot Hill rules." Robilar Remembers: Murlynd. Pied Piper Publishing , 2004-10-18. Retrieved on 2009-09-16.
- ↑ Gygax: "The strange wands that Murlynd used made a loud noise and delivered a damaging missile, but neither effect was due to gunpowder. These were very rare magic items devised by Murlynd's arcane understanding of technology and how to make it function magically." Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 13). EN World , 2003-11-25. Retrieved on 2009-03-15.
- ↑ Gygax: "The [Lejendary Adventures] game has an Extraordinary Item known as Kaydon's Thunderous Bolters, each weapon having six charges that renew after a relatively long period of time. They are not gunpowder weapons..." Gary Gygax: Q & A (Part IV, Page 13). EN World , 2003-11-25. Retrieved on 2009-03-15.
- ↑ Gygax, Gary. EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror (TSR, 1983)
- ↑ a b Gygax, Gary (March 1983). "Greyhawk's World: Four Uncharacteristic Characters". Dragon VII, No. 9 (71): 19–22. Lake Geneva WI: TSR.
- ↑ Gygax, Gary. Unearthed Arcana (TSR, 1985)
- ↑ Sargent, Carl (1993) Iuz the Evil, Lake Geneva WI⧼colon⧽ TSR, Inc ISBN: 978-1560765844.
- ↑ Ivid the Undying. The Acaeum: Dungeons & Dragons Knowledge Compendium. Retrieved on 2009-06-17.
- ↑ Moore, Roger E,Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (TSR, 1998)
- ↑ Reynolds, Sean K., and Chris Pramas. Slavers (TSR, 2000)
- ↑ Conforti, Steve (2005) Living Greyhawk Official Listing of Deities for Use in the Campaign, version 2.0, Wizards of the Coast
Bibliography
- Brown, Anne. Player's Guide. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.
- Conforti, Steven, ed. Living Greyhawk Official Listing of Deities for Use in the Campaign, version 2.0. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2005. Available online:[1]
- Gygax, Gary. "Greyhawk's World." Dragon #71. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.
- -----. The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.
- -----. Unearthed Arcana. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1985.
- -----. World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.
- Holian, Gary. "Paladins of Greyhawk." Dragon #306. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2003.
- Holian, Gary, and Rick Miller. "Treasures of Greyhawk: Magic of the Company of Seven." Dragon #359. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2007.
- Moore, Roger E. Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.
- -----. Return of the Eight. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.
- Reynolds, Sean K., and Chris Pramas. Slavers. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000.
- Reynolds, Sean K., Frederick Weining, and Erik Mona. "Blood of Heroes." Living Greyhawk Journal #3. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2001.
- -----. "Gods of Oerth". Living Greyhawk Journal #3. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2001.
- Sargent, Carl. Ivid the Undying. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1995 (unpublished). Available online:[2]
Zavoda Index Entry
The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index page has a list of sources, abbreviations, and a link to the full index.
Murlynd {Merlund}{Merlynd}[Deity]
DRG#71 - 19,20,21
DRG#293 - 90
DRG#294 - 95
DRG#AN2 - 96
IVID
LGJ#0 - 5
LGJ#2 - 8
LGJ#3 - 13,19
PGTG - 16,18,20,26
RTO8 - 32,58
SLV - 66,128
TAB - 125
UA - 101
WG6 - 6
WGR5 - 5
WOGG - 33-36
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
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firebrand (Pistol) (Murlynd) | Item | Dragon magazine #306 | 98 | |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Bastion of Faith | 41 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Dragon magazine #071 | 19, 20, 21 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Dragon magazine #293 | 90 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Dragon magazine #294 | 95 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Dragon magazine #306 | 97, 98 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Dragon magazine #351 | 42 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Dragon magazine #359 | 70, 71, 73 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Dragon magazine #AN2 | 96 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror | 4, 5, 6, 8, 26 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Ivid the Undying | 157 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Living Greyhawk Journal #0 | 5 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Living Greyhawk Journal #2 | 8 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Living Greyhawk Journal #3 | 13, 19 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Player's Guide to Greyhawk | 16, 18, 20, 26 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Polyhedron magazine #163 | 106, 108 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Return of the Eight | 32, 58 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Slavers, AD&D 2e | 66, 128 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | The Adventure Begins | 125 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | Unearthed Arcana, AD&D 1e | 101 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | WG6 Isle of the Ape | 6 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | WGR5 Iuz the Evil | 5 |
| Murlynd {Merlund, Merlynd} | Deity | Male, Human, Mu18, The White Paladin, | World of Greyhawk boxed set (1983) | 33-36 |
| Murlynd's Early Adventures & Subsequent Ventures | Item | Book, | EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror | 6 |
| Murlynd's Early Adventures & Subsequent Ventures | Item | Book, | Living Greyhawk Journal #3 | 13 |
| Murlynd's Hat | Item | Dragon magazine #359 | 73-74 | |
| Murlynd's Ogre (LVL4) | Spell | Spell (Magic User), | EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror | 6, 31 |
| Murlynd's Ogre (LVL4) | Spell | Spell (Magic User), | Wizard's Spell Compendium - Volume III | 605 |
| Murlynd's Rattlesnake Whip | Item | Dragon magazine #359 | 74 | |
| Murlynd's Spoon | Item | Artifact, | CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook | 121 |
| Murlynd's Spoon | Item | Artifact, | LT2 Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad | 7 |
| Murlynd's Spoon | Item | Artifact, | Dungeon Masters Guide, AD&D 2e | 138, 175 |
| Murlynd's Spoon | Item | Artifact, | Encyclopedia Magica - Volume IV | 1467, 1585, 1634, 1652 |
| Murlynd's Spoon | Item | Artifact, | Unearthed Arcana, AD&D 1e | 88, 101 |
| Murlynd's Spoon | Item | Artifact, | Unearthed Arcana, AD&D 1e (Premium Edition) | 88, 101 |
| Murlynd's Void (LVL6) | Spell | Spell (Magic User), | EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror | 6, 31 |
| Murlynd's Void (LVL6) | Spell | Spell (Magic User), | Wizard's Spell Compendium - Volume III | 605 |
| Paladin of Murlynd {The White Paladins} | People Group | Religious order, | Dragon magazine #306 | 97, 98 |
| Secret of the Firebrands (Murlynd) | Rules | Feat/Proficiency/Skill, | Dragon magazine #306 | 98 |
| Specialty Priest of Murlynd | People Group | Religious order, | Slavers, AD&D 2e | 128 |
| Spoon, Murlynd's | Item | Reference | SEE Murlynd's Spoon | |
| Technology is an instrument of justice so long as the hand that wields it is True (Murlynd) | Verbal communication | Philosophy/Belief, | Dragon magazine #306 | 97 |