Empire of Lynn

Greyhawk Realm

Empire of Lynn
A map of Oerik showing the Empire of Lynn, as depicted in Dragon Annual #1 (1996). Cartography by Sutherland, Dave
General information
Region:	Western Oerik
Government
Ruler:	Unknown Emperor
Government:	Imperial
Demographics
Capital:	Lynn
Races:	Predominantly human

Empire of Lynn is a sea of burning sands fill most of Oerik's western end. The fabled city of Lynn, perhaps settled by seafarers from the Flanaess, has grown rich from coastal trade and the desert's mineral wealth. Western Oerik.

Description

The Empire of Lynn (also seen as Lhynn) is an ancient realm, depicted in maps as being contemporary to the Suel and Baklunish Empires.

The nation once spanned most of central Western Oerik, and was a major influence on the geopolitical environment there. In later, more contemporary years the Empire of Lynn was reduced to a much, much smaller area, perhaps little more than it's capitol city. After the coming of the Dragon Empire, and the founding of the kingdom of Ravilla to protect the Abyssal Gateways after the Demon War, Lynn fell into decline.

The timeline isn't clear on what happened to the Empire or when, but, it is known that other nations supplanted it. Lynn was located on the western shores of Oerik. It is unknown the size of the "Empire" of Lynn at the time Robilar visited. It is not even truly certain whether the capitol is still there, though it was at the time of Robilar's visit. If it is, it is presumed to be in the region known as the Free States where mercenaries are often found.

People

Dragonmasters

Dragonmaster of Lynn, appearing in Dungeon #124. p85, Art by Attila Adorjany.

Lord Robilar once visited the Empire of Lynn, and "...consorted with the [Mirrormaster, Dragonmasters and Dragonpriests of Lynn], at which time they granted him an honorary status in their order due to his intimate knowledge of dragons."

Little is known of this sequestered, legendary order. It is known, however, the Dragonmasters' realm that once was in the mountainous region near the Tribes of the Ellaves and was either allied with or once was inside the Empire of Lynn is no longer inside its borders.

The Dragonmasters are described in Dungeon magazine #124, thus:

… large humans in ornately crafted plate armor. Each set of armor is lacquered and filiigreed with gold or silver and studded with gems that depict dragons in special and extraordinary ways,such as circling the length and breadth of the suit like a body-length tattoo. The armor is as much a status symbol as it is protection. Dragonmasters begin training from birth, and are weaned from the strongest fighters and highest nobility of Lynn. They are trained ar a remote mountainous retreat, secret to all sace those of the order. Every day they are fed poisons in minuscule amounts to heighten their resistances to the many poisonous creatures that they deal with (drakes, wyrms, serpents and the like) and are said to have staring contests with the more intelligent dragons, wherein they gain insight into the beguiling natures of these creatures - thus their resistances to mind influencing spells and powers.

When Lord Robilar ventured to the western shores of the continent, he went to the Empire of Lynn The precise year is unknown, but, the Empire once spanned a large majority of the northwestern portion of Oerik. Contemporarily, it seems to have fallen and become much, much smaller - considering the modern arrangement of factions.

Sources do not entirely indicate why he was doing so. It is believed he was either seeking asylum while Otto affected cures for him due to a clone of his which was activated, thus affecting his mental state, or also that he may've been taking a horribly evil artifact to a temple of Zuggtmoy there. In either event, all that is now known is that

Publishing History

Black Moon Chronicles

The names of the nations on the Dragon Annual #1 map (shown above) were from the Greyhawk campaign run by a very close friend of Gary Gygax's (and TSR staffer) who lived with him for a time, a French gentleman named François Marcela-Froideval. He ran games with Gygax in his campaign, and Robilar (played by Robert J. Kuntz even visited there once. Those names were canonized on that map, though very little more was ever done with them in officially published sources, for the most part. Those names included the Empire of Lynn. In later years, Froideval would return to France, and would write an enormously popular graphic novel series, Chroniques de la Lune Noire or "Black Moon Chronicles" using the same names of the regions published in the World of Greyhawk and others of his own invention. According to Gygax, in his home game what he'd "planned to do was incorporate Francois' ... maps with Oerik".

The location given by Froideval in his later works would suggest the capital city of Lhynn being in the region of the Free States. Most of what remains of it would be restricted to what Froideval called the "Lands of the Emperor" in his version, or just the lands surrounding the capitol itself. Its army would consist of approximately 10,000 troops, which would suggest it is small by the standards of the factions of Western Oerik (possibly the size of the Empire of Iuz) and would easily fit within the Free States.

References

Bibliography

• Kuntz, Robert J. Chamber of Antiquities. Dungeon Magazine #124. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast. 2005
• ---- Robilar Remembered: Lord Robilar and Co.. Oerth Journal issue #7. 1998
• Williams, Skip. "Beyond the Flanaess." Dragon Annual #1. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1996.

Zavoda Index Entry

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index page has a list of sources, abbreviations, and a link to the full index.

Lynn	           City/Town/Village	        Dragon Magazine Annual #1	72
Lynn, Empire of	   Country/Kingdom/Province	Dragon Magazine Annual #1	72, 73
Lynn, Empire of    Country/Kingdom/Province	Dragon Magazine #124            85

Bibliography

• Williams, Skip. "Beyond the Flanaess." Dragon Annual #1. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1996.