Sewarndt

Greyhawk Character

Sewarndt
Names and titles
Nickname:	The Black Prince
Title(s):	Prince, later Emperor of the Nyrond Imperium
General info
Home:	Nyrond
Alignment:	Neutral (NE)
Gender:	Male
Species:	Human
Ethnicity:	Oeridian
Class:	Mage (Level 9)
Dates
Birthdate:	560 CY
Death:	595 CY

Prince Sewarndt was a prince of Nyrond, and son of former King Archbold III. He deposed his brother, Lynwerd, as king at the end of 594 CY to crown himself Emperor of the Nyrond Imperium before being killed in 595 CY.

Description

Sewarndt was a human mage, 5’ 11" and slim of build. He was pleasantly handsome, with green eyes, brown hair and a fetching smile. In spring 585 CY he was 25 years old.

Personality

Sewarndt was a throwback to the most decadent of House Rax's heritage. He was a self-indulgent power seeker.

Magic was a specific course of study for Sewarndt, because he could never hope to equal his father and elder brother as a warrior.

He saw himself as able to become Overking of a Great Kingdom who could bring Nyrond and Almor back within its control and rise again to become the only truly great power of the Flanaess. Sewarndt kept this vision to himself.

Though he was typically neutral, being corrupted by a lust for power made him tend toward neutral evil. He had come to want more treasure, more magic, more power, more of everything.

Abilities

Sewarndt was a 9th level mage by spring of 585 CY, with abilities Dex 18, Con 15, Int 18, Cha 17, hp 30.

Possessions

Sewarndt wore a ring of protection +3 and boots of speed. He had access to the king's magical treasure trove. He also always wore a ring of mind shielding and ring of invisibility.

Activities

In spring 585 CY Sewarndt had delusions of an alliance with Duke Szeffrin that might allow them to march through Aerdi and overthrow the mad Overking Ivid V in Rauxes. He spread rumors of Lynwerd's disloyalty to the king into the minds of some courtiers and advisers in Rel Mord. He was planning to dispatch an emissary to Szeffrin.

Relationships

He was the youngest son of the former King Archbold III of Nyrond, but he did not share a mother with his older brother, Nyrond’s current King Lynwerd I.

His charisma gave him considerable influence. Sewarndt was very cunning and skillful at managing to convey to everyone after the event that he favored good judgments made by Archbold and did his best to argue against poor ones. He made every effort to tarnish his brother's reputation in the process.

In spring 585 CY he was well received among the fawning courtiers of Duke Korenflass of Oldred, and increasingly so at the courts of some dissident local rulers. He continued to accumulate friends and contacts among disgruntled minor nobility, working his way up the ranks. At the time he also desired to ally with Duke Szeffrin. Archbold would probably have had anyone accusing his son of wickedness executed for treason (without solid evidence).

History

In the fall of 585 CY Archbold appeared to suffer a stroke. Clerics convened in Rel Mord and determined that he had been poisoned. Within hours of the discovery, Sewarndt and a group of junior military officers attempted a coup. Only the intervention of the capital's entire clergy of Heironeous prevented it and rescued the king. Lynwerd was on an inspection tour in Mithat, and was notified by magical means within an hour of the coup. He immediately lead an army to his father's side, by which time Sewarndt and some supporters had fled while others were captured or killed.

Sewarndt's treachery shattered Archbold, and he abdicated in favor of Lynwerd in Fireseek 586 CY. Archbold became deeply depressed, not even speaking to his own family, and went into retreat in his estate outside Rel Mord.

There were whispers among the shadows that he had previously sent a magical messenger to Duke Szeffrin, proposing an alliance, seeing himself as marching back to Kalstrand to overthrow Ivid and become a new Overking. Szeffrin, however, maintained an alliance with King Xavener, and publicly rebuffed any talk of an uprising against the Head of House Darmen.^{[citation needed]}

Lynwerd’s mother died in childbirth and Archbold quickly remarried, to Darielle of House Cranden. Quarlanth of Mowbrenn intimated that Sewarndt might be the true heir to the throne of the Great Kingdom due to his lineage through his mother. Quarlanth claimed the heir to the Malachite Throne has run through the mother’s side of House Cranden since Yalranda was named Overqueen in 75 CY.^{[citation needed]}

Sewarndt was considered an outcast from Nyrond’s Royal Family. Duke Korenflass, a Nyrondal noble, needled him endlessly.^{[citation needed]}

In 595 CY Sewarndt again seized control of Rel Mord and other key cities in a short and rapid coup, but was deposed.

Rumors & Legends

In spring 585 CY there were whispers that he had sent a magical messenger to Szeffrin, proposing an alliance, with visions of marching to Rauxes to become a new Overking.

In spring 591 CY reports surfaced suggesting Sewarndt had been seen in the Gnatmarsh perhaps in allegiance with the coven of witches said to dwell there.

See Also

See also: Rulers of Nyrond

References

Bibliography

• Sargent, Carl. The Marklands. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1993.
• "Dispatches: News from Around the Flanaess (spring 591 CY)". Living Greyhawk Journal #2. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, November 2000.

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
Sewarndt (Prince)	Non-player character	[M9],	Dragon magazine #306	95
Sewarndt (Prince)	Non-player character	[M9],	Living Greyhawk Gazetteer	16, 78
Sewarndt (Prince)	Non-player character	[M9],	Living Greyhawk Journal #2	29
Sewarndt (Prince)	Non-player character	[M9],	The Adventure Begins	30
Sewarndt (Prince)	Non-player character	[M9],	WGR4 The Marklands	68, 72, 89, 93, 94