Greyhawk 2000

The "New City" of Greyhawk and environs, Dragon #277

Greyhgawk 2000 is an alternate future setting for the World of Greyhawk, appearing in Dragon #277, written by Phillip Athans.

Description

Greyhawk 2000 inhabits one of a myriad of possible futures of the Flanaess.

Technology

While Greyhawk 2000 is a "modern" setting in the most general sense, it is set in a "future" of the World of Greyhawk.

In the standard "ancient" Greyhawk (6th century CY), gunpowder cannot be affected to make firearms. However, in Greyhawk 2000, "the use of gunpowder is considered antiquated, and gunpowder weapons are now manufactured only by the dwarves of House Broadhammer. The most common ranged weapon is the DiM weapon." Therefore, at some point in Greyhawk's future-history gunpowder weapons were invented. Though this is not necessarily the same formula or method we know on Earth—it is possible an alternate method was invented that does work on Oerth.

It is clear there are some elements of common scifi settings in Greyhawk 2000, while others are left out. "The level of available technology in Greyhawk 2000 is roughly similar to real world Earth, circa 2000 AD." Some elements not found in Greyhawk 2000 are "faster-than-light travel, true artificial intelligence [AI] or robots, transporters, time travel, active contact with aliens from outer space, and cyberware to name a few." However, since this is a theoretical future, it also notes that the DM may wish to add some of these elements.

Some typical scifi elements which are included are biotechnology (which is usually the province of elven culture) and mutants in the Dæmon Scar.

Known elven biotech includes:

• Shocker - targets may be rendered helpless, similar to a taser or stungun. These weapons fire tiny, needle-like darts enchanted with a specially-tuned electric charge designed to overcome a humanoid’s nervous system.
• Slivershot shoots bolts similar in nature to magic missiles but must be aimed. Slivershots look something like traditional rifles but are 6 feet long and often made of a translucent material resembling glass.
• Spirit bow is a sentient being in its own right. Lesser nature spirits inhabit the arrows, and the bow will not strike anyone or anything the spirits identify as being a friend of the natural world. A spirit bow will only fire for one bonded user, and it can only be received as a gift, so no cost is given. No spirit bow has ever bonded with a non-elf.

DiM technology

DiM tech is based on highly advanced dimensional portal magic, first developed in Ryuugin.

"Developed in Ryuujin, the history of the dimensional rifle is cloaked in the same sort of secrecy that conceals everything dragons do. The basic principle behind the dimensional accelerator is well known, and the weapons have been being manufactured throughout the human lands of the New Flanaess since 1946.

All dimensional accelerator (DiM) weapons operate in much the same way whether they are lightweight pistols or heavy artillery pieces. Projectiles—usually small caliber, ball-bearing-like bullets made of either titanium or high-density composites—are held in some sort of mechanical clip or other feeder device. The projectile is set into one end of a long barrel that holds two tiny dimensional portals. These tuned portals, products of highly advanced dimensional magic, can be duplicated on a mass production scale but require the copying of a “source vortex'’ initially provided by Ryuujin.

The first portal sends the projectile through a narrow dimensional wormhole to a point in space in near-solar orbit, and a point in time approximately one hour in the past. High gravitational forces accelerate the projectile, over the course of an hour, to a velocity no form of combustion could ever produce. The projectile then exits from the second dimensional portal in the accelerator barrel a millisecond later.

The projectile has lost nearly all of its mass but is now traveling at speeds close to 15,000 miles per second and is burning at a temperature of 3100°F. The projectile, now a bit of molten titanium the size of a grain of sand, gets from the end of the barrel to its target so fast it doesn’t make any sound, even as it rapidly cools and resolidifies. There is a blinding flash of light at the point that the projectile reenters through the second dimensional portal as it vaporizes the air. This is hidden by a flash-suppresser at the end of the barrel. There is only a low thud much quieter than a traditional gun—as air fills the space left by the air that was vaporized. DiM weapons have no recoil. The thud is usually heard at the same time, or right after, the projectile hits its target."

History

Aircraft of the Knights of the Steel Hawk, the E98 Devil Raptor, illustrated by Wayne Reynolds, (2000)

All dates use the Common Year (CY) reckoning established by the Great Kingdom of Aerdy. If the official timeline is used, magic begins to fade by 998 CY. However, in Greyhawk 2000, magic is present and strong, which implies magic either has cyclical periods or has ebb and flow like tidal motion.

1605 Countess Belissica and Duke Karll marry, uniting the County of Urnst and the Duchy of Urnst into the United Counties of Urnst, also known as the U.C.U. Eventually this nation expands to encompass the Domain of Greyhawk, the Shield Lands, the Adri Forest, the Bright Desert, the Celadon Forest, Rel Deven, and Nyrond.
1917 The dwarven Citicar is introduced, becoming the bestselling automobile on Oerth that year and every subsequent year.
1932 The dwarven empire known as House Broadhammer joins the Southern Alliance.
— The United Counties of Urnst join the Southern Alliance.
1946 The dimensional accelerator rifle is manufactured throughout the human lands of the New Flanaess.
1969 The United Counties of Urnst leaves the Southern Alliance.
1970 House Broadhammer leaves the Southern Alliance.
1975 Gavveen of Maure publishes his A History of the Oeridian-Speaking Peoples.
1992 The Falling Plague ravaged the suburbs of Elton and Carrialle, claiming nearly four thousand lives before being brought to ground by priests of Pelor. Caused by the cult of Incabulos.
1998 A mishap with a dimensional accelerator chute results in a crash, killing 20 of the 115 people aboard.
2000 "A scientist named Gerhardt Kurmi [is] transformed into a millexium mouther (a genetically altered variant of the horrific gibbering mouther) by his partner, a modern-day necromancer named Fergus Tain."

Geography

While the physical geography of the Flanaess is generally the same as in the 590s CY, the political landscape is quite different, with many nations joining together to make something like hegemonies. It is referred to as the "New Flanaess".

"The New City of Greyhawk (or New City, just Greyhawk, or G.H.) is home to over ten million people and serves as the capital of the United Counties of Urnst."

The area of the New City known as Crossroads is a slum and ghetto which is particularly run-down; rival street gangs, homeless, gunfire, tenements, abandoned cars, garbage in the streets, racist orcs, and the Crossratz, a gang of wererats in the sewers.Police corruption and bribery here is incredibly common, and patrol officers can impose fines at will. They almost always take bids between victims and criminals to decide how they enforce the "law". Lethal force is the most common response to any resistance.

Upper North Greyhawk and Diamond Lake are upper class wealthy suburbs and are well-patrolled by police in those wards. Steaming Springs is an average neighborhood, and Blackstone is only "slightly more affluent".

Central Greyhawk has the dubious distinction of being considered the worst neighborhood in the New City.

Exit is a frontier town at the edge of the region around the City of Greyhawk.

Dæmon Scar

This demon-haunted wasteland runs across the northern Flanaess like a black stripe. The nuclear and biochemical carpet-bombing that ended the reign of luz and sent the demigod into another dimension has left behind thousands of square miles of uninhabitable land. Elevated levels of radiation in conjunction with the powerful magic of luz melded to form an area of wild magic so dangerous that few who’ve ventured there have ever returned. Biological and chemical weapons added to the horror of the devastation.

Military and civilian populations trapped in the battle zone have had their DNA permanently twisted and become the mutant nomads of the Daemon Scar lands.

It is a "post-apocalyptic desert" with "alien, mutated plant life" and "the terrain of the Daemon Scar defies both expectation and logic".

Transportation

The Chute is long-distance mass transportation, similar in many ways to a magical subway system. It is powered by the same dimensional acceleration technology that eventually led to the development of DiM weapons. Stations are in many, many places and are abbreviated tunnels only 314 yards long, with a portal at the ends which can be tuned to any other destination station. It is what is presented as an alternative to train and/or airline travel. The Chute is considered the safest form of travel, though there have been at least two notable Chute disasters.

Waybury, the former city in northwestern Ulek, is referred to as a destination for the Chute,

The City of Greyhawk has an elevated train mass transit system. One line of the train is known as the "Kenndi-Cairn line."

People

• Mutant nomads in the Dæmon Scar.
• Silvaan - a particular race of half-elves.
• Breed - a particular race of half-orcs.

Organizations

• Eighteen of Blackstone - a cabal of wealthy industrialists who fund shadowy projects in hopes of securing valuable new patents.
• Pelisso Street Swampers - a street gang in Crossroads. Their symbol is a flaming skull with diamond-shaped eye sockets.
• Skeetrz - another street gang.
• The Infidelz - an orc biker gang. They ride old "Lynnride" motorcycles, are leery of magic, and commonly carry pistols.
• The Crossratz - a wererat gang in the sewers, who consider themselves protectors of Crossroads. It’s a matter of honor to keep the plumbing in Crossroads in good order. The residents of Crossroads drop coins, food, and other goodies into sewer grates as offerings of thanks.

Population

Predominantly human, though the average citizen of the UCU or the New City never seeing anything more unusual or exotic than the occasional visiting dwarf or handsome silvaan. It’s commonly assumed that there’s no place better to be rich than the New City of Greyhawk—wealthy aristocrats in the New City have access to high-tech medicine and magical healing that makes them virtually immortal and perpetually young.

Elves have retreated into a reforested kingdom where they welcome no visitors at all. Some elves are eco-terrorists.

Halflings are separatists - much-maligned and mistreated wee folk who finally got fed up with being considered silly little people of no consequence, who have developed into a closed, xenophobic society.

House Broadhammer includes the last remaining gnomish enclaves.

Religion

Examples of holy symbols for Incabulos and Beory, in Greyhawk 2000.

• The Order of the Uncaring - presumably, devotees of Boccob.
• Beory, the Oerth Mother - The Church of Beory Rescendant is a nature cult favored, oddly enough, by the rich and idle of the major cities of the U.C.U. Public opinion sees this sect as faddish and shallow, and many of the traditional followers of Beory actively fight against this urban blasphemy.
• Incabulos - the cult known as The Long, Shrill Shriek in the Night. Incabulous isn't openly worshipped anywhere in the New Flanaess, and legislation was being considered to make any worship of Incabulos a felony. They created the Falling Plague of 1992.

It is notable that Greyhawk 2000 was the precursor to the D20 Modern game and was published two years prior. There, other religions are present such as worship of Wee Jas, Pelor, Kyuss, St. Cuthbert, and Hextor. However, these religions are organizations which function markedly different than their sixth century CY counterparts.

Languages

Common is the predominant language of the United Counties of Urnst. "Toroch and other other dwarven dialects" are spoken in the lands of House Broadhammer.

Governments

• Dyvers - in ruins
• Furyondy - there is a long-standing treaty with the UCU which keeps peace along the northwestern border.
• House Broadhammer - dwarven empire which controls all the mountains from the Barrier Peaks to the north, through the Crystalmist and Sulhaut Mountains, and south into the Hellfurnaces.
• Southern Alliance
• United Counties of Urnst - Leader: Duchess Tinillia. Total population: 45.5 million. The most stable of the nations of the New Flanaess, Congregation of the Republic. "… the U.C.U. is a military, industrial, and economic super-power that encompasses all of the lands south of the Daemon Scar and east of the Selintan and Ritensa Rivers." Its Constitution is based on the "Dozen Provisions". The New City of Greyhawk (or just New City, Greyhawk, or G.H.) is home to over ten million people and serves as the capital of the United Counties of Urnst."
  

There are 15 counties, each of which has a senator representing them in the Congregation of the Republic, which is based in the Capital Ward of New City. 2000 CY was during the 301st Congregation of the Republic.

Counties of the Congregation of the Republic:

• Greyhawk • Adri • Bright Desert • Celadon • Chen	• Deven • Karll • Kelwy • Leullix • Northern Nyrond	• Nyr Dyv • Radigast • Relmor • the Shield Lands • Southern Nyrond

• Velene - fundamentalist elven nation, presumably the conbination of Veluna and Celene.
• Empire of the Pomarj - evolved into a progressive world power.
• Ryuujin - in the "far corners of Oerth" with "otherwise closed markets". This is where "DiM" weapons and technology for the "Chute" originated. Ryuujin uses the "Fukanou fast attack fighter" aircraft.

Waybury (pop. 11,500 in 591 CY), a former city of the Duchy of Ulek, is still present. However, it is unknown which domain it is part of—though it would be closest to Velene.

Leukish is still present in 2000 CY and is presumed to still be the capital of this Karll.

Military

• Knights of the Steel Hawk - operate the E98 Devil Raptor, exclusively in the United Counties of Urnst. The Devil Raptor is considered "far and away the most

advanced military aircraft on Oerfh." Only twleve of these fighter jets exist, and each one is equipped with amazing technological and magical weapons and ordinance. Though each Devil Raptor is individually, uniquely equipped, loadouts include a feather fall ejection system, spatially-compressed bomb bay, DiM weapons, Phase Assistance (displacement tech), magical protection from elemental damage, dimension door (up to ten miles), invisibility, and may be silenced. Other weapons include laser-guided air-to-air missles, magic missile generators, lightning rods, and blade barriers.

Economy

Currency

The "ducet" (ducat) is the base unit of currency.

Gallery

• 
  The Old City of Greyhawk in 2000CY

References

Bibliography

• Athans, Philip. "Greyhawk 2000". Dragon #277. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000. p48-54.
• ---- . "Alterations". Dungeon magazine #83. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000. p82-94.