[Greyhawk] Oerth beyond the Flanaess

[Mercurius]

Quick Question: I almost put this post in RPG General but I thought I'd put it here as Greyhawk is certainly a part of D&D's legacy. Or should this go in RPG General because it does not relate to rules or a specific edition of D&D?

There are a couple maps floating around out there of the larger continent of which the Flanaess is a part of - I am wondering a few things about that. First, what is the source of this map? I don't care as much about the specific map, but the continental image itself, where it comes from. Is it based off of Gary Gygax's work? Was it published in some Greyhawk product I'm not aware of? And where might I find information about these areas?

While I'm at it, a second area of question about Greyhawk. To what degree is Greyhawk the creation of Gygax vs. a compilation of other peoples' ideas? I think of how the original Forgotten Realms grey box is 99% Ed Greenwood, but later products were by other authors and both the 3E and 4E Realms were morphed beyond Greenwood's original vision. Now it seems that the World of Greyhawk has gone through less change, but I'm wondering to what degree others have contributed to it. I'm pretty sure, for example, that Gygax had little to do with the From the Ashes phase.

Thanks!

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

The area in that map has seem publishing in two Greyhawk products I'm aware of. I believe in the latter days of the AD&D2e era, then again in the Living Greyhawk era in (I believe) the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer and the shortened D&D Gazetteer.

After the 83 boxed set, the only changes that were officially Gygax's advancement to the setting were some columns that appeared in Dragon magazine. After that, Gygax was usurped and everything else that changed were authored by other people. That said, many of the things that happened that lead to From the Ashes were implied as imminent by Gygax, he set the "plot" in motion so to speak. The rise of the giants in the Crystalmists, Iuz using demonic alliances and his orc armies to invade the Horned Society then out to the rest of the continent, the Great Kingdom coming apart, the Scarlet Brotherhood assassins striking across the continent. The implementation of it was done without Gygax's input though Gygax wrote about these things coming down the line in his Gord the Rogue books or his From the Sorcerer's Scroll column.

 

[Mercurius]

Ah, thanks - I actually have the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer but haven't looked at it in some time...I'll check it out.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I rechecked my stuff, can't find the late AD&D 2nd ed product . . . it may have been a Dragon Mag article. The LG Flanaess map has the planetary map in the lower corner.

 

[Mercurius]

There it is, yes. However, it has very little detail - I'm wondering, are the names of the regions on the map I linked to from EGG or someone else?

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Some of the bigger names are from the iteration prior to the LGG map, which I'm feeling rather sure was a Dragon magazine article. It is possible that some of those names at the far west end of Oerik are from the Chainmail game, which was set on that end of the continent. Seeing Ravilla, I believe that's one of those nations in the Chainmail game. Other names, like Erypt, Hyperborea, Zindia, Nippon, Baklunish West, Celestial Court, Fireland, appeared on that other iteration.

Fireland, I believe, gets its first mention in the Roger Moore authored "The Adventure Begins". One of the Suel barbarian (viking analogs) returned from a lengthy voyage to sea where the ship captain claimed to have witnessed a land of ice and volcanoes.

 

[Thanael]

I'm pretty sure that map is based on something made by Ripvanwormer. It's clearly based of the map from Dragon annual #2 (Zindia, Nippon) but it incorporates the Sundered Empire from the WotC Chainmail setting too. The actual pic is from Oerth Journal, one of the later (20ies) issues. So there might be some material available in that publication: The Oerth Journal


Best to ask on the forums on canonfire. There are a few beyond the flaneass threads and projects there already..

Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Starting location of Oeridians (i think this is the thread that originated the first Sundered Empire/Flanaess hybrid map)
Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Reconciling Western Oerik (Chainmail vs Dragon Annual Map)
Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Beyond the Flanaess: The Oerth World-Development Project