Sunndi

In the fictional World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Sunndi is a political state situated in the region of the Flanaess. Sunndi was originally given a very brief description by Gary Gygax in 1980's World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting. In 1999, a much expanded description was included in a new "reboot" of the Greyhawk campaign setting published by Wizards of the Coast. This new edition describes Sunndi as a former province of the Great Kingdom with a history of interracial tolerance that has only recently declared itself to be an independent kingdom.^[1] In the massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign (2000–2008), Sunndi was a region assigned to Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Developmental history

In 1980, a brief paragraph about the County of Sunndi was published by Gary Gygax in the The World of Greyhawk folio (TSR 9025). In the campaign's start date of 576 CY, Sunndi's population was listed as 50,000+, and its ruler was identified simply as the Count of Sunndi.^[2]

An almost identical paragraph appeared in Gygax’s World of Greyhawk boxed set in 1983 (TSR 1015); however, the ruler was now identified by name as Count Hazendel, and the country’s population was more specifically given as 60,000.^[3]

Gygax left TSR in 1985, and TSR took the Greyhawk storyline in a new direction via a boxed set called From the Ashes (TSR 1064). The storyline was advanced to 585 CY, the year after the end of a continent-wide war that had taken place 582-584 CY. Sunndi had been overrun by the armies of Ivid the Undying during the Wars, but had managed to regain its independence.^[4] The overall departure of the Greyhawk campaign from Gygax's original setting to this darker vision of post-war Flanaess was not well received by the public, and TSR stopped publishing Greyhawk material in 1993.

In 1996, Wizards of the Coast took over TSR, and in 1998 revived the moribund Greyhawk setting for their new Third Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. The storyline was advanced to 590 CY, and now dealt with the new alliances and problems that had developed in the wake of the Greyhawk Wars. The description of Sunndi was expanded to include a short but comprehensive history; Sunndi had declared itself to be a fully independent kingdom, Count Hazendel was now Olvenking Hazendel,^[5] and the population was doubled to 125,000.^[1]

Using these resources, Sunndi in the most recent setting of Greyhawk can be described as follows.

People

Sunndi's population numbers about 125,000, of which 79% are human of Oeridi and Suolise extraction, 9% are gray elves, 5% are mountain and hill dwarves, 3% are gnomes, 2% are halflings, 1% are half-elves, and 1% are other races. These races live in harmony and mutual self-defence.^[1]

Religion

No single religion dominates this region, but significant deities worshipped include Pelor, Trithereon, Lydia, the Oeridian agricultural gods, the elvish, dwarvish and gnomish pantheons, Ulaa, Fortubo, Jascar, Norebo and Boccob.^[1]

Geography

Sunndi is a warm and fertile land in the southeast corner of the Flanaess, lying between the Rieuwood Forest and Glorioles Mountains to the north, the Hestmark Highlands to the east, the Pawluck River to the west and the Vast Swamp to the south.

Although this is an easily defended land, its defensive strength is also its weakness, since it has no easy trade outlet for its grain, gold, electrum and gems other than the narrow Highland Trail through the Hestmark Highlands to the port of Dullstrand.^[6] And the Vast Swamp is both a blessing and a curse, for although it defends Sunndi's southern border, it is also home to disease, strange monsters and warlike bullywugs that emerge from the fens every 15–20 years.^[1]

Given its subtropical location, Sunndi's climate is warm year-round, with plentiful rainfall in the autumn and winter, and humid heat during the spring and summer.^[7] Snow is a sure sign of magical evil afoot.^[5]

Government

Sunndi is a feudal hereditary monarchy ruled by His Brilliant Majesty, Olvenking Hazendel I, Defender of Sunndi and Protector of the South. The country is divided into eighteen counties, each ruled by a count who sits on the advisory Congress of Lords. The capital city is Pitchfield.

History

A thousand years ago, Suloise refugees fleeing from the ruin of the Twin Cataclysms entered the fertile lands south of the Rieuwood and befriended the indigenous gray elves. Later invasions by Oeridian raiders conquered the Suloise/elven alliance, but time was on Sunnndi's side and gradually the Oeridians were integrated.^[1]

An oppressed county of South Province

After Aerdy conquered all Oeridian lands following the Battle of a Fortnight's Length in -110 CY, Sunndi was made a part of the South Province of the Great Kingdom. One of the overkings subsequently made Sunndi a separate fief within the South Province, ruled by a Count who swore fealty to the Herzog (prince) of South Province. Since the Count was appointed by the Herzog, the post was usually granted to the Sunnd noble who promised to extract the most tribute from the county to send to the Herzog. The result was oppressive taxation and overfarming, as well as suppression of non-human races.^[1]

Independence and membership in the Iron League

When the Iron League was formed by the Free City of Irongate, Idee, and Onnwal in 447 CY in opposition to the Great Kingdom, Sunndi rebelled against its masters, drove the herzog's soldiers out of Sunndi and joined the League in 455 CY. The gray elf Count Turentel Esparithen formed a government based on mutual respect for all peoples of Sunndi.^[1]

South Province invades

The herzogs of South Provinces attempted to retake Sunndi several times over the next century without success. However in 577 CY, South Province received the backing it needed from the mad overking Ivid the Undying, and successfully invaded.^[1]

At the same time, bullywugs attacked from the Vast Swamp, pulling needed troops from the northern defences. Although the bullywug invasion was contained and the monsters driven back into the swamp, the South Province army took advantage of the divided Sunnd forces, and finally took the capital of Pitchfield in 583 CY. It seemed that the battle for Sunndi was over, for nothing now stood between the herzog and Sunndi's fertile lands. However, a newly re-dedicated Sunnd army under the hero Osson met the South Province army at the Battle of Rieuwood and was triumphant, although an attempt by Osson to follow the herzog's troops across the Thelly River into South Province failed and the Sunnd army was forced to retreat back to Sunndi.^[1]

A new kingdom

Although Sunndi had regained its independence, the fall of Iron League members Idee and Onwaal to South Province in 586 CY reminded Sunndi how tenuous freedom could be. In 589 CY, Count Hazendel declared to be Sunndi a fully independent kingdom, and proclaimed that all old ties with the Great Kingdom were forever severed. Hazendel became Olvenking Hazendel the Defender. The few Aerdy-descended noble houses that remained in Sunndi were ordered to rename themselves and swear allegiance to the crown.^[1]

In 590 CY (the year of the current campaign setting), eighteen scions from both human and nonhuman noble houses have been appointed to a Congress of Lords to advise the olvenking. Sunndi had been subdivided into eighteen counties,^[8] and each lord of the Congress has been appointed count of one of these new regions.^[1]

Increased raids by monsters from the Vast Swamp remind the Sunnd government of the historic cycle of bullywug invasions, and Hazendel has ordered the construction of new forts along the edge of the swamp against an expected invasion within the next few years. Investigation suggested that followers of Wastri, upset by the good relations between humans and nonhumans in Sunndi, and especially repelled by the thought of an elf on the throne, may be behind the new round of attacks.^[1]

Sunndi as a region of the Living Greyhawk campaign

In the Living Greyhawk campaign that ran from 2001 to 2008, Sunndi was assigned to the countries of Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and placed within the Splintered Suns metaregion.

As outlined above, the previously published history of Sunndi was complete up to 590 CY, but there was very little material about the social, geographical, political and religious fabric of Sunndi.

In the months before the official launch of the campaign in 2000, the first Sunndi Triad (three volunteer campaign administrators) and a volunteer design team worked to flesh out a proposed social background and geographical setting for Sunndi. This included a more complete description of deities worshipped in Sunndi, the legal system of the new kingdom, names and rulers of the eighteen counties, notable personalities of the kingdom, and other minutae of life in Sunndi.^[8] In all, the Sunndi Triad published 41 adventures for their region.

Timeline of Sunndi during the Living Greyhawk Campaign

This is the history of Sunndi as outlined in the 41 adventures published during the Living Greyhawk campaign. (The Living Greyhawk campaign was considered unofficial by Wizards of the Coast and RPGA, so events that transpired during the campaign do not affect the official timeline of Greyhawk, and will vary substantially from the histories of other concurrent Greyhawk home campaigns):

592 CY

Olvenking Hazendel asserted his authority over the old Aerdy noble houses that were refusing to break their ties with the Great Kingdom.^[9][10]

593 CY

Raids on Sunndi from denizens of the Vast Swamp rapidly increased, although the forts being built along the southern border were not yet completed. This threat seemed to be driven by followers of Wastri ^{[11][12][13][14]}

594 CY

A priest of Nerull had evil designs on the Silent Valley.^[15]

The long-dreaded invasion of bullywugs from the Vast Swamp began, forcing war upon Sunndi.^[16]

595 CY

Although the evil Priest of Nerull in the Silent Valley had been killed, his ghost continued to haunt the area until it was destroyed.^[17]

The war against the Wastrian bullywugs did not go well, and gradually, the Sunnd army was pushed back.^[18]

596 CY

Even as the Wastrians continued to press north,^[19] evil attacked from several new directions: A madness of some sort destroyed several hitherto peaceful villages;^[20] and Hextorites plot against both Wastrians and Sunndi.^[21]

An old tale that the golden treasure of Pitchfield's temple of Pelor, taken by an orc raiding party centuries ago and allegedly hidden in the Vast Swamp, proved to be false.^[22]

597 CY

While Wastrian forces pushed Sunnd troops back to their capital of Pitchfield, a strong raiding party of orcs and giants attacked from the north.^[23]

598 CY

The force responsible for the villages mysteriously destroyed in 596 was discovered to be a demon hidden within a cursed staff.^[24] In a final effort last-ditch effort, the Wastrians and their allies were finally driven back into the Vast Swamp, at least for another generation, but the formerly fertile country of Sunndi lay in ruins.^[25]

References

• Gygax, Gary. The World of Greyhawk (TSR, 1980).
• Gygax, Gary. World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (TSR, 1983).

• Moore, Roger E. Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.

• Sargent, Carl. From the Ashes. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1992.

Notes

External links

• Sunndi on Gryphonhill site
• Sunndi (Living Greyhawk) website