Dullstrand

In the fictional World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, The Dullstrand is a region on the eastern coast of the Flanaess, mainly known for the many colourful smugglers, pirates, and fugitives that use its coast and ports as a refuge from authorities.

Although Dullstrand began as a minor footnote in the original campaign setting, information about the area was greatly expanded in subsequent editions, and enables Dungeon Masters to set their games within a milieu of subtropical coastline, harsh highlands, piracy, smuggling and nautical adventure. From 2001–2008, the Dullstrand became a region of the Living Greyhawk campaign linked to play first in South Africa, and then in Switzerland.

Developmental history

Greyhawk was a campaign world originally created by Gary Gygax in the 1970s when he was helping to develop the game of Dungeons and Dragons. When TSR published details of Gygax's campaign in 1980 and 1983, with the campaign set in the year 576 CY, the town of Dullstrand was marked on the map of the Flanaess, but it was only mentioned in passing, and no other information was available about the region, its size, people or history.^[1][2]

After Gygax left TSR in 1985, TSR took the Greyhawk storyline in a new direction via a boxed set called From the Ashes (TSR 1064). Written by Roger E. Moore, this advanced the storyline to CY 585, the year after the end of a continent-wide war that had taken place CY 582-584.^[3] Dullstrand was again only mentioned briefly, but the following year Moore wrote a separate background article about the "Dullstrand Coast" and its history.^[4] In the meantime however, the new direction and darker tone for the Greyhawk campaign world proved to be unpopular, and in 1993, TSR stopped publishing material for Greyhawk.

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 CY 590, and now dealt with the new alliances and problems that had developed in the wake of the Greyhawk Wars. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (2000) did not expand upon Moore's setting, but the city was mentioned as a possible ally of Sunndi.^[5]

Summary of published material

Nomenclature

There can be some confusion about what "Dullstrand" refers to. Although Dullstrand was depicted as a single coastal town in the earliest editions of the World of Greyhawk,^[1] Roger E. Moore defined The Dullstrand as a region, a section of coastline in the south-east Flanaess lying between the Aerdy Sea and the Hestmark Highlands that encompasses about 7,500 square miles (19,000 km²). He noted that the Hestmark Highlands isolate this region from the rest of the Flanaess, and refugees fleeing from war or vengeful lawmen have found a safe haven here for centuries.^[4] Subsequent Greyhawk campaign material has since developed the custom that "The Dullstrand" refers to the entire coastal region, and "Dullstrand" (with no definite article) refers to the original coastal town.

Geography

Although the original map in the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting did not show the topography of the Dullstrand region in any detail, Moore makes it clear that the land is fairly flat, gradually rising from the sea coast to the Hestmark Highlands. Moore also gleaned from its geographic location that the sub-tropical region enjoys warm weather year round. Moore goes on to say that the soil is thin and stony, making agriculture difficult. However, several species of underbrush and seagrass thrive, providing cover for feral dogs and wild boars. The wild boars are numerous and dangerous, but the dogs are fed by the general populace, and are usually friendly. In the south, where the Highlands provide less of a barrier against incursions, the dogs provide loud warnings when trolls from the Vast Swamp make occasional forays into the region.^[4]

People

Moore postulated that the area's isolation made it a natural gathering place for those fleeing from justice (or injustice). However, this would inevitably lead to tension between various waves of refugees who would come from different ethnic and social backgrounds, and fighting would sometimes break out between those arriving and those already in place, since living resources in this infertile land are limited. However, once a pecking order had been established, the fighting would die down to a tense neutrality; coexistence would be essential to survival since the region is surrounded by hostile neighbours.^[4]

Moore cast the inhabitants into two groups, which do not socialize, although they grudgingly trade due to necessity:

• the inland farmers, consisting of about a thousand poor Suloise, suspicious and close-mouthed
• the coast-dwellers, mainly Oeridian smugglers, pirates and lawbreakers and their descendants. There are also a few elves and dwarves, but half-orcs and other humanoids are not tolerated because orcish mercenaries have been the reason why many present inhabitants fled to Dullstrand.

Although Moore did not provide much detail about the Suloise farmers—perhaps because of their limited potential in a D&D campaign—he does substantially flesh out the society of the coastal dwellers and their town; for instance, over the years, many fugitive lawbreakers fleeing from the Great Kingdom have found refuge here; for this reason, it has become customary to change one's name upon arrival. Newcomers often do so without prompting. It is also customary not to inquire about another's past, or why they have come to Dullstrand.^[4]

History

Moore also wrote a fairly extensive history for the region that melds with Gary Gygax's original history of the Flanaess and Gygax's themes of cultural and military incursions:

Sometime in the distant past, a people known as the Flannae created primitive settlements along this coast. However, these settlements had been long abandoned for some unknown reason by the time Suloise refugees fleeing from the Oeridian invasion arrived 800–900 years before the current Greyhawk campaign time setting of 590 CY. Although most of the Suloise kept travelling south to Hepmonaland, some stayed in this region to scratch out a living on the thin soil that lay between the sea and the Hestmark.^[4]

Several centuries later, as the Great Kingdom extended its power and began to regulate (and tax) trade, sailors started to use bays and inlets on the coast as bases from which to smuggle goods for the black market. This attracted both the authorities, seeking to stamp out the illicit trade, and pirates, seeking safer havens from which to sail. Lawbreakers fleeing from the Great Kingdom also often ended up here.^[4]

Four centuries before the current campaign setting, in 166 CY, the overking of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy sent a great navy into the Aerdi Sea to suppress pirates operating out of the port of Duxchan, which lay on the southern edge of the Aerdi Sea. The admirals of the fleet, needing a repair and supply base somewhat closer to Duxchan than those in Medegia, created a small port in a sheltered bay fed by a river that flowed through the Hestmark from Sunndi.^[5] A map from this time period, widely reproduced but thought to have originated in Rauxes, named this region "the Dullstrand" (the Dull Coast), evidently a bureaucrat's droll comment about the colourful collection of scofflaws, fugitives, smugglers and pirates that the Aerdy navy encountered along this coast.^[4] When the Duxchaner pirates were finally destroyed two years later and their archipelago turned into a new fiefdom of the Great Kingdom called the Lordship of the Isles, the Aerdy navy abandoned the port of Dullstrand, and it was quickly taken over by smugglers and pirates.

Thirty years later, in 199 CY, nearby Medegia claimed ownership of the region, but found their efforts to assert their authority and suppress piracy cost more than the taxes they were able to squeeze from the poor farmers.^[4] After forty years, Medegia withdrew from the region, leaving its governance to the townspeople of Dullstrand.^[4]

About 250 years before the current campaign setting, increasingly bitter struggles within the nearby provinces of the Great Kingdom, especially Sunndi, resulted in another wave of refugees fleeing over the Hestmark to swell the population of the town. The Aerdy navy began to patrol the coast more diligently, and the town took steps to hide itself from seagoers: Man-made hills and carefully planted brush effectively camouflaged the bay, no building higher than one storey high was allowed, and no lights that could be seen from sea were allowed to shine at night. (Although the location of Dullstrand is well-known in 590 CY, this custom is still followed).^[4]

One hundred and fifty years before the current campaign setting, in 455 CY, the elves and human nobility of Sunndi rose up in revolt against Aerdy's overtaxation and harsh laws. Goblin and orcish mercenaries employed by the Great Kingdom fled in all directions, some of them coming through the Hestmark to prey on Dullstranders. Most of these bandits were hunted down, but some survived, and their descendants now eke out a primitive existence, living in caves and trading with the Suloise farmers.^[4]

Shortly after this, when Sunndi joined the Iron League, Dullstrand began to actively trade with the Sunnd;^[5] many Dullstranders were descended from Sunnd who had fled previous fighting in Sunndi, and they were eager to re-establish close ties. A narrow pathway cutting through the Hestmark to Sunndi was improved and named the Highland Trail, and Sunndi began to use Dullstrand as an outlet for their trade goods. In turn, ships from the Lordship of the Isles, Lendore Isles and Hepmonaland began to stop in to trade for Suund goods.

Although Dullstranders always proclaimed their neutrality during the various regional rebellions against the Great Kingdom, they often supplied weapons to rebels in the Hestmark fighting against Medegia and the South Province.

During the Greyhawk Wars of 582-584 CY, Dullstrand was largely uninvolved with any conflict, but in 584 CY, a half-dozen tall ships from the Lordship of the Isles sailed into Dullstrand Bay bearing Lords fleeing from the stunning fall of their region to the Scarlet Brotherhood. Although the Lords had assumed they would be welcomed as new rulers of the region by the socially inferior Dullstranders, a few skirmishes with the proud and well-armed "inferiors" soon convinced the Lords otherwise. The Lords were given land on the far side of Dullstrand Bay to build themselves a temporary settlement until such time as they could return to their Isles.^[4]

After the end of the Greyhawk Wars, Dullstranders watched with interest as Sunndi proclaimed itself an independent kingdom, but as of the current campaign setting of 590 CY, they have resisted overtures from the Sunnd king to formally join Sunndi,^[6] or to at least become a member of the Iron League.^[5]

Government

In keeping with the libertarian society in Dullstrand, Moore also developed a very simple "hands off" government consisting of an oligarchy of three Masters. Each Master chooses his successor, usually but not always from his family.^[4] Other than some common-sense customs concerning ownership, public conduct and dispute settlement, Moore gave the port no codified set of laws, and no jails or prisons; "crimes" are punishable by a fine, a flogging or drowning. In keeping with Moore's "piratical" free-market theme, there is no official Dullstrand currency—coins from every corner of the Flanaess and beyond circulate, and bribery of officials is an accepted, and expected, cost of doing business here.

Religion

Moore's material does not include an extensive religious background, but does mention that Zilchus is the main deity worshipped in this region, although Procan and Xerbo also have large followings. Later material published during the Living Greyhawk campaign mentions that there is a large temple to Rao in the town, but the number of worshippers has fallen over the years.^[7]

Role within the World of Greyhawk

Play within the Dullstrand can be central to the themes common to the regions of the southern (subtropical and tropical) Flanaess.

For players utilising the 1980 or 1983 edition of World of Greyhawk, the Dullstrand is a silent partner of the Iron League, and this setting can be used to explore the theme of righteous rebellion against the corrupt, decadent and cruel rulers of the crumbling Great Kingdom and their minions.^[1]

For players who use later "post-Grehawk Wars" versions of this campaign world, the Dullstrand is affected by the attempted takeover of the entire southern Flanaess by the Scarlet Brotherhood, and can be used as a benchmark of the Brotherhood's overall success or failure of their continental ambitions.

In addition, Dullstrand can be used as the quintessential "lawless town" of noisy taverns and bar fights. Using the Dullstrand as a setting also allows dungeon masters to move their campaign away from a traditional northern European land-based setting to a warmer climate and themes involving ships, piracy, and smuggling, and encounters, both land- and sea-based, with pirates and buccaneers.

Dullstrand as a region of the Living Greyhawk campaign

In the Living Greyhawk campaign that ran from 2001 to 2008, Dullstrand was originally assigned to South Africa, and placed within the Splintered Suns metaregion.

As outlined above, there was very little published material about Dullstrand. Before the first Dullstrand adventure was released in 2002, the Dullstrand Triad (Andre Vermaak, Rijk Stofberg and Heinright Venter)^[8] and other volunteers worked to flesh out a proposed social background and geographical setting for Dullstrand, based largely on Moore's work.^[9] This included customs, trade, a more complete description of the town of Dullstrand, and the names of the three Masters of the town: Kjirg Grefstov, Chirney Retnev and the lately deceased Erdan Kaamrev.^[10]

Due to lack of campaign activity in South Africa during the first two years of the campaign, "ownership" of Dullstrand was changed to Switzerland in 2003.

Timeline of Dullstrand during the Living Greyhawk Campaign

This is the history of Dullstrand during the Living Greyhawk campaign. (Because "Living Greyhawk" was considered non-canonical when compared to "official" Wizards of the Coast published campaign material, events in this timeline will vary substantially from the histories of other concurrent Greyhawk home campaigns that are based on official published material.):

CY 593

Wastrian agents manipulate a well-organized group of trolls into entering the Dullstrand by drying up their water supply. Restoring the water supply floods the troll's new camp and convinces them to move back across the Hestmark.^[11]

CY 594

Followers of the exiled Lords of the Isles begin to agitate for a return to their kingdom.^[7]

CY 596

Agents of Pholtus unknowingly interfere with the manifestation of an angry ghost pirate. Because the ghost is unable to manifest, his anger seeps out into the general populace, leading to widespread anarchy.^[12]

CY 597

A plot by sahuagin to drive Dullstranders from the coast is uncovered. A kraken summoned by the sahuagin attacks the coast, but is defeated, and the sahuagin are driven back into the deep ocean.^[13]

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