Aerdi History

This is the first of a series (hopefully) of articles departing from the primary purpose of this site, which is the telling of the history of the Kingdom of Aerdy and Great Kingdom; either in delving into other areas of the history of the Flanaess or presenting analysis of various aspects of Greyhawk lore. In this case I'm presenting the beginning of a long-ago-started dissection of what was presented as a "Glossary of Portentious Runes and Glyphs" in the back of the 1980  World of Greyhawk Folio Edition  and continued with some modifications in later guides to the world of Greyhawk. There are 76 runes contained within 4 separate Greyhawk sourcebooks;   the 1980 World of Greyhawk Folio Edition , the 1983 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set , From the Ashes, and the Player’s Guide to Greyhawk . With the publication of the Boxed Set, 27 runes were changed (air, answer/solution, betrayal, copper, day, demoniac, dragon, earth, electrum, evil servant, fire, go, god, gold, good, hail,

Erian the Able, 3rd Grand Prince of the Kingdom of Aerdy Born -253 CY, Died -181 CY Reigned -198 to -181 CY A lowland Flan king of the Achik tribe c. -185 CY Art by Angus McBride Having broadened and secured Aerdy’s foreign trade networks, Erian next turned to the conquest of the Flan tribes of the north whose cultures were discussed in the previous chapter. Most of the expansion of Aerdy to the north in this period was in the lands of the lowland tribes of the Flanmi Valley and its tributaries. Expansion into the highlands inhabited by tribes dominated by the Ur-Flan proceeded at a snail’s pace and was largely unsuccessful. While the Flan of the lowlands frequently formed alliances to resist outside attacks, the Ur-Flan tribes were constantly at war with each other, with one exception --   rumors of a confederation of Ur-Flan in the Trask River Valley, much further to the north, which came to be known as the Necromancers of Trask. But that is a tale which will only have bearing

  Erian the Able, 3rd Grand Prince of the Kingdom of Aerdy Born -253 CY, Died -181 CY Reigned -198 to -181 CY A Flan druid of the Northern Tribes in a trance 5 th  century OR Art by E ven Amundsen To understand the next phase of Erian’s reign it is necessary to discuss the mysterious Ur-Flan, for they would be at the core of the resistance to the expansion of the Kingdom of Aerdi in the north for roughly the next two centuries( 1 ). It is known that the Flan tribes of the north were related to the Flan tribes who originally had lived in the alluvial plains of the central lands of Aerdy. The latter had been conquered and displaced first by the Suloise and then the Oeridian tribes who had pushed into those lands   ahead of the Aerdi, in the early 3 rd century OR. The only written records that existed describing them were from the Suloise who the Aerdi later conquered. From the Zelrad we know that many of these Flan tribes were being pushed into Ehlissa by the conquests of Lum the

Erian the Able, 3rd Grand Prince of the Kingdom of Aerdy Born -253 CY, Died -181 CY Reigned -198 to -181 CY Uerri the Wise, King of the Iron Hills 232 C Y Art by  Arthur Bozonnet The beginning of -197 CY saw Erian firmly ensconced as grand Prince of the Kingdom of Aerdy. Ascending from his position as chancellor to Grand Prince required no real change in power as he bent to the tasks of maintaining the peace and expanding trade and establishing foreign relations. The clearest foreign threats to Aerdy were to the southwest, in the Suloise-dominated Union of Ehlissa and Zelrad, and to the northwest in the Oeridian Kingdom of Nehron which continued to cultivate relations with the Flan Kingdom of Lathu. Urnst exchanged emissaries with Aerdy but preferred to trade with the Oeridian nations closer to their borders. Many in that nation still regarded the Aerdy as little more civilized than their barbarian ancestors who had served as mercenaries for the Urnsti in their war against Lum th