I am looking for the all the canon I can find on Hierarchy. I have the 83 box set FtAs and LGG. I done some researching on the web but I have not found very much. Or I should not very much other than what is in what I have. _________________ "Its a dangerous business going out your front door." JRR Tolkien
Unless you are a Greyhawk Heretic.
Try Jason Zavoda's "Encyclopedia Greyhawkania" - the ultimate Greyhawk Index. It is not on this site but available around the web with a Google search or at the Harvesters Heroes website. It lists all canon references to every GH proper noun, or so it seems. _________________ GVD
I finished reading through Iuz the Evil looking more information on the Horned Society. It suggested that the Hierarch were fiends or had a demonic relationship, which seems to fly in the face of both the 83 Box set and From the Ashes which suggests they were lawful evil in nature. GLH also told to me during last week’s greytalk that they were lawful evil. I hope not all our canon is so contradictory.
I finished reading through Iuz the Evil looking more information on the Horned Society. It suggested that the Hierarch were fiends or had a demonic relationship, which seems to fly in the face of both the 83 Box set and From the Ashes which suggests they were lawful evil in nature. GLH also told to me during last week’s greytalk that they were lawful evil. I hope not all our canon is so contradictory.
This is me _________________ "Its a dangerous business going out your front door." JRR Tolkien
Unless you are a Greyhawk Heretic.
LG hints that they are still alive (more than one)and Iuz the Evil says one of the Hierarchs has survived nad Ashes says there are rumors of one surviving. _________________ "Its a dangerous business going out your front door." JRR Tolkien
Unless you are a Greyhawk Heretic.
Hope this helps you some. You can find more on the Horned Society in The Adventure Begins, pg 91 and a bit on Warduke with an Unnamable Heirarch reference in Dungeon 105. _________________ Cheerz,
-Rick "Duicarthan" Miller
Editor-in-Chief, Oerth Journal
http://www.oerthjournal.comhttp://www.greyhawkonline.com/duicarthan
Iuz the Evil doesn't say the Hierarchs Are fiends just that they Claim to be fiends to increase the fear they inspire to cow the population and help maintain order among their humanoid solidiers (mainly hobgoblins).
IvorMac you asked: From Eric himself
Here are the Hierarchs of the Horned Society that I know about. I've possibly forgotten a few of them. From the original "Guide to the World of Greyhawk," we know that the leadership consisted of an 18th-level high priest, a magic-user above 12th level, several powerful clerics, a master thief of 13th level, and a trio of fighter Lords (which in the language of 1st edition probably meant 9th-level fighters). We also know that there were 13 Hierarchs c. 576 CY, and that the "religion of the society" is deviltry, which would probably make most of them lawful evil in alignment.
Gygax's novel "Artifact of Evil" probably contains the largest amount of information about the Society, and features a handful of scenes relevant to the current discussion. Here's an interesting quote from the book that sheds a little light on the organization:
"Thirteen stone chairs stand above the many lesser seats in the Hall of Dread of Molag. Five to either hand are smaller and lower than the three in the center. Thirteen thrones for the thirteen Hierarchs, the Dread and Awful Presences who rule the Horned Society. Only three of the chairs were empty. The trio of the tallest thrones remained vacant as the Hierarchs took their places--five to the right, five to the left. Officials and military officers filed in to stand below the thrones."
There's more. A good deal more. I suggest anyone interested check out pages 232-234 of that novel. The most interesting part of the scene involves the three missing Hierarchs, who apparently represented Tarterus, Gehenna, and Hades. They also seem to acknowledge Nerull as their supreme master, so this is probably where Sargent got the idea to make them Nerull worshippers in "From the Ashes."
Assuming that the Hierarchs we found out about in 581-585-era products were part of that original 13, I think we can plug a few holes.
1. Name Unknown (LE Clr18)
Status: Probably dead. Killed by the Unnamable Hierarch, who takes control of the Society by 579 CY?
2. The Unnamable Hierarch (Erac's Cousin) (LE male human Ftr7/Wiz14, orignally probably the MU12 referred to in the Guide to the World of Greyhawk)
Source: Rogue's Gallery, Dragon #56: "Protection Circles and the Like, Plus News of the North Central Flanaess," Dungeon #105: Critical Threats: Warduke."
Status: Killed by agents of Iuz during the Blood Moon Festival, reincarnated as a greater devil via a pact with Baalzebul (entered into to escape imprisonment on the Abyssal layer of the demon prince Fraz-urb Luu).
Notes: Erac's Cousin was a character in Gygax's original Greyhawk campaign, and first appeared way back in 1980's "Rogue's Gallery," a compilation of NPCs for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The tie to the Horned Society comes from the May, 1980 edition of Dragon Magazine ("Greyhawk: The Shape of the World," wherein Erac's Cousin is called "The Unnamed." In this source he's a MU16, and in the Rogue's Gallery he has the levels listed in parentheses above. The tie to Baalzebul comes from both the Rogue's Gallery and the monster book of "Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth." Continuity mining isn't always easy (or, for that matter, inexpensive).
In the Dragon #56 article, the Society is run by "The Unnamable Hierarch," and I couldn't resist making the tie official in Dungeon #105. In the current continuity, it is Erac's Cousin who stands behind the "rebirth" of the Horned Society.
3. Vazirian (LE male human Clr14)
Source: "To Slay a Hierarch," campaign card #18, City of Greyhawk Boxed Set.
Status: Dead. If the PCs didn't kill him, the night of the Blood Moon festival probably did.
4. Nezmajen (NE male human Clr13--Nerull)
Source: Iuz the Evil, p. 93
Status: Probably still alive, operating out of the Fellreev Forest. Was in Ixworth the night of the Blood Moon slaughter.
Notes: Unfortunately, "From the Ashes" and its associated products were published during the heavily sanitized days of Second Edition AD&D, when most references to devils and demons were excised or heavily modified. In Sargent's Greyhawk, the religion of the Horned Society seems to shift to Nerull (probably taking a cue from "Artifact of Evil," which has fingerprints all over the From the Ashes era. I prefer the deviltry, with perhaps a bit of Nerull mixed in. "Artifact of Evil" has the Society pledging allegiance to Nerull and literally summoning the Oinodaemon, Anthraxus the Decayed, so they're certainly not immune to the lure of powerful neutral evil extraplanar entities.
5. Andrade Mirrius (Clr18)
Status: Survived the Festival of the Blood Moon. One of only two Hierarchs to do so (the other being Nezmajen), according to "The Adventure Begins" (p. 108).
6. (Clr?)
Status: Dead. Killed during the Blood Moon Festival.
7. (Ftr9+)
Status: Dead. Killed alongside an avatar of Nerull in "Artifact of Evil" or possibly during the Festival of the Blood Moon.
Notes: The "trio of fighter lords" were very possibly in charge of the Society in 579 CY. One represented Gehenna, one Tarterus, and one Hades.
8. (Ftr 9+)
Status: See 7, above.
9. (Ftr 9+)
Status: See 7, above.
10. Hierarch Blontug (male half-orc Clr4/Ftr9/Asn9)
Source: Dragon #56: "Protection Circles and the Like, Plus News of the North Central Flanaess."
Status: Probably killed during the Festival of the Blood Moon, if not before.
Notes: The levels listed above are for 1st edition AD&D, and should probably be lowered significantly.
11. (Unknown)
Status: Dead. Killed during the Blood Moon Festival.
12. (Unknown)
Status: Dead. Killed during the Blood Moon Festival.
13. (Unknown)
Status: Dead. Killed during the Blood Moon Festival.
So, we know that just about all of the Hierarchs were killed during the Festival of the Blook Moon, including the Unnamable Hierarch (who was later reborn). We know Nezmajen and Andrade (and no others) survived this purge. Greyhawk products since the "From the Ashes" era filled in a few holes, most notably Warduke (from a recent Dungeon) and Guiliana Mortidus, who originally appeared in "Greyhawk Adventures" and who was made a Hierarch about 591 CY, according to "The Adventure Begins." So far as I know, the current Hierarchs of the Horned Society are:
1. The Unnamable Hierarch (greater devil) [Rogue's Gallery]
2. Nezmajen (Clr15--Nerull) [Iuz the Evil, TaB p. 91]
3. Andrade Mirrius (Clr18) [The Adventure Begins, p. 91]
4. Warduke (Ftr18) [Dungeon #105]
5. Guiliana Mortidus (Clr12) [Greyhawk Adventures, p. 49; The Adventure Begins, p. 91]
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