Nyrond and the Greyhawk Wars
From the summer of 582 CY to spring 584 CY

The Kingdom of Nyrond became deeply embroiled in the Greyhawk Wars. This short history describes Nyrond's involvement in that grievous conflict.

It began for Nyrond in the summer of 582 Common Year when The Hold of Stonefist hurled its armies south through the Thunder Pass in the western reaches of the Griff Mountains. The Fists smashed through the unsuspecting fortress-city of Calbut with lightning speed. Within two weeks the Fists descended upon and laid siege to the Duchy of Tenh's capital city of Nevond Nevnend. The city fell in five days, and with it, all authority in Tenh. The Fists consolidated their control of Tenh in Nevond Nevnend and then spread across the country the during the rest of the summer of 582. The Fists gave special attention to the borders with Nyrond and the Pale. Fist soldiers swarmed through the Phostwood Forest in Tenh's southeastern corner. By the end of the summer of 582 they threatened to cross the Yol River, which formed the border between Tenh and Nyrond.

Nyrond's King Archbold, wary of rumblings in the Great Kingdom, initially sent a small force to the Nutherwood, the forest across the Yol River from Tenh's Phostwood Forest. Archbold charged his army with preventing a breakout of the Fist army into northern Nyrond. Archbold reserved the majority of his army in central Nyrond in the event that the Great Kingdom launched an offensive from the east. By the end of 582, there was an uneasy stand-off along the banks of the Yol River and the forests on both sides of it.

Thinking that naval skirmishes were enough to occupy the Overking, Archbold finally decided to deal with the Fist threat in the north in the spring of 583. Perhaps persuaded by Duke Ehyeh's exiled court, which "governed" Tenh from the protection of Countess Belissica in Urnst, Archbold gathered most of the Nyrondese army to drive the Fists out of Tenh. Fist armies, under the able and direct leadership of Sevord Redbeard, had to be dislodged from the Phostwood Forest. Archbold personally led the Nyrondese army across the Yol River into the Phostwood Forest. Initially, Nyrond overwhelmed the Fists in the forest and pushed through it, emerging in Tenha territory intent on driving to Nevond Nevnend and unseating Sevord Redbeard. However, the Fists were a determined foe, and Sevord was more cunning than Archbold and his generals anticipated. The Nyrondese army was stopped on the northern edges of the Phostwood. The Fists refused to crumble and could not be forced from their fortified positions in Tenh. Nyrond accepted this stalemate, as it could not press forward anymore.

The Nyrondese campaign in the Phostwood could be considered a success, but it was a Pyhrric one. It had cost Nyrond thousands of soldiers. Exhausted and extended, Nyrond's army dug-in for a protracted stand-off for the next year. It was at this time that the Great Kingdom decided to strike, and in many directions at once.

At the time of this campaign, relative to Nyrond, the Overking waits for the snows to melt before launching a three-pronged attack westward in the spring of 584. His monstrous allies in the Bone March are poised to boil through the Flinty Hills on Nyrond's northeastern border. Prince Grenell prepares to attack Nyrond through the Adri Forest, aimed at Innspa and Cordrend. And General Szeffrin, like a readied spear, marshals his forces to sack Almor and threatens to take Rel Mord before any other Great Kingdom force penetrates its line of demarcation.

King Archbold has begun to muster the "grandest army in the history of Aerdi" to throw back the Overking's assault. Crops shall wither in the fields as every able bodied man in the kingdom is to be conscripted by knights and lords from across Nyrond. Outnumbered two to one, one hundred thousand Nyrondese are preparing to crash into each prong of the Overking's armies.

War no longer looms in Nyrond. It is upon the kingdom. Our adventure begins in the far-flung town of Shukendale. King Archbold left little to defend the hills north and east of the town. The region needs heroes of the highest caliber to stall a sea of monstrous enemies that lurk over the eastern horizon. Who shall heed the call?