Below I have listed the various characters and places mentioned in The Gnome Cache by Gary Gygax. A richly detailed setting, precursor to and distinct from the World of Greyhawk.
People:
Aloward - a blond, burly man. Cousin to Theobald.
Baldwin - a Thallite mercenary, in the employ of Evan the Trader.
Bertram - a lank fellow, with a slight cast to his eyes. Member of Theobald's gang.
Dolph - liveryman in the village of Deepwell.
Dunstan of the House of Derodus
Dunstan - son of Rodigast, a merchant of Endstad. His father purchased him a Captaincy of the Watch, although Dunstan chooses to pursue a life of glory and adventure, instead.
Eddoric IV - Overking of Thalland.
Evan - a trader, dealing in the rich furs of Nehron.
Grund - Mellerd the stableboy's master.
Hob - a member of Theobald's gang.
Kenelm of Edgewood - alias used by Duncan, when speaking to Warders of the Overking.
Krell - proprietor of the Inn of the Riven Oak.
Meggin - serving maid at the Inn of the Riven Oak.
Mellerd - stableboy from Huddlefoot, apprenticed to Master Grund.
Rodigast - merchant of Endstad, of the House of Derodus, father of Dunstan.
Rufus - a Thallite mercenary captain in the employ of Evan the Trader.
Taddy - brother of Mellerd.
Teric - a Thallite baron, holds the castlewick at Edgewood on Wild Road.
Theobald - red-haired leader of a gang of brigands.
Vardobothet - a black-haired, Kimbri mercenary.
Wot - a member of Theobald's gang.
Places:
Aarn (or Arnn) River - marks the northern boundary of Thalland.
Blackmoor - a border keep, beyond the Aarn River. The settlement and surrounding farms are inhabited by Nehron peasants. Bordered by a trackless forest, to the west.
Deepwell - a village beyond the Upplands of Nyrn.
Edgewood - a Thallite town.
Endstad - a walled town, on the Nallid River. Home to the merchant Rodigast and his son, Dunstan.
Far Pass - outpost bordering the arid steppes, beyond the Silent Forest, west of Thalland.
Hills of Dyrn - region in Thalland.
Huddlefoot - hamlet at the base of the Upplands of Nyrn, on a secondary lane connecting Forgel Road at Dyrham to the Wild Road just above the town of Edgewood. Boasts a large inn, stable, blacksmith, and several other businesses in addition to the usual sprinkling of yeoman's cottages.
Humpbridge - a free city, bending southwest to south of the Senescent Hills.
Inn of the Riven Oak - an inn, frequented by Theobald's gang.
Kimbry - a northern land, west of Nehron. Bordered by mountains beyond the Kimbry Vale.
Lake Dyrn - a lake among the Hills of Dyrn, rumored to harbor great, slimy beasts.
Monley Isles - isles to the east of the Great Kingdom of Thalland.
Nallid River - river looping west and north of the town of Endstad.
Nehron - a northern, forested land, also extending east of Blackmoor to the sea. The banner of the united bands of Nehron is green with a white wolf's head.
Oerth - planet similar to our own, diverging from our timeline some 2,500 years ago. Asia is a trifle smaller, while Europe and North America are a trifle larger. Distinct from the Oerth of the World of Greyhawk.
Rauxes - capital city of the Overking of Thalland.
Rheyton - a northern, walled town, on the Aarn River. Comparable in size to Endstad.
Senescent Hills - wilderness region beyond the trackless forest, west of Blackmoor.
Shrine of Saint Cuthburt of the Cudgel - wilderness shrine to Saint Cuthburt, three leagues east of Endstad, where the Wild Road meets the King's Way.
Thalland - the Great Kingdom. Bordered by forbidding deserts to the south, vast stretches of the Silent Forest to the west, and the Arnn River to the north. The noble houses are divided into two great divisions, with flower or insect as devices.
Upplands of Nyrn - cursed hills beyond Crosshill Street, north of Huddlefoot. Rumored to be inhabited by gnolls.
Weal - a rude, trading hamlet in Nehron.
Paleo, this is terrific. Are you thinking of attempting to associate more of the locations with their World of Greyhawk equivalents? It sounds for example as if the Silent Forest might equate to the Burneal Forest.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Daniel - there's definitely something here for the Greyhawk scholar. The setting for "The Gnome Cache" bears the trappings of a pre-WoG Oerth, but I'm more interested in the setting for its own sake, as the basis for an OD&D game world.
DeleteIt would be interesting to add this info to what we get from Arneson's map of Blackmoor, Megarry's map of the Great Kingdom, and Kuntz's El Raja Key Archive, for instance!
Right you are. Funnily enough it seems to be somewhat neglected by Greyhawk scholars, at least compared to something like Quag Keep.
DeleteInspired by your posts, I've just read the last two installments and I think I see a pretty clear connection to Arneson's Blackmoor map. I'll go ahead and write up a short post on that.
Awesome - very interesting!
DeleteI wonder if Gygax had access to Arneson's Blackmoor map. "The Gnome Cache" appears to have been written when the two were actively collaborating.
Looking very much forward to your post.