Gates in the World of Greyhawk

Part 1
by Roger E. Moore

Here, at last, are some of my notes on gates, demi-planes, spelljammers, and Oerth. More will follow. Enjoy! When the Games division came up with the SPELLJAMMER campaign in 1988 or so, Jeff Grubb decided that all mention of "alternate worlds" or "alternate Prime Material Planes" in the AD&D game actually referred to planets in other Crystal Spheres (the gigantic solid shells containing solar system, according to SPELLJAMMER game cosmology). I thought this was a refreshingly unscientific invention that got rid of such troublesome modern concepts as galaxies, quasars, etc. The concept also got rid of a vexing proliferation of universes and planes that was undercutting the developing Big Picture of the multiverse. (Sample problem: Did each new alternate Prime Material Plane have its own Zeus? We decided not.) The PLANESCAPE setting has made use of this same idea to whittle down the "alternate planes" by turning them into worlds, and life has been much simpler. As SPELLJAMMER game players know, each Crystal Sphere floats in the endless flammable sea of phlogiston that fills the multiverse; moving between spheres generally means using intriguing but still fairly slow spelljammers. Crossing a magical gate from one planet (ex-Prime Material plane) to another, however, means you bypass the phlogiston and wildspace (the airless space within the spheres) to arrive at your destination instantly. It's a great time saver. But who would want to create a gate? Gods and demigods don't need them, since they can teleport instantly and flawlessly anywhere they like (or at least they could the last time I looked). However, any beings at or below the rank of quasi-deities don't have this ability, so they must rely on creating and maintaining gates for rapid personal movement, communication, and transportation of supplies, equipment, armies, trade goods, etc. Furthermore, it might take time and energy for even a greater deity to teleport across vast regions of space. A gate would be much easier to use, the equivalent of getting on an escalator when you could just as easily (and as quickly) have walked up a flight of stairs. Beings without gate ability must rely on unreliable teleport spells or slow spelljammers to cross to distant lands or other worlds for exploration, trade, warfare, migration, etc. (Side note: I bet the Arcane absolutely HATE gates, as gates are a direct threat to the Arcane's monopoly on spelljammer helms and thus all interworld movement and trade. I bet that Arcane try to destroy interworld gates wherever the latter are found, and some probably work secretly on Oerth and

across the Flanaess!!! toward these very ends. Maybe the Arcane are behind some heavy happenings in recent Oerth history....) How are permanent interworld gates created? The plane shift spell seems to be the key, as the actual spell called gate summons a deity. But maybe not. Maybe the creation of a permanent gate to another place can be done only with the assistance (and thus permission) of a deity. Some deities might not be overly concerned about what a gate is being used for, so long as those deities are given the proper sacrifices, gifts, monies, prayers, quests, etc. (much like a building contractor doesn't care what sort of people will use his new bridge, so long as he gets paid). Other deities might be very picky about who gets permission to set up a gate, and why. Perhaps on Oerth it is very easy to create a gate, and deities are not required though the work takes very powerful spellcasters who must perform long rituals and use up tons of gold pieces in equipment and books to do it. Two of the quasi-deities described by Gygax in DRAGON issue #71 (Murlynd and Heward) appear to be obsessed with gates. Zagyg, in his description in DRAGON Magazine, is said to endlessly wander the planes, so maybe he loves gates, too in fact, he probably created the gates to the Dungeonland "Partial Plane" and the Isle of the Ape "demi-plane" (both of which could be worldlets in Greyspace, as noted later). Mordenkainen crosses planes a lot (judging from his appearances with Elminster and Dalamar in DRAGON Magazine). It's not surprising that these four characters hang out a lot with one another, as per DRAGON issue #71, EX2, and the 1983 WORLD OF GREYHAWK boxed set. This love of gates is understandable. Properly "set," gates can provide instant transit to a spellcaster's home, be it off-world, underground, or on another true plane. Any powerful spellcaster's home might itself be littered with gates, like Murlynd's home at the beginning of Gygax's EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror module, to provide rapid escape in case of attack or boredom. I recall that Elminster's home in Realmspace has a number of teleporters and gates leading into and out of it; allegedly, Elminster can even reach our own Earth but Murlynd and his pals can do that and cross into different time periods, too, as EX2 makes obvious. (A Sidebar: Murlynd does, after all, have a VCR, as per the EX2 module. One wonders what he likes to pick up each weekend at Planet Video. Imagine him hiring a group of heroes to recover a lost and mysterious "black box with arcane lettering on the outside," which is actually a plasticcased copy of "Blazing Saddles," now overdue from Blockbuster after being stolen by powerful City of Greyhawk thieves who think it might be a treasure beyond reckoning. Oh, wouldn't the players have a fit if they knew. A DM would have to be a real sadist to run this in a GREYHAWK campaign group....ahem.) To what places would gates lead, and for what purposes? Look at the examples from the early GREYHAWK campaign modules. Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits has loads of gates to what we now call other planets instead of planes. She set up most of the Demonweb gates so that she could conquer other worlds with her chaotic-evil minions. There was the Kingdom of Caer Sidi (borrowed from Poul Anderson's "Three Hearts and Three Lions," I think), the Frozen Lands, the Great (Pink) Ocean, the Black Fen, and more. In game terms, I strongly believe that these particular worlds were picked by the module's designers (Gygax and Sutherland) to be as varied as possible. What fun is it to have a dozen or so gates all leading to worlds just exactly like Oerth? It's all spice for the players, and the best of spice it is nothing like a whole new world to explore. Now, is it possible that some of the gates mentioned in the old GREYHAWK adventures lead to places already described in AD&D game world lore? I think so. There even good reason to think that some gates even lead to other worlds within Greyspace, the planetary system over which Oerth holds sway.

Gates in the World of Greyhawk

Just for fun, I recently took two of the early modules S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits and got a copy of Nigel Findley's SJR6 Greyspace. (SJR6 was based on Jeff Grubb's notes on Greyspace from the original SPELLJAMMER boxed set, in Lorebook of the Void.) Placing some of the "alternate worlds" in Q1 and "alternate dimensions" in S4 into Greyspace makes sense. Lolth is extremely interested in Oerth, among other worlds, so it's reasonable for her to place bases elsewhere within Greyspace, close to her ultimate prize. Wizards and deities creating other world-to-world gates might find it easier (in terms of spell costs or gate maintenance costs) to move between worlds within their own Crystal Sphere than outside it; gods could also maintain contact with their worshipers more easily within the same boundaries, allowing clerics to retain their higher-level spells. Whatever. You can forge rationales as easily as I can. Anyway, here's how my gate-matching worked out: Q1, pages 13-14: Kingdom of Caer Sidi. This place is a good candidate for being outside Greyspace in another Crystal Sphere but wait! There's Ginsel, a Greyspace crescent-shaped world about 1,000 miles in diameter, with a number of advanced but Machiavellian-style kingdoms. Caer Sidi fits this mold perfectly, and Ginsel even allows for demihumans and their kingdoms to exist there. Hey, I love it when a plan comes together! The nasty-tempered elves of Caer Sidi can backstab with the best of them, so they and their dwarven slaves and unicorns and griffon riders can grab an unnamed kingdom on Ginsel, probably the spot between Vasta and the Paloma Sea on the outer surface (see Greyspace, page 51); it's a potato-shaped domain about 250 x 150 miles good enough for government work. Since Ginsel is very advanced culturally and is a major trading center for the outer regions of Greyspace, Lolth has good reason to want its riches. Caer Sidi is well placed. I just have to remember that the sky is a sort of twilight shade, as per Q1, which is no problem since Ginsel is farther from Liga (Oerth's "sun") than is Oerth. (I do have to give Caer Sidi a day/night cycle of 28 hours, which is fine, unless I assume something in Ginsel's atmosphere makes it twilight all the time nah. A 28-hour day it is.) It all fits. :) (Another Annoying Side Note: Personally, I think Ginsel was settled in large part by folk from Oerth. Some of them might even be Suloise who long ago used gates or spelljammers to set up colonies for their empire; the colonies then became independent after the empire was wiped out. Maybe the Baklunish attacked and partially destroyed Suel colonies on Ginsel during the Big One all those centuries ago, but the population recovered. Later arrivals from other Crystal Spheres may have settled on Ginsel and developed other kingdoms, provoking angry responses from the bad-tempered, resource-hungry Suel and leading to the uneasy and treacherous peace that exists on Ginsel today. Maybe "ginsel" means "colony" in Ancient Suloise.) Onward, now: Q1, page 15: The Frozen Lands. Eh...nah. This could be any old place. I thought maybe the Spectre (the outermost planet in Greyspace) would do, but that world has little population. Maybe the Frozen Lands could be something like Titan, a personal AD&D campaign world I described at length in a posting in the "Original Campaigns" folder. You decide. Create your own world! Q1, page 15: The Great Ocean. Kinky! Yellow sky, pink ocean, blue sun this is definitely in another Crystal Sphere. I wonder what Lolth sees in this place or the previous one. Q1, page 15: The Black Fen. A 100-mile-diameter swamp. Could be anywhere. It might even be on the far side of Oerth or Oerik; Lolth could then have two routes to attack this poor world. Again, you decide. Q1, page 16: Labyrinth of Arachne. Is this a great superdungeon, or what? And hey! Look at Oerth's little satellite, Celene (a.k.a. Kule in the SPELLJAMMER campaign). "The entire surface of the planet is scored by extensive underground passages and cities. These are occupied by humans and other savage races, but as on Oerth, the dominant underground races are mind

flayers, drow, kuo-toa, and similar evil creatures. There is some speculation that dimensional links exist between the ruins of Kule and the Oerthian underdark." (from Lorebook of the Void, page 90). YES IT FITS! Lolth's spider-filled "Labyrinth of Arachne" is most likely just a part of Kule's underdark! Better yet, read the description of Kule in Greyspace, which emphasizes the huge drow civilization there; the drow follow Lolth, too. Lolth thus uses the Labyrinth sector for breeding her spider pets and disposing of unwanted prisoners. Think of the size of Kule's underdark let's see, if it is at most 100 miles in diameter, its surface area = 4 x pi x (50 x 50) = over 31,000 square miles, but then there are multiple levels probably miles deep....wow! Dungeons to the core! Maybe Kule is hollow or has a "bubble" at its core, for a bizarre miniworld landscape where the drow go for R&R. It's worth more thought. Q1, page 17: Maldev (and Kandelspire). I have to admit that this world really impressed me when I first read about it years ago. Very kinky, kinda fun and neat, sorta like dwarven heaven. I wanted to set up a campaign here but never did. This world must be in another Crystal Sphere; the celestial phenomena are too strange to be in Greyspace. Q1, page 17-18: Nightworld of Vlad Tolenkov. Another Crystal Sphere, one where the sun's gone out. I almost thought this would be good if placed in the RAVENLOFT setting, in the Islands of Terror or something. It could work there but not in Greyspace. I do doubt that Lolth would want to mess around with Ravenloft too dangerous even for her so the Nightworld must be in another Crystal Sphere for sure. There's a world in another SPELLJAMMER module that lacks a sun, too, so maybe these could be the same world. Q1, page 18: Lolth's Prison. Nice place, sorry I can't stay. The triple sun tells me that this is another Crystal Sphere. Maybe there are lots of minor fire bodies ("suns") and asteroid-sized worlds here, perfect for dumping off your least-favorite prisoners. (Ignore the reference to "galaxy" here if you are a SPELLJAMMER game cosmologist.) Anyway, someone ought to use that bone colossus more often in a GREYHAWK campaign it's cool. Give it a few extra nasty powers, though, to make it really scary. Maybe Lolth's favorite drow priestesses can create it using Momma's Special Recipe. (First, take bones from many, many prisoners....) Q1, page 19: The Spider Ship "Garage." This place could be anywhere; any desert asteroid world with a purple sky would do. No need to place it in Greyspace. Q1, page 27: Other Worlds. Hmmm, for suggested other settings, we have a cloud world (could be Edill, in Greyspace), a tundra (could be the Spectre but why?), a jungle (could be anywhere), a savanna (anywhere), an airless world (hey, we're back to Kule/Celene, on the surface!), and a woodland (could be Oerth's second moon, the Great Moon also called Luna or Raenei, which is heavily forested; this world interests me a lot, for reasons yet to come). Summary: It's established in Q1 that Lolth's gates lead to places she wishes to either invade or gain as allies. She also has a functional "garage world" for her Spider Ship, a spider-breeding spot, and a holding prison, so she's a practical gal. Maybe she can teleport, but she needs to get her armies from one place to another, so gates are very handy for her, whether she's a lesser deity or a demon princess. Now we come to S4. It is likely that the Arch-mage Iggwilv created the four gateways described on pages 22-24. It makes sense that these places are all on or under existing worlds, since creating a "pocket plane" just to hold these little bitty prison/deathtraps is very wasteful of time and energy for a mortal wizard, if not beyond a mortal wizard's powers entirely. (You only thought you were traveling to another plane or dimension, but you went instead on the el-cheapo route to another planet!) S4, #9.1: The Dark Labyrinth. Could be anywhere, but most likely on (rather, under) Kule/Celene,

Gates in the World of Greyhawk

the original Dungeon Planet. Maybe if you were to break through the maze walls at the right point, you'd enter the rest of the Kule dungeons. It might also be inside a minor planet in the Grinder (Greyspace's vast spherical asteroid belt), perhaps the same "Iggwilv's stronghold" worldlet noted in #9.4. A good deathtrap/prison to get rid of unwanted guests. S4, #9.2: The Armored Automatons. Sounds like Kule/Celene or the Grinder again, just a smaller spot than #9.1. Same purpose as #9.1. Practical. S4, #9.3: Canyon of Centaurs. I don't think this is in Greyspace at all. Instead, I'd retrofit it to a Greek Earth, as described in HR6 Age of Heroes. Also, there was a module in DUNGEON Adventures a few years ago that described a Greek Earth adventure, and very nicely, too; use either or both (as the same world). But why was this gateway left here? I think Iggwilv had regular business to this Greek Earth and used the canyon exit to enter the world unseen (though centaurs happened to be around at the time the PCs came through). You decide what business Iggwilv had here; I suspect she was stealing the world blind or collecting slaves, specimens, etc. Maybe she was friends with some powerful sorcerers here. Maybe she was responsible for blowing up Atlantis. Maybe Circe is Iggwilv's clone. Maybe Iggwilv actually escaped here after her downfall, noted in S4 on page 2, where she gained strength prior to returning to Oerth in WG6 Isle of the Ape. Beats me. S4, #9.4: Hall of Pentacles. This one is pretty open-ended. I assume this was (or still is) Iggwilv's special hideout, so it could be anywhere. If you want to put it in Greyspace, put it in a ruined city on Kule/Celene's surface (demons will be arriving shortly to investigate newcomers) or make it Iggwilv's stronghold on a minor but heavily protected worldlet in the Grinder. Not a place I'd care to stay for long, especially if an old alarm system goes off and all sorts of boogies start showing up. On the other hand, the potential treasures could be incredible. If this isn't Iggwilv's stronghold and originally belonged to someone else, maybe she wanted to see what she could gain from looting the place. (The builders of the hall, however, must not have been home all this time, or else the gate and Iggwilv both would have been detected, investigated, and destroyed long ago.) (Yet Another Annoying Sidebar: Actually, this spooky Hall of Pentacles fits in with another idea I had. It's been mentioned that Zagyg has departed from Oerth forever, probably heading off for other worlds and planes. (I've read that before, but cannot find the exact reference now; I think it was at the end of EX1 or EX2.) But what if old Zagyg left various holdings and lairs scattered across Oerth and Greyspace when he departed, old homesteads and workshops that he no longer needed or cared about? Imagine finding one of Zagyg's little homes-away-from-home on a worldlet in the Grinder; the place would be jammed with bizarre magic and grossly extreme dangers (traps, guardians, spell wards, etc.). A DM could have a field day creating the place. It's the sort of spot that Iggwilv, Baba Yaga, devas, and similar agents of various gods would raid for keepsakes and curios. It's the sort of spot that would give a playing group fatal heart attacks. ("Wait! You mean this place was the home of THE Zagyg? The Zagyg who built Castle Greyhawk? Whoa, forget this hero crap, I'm outta here!")) Summary: S4 has two deathtraps, a gate to what is likely a true whole planet, and a gate to what is either a stronghold belonging to Iggwilv or one of her foes. Again, very practical stuff. Short Notes on EX1, EX2, and WG6: The Dungeonland/Magic Mirror "Partial Plane" could just as well be a reconverted asteroid in the vast reaches of the Grinder close to Oerth but hidden from normal view by passing spelljammer crews (it's invisible, undetectable, etc.). Dungeonland (which I will use as the proposed asteroid's name) was undoubtedly created by Zagyg just for fun, the way that a DM creates worlds just for fun (only Zagyg gets to have real people wander through HIS fantasy worlds). Given that Zagyg knows Murlynd, who has been to Earth, Zagyg probably got the idea for Dungeonland from his pal, who gave him a Lewis Carroll collection on loan. Murlynd's home is on Dungeonland (area A in EX2), and Heward and Zagyg (and probably

others) visit him there. I would guess that Dungeonland is not more than 10 miles in diameter, plenty of room for causing trouble. As for Dungeonland's spell-alterating powers, Zagyg could probably cause the asteroid to do that with little trouble; it's his "ship in a bottle," tucked within the larger mess he created known as Castle Greyhawk. WG6's Isle of the Ape is likely also a world (which I postulate largely by use of Occam's Razor: Why can't it be a simple world instead of a complex plane?). If the isle is on its own planet, the world is probably a much larger one than Dungeonland (unless they are part of the same planet, which I doubt it's too unoriginal to assume the creator, Zagyg, wasn't able to mess up more than a single planetoid in his time). The map of the isle is 73 miles along its longest dimension, so the world itself must be rather larger, at least size C in SPELLJAMMER game terms. Could the Isle-World be in Greyspace? Certainly, if it is invisible, undetectable, etc. I'd place it in the Grinder as an unusually large worldlet, maybe up to 1,000 miles across. (The natives in WG6 are said to raid other islands, so those must be accounted for, too.) The Isle-World could still be anywhere else in Greyspace, in almost any orbit. Another possibility: The isle is actually on Oerth, but is undetectable, invisible, etc.; all that talk in the module about a demi-plane can be used to throw nosy players off, if the DM goes this route. I'd rather put the isle on its own world, though, just for kicks. A third possibility: The isle is in one of the seas or huge lakes on forested Raenei a.k.a. Luna, the Great Moon of Oerth. This is not impossible, either, if the environment of the isle was adjusted by Zagyg to prevent the ill effects noted for Raenei in SJR6 (low oxygen, rapid exhaustion, etc.). You decide. WG6 says that Zagyg made up this isle just to test the mettle of wannabe-heroes not an unreasonable thing for a crazy demigod to do, I suppose, if he has time on his hands. (Final Side Note: I don't like the use of black "savages" on the Isle of the Ape; it seems more than a little stereotypical and potentially offensive. If you're feeling politically correct or just creatively rambunctious, you can avoid the "King Kong" replay and make the natives into blue goblins. They look much more interesting that way, don't you agree?) Done at last with "Gates: Part 1." Moore later. Thank you for your patience. Roger.