The just released Oerth Journal 35 is more exciting than the last few (at least for me), because I have an article in it. After decades out of the game of DnD, and wandering back into it via the Great Library of Greyhawk wiki, Greyhawk Online and Canonfire, then their Discord channels, I somehow found myself writing an article for the Oerth Journal (OJ). How did that happen?
I didn’t write the article for the sake of writing an article. The concept snuck in like a cat through the back door, and started mewling louder and louder.
Not that this (contrived) flippancy diminishes the worth of making it into the OJ. On reading the Journal I was impressed by the quality of a publication made for love of the setting. Editor Kristoph Nolen clearly wasn’t going to publish muck just to make up pages. So coming up with an article worth putting in felt like an achievement. I hadn’t played RPGs since the early to mid 1990s (it’s so long I forget). The Journal had a 25 year history, featured and features people who actually wrote DnD and Greyhawk canon, and people who had been playing since before I started and during the entire time I had stopped playing. But hey, I’ll back myself …
I was researching a character from Nyrond, who needed to turn up in the Pomarj, taken by the Slave Lords. Across the Sea of Gearnat sits Nyrond – Anna B Meyer’s great map suggested to me the Viscounty of Eventide, just a short trip sneaking past the Nyrond navy patrols to raid for some poor Nyrondese folk. But lurking to the north was the Gnatmarsh. A great stinking swamp (actually not, a swamp is technically different to a marsh) that dominates the western end of Nyrond, one of the great kingdoms of the Flanaess that had stood firm (barely) against the Great Kingdom during the Greyhawk Wars (which was all news to me, having occurred after I stopped play DnD). The area positively cried out for adventure, but clearly had never really been utilised from looking through the modules over the years (including Canonfire’s highly useful list and map of these).
The Marklands source book covered Nyrond in Spring 585 CY, and referred to a rumour of a green dragon in the Gnatmarsh. This didn’t sit well with me. Green dragons might like forests and swamps, but a marsh to me was properly the lair of a black dragon. Greens were cunning manipulators, like Cyan Bloodbane that featured in the Dragonlance novels I had loved in the late 1980s. Who could corrupt the King of the haughty Silvanesti elves, and warp his mind (albeit with the aid of a dragon orb).
A black dragon was Khisanth, the black of Xak Tsaroth, set to guard the Discs of Mishakal whose retrieval would herald the return of clerical magic to Krynn. Riverwind being blasted with acid breath when the Companions of the Lance battled her always stuck in the memory – just plain nasty. And Khisanth was the Big Bad Boss at the end of DL1 Dragons of Despair. A challenge not to be taken lightly.
So a black dragon lurking in the Gnatmarsh made sense to me. That was a monster worthy of a marsh the size of a small European (or Flanaess) kingdom. The Gnatmarsh was also apparently populated by lizard folk, troglodytes, and alligators. Positively draconic eco-system in there. Dragons are an apex predator …
I was also inspired by William “Giantstomp” Dvorak’s excellent Dragons of the Flanaess series on the Greyhawk Companion. William has tended to focus on the more exotic dragons and locales where there were no apparent dragons, on the basis the “usual” chromatic dragons etc were well covered. But I decided to kick it old school – black dragon style.
So I checked out the black dragon monster stat blocks on DnD Beyond, and was reminded that as dragons get older they get more powerful. And they live centuries and take over a century to become an adult. I hit the various wikis and boned up on dragon lore. Including that blacks were now also known as “skull” dragons. There was no way an adult or older black dragon had been living in the Gnatmarsh for any lengthy period of time. It would have been known of. The treasure hoard would have drawn adventurers like moths to a flame (even with Nyrond’s regressive tax policies on adventurers prior to reform by King Lynwerd the Reformer King), and the threat to the kingdom would have drawn a Nyrondese army down to get rid of it. So the dragon had to be a recent arrival.
But where did it come from? For the same reasons it couldn’t just wander down the road from say the Celadon Forest (far more likely to host a green dragon, except for the fact the locals would be pretty hostile and they include elves and voadkyn – wood giants). It would likely be a juvenile or young adult forced out of home for some reason, looking for a new home and laying low while it worked out the lay of the land and built its strength.
While the Flanaess feature a number of swamps, and a number of dragons, lurking to the south was the great green morass of the Amedio Jungle. Forest, swamps, miles of countless wilderness with no pesky human kingdoms to complain about. Few tribes of locals to worship you as a living god. Perfect. Why leave? Another dragon of course. Very territorial are dragons. Even when they are family.
So the black was fleeing here looking for new digs, driven out by his own mother in a tale worthy of a Greek tragedy. Get directed the right way by naval fire and unpalatable climates. Voila. Welcome to the Gnatmarsh. No dragons currently in occupation.
Name? I love a Latin derived name. They always sound exotic but evocative of the intended meaning. Some pidgin Latin research on Google Translate and I had Paluserus. Palus = marsh or swamp. Erus = master (of the house or family).
Khisanth had her draconian followers. Dragons love being the dominant predator and being paid homage or tribute to. Troglodytes have a habit of needing a big boss to follow. Lizard folk would always take poorly to being conquered. And some troglodyte tribes as security would make hunting Paluserus more of a challenge for higher level adventurers. Try sneaking into a lair and taking him down when there are three tribes guarding the surrounding approaches, and they’ve softened you up cutting your way through them. Paluserus may not be legendary status and capable of laying waste to kingdoms (yet), but the troglodytes sounding the alarm while defending his turf would be a bit like the real life version of the Marines calling in air support. With Paluserus playing the role of the Apache gun ship raining death from above. Acid rain.
Frankly you’d rather be fighting Paluserus in his lair, where he’s stuck under ground and can’t get into the air or away easily. In the open, moving in marshland where you are slower than usual, and the local troglodytes want to make your teeth into jewellery? Miles from civilisation. With a black dragon raining acid from above? Tough day at the office … that coin hoard better be substantial …
It was flattering for David Leonard in his Greyhawk Musings review of OJ35 to say the article was a “detailed exploration of a dragon’s environs, and is as good a template on how to set one up as you are apt to find”. Full disclosure – I copied William’s general format for his Dragons of the Flanaess articles, but I did ask him first! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery as they say.
So for readers of the Oerth Journal, hopefully you enjoyed reading about Paluserus. If you haven’t read the OJ, and are a fan of Greyhawk, then please do! All 35 issues are available for free on Greyhawk Online, and they feature some great material over the years. For DMs hopefully you get a chance to feature Paluserus in your campaign, if he fits. Obviously he can be moved to any swamp or marsh with a little work. So he may pop up to scare adventurers anywhere from the Hool Marshes to the Troll Fens (although the latter may be a bit chilly for a black dragon …). Or worlds beyond.
Following on from the thought that the Gnatmarsh is severely under explored, I do intend Paluserus to be merely the first of a number of inhabitants to detail for the region. A nice sandbox campaign book idea has also wandered in through the back door, mewling, and set up camp on the desk in my mind’s eye. Ideas about kobolds, lizard folk, druids, tombs, bullywugs, green hags and others are peering in the window …
Domain of Greyhawk 