Hello everyone, just a quick note that not all information presented on ‘The Grey League’ channel is Greyhawk Canon. I did use information from published books, the Oerth Journal as well as the Canonfire website.
Before diving into the material, I want to dedicate this video-text to the late Lenard Lakofka who created part of the Suel Pantheon, helped detail their culture and is the sole creator of the Lendore Isles. Though few players of the game paid attention to him in the last decades, Lenard, or Len for those who knew him, was enormously important to the game we all love to play. He created a lot of material and was an influential voice in the development of the game, due to a close friendship with Gary Gygax. Not to forget that he is the original Leomund and created the spell Leomund’s Tiny Hut.
Thank you Leomund, you will be missed.
Lenard Lakofka (1944-2020)
The different human tribes of the Flanaess (Flan-NES) were scattered during the last 1000 years of human migration as well as through the many wars that raged the land. Intermarriages have become very common, and purebloods are rare these days, in the common year of 595. Most humans today are somewhat of a mixture of two or more human bloodlines and do not have prominent physical features of one culture. Interestingly, a human of the Flanaess rarely speaks about skin colour because of this.
Still, there are regions where one culture has remained somewhat pure and there are regions where one culture has remained more dominant than another. For you, members of the League, I’ll shed some light on the customs and traditions of the human tribes of Oerth.
“Never trust anyone without scars for they have not felt the hardship or pain of life.” - Suel proverb
Introduction
The old Suel Empire lasted for ages and in its very early stages were wandering, related, tribes who then developed city states, each ruled over by a single noble family with its own identity. These city states were similar, technologically speaking, to the Mesopotamian states of our earth. They eventually created a senate-driven government that made sure that they did not war against each other. Out of this government grew aristocratic families, princes and eventually The Emperor, who was chosen from the most powerful noble house. Through the influence of certain elves living nearby, they evolved into a more technological culture. The use magic also enhanced their society. Intelligence and wisdom became an admired trait, and most rulers were in fact arcane users. They drove their culture onwards in pursuit of ever greater power and magic, and this unsatiable hunger dominated the whole of the Suel history.
Location
The Old Suel Imperium, governed by contesting noble houses, was located in what is now the Sea of Dust. It was bound by a number of mountain ranges, including the Sulhauts to the north, the Hellfurnaces to the east, and a spur of the Tyurzi Mountains to the southwest. Scholars have a theory that the land was divided in the “high plateau region”, with high hills and mountains covered by barren plains as well as grassy fields. Here, a series of valleys are linked together, creating first the city states and eventually the whole Suel Empire.
The empire was surrounded by mountains but in the west, there is assumed to be (have been) a Suel population inhabiting a “river region”. Here the land was green, fertile and had both thick forests and grassy plains divided by numerous rivers and filled with colonies of the Suel inhabiting it. Generally, the Suel were living in the higher regions and pictured themselves as looking down on other cultures such as the Bakluni, not just geographically but it was their vision on the caste system of the known world. Or at least that is the theory of some scholars.
Their lust for domination and power led them to a corrupt, wicked and decadent culture that waged an incredible devasting war with the Northern Bakluni, who brought down the ‘Rain of Colourless Fire’. With the Suel empire in ruins, the survivors fled in all directions, many actually crossing the Hellfurnace mountains and into the Flanaess, where they met other Suel who had fled the long war much earlier.
Being refugees, it is a small wonder that most of them intermixed with other human cultures for survival. Pure Suel blood is extremely rare these days, although the Duchy of Urnst has the proportionately largest enclave of Suloise and the Sheldomar valley has a large population as well, though more intermixed.
Some, crueller, Suel were forced out of the central lands and fled into the extreme corners of the Flanaess by the invading Oeridians. That is why there is an anomalous population in Hepmonaland as well as in the Amedio Jungle, their cruel haughtiness however, is now replaced by a more extreme boldness. The only pure blooded Suel that still remain inherently evil, are the Scarlet brotherhood on the Tilvanot Peninsula and the mariners of the Lordship of the Isles.
Lastly, we have the barbarians of the Thillonrian peninsula who are actually the purest example of the original Suel. So their scholars say.
Description
The Suloise of the north and south share a strong DNA and have the same features. They are the fairest skinned of all Oerik’s cultures, albino being not at all uncommon. Actually, the Suel are the only true white skinned people in the Flanaess. Their eyes vary from pale blue and violet through deep blue and the occasional grey. Hair colour ranges in the strawberry blondes, yellows and platinum and can be either wavy or straight.
We have to note that Suel living in Hepmonaland and the Amedio Jungle have developed tanned skins with heavy freckling, although pale and albino faces, that look utterly incongruous in the steaming jungles, can still be seen. Although these Suel changed considerably, their hair colour and texture have remained the same with lighter colours slightly less common.
Suel have narrow facial features and slightly taller than the other human cultures and range between tall and lean, to tall and sturdy. Men average between 1m83 – 1m90 (6’ to 6’ 3”) tall and weigh between 80-110kg (160-225 lbs). Women average between 1m77-1m80 (5’ 10” to 6’) tall and weigh between 55kg-82kg (110-165 lbs).
Dress
The Suel of the ancestral empire wore loose-fitting pantaloons covered by a baggy blouse and by a thick robe on the higher mountain peaks. They favoured solid colours and used various emblems, tokens, or similar affectations marking status or affiliation with Suel houses and traditions. Suel fashion adapted to the various climes they found themselves in the centuries following the destruction of the empire and the Great Migrations.
Nowadays, Suel in the far north and the Thillonrian Peninsula still wear wide-legged pantaloons and loose blouses but the material used is fur or felted wool and combined with furred boots and mittens. They still wear large pins, brooches, emblems, and other adornments of station and affiliations to their clan or house. They also still favour solid colours, having only one or two colours in their wardrobe, only nobles use more than two colours, as appropriate to their House affiliation.
Those on the Tilvanot dress according to the hot climate, favouring a louse blouse of solid colours. When the weather cools, a light robe is worn over these garments. All citizens favour the red colour with white and blue a close second and third, but will not have more than one or two colours in their wardrobe. The monks of the peninsula will however strictly honour the colour red. Citizens adorn themselves with all kinds of adornments of rare woods, ivory, silver or gold set with gems and semiprecious stones, which contrasts nicely with their attire while monks keep their adornments simple, preferring white and blackened gold. Worn emblems and souvenir trinkets on their clothing are considered important items of family heritage, passed down through the generations. Sub citizens (unpure Suel blood) of on the Tilvanot wear the same garment and jewellery citizens wear but of lower quality.
The climate of the Lordship Isles is likewise very tropical, and stifling warmth and humidity persists almost year-round, save in the late summer months when the great tropical storms, that sweep in from the Oljatt, are not uncommon. Fashion is quite similar to the Tilvanot peninsula with an increased use of the vest instead of a blouse. Life on the Isles is far from easy and a vest comes in handy in the thick jungles as well as when you are swinging on the riggings of a ship.
Within the Sheldomar valley, little has remained of the traditional dress of the ancient Suel. The organic intermixing of Flan, Oeridian and Suel in a relative peaceful way has created a dress code that has elements of all three. Suel in the Valley adopted the Oeridian fashion but will stick to solid colours, often of a darker tint, and have only one colour as an accent. It is not at all flashy in contrast to the Oeridians of the seashore people. They wear few ornaments but those they do wear have an heirloom significance and are thus of high quality.
In the savage lands of Hepmona the Suel have lost, over their long time spend here, most of the ancestral traditions. The Suel savages wear no more than loincloth and simple draping’s across the shoulders. They walk either barefoot or wear sandals of stiff leather with some fur ankle bracelet, possibly as a means of disguising their scent or cracks, or perhaps attempting magic. Their clothing may be left as-is or, likewise for survival purposes, dyed to match the earth or trees. Jewellery consists of bones, animal parts, bright stones and simple metal items. Tattooing and body painting are popular, with spiral and barred-spiral patterns most common as well as body piercing.
Language
Going back to ancient Suel empire west of the Crystalmist and Hellfurnace mountains, the Ancient Suloise language was the norm. It became all but extinct after the Rain of Colourless Fire destroyed the Suel Imperium and today it is considered a dead language, even between the few scholars who know the tongue, it is rarely spoken. Only on the Tilvanot Peninsula, where the Suel supremacists known as the Scarlet Brotherhood dwell, is the spoken language alive and even enforced on the citizens although forbidden to be used by anyone but pure citizens.
Contemporary Suloise exists primarily as a written language, read by those who delve into the surviving ancient tomes of the Suel peoples. There are two dialects of the original Suloise that have survived the times however, one dialect, known as Fruz, or the ‘Cold Tongue', is still spoken among the northern barbarians. It is Ancient Suloise with Flan admixture, spoken by those living on the Thillonrian Peninsula, and has no relation to Common. Another, less known dialect is known as Lendorian, influenced by Common and packed with nautical terms, spoken only by the humans of the Spindrift Isles, who lived on these islands before they were deported by elves in 583 CY. It has no relation to the Cold Tongue and is not written.
One Suel people have lost not only most of their ancestral traditions but also their language – The Suel of jungles. The language has been coined Rasol, and is derived from ancient Suel, coloured with names for flora and fauna borrowed from Olman. It devolved over time as words inappropriate for the jungle were forgotten and many higher concepts are completely absent from Rasol. A speaker of ancient Suel can barely comprehend about 40% of it. There remain but a few written characters in Rasol, mainly runes indicating food, water and land, and a person familiar with written ancient Suel can recognize these runes as deriving from Suel words, but unable to decipher the meanings without the knowledge of Rasol.
Arcane Skill
The ancient Suel had such a passion for studying lore, magic and technology that it took over their whole society. Suel wizards did not just become incredibly powerful, they also perfected a number of binding spells that were able to imprison powerful beings and bind them into servitude. Their most powerful spell was a ritual of arguably one of the most brilliant minds of the last two millennia - Xodast Xuel-Crix. He created the ritual ‘The Invoked Devastation’ from the ancient and mysterious tome titled the Codex of the Infinite Planes. Within this tome, Xodast discovered the means to temporarily transpose one plane over another, effectively producing a major planar breach. During this breach, properties of the transposing plane could affect a vast area.
The great archmage Xodast Xuel-Crix also created (in -618 CY) the artifact ‘The bringer of Doom’ from this same codex. Another example I would like to mention are the eight orbs of Dragonkind that Suel mages of power created. It took them some fifty years to create them but, in the end, were able to control and dominate dragons.
The last archmage of power of the ancient empire was Slerotin, he was the one who opened up a tunnel hundreds of miles long, through the Hellfurnaces, to allow his people to escape the Colourless Rain of Fire.
The Suel heirs, of this highly magical society of a begone age, still have an aptitude for most types of spellcasting, for it is in their blood. Some pure blooded Suel today are descendants of powerful Suel mages of old and as such, sorcery comes to these people naturally.
Religion
They are as respectful of their Gods as they are of their own ancestors. In all the lands they inhabited Kord, Norebo (luck and risk), and Wee Jas tend to remain the most popular but the Suel are fractured to such an extent that religion is quite differently experienced.
The Suel on the Thillonrian Peninsula respect the great winter god Vatun, and give him considerable worship in stark contrast to the world outside the Thillonrian peninsula, where he is largely forgotten.
Lendor, the god of time and lore is another less worshipped god that actually has a strong following amongst the barbarians. Feats of strength and courage are a daily activity, and it is thus no wonder Kord and Norebo are honoured all over the cold north. Because the sea brings life to the barbarians, they ask for Osprems’ and Phaulkon’s blessings as well.
On the Tilvanot Peninsula the entire Suloise Pantheon receives dutiful worship, and every major Tilva city contains temples to the Suel gods, and every village has at least some sort of shrine honouring the pantheon. Non-Suel faiths are discouraged to the point of oppression, and temples to other deities in Tilva cities are quickly destroyed by Suel-priests. The gods most strongly supported by the Brotherhood are Bralm (insects and industriousness,), Llerg (beasts and strength), Pyremius (murder), Syrul (lies and treachery) and Wee Jas (magic and death) and though the other Suel gods are respected by the populace and represented in unspecialized temples, but these five receive the most support and fewest restrictions from the government. Religion is however, not forced on the citizens of the Scarlet Brotherhood. A great many are content to attend occasional worship services for the gods appropriate to their current assignments, but most rely for success on the skills imparted by discipline and training rather than intercession by supernatural beings.
The priests in the cities control the religious life of the citizens. They promote the Suel gods as the oldest, strongest and most attentive powers of Oerth. With their backing, the enemies of the chosen people do not stand a chance of resisting the inevitable force of the Scarlet Brotherhood and its mission. When the Brotherhood conquers or occupies a new territory, priests from each of the five major faiths are dispatched to these lands, along with a few unspecialized clerics to round out the pantheon's representation. These priests direct the destruction of non-Suel temples and the construction and consecration of churches of their own faith.
Although the Lordship Isles are very close to the Tilvanot peninsula, its people have more need to honour Osprem, the goddess of water voyages and appease Phaulkon, the god of wind, clouds and of the open sky as well as pray to Xerbo for greater wealth. Other Suel gods are of course also worshipped.
Within the Sheldomar Valley the founders of the nation decreed that sectarian rivalries between the feuding Suel houses and incoming Oeridian tribes meant there would be no national church. Thus, a human from a Suel ancestry is as likely to pray to Suel as to Oeridian deities. That said Bralm, Llerg, Phyton, god of nature farming, and Xerbo, god of money and business, are commonly worshipped.
Those who fled to the Amedio jungle and the continent of Hepmonaland will worship any Suel deity that will keep them alive in their current situation.
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