Mentioned in "Campaign Holidays: by Andy Miller, Dragon Annual #4, 1999, "Brewfest 4. This first day of Autumn marks the point where the sun crosses the equator from north to south, indicating that fall has arrived and winter is immanent. Although the day was once holy to the lost Autumn Goddess (and is still regarded as an unofficial holy day of Velnius), the only celebration on this day is Raxivort's Orgy."
Is there any more about this? Was Wenta not always the goddess of Autumn?
What happened was that the "Powers of Greyhawk" reference card in From the Ashes accidentally omitted Wenta and miscatagorized Raxivort as an Oeridian deity.
When he was writing his Oeridian deities articles, Andy Miller used that reference card as a guide.
That's why Wenta not only didn't get an article, but she's never even mentioned by name, not even in the lists of Sotillion's and Atroa's allies. Andy Miller noticed the conspicuous absence of an Oeridian deity associated with autumn, so he added a myth about a "lost Autumn goddess" to explain it, unaware that the 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set had included an autumn goddess named Wenta.
You could include a lost or dead predecessor to Wenta in your campaign if you wanted, but one would imagine if such a goddess existed, Wenta would have taken over her holy day as well as her season. It's really just an error.
accidentally omitted Wenta and miscatagorized Raxivort as an Oeridian deity.
Raxivort's categorization wasn't an error. TSR policy in the early nineties prevented Sargent from mentioning out-of-print monsters like Xvarts, so he changed Raxivort to werebats and wererats. (This is also why WGR1 had such a limited monster roster.)
TSR then released the 2e Fiend Folio around the same time From the Ashes came out, so it was a moot point and awkward change.
IMO, Andy Miller's mistake was expanding Gygax's early writeup on Raxivort without even attempting to invent a link to the Oeridian pantheon or acknowledge why he was using Sargent's reference.
accidentally omitted Wenta and miscatagorized Raxivort as an Oeridian deity.
Raxivort's categorization wasn't an error. TSR policy in the early nineties prevented Sargent from mentioning out-of-print monsters like Xvarts, so he changed Raxivort to werebats and wererats. (This is also why WGR1 had such a limited monster roster.)
I think being the god of rats and wererats (werebats weren't mentioned, probably because they were specific to the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix) should still merit an M in the race category (which I presume stands for monster), just as he had in the 1983 Guide to the World of Greyhawk. Or if for some reason they preferred not to have an M category, I'd expect the ? given to Tharizdun and Wastri, or perhaps the C for common. It's difficult to see why wererats would be specifically Oeridian.
Quote:
IMO, Andy Miller's mistake was expanding Gygax's early writeup on Raxivort without even attempting to invent a link to the Oeridian pantheon or acknowledge why he was using Sargent's reference.
I'm just as glad he didn't invent a link to the Oeridian pantheon, since I think that would have been in error. I still think it's most likely the O was purely a mistake.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Canonfire! is a production of the Thursday Group in assocation with GREYtalk and Canonfire! Enterprises
