WG8 Fate of Istus is alleged to take place between 576 CY and 579 CY. In the first chapter, The Sage's Tower, the background information on Rookroost explains that General Pernevi, a Fighter/Thief, is the de facto ruler of Rookroost. In WGR5 Iuz the Evil, which is current as of 586 CY, it is stated that Baron Kerzinen, the cambion son of a balor in Grazz't's court and a vassal of Iuz, rules Rookroost, although he has usurped Pernevi's identity and pretends to be the General still. In the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, which sets the setting for 591 CY, it is said that Lord Arus Mortoth, also secretly a cambion (and an assassin) rules over Rookroost after having killed the previous ruler, General Pernevi.
Some of this is a bit strange in and of itself, but the picture becomes more confusing if EGG's work is added to the mix. In Artifact of Evil, the 2nd Gord the Rogue book, Gord learns some lore of the Bandit Lands, including that Rookroost is ruled by one Plar Teuod Fent, an illusionist. In the Dragon magazine issue from July 1982, EGG again invokes the Plar in his piece "Where the bandits are." He is said in that article to be an illusionist , 9th, and the article says the information is current for 579 CY.
I'm thinking of a few possibilities here, but none allow me to amalgamate all of this information. The simplest solution seems to be to throw out EGG's stuff which is the least detailed. This leaves me with the simple puzzle of whether Lord Arus Mortoth and Baron Kerzinen are both the same person and the assassination of "Pernevi" was staged (both of them being cambions whose true identity is unknown does not seem like a coincedence) or whether one disguised cambion (Mortoth) slew the other (Kerzinen) between 586 and 591 CY. I'm inclined to think they are either the same person, or Mortoth is an agent from someone who opposes Grazz't, possibly an assassin from Iuz's court, but possibly one of Eclavdra's, Pazuzu's, or Zuggtmoy's cronies, as all have political wheelings and dealings with the Old One.
Another possibility is that Fent ruled briefly between 579 and 586 CY and that his rule was so insignificant that later modules didn't see fit to recognize him (an unlikely prospect). Yet another is that after the falling out with EGG and TSR, TSR decided to butcher as much of EGG's work on GH as they could and introduced Pernevi in Fate of Istus and Kerzinen in Iuz the Evil in an attempt to erase Fent from memory. Yet another possibility is that Fent is the guise of yet another ruler Kerzinen was impersonating who ruled briefly for some unknown period between 579 and 586 CY and that Kerzinen re-adopted Pernevi's guise again by 586 CY. Or its possible Teuod Fent is simply an alias of Pernevi's or vice versa. At any rate, you can see my dilemna. There are lots of possibilities and I'm not sure which one to choose. Of course, ultimately, in my campaign I can choose whichever I like the best, but I'm a stickler for consistency, and the option that offers the least inconsistency is the one I'm going to favor.
Plar Fent (an illusionist) escaped The General and fled to Blackmoor. I can't recall his exact location now, but he is holed up in a keep there ready to be used by some cunning DMs.
I assumed that Mortoth was simply a new assumed identity of Baron Kerzinen largely because it seemed a shame to waste his background. It also makes sense that Kerzinen would want to shed the shackles of The Baron to start ruling in the style of his own creation (Mortoth). It also makes sense that he would want to keep his true identity secret.
I don't know if there have been any 'official' LG regionals that have dealt with the issue defintively though.
Or it could be that later authors did not bother finding out what had come before and simply screwed things up by contributing their own contrary "canon".
It's not like it hasn't happened before... _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
my guess is that the GH writers changed it specifically so that it did not look like they were copying the forgotten realms product "Ruins of Zhentil Keep" which featured a Balor or Pit Fiend (can't remeber which) who had killed the general ruling the place after its semi-destruction and assumed his identity.
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