I hope I'm wrong, but so far I've only been able to find two sources that say anything substantial about the Hegira, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer and "Blood of Heroes" from Living Greyhawk Journal 3. Below is what we "know." If anyone can add to this, please do so.
- The Baklunish homeland is to the west, across a range of "desolate" mountains.
- A certain Darkness (ca. 3250 years ago) assailed them there, defiling their homeland and driving them to the east.
- The royal family (First Dynasty emperors) was saved from the minions of Darkness by their champion, Azor'alq.
- There was a divine component to this struggle between Light and Darkness. Istus and Mouqol chose to stay neutral. Mouqol, in particular, was not opposed to supporting either side.
That is the only info I have found on the Hegira. I implemented it is this passage from an article I submitted to CF.
"Among the early Baklunish lands, witches filled the role of wandering prophetesses, who were feared and respected for their mystical powers by the nomadic peoples of those lands. Even before the coming to power of the First Dynasty emperors, witches began to suffer a fate similar to those of the east, as the clergy of the various Baklunish faiths successfully seized upon a role of influence within the royal family that would eventually found the Baklunish Empire. It is unfortunate that among the forces that pursued the royal family over the western mountains into what are now the Baklunish lands was a witch serving the powers of Darkness. The tale of this powerful witch’s demise at the hands of the great Baklunish hero Azor’ Alq forms a small portion of the mythic tale of the Hegira. In the account of this epic confrontation, this witch is only ever named as The Black Harridan. Baklunish clerics were quick to seize upon the examples of the Hegira, which greatly aided them in their efforts to destroy the influence of well-meaning witches simply by citing the holy text."
Ceb, I have your article as a tangential reference to the Hegira. The episode with The Black Harridan is not directly related to the event, so I didn't include it. However, I did use your article as a reference. Good work, btw.
I just read, for the first time, Fred Weining's "Harbor of the Dark Fleet," from the GenCon 2001 Greyhawk Adventure Supplement. The "Minions of Eternal Darkness," tracing their rites and heritage to the "days of the Baklunish Empire," got me thinking:
Could this Living Darkness be the same evil that brought on the Hegira? Could the Ataphadi, or at least those serving the "Harbormaster," be related to those minions that threathened the Baklunish people so long ago?
Does anyone know what the (c) issues are on this material?
There's a little bit more in "Paladins of Greyhawk" in Dungeon #104. Not much, but "creatures of darkness" are defined as "most particularly fiends, undead, and evil genies." That suggests the Darkness that Azor'alq opposed was aided or served by these races.
Because Azor'alq was a paladin of Pelor (according to Erik Mona's old "Baklunish Delights" article), I assume the Darkness had something to do with Tharoth the Reaper, known to the Flan as Nerull.
Tharoth would be the connection between modern Baklunish cults of darkness and the ancient, proto-Baklunish Darkness. There wouldn't need to be any blood connection between the actual cultists, just the same malignant god behind it all, plotting vengeance for a slight against him three thousand years ago.
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