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Vilharian, an Elder Sword of the Suel Imperium?
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Tue Feb 14, 2023 10:38 pm  
Vilharian, an Elder Sword of the Suel Imperium?

Have you featured the legendary sword Vilharian IYC?

If so, I'd love to hear how you've imagined / developed it and have created this post to share our ideas on it. This first post notes my interest and discusses the longest published treatment of it. In subsequent posts, I plan to discuss other treatments of it, including by Treasures of Greyhawk and the Living Greyhawk campaign.

I plan to feature Vilharian IMC and am presently planting seeds for my PCs with a tome, written in Suel—perhaps by Uhas of Neheli—the title of which translates into the Common-vocca as Elder Swords of the Suel Imperium.

A couple years ago, Rasgon reminded me that Gary Holian described Vilharian and evoked its history in "Silent Sorcery: The Silent Ones of Keoland," Living Greyhawk Journal #4, pgs. 10–21 (May 2001). As related therein, "Shandophal, Eldritch Lord and Sage of Rel Deven," examined the sword in midsummer of 589 CY, and described it as "an ancient blade with a silver and aquamarine pommel" with "runes upon it that hinted at some great hidden power." Id. at 10 & 17 n.1.

Gary describes Vilharian's history as follows. "It was first wielded by the hero Sellanus of House Zelrad during the Great Migrations" but Sellanus "reportedly lost it in a duel with the Prince of Swords near present day Cryllor" before it "fell into the hands of the Rhola of Gradsul . . . for centuries" before slipping "from the hands of Tavish III into the muck surrounding Westkeep during the siege of 453 CY." Id. at 17 n.1. Finally, one of the "captains of the brigands" recovered it, but it "was believed lost forever a few years later with the sinking of the Sea Prince during the battle of Jetsom Island" (in 464 CY) and "has not been seen since." Id.

N.B. Uhas of Neheli reportedly died "during the reign of Jillum the Mad[,]" which was from 278–286 CY. Compare id. at 13, with Gary Holian, "The Kingdom of Keoland," Living Greyhawk Journal #1, pgs. 8–19 (Sept. 2000), at 11 (dating the reign of "Gillum I of Neheli (aka The Mad)"). Therefore, if I decide that Uhas authored the tome that I've named above, its treatment will necessarily not discuss the sword's use by the Rholan kings of "Imperial Keoland" (i.e., Tavish I, II, and III).
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Thu Feb 16, 2023 12:55 pm  

Initially, I didn't want to respond because my use of the sword is perhaps a bit boring. It plays the role of a royal advisor to the crown of Keoland, a master of all things historically Suel from traditions to history, religion, and law. It has a nearly encyclopedic knowledge base. It is an NPC who can, like a certain sorting hat, identify the true genealogy of any pure (or near) blooded Suel it touches. It has been used to track down Slerotin's true heir and his notebook.

Of course, the Crown can use the blade as more than this.

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Thu Feb 16, 2023 3:23 pm  

That's actually pretty clever... especially the bloodline tracing ability...

Have you stat'd it?
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Fri Feb 17, 2023 8:55 pm  
Re: Vilharian, an Elder Sword of the Suel Imperium?

mtg wrote:
Have you featured the legendary sword Vilharian IYC?


Other than Gary's mention of it from the Silent Ones article you mentioned in LGJ#4 (which I'd reread semi-recently for some campaign planning), I am not familiar with the blade and I've not yet used it in any of my campaigns.

Looking at Jason's index, it lists the LGJ article is the only source for the sword, with no mention of Treasures of Greyhawk. How were you planning to use it from there, Marc?---a quick flip through didn't suggest that Vilharian was a part of the mini-adventures in that book, unless I missed it (which is entirely possible :D ).

Allan.
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Fri Feb 17, 2023 9:27 pm  
Re: Vilharian, an Elder Sword of the Suel Imperium?

grodog wrote:

Looking at Jason's index, it lists the LGJ article is the only source for the sword, with no mention of Treasures of Greyhawk. How were you planning to use it from there, Marc?---a quick flip through didn't suggest that Vilharian was a part of the mini-adventures in that book, unless I missed it (which is entirely possible :D ).

Allan.


It's not called "Vilharian" there, and its backstory is somewhat different, but read the background of the Sword of the Dragon in "On the Town" (page 51).

The king that Jeon II names "Derik Drakkonheart" is Tavish the Great. Jeon II changes some names and details because the fact that he's descended from the House of Rhola is a family secret that the player characters don't need to know.

Consider the similarities: "Over the next two generations, his descendants seemed to grow more reckless in their dealings. Some seized buffer lands that became the source of endless skirmishes. Others started wars of such magnitude that whole armies were doomed to inevitable destruction. In the end, at the Battle of Lost Hope, the then-king... Marcus?... was killed and the Sword of the Dragon was lost."

Compare that to Living Greyhawk Journal #4: "Reportedly, Vilharian slipped from the hands of Tavish III into the muck surrounding Westkeep during the siege of 453 CY." Tavish II and Tavish III did "grow more reckless in their dealings" than Tavish I, seizing buffer lands (for example, Ket) and starting wars.

In Treasures of Greyhawk, we're told one of "Marcus'" brothers came to the Hold of the Sea Princes and founded Jeon II's family. In Samwise's timeline, we see that the brother was Duke Luschan IV, who had been meant to rule Keoland but who, after faking his death, secretly organized the free captains of the south into the modern state of the Sea Princes.

Erik Mona confirmed that the similarity was deliberate in this thread.

In the Living Greyhawk campaign, Vilharian is recovered in KEO3-05 Crimes of the Heart and switches its soul with Baron Malweig of Dilwych in KEO4-02 Active Imagination. Vilharian, still in Malweig's body, also appears in KEO8-02 The Daunting Spire, along with its mad "brother" Haladyn.
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Mon Feb 20, 2023 9:02 pm  

Thanks to rasgon for answering grodog's question thoroughly and linking to the earlier discussions.

Skech, like GreyMage, I like what you've done with Vilharian. In AD&D 1e terms, it sounds like an "Unusual Sword" with a "special purpose" and "sage ability." In Living Greyhawk (i.e., D&D 3.5e), KEO4-02 Active Imagination, at pg. 21 described it as a "Minor artifact, an adamantine +5 bane (spellcasters) long sword, renders wielder immunity to fire and cold, control weather at will (range 1,000 feet), speech, telepathy. Other powers unknown. AL LN; SV Fort + 9, Ref +9, Will +9, Str -, Dex -, Con -, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 18, Ego 19)."

I'm not particularly partial to that version but unsure how I would stat it in 5e. However, the LGJ #4 description of Vilharian as "an ancient blade with a silver and aquamarine pommel" and "runes upon it that hinted at some great hidden power" and the 1e DMG's "Reputed Magical Properties of Gems" table, at pgs. 26–27, suggest basing it on a "Sword, Defender +4" to me because aquamarine is a kind of beryl, which the 1e DMG indicates "wards off foes." Also, given that the Sea Prince himself (i.e., Duke Luschan Vilchar IV) reportedly drowned when the Sea Prince sank during the Battle of Jetsom Island, with all hands lost, Vilharian evidently offers no water-breathing, airy water, swimming, or similar magics . . .
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