By Paul “Artharn the Cleric” Jurdeczka

“A Monk of Fife” (page 208); by Andrew Lang (1896) (British Library Catalogue digital ID 014815487)

A New Plan

The encounter with the alien monks in 489 CY also caused the Order to change its entire philosophy and operations. Whereas previously it had been committed to preserving and protecting the “purity” of the Suel race and culture in its new home in Shar, now it was clear this was no longer enough. This was a return to the Order’s original dream under Kevelli.The alien monks had shown that other cultures could develop in new and unexpected ways, and threaten Shar no matter how secure it (and the Order) thought itself. 

The Order could no longer content itself with controlling Shar in the shadows, and preserving the Suloise race and culture in an isolated corner of the Flanaess. A new force could arrive at any time to threaten the future of the Suloise. The Order has to move from being a shield to a sword, and ensure the Suel took their place in the sun in the Flanaess. A plan had to be drawn up. It might take decades or centuries, but the Suel Imperium’s preeminent place in Oerik would be restored. Only by subjugating the inferior races of the Flanaess could the survival of the Suel race be ensured. In fact, by doing so the Suel would bring the enlightenment of the ancient culture of the Suel Imperium to all peoples. 

Previously the Order had maintained agents and spies in nearby lands like Hepmonaland, Sunndi, Onnwal and the South Province of the Great Kingdom to maintain a watch for any potential threat against Shar. This now changed. The Order began training and building a network of spies throughout the Flanaess, to monitor and spy on all lands and threats, and properly plan who and how to conquer them all in time. Who might be undermined, who corrupted, which realms or peoples turned against which, all to make it easier to conquer them in time. 

The Order began a recruitment campaign in Shar. While previously it had recruited to control and enforce the Order’s will within Shar as a virtual secret police force, now it needed more members and with different skills. Spies and assassins needed to be recruited, trained and sent forth. Foreigners needed to be recruited or kidnapped to provide training in languages and customs if spies were to infiltrate unnoticed. However, Shar contained only so many people, and the Order had certain standards for genetic purity. 

The Order also began turning its mind to building the genetic stock of the Suel people. As their network grew north (and west) and they found the Thillonrian peninsula had become a haven of Suel refugees, albeit reverted to barbarism and who had forgotten their great heritage. This became a target for recruitment or kidnapping of prime subjects to use in their breeding programs.

Previously the Order had dominated the humanoids guarding the northern approaches to Shar through threats, rewards and magic. Now it began building that force into a stronger and larger force that in due course could be used for invasion. Better humanoid blood be spilled as shock troops than precious Suel blood. 

In addition, the Order turned its mind anew to using magic to breed new monsters and creatures to use as troops or for its plans. The exotic creatures that had come with the alien monks had piqued their interest in such things (or repiqued, given the Suel of the Imperium had been know to dabble in such things, but Shar had not needed too much until now). Previously Shar (and the Order) had used magic to both defend the naval approaches to its lands and command sea creatures to assist in this defence (pirates and freebooters have a tendency to not return when their ships keep getting eaten by kraken or other fearsome sea creatures). Now the Order expanded its war-thrall program in earnest. Previously Shar had always undertaken a primitive bred-thrall program, little more than the equivalent of animal husbandry and breeding with slave stock. Now the Order began using magic in earnest in its own program, beyond simply ensuring the plantations and mines of Shar had appropriate slave stock. Wars and invasions would need supply chains and support networks that could be relied on and trusted. New populations of subjects needed new ways to ensure they were made obedient quickly, to avoid messy and ongoing guerilla wars that would distract from the next theatre of conquest. 

The Kingdom of Shar too changed its demeanor. Whereas previously it had regarded itself as removed from the affairs of the Flanaess, and determined to stay uninvolved, the Order began sowing the seeds of a changed policy. Shar could not remain uninvolved or rely on previous strategies and plans. Other realms might begin to turn their eyes on Shar’s riches and peoples with greedy eyes. The Great Kingdom was showing signs of instability that might affect Shar. Shar needed to be ready to defend against any such incursions. In turn that would begin to develop into a strategy of preemptive defence, that would justify the invasions launched in the Greyhawk Wars. But that was almost a century away. Shar changed slowly, but the Order was patient and took a long term view. The Imperium had not been built in a day. 

The Greyhawk Wars

The Greyhawk Wars book alludes to the realms of the Flanaess beginning to investigate the stirring of Shar. 

At some stage King Archbold III of Nyrond commissioned Marquel, a paladin of Nyrond, to investigate rumors coming from the Densac Gulf and Tilvanot Peninsula. Traveling in disguise, Marquel traveled even farther south and, while unable to penetrate the ranks of the Scarlet Brotherhood, he recorded every rumor, tale, and experience of his journey in his book “An Honest Traveler's Strange Tales of the South” which provided the best source of information on the Scarlet Brotherhood.

While Archbold sending Marquel south to Shar may have occurred after 573 CY when the first Shar envoys arrived in Nyrond’s Iron League allies, it likely occurred earlier given it was said to have been prompted by rumors from the “Densac Peninsula” (rather than the arrival of envoys from the Scarlet Brotherhood). Nyrond had enough challenges in dealing with the Great Kingdom and a returned Iuz in the north. It did not need any new enemies, and tales of a mysterious kingdom on the Tilvanot peninsula with resources and strength far beyond previous tales would have aroused Archbold’s concerns even if only to ensure his Iron League allies were not threatened so they could continue to support Nyrond. 

As such, Marquel journeying south and spying out Shar before returning with tales of their land may well have taken place prior to 573 CY. The Order’s long term plans to infiltrate and undermine the realms of the Flanaess might be threatened if those realms were alerted by this Nyrondese spy who had managed to infiltrate and escape them. As such, the Order may well have brought forward their plans for sending envoys to various realms before they were alerted by Marquel’s reports being circulated. Better those envoys already be in place to placate those rulers with soothing words than arriving to courts already suspicious of any visitors from Shar. Thus, when the Greyhawk Wars broke out, the Order was having to act sooner that their previous agenda and plans, with envoys dispatched sooner in the original strategy but also the opportunity of war and chaos too good to miss. 

Conclusion

Generally, in published sources references to the Scarlet Brotherhood can refer to the Kingdom of Shar, with the assumption outside Shar that it has a very good network of spies that assist its schemes. The actual network of the Order goes far beyond what anyone could probably anticipate, and their aims are far more ambitious than anyone could guess - not just Shar dominance of the Azure Sea and Tilva Strait but eventual conquest of the Flanaess by the Suel (under their control). 

Some rulers of realms and powerful figures (such as Mordenkainen) suspect or are confident they understand the role of the Order as the true power in Shar, but generally the Order should be regarded as a shadowy organisation unknown to almost all people in the Flanaess, and whose long term plans are beyond the time frames of most inhabitants or realms there. 

If Shar were to fall tomorrow this would present a major set back to the Order’s plans, but its remaining members would survive and adapt.