THE GREAT SVENNY

LORD CHAMPION

Author unknown (written c. The 3^rd Age)

Lord Blackmoor, Ruler of the Northern Marches of Thonia, also known as Uther
Minaya Fant, The Great Svenny's chief lieutenant and companion
Ximena, The Great Svenny's faithful wife
Elvira and Sol, The Great Svenny's two children
Diego, Frederick, and Gonzalez, villainous Knights of Carrion
Martin and Antolinex, a noblemen and allies of The Great Svenny
King Alf, King of Grayhawk

Poem Overview

Blackmoor, the Lord Of The Northern Marches, sent his knight. The Great Svenny, to collect the annual tribute owed to him by the Orcish King of Servile. In Servile, The Great Svenny learned that soldiers governed by the King of Greyhawk, along with certain elfish allies, were at that moment warring against the local King. Being a trustworthy and obedient knight, and inasmuch as Servile was a protectorate of King Alf. The later then led an expedition to meet this army. After emerging victorious. The Great Svenny seized a traitorous elfish count, Ordonez, and subjected him to the ultimate insult - he plucked the count's hair. But when this vengeful count returned home to The Great Forest, he convinced King Alf that The Great Svenny had become dangerously powerful and must be banished from the kingdom.

During the days before Svenny was to be expelled, he gathered together a small band of troops loyal to him and traveled to Bramwald. When the townsfolk there, out of fear of punishment, refused to provide his rebels with any goods, his men pitched their camp outside of town and began devising plots to obtain the needed supplies. Finally they settled on the idea of sending an envoys, Martin and Antolinex, to strike a deal with two pawnbrokers in the city of Maus' Antolinex would exchange two coffers – supposedly filled with gold and jewels but actually filled with sand - for the sum of six hundred Platinum, on the condition that the coffers would not be opened until The Great Svenny had returned to buy them back. By this ploy, the group procured enough money to journey into the hostile lands of the Ores. Before finally departing from his beloved Northern Marches, Svenny paid a visit to the abbey of Can in Bramwald, where his wife and children had sought sanctuary. He bade farewell to his wife.

Svenny to Ximena: I love you as I love my soul! We must part for a time in this life; I go and you
remain. May it please the gods that I may yet give these children in marriage and that I have the good fortune to live yet a little while in which to serve you, my wife.

The Great Svenny then paid Brother Carr, the ruling Cleric, for his families keep and marched out of the city of Bramwald with his troops.

Along the way, the numbers in The Great Svenny's band increased. He promised all who joined him that they would be rewarded twofold for their sacrifice. On their last night in The Northern Marches, The Great Svenny was visited in a dream by the voice that said. "Ride, oh Svenny," the voice exhorted, "for never did a knight ride so luckily! Things will go well with you so long as you shall live." The knight-captain took this message as an omen of good fortune, and entered the wilderness unafraid.

The Great Svenny's knights met with early success. They easily conquered Castle Jonon, then marched deeper into the Orcish province, sacking villages and exacting tribute along the way. The Great Svenny soon laid siege to the great metropolis of Al 'Cocer. The city's denizens chose to pay tribute so they would not have to fight; but after accepting the tribute, Svenny, stung by greed, moved in and took the city as well.

It was quickly noised throughout the land that "My Svenny" has left The Northern Marches and is now settled among the lands of the Orcs who hardly dared to show their snouts in the open.

One-day word of The Great Svenny's exploits reached the ear of King Mutamin of Orcish Tonisberg. Angered by The Great Svenny's boldness, he dispatched a sizable army to retake Al ‘Cocer. These forces surrounded the city, cutting off the water supply, in hopes of driving The Great Svenny out. Sure enough, sallying forth to do battle with Miamian's waves of Ores soon became the only choice. But, incited by their captain's courageous deeds and words. The Great Svenny's men managed to drive the Ores away. Afterward, The Great Svenny decided that some of the booty taken from the rout should go to King Alf as a peace offering. A nobleman, Fant, was selected to deliver this gift - "thirty horses, all armored, saddled and bridled, with fine swords hanging from their saddlebows."

King Alf was most pleased with Svenny's generosity, and he opened the way for many of his men to go and serve in the rebel knight's army.

Bolstered by new recruits, The Great Svenny next turned his attention to Tonisberg. Looting towns and defeating all forces gathered against them as they marched, The Great Svenny's marauding troops at last surrounded the great city. The populace was given nine days to either hire mercenaries to fight for them or else surrender.... At the tenth day they yielded, and The Great Svenny settled down to enjoy his spoils. Again he presented King Alf with one hundred of the finest Orcish horses. But this time he also instructed Fant to make a special plea to Lord Blackmoor:"... Kiss his hands for me, and beg him, if he will, to let me have my wife Ximena and my dear children join me." The king not only gladly complied with this request, but also restored the property confiscated from The Great Svenny when he was exiled.

When Svenny beheld his wife and children approaching, he mounted his horse and rode out to embrace them, "weeping in his joy."

The Great Svenny's power and influence continued to spread. Soon, many Orcish rulers felt "vexed" by him. One in particular, the King of Orcocco, "gathered up all his forces, five thousand men and Ores," and set forth for Tonisberg to drive the dog out. The Great Svenny welcomed the attack: "My wife and children shall see me fight, and learn how we make our living in this foreign land." So, again shedding much blood, he and his troops met and defeated the Orcoccans, who outnumbered them by more than twelve fold, and gathered together their riches, which were "beyond measure."

Needless to say this was the greatest victory the Northern Marches have seen and The Great Svenny's best-fought battle.

When this latest news reached Blackmoor's court, three brother-princes (two human and one half-Ore) of Carrion, Diego, Frederick, and Gonzalez, reasoned together: "The Great Svenny's affairs go well! Let us beg of him his daughter in marriage, and thus gain in honor and riches." The princes beseeched Lord Blackmoor to act as their intermediary. He agreed and asked the visiting Fant to convey the marriage proposal to The Great Svenny back in Tonisberg.

At this time Blackmoor was seeking to reconcile all the races of the North. A misstep that Uther would later repudiate as ill conceived.

The Great Svenny hesitated to give his daughter in marriage, but because the request was from Lord Blackmoor, he complied. A meeting to finalize the details for the wedding was arranged. When, after so many years, Svenny finally once again saw Blackmoor, he fell at his feet. Commanded to arise, he next received the Princes of Carrion. Then, after much gift giving and celebrating, he and his future son-in-law, Diego, departed for Tonisberg.

"Rich was the wedding in the great palace." The feast alone lasted for two weeks again, many gifts were exchanged. However, although the marriage was a joyous occasion, spousal relationships soon turned sour. Both Diego and especially the half-Ore Frederick proved to be immature and cowardly. A were lion, escaped from its cage, caused one of the princes to hide beneath a bench while the other took cover behind the wine press, and the last, in his terror, "quite defiled his tunic." But The Great Svenny's flagging respect for his son-in-law, and associates, was revived when one day an Orcoccan army was seen in the distance and the princes went forth to battle, later reporting their great valor in the skirmish. In reality, they had, when out of The Great Svenny's view, hidden far from the action. After several weeks, the prince proposed to take his wife on a visit to Carrion. But secretly they intended to avenge themselves on the young woman for her mocking speech after the episode with the were lion. The Great Svenny, sensing trouble, sent along his son, Sol; but once outside of Tonisberg territory, the princes ordered Sol back to Tonisberg. Then the wicked brothers whipped The Great Svenny's daughter, and handmaids, "till they fell senseless, their garments soaked in blood.... They left them there for dead." The faithful Sol however, returned to track the band through the wilderness and found the women's nearly lifeless bodies.

Diego and Frederick continued on their way, thinking their act still a secret. But "in all the Northern Marches their deed was soon known, and the good Lord Blackmoor was grieved in his heart." Likewise, The Great Svenny was both saddened and angered. To preserve his honor as well as that of his daughter, he ordered one of his knights to go to Lord Blackmoor's court in demand of justice. Lord Blackmoor complied and set up a trial date for the three brothers.

During this trial, The Great Svenny demanded that they return his daughter's generous dowries. He also challenged them to personal combat, but they balked at this, claiming that "when we abandoned your daughter and her handmaidens, believing that the Orcs had slain them. We did only what we thought was right, and did ourselves no dishonor thereby, but honor." The argument closed. Lord Blackmoor made a ruling: The Great Svenny was to select three of his knights to meet the Princes of Carrion in a duel to the death. Of course, the outcome of this jousting match would be a grim one for the princes. Rather than face the companions of the Great Svenny they fled to the lands of The Egg Of Coot.

With vengeance satisfied and honor restored, The Great Svenny eventually gave his daughter in marriage to a Prince of the Elves. Thus the Elves were now among his kinsmen.

Perhaps the most famous poem to come out of the Northern Marches, The Great Svenny
contains descriptions of panoramic settings and colorful characters, which have since
been adopted in the works of other writers.

The poem's rich storyline is largely based on fact. The knight The Great Svenny in truth
did live and accomplish many of the feats attributed to him. On the other hand, the poet
telling the tale exaggerates a great deal. For instance' four hundred soldiers - even lawful
paladins - conquering five thousand Ores in front of Tonisberg is quite unbelievable.
Nevertheless, the work is highly accurate in its depiction of the difficulties of ordinary
life in the Northern Marches, split between the domination of three rival cultures.
Moreover, "The Great Svenny" portrays the struggles, challenges and potential for
upward mobility that in reality did exist on the Thonian frontier.

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