redking
2023-12-22, 02:47 AM
MIKA-OBA'S BOOK APPEARANCES IN GREYHAWK ADVENTURES
Master Wolf (Greyhawk Adventures, #3)
Published: 1987
The Price of Power (Greyhawk Adventures #4)
Published: 1987
The Demon Hand (Greyhawk Adventures, #5)
Published: 1988
The Name of the Game (Greyhawk Adventures, #6)
Published: 1988
Four books were written about the character Mika-Oba. Many people here will be familiar with the criticisms leveled against these books, but to me, they are the familiar tropes of the Sword & Sorcery (or Sword & Sandal) genre. I recently reread these novels. Great literature they are not, but nor are they as bad as has been claimed. For one, the writing is breezy and engaging. The character of Mika-Oba is basically that of a scoundrel that is selfish, but makes the right decision in the end. This is a common trope in this genre. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, for example.
Approaching a controversy obliquely, Mika-Oba's pet wolf is accused of sexual misconduct with a polymorphed princess. Can we all agree that a wolf doesn't have agency in this regard? And this event cleverly invalidated a human sacrifice of a human princess virgin.
Another critique is that the books are almost entirely non-canon and could not have occurred as shown. For one, Iuz gets killed by Mika-Oba at a time when Iuz was not on Oerth. While nothing can redeem the non-canon nature of these books, I did find an entertaining explanation of what happened by Rasgon (http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5625&highlight=).
Fazzle: One of the first fiends to claim dominion over Iuz's former lands was the farastu gehreleth Fazzle. After his shator master, who had ruled Kendragund in Iuz's name, was torn apart by babau, Fazzle hid in the dungeons beneath the castle until the other fiends departed the plane, at which point he emerged to take over. In early 506 CY, Fazzle led a pair of chimerae, a handful of hill giants, and nearly a hundred Urzun orcs to occupy Dorakaa. Enshrouding himself with a hooded cloak that concealed all of his body and face except for his long, terrible reddish claws, Fazzle announced to the cowed inhabitants of the city that he was Iuz returned. With the aid of his cloak, invisibility magics, and conjured mists, Fazzle managed to keep his true visage hidden from the city's population (who had mostly never seen Iuz close up in any case) for over a year, transforming Dorakaa into his own personal prison camp before he was exposed and slain in personal combat with the wizard Zargle.
"Once, this land was nearly mine. I held it in thrall and squeezed it tight. Nearly, nearly, was it mine. Then other forces rose up, conspired against me and broke my hold, but never, never have I forgotten. I pledged that I would return and take back what is mine." - the false Iuz, in Rose Estes' novel Master Wolf.
Of course, it was Rose Estes' intention that this was the true Iuz, but I believe that the mention of false Iuzes in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was a deliberate attempt to retcon that. If you assume the Iuz in that novel was an imposter (as Mika-oba himself suggests), the novel makes a lot more sense and could even be considered canon.
So here (with a proposed name of my own invention) is a possible history of this false Iuz.
Zargle Bloodrune: A human illusionist from the Bandit Kingdoms, Zargle was a member of Iuz's Lesser Boneheart in 505 CY, when his master unexpectedly vanished. After publicly unmasking and defeating the farastu Fazzle in 507 CY, he gained control over Dorokaa and Iuz's cult-in-absentia. Using his powers of illusion to take on Iuz's demonic guise and blood sacrifices from his fervent cultists, Zargle successfully impersonated the cambion for nearly a decade, using blood magic to augment his powers and retard his aging.
After shepherding Iuz's young cult from a disenchanted army to an institution in the North, Zargle was driven from power in 517 CY by Harguul, a nabassu demon who had originally been a minion of Pazuzu before he was lent by his master to serve in Iuz's armies. Since Iuz's disappearance, Harguul had roamed the North as a rogue, consuming souls and slowly building in power. With the aid of his growing cadre of ghoul minions and orc and human bootlicks, Harguul established a cult of his own. When he deemed the time right, Harguul and his cult moved brazenly into Dorakaa, and from the city's undercity he spread the word that Zargle was a false Iuz while Harguul was the true Iuz returned, gathering his faithful before he purged the city of the pretender. In Fireseek of 517 CY, Zargle fled the city after his inner circle of minions was decimated by fanatic assassins serving Harguul.
Zargle fled into the Howling Hills, where he built up a following among the local humanoids, particularly kobolds. From his base there (with alleged ventures into other planes of existence, where he gained the patronage of the demon Maelfesh) he prolonged his pathetic life by raiding the lands of the Wolf Nomads and brewing potions of longevity from the blood of his nomad victims. Later in the century, but prior to the return of the genuine Iuz in 570 CY, Zargle hatched a plan by which he hoped to gain enough power to regain control of Dorakaa and more besides. With the aid of a stone carved from the rare magical mineral dramadine and the blood of a virgin princess, he would grant himself immortality and the powers of a true demon. Unfortunately for him, the princess was not as she appeared, and he died from the magical feedback from a disrupted spell.
We have all heard the critiques. Lets talk about the positive aspects of the books. I've found that the books are rich for idea mining. The evil city of Exag, for example.
Master Wolf (Greyhawk Adventures, #3)
Published: 1987
The Price of Power (Greyhawk Adventures #4)
Published: 1987
The Demon Hand (Greyhawk Adventures, #5)
Published: 1988
The Name of the Game (Greyhawk Adventures, #6)
Published: 1988
Four books were written about the character Mika-Oba. Many people here will be familiar with the criticisms leveled against these books, but to me, they are the familiar tropes of the Sword & Sorcery (or Sword & Sandal) genre. I recently reread these novels. Great literature they are not, but nor are they as bad as has been claimed. For one, the writing is breezy and engaging. The character of Mika-Oba is basically that of a scoundrel that is selfish, but makes the right decision in the end. This is a common trope in this genre. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, for example.
Approaching a controversy obliquely, Mika-Oba's pet wolf is accused of sexual misconduct with a polymorphed princess. Can we all agree that a wolf doesn't have agency in this regard? And this event cleverly invalidated a human sacrifice of a human princess virgin.
Another critique is that the books are almost entirely non-canon and could not have occurred as shown. For one, Iuz gets killed by Mika-Oba at a time when Iuz was not on Oerth. While nothing can redeem the non-canon nature of these books, I did find an entertaining explanation of what happened by Rasgon (http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5625&highlight=).
Fazzle: One of the first fiends to claim dominion over Iuz's former lands was the farastu gehreleth Fazzle. After his shator master, who had ruled Kendragund in Iuz's name, was torn apart by babau, Fazzle hid in the dungeons beneath the castle until the other fiends departed the plane, at which point he emerged to take over. In early 506 CY, Fazzle led a pair of chimerae, a handful of hill giants, and nearly a hundred Urzun orcs to occupy Dorakaa. Enshrouding himself with a hooded cloak that concealed all of his body and face except for his long, terrible reddish claws, Fazzle announced to the cowed inhabitants of the city that he was Iuz returned. With the aid of his cloak, invisibility magics, and conjured mists, Fazzle managed to keep his true visage hidden from the city's population (who had mostly never seen Iuz close up in any case) for over a year, transforming Dorakaa into his own personal prison camp before he was exposed and slain in personal combat with the wizard Zargle.
"Once, this land was nearly mine. I held it in thrall and squeezed it tight. Nearly, nearly, was it mine. Then other forces rose up, conspired against me and broke my hold, but never, never have I forgotten. I pledged that I would return and take back what is mine." - the false Iuz, in Rose Estes' novel Master Wolf.
Of course, it was Rose Estes' intention that this was the true Iuz, but I believe that the mention of false Iuzes in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was a deliberate attempt to retcon that. If you assume the Iuz in that novel was an imposter (as Mika-oba himself suggests), the novel makes a lot more sense and could even be considered canon.
So here (with a proposed name of my own invention) is a possible history of this false Iuz.
Zargle Bloodrune: A human illusionist from the Bandit Kingdoms, Zargle was a member of Iuz's Lesser Boneheart in 505 CY, when his master unexpectedly vanished. After publicly unmasking and defeating the farastu Fazzle in 507 CY, he gained control over Dorokaa and Iuz's cult-in-absentia. Using his powers of illusion to take on Iuz's demonic guise and blood sacrifices from his fervent cultists, Zargle successfully impersonated the cambion for nearly a decade, using blood magic to augment his powers and retard his aging.
After shepherding Iuz's young cult from a disenchanted army to an institution in the North, Zargle was driven from power in 517 CY by Harguul, a nabassu demon who had originally been a minion of Pazuzu before he was lent by his master to serve in Iuz's armies. Since Iuz's disappearance, Harguul had roamed the North as a rogue, consuming souls and slowly building in power. With the aid of his growing cadre of ghoul minions and orc and human bootlicks, Harguul established a cult of his own. When he deemed the time right, Harguul and his cult moved brazenly into Dorakaa, and from the city's undercity he spread the word that Zargle was a false Iuz while Harguul was the true Iuz returned, gathering his faithful before he purged the city of the pretender. In Fireseek of 517 CY, Zargle fled the city after his inner circle of minions was decimated by fanatic assassins serving Harguul.
Zargle fled into the Howling Hills, where he built up a following among the local humanoids, particularly kobolds. From his base there (with alleged ventures into other planes of existence, where he gained the patronage of the demon Maelfesh) he prolonged his pathetic life by raiding the lands of the Wolf Nomads and brewing potions of longevity from the blood of his nomad victims. Later in the century, but prior to the return of the genuine Iuz in 570 CY, Zargle hatched a plan by which he hoped to gain enough power to regain control of Dorakaa and more besides. With the aid of a stone carved from the rare magical mineral dramadine and the blood of a virgin princess, he would grant himself immortality and the powers of a true demon. Unfortunately for him, the princess was not as she appeared, and he died from the magical feedback from a disrupted spell.
We have all heard the critiques. Lets talk about the positive aspects of the books. I've found that the books are rich for idea mining. The evil city of Exag, for example.