Chaos Gods of Greyhawk

The Warhammer Chaos Gods are directly inspired by the Lords of Chaos from Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion stories, including the Elric Saga. These, in turn, were also published in the D&D book Deities & Demigods.

These four demonic gods are Lords of Chaos within my homebrew Greyhawk campaign.

ARIOCH

Khorne (Blood God/War/Rage) is based on Arioch. In the Elric Saga, Arioch is the powerful Duke of Hell and a Lord of Chaos who acts as the patron deity of Elric’s kingdom, Melniboné. Elric often shouts “Blood and souls for my Lord Arioch!” which became the basis for the Khornate warcry “Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!”.

Mabelrode

Tzeentch (Changer of Ways/Change/Magic/Scheming) is largely inspired by Mabelrode. Tzeentch embodies infinite possibility and constantly shifts schemes and forms, mirroring the complex and often incomprehensible nature of some of Moorcock’s higher-level Chaos entities and the general concept of flux and sorcery.

Xiombarg

Slaanesh (Dark Prince/Excess/Pleasure/Pain) is linked to Xiombarg. Xiombarg is the Queen of the Swords and a powerful Lord of Chaos in the Corum series who enjoys a form of martial excess and can shapeshift.

Darnizhaan

Nurgle (Plague Lord/Pestilence/Decay) is associated with an interpretation of Arioch found in the Corum series, another Eternal Champion tale. Otherwise, Darnizhaan the Dead God might be a good analog. Nurgle represents the physical decay and the cycle of life and death, but in a corrupted form.

Greyhawk Genesis

December 28, 2025 0

BABA HELGA’S HILL

Umbrage Hill

Umbrage Hill is an ancient holy site dedicated to the Witch Goddess Wee Jass. The stone windmill and stone house on the hill are later additions, but are still more than a hundred years old.

Baba Helga, a solitary practitioner of the Witch’s Art dwelled here before passing it on to the monk named Ellaria. Baba Helga was a well respected midwife and apothecary best known for brewing healing potions crafted from the healing waters bubbling up beneath the hill in salt springs.

Locations on Map

2: The Windmill: The millstone on the ground floor is used to grind herbs and other ingredients for poultices and potions. There is a Brewing Lab on the second floor. The third floor is a loft where guests can stay.

8: The Stone Cottage: The cottage is much larger inside that out. Just one of Baba Helga’s enchantments. There is a secret passage that leads to the “middle 8” location on the map. Allows for quick entrance to the tunnels within the Hill.

6: Stairway: This stairway is hidden in the Windmill’s ground floor. There is a trap here that can be disabled and reset with a password that Ellaria knows. The staircase leads to the Small storage area featuring crates, chests, and barrels for the safe storage of herbs.

Ritual Room: Directly under the Windmill beneath the Stairway is a small chamber Baba Helga used for rituals and studying spells. It features an altar dedicated to Wee Jass.

Large Storage: Directly under the Cottage is a Large storage area complete with crates, strongboxes, and shelving.

13: The Deep Staircase: The door to this fortified stone staircase is trapped. It can be disabled and reset using a password that Ellaria knows. It leads down to a bubbling sand spring that Baba Helga claimed contained “healing waters.”

15: Crafting Room: This is the laboratory Babe Helga used to brew potions. This area can be used to utilize the downtime activity of making Healing Potions. However, due to the potent magic of Baba Helga, the time and coin usually spent to craft 1 Healing Potion will render 6 instead!

Greyhawk Genesis

December 28, 2025 0

THE KINGDOM OF NYROND

In CY 576, Nyrond is still considered one of the most stable and respectable Human kingdoms in the Flanaess. The elderly King Archbold III rules from Rel Mord with confidence rather than fear, and the realm has not yet been shattered by open war. On the surface, Nyrond appears prosperous, lawful, and well governed, but beneath that stability lies a growing tension between central authority and local power. The kingdom is expanding its bureaucracy, tightening its laws, and quietly increasing surveillance in the name of “preventing future unrest.

Relations with Urnst and cities like Nellix are cordial but cautious. Intelligence sharing already exists, framed as cooperation against banditry and foreign intrigue, but it also serves as quiet leverage. Evidence is exchanged selectively, truths are softened, and problems are often contained rather than solved. In CY 576, Nyrond still believes it is in control — which makes it dangerously unprepared for the enemy within.

While King Archibold III works with his allies in the Golden League to invade the Northern Kingdom of Aerdy, the Duchess of Woodwych, Verin Talnith, sets her eyes on the Duchy of Urnst.Woodwych lies in western Nyrond, close to the Urnst border, and that placement is exactly why it matters.

The Duchess of Nyrond takes a keen interest in Urnst because of its strategic position on Nyrond’s western border. She views Urnst as a buffer zone; controlling or influencing the city helps ensure that Nyrond’s western lands remain secure from banditry, rebellious nobles, or foreign agents. Its proximity to trade routes and border roads also makes it a natural point for monitoring traffic and securing intelligence about any disturbances in the region.

Yet her interest in Urnst goes beyond politics and trade; she has also set her sights on Mayor Andre Huffman as a means of influence. By cultivating a personal, possibly romantic relationship, she can subtly sway his decisions and use his loyalty to further Nyrondian goals without overtly deploying troops or spies. To the outside world, any attention she gives the mayor seems gracious or benign, but in truth it is calculated: every favor, every private meeting, every compliment is a thread in a web of influence.

December 22, 2025 0

THE EYE: WATCHDOGS

The Eye is a secretive organization in Nellix devoted to protecting and advancing the interests of the aristocratic nobles of Nelix’s Institute Hill district. Though its existence is officially unknown to the common folk of the city, it wields a quiet but powerful influence over the city’s political, economic, and social affairs. From the shadows, the Eye ensures that the noble families maintain their dominance, guarding their secrets, manipulating rivals, and subtly shaping events to their advantage. Unknown to even the most prominent nobles, the organization is ultimately controlled by a Beholder, who orchestrates its operations with a mix of intelligence, fear, and arcane precision.

The Eye specializes in gathering information, employing spies embedded in taverns, markets, guilds, and rival households. These agents report gossip, political maneuverings, and business dealings, while magical surveillance—ranging from scrying to enchanted trinkets—keeps the beholder informed of threats or opportunities. The organization excels at political manipulation, quietly influencing council votes, discrediting rivals, and orchestrating accidents or scandals that serve the nobles’ interests without leaving an obvious trace. Threats to the elite, whether assassins, kidnappers, or competing spies, are neutralized before they can cause harm, while false information and misdirection are deployed to mislead enemies.

Economic influence is another crucial aspect of the Eye’s operations. Its agents subtly control certain trades, black-market dealings, or city resources to benefit Institute Hill families, ensuring financial advantage without attracting public scrutiny. The organization also handles occult and magical operations, creating wards around estates, safeguarding sensitive archives, and using arcane methods to enforce obedience or eliminate threats. Its agents are pragmatically ruthless, guided more by the benefit to the aristocracy than any moral code.

Structurally, the Eye is divided into small, semi-independent cells that rarely know the full scope of the organization. Agents are marked by subtle symbols—an eye motif hidden in clothing or jewelry—that allow them to recognize one another while maintaining secrecy. Reports are carefully funneled upward through trusted lieutenants, minimizing risk to the beholder and the higher leadership. In public, the Eye has no discernible existence, often appearing as a charitable society, a social club, or a neighborhood watch, concealing its far-reaching operations. This mix of covert activity, political intrigue, and arcane oversight makes the Eye a formidable force in Nellix, shaping the city’s destiny from the shadows.

GROGNARD ALERT: Wee woo! Wee woo! Attention, attention. Yes, Xanathar is from Ed Greenwood’s Forgotten Realms setting. But I’ve chosen to lift him from that setting and drop him in my Greyhawk campaign. ‘Nuff said.

Greyhawk Genesis

December 21, 2025 0

BRIMSTONE CLUB

Crime Family

The Brimstone Club is a citywide Nellix network of criminals—cutpurses, loan sharks, killers, con artists, grave robbers, cat burglars, and more—all operating under the noses of the Watch and the Iron Fist by keeping their activities carefully concealed. The common citizens of the city often gossip about a “Secret Thieves Guild” never realising how accurate their speculation actually is in reality.

Each neighborhood in Nellix falls under the control of one or more kingpins, crime bosses who answer directly to the Club’s leader. These kingpins cultivate reputations as elite criminals, adopting striking nicknames and extravagant fashions. Beneath them, scores of lesser criminals ply their trade, with the most ruthless and capable earning favor and influence.

Some kingpins remain in the shadows, while others are openly recognized, especially in the Old City and The Island district. Citizens may seek a kingpin’s assistance—loans, protection, or justice against unauthorized crime—and these favors are meticulously tracked, often collected later with added interest.

Kingpins feud constantly, and territorial boundaries shift with the balance of power. As long as conflicts don’t disrupt Brimstone operations or attract the authorities, outsiders stay out of the way. Rumor has it that Straightstick, an Outer City kingpin, is calling in his favors to seize a foothold in the Lower City. Crossing the city wall is perilous, and those who watch from the shadows expect the ensuing clash to be bloody.

The Dark Secret

Only the Kingpins know fully why the crime network is called “Brimstone Club.” The Club is powerful and nearly untouchable due to a long history of Devil’s Deals and Infernal contracts.

Diabolical deals start with either the devil or the character broaching the subject and offering something. The terms of the deal require, at a minimum, the devil to offer a gift and the character to agree to a price. If the terms aren’t acceptable to either party, they can negotiate and try to sweeten the deal by offering more valuable terms, or simply walk away. Not every deal is meant to be.

The Club has traded the souls of its criminal members for vast influence, unmatchable sweeping power, and nearly untouchable political status in Nellix. Each Kingpin requires that their minions sign blood contracts to join the crime family. Some members assume these contracts are “spooky traditions” and others just simply don’t care if they must trade their soul for absolute power.

Nefarious kingpins whisper prayers to the Chaos gods when they seek to gain power through coercion, intimidation, and forceful exaction of the law. Gang leaders, evil mercenaries, and others who rely on fear and control, also pay homage to the brutality and tyranny.

While Brimstone occupies a prominent place in Nellix’s fears, their infernal dealings currently have only the shallowest roots in the city. Followers of Brimstone have done more to incite dread than faith in Nellix. As a result, their numbers remain relatively small within the much larger “traditional” gangs and crime families in the city. Their sinister reputations outstrip their actual influence, though, with gossip spreading quickly whenever the deities’ ominous symbols appear in graffiti or the Iron Fist cracks down on overzealous fanatics. Despite public fears and resistance from the City Watch, the Club persists, causing many to darkly wonder why the servants of Chaos hold such interest in Nellix.

Crime is a powerful force in the city. Fearsome creatures hunt along cobbled streets, and the worship of Chaos and Evil continues to rise.

Greyhawk Genesis

December 21, 2025 0

IRON FIST MERCENARY COMPANY

The Iron Pentagram symbol of this influential mercenary company has become emblematic of Institute Hill. The Council of Six funds the Iron Fist, supporting it as the city’s private army. Grand Duke Ulther Blackcrow is its undisputed leader.

The Iron Fist is a private security firm that contracts their highly trained officers to the estates and mansions of aristocratic nobles of Nellix’s wealthy neighborhood of Institute Hill.

The Fist largely patrols Northern Slums, paid handsomely to deal with the “scum and villainy” lingering in the poor neighborhood, though it holds ideal authority over Old City as well. The company has enough to do maintaining order within the city walls without straying too far from its gates, though the Fist has been known to hire independent agents when its ranks are spread thin.

A thousand soldiers currently serve in the Iron Fist: in Institute Hill. They offer employment and a sense of belonging to any who can lift a sword and follow orders. Native citizens, immigrants, former criminals, and retired adventurers can all be found within the company’s ranks.

Fist soldiers have the right to dispense immediate justice, should they witness a crime in progress. Minor crimes, such as creating a public disturbance, petty theft, or vandalism carry commensurate punishments. Time in the stocks, public humiliation, or a fine are the usual judgments.

These soldiers are infamous for their cruel, merciless brutality in enforcing the law. A Dead Criminal, they say, is a Good Criminal.

Ulther Blackcrow is the commander of this mercenary company. He is a fearless soldier who rose up through the ranks of the City Watch in his younger days to become its Watch Commander before his retirement about 10 years ago. Afterwards, Blackcrow used his influence to create the Mercenary Company. He persuaded the Parliament of Peers to back his business, contracting his soldiers to provide private security to Nellix that works parallel but separate from the City Watch.

Greyhawk Genesis

December 21, 2025 0

Port Nyanzaru

Nellix stands as one of the principal river ports of the Flanaess from which barges sail generally Southward through the Duchy of Urnst before joining the Selintan River to the west ultimately leading out to the Azure Sea. Along that distant coast, the jungle port of Amedio Harbor maintains a cautious but profitable trade compact with Nellix, the cities benefiting from the other’s reach and resources. This partnership is strengthened by a shared hostility toward the Sea Princes, whose raids, intrigues, and privateers plague merchants across the Azure Sea.

Beyond the river harbor, Nellix funds Fort Justice, a small but heavily fortified outpost used by merchant houses and mercenary companies to control exploration and quietly funnel rare jungle treasures north. These exotic goods, unseen elsewhere in the Flanaess, regularly appear in Nellix’s Institute Hill markets.

The river routes between Nellix and Hepmonaland are perilous, plagued by pirates, privateers, and lurking monsters.

At the end of the day, the Urnst River serves as an important trade and transportation route for the towns and settlements along its banks, linking the duchy’s interior to the Flanaess’ broader waterways.