The Wild Coast has always been a free-wheeling land of bandits, pirates, slavers and brutality.

It flourished on the borders of the wilderness and eventually the civilized world for a thousand years, until the Greyhawk Wars of 582 - 584 forced a change. The land is fertile, with ample rainfall and several small rivers running throughout it. Hunting is good year round, as is logging and there is plenty of stone to be had. While the Suss Forest, and to a lesser degree the Welkwood, are dark places filled with mystery and danger, the Wild Coast has its share of haunted ruins, strange occurrences and legends. The Wild Coast regioin has many parts that vary from nests of black-hearted bandits to nearly civilized, sociable places. Underlying this is a strong independent streak in the people and a general distrust of large government organizations. As of 595 CY, there isn`t open war on the southern frontier at the present time; the Orcish Empire of Pomarj is not showing signs expanding north. At most, small groups of humanoids will foray into the Domain of Greyhawk on basic raids of terror to keep the populace always thinking that the real army could be coming next. After eleven years of this pattern though, the locals have become accustomed to these raids and nearly treat them the same as the fox in the hen house. Thus, Greyhawk has not moved a large standing army into the Wild Coast since the majority of forces retreated in 586 CY at the demand of the citizens of Narwell as part of the Millennium Celebrations of the citys founding as Naers Well. The Directing Oligarchy of Greyhawk has left major garrisons Safeton and Narwell and can support them swiftly with marines and militia from Hardby. Virtually every able-bodied person in the Wild Coast has at hand a weapon of some sort and a scrap or two of armor and has received some training in their use. Still there is a corrosive fear in the Wild Coast among all but the most aggressive and evil of souls. A massive horde of humanoids lays a few leagues south and is ever present in the minds of the survivors of the original raids upon Badwall, Elredd, Fax and Cantona, now refugees barely eking an existence in the Wild Coast freelands. Most believe that these lands will eventually fall. This fear manifests in a variety of ways. Some people have fled the Wild Coast to one of the free cities to the north (Greyhawk, Dyvers, Verbobonc). Others grimly hang on, just hoping to see out their days before the end comes. Some are determined to stay put and kill as many orcs as they can when the day of reckoning comes. Still others have become even wilder than the name of the land suggests; drunkenness, debauchery and bullying have never exactly been alien to Wild Coast folk, but these problems are worse now more than ever. A few folk have become stirred to bravery, overcoming their fear, and now turn to militant faiths. Trithereon, Hextor, and other martial deities are respected and often revered; peaceable deities such as Rao have virtually no following and nature deities are likewise forgotten and neglected in most places except for Phyton in Narwell. The Wild Coast is a land of extremes, and polarization. There is true valor among some of its people, but there is also deceit, cowardice and backstabbing aplenty. There is little respect for property, given the fear of being conquered by an alien orcish horde, and in most places possession is ten-tenths of the law and might is right. These are not lands for the fainthearted. After the orcs invaded the southern cities of the Wild Coast in the spring of 584, fear

and paranoia took over the people of the land. The result was The Night of Terror, when every orc, half-orc, hobgoblin and half-ogre in Safeton, Narwell, Phlandish, Zulern and a dozen smaller towns was lynched, poisoned or burned alive out of fear they were Pomarjian spies. People do not speak of that night now, and if pressed for details may become hostile. There are very few civilized humanoids currently in the upper Wild Coast region with each one needing a sponsor. Most find this with the Greyhawk Merchants Guild as labourers. Safeton Safeton is the closer of the two major cities to the expanded Pomarj Empire. It has a population of 5,500. Fishing, trade, laboring, quarrying and mercantile seamanship are all sources of income here, but life is hard for most. The city has an atmosphere of paranoia and fear. It is subject to military rule by 550 Greyhawk militiamen, with nighttime curfews outside the notorious Dock District (which is patrolled by Hardby Marines, not the militia). Three war galleys are stationed at Safeton, and the Marines are training Safeton men in the hard military duties expected of them under the new conscription law. Life is tough and bloody here; many of the native folk are of evil alignment and some of them are as brutal as any orc. Most of the mercantile survivors of Fax and Elredd reside in Safeton attempting to maintain their holdings as best as they can. Safeton`s defenses are being strengthened as a matter of priority. A complete wooden stockade wall has been erected and within that a stone wall is being built with two massive entry gates. Sea defenses are strong but the land threat is the greatest, so work continues at all hours. Slaves were once the norm in Safeton with many being sold to the infamous Slave Lords of the preOrcish Empire Pomarj, a horrible irony. Greyhawk law does not allow slavery so the slaves have been freed as work-house billeted people for essential construction work that assures that Safeton will be able to resist the initial attack of any humanoid force. Narwell Narwell is farther from the Orcish Empire than Safeton and this city has a different atmosphere. It is less metropolitan than Safeton (population 4,200) with more open space and bordering farmlands. Its only stone wall surrounds the Barons keep while a wooden stockade was just finished to surround the remaining core buildings of the town. While Safeton is brute force and strength, Narwell is a subtler, wilier kind of city. Narwell would keep most paladins very busy bringing light to the darkness but most evil doers tend to be pickpockets and con men. Narwell is jointly administered by its hereditary ruler, Baron Janstin, and Captain Rupert Nenshen of Greyhawk. Law here is not as strict as in Safeton; there is conscription for example, but no curfews. The Temple of Trithereons followers, particulary a band known as the Shining Spears, patrols the city and maintains order better than Barons own Town Watch. Never less, protection rackets abound in the city with concern that the Greyhawk militia may have brought more than fighting men to Narwell. Narwell has always been a popular launch spot for expeditions to the eastern Kron Hills and Welkwood in search of ancient ruins. Aside from the Suloise ruins rumoured in the Welkwood, there a tales of a massive city of the ancient Flan that hold artifacts of great power. It is believed

that the citys founder, Naer a priest of Phyton, found an ancient Flan well of magical properties that is now hidden in the basement of the Phyton temple. Indeed, its rare for anyone in Narwell to not stumble upon some evidence of prior civilizations anytime a hole is dug to a depth of ten feet. In fact, one crypt with some rather irked denizens oozing green worms did not appreciate the placement of a wall towers foundation during the raising of the wood stockade. The sons of Kyuss were destroyed but murmurs of the coming Age of Worms has only become louder in some religious circles.