Noncanon:The Things You Know About Oerth

Credit to Purvis, Capntastic, and Priam. Written and assembled for a past Greyhawk game, and inspired by Unknown Armies.

• In Veluna, there is a tavern that has been closed for three years. Every third time Celene comes to first quarter, it attracts a clientele of phantoms from a future that no longer is

• Iuz isn't gone, he's hiding from the Sun. Sooner or later, it is going to come looking for him, if he is not found.

• Beory is a lie. The true spirit of Oerth was imprisoned by the Oeridians. Some of her essence has managed to escape, and manifests as a human woman, typically a whore, who reincarnates as a new person whenever slain. There is a cult who searches for each incarnation so it can be sacrificed.

• There's an island north of Dyvers where an old man lives. If given a chicken, he will slit its stomach, and read the future in its entrails. The exact opposite of his prophecy shall come true. One man has been prophecized to be the savior of all Oerth's oceans: He is no longer welcome in any port.

• If you dip the components of a magic missile spell in sea salt, the spell will ward off rogue elementals.

• Illusionists know the truth, all magic is an illusion! He who can disbelieve it will see that the Rain of Colorless Fire never happened, and the old empires still thrive beyond our senses.

• There is an order of monks in the Tilvanot Peninsula, who have been working to buy up or bankrupt as many cattle farmers as possible; no other livestock seems to interest them. No one knows why.

• Centaurs aren't actually a separate pepople, but the result of a knight cursed by Hextor. On the other side of the world, the rest of the knight and his mount can be found.

• Ever see a shooting star? Ever wonder who they're shooting at? Think about it the next time you see one fall.

• In Greyhawk City, there's an old law that says you must never step on a toad, on the pain of death. The ghost of the man who passed that law still enforces it.

• Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, Gnolls. Know why they all hate civilized peoples? Because we stole civilization from them. And we have to make sure they don't ever get it back.

• Ever hear of Kuo Toa? Fish men who live in the same caves the drow do. Know why they live there and not the sea? There's more than one kind of low tide, so to speak, and the drow better hope they can grow gills damned fast when it comes to high tide.

• There's no such thing as the opposite of a prophecy. What really happens is that existence is becoming disjointed from fate. If it stays that way, soon it will fade away.

• At the top of the world, you can find where the gods stopped creating Oerth, and always intended to return to it someday.

• The Lands of Iuz were built over the ruins of an empire forgotten by time. Why was it forgotten? Because it stood as such an affront against the powers that be that they struck it from history. But if you know how to read between the lines, you can still see it. Funny how Iuz suddenly vanished, isn't it?

• There's a town that got annexed by a hidden land, and faded from existence. The exports from there have become rare collectors items; some claim that new shipments come every now and again, but collectors destroy them to keep the market in their favor.

• Ever meet a master jeweler? Then you've met a master thief, too. They gather every seven years at a pub in Furyondy to discuss business.

• There's an island where all the light of the stars comes to rest after being shone. And on that island, there is a way to make sure that they will never shine again.

• Everyone knows that dryads live in trees. But they don't tell you what else lives in them for a very good reason.

• There's a reason why the sun is too bright to look at: we aren't meant to see what is in it.

• The center of the multiverse is a small well in Falwar. It is owned by a man named Raymond Barnes; and has always been since the city's founding. Those exploring the well say it is disappointingly small and dry.

• They say any rogue worth his salt can steal a hatpin from a duchess. Why? Because one time, a Rogue actually did it; and saved her from the were-slug curse on it.

• On a certain bulletin board in Niole Dra, a cartoon featuring the adventures of a woodsman have appeared for some decades. Despite the author's death and numerous negative attempts to check his grave and home for haunting, they keep coming.

• When you vibrate a string, it makes a certain tone. When you cut the string in half and vibrate it, the tone is exactly one octave higher. The same applies to string-theory; and that is where magic comes from. Do not trouble yourself by wondering where the other halves of the strings go, for what's done is done, and staring at halflings is impolite.

• One would not expect Drow to be proficient meteorologists; but this is just not true. Rain affects them much more than it does us, as trickle-down theory does not apply solely to economics.

• As the old saying goes; "a master miner can shatter the mountains, but a hired violinist can put them back together." It is not known why people say this, but is assumed to be derogatory to practitioners of both arts.

• Some people say there is a place where only shadows may go, and their owners are forced to follow their every move. They say it's possible for a shadow to have two owners there if it walks through crossed lights; just like you can have two shadows.

• They called it the Rain of Colorless Fire, and everyone knows rain pools up in in low places. That's why Valley Elves trust no one.