TEXT:  
  Recent History of the Grand Duchy of Geoff 
   
   
   
  Mountains heavy with inhuman evil   
  Birthed death and ruin on green lands below. 
  Old alliances withered in the fires of war;  
  Stone walls could not staunch the tide of woe. 
   
  Homeless and hopeless, we suffered through winter  
  as few returned to help those left behind. 
  The sun grew dark; our cause seemed lost 
  And we prayed for the gods to send us a sign. 
   
  Stubborn wounds resisted time’s healing balm 
  and the war horns heralded giants’ defeat. 
  Dearly bought land brought some exiles home 
  but the crusade mired before it was complete. 
   
  The deadly game of princes brought new dangers 
  and a ruthless tyrant would force us to kneel. 
  As his mailed fist tightened in a strangling grip. 
  We responded with defiance and out-drawn steel. 
   
  Peacemakers forced a truce that resolved nothing 
  and Duke prepared a long-sought homecoming. 
   
   
   
   
  --- Rhys of the Ash 
   
   
  Rhys of the Ash, one of the greatest of all the prydythi of Gyruff, wrote those words over three 
  years ago, in 591 CY.  He wished to tell the tale of what had come to pass in the previous eight 
  years.  Rhys is no longer among us, but I can remember his words as if I heard them just 
  yesterday… 
   
   
  The Fall of Gyruff, as told by Rhys of the Ash to Morwenna the Fair:   
   
  It’s been a disastrous and woe-filled eight years.  Sit, sit.  If you want to know the story, we must 
  do it proper.  I won’t begin this tale with “once upon a time,” because I know exactly when it 
  starts.  At the celebration of Brewfest in the 2733rd year since the Stone Pillars were raised (what 
  other people call Flan Tracking) or Common Year 583.  The year the giants came down. 
   
  Peace faded with the summer season, and the mountains heavy with inhuman evil – CY 583 
   
  
  I have to admit that I was not at the Duke’s celebration at his palace.  I was in Preston at the 
  time, but I heard enough to know what happened.  In the middle of the festivities, the Green Man 
  appeared, proclaimed that a winter would fall over the land for half a score years, and promptly 
  disappeared.  For you outlanders, the Green Man is the personification of the land of Gyruff.  He 
  features prominently in many of our legends and myths. 
   
  In days, word came that a large force of giants, ogres, and orcs was preparing to invade from the 
  mountains.  I doubt anyone would have believed this was possible, if a group of heroes didn’t 
  bring back the detailed plans of the invasion.  Giants raid and pillage, but they don’t organize, 
  and they certainly don’t form armies. 
   
  Birthed death upon the land below, bringing flame, death, and ruin – CY 583 
   
  By the end of  Patchwall, any doubts that Geoff was in dire peril were laid to rest as the hastily 
  assembled army of Geoff met the giants and their allies at the horrific Battle of Pest’s Crossing 
  in the western meadow lands.  The giants had brought a surprise with them – eight large statutes, 
  carved to resemble giants.  These big, stone constructs were capable of absorbing divine and 
  arcane magic and spitting back lightning at the befuddled spell caster.  Grand Duke Owen called 
  on every hero in Geoff to destroy these things the evening before the battle.  Six bands were 
  successful, but two were not and the statutes survived for the battle the next day, foiling much of 
  our spell casting advantage. 
   
  The army of Geoff fought well and honorably but was forced to retreat in the face of massive 
  force wielded by the frost and fire giants.  Knowing that we could not stand against such 
  overwhelming odds alone, Grand Duke Owen sent pleas for aid to the court of the Dwarven 
  Thane of Three Holds in the Crystalmists and to the court of the Wood Elven Prince in the Dim 
  Forest.  Called on again to see the message through, the heroes left Gorna and traveled into the 
  mountains and into the forests, as Tikatown was overrun and burned. 
   
  Old alliances withered in the fires of war that ravaged our once fair land, – CY 583  
   
  But aid was not forthcoming.  The dwarven thane had died days before Duke Owen’s message 
  arrived, and the dwarves refused to send help until a new thane was chosen.  Buggers.  The elves 
  may have been more willing, but a horrific shadow beast descended into the very heart of the city 
  of Derelion.  This creature slew all before it – elf, and human alike.  Many of the greatest of 
  Geoff’s heroes died under the branches, as the shadow ate their life. 
   
  Panic and confusion set in, as West Town and Pregmere fell to the giants.  Like most Gyric 
  settlements, neither town was walled and could not stand against the onslaught.  West Town was 
  especially hard hit as the giants cut off the retreat of the residents.  The giants ate long and well 
  on the inhabitants at what some are calling the West Town Cookfires.  Maybe one in four of 
  West Town’s inhabitants escaped the horrific feast.  I hope that the giants pay for their little 
  feast. 
   
  
  Oytmeet successfully resisted for a time when they collapsed the bridges across the Oyt River.  
  But the giants filled in the river with large stones until they could walk across it.  The Gyri fled 
  south, but many were captured and their fates were all too predictable. 
   
  And mighty walls and tall towers could not staunch the tide of darkness – CY 583 
   
  The stone walls of Gorna held the horde at bay for most of Ready’reat, as Grand Duke Owen 
  prepared a desperate last stand.  But on the night before the attack, an assassin attempted to take 
  the life of the Grand Duke.  He was grievously injured, and many people speculated that he was 
  dead.  Attentions were distracted from this foul deed when, within an hour, the giants attacked.  
  The army of Geoff and the heroes summoned by the Grand Duke fought a bloody battle through 
  the streets of Geoff against the hordes.  But little by little, they were forced to give way and 
  retreat to the South Gate. 
   
  The heroes of Geoff stood their ground at the South Gate to give the remaining civilians a chance 
  to flee the falling city.  Their courage was holding the giants at bay just nicely, when the Duke’s 
  Cavalry that was holding the outside of the South Gate pulled out of the melee and rode 
  westward.  No one knows why or where they went, but they doomed those inside the gate, as the 
  giants closed around the heroes, sealing the South Gate.  Cut off in all directions, the heroes fell 
  one by one by one, fighting bravely to the last, as they collapsed under the weight of giant clubs, 
  swords, and axes.   
   
  A few were able to survive.  Only Pelor in the Heavens knows how.  These joined the refugees 
  who were using giant wagons to carry the wounded and infirm to travel east toward Hochoch.  A 
  large contingent of Longbowmen of Geoff fled west to the Hornwood.  They purposefully drew 
  hundreds of giants after them.  There losses were staggering and the Longbowmen were 
  decimated by the time they reached to forest.  The Rangers of Geoff guided groups of refugees 
  around giant search parties until they reached the Javan River and crossed to the opposite bank.   
   
  Several thousand refugees fleeing south from Midtown were not so lucky.  They were caught by 
  several parties of verbeeg giants at Hynwist’s Ford near Preston, where they were massacred 
  from the oldest man to the youngest infant.  The Javan River was tinged with red for a week 
  following the catastrophe. 
   
  Hochoch fell by year’s end.  Traps, ambushes, and lightning strikes by the Griffon Guard, the 
  Longbowmen of Geoff, and the Rangers of Geoff slowed the giant’s advance to a crawl.  By the 
  time, they arrived at Hochoch, the city was empty and the citizens evacuated through the swamps 
  into the Gran March.  The soft ground of the fens confounded the giants, and their progress 
  stopped. 
   
  Homeless and hopeless, we waited through the Winter of Wanting – CY 584. 
   
  Never was Needfest more aptly named, that in CY 584.  The surviving Gyri counted our dead 
  and our wounded.  Our nation was little more than landless vagrants.  Some few were able to 
  escape with their belongings, but more had little more than the clothes on their back.  With Duke 
  Owen grievously injured, and the army shattered, only the presence of the surviving heroes of 
  
  Geoff, and the handful of lords – Lady Blackblade and Lord Lea among them, kept our people 
  from despairing.   
   
  The Gran March allowed us to spend the winter on their western borders.  Commandant Magnus 
  Vrianian and many churches brought food and clothing to us, but there were thousands of Gyri 
  and never enough food.  The nights were long and the cold as sharp as the hunger pains. 
   
  With the coming of spring came renewed activity.  Duke Owen was taken into seclusion in 
  Shilobeth, in the Gran March.  Chancellor Galimar Withington acted as regent in the Court of 
  Geoff in Exile for the absent Grand Duke. 
   
  A strange change had befallen Lady Blackblade over the winter.  She had been a paladin before 
  the invasion, but now she had taken a vow of humility and left the warrior path, refusing to wear 
  even a dagger.  She turned her skills to diplomacy and began lobbying Keoland and the Gran 
  March for money, troops, and food to help the landless Gyri. 
   
  A few returned to our homeland to help those who were left behind – CY 584 
   
  As the snows melted, Lord Lea announced his intentions to go back to Geoff to rescue anyone he 
  could from slavery and the giant’s cookpots.  Many denounced it as foolishness, but Lea stated 
  that he was going – alone if he had to.  As he began walking back toward Geoff, many heroes 
  joined him, include the entirety of the surviving Rangers of Geoff.  I sent one of my younger and 
  eager scops with them.  I’d just slow them down, but someone should be there to see this tale. 
   
  Spring gave way to summer and Withington’s and Blackblade’s diplomacy paid off.  The 
  refugees from Geoff were offered land in the Gran March by Commandant Vrianian.  The land 
  was offered free of charge but was scattered throughout the March.  Not wanting to face another 
  winter like the last one, some Gyri took up the offer and scattered through the Marcher lands.  
  We would find out later that there were strings attached to this generosity.  Most Gyri stayed on 
  the border in the camps, where they had planted small gardens and were hunting game for food.  
  I stayed there with them, waiting for a chance to go home. 
   
  In the late summer, Cuthalion Strongbow returned with word that Lea and the other rangers had 
  made contact with the elves in the Dim Forest.  The wood elves were hurt and had been driven 
  from their greatest city Derelion, but they still had possession of many of their small villages in 
  the southern and eastern forest.  The elves in the Oytwood and the Hornwood were still present 
  to some extent, but were in sore need of help.  Strongbow said that the three kins of the elves 
  were bickering over where to concentrate their resources. 
   
  The first of the freed captives arrived in the Gran March in the autumn.  Several rangers guided 
  them through the marshes.  They carried news that the frost giants had returned to their homes in 
  the mountains in the spring of CY 584.  Lea and the rangers remained in the Dim Forest 
  continuing their missions. 
   
  While fickle fate toyed with us through a year of mixed blessings – CY 585 
   
  
  Due to heavy lobbying from Sterich knights and the lords of Keoland, the Knights of the Watch 
  decided to focus their spring campaign on Sterich. This was devastating news for us, as Geoff 
  would not be liberated this year, or maybe even the next.  The Gyri living in the camps were 
  heartbroken.   
   
  A sizable group within the Knights of the Watch disagreed strongly with the decision to focus on 
  Geoff first.  This group split from the Knight of the Watch to form the Knights from the 
  Dispatch.  This Dispatch refused to attend the Knights of the Watch’s annual meeting and instead 
  began laying plans for a campaign into Geoff. 
   
  Proceeding without the dissident Knights of the Dispatch, the Knights of the Watch determined 
  strategy at their annual meeting.  In the early summer, the knights crossed the Javan River and 
  began the re-conquest of Sterich. 
   
  Lea’s men escorted several hundred more freed captives to the camps.  Very few were young 
  children though.  The former captives reported that the ogres and giants had a sweet tooth for the 
  young.   Also, the elves were feuding among themselves and getting messages to the king of the 
  high elves in the Hornwood was very difficult. 
   
  That summer, the Gran March informed the Gyri who settled among them that they would be 
  required to join the Marcher army and swear fealty to the Commandant.  Withington and the 
  Geoffian nobles were outraged by this demand, but Commandant Vrianian remained firm, stating 
  that all Marchers are required to serve, why should the Gyri be different?  The Geoffite settlers 
  were upset by this turn of events, and some left their new lands and moved back to the refugee 
  camps.  Other agreed to the conditions. 
   
  Lady Blackblade met with another tremendous success when King Kimbertos Skotti of Keoland 
  permitted us to settle in villages along his northern border under our own leadership.  I think he 
  did so to ease a guilty conscious for looking to Sterich first.  He did not require oaths of fealty 
  from the Gyri.  Rather he asked for simple vows to maintain the peace and to come to the 
  assistance of the Keoish to defend the land. 
   
  Word arrived with another group of freed captives that the elven kins had sundered.  After 
  months of silence, a message arrived in the Dim Forest from the high elven king that he would 
  not be able to assist either the grey elves of the Oytwood or the wood elves of the Dim Forest.  
  “When the palace is burning, you cannot look after a stable,” the high king wrote.  The grey 
  elves and wood elves renounced their fealty within days of receiving the note.  I must say that I 
  am deeply troubled by this.  I have never heard of the elves making such a grave decision so 
  quickly. 
   
  After the harvest, the refugees left the camps that had been their home for nearly two years and 
  headed south to the Keoland.  More food and supplies arrived thanks to the efforts of Lady 
  Blackblade.  Life was not unbearable as it was the first winter, but neither was it particularly 
  pleasant.  The year ended with many Gyri dreaming of home. 
   
  The ram’s horns heralded battled anew, and we carved a foothold in our homeland – CY 586 
  
   
  In the spring of CY 586, more freed captives arrived at the new villages in northern Keoland.  
  Because of the assistance of several wizards, the rangers were having remarkable success in 
  distracting the giants and their allies long enough to break the captives lose.  So successful, that 
  the giants were starting to put leg irons on the captives or maiming them, so that they could not 
  walk.  These measures by the giants substantially reduced the number of slaves freed by the 
  Rangers.  It’s hard to make an escape when you are dragging 20 pounds of iron. 
   
  Disagreements continued between the grey elves and the wood elves on where to place their 
  scant forces now that the high king had forsaken them.  The grey elves sought more assistance 
  since the humans in the Dim Forest are helping the wood elves.  However, the wood elves were 
  unwilling to reduce their forces to send aid to the Oytwood.  Their long years certainly didn’t 
  give them great wisdom, because the elves quarrel as much as we humans do.  It would be funny 
  if it wasn’t so tragic. 
   
  The Knights of the Dispatch and the Gran March began a campaign into southeastern Geoff.  
  The rangers of Geoff had been providing scouting and logistical information to the forces.  
  Advancing through the Rushmoors, they encountered orc border patrols and ogres manning 
  crude forts.  The Knights carved through the outer defenses and the infantry from the Gran 
  March occupied and solidified human control of the liberated lands. 
   
  By Flocktime, the Knights of the Dispatch had arrived at the town of Hochoch and began to lay 
  siege to the town.  Many hill giants and ogres, commanded by ogre magi, held the city against 
  the human forces.  The knights brought many priests of St. Cuthbert, Pelor, Trithereon, and 
  Mayaheine to counter the spell casting of the ogre magi. 
   
  A relief force of giants was ambushed on their way to reinforce Hochoch by a large force of 
  Gyri.  With the Rangers of Geoff forming the backbone, survivors from the army of Geoff and 
  the Longbowmen struck the unprepared giant column hard and fast.  The Magus Aedan used 
  devastating spells against the giants while the Maga Elspeth animated their corpses and turned 
  them on their foes.  The tide of battle quickly turned when the rear guard and vanguard turned on 
  the tattered Gyric forces.  The Gyric lines broke, and Aedan was slain as he stood his ground 
  casting spell upon spell to cover the retreat of the Gyri.   
   
  When word of the heavily damaged relief force reached the giant’s allies in Hochoch, the ogre 
  magi panicked and fled the city as the human forces began a fierce assault.  The giants and ogres 
  fell back from the walls and began to rout.  When they monsters fled the city to the west, 
  mounted crossbowmen from the Gran March rode them down and slaughtered them one by one. 
   
  Following the Siege of Hochoch, the Knights of the Dispatch began rooting out any remaining 
  strongholds of the giants south of the Dim Forest and east of the Oytwood.  The massacre of 
  their fellows at Hochoch made the humanoids and giant-kin desperate and savage fighters as they 
  fought without hope of retreat.  The Knights took heavy losses, but by the end of the year, the 
  Knights were successful.   The forces of the Gran March continued occupying the surrounding 
  countryside and refortified the town of Hochoch. 
   
  
  When word of the successful Siege of Hochoch reached the Gyri in Keoland and the Gran March 
  in Reaping and Goodmonth, some of the refugees began returning to southeastern Geoff, while 
  others remained in Keoland or the Gran March.  I chose to return. 
   
  Strife took its toll as old friends were lost but old friends were found – CY 586-587 
   
  The good news of the victory at Hochoch was dampened, when, in Harvester, the grey elf 
  diplomats suddenly broke off talks with Dim Forest wood elves and returned to the Oytwood.  
  Frustration had been mounting for some time, and the kins were already on edge and stretched to 
  the breaking point.  The wood elves refused to discuss what cause the final rupture and the grey 
  elves ignored all messages from the humans. 
   
  The festivities of Needfest in CY 587 were punctuated by the appearance of Grand Duke Owen 
  at the court of Commandant Vrianian.  The Duke had been absent from the Court of Geoff in 
  Exile, and many have whispered that he had died.  His survival encouraged the Gyri to hope that 
  Geoff would soon be liberated. 
   
  The trickle of refugees from Gran March and Keoland became a flood in the spring.  The small 
  town of Hochoch was filled, and the new arrivals spilled out into shacks and tents that soon 
  surrounded the city.  Priests to Trithereon, St. Cuthbert and Mayaheine established temples in the 
  town. 
   
  Never quite recovering from the death of Aedan, an aging Lea returned to liberated town of 
  Hochoch in the fall of 587 to a warm welcome by the Gyri.  He left day to day command of the 
  Rangers of Geoff to Lily Gellsblood, while he concentrated on recruitment and strategy. 
   
  Some saviors lost their zeal and showed a tyrant’s face beneath a guise of friend – CY 587-588 
   
  The rangers of Geoff and the surviving Longbowmen of Geoff maintained a fierce border war 
  with the giant-occupied lands.  They made no headway, but prevented the giants from raiding 
  deep into the liberated lands. 
    
  At Richfest, the Marshal of the Gran March forces in Hochoch, declared the city and its 
  surrounding lands a “protectorate” until Geoff could be restored.  His soldiers and the Knights of 
  the Dispatch had governed the town through martial law since the siege anyway, but the nobles 
  of Geoff present in Hochoch were upset about this turn of events, as they had no say in the new 
  government.  Angry letters were sent to Withington and the Court of Geoff in Exile. 
   
  In the spring of CY 588, the Marshal of the Gran March ordered the construction of wooden forts 
  along the border of the liberated lands.  The Gyri were unhappy with this action as it is seen as a 
  sign that the Gran March was just entrenching its position and not working to free Geoff.  The 
  Marshal used his forces to suppress a few riots among the residents of Lean-to Town and 
  Hutville, outside of Hochoch. 
   
  The humans weren’t the only ones upset.  The Marchers began timbering the Dim Forest and the 
  Oytwood for their fortresses and roads.  The grey elves of the Oytwood sent a terse message to 
  
  the Marshal that the grey elves had long memory and remember his ancestors.  They ordered the 
  Marshal to stop the timbering or they would stop it for him.  Incensed, the Marshal called their 
  bluff, which turned out not to be a bluff at all.  The grey elves closed their borders and laid 
  deadly traps for any woodcutters.  If the traps didn’t kill the trespassers then the elves hunted and 
  killed anyone they considered “invaders.” 
   
  But others pressed on and found that the allies can be found were least expected – CY 588 
   
  In the month of Planting, the Knights of the Dispatch entered the Stark Mounds, where they find 
  a strong and organized gnome resistance, which had literally gone underground.  Delighted at the 
  Knights’ presence, the gnomes boiled up from the ground and began attacking the giants and 
  their allies with a ferocity seldom seen in the Glitter Folk.  The Knights and gnomes make short 
  work of the giants and had pushed them out by the end of summer.  The exhausted Knights fell 
  back to Hochoch after the campaign to rest and recuperate. 
   
  The druids of Beory, Obad-hai, and Ehlonna re-established their groves and shrines in and 
  around Hochoch.  There was much damage from the invasion, but the three orders of druids did 
  not balk at the task before them.  The greatest task was to upright the ring of standing stones 
  known as Beory’s Teeth. 
   
  Foreign affairs were murky waters for our weakened land – CY 588-589 
   
  For the first time since the fall of Gorna, Lady Blackblade attended to the Grand Duke at his 
  Court in Exile in Shilobeth.  Though the summer and autumn she was so often in Owen’s 
  presence that tongues began to wag of a romantic link.  These same tongues noted that 
  Chancellor Withington’s influence waned as Blackblade’s grew. 
   
  Although it faltered several times, the campaign to reclaim Sterich by the Knights of the Watch 
  concluded successfully.  Istivin was liberated, and the last giants were pushed back into the 
  mountains. 
   
  The continued silence from the dwarves started raise concern among many in the Court of Geoff 
  in Exile.  It had been six long years, and we hadn’t even received word if the clans had chosen a 
  new Thane  
   
  In the middle of Fireseek CY 589, Commandant Vrianian appointed Karl Neumann as 
  provisional governor to oversee Hochoch and the liberated lands of Geoff.  Vrianian assured 
  Owen that the measure was temporary, and the governor’s mission was to rebuild enough for the 
  Grand Duke to reassume control. 
   
  The alliance of the Knights of the Watch, the Kingdom of Keoland, and the original lords of the 
  Sterich started to unravel as human control of the earldom is solidified.  The three groups began 
  to fight among themselves as mercenaries wanted paid, minor nobles of Keoland and officers of 
  the Watch wanted land, and the original lords of Sterich wished to return everything to the way it 
  was.  
   
  
  The tyrant’s iron-grip tightened on our stricken people – CY 589 
   
  Shortly after arriving in Hochoch in Coldeven, Govenor Neumann declared that March law 
  would be official within the protectorate and decreed that Geoff law would be deemed 
  “advisory.”  Geoff law is built on customs and traditions, while Marcher law is codified and is 
  long and dense.  Furthermore, he began to appoint Marchers to key posts as judges, tax 
  collectors, administrators, as well as awarding them key holdings, like mills, mines, and tracts of 
  fertile land. 
   
  The Marcher favoritism caused the Gyri in Hochoch became restless, and a few small riots broke 
  out.  The nobles of Geoff were particularly outspoken in their discontent, because the right of the 
  Gyric nobles to dispense justice was time-honored.  Together, they wrote a petition to the 
  Commandant asking for a Gyri to be appointed governor, as well as asking Duke Owen to 
  intervene. 
   
  Duke Owen made this request and was denied by Commandant Vrianian, who stated that the 
  liberation of Geoff would begin soon, and he needed as efficient a structure as possible to plan 
  the campaign.  Having two different command staffs could lead to disaster.  Duke Owen seemed 
  to accept this answer.  Lady Blackblade did not and spoke out openly against the Commandant.  
  In a fit of temper, she compared the Gran March to a carrion bird who was finishing off what the 
  giants had started.  While this was not said to the Commandant’s face, many courtiers over-heard 
  the comment. 
   
  The foolishness of enforcing Marcher law became apparent, when Governor Neumann started 
  arresting dissidents in Flocktime for violating various March laws that were completely unknown 
  to the Gyri.  Another set of riots ensued, which were put down by the Marcher military.  The 
  Knights of the Dispatch protested the governor’s actions, but Neumann did little but reassures 
  them that it was necessary to keep the peace. 
   
  Who struggled valiantly against the foreign oppression – CY 589  
   
  At Lady Blackblade’s urgings, the Rangers of Geoff began scouting missions into the giant 
  controlled portions of Geoff in Wealsun.  Very few forays had been made since the Knights of 
  the Dispatch had freed Hochoch and driven the giants across the Javan River. 
   
  Governor Neumann announced that as part of the Gran March, all able-bodied males must enlist 
  in the Marcher military.  Military service in the Gran March army carries with it an oath of 
  loyalty to the Commandant and to the Gran March.  The Gyric nobles in Hochoch protested this 
  action in person, only to find Neumann accusing them of sedition.   He demanded that the nobles 
  swear fealty to the Commandant and the Gran March.  Lea and the rest refused.  Lea stated he 
  had already sworn one oath to Grand Duke Owen and that a second one would be one too many.  
  Why did Neumann allow Lea and the number to leave that chamber alive?  I figure that the 
  governor was a bit afraid to use force against someone who had fought so long against the giants.  
  Or maybe Neumann didn’t want to provoke a general rebellion by imprisoning the Gyric nobles.       
   
  
  At about the same time, an unknown assailant attempted to assassinate Lady Blackblade at the 
  Commandant’s court in Shiboleth.  She miraculously survived the encounter, even though she 
  refused to fight the killer, who disappeared into the night when the guards arrived.  Who hired 
  the assassin was never uncovered. 
   
  Alarmed at the growing strength of the Gran March in Hochoch and Neumann’s personal 
  hostility toward him, Lea left the city and began traveling between the small Gyric villages and 
  the elven villages in the Dim Forest.  Prevented by age and old wounds from joining the daily 
  fight against the giants, Lea spent his days bringing hope and encouragement to the Gyri.  
   
  As the Gran March moved more troops into Hochoch to enforce the draft, swelling their forces to 
  5,000, the Gyri began leaving the town and moving to isolated villages and rebuilding steadings 
  and crofts, similar to what they lived in before the invasion. Others moved north into the Dim 
  Forest and lived with the elves there.  The Gyri who remained in Hochoch noticed that the word 
  “provisional” had been dropped from the governor’s title. 
   
  And responded with stubborn defiance and drawn blades – CY 589-590  
   
  With minimal warning, Grand Duke Owen thanked Commandant Vrianian for his hospitality and 
  announced that the Court of Geoff in Exile would be moving to Noile Dra in Keoland before the 
  end of the week.   Owen stated that six years was too long to impose on a host and that he would 
  now burden King Skotti with his presence for a time.  Diplomats read much into this departure, 
  but Vrianian took no action to stop Owen, as he set out for the south. 
   
  The spring of CY 590 came to Geoff at the same time a rumor did.  Whispered words spread 
  through Hochoch that the Gran March was going to annex the town and make it a barony.  An 
  ugly mood in town simmered, as the months slipped away and Governor Neumann and the Gran 
  March forces made no attempt to begin a campaign against the giants.   
   
  The tension snapped in Flocktime when word arrived that Vrianian had ordered a road built 
  through the marshes from Buxton's Crossing to Hochoch.    The Gyri rose in revolt in Hochoch, 
  which spread through Hutville and Lean-to Town.  Soon the stubborn streak in the Gyri asserted 
  itself and the outlying villages expelled their Marcher overlords and soldiers.  The Neumann 
  suppressed revolt inside of Hochoch, but the Knights of the Dispatch prevented punitive 
  expeditions against the remote villages by intervening and blocking the Marcher regiments 
  passage on the roads. 
   
  Peacemakers forged a weary truce that resolves naught – CY 590 
   
  The Knights of the Dispatch acted as peacemakers when the passion on both sides cooled.  A 
  true peace was not made, as Neumann would accept nothing less than a Gyric surrender to his 
  authority, and the Gyri would accept nothing less than the removal of the Marcher government.  
  Both sides pledged to cease fighting and uneasy truce arose in late Wealsun, overseen by the 
  Knights of the Dispatch.  Regardless of the truce, Neumann accused Lea of masterminding the 
  rebellion and ordered him arrested on charges of treason. 
   
  
  In Reaping, Withington left Owen’s Court in Exile in Niole Dra to be the Brenin’s representative 
  in the Gran March.  Withington’s position in court had seriously eroded at the court to the point 
  that some called this appointment more a banishment than an assignment. 
   
  As our long-awaited rightful ruler prepares a home-coming – CY 591. 
   
  This brings us to CY 591, the current year.  At Needfest, Owen declared that he intended to 
  return to Geoff within the year.  The Court in Exile was elated.  Even Lady Blackblade was seen 
  to be weeping.   
   
  I was overjoyed at the news that we would be going home soon, but I am concerned.  The Gran 
  March may not be willing to give up its hold on Hochoch and southeast Geoff, the giants are not 
  driven from our land, and the grey elves have closed their forest to all outsiders. 
   
  Home will look very different now than it did eight years ago… 
   
  Here ends Rhys of the Ash’s Tale of the Fall of Geoff and the Years of Exile. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Living Greyhawk/Metaorg Material/Geoff/History and Geography/The Fall of Geoff and Years of Exile.pdf