Gwylloch Cymrych was High King of the Moonshae Isles in the late 3rd century DR.[1] He was famed as the homicidal builder of the gruesome Castle of Skulls.[1][2][3]
Relationships[]
He was a member of the Cymrych Dynasty and the grandson of the dynasty’s legendary namesake, Cymrych Hugh. He was the eldest son of his predecessor, High King Carrig I. His successor was his younger brother, Gorham Cymrych.[1]
Gwylloch had at least two sons: Ketheryll, the elder son, and Markus, his second son.[1][2] Markus would go on to become High King after Gorham.[1]
History[]
Gwylloch assumed the throne of the High King in the Year of the Warped Narthex, 287 DR, after his father died in battle against the Northmen.[1] He continued fighting the Northmen, and was an avid practitioner of a Ffolk tradition of collecting the severed heads of his enemies. By the Year of the Waking Dreams, 289 DR, his collection of enemy skulls had become so vast that he used them to construct a palace for himself: the Castle of Skulls. He was so impressed with this construction that he relocated his retainers and courtesans to this castle.[2][3]
Over the next several years, he launched numerous expeditions against the Northmen, collecting more skulls as well as captives to be killed in his "Circus Bizarre" arena.[2] He also warred with any lords of the Ffolk who resisted his authority,[3] and in the Year of the Wrathful Revenant, 295 DR, King Durnhal and Queen Morgan of Corwell were accused of treason against him, and were put to death by his son, Prince Ketheryll.[2]
Ultimately, Gwylloch and Ketheryll went mad, and on the night of the Summer Solstice in the tenth year of Gwylloch's reign, they and their retainers all perished in a rabid, suicidal orgy of combat within the Castle of Skulls.[2][3] While it was believed that the stench of death within the macabre castle had driven them to this madness,[3] some suspected that the wizard Flamsterd may have played a role in their deaths and the downfall of the Castle of Skulls, perhaps with the aid of the Earthmother.[2][4]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Brian R. James (December 2007). “Grand History of the Realms: The Moonshaes”. Dragon #362 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 32. Archived from the original on 2009-06-01.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Brian R. James (December 2007). “Grand History of the Realms: The Moonshaes”. Dragon #362 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 26. Archived from the original on 2009-06-01.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Douglas Niles (November 1987). Moonshae. Edited by Mike Breault. (TSR, Inc.), p. 37. ISBN 0-88038-494-8.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (February 1993). “The Lord of Lowhill”. In James Lowder ed. Realms of Valor (TSR, Inc.), pp. 3–34. ISBN 1-56076-557-7.