Greyhawk is a free city in the world of Vala (“the gray-hawk world”), named after the ruined Castle Greyhawk, whose three towers stand six miles to its north.
| Type | Place (city and ruin) |
| World | Vala |
| Spanish entry | Greyhawk |
The free city
A mayor granted Greyhawk its free status about two hundred years ago. Its name appears in contracts, its founding is dated and its territory is negotiated. In the records it is mostly a starting point: the Hindenburg leaves it behind on the steppes near the river, “abandoned” at the traveler’s back.
Castle Greyhawk
Six miles north of the city lies an ancient fortress in ruins, of which three towers survive, those “of magic, of power and of war”. The city inherited its name and keeps it apart, within reach, as a landmark. The archive treats the site as foundational, the origin from which the gestas (campaign-cycles) descend.
The map
A fragment of the map of Greyhawk circulates attached to a negotiation contract. It bears the locality mark “Isidora” (Isidora).
Conflicting accounts
- One version traces the castle to “a real Italian castle… in Florence”; whether this is a fact of the world or an outside explanation is disputed.
Open questions
- The mayor’s name, whether a mayor remains, and whether the city’s freedom holds are unknown.
- Whether “abandoned” means emptied or only left behind, and why the city grew away from the castle, are unclear.
- The city’s walls, size and population, the towers’ state, and what lies beneath the castle are unknown.
- What Isidora is, and who signed the contract and for what, are not established; the word “Steric” may be a second locality mark.