Alfric

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Greyhawk Character
Duke Alfric
General info
Home:Caer Sidi
Alignment:Neutral (evil tendencies)
Gender:Male
Species:Elf
Ethnicity:Faerie (Pharisee)
Class:Fighter 7/Magic-user 11

Duke Alfric is the ruler of Caer Sidi, a land on another world found through a portal in the Demonweb Pits.[1]

Description

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There is no official description of Alfric's physical appearance. However, Alfric takes almost direct inspiration from Three Hearts, Three Lions by Poul Anderson. In Poul Anderson's novel, Alfric is described as supple-bodied and black-clad, with white skin and blue-silver hair. His eyes, though sharp and penetrating, were blank azure orbs without iris or pupil. He was not very surprised to learn of the existence of other worlds.

Relationships

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Alfric's consort is the lady Meriven. He has recently negotiated a treaty with the demoness Lolth, whose armies have invaded his world, but he still seeks to undermine her at every opportunity. He will offer magical items to aid others who oppose the Spider Queen, though he will just as quickly betray them to curry Lolth's favor.

Home

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Alfric lives in the castle of Caer Sidi. Caer Sidi is a fairytale-like land with similarities to Arvandor (it seems to be stuck in permanent twilight, etc.).(p.13-14). It delves into old folklore about the fey (being damaged by iron, etc.). It is ruled by neutral aligned elves known as the Pharisees. (The name "pharisees" is a reduplicative plural for 'faeries' or "phaerees" which was used in some southern British regions).[note 1][note 2][note 3]

Creative Origins

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Duke Alfric, his consort Meriven, and Caer Sidi were created by Poul Anderson, and first appeared in his novel Three Hearts and Three Lions, which in turn takes its inspiration from Middle Welsh mythological poems in the Book of Taliesin (14th century). David C. Sutherland III included them in the adventure Queen of the Demonweb Pits.

References

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Notes

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  1. ↑ Farisees, Pharisees. Oxford Reference, from A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 29 December 2023. "In the dialects of Herefordshire, Suffolk, and Sussex, fairies were called farisees, to the amusement of educated listeners, who assumed the term arose through stupid confusion with the Pharisees of the Bible, and often spelled the word accordingly. It is simply a reduplicated plural, like waspses for wasps, or ghostses for ghosts."
  2. ↑ Notably, Gygax uses the spelling "phaeree" to refer to his version of the Plane of Faerie/Feywild in his other works, specifically in Epic of Aerth.
  3. ↑ The use of "pharisees" as a variant of "faeries" is made clear in a 1992 TSR court filing. —"The races of other-world elves called the Elves, Fay and Faeries, from the fantasy world known as Phaeree in MYTHUS ..., are derived from a race of other-world elves called the "Pharisees" in the AD&D Queen of the Spiders game module (pages 107-108) and the AD&D Queen of the Demonweb Pits game module."[2]

Citations

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  1. ↑ Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1980), p.13-14.
  2. ↑ TSR, Inc, v. Game Designer's Workshop, Inc. d/b/a GDW, INC., and GDW, Omega Helios, LTD., and E. Gary Gygax, Text, archived from the original. Access date: 14 August 2026

Bibliography

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Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic Type Description Product Page/Card/Image

Alfric Non-player character Elf, [F7/M11], GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders 107, 108
Alfric Non-player character Elf, [F7/M11], Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits 14
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