King Cadwy

[Porius]

Hello everyone! 

 

I've recently started running a small GPC group. We've started with the Uther Period expansion - next up is 482 and the invasion of Summerland. I've had a read through the below thread (really helpful!) - but looking ahead in the GPC i see that Cadwy returns in 555. 

 

How do people explain his longevity? Is it to do with his magical or even fae ancestry? There seems to be a bit of confusion as to what, exactly, is his nature, so I'm just thinking about how I'm going to write it. One of the players is a pagan knight with a family who have some ties to a more magical Britain so I think this could be a really interesting year for him. 

 

I'm  fairly new to all Pendragon and its NPCs and to the literature in general so any help or guidance from how others have dealt with Cadwy would be really appreciated! 

 

 

[Morien]

2 hours ago, Porius said:

but looking ahead in the GPC i see that Cadwy returns in 555.

As I said in the linked thread, the King Cadwy of Somerset in GPC and Blood & Lust is a mortal, very devout King, who struggles against the two invasions from Cornwall. You can see it in the Goblin Market adventure where his household constantly invokes God. Whereas King Cadwy of Summerland in BotWarlord & BoUther is a semi-fae wizard, in cahoots with the faeries and able to confound and intimidate Uther and his armies. 

I would be extremely tempted to split them into two different people, simply because I like the King Cadwy the Mortal more than King Cadwy the God-King of Summerland. And just have King Cadwy the Elder (a pagan King who has a closer relationship with the Faerie, but no wizard) and maybe his son or grandson, King Cadwy the Younger (a Christian King), taking over at some point maybe during the Anarchy or after the Battle of Terrabil. However, if you want to go with the Wizard-King Cadwy, then that is enough to explain his longevity: whatever his secret is, it is obviously working for him!

There are many things in GPC which were basically taken from 531 starting time and just had the year changed. Such as Galeholt ruling the Long Isles in 485 (p. 22), whereas the main text has him conquering the Long Isles in 522 (p. 191 event, map p. 221), almost 40 years later! To no one's surprise, Galeholt IS ruling the Long Isles (and Dal Riada) in 531..

[Porius]

Thank you, Morien - that's really helpful! I think I might split it, as you mention, and save some sort of wizard-king for later; I like the idea of the players having a bit more agency when they come to meet him in the Cornwall invasions and then their children meeting Cadwy's son later down the line. I was curious as to why the Cadwy in GPC seemed to struggle so much with Cornwall after giving Merlin pause in the Book of Uther, but that certainly explains it! 

 

I might keep the idea of some sort of wizard-king on the back-burner for later... 

[Morien]

28 minutes ago, Porius said:

after giving Merlin pause in the Book of Uther

He doesn't. Merlin explicitly tells Uther not to do it, and then walks away when Uther is not convinced. Merlin is not present in the Invasion of Summerland. (This was exactly to avoid a match-up between Wizard-king Cadwy and Merlin. And to make sure that Uther 'fails' in the invasion.)

[Leingod]

You could have it that Cadwy the Younger converting to Christianity is what "breaks" the magic of Summerland, turning it into the more-or-less normal (albeit still with some enchantment and higher-than-average fairy presence) place it is later on and forces Cadwy the Elder to finally die/leave this world. Sort of like the thing with the Forest Sauvage, where one of the possible reasons to reach its king is to force him to leave at the behest of the Archbishop.