Source Material: "The Queen of the Swords", by Michael Moorcock

Book 2 of "The Swords Trilogy"

For an analysis of Book 1 of The Swords Trilogy, see Source Material: The Knight of the Swords, by Michael Moorcock.

In the second volume of The Swords Trilogy, Moorcock further develops the relationship between Law, Chaos, and the Cosmic Balance. He also introduces additional elements of the Eternal Champion mythos, including the Companion to Champions, and an immortal hero of Chaos to rival Corum’s own powers.

Synopsis

The Queen of the Swords opens with Corum Jhaelen Irsei outwardly at peace, enjoying life in Castle Moidel with his great love, the Margravine Rhalina of Allomglyl. Inwardly, however, the Prince in the Scarlet robe is still troubled by his failure to slay his nemesis, Earl Glandyth-a-Krae, the murderer of his family.

Even Corum’s outward peace vanishes, however, with the reappearance of the Wading God, whom he encountered briefly near the end of The Knight of the Swords. This portent is accompanied by the unexpected arrival of the jaunty Jhary-a-Conel, a frequent companion to champions, and even a sometimes champion himself. Jhary travels with Whiskers, a telepathic flying cat, who provides a means for learning Glandyth’s plans.

These plans, of course, turn out to be bad news for Corum and Rhalina—bad news, in fact, for all the Mabden of Rhalina’s home kingdom of Lym-an-Esh, and perhaps for the recently reinstated god of their entire plane, Lord Arkyn of Law.

In an effort to save their world from a barbaric Mabden horde led by Glandyth’s liege-lord, Corum, Rhalina, and their household—accompanied by Jhary—abandon Castle Moidel and travel to Lym-an-Esh, hoping to warn its King Onald of a coming invasion.

Following their arrival in Halwyg, the City of Flowers, and an audience with the king, all are called to the Temple of Law. There they meet Lord Arkyn himself, who tells them their only chance for defeating the Mabden horde lies in seeking aid from the City in the Pyramid in the realm of Xiombarg, the Queen of the Swords, who is also the more powerful sister of Arioch, the Chaos Lord Corum vanquished in the first volume.

Jhary, Corum, and Rhalina agree to go, and soon find themselves trekking across a world almost completely conquered by Chaos. Facing perils including a possessed lake, a toxic river, and the forces of Chaos itself, the three press on, despite swiftly vanishing hope, seeking the fabled city and the aid it offers the besieged forces of Law in their own world.

Eventually, Corum’s fate will bring him face to face with unkillable Prince Gaynor the Damned, brilliant strategist, emissary of Xiombarg, and champion of Chaos. The outcome of their contest may determine the fate of Corum’s entire world.

Influence On D&D

The Queen of the Swords introduces, or expands on, a number of themes that would later become significant elements in D&D:

Alignments In Conflict: A muted motif until the last quarter of The Knight of the Swords, the battle between Law and Chaos takes center-stage in the second volume of The Swords Trilogy. Despite Corum’s defeat of Arioch, Lord Arkyn has not yet consolidated his dominion over the five planes formerly ruled by the Knight of the Swords. Instead, Arioch’s sister Xiombarg, whose rule over her five planes is far more secure than Arioch’s ever was over his own, is now trying to conquer his as well. If her minions in Corum’s world succeed in their siege of Halwyg, she may very well add Arioch’s former five planes to her realm, in which the rule of Chaos is nearly absolute.

As we shall see in the next section, the Cosmic Balance, which in D&D would come to be known as Neutrality, mediates between the opposing forces of Law and Chaos.

Gods Have Rules: In myths and fantasies, perhaps mirroring real-life theology, gods with limitations—either imposed by some stronger force, or as a result of their own natures—are more interesting than gods who can do anything they want, unconstrained by logic or morality.

Ximobarg’s pursuit of power and freedom without limits, threatens the planes she rules with stagnation and sterility, where all creative possibilities have been exhausted. The Cosmic Balance exists to prevent this, as well as the equally extreme outcome of uniform stasis threatened by the unlimited power of Law.

To maintain equilibrium between these extremes, the Balance enforces limitations on the gods. A large part of the action in The Queen of the Swords is driven by the fact that Xiombarg is forbidden to directly slay the defenders of Law, or to enter personally into the planes ruled by Lord Arkyn. She is restricted to operating through her mortal followers—a restriction she cannot violate without grave sanction by the Balance.

Much of this is reflected by the use of gods as “ultimate rivals” in D&D, where they often seem to exist as “something bigger to fight” for high-level parties who have outgrown dragons. Moorcock doesn’t go quite so far—at one point, Corum is explicitly cautioned not to directly engage Xioborg in battle—but the Chaos Lords still have limitations that make it possible to defeat them.

Science Fantasy is Fantasy: Published in 1971, The Swords Trilogy came before genre tropes solidified, and freely mixes science fiction and fantasy. Technology and magic coexist in Moorcock’s Multiverse, and are effective weapons against one another.

Gwlās-cor-Gwrys, the City in the Pyramid, is a prime example—apparently a nuclear-powered flying city, complete with Star Trek-like transporter pads, and smaller flying ships of its own. In all of Xiombarg’s five planes, the City in the Pyramid is the only pocket of resistance that has held out against the conquering forces of Chaos—but the power of the the Queen of the Swords may overcome them yet.

D&D has been steeped in science fantasy from the beginning. It was a common trope in Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor campaign, and as a result, it’s a central element in the first published D&D adventure, The Temple of the Frog, which appeared in Dungeons & Dragons Supplement II: Blackmoor for 0D&D.

Monsters from the Displacer Beast to the Mind Flayer are inspired by space aliens, and the 1980 AD&D adventure Expedition to the Barrier Peaks features a crashed spaceship.

The Blackmoor adventure City of the Gods for BECMI features another crashed spaceship (in the distant past), and it’s surviving power source plays a key role in the development of the (chronologically) later Mystara setting.

Science fiction and fantasy can be intriguing when the lines between the two are blurred, and D&D loses a lot of its distinctive flavor when those lines are too rigorously policed.

Inspiration For Your Game

Here are a few examples of elements from The Queen of the Swords you could repurpose for your own campaign:

Whiskers: Jhary’s telepathic flying cat is so perfectly suited to D&D, I’m surprised the idea hasn’t been adapted already. What player wouldn’t want a cute companion animal that can serve as a friend, a hunter, and a spy? Too bad this creature appears to be pretty rare. Maybe that’s why only the bard ends up with one…

The Karmanal of Zert: A horde of soulless, indestructible, many-tentacled, many-legged hopping creatures, with large eyes and huge teeth, which serve Law or Chaos—apparently at a whim—and sing in harmony as they attack? Yes, please!

The City In the Pyramid: Even if you don’t go in for science fantasy at your table, your game needs a legendary, flying, inter-planar city of powerful resistance fighters battling the oppressive forces of Chaos. Your players will thank you!

Coming Soon

Source Material: The King of the Swords, by Michael Moorcock