Symbols are vital to marketing, propaganda, religion and way more in our real world, and in Greyhawk that might be even more so. Every ruler, cult and faction needs to brand themselves appropriately using the means available.

In a medievalesque world the options are more limited but the basics are still the same, a recognizable design that send the message you want effectively across. Since our games are for us to have fun they need to be an inspiration for our games as well!

Tonight's legend & Lore Show on the  https://www.twitch.tv/lordgosumba channel @8pm EDT will be about Languages, Expressions & Glyphs so I wanted to add some stuff to the discussion, so here comes a selection of symbols I have cooking for my games. Mostly cultish and other more nefarious types, but not all.

Lets start in old Flan lands with Count Dahlvier.

In my campaign the lich was once a Flan lord who fought against the Oeridian invaders and succumbed to using some of the worst of methods and kept on the fight beyond death even.  The design of his symbol are, according to some of his many enemies, either some sort of fiend or an example of what he does to his enemies, or a combination of the two. 

Next up is Keraptis who we don't know that much about so I kept it simple with a rune of a person reaching everywhere at once.

as a part of his career Keraptis ran large part of the old Flan world from Tostencha using, according to legend, some pretty harsh methods and needed a symbol to keep the masses subdued.   

Simple Flan design with a symbology what are mainly lost in history.

A modern use if the flan tradition are the servant of the Old One, Waquonis with his own rune showing his ability to change.

Now it is time to look at a someone that are held in much higher regard the master of Swords Kelanen. He is actually playing a small part in my current campaign so I needed a symbol for him.

I might need to tweak it, but it's a start..

Next up is a faction I invented for my campaign. The Daughters of Aegwareth. Aegwareth was the druid who Keraptis killed in White Plume Mountain. His spirit survided and he persist in some strange form and in my campaign he had a daughter who wowed to revenge his death. She started a cult to go after Keraptis, each time he are reborn. The daughters have a symbol made up of a set of runes, see if you can figure out which..

They also have a a more prominent holy symbol, a dark Beory with a burning interior..

Time for the BBEG's Fist out is my favorite Fiend, Graz'zt. Who in my campaign have been a sponsor of a lot of bad things for a long time in the Flanaess. His most notorious symbol are a six fingered hand, here in silhouette. 

and here in a painted version...

Graz'zt is also known for his mastery of swords and his huge curvy demonic blade that has lots of powerful propeties.

Here is a painted version..

Another major evil that might need some more symbology in Greyhawk are Orcus.  I made this rune based on the scare his has some of the WotC illustrations.

It is a combination o his sword and his horns. Here is a silhouette symbol of his used to scare and impress..

and a full color version for the places when he really want to show off..

The concept for Orcus head and Graz'zt sword are made using Midjourney, without mentioning any artists in the promts and then lots of Photoshop and illustrator editing. the other illustrations are made using Illustrator and Photoshop, without any AI involvement. I know it is a contentious topic and I want to be open with it.