The archmage Zagig Yragerne built Castle Greyhawk more than two hundred fifty years ago after a long and prosperous adventuring career. As his architects and masons raised three splendid towers at the edge of a rocky crevasse in the Cairn Hills, Zagig became increasingly political, exploiting direct ties to ancient nobility and bribing his way into a seat as Lord Mayor of Greyhawk. The city flourished under Zagig’s ambitious leadership, gaining a glittering reputation as the “Gem of the Flanaess,” a star at the heart of the continent.

At his height he founded the city’s famed Guild of Wizardry, rebuilt a glorious coliseum from ancient times, and attracted the wisest mystics, the hardiest fighters, and the most opportunistic merchants and thieves to his burgeoning capital. Then, one day, he was gone, never again to appear in the city of Greyhawk. From time to time he issued bizarre proclamations from his subterranean laboratories in the dungeons below Castle Greyhawk, where he toiled over esoteric experiments meant to grant immortality. Eventually he abandoned the city altogether, falling deeper and deeper into his obsession.

Eventually, Zagig managed to infuse himself with divine energy and achieved apotheosis. “Zagyg” thereafter withdrew from the Material Plane and his dungeons to serve in the court of Boccob the Uncaring, Archmage of the Gods.