Tell me about the Iron Duke

[Havard]

Isn't "Markovia" a part of Thonia as per Blackmoor's extended canon?

I am not familiar with "Markovia" in that form of the name, but the Iron Duke's real name is Taha Marcovic.

It would perhaps be interesting to shed some light on the later-day Blackmoor campaign (post-publication FFC until Arneson's move out of Minnesota, some time in the 1980s), at some point, if you haven't done it yet. So, in-game, the campaign timeline reached around the early 910s until the games simply became fewer, and the different core players started gaming increasingly independently from one another: What had happened until then? Did we see Uther's coronation in-game? Because, if the Afridhi where in Arneson's later games, then that would imply that - Uther was already king, as per DA 1, when they first appeared. - That could give us an idea whether the Iron Duke was part of the original game, or not. (Standard TSR trope character that he seems to be.)

This would absolutely be interesting. We know that Dave kept his annual games going with the original group, but after moving to California (1984?), I don't know who he played with on a more regular basis. In the 1990s he moved to Florida to teach at Full Sail University where he met Dustin Clingman. I am not sure if they played D&D together before they formed Zeitgeist Games in 2004.

Now, in terms of in-game utilities, this will likely do nothing: So, the Iron Duke, publication-wise, a one-off, a stereotypical pseudo-KGB officer, and probably even a placeholder villain, right? No substantial sources on the character beyond DA 1, right? - Okay, let's see what I can perhaps do with it, then.

DA1 and DA3 provide the best info on the Iron Duke. I actually think this character has tons of potential. He is a military genius and has married into one of the most powerful families of the Empire. He is also ambitious enough that many suspect he is planning to succeed the current Emperor (Iyx). His provess includes highly successful battles against the Skandaharians and the Peshwah. He is also interested in making deals to get technology from the City of the Gods. He has a number of allies and agents deep within Blackmoor. If one wanted to, one could easily run an entire campaign based around him.

Note that the DA modules are wonderful in that they have useful information scattered throughout them. You need to really dig around to get the full picture of anything

-Havard