Found it! And yes, I did get some bits confused.
Joerg's Heortland page. Finding a link to the right bit of the frame structure may be tricky, but try this:
http://www.toppoint.de/~joe/hcpeople.html
Scroll or ctrl-F down to "Owain, King of Heortland"
Where you will find:
"King Owain is the young king of Heortland. In his mid-twenties, he is still
unmarried, having preferred a more heroic style of reign.
1617 When the Pharaoh disappears after the Year King rites in Esrolia and
fails to procure his next body in a Tournament of the Masters of Luck and
Death, Owain uses the annual royal Sacred Time Lightbringers Quest to return
the ruler and unity of the Holy Country. His efforts deep under the Shadow
Plateau leave him fatally poisoned after an unexpected twist of events. A
powerful magical healing restores him shortly, but already on the first
festival of 1617 the extent of the poisoning becomes apparent when he
impregnates several virgins of noble houses in a frenzy. Kept from death
only by most potent magic, his subjects start a frantic questing to find a
cure, but by early Fire Season the king has faded away. The pregnant girls
are watched closely, since they might bear the heir apparent of the kingdom,
but one after another suffers miscarriages, mercifully so since the aborts
bear little resemblance to human beings. As the last hope of a legitimate
heir has dissipated, a civil war breaks out for the succession. "
Nothing so boring as scorpion-men required.
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