Role

Chapter 1

"To rule the folk you must understand the folk" was one of the earliest
pieces of advice Torzen received from his father. It was also the earliest
point of resentment he could recall. Torzen comes from a noble family, one in
rotation to govern Ayr'Tiril. For the last several generations, each of the
patriarchs of the house had been a wizard of considerable renown, though in
the distant past his for fathers had been great generals and warriors.

To honor this tradition, the young men of his family were schooled in both
the martial and magical arts, and Torzen was no exception. He resented being
told what to do, instructed on which option he should pick every time life
presented a choice. And so while his education was of a dual nature, because
the expectation was for him to become a wizard, he embraced the martial side
of his training. This was much to the dismay of his mage tutor, but he was
not deterred.

After some years it became clear that his interests would not turn to magic,
and he was given family leave to join the guard. In the guard, he found true
passion for commanding a squad of guard known for conducting offensive raids.
Whether against unruly cloud giants, infringing jaettes, or plain orcs, his
men (known rather grandiosely as the Swift Wings) became respected and
feared.

It was during one of his further ranging expeditions that he made it to
Hillcrest and was exposed to gnomish innovation. He took a quick and keen
interest in their machinations with constructs of a non-magical nature, and
became convinced that this was the future of civilized theran society. This
would likely have been a mere quirk of an otherwise regional concern had
Torzen not begun channeling some of his great family wealth to a gnomish
innovator known to eschew magic in his constructs.