Torg mac Cei

Torg mac Cei was a shield dwarf man of the dwarven city of Earthfast of the Earthfast Mountains of north Faerûn, in the Earthroot region of the Underdark He was the Ironlord or King of Earthfast.

History
Torg was the son of Cei and the hereditary ruler of Earthfast, succeeding to the position of ironlord.

Earthfast was besieged by an alliance of goblins and orcs determined to annihilate the dwarves. Torg's queen died in battle around 1345 DR, and his son was also slain. Torg and the remaining dwarves stayed to defend, but Earthfast appeared doomed.

They received some surprising aid in mid-autumn of the Year of the Serpent, 1359 DR, when Alusair Obarskyr, the renegade princess of Cormyr, came to Earthfast. Alusair lent her aid and knowledge of strategy to the struggle. In particular, she introduced Torg to the use of polearms, particularly a treatise written by her father King Azoun IV of Cormyr. Torg began training his soldiers in their use and together they routed the orcs and saved Earthfast.

The Horde Wars
In Tarsakh of the Year of the Turret, 1360 DR, Torg was the first ruler to respond via letter to King Azoun IV's call for a crusade against the Tuigan Horde, with Torg committing 2000 dwarven soldiers to the Army of the Alliance. This helped sway other allies to the cause.

Torg, Alusair and the 2000 dwarves set out and camped south of Uthmere in the Great Dale, where Azoun and his Court Wizard Vangerdahast were to meet them. Torg sent an escort to meet them, but the escort disappeared. Azoun and Vangerdahast teleported outside the camp instead, and Torg berated Pryderi mac Dylan and another sentry for trying to capture them for spies. Torg sent Pryderi to take a patrol and find the escort while he showed Azoun around the camp and discussed tactics, and Azoun reunited with Alusair. Pryderi and Vangerdahast returned with news that orcs had slain the escort, and Torg chose to wait for the orc army to attack.

The orcs arrived and turned out to be the army sent by Zhentil Keep to join the Alliance, led by Vrakk. Torg prepared to withdraw his force from the Alliance rather than fight alongside orcs, and doubted a cause that had such allies, until Azoun reminded him of his honor and commitment to the crusade. Torg agreed to stay but demanded blood-payment, the deaths of the three orcs responsible for the slain escort. Torg, Alusair and the dwarves then marched to Telflamm rather than travel by ship, or travel with the orcs.

Torg marched his army past Forest of Lethyr rather than risking going through it, fearing elves and other forest-folk would lay traps for them. When the centaurs of Tribe Pastilar rode out to greet them, Torg in his distrust was curt and impatient with both their herald and their chieftain, Jad Eyesbright. Though the centaurs gave food and offered guides through their forest that would speed their journey, Torg accepted the food but rejected their offer, insulting Jad by suggesting the centaurs were allied with their enemies and intended to lead them into a trap. The centaurs left.

Thus the Earthfast dwarves arrived late at the First Battle of the Golden Way on the 3rd of Flamerule, a costly delay for the Army of the Alliance, Torg commanded his troops well, first fending off 5000 horsemen and crushing them between dwarven phalanxes. Then he wanted to stay and collect Tuigan heads as trophies in the Earthfast fashion, but was dissuaded by Alusair. The dwarves supported the remaining Alliance army and were just in time to save their infantry from being wiped out by the Tuigan.

Torg later participated in discussions on strategy with Azoun, Vrakk and other leaders, agreeing to Azoun's plan to have the dwarves dig hundreds of small holes in a defensive barrier to cripple the Tuigan horses and halt their charge. After Vrakk requested to serve in Azoun's king's guard in the next battle, Torg demanded to be allowed to serve too.

In the Second Battle of the Golden Way on the 5th of Flamerule, the Tuigan Khahan, Hoekun Yamun, charged for Azoun, but Torg stood before him, apparently desiring the honor of slaying the khahan and taking his head. Yamun rode at Torg, who dodged out of the way and was exposed to attack. Ironlord Torg was slain and later trampled into the mud.

Following the battle, the dwarves interred their dead and Ironlord Torg in a stone cairn on the battlefield, and left the next day, returning to Earthfast.

Description
Torg was a fierce-looking dwarf with hard, closely-set eyes. He had a thick black beard that he kept divided into two neat forks, bound with gold chain.

Titles & Heraldry
Torg was ironlord of Earthfast, and referred to as "ironlord" or "king". He had a long list of other titles.

Torg's symbol was a red phoenix, with wings displayed and elevated, carrying a red warhammer in its claws over a black background. Thus his colors were red and black; Azoun IV decided they represented "blood and thunder".

Torg and his elite guard all wore a black surcoat emblazoned with the phoenix-and-hammer symbol.

Personality
A hard-to-like person, Torg was bad-tempered, narrow-minded and distrusted all non-dwarves and anything non-dwarven. He could be thoughtless and cruel to even his own underlings. He also tendency for bombastic, warlike and overstating language. He also feared and distrusted magic greatly.

Abilities
As ironlord, Torg ruled as a king over Earthfast.

He was a skilled battlefield tactician.

Interests
Torg took a liking to birds, particularly the canaries used to test for bad air in the mines. He said they were fantastic creatures, and nearly the best thing in the world. He kept at least three, and could often be found carrying a fine birdcage around Earthfast while on his duties, and even in the middle of battle. He took a took a large golden cage with him on the Tuigan campaign.

Equipment
In battle, Torg wore top-quality Earthfast-made full plate armour and wielded a sword of beautiful make.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Crusade
 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards &bull; Spellfire: Master the Magic