Gorm Gulthyn

Gorm Gulthyn is a lesser dwarven deity of vigilance and defense, patron of those dwarves that protect their home and kin from external attack. Guardian of all dwarvenkind throughout the Realms, the Lord of the Bronze Mask watches over battlefields, establishes traps in tunnels, and tirelessly teleports across the Realms to protect the Stout Folk from their foes, prepared to fight until the fire in his eyes is fully extinguished.

Description

Gorm appeared as a 6 ft (1.8 m) or 11 ft (3.4 m) tall dwarf clad in golden-brown, full plate armor decorated with red runes that constantly changed and crawled across the suit. The Sentinel spoke with a stern, booming voice, and divine flames constantly licked the eyeholes of his mask. Manifestations

Other manifestations of Gorm included a glowing hand with two burning eyes in the palm that possessed Gorm's full strength. He was also known to manifest as a disembodied metal gauntlet that would strike any metal shield or breastplate nearby to warn of intruders or impending attack, causing a terrific, rolling, gong-like noise to ring throughout the air and the object to sport two burning eyes for the next ten minutes, leaving two eyeholes burnt into the metal when it finally faded.

Gorm demonstrated his favor through the discovery of alestones, amaratha, azurites, fire agates, fire opals, flamedance, jacinths, rubies, and scapras. He conveyed displeasure through the appearance of shattered shields, upside-down helms, and fleeting footprints that quickly faded if followed.

Gorm's personal weapon was Axegard, his heavily enchanted, two-handed battleaxe that gave its wielder the power of a robe of eyes.

The runes inscribed on Gorm's armor acted as a ring of spell turning, allowing him to, by silent act of will, reflect the effects of any spells, spell-like abilities, and magic items back at whoever sent them. He could only activate this effect once every ten minutes, but the power worked instantaneously, regardless of any physical restraints or strikes used against him, and could reflect any number of effects used simultaneously.

Personality

By those of a chaotic bent, Gorm is often written off as the classic dour dwarf, with even most dwarves themselves perceiving the Sentinel as surly and humorless. He has little patience for those he distrusts, little interest or tolerance for distracting foolishness, little use for sentimentality that could disrupt the dispassionate performance of his duty, and generally little to say. Ever-consumed by his demanding role as the dwarves' defender, he is on constant alert for threats to the Stout folk to thwart, even coming to the defense of the duergar if their own evil is dwarfed by that of the enemy force.

Divine Realm

Gorm's nominal home is Watchkeep, a tower he and his avatars only return to when they need access to his amassed armory or his magical Seat of Healing, which can restore all injury done to him or anyone else he allows to sit on it and can regenerate extensive physical damage in somewhere under an hour.

Watchkeep is said to be in Bytopia, in the blizzard-whipped mountains of Shurrock, and at other times to be built on a distant foothill in Dwarfhome. In Dwarfhome, Gorm is said to keep constant watch over all the rest of the plane from the top of the tower, immediately knowing if a portal opens. Many dwarven defenders hope for the privileges to stand guard there after death, believing that those who die fighting superior forces in the line of duty will be granted the right.

Activities

Gorm has a preference for direct action, and so conserves his power for personal combat, seldom manifesting in other ways except to bestow individual dwarfs with temporary fighting powers. However, even though Gorm can have two avatars acting simultaneously, there are always so many battles requiring his attention that he can rarely send them to a single location for more than around ten minutes. As such, Gorm manifests on the Prime Material Plane far more often than his companions in the Morndinsamman, always shifting from place to place to help protect dwarven realms from armed invasion or dangerous monsters.

Only when dwarves are already in an engagement and in need of his aid does Gorm appear, holding nothing back in a frenzied attempt to do as much harm to the enemy as possible before vanishing to deal with some other conflict. Those who see him fight to defend dwarven communities relay his stunning battle prowess and evident millennia of diligent training, but also comment that his combat maneuvers show an increasing desperation, as if he believes each battle might be his last.

When forced to leave a battle while the dwarves still face grave danger, Gorm later manifests as a glowing hand and proceeds to assist the dwarves in battle, the hand doing things such as breaking ropes, pushing away siege ladders, and punching opponents. He also takes preemptive measures like keeping vigils on battlefronts and creating deadfalls in passages neighboring enclaves. On occasion, he rouses dwarves from sleep or alerts them of issues in disembodied gauntlet form.

Worshippers

Gorm was well regarded by the dwarves for his unwavering commitment to their defense. Most saw him as stern, but they could not ignore his role in the survival of their remaining strongholds. A possible exception were the shield dwarves of North Faerûn (at least during their period of dwindling decline) who felt that he had abandoned them for their golden cousins due to the stretching nature of Gorm's duties.

All dwarves who served as guardians in some way worshiped him, and those that required protection or armed assistance paid tribute to him as appeasement. Lawful good and lawful neutral dwarves in particularly turned to his faith, though Gorm accepted worshipers of all alignments except chaotic or evil ones, with chaotic good being an exception. Becoming a formal member of Gorm's clergy required a stricter code of honor than simply being a worshiper (true or chaotic neutrality not being allowed).

Dogma

Gorm's devoted were sworn to protect the Stout Folk from the hostile forces beyond their holds, and were never to waver in their duty to these sacred charges. Upon entering the church, each member was assigned a charge to protect and act as the bodyguard for; higher ranked and more powerful veteran priests could choose their charges, often picking important clan members, but novice initiates were often given assignments at random. Such charges might be children, a childrearing parent of either sex, the elderly, or the otherwise infirm, and the foremost aim of any lesser priest was protecting their assigned charge. As every priest knew, they had to be willing to pay "Gorm's greatest price" to ensure the lives of their charge, clan, and community, taking solace in the knowledge that their name would be remembered for generations.

Guardian-priests had to be ever-alert and unceasingly vigilant so as to never be surprised. They also had to inform other dwarven warriors about the value of these traits, organizing the community's defense in the steady, reliable way Gorm had taught. Guardian-priests tutored warriors in how to use certain weapons, or how to fight while blind.

Clergy

Gorm's clerics, especially his specialty priests, were known as barakor, a dwarvish word loosely translated to mean "those who shield". The vast majority of his clergy (95%) was male, and before the Time of Troubles they were entirely so. Most members of the clergy were either mountain dwarves (48%) or hill dwarves (52%). Though nearly every subrace was called to be a barakor, and while there were no formal barriers to entry for jungle dwarves and gray dwarves, none had joined his ranks in more recent history.

Rituals

Barakor prayed for spells in the morning, usually followed by a tour of their community to ensure that no incidents happened at night.

Gorm's priests celebrated each festival in the Calendar of Harptos as a sacred event, and on such holy days they gathered to perform (as outsiders saw them) tedious procedures, containing formal salutes, didactic, chanted prayers, and a ritual involving the rhythmic grounding of weapons. Other rituals involved silent vigils, muttered prayers and answering Gorm's visions. Offering were made to Gorm in the form of used weapons to guard, even if broken, anointed with tears, sweat, and drops of blood form the worshiper.

At the height of the salute, if performed at the chancel of one of his temples, Gorm's power might open the door kept behind the altar and through it bestow scrolls, potions, weapons, armor, maps, or instructive phantom images to help his followers fulfill their duties. A worshiper wearing, carrying or using a gift of the god typically had a great boost in morale.

Relationships

Gorm was often considered one of the younger members of the Morndinsamman, though older than those such as Haela Brightaxe. He had always been a member in good standing and had excellent relations with the nonchaotic and nonevil dwarven deities, considering his superior Moradin, as well as Clangeddin Silverbeard and Marthammor Duin, his closest friends. When a spellcaster duplicated the symbol Marthammor used to warn dwarves of imminent, unstoppable disaster, and had a trap planned for the Wanderer, Gorm was one of the friends he brought with him to confront the individual. Berronar Truesilver worked closely with Gorm, Clangeddin, and Moradin to ensure the safety of dwarven settlements.

Gorm had established positive relations with gods of other pantheons that held similar worldviews, including Helm of the Faerûnian pantheon, Arvoreen of the halflings, and Gaerdal Ironhand of the gnomes. Also among his allies were Cyrrollalee, also of the halfling pantheon, and Garl Glittergold, leader of the gnome pantheon.

Conversely, Gorm was suspicious of entities like Mask, Brandobaris, and Baervan Wildwanderer. He remained eternally vigilant of Abbathor, though for all the Trove Lord's suspected treachery, Gorm was never able to prove it. He also counted among his foes the duergar gods Laduguer and Deep Duerra, the hateful gnome god Urdlen, and the various deities of traditionally dwarvish foes, including orcs, goblins, kobolds, and evil giants. Despite his regular contests with such beings, the Sentinel's greatest hatred was reserved for the orcish deity Shargaas, for the Night Lord was the only being to have ever successfully stolen something Gorm was actively guarding.

History

By the late 14th century DR, Gorm Gulthyn was dying. Over the centuries, as he kept using his essence to create avatars to defend dwarven kingdoms, his very existence had somehow become tied to their fates. Something inside him died with each clanhold to fall, the fire in his mask's eyeholes fading out by nearly imperceptible increments with each loss. With each new manifestation, the Golden Guardian became ironically more reckless in his defense, perhaps planning to end his degenerative condition at the hands of a foe. He had confided his condition only with his closest friends, and all hoped for the Thunder Blessing and the resurgence of ancient dwarven bloodlines to restore his strength.

Gorm, along with Haela Brightaxe, died in the Morndinsamman's battle with the duergar deities Laduguer and Deep Duerra in 1383 DR, his divinity finally spent. However, it was possible that he still had influence outside of Realmspace. After the Second Sundering, he was once again present and revered by the dwarves, but the exact circumstances of his return were unknown.

Gorm Gulthyn

Lesser deity

Basic Information

Titles

Fire Eyes
Lord of the Bronze Mask
The Eternally Vigilant
The Golden Guardian
The Sentinel

Adjectives

Gormite

Pantheons

Morndinsamman

Serves

Moradin

Attributes

Alignment

Lawful Good

Symbol

A shining bronze mask with flaming eyeholes

Realm

Twin Paradises of Bytopia/Shurrock/Watchkeep

Portfolio

Guardian Of All Dwarves, Defense, Watchfulness

Favored Weapon

Axegard (battleaxe)

Following

Worshippers

Dwarves
Dwarven defenders
Fighters

Alignments

LG, NG, LN

Domains

Law (Loyalty)
Protection (Defense, Fortifications)
War (Tactics)

Favored Aspects

Monsters

Agathinons
Azers
Earth elementals
Einheriar
Fire elementals
Galeb duhr
Guardian nagas
Hammer golems
Helmed horrors
Incarnates of courage and faith
Maruts
Noctrals
Pers
Sapphire dragons
Shedu
Silver dragons
Spectators

Minerals

Fire agates
Fire opals
Jacinths
Rubies

Colors

Black
Bronze
Red

Manifest- ations

A metal gauntlet that strikes objects to make noise

A glowing hand