Dwarven Artificer: Torgen Wyrmflint
This is the background for my new D&D character. Well, I won’t use it (due to game turning out differently, but I’ll share it all the same. Feel free to use him as a PC or NPC.)
If you ask about his past, the only thing you’ll likely hear is that Torgen wants to walk his own path on this world. When drunk enough however (or in a euphoric state after a new construction), it’s possible to learn more.
A shield (mountain) dwarf conceived during the Thundering, Torgen was born into a clan of high status. Even at his drunkest, he will not name the clan, nor the city where he comes from exactly. He does say it’s one of the “satellite” cities where a clan discovered a valuable vein in a mountain or a similar location of worth and settled in.
His clan was very conservative and as such, they had very high and clear expectations. However, Torgen was never convinced. He was smarter than his peers and always found better ways to do things. His ways were sometimes too complex for others and for that, they remained as such: His ways. Of course, doing things out of ordinary was not acceptable for the clan, which caused clashes from the earliest days of his youth.
He also had partner-in-crime. Her twin sister, Helgin, who grew sorcerous powers when she was but a child. Unable to control the magic in her, she was sent to a monastery of dwarven goddess Berronar Truesilver, the Revered Mother. After accidentally burning the monastery with thunders she conjured, Torgen later heard that she was taken in by a cleric of Haela Brightaxe, the Luckmaiden. That was the last Torgen evern heard of her.
Left alone, Torgen found it harder to deal with the clan. In time, he decided that the most convenient way for him to deal with the problems was just to play along: He acted as the dwarf they wanted and asked for freedom to work on a book on clan history as a personal project. He said it was a way to satisfy his curiosity. Despite some suspicion at the start, the tutors figured they managed to turn him and allowed him some respite on a regular basis. In fact, Torgen would work on schematics of items he imagined, a manifest that would change the way the society works and all sorts of different dreams. He would only share them with a servant called Murdgir, who he saw as a close friend and confidant. Murdgir would call Torgen crazy, but he kept his mouth shut as he also got a respite from the daily hassles during these free hours.
The turning point was when he managed to get himself on the diplomatic crew that traveled to Lantan. They required big amounts of the ore that their city mined and Torgen was there as a representative of his clan. Seeing all the wonders in Lantan, he realized his schematics weren’t as crazy. Purchasing a few books and scripts about engineering, Torgen had big plans on his way home. He thought of ways to make things better and once he created a single invention, it would be proof for his clan that things can be done better in new ways too.
Once he was back though, his life turned upside down. Apparently the head of the clan that ruled the city had paid the clan a visit and a clan elder thought it’d be a good idea to show the study room of their young son and his work… which turned out to be some crazy schematics and a manifest against the society! Worse yet, Murdgir had confessed everything.
Elders had decided to sentence Murdgir to death for keeping such traitorous secrets and since it’s forbidden to kill members of higher castes, they cut Torgen off the clan and the city. Exiled from his home with nothing but his first name, a bit of gold and books on engineering, Murdgir ventured into the world. He spent most of his time reading his books, sustaining himself with the money he made from side jobs here and there. He ultimately managed to build his first flintlock pistol, carved it in the shape of a dragon and declared his new last name: Wyrmflint.
Torgen Wyrmflint now looks for adventuring opportunities to learn more, make more and eventually, start his own clan.
