Player Character in the Good Party. Half-elven priest to Bast. Adept at magic, devout to the point of confusion. Instrumental in both the quest for the ten artifacts of Aurén Ilay and in the defeat of the Dark Mage. Now living in Edric's castle to the north of Rota, where he has established a commune devoted to the study of the new magic.
For more information, see Good Party and Solgar.
“The Life and Death of Sorgul, Snake-Slayer”
Sorgol was born November 8, 1049 in the small elvish community of Shalarkallal on Lendore Island. His parents were craftsmen who worked with wood and stone, his father a half-elf and his mother a full elf. They had been blessed with four sons and a daughter before Sorgol, the eldest being nine and one-half years older, and gave birth to their second daughter four years after Sorgol's birth. The baron of Frontier at the time of Sorgol's birth was a superstitious man named Rosklin who constantly sought council with his resident fortune teller. This wizard had learned that it was more important to appease the baron than to divine the exact truth about the future. Thus, it was with questionable accuracy when this wizard divined that a birth in this humble village would lead to the baron's downfall. The baron did not take his prophecy very well and, after much deliberation, decided to rid himself of the possible threat by capturing the child.
When the baron sent his soldiers to the cottage, they were met with determined resistance, not from the parents, but from Sorgol's eldest brother, Saavlin. The nine-year old boy taunted the soldiers and threw stones while his parents escaped out the back. Though the rest of the family fled with the object of the soldiers mission, that didn't stop the soldiers from setting fire to the cottage and capturing the boy Saavlin. The family was pursued further and eventually had to flee the island, leaving their eldest son behind. They eventually found security and built a home on Midore island. Within a month, the boy Saavlin escaped from the baron and miraculously found his way back to his family. Because of their flight, though, the family was put under severe stress and the resulting damage to their social class and financial status was always subconciously placed on the baby Sorgol.
When Sorgol was only five years old, Saavlin returned to Shalarkallal as part of an elvish custom of adulthood. Rosklin, though, knew of the elvish custom and so had guards waiting to capture Saavlin to use him as bait to track down Sorgol. A friend of the family who had escorted Saavlin from Midore witnessed the abduction and tried his best to prevent the arrest, but failed. Once in the baron's dungeon, Saavlin rallied the other prisoners to his cause and successfully staged a major break-out. In the resulting riot, the baron and the boy were both killed. Saavlin's body was never recovered by his family and was assumed to have been buried with other prisoners killed then. Even though the baron was dead, the family was unable to return because of their financial status on Midore. Quite simply, they could not afford the move back and also feared the reaction of the general populace (as well as the potential for charges against them stemming from Saavlin's riot).
As he grew, Sorgol found little in common with his family and spent much of his free time by himself. At the age of fifteen, escorted by his older sister Caran, Sorgol returned to Lendore Island and met a kindly old immigrant named Whitlin. Whitlin was a wandering priest originally from the kingdom of Backbone and had taken up residence in the burned house in Shalarkallal only a few weeks earlier. Caran & Sorgol spent only a few days there, but once they arrived at Caran's destination: Spindrift, Sorgol grew restless at the thought of returning to his family.
Since Sorgol had no desire to return to a family that didn't seem to appreciate him, he returned to stay with Whitlin and learn what he could from the man. It was Whitlin's influence that inspired Sorgol to become a cleric to Bast. Caran was to have sent a message home telling of Sorgol's decision, but as fate would have it, the message never got delivered. When several months later his family heard from Caran, they assumed that Sorgol had been killed on the return trip. It wasn't for several years until Caran returned home on a visit that the truth was straightened out. Even then, the family assumed the worst because Sorgol had not sent any further word on his whereabouts.
Back with Whitlin, Sorgol showed a strong interest in the teachings of Bast. Though the hermit did not live in luxury, the two made a decent life in Shalarkallal by earning money from odd jobs and the crafts that Whitlin knew, chief among these was wood carving. Whitlin also showed Sorgol some of the ancient hieroglyphs of the original worshipers of the Egyptian gods and taught him the basics of the language spoken in Backbone. Whitlin, though, refused to teach much of this language, fearing that Sorgol would pick up too much of his slang and improper grammar. After a few years, Whitlin began to realize that Sorgol had learned all he could with him and the young man was eager for more. Thus, at the age of twenty-one, Sorgol was told he had to leave. He initially refused to leave the old man, but was later forced to change his mind when one morning he found Whitlin had left, leaving many possessions behind.
By this time, Caran had learned some minor magics and was working on independent research. Sorgol lived with her for a few months until his sister suggested he try for an apprenticeship with her old master. He succeeded in this and soon earned special treatment from the master for two reasons: 1) Sorgol showed an amazing adeptness to the principles of magic (more so than his sister had) and 2) Sorgol earned the love of the master's familiar: a beautiful grey cat named Gammage. Another apprentice, though, resented Sorgol's treatment and soon grew to hate the young half-elf. Eventually, after Sorgol had been there only two years, this other apprentice forced Sorgol from the school by framing him for the murder of the wizard's familiar.
Fearing his master's power, Sorgol fled from Lendore altogether. At first he thought to head back to his parents, but decided instead to return to Shalarkallal. Finding that Whitlin had never returned, Sorgol took passage for Backbone (hoping perhaps to find Whitlin there). He did not find his old friend, but did join the ranks of the temple of Bast and began learning her ways full time.
For five years, Sorgol studied Bast's ways and learned the magics that the priests taught. At that time, the high priest recognized that Sorgol could learn no more at the temple and sent him on missionary work around the kingdom. During the next seven years, Sorgol met many new people and gained the friendship of several. One of which was the father of Rathwyn, a priest in one of the many temples Sorgol travelled to. Sorgol, though, grew bored. For the last two years of his missionary work he accomplished very little and lost the respect of some of his colleagues (who thought he was losing his faith). Eventually, he travelled to the high priest in Backbone and requested a new assignment. The priest refused, but Sorgol knew that there was no other way for him to learn more, so he disobeyed the high priest and left Backbone.
Back on the islands, Sorgol traveled to Midore to visit his family, hoping the years would have mellowed their feelings. His stay with them was brief and uncomfortable and he learned of his supposed death. He was disappointed when they did not seem ecstatic to learn he lived. In fact, he found they felt he had turned his back on them. He returned to Spindrift and tried to pick up on his magical training where he had left off. For several months, Sorgol was despondant and accomplished little. Eventually though, he overcame his depression by focusing his energies on his magical research. During this time, he lived in poverty and made his living by doing just about anything (as long as it didn't hurt anybody).
After five years, he took to travelling again and returned to Backbone for a short time, where he visited with the temple and found the old distrusts had faded over the years. He stayed there only a few weeks before returning to Lendore. With renewed faith, he began walking from village to village preaching Bast's ways until he stumbled into Midland and met Felix.
On July 21, 1090, Sorgol met a half-elven woman named Rana who was in the area to explore an off-shore island called Telmore. In this, his first true adventure, Sorgol saw death for the first time when his new friend Felix died violently. He also, for the first time in his life, knew true evil in another man, when an aquaintance of Rana's, known only as "Brother William", kidnapped Rana, along with her cousin, and left them strapped to a tree in the wild. Sorgol got the aid of a local Ranger, nicknamed Seagoon, to retrieve the women.
On September 2, 1090, Sorgol first gained recognition for his exploits when he, along with Rana and Seagoon, rescued a mountain village from an evil cleric named Catharandamus, who had tried to summon a great evil power. At this point in his life, there was no turning back for Sorgol. He was sure that his life could best be spent by helping those in need. Shortly after this, though, Seagoon set out to avenge his father's death and was killed. In truth, Sorgol never knew until years later what had happened to his friend, never-the-less, he began to realize that to help others, there was always a cost.
On December 15, 1091, Sorgol met the great mage Edric for the first time. Edric's life story is one filled with tragedy and death, even more so than Sorgol's, yet Edric had an outlook on life that was enviable. While many of Edric's beliefs were not directly influential to Sorgol, his lifestyle most definitely was. Early the following year, Sorgol was given a gift from Bast: a golden ring which regenerated wounds even to the point of restoring life.
In May of 1092, Sorgol found a magical tome which unlocked powers never before used within his mind. This, combined with the fact that he had taken the brunt of a psionic assault a few days earlier, led to a dramatic change in Sorgol's personality. This further caused a minor change in Sorgol's name. He adopted the new spelling of Sorgul, using the elvish suffix “gul”, meaning sorcery. With his new-found power, Sorgul became less and less concerned with his own safety. Where before, he would have followed Edric's advice and taken a passive stance, now he was prone to more violence. This change of attitude, in the long run, saved his life more times than it endangered him.
On June 16, 1093, Sorgul and his friends came into conflict for the first time with a divine being. The now-epic conflict with Hades began when Sorgul inadvertently mentally dominated the deity. The god's ego quickly took over, but by the time Sorgul's control faded, Edric's wife, Tacey, had called on Aphrodite to protect them. Hades left peacefully then, but did not forget. On July 21, Hades led Sorgul to a trap by way of a magical deck of fortune cards. Hades' revenge would not be satisfied by Sorgul's death, though. Instead, Hades used the power of his magic throne to imbue Sorgul with a great evil power. Hades then released Sorgul back on the world to play a key role in the downfall of the third age.
The new Sorgul was a being of great evil, but was held in check ever so slightly by his previous goodness. In defiance of his past, Sorgul twisted his name as Hades had twisted his life, and called himself Solgar. Within only a few months, Solgar had fulfilled Hades' plans and released from imprisonment the being known as the Dark Mage.
As the years passed, Solgar found he was less and less in control of his power, and played only a very slight role after the release of the Dark Mage. Late in the year 1100, Solgar inadvertently interfered in the Dark Mage's plans to invade the eastern kingdom of Rota. As a fitting punishment, Solgar was imprisoned (as the Dark Mage had been for over a thousand years). In a deliberate twist, though, the Dark Mage made sure that Solgar would be aware of the passage of time, whereas his own imprisonment was outside time. This was enough to trip the fragile mind of Solgar over the edge. Unfortunately, the buried mind of Sorgul suffered as well.
It was nearly four years of this sort of sensory deprivation before Solgar was released by Edric. During this time, Solgar “dreamed” that he had actually made it to the moon known as the Dancer (a final request promised by the Dark Mage). In this fantasy-world, Solgar was the absoulte ruler. When brought back to the real world on May 29, 1104, he was disoriented and upset, and therefore easier to subdue.
Sorgul's only apprentice in his original life: Rathwyn, had arranged for his release and forced the great Helm of Demarest onto his head. The effect of the helm was to erase all evil from Solgar's mind. This item, combined with a magical rod which resurrected on contact, caused the presense of Solgar to be erased, leaving only the devastated and powerless psyche of the original Sorgul. It was the handiwork of Bast herself which set the scrambled remains into their “proper” order.
On October 27, 1104, Sorgul's psionic powers were put to a severe test again, when he got into psionic combat with the Dark Mage. The assault was as swift as it was fatal (to both sides). When restored to to life, Sorgul had lost his psionic powers, and thus experienced yet another change in his personality.
His new life went along fine for several months, until on November 23, 1104, Sorgul found an oddly-glowing crystal nearly 100 feet across while on the ethereal plane. With his intense curiosity in full gear, Sorgul took it upon himself to examine the crystal with magical aids to help him analyze its true form. Unfortunately, the crystal was a fragment brought from Limbo, and was a physical embodiment of pure chaos, and thus had no true form. Sorgul's mind, so recently cured from his previous ordeals, couldn't handle the overload. When fully cured one week later, Sorgul found that his damaged psionic powers had been shuffled and, in an odd manner, reinstated. Now, he could cast all manner of magical spells, but he had no control over what he could cast. His power was, in a sense, open-ended, but was without conscious control.
On February 3, 1105, while on an accidental trip to the Abyss, Sorgul came face to face with a being who called himself a "Lord of Chaos". This entity recognized Sorgul as a being on a par with himself in chaos power. Strangely enough, this being considered the Sorgul at home to be one of the greatest threats to the spread of chaos that existed. Not realizing that the two were the same person, the lord of chaos sent Sorgul to defeat himself. When his error was realized, the lord of chaos, in his anger, sent a horde of Slaad to track down Sorgul. With the aid of the illusionist Timrik Longrun, the Slaad were repelled. Sorgul, though, realized that the “chaos force” he held within him could be a detriment. Thus, he researched a magical spell to dispell the chaos from a his mind and restore the “natural order”. After completion of his research, he had Rathwyn read a scroll he had created. The end result was a gradual restoration of Sorgul's original psionic powers. At the present time, they are at a level greater than he has ever had and may yet increase.
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