Khestor Thidirlun
Khestor Thidirlun, a Theorist, Philosopher and Dwarf-At-Arms, was born in the West of Bormar. Upon his arrival to Zietal Mar, he established and became the Marshal of the Molir as well as later taking the position of Governor of Zietal Mar, after an election for a new leader following a turbulent political time within the Outpost.
History & Character[edit | edit source]
Born into a moderately wealthy family in the West of Bormar, Khestor's youth was strictly controlled by his parents with private tutors and personal combat training in his family grounds being most of what he would be up to. Due to this, he would rarely be seen out drinking in the lower town, or socialising with friends - instead focusing on his career, on becoming a Soldier and likewise. Some credit his apparent lack of empathy and supposed 'coldness' to this.
Once he joined the local Molir and the Lord's Army, Khestor spent many a year training hard and working his way up the ranks of the Military Structure, up to a point at which he would spend less time on the front line and more time discussing tactics and mixing with the upper ranks of the Lord's tacticians. Not only did this time away from the front line allow Khestor to discuss and develop his ideas more, but seeing how Lords and those in power acted close up led Khestor to advance his thoughts on Politics and Philosophy, and subsequently write books on those subjects (Amoral Politics, Society & Man (Book)). Khestor, possibly due to his military background, seemed to favour more hardline, direct forms of power with quick and efficient decision making at its core and often frowned upon those bringing about this idea of Democracy, whom he called revolutionists, and more power to an 'uneducated' population.
In Zietal Mar[edit | edit source]
Khestor's time in Zietal Mar was quite eventful. When he first landed in the Outpost, it lacked law enforcement, defences, order and discipline. He sought then, bit by bit, to remedy this issue through his work.
The Molir & Marshalhood[edit | edit source]
The Molir in Zietal Mar is somewhat different to traditional militia of Outposts in that it is (or should be) politically separate from the Lord/Lady/Leader, instead managed by the Marshal and directed by its core duties which are as follows, in order of importance:
- Safeguard the Outpost's general populace from harm.
- Destroy any threats to the Outpost, both internal and external.
- Maintain order in the Outpost, usually in its role as law enforcement.
- Support relevant parties in ensuring the Outpost's wealth is kept safe, such as a Quartermaster.
- Enact the relevant orders of the Outpost's Leader to allow them to fulfil their policies and wishes.
As Marshal, Khestor's focus was largely on the security of the Outpost. Zietal Mar began its first stage of real military development. Zietal Mar had no guards or force, it did now. Khestor rallied the good dwarves of the Outpost to help gather building supplies for the main town walls, designed by Tobias, and then constructed them himself with help from the Molir's Soldiers such as Kogan Gemesh.Towers were erected to help defend the Outpost, there was even briefly a trebuchet in the Outpost and the Upper Holding's infrastructure had improved drastically in order to facilitate the long-awaited construction of Fort Thidir, shamelessly named after Khestor Thidirlun himself. The Molir even grew in size, enough to have a Captain, Gramsik Lerch, and a headquarters in the Lower Holding, as Khestor reached a deal with Priest Sigmarr to convert the Church to a training and barracks base, as well as a holding cell for criminals.
In his time, the Molir defended the Outpost against the Troll Storm raids, investigated and warned about the Miners Spider Lair, successfully and successively fended off the Grol Mercenaries, dealt with the Umbral Hand Incident, developed took for the Molir in the Daruhl Workshop and continuously kept the Outpost safe.
Becoming Governor & Ruling the Outpost[edit | edit source]
As explained in his short Autobiography, by establishing the Molir, contributing heavily to the Outpost's safety and becoming an active and well-respected member of the Outpost, Khestor's popularity would lead to bigger things.
The sudden resignation of the First Overseer, Kadol Ubbul, left Zietal Mar without a clear leader. In the wake of this event, Ogrona Frontik assumed the role of Overseer using the fact that she was the runner-up in the previous election as a claim to the position and said that she would be an interim leader until the next election. This whole debacle displeased some. Priest Sigmarr for example, began to lost faith in the ruling god - the Outpost needed stable leadership according to him. The Public Servant, a local newspaper, proclaimed similar sentiment and asked Khestor to step up to the position of Overseer. With public sentiment seemingly in his favour, Khestor put himself forward at the next election - even if he himself doesn't like the idea of democracy. By offering "Strength, Stability and Security" as his tagline during the campaigns, and portraying Ogrona as a good person, yet weak leader, he exclaimed the benefits of a more 'Traditional' Bormar Governance Style.
He won the election by a landslide.
His Reign was instantly kicked off with lots change. Firstly, he abolished the Lower Chamber and replaced it with Consuls (Ogrona Frontik, Ilzar Goldspit, Gramsik Lerch) - consolidating his power - and renamed the title of Overseer to Governor. Politically, the landscape changed quite a fair bit, and drastically. The Outpost came to be run more "Traditionally", as Khestor would've called it. (Edging closer to be similar to Lordships in Holdings rather than elections and votes. It is no secret Khestor was not a big fan of Democracy.) Physically, the Outpost underwent some change too. The Walls were about 3/4 complete at this stage, The Deeptunnel was progressing, so was the slow but steady progress inside of Fort Thidir.
Soon after, a Top-of-the-Line Bormarian ship also arrived to the Isles surrounding Zietal Mar, it was The Cuckoo. Riddled with Grol Mercenaries and having seemingly been captured, Khestor, his Molir, and Volunteers had to liberate the ship - with some exciting items onboard, thereby Khestor receiving his Adamantine Helmet in the shape of a Mar Goat as Governor. This also lead to further efforts to repair the ship, which would later be used in The Fate Of Zietal Mar.
As time progressed, Khestor became more and more intrigued and allured by the Zietal Mar's Lost Pages - lots of which he had recovered from The Reaper's Hideout.
There was a slight controversy regarding Khestor's Governorship, though most of it went under the radar and few were aware of it. Early on in Grabhol Faulkrunn's arrival to the Outpost, in his bid to become very wealthy, manipulate markets and gain power, Grabhol proposed to Khestor that he provide a criminal underworld - which he claimed would exist whether or not Khestor agreed - to boost the wealth and power of both individuals. Grabhol promised to inform Khestor of any possible future crimes and threats, and would work to help gather Zietal Mar's Lost Pages illicitly when Khestor couldn't. - Such as when Ogrona Frontik refused to work together with Khestor to help solve the mystery. Khestor saw this as a way not only to keep the Outpost safe, as he would know who, when, and where crimes would occur, he could also use this underworld for his own good. Though, soon after agreeing to this, and being coerced into murdering Yorbear, Khestor attempted to distance himself from Grabhol, but knew he was wrapped around his thumb, leading to multiple confrontations, and friction between the two grew. Eventually, when Grabhol died and his diaries were revealed, Khestor managed to leverage his relations with Priest Sigmarr and other well-respected individuals to ensure his reputation was not damaged, and the controversy publicly announced to be false.
His Government soon came back on track and continued to deliver for the Outpost, especially since the arrival of newfound Consul of Public Affairs Gib Andosk - whom would become a close Companion to Khestor. The Outpost was defended from the Infected Jerl Bull attack, and the dwarves snuck into Ar-Bu Hana Kulu, learning more about their intentions, the All-Gem and connection to Lord Voman.
Eventually, Khestor unravelled Zietal Mar's Lost Pages, Lord Voman was declared an enemy of the Outpost, the All-Gem was discovered and retrieved, and the Dwarves of Zietal Mar escaped the isles.
You can read more deeply into Khestor's time as Governor in his Diary.
The All-Gem[edit | edit source]
During his time as Marshal, Khestor confiscated the belongings of The Reaper, an outpost criminal at the time, when discovering their hideout. Within the belongings, there were copies of Zietal Mar's Lost Pages. This led to Khestor beginning his own collection of said pages. Travelling through the Red Hills and discovering new pages in the land of the Grol Mercenaries, as well as bartering with friends such as Priest Sigmarr and others to obtain more. He had also offered to work with the then Librarian, Ogrona Frontik, to collate all of the pages together and work on discovering the All-Gem - though she refused and didn't want to share the pages she had so far collected by herself. This led to Khestor eventually obtaining them illicitly through Grabhol Faulkrunn.
Eventually, with enough pages collected, it was easy to theorise a good idea of what took place in Zietal Mar many years ago, and the villain that Lord Voman was. Khestor gave his collection to Zeb Burnsthewick to have the information collated in a single document, as well as sharing the information with Gib Andosk, whom Khestor subsequently gave the title Gem-Seeker.
Eventually, Gib was successful in discovering the All-Gem. Oddly enough, seemingly moreso by luck than with the information collected from the lost pages.
Returning to Bormar[edit | edit source]
Upon being released from his Cell in Bormar following The Fate of Zietal Mar, Khestor took his titles and riches and retired with his close friend Gib Andosk in Gemfeld, writing stories, publishing philosophy, and enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle.