Gorm Gulthyn
God of defense and vigilance (a.k.a. Fire Eyes, Lord of the Bronze Mask, The Sentinel, The Golden Guardian)
Gorm Gulthyn (pronounced: /ˈgɔːrm gʊllθɪn/ GORM gull-thin) was a lesser dwarven deity of vigilance and defense, patron of those dwarves that protected their home and kin from external attack. Guardian of all dwarvenkind throughout Faerun, the Lord of the Bronze Mask watched over battlefields, established traps in tunnels, and tirelessly teleported across the Realms to protect the Stout Folk from their foes, prepared to fight until the fire in his eyes was fully extinguished.
Divine Domains
War, Law, Protection
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Tenets of Faith
Gorm had a preference for direct action, and so conserved his power for personal combat, seldom manifesting in other ways except to bestow individual dwarfs with temporary fighting powers. However, even though Gorm could have two avatars acting simultaneously, there were always so many battles required his attention that he could rarely send them to a single location for more than around ten minutes. As such, Gorm manifested 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 were already in an engagement and in need of his aid did 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 saw him fight to defend dwarven communities relayed his stunning battle prowess and evident millennia of diligent training, but also commented that his combat maneuvers showed an increasing desperation, as if he believed each battle might be his last.
When forced to leave a battle while the dwarves still faced grave danger, Gorm would later manifest as a glowing hand and proceed to assist the dwarves in battle, the hand doing things such as breaking ropes, pushing away siege ladders and punching opponents. He also took preemptive measures like keeping vigils on battlefronts and creating deadfalls in passages neighboring enclaves. On occasion, he roused dwarves from sleep or alerted them of issues in disembodied gauntlet form.
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.
Worshipers
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).
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.
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.
Physical Description
Body Features
Gorm appeared as either a 6 ft or 11 ft 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
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