Ishtol Torth

Heroforge

**Ishtol Zendar** **Torth** is the King of Sen Shaeras. He has reigned for the last fifty-seven years after the death of the previous king, his mother Thalra. He is generally well-liked by the citizens of Sen Shaeras, but there are some groups that view him as a weak leader.

He has a troubled relationship with Caeldrin, his only surviving child and de facto heir.

## Description

### Appearance

* Long brown hair kept back in a neat braid.
* Dark blue eyes. Their right eye is clouded and partially blind due to a childhood illness.
* Light skin with a handful of scattered moles.
* 5'10" with an average build.
* Rarely smiles at anyone but his wife and his Court Magician, who has been his close friend for decades.
* Never seen in anything less than full royal regalia.

### Personality

* Very calm and even-tempered.
* Pragmatic, but struggles to make difficult decisions under pressure.
* Honor-bound, sometimes to a fault.

## Biography

Ishtol was the only child of Thalra and Belen Torth, raised with the knowledge that he would one day be king. He took his role as Crown Prince very seriously from childhood, and when he ascended to the throne, it was as seamless a transition as the kingdom had ever seen.

He and Amaline met when she was working as a laundress in the palace, and the two famously fell in love at first sight. In defiance of traditional courting practices, the two were married within the year. Although the Torth line had no other living members, Ishtol and Amaline had no children until their daughter Chessyl was born, nearly forty years after their marriage and two years after Ishtol became king. Their son Caeldrin was born six years later. Chessyl was expected to succeed Ishtol and eventually become king, but after her unexpected death at only twenty years old, Caeldrin was named the royal successor.

The crowning glory of Ishtol's reign has been the Archives of the Spoken Word. The Archives aim to provide written records of the oral histories and folklore found throughout Sen Shaeras to ensure their preservation, a project Ishtol began when he was still a teenager. Prior to becoming king, Ishtol personally visited many of the most far-flung corners of the kingdoms and recorded their stories by hand,—a feat that earned him the moniker "The Scrivener King."

## Relationships

### Amaline

Ishtol and Amaline's whirlwind romance has been the inspiration of many poems and ballads throughout the years. While Amaline came from a working class family with no titles or fortune to speak of, Ishtol says he fell hopelessly in love with her quick wit and wry sense of humor. The two are still as inseparable as newlyweds after almost a century of marriage.

### Caeldrin

Ishtol's relationship with his son is rocky at the best of times. He is loudly and openly critical of his son's unwillingness to clean up his act, while Caeldrin insists his father never loved him as much as his late sister. According to rumor, after spending the last ten years unsuccessfully trying to shape Caeldrin into something resembling a proper king, Ishtol has started looking into other options.

### Ankolm Spellforger

Ankolm became Ishtol's Court Magician thirty years ago, and the two have been close friends ever since. Ankolm provides a much-needed voice of reason and certainty when Ishtol faces difficult decisions. Ishtol places immense trust in Ankolm's wisdom and advice, which he feels Ankolm has earned a hundred times over.