AN: The unofficial bonus chapter, as per requested by our neighborhood Rat. I have no idea if this is coherent, but maybe someone will enjoy it :p
Xanist
We have opted to undertake this story in "reverse join order" so a certain Morzan can have the 'final' say. I shall endeavor to do the task justice.
To say that our founder was a complicated individual would be a gross understatement. Galbatorix lived a singular life; one that took him to the edge of what most men could survive. He pursued his idea of justice with single-minded determination and, even though we disagreed on the ethics of his ambition, sought to do what he believed must be done. Very few if any can claim to know him well, even among the thirteen. The world has never known such a man, and - I am inclined to think this a positive- it likely never shall again.
Eltereth
His life began in a less-than-glamorous haze. His mother, Margery, was already a widow in her twenty-fourth year and had her young son Kaur in tow. She fell in love with a handsome stranger who had just arrived in town. He plied her with gifts and poems, and did everything in his power to seem like a storybook prince. When she announced her pregnancy, he disappeared in the night. It was into this 'scandalous' scenario that a young Galbatorix was born. It was the dead of winter and his mother was sure that the premature infant would not survive. ( I don't know if that should be "sure" or "hopeful"? ) As much as I can't forgive what he became…I can't imagine coming into the world already unwanted.
Beren
His life with his bitch mother was messed up. She drank to dull the pain and screamed at Torix whenever he came too close. He grew up looking a lot like his dad, so she never wanted to see his face. She never told him anything about the man, which is bad enough, but she also openly blamed him for their lives. He spent a lot of time alone… knowing the guy, that makes too much sense.
Balor
He survived much of his childhood by isolating in his attic room. He would read anything he could get his hands on. He often sat and imagined an endless, fantastical world… empty of anyone but himself. When he was a young lad, Kaur disappeared from the house overnight. His already unstable mother was distraught and all but collapsed with the strain. He cared for her, not out of love…. Come to think of it, I can't understand why he would. The man we came to know would have left her for dead, of that I am sure…. But he was only a child after all.
Gildor
His opportunity for change came when he was about ten. The riders were coming to town and a street festival had been prepared in their honor. His mother told him not to go out but-
Gelmir
He disobeyed.
Gildor
He didn't make it far though! She noticed him sneaking out and followed him into the crowd.
Gelmir
When he heard her shouting he bolted, not paying attention to where he was going until he stumbled straight through the crowd surrounding the riders. He even slammed into Xavier, the elven egg courier.
Gildor
Before anyone could make heads or tales of the situation, the egg made its decision.
Gelmir
The two bonded fast, both desperate to fill an ache that they'd never even understood. The lonely child would never be lonely again.~
Gildor
Torix referred to Jay as "little friend" for many weeks as they journeyed to the Island and began their training.
idril
jay wasn't born a man.
but he was him.
(he only ever talked to torix, so no one needed to know.)
but I know.
…
they never told anyone.
jay was kind…
weak.
torix was quiet….
they wouldn't have survived in the wild.
Kialandi
Okay, Idril, I think that's enough. Thank you for… helping. I can take it from here please.~ Galbatorix struggled in the early stages of his training. He was lanky and ill-balanced, with a scathing tongue and fathomless dark eyes that commanded attention. He devoured knowledge voraciously and trained harder than any other student. He came to blows with a rival named Grahm and, in the fighting, injured him with magic. He then went on to train under an ancient elf named Thalon. This master refined his training until he was ready to rejoin his peers. By seventeen he'd grown into quite the charmer, all traces of his previous awkwardness dissolved into an unassailable, mischievous charisma. He then used that newfound charm in everything he undertook, privately and publicly.
Siyamak
The end of his petty concerns enabled the onset of greater woes. He became the private student of the then leader of the organization, Vrael. Ostensibly this was because the elder valued his talents and saw him as a viable future leader, but privately the old fool only valued his… appeal. Vrael was not the first elder to leverage his position for personal gain, but he was perhaps one of the most adept. He brought the younger man into his web without discernable effort and began to teach him everything he needed to become Shurtugal. It was during this apprenticeship that he became acquainted with Oromis and his tagalongs. He also fell quite completely under the elder's spell. He had not the experience to question why a multi-century old god-among-men would bother himself with a random teen. His ego was ever his worst blind spot.
Amroth
This arrangement was doomed to failure. Galbatorix entered Vrael's personal study and there found accounts of atrocities committed by the organization. When he confronted the elder, Vrael attempted to cow him with discipline; he failed. Torix then made his way on foot through a blizzard to Oromis-elda to request his aid but was refused. Oromis believed that bringing Torix's findings to the council would only result in the student's destruction rather than justice for the guilty. In desperation, Galbatorix arranged to flee the city with Jarnunvosk but was stopped in his preparation by a fellow student and an elder. He played off his journey as a hunting trip and the elder insisted on joining him. He convinced the other student to assist in the murder of this elder, but their battle drew the attention of a nearby urgal party. The students were overmatched and, in his last moments, Jarnunvosk gave the rest of his strength to his rider. Moments after, his chest collapsed under a mighty blow, and his eldunari along with it. Only Galbatorix survived.
Ellessar
He wandered in the wilderness until he collapsed. When he re-awoke in the rider's holdfast, he nearly despaired… but, instead, he made a plan. He requested a hearing with the council only to ensure that Vrael wasn't actually present. His request for a new hatchling was a distraction. He took his window to kill an elder and flee the city. At some point he met that freak Durza. Then Morzan tracked him down and the two of them stole Shruikan to use as a weapon. They started recruiting vagrants and drifters, which is how they met all of us.
Formora
Together, we fucked shit up! Fourteen underdogs went up against a multi-millennia old order and we won! He may have been a slaggy, soggy cunt about it… but none of it would have been possible without Torix. His planning collected the eldunari, his talent broke them, and his bitchy monologuing put us all to sleep before big battles. But really, without him every single one of us would have ended up dead or worse out there. He's fuckin' scary in a fight, one of the only people I know who is good at killing people the old-fashioned way and inside their own head. He's more like a demon than a person, and that comparison only gets more true after he took the throne. We all sort of went mad together.
Morzan Mommy
Alright, mother fuckers, strap in; the rest of this story is mine to tell. Daddy became king and I became the queen~ … Ok, technically I was his "chief advisor" but we all know what that means. Surda happened, which was bullshit, and then Brom started his tantrum *ahem* I mean, "rebel group". We did our best to consolidate power, but that's a little tricky to do with enemies on all sides. Daddy spent most of his time working against threats rather than taking care of the empire… and I won't deny that it shows. Every friend we lost pushed him farther into his own head (a pretty scary place to be) until he was almost unrecognizable, even to me. We didn't talk as often as the years passed. I went bat shit, after all, and he wasn't far off himself.
Say whatever you want about Torix. Hell, I don't think I ever heard a rumor that was worse than the reality. But I also know that he doesn't give a shit about his reputation. All he ever wanted was to do better than what came before. We ended up worse than they ever were, but in the beginning we meant every word. He gathered up the shattered dregs of our family and gave us something to hope for again. He's a genius, a monster, a leader… and my best friend. I believed… not just in our cause but in him. I believed that he really could do anything in the world, and all with that same cocky grin plastered on his face. I loved him 'til the day I died.
?
…. And now we are left with the ashes. Vidira iet uses his once-noble intentions to justify all manner of atrocities. In my early years, I bought into his self-deceptions, but no longer. His flimsy hopes hide only a nostalgia for a glorious past long lost to him, a past filled with camaraderie and ambition instead of disgraceful decay. His days as the voice of Alagaesia'a future are just as dead as Jarnunvosk. I see the creeping husk for what it is. He despises me for this knowledge, but he is incapable of altering reality without unmaking his very self. I know his name, though it is unutterable, and it reveals a sense of abysmal despair set deep within his shell. I would pity him, if not for the years of countless injuries inflicted at his whims. The man is all but dead already; he has only to realize it.
And, when he does, I will be there to finally put him out of his misery.
-:- -:- -:-
AN: and that's a wrap folks~
Obviously, this bio for Torix is non-canon in several ways. This thing was more about test driving all of the forsworn's voices than the story itself, but I worry that affects clarity? I'd be interested in hearing opinions in reviews~
Special thanks to my wifey for putting up with me reading this whole thing to her while she played elden ring XD and for her incredible help developing everyone. I couldn't do anything without this lady~
Fair winds, fricai.
