Nhorg

Nhorg
Member of the Darklords
Titles	Darklord Nhorg Lord of Gourzaa
Status	Dead (killed by Paido) Spirit trapped in the Plain of Despair
Died	MS 5070
Domain	Gourizaga
Weapon	Sword
Illustrations	The Darklands: p. 81

Darklord Nhorg (died MS 5070) was a Darklord and Lord of Gourzaa. He is one of only two of the twenty Darklords not to die by Lone Wolf's hands, either directly or indirectly (the other is Darklord Vashna, whose first death was at the hands of King Ulnar I).

Appearance

Nhorg's appearance was unimpressive compared with his fellow Darklords. He was a humanoid that was completely black from head-to-toe, and lacked features in general.

Personality

Nhorg was very quiet and communicated little. He was unremarkable in terms of strength and political savvy, and thus the rest of the Darklords had little respect for him. In turn, Nhorg appeared to have no desire to interact with them. Haakon considered him to be the weakest of all the Darklords. Due to the disrespect, Nhorg was exceptionally tyrannical within his compound in Helgedad, causing his fellow Darklords to almost pity his servants, if only because Nhorg was wasting valuable resources.

Despite his lack of political power, Nhorg believed that the power of the dead of Ixia held the keys to him becoming Archlord.

Biography

Nhorg arrived on Magnamund with his fellow Darklords in MS 3072.

At some point after Nhorg's arrival on Magnamund along with his fellow Darklords, Nhorg chose Gourizaga as his domain. However, to his dismay, he found that the land was constantly invaded by the undead of Ixia. Despite this regret, he believed the power of Ixia held his keys to becoming Archlord, and recently, as of MS 5000, he had gained a degree of its power, although Nhorg would never become Archlord.

During the Darklands War, Nhorg masterminded an attempt on Lord Rimoah's life, sending an operative to tamper with a sun-crystal, turning it into a potent magical bomb that could only target Elder Magi, but this plot was foiled by the Elder Magi and Vakeros.

In MS 5066, the Zakhan of Vassagonia died, and two candidates — one who wanted to assist the Freelands, and one who wanted to continue being allies with the Darklands. Archlord Gnaag traveled to Vassagonia to sway them, taking advantage of the Tanoz-tukor to travel outside of the Darklands. While there, Nhorg attempted to assassinate Gnaag, aided and greatly-empowered by an unrevealed third party, possibly the power of Ixia. The assassination barely failed, and Gnaag pursued Nhorg back to the Darklands. However, Gnaag's visit was successful, as Vassagonia continued its alliance with the Darklands.

At some point before MS 5069, Nhorg and Gnaag reconciled, and in MS 5069, Nhorg attacked the country of Bautar, which had been attacked prior by Darklords Shebnar and Zhanshal. The Herbalish Bautarians had reverse-engineered Shebnar's Lajakeka to develop a method of purification that could, over a very long period time, cure the Darklands of its toxic waste, and although Gnaag was unaware of the exact details, he was aware that something mysterious was being done. As Nhorg attacked Bautar, he was confronted by Lord Paido, at the same time just as Lone Wolf confronted Archlord Gnaag in Helgedad. Paido managed to slay Nhorg, but he lost his own life in the process, and his soul was captured by Naar. Nhorg also did not escape Naar's wrath — for his failure, his spirit was trapped and tortured in the Plain of Despair.

Design

In the first edition of The Darklands, Nhorg eliminated one of Vashna's rivals, and chose Gourizaga as a reward, thinking the remoteness of the land would be a useful way to avoid the politics of his fellow Darklords, causing him to eventually regret his choice of domain. In the second edition, it is not stated when or how he was granted Gourizaga, although Nhorg chose it. Also in the second edition, some time before or during the time of Archlord Zagarna, he was given specific duties to defend the Darklands against the undead of Ixia, and eventually gained a degree of mastery over the power in Ixia.