Character Notes: Dorilian Sordaneon

Dorilian Sordaneon is an important guy. The first book of the Triempery Revelations series is named after him. Every event that happens to him or in which he takes part is consequential. That’s how to get a whole book named after you.

Dorilian first appeared in the earliest versions of the Triempery series as the primary antagonist in what eventually—after many reimaginings—became The Second Stone. What he was then and what he is now are so different it’s not useful to go into that evolution. For the purpose of this blog post I will focus on the character as readers get to know him in the published series.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read the first two books, Sordaneon and The Kheld King, this blog post has spoilers for what happens.

Heir to a Dynasty

The Sordaneons originated from Derlon, one of the Three god Sons of Amynas and Leur. Derlon and his two brothers fought alongside their fathers against the Aryati to stabilize and secure the Second Creation. They helped defeat the Deus Aryati—a Hegemon who wielded the Undying Crown, a powerful device housing the fallen god Vllyr. Derlon’s omnificence created weapons and armor that played a major role in the victory. After the Return which brought the survivors of the First Creation’s now archived and static past to dwell in the ongoing new World Leur had created, Derlon claimed for himself the immortal Leur City of Sordan (one of the Five Cities) and added the name Sordaneon to be that of his House.

Following the first turbulent hundred years of the Return and with the hope of restoring the reborn World’s physical boundaries, Derlon sought to revive a remnant of Leur’s original Creation: the Rill. As a god possessing omnificence, Derlon entered the Rill corpus and metamorphosed to inhabit it. By his doing so the Rill became a living, immortal being and Derlon became permanently bonded to this new form. By then Derlon had sired seven sons with a mortal woman. Though mortal themselves, these sons bore Leur gifts in their bodies and blood; these gifts they in turn passed to their sons. They also inherited the ability to potentially communicate with and command the newly sentient and active Rill Entity.

The Sordaneons became famed for possessing the ability to command elements and generate energy flows. The dynasty made Sordan their ancestral seat and annexed several regions to create the Sordan Hierarchate, second of the three empires that formed the Highborn Triempery.

Dorilian’s Birth

Dorilian was born in Sordan on the 17th day of the 4th month of the one thousand, eight hundred and fiftieth year of the founding of the Triempery in the Second Creation (2/1850/4/17) to Deben Sordaneon (later Deben IV), who was at that time Heir to the Hierarchate. Dorilian’s grandfather, Labran, the 21st Hierarch, was being held captive in Essera. Though the Hierarchate was occupied by Esseran forces, the Sordaneon royal family was left in place to preserve the legal structure of the Triempery.

Dorilian’s father had taken a wife under duress. Essera had sought to force Deben to wed Emyli Stauberg-Randolph, their King’s daughter, but Emyli had run off with a Kheldish lover. To be certain Deben could not wed Emyli even should she be recovered quickly, Sordan’s lords had Deben wed one of their own princesses, Valyane Teremareonaea, daughter of Sebbord II, Prince of Teremar. Sebbord, also of the Sordaneon bloodline, was powerful and possessed a vast fortune, the greater part of which he granted as Valyane’s dowry, to pass to her children.

Deben disliked being forced to marry and also the choice of bride. Both Sebbord and Valyane had Ardaenan Nemenor ancestry. [As did Deben. Deben’s father Labran was half-Ardaenan.] Deben possessed Purist beliefs and would have preferred a wife of less mixed lineage. With most of the Hierarchate’s wealth locked up along with the captive Labran, Valyane’s dowry was a powerful motivator, however, and Deben reluctantly consummated the marriage. Dorilian was born on a hot summer day a year later and was remanded to the care of his mother and a governess. Dorilian was seven years old before Deben impregnated Valyane again.

Education and Early Years

Dorilian’s first childhood years were happy ones. Valyane surrounded her young son with tutors and teachers. Dorilian’s earliest playmates were the sons and daughters of the women of Valyane’s household. His first language was Stauba, though he would for the rest of his life prefer Teremari pronunciation of many words. As a toddler he studied music (Highborn talent for music is foundational and encouraged), mathematics, history, languages, and reading. Early reports to Deben indicate that Dorilian was a bright and difficult child, capable of advanced study but quite stubborn about what he was willing to learn. When Essera demanded that Dorilian be handed over to them to be educated in the north, both Deben and—especially—Valyane opposed that demand and insisted their son remain in Sordan.

Dorilian was seven when his mother was murdered. Valyane was pregnant with her second son. Dorilian wanted this brother very much and spent time talking to the fetus in utero, eagerly awaiting when he would be born. However in Valyane’s third month agents of Essera poisoned her with merethe, which caused her to abort her child and killed her also.

Dorilian claimed the Rill awakened him and compelled him to seek out the distressed child and his dying mother. He was with Valyane when she died. He also picked up the aborted baby and its placenta, which then bonded to his flesh; from that point the baby’s development rapidly accelerated. When Dorilian was found by the guards—led by Tiflan Morevyen, Dorilian’s cousin and another grandson of Sebbord—he was still holding the child, which was able to breathe on its own and was viable.

Appalled by his daughter’s murder and not trusting the safety of Sordan’s heirs, Sebbord abducted Dorilian and the newborn and removed them to Teremar. Many political machinations took place between interested parties but Dorilian knew nothing of those. He did not see Sordan—or his father—again until he was fourteen.

Life in Teremar

Dorilian’s life in Teremar was that of a Highborn prince intended to someday rule an empire—and the god-machine that was the Rill Entity. Sebbord continued Dorilian’s education but expanded it to include mechanics and physics, horsemanship, weapons, statecraft, Cibulitan and Jharbalan philosophy, courtly etiquette, and economics. Tutors were brought from every corner of the Triempery. Sebbord also invited youths from noble houses throughout the Sordaneon Hierarchate to compete for positions as companions to the young Sordaneon prince. Aside from education and these companions, Sebbord closely guarded access to Dorilian, especially from Essera. For the most part they lived at Askorras, Sebbord’s capital.

It is during his years in Teremar that Dorilian acquired the friends and retainers who would who make up the core of his inner circle. Apart from his brother, named Levyathan, Dorilian became close to a few select people.

Tiflan Morevyan—cousin (Dorilian, Deleus, and Tiflan are the respective sons of Sebbord’s three daughters) and friend.

Deleus Suddekeon—cousin and friend

Legon Rebiran—companion, friend, and bodyguard

Tutto Rhunnard—weapons master and friend

Noemi—newborn Levyathan’s nurse/governness

Many of Dorilian’s companions rose to positions in his later military and government.

During this time Dorilian perfected his skills in riding, swordsmanship, sending (the translocation of cylinders for communication purposes), dancing, discourse, and archery. Sebbord insisted that the future Hierarch become a well-rounded, active, political and social force.

Permephedon

When Dorilian was fourteen years old he became legally of age, and the gears of royal politics demanded a return to Sordan and his father Deben’s court. Deben was yet Regent for the captive Labran and he ruled an occupied City. Dorilian arrived with an escort of chosen companions and was granted his own household in the Sordaneon Serat. Within a month Essera issued an order that Dorilian be sent to Permephedon that he might be “given a proper education.” Deben fought this order but, surprisingly, Sebbord did not; Sebbord instructed his grandson to go, with the condition that Levyathan, who struggled with neurological problems, go with him. The latter instruction persuaded Dorilian, who was deeply devoted to Levyathan and grasped onto the possibility that Marenthro, the immortal who ruled Permephedon, might help the boy.

At Permephedon Dorilian took up residence in the Sordaneon Tower with Levyathan, Noemi, and Legon, who he had chosen as his one allowed companion. Dorilian expected he would be treated at Permephedon as he had been at Askorras and Sordan—politely, even deferentially—out of respect for his Sordaneon lineage. Instead he found himself rubbing elbows with lower born people who regarded the Sordaneons as enemies because of the disruption created by Labran’s rebellion before Dorilian had even been born. As a teen and unused to being crossed, Dorilian took personal offense and made known his unhappiness by trading insults with the worst offenders—in particular the grandson of the Esseran King, Stefan Stauberg-Randolph and Stefan’s handful of Kheld friends, all of whom Dorilian regarded as slavish and barbaric.

The hostility between the youths reached its zenith when Stefan and his friends arranged to get Dorilian alone in a weapons practice room and assaulted him. Enough blows were exchanged to knock Dorilian to the floor, whereupon Stefan kicked him in the face several times, hard enough to knock loose teeth. Though Stefan ceased his assault at that point and fled, Dorilian never forgave him.

The incident brought Dorilian into first contact with his Esseran Highborn kin, the Malyrdeons, who came to negotiate a settlement. Because to draw Highborn blood was a crime punishable by death, Dorilian insisted on that punishment... until he could leverage Stefan’s attack to release him from Essera’s order that he attend Permephedon. Dorilian’s other stipulation was that Levyathan remain.

While on Permephedon’s Rill platform, within the perimeter of the god-machine’s energy, the Malyrdeon Wall Lord Austell made an attempt to read Dorilian’s future by pairing the Wall Entity—via the Wall Stone he wore—with the Rill Entity. The pairing cost Austell his mind. While trying to assist Austell by yanking away the Wall Stone, Dorilian received glimpses of the futures the Wall held of him. Because he distrusted the Malyrdeons, Dorilian did not disclose what he had seen.

The rest of the story—Dorilian’s and Stefan’s and the Triempery itself—is told in the Triempery Revelations series.

Physical Appearance

Dorilian is a teen in Sordaneon; his growth is detailed in the books. Because he is Highborn and the Highborn mature more slowly than humans, Dorilian in Sordaneon is shorter than other purely Staubaun lads. He reaches full height in The Kheld King. At that point he is six foot and then some. He is the same height as Legon and shorter by a good head than Tiflan. Quite a few pure Staubaun men are taller than he is... though no one ever seems to think so, even those who see him with others. He moves smoothly and has great physical presence.

Most people expect Dorilian to look Staubaun, with pale skin, blond hair and amber eyes, because that’s what they assume all Highborn to look like—and what Deben, Dorilian’s father, looked like. Dorilian’s skin, while fair, has warm undertones not found in Staubaun skin. He also has his mother’s honey gold hair and gray (from Nemenor ancestors) eyes. His eyes are variously called silver, storm-colored, or steely. He’s considered handsome, though his features are not classically Staubaun enough to be called beautiful. Like all Highborn, his body resists corruption, resulting in clear skin, healthy hair, good teeth (he regrew the ones lost at Permephedon), and well-shaped limbs.

Dorilian does not present with facial hair. He could grow it... it he wished to. He does not.

Few people make more of an impression than Dorilian Sordaneon. His upbringing impressed on him how to look royal; he does this without thinking: in what he wears, how he stands, the embroidery of his voice and elegance of his speech. When he chooses to, however, Dorilian can look more like a common person. He doesn’t quite pull it off, but he almost does—close enough he can get away with it for a while.

Personality

Not many people like Dorilian Sordaneon. There’s a reason for that: He’s prickly. He’s like a porcupine, bristling with reasons to not get close; better yet, stay away. Far away. The fact is... Dorilian doesn’t like when people get close to him.

Dorilian is an empath. [More about that below.] While he may not come across that way, Dorilian feels other people perhaps too acutely. He detects their reactions to him—you don’t have to tell him you don’t like him, he knows—and also detects emotions like fear or joy. Lies taste acidic, brutally so. Truth tastes like water. As a result of his empathic natural being, Dorilian is just more comfortable not interacting.

As do all princes, Dorilian has preferred pastimes. Most of his personal activities are solitary: running helps clear his mind; poetry, both reading and writing, speak to his love of order and beauty; architecture, both the viewing and designing; and the racing and breeding of horses. Dorilian also enjoys good food. Not just any food: Good Food. He also eats plenty of it because Highborn metabolisms run hot, and his more than most due to his connection to the Rill.

Prickliness aside, though, Dorilian has quite a few admirable qualities. He’s loyal, fiercely so. His affection, once earned, is durable and readily returned. His enmity, once earned, is probably eternal. Just ask Stefan. There simply is no one more stubborn or persistent when it comes to winning a battle or achieving a goal. Dorilian just does... not... give... up. As Marenthro at one point says when Hans asks if Dorilian could be an enemy: “If so he will be a terrible one.”

People who know Dorilian well enough, though, know ways to handle him. He can be reasoned with. He respects people who stand up to him, as long as they aren’t idiots about it. As an empath, he sees through sycophancy and deceit and greed but can be moved powerfully by sincerity. And though many believe him to be a monster, he sees real ones.

Projective Empathy

Quite early in Sordaneon readers are introduced to Dorilian’s projective empathy and what it means.

Marc Frederick was finding it difficult to keep his body’s basal responses under control. He harbored no special immunity to Dorilian’s hatred and rage. Projective empathy struck deep. His body wanted to answer the Highborn assault upon his emotions and pumped adrenalin into his bloodstream, causing his heart to pound and his breathing to quicken, heightening his own impulse to aggression. The very thing his body wanted to do most—to fight this young attacker, to defend himself whether with weapons or words—was what he must not do. He must not play into his opponent’s emotion. [Sordaneon]

Dorilian hurls his emotions against others. Initially, as a young person, he does this blindly, instinctively driving people back. Hurting them. And often not even realizing how powerfully other people are reacting to him. Later, as he grows into the man readers encounter in later books, Dorilian understands when he is the cause of these reactions. And he also learns to use this ability to his gain, as in confusing attackers or convincing pursuers to do nothing.

Projective empathy is one of Dorilian’s most pronounced traits. It’s there in the background sometimes, but it’s always there.

Nammuor and Other Complications

Nammuor, sorcerer and ruler of Mormantalorus, came into Dorilian’s life when he was seventeen years old; Deben decided he would strengthen Sordan’s hand by forging an alliance with the Triempery’s southernmost and now seceded empire. Marrying Dorilian, Sordan’s Heir, to Daimonaeris, Nammuor sister, struck Deben as a win-win. Sordan and Mormantalorus together could maybe defeat Essera.

Things didn’t work out that way.

Sorcery is introduced early in the Triempery series, along with the concept that Dorilian might be a way to fight it. Readers begin to glimpse hints of that possibility in Sordaneon. By The Walled City—they know.

Romantic elements prove even more catastrophic. Daimonaeris is not exactly Dorilian’s taste in brides. For one thing, she finds him repulsive and—given his high level of empathy—he finds her just as repellent. Theirs is a marriage made in hell. And the end of it inspires Nammuor to no end of sorcerous rage.

The Demise.

Dorilian along with Marc Frederick was one of the principal architects of the Permephedon Treaty brought before the Highborn Council at Permephedon in 2/1871. The treaty was signed—something Dorilian knows but has never acknowledged—before the document was destroyed along with all signers in the event known as the Demise. The abrupt deaths of more than forty Highborn Princes by sorcery created an empathic storm surge felt throughout the Triempery. Dorilian was the only person to survive and was witnessed by hundreds when he fled Permephedon by Rill.

Dorilian’s survival and flight created suspicion he murdered his father and fellow Highborn Princes as well as Marc Frederick. This suspicion pursues him throughout his life.

Hierarch

Dorilian’s father, Deben IV, was Sordan’s 22nd Hierarch. Deben ruled for only three years, during which Dorilian was his Heir. After Deben perished in the Demise Dorilian assumed Sordan’s crown as 23rd Hierarch. As Hierarch he wears the Rill Stone that signifies he is Derlon's Heir.

Dorilian was 21 when he ascended to the throne. Though young, he had been raised to be a Hierarch and immediately set about a series of reforms. His first years saw war with Mormantalorus—primarily in Teremar and Suddekar—and Essera. Essera’s new king, Stefan, initially sought to regain occupancy of the Hierarchate. Dorilian dissuaded Stefan of that notion.

In the second year of his Hierarchate, Dorilian faced an insurrection mounted by his maternal grandmother Ermenthalia, the Princess of Suddekar. After thwarting the insurrection Dorilian imprisoned Ermenthalia in Sordan’s Citadel and installed his cousin Deleus as Bas of Suddekar. Three years later an assassination attempt launched by Stefan prompted Dorilian to seize and occupy Gignastha, creating an ongoing war with Essera and the Kheld people, who saw the move as predatory.

Due to these experiences and because of his background as a Highborn Prince, Dorilian has become protective of himself and his Hierarchate, serving as a remote and somewhat enigmatic ruler. Sordan, as one of the Five Cities and home of the Rill Entity, is core to Dorilian’s vision of himself. His grasp on Sordan is secure and he surrounds himself with competent advisors. As a result Sordan is prosperous and stable. Dorilian, meanwhile, is aware that the greatest threat to him is Mormantalorus. Essera is... annoying.

The Rill

Ultimately everything converges on Dorilian and the Rill. The Rill is mentioned in the first sentence of Sordaneon—and the last.

Dorilian is bound to the Rill by blood from birth. That bond intensifies when Dorilian meets Labran and is branded with the Rill’s signature. He is chosen—by powerful forces, people, and the Rill itself—to challenge what the Rill was, and is, and will become. Does Dorilian understand what is taking place? Yes. A lot, but maybe not everything. What he knows most of all is that the god-machine wants to incorporate him into its vast inhumanness—a fate he fights back against with all his being.

The Rill is powerful. The Rill is useful. And the Rill is there for him...