Dol Dorn
Dol Dorn, Sovereign of Strength and Steel, set iron in my spine and steadiness in my hand, that I may meet the fight with courage and leave cruelty behind.
Dol Dorn is the Sovereign of Strength and Steel, patron of the common soldier and the steady hand that grips a weapon when fear is trying to pry the fingers loose. He embodies courage, physical prowess, and martial skill, and if the Sovereigns are the pillars of civilization, Dol Dorn is the pillar that gets dented, bloodied, and still holds. Among the Host, he is often described as the only truly chaotic member, less concerned with perfect order than with the honest test of steel and will.
That said, Dol Dorn is not the patron of cruelty. Vassals say he honors those who fight out of duty, who meet danger head on without turning battle into butchery. Strength is a virtue. Sadism is a weakness wearing a grin.
What Dol Dorn Represents
Dol Dorn is war, yes, but not war as paperwork and banners. War as the moment the line breaks and someone decides to stand anyway. He is the discipline behind training, the courage that keeps you moving when it would be easier to run, and the physical excellence that turns effort into mastery.
He is also the Sovereign of competition in all its forms. The duel, the tournament, the sparring match, the race, the contest of endurance. If you improve yourself through challenge, you have brushed up against Dol Dorn’s domain.
Worshipers and Everyday Devotion
Dol Dorn is primarily worshiped by soldiers, gladiators, athletes, monks, and anyone whose life revolves around combat or physical prowess. His prayers are spoken in barracks, training yards, fighting pits, and on the quiet edge of a battlefield before the shouting starts.
Among the Marguul bugbears, Dol Dorn is interpreted through the figure of Lhesh Shaarat, their own cultural face for the Sovereign of Strength and Steel. In Darguun, Lhesh Haruuc Shaarat’kor is a notable public example of a leader tied to that tradition by name and story alike.
Divine Relations
Dol Dorn is said to be the brother of Dol Arrah and the Mockery. Together they form a mythic triangle of battle’s virtues and vices: Dol Dorn as courage and strength, Dol Arrah as honor and wisdom, and the Mockery as treachery and terror.
Legends claim that Dol Dorn was the one who forced the Dark Six from the ranks of the Host. Whether you take that as literal divine history or as a moral story about strength driving out corruption depends on how much you trust myths to behave themselves.
Iconography and Forms
Dol Dorn is most often depicted as a muscular human, dwarf, or half orc, a figure built for the work he represents. Less commonly he is shown as a powerful silver dragon, because sometimes the faithful want their war god to look like something that could swallow a siege engine.
His imagery favors weapons, shields, trophies of honest victory, and the stance of someone who is ready for the next strike.
Clergy and Sects
The clergy of Dol Dorn are often soldiers or athletes themselves, because it is difficult to preach excellence in battle if you have never taken a hit. Their temples tend to feel like training halls as much as chapels.
A widespread soldier’s sect honors Dol Dorn as part of the Three Faces of War alongside Dol Arrah and Dol Azur, a tradition said to have been founded by Karrn the Conqueror in Karrnath and later spread across the Five Nations and into places like Stormreach during the Last War. It offers soldiers a religious language for the realities of battle: courage and honor, and also the darker truths they would rather not name out loud.
