Arzai Dorwiniel

"Fire is beautiful, but never would you seek to hold it in the palm of your hand." Arzai, born of the Dorwiniel family of Syrion, became the 47th High Obad of Goran in the year 995 A.A. Then twenty-four years old, she was the youngest High Obad to carry the ring and scepter of her office in over three centuries. Arzai ascended to the position following the alleged treason and subsequent banishment of the previous High Obad, Tomur Orolovar. She face not-insubstantial opposition to her appointment both from beyond Goran's Magicol and from within it. However, King Mahir Amenthis supported her claim to the title of High Obad, and with his backing Arzai superseded both her contemporaries and indeed her superiors to become "Master Arzai".

Intelligent and forceful, Arzai was initially betrothed at a young age to an heir of the prestigious Volkain family, as is common practice among the Gorian nobility. Contrary to what one might think, given High Obad Arzai’s impressive reputation, her elemental abilities remained latent for an exceptionally long time. Indeed, it was not until she was brought to Castle Armathain by her family at the age of ten to meet her betrothed that her magic was sensed by then-High Obad, Mistress Lírien. Arzai retained a strong sense of gratitude toward Mistress Lírien for the rest of the elder Green Obad’s life, and is rumoured to have adopted her as a surrogate mother figure. Therefore it may be surmised that her feelings toward Master Tomur upon his ascending to the title of High Obad following Lírien’s death may have been mingled with an edge of bitterness. Such conjectures are merely superficial, however; the personal life of Goran’s youngest High Obad has often been as much a topic of widespread curiosity as it has been fastidiously hidden away from the public eye.

As has been alluded to, the life and career of Arzai Dorwiniel has been heavily coloured by the unstable political climate of the time, as well as the close (some might claim intimate) nature of her sponsorship by the widower King Mahir. However, to suggest that any personal ties between the two was responsible for Arzai’s meteoric rise to power would be doing a grave disservice to her well-documented abilities. Master Arzai is famous for being the head of Goran’s Magicol at the outbreak of the Sundering Wars, as well as for being the first High Obad to openly wield waking magic in public (Sundering Wars). She, along with Red Obad Frandel and Grey Obad Davenir, led the Routing of Undor, after which time Arzai became the first Obad ever named as the King’s Champion.