Alrahm Velle

By Vae Victis

• July 21, 2014

Age: 63

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn

Appearance: A dark blue unicorn with a gray, long mane and a long, finely brushed beard and deep indigo colored eyes. He wears a white Mage's cloak with a hood with indigo accents down the sleeves of it. His horn is a deep silver and is very obviously well polished. Often found wearing reading glasses during his studies. He is never without his crystalline staff. It almost seems as though there is always an icy aura around it...

Cutie Mark: An ice spike with a windigo eye trapped in it, representing his affinity for ice magic, and by extent, water magic.

Personality: Loves to read, as his position as sage of the divine retribution requires extensive knowledge. He is never found anywhere without a book with him in case he gets bored. He loves being around younger ponies, as it reminds him of his youth, and of his son and grandson. He is both wise and cunning, as where muscle fails, his intelligence holds true. He hates the fact that he is getting old, but is very appreciative when someone helps him down a flight of stairs. He will even often crack jokes about his old age and even admits that stairs are " his archenemy. " he has a great sense of humor, but is annoyed by ignorance. He often tries to guide younger souls in the path of righteousness and wisdom. He loves music, and frequents royal musical ceremonies.

Backstory: Alrahm is a member of the divine retribution order, and is the windigo monarch's chosen<br />_______________________________<br /><br />As a young colt born to a unicorn father and earth pony mother, his beginnings would be described as fairly normal. A loving family that lived in the allyhouse of ponyville. His father was a unicorn that practiced many water magics, and often helped keep the local tap water purified and tasting quite delightful, and his mother was a waitress at a local ale serving inn. The father, larim, often performed water tricks for his son while they were at home together, usually keeping it floating in air and changing it into tricks. One day, as his father was doing tricks for his son, alrahm froze the water without even trying, to the shock of his father, this earned him his cutie mark, an ice spike with a windigo eye frozen in it. His father was very suspicious of the cutie mark, as windigos were often held as ice demons that fed on hatred. His mother, Saila, defended alrahm though, stating that it just meant that he would be a powerful ice Mage when he would grow up. His father then have up suspicion of any evil within his son, but still worried that the mark would bring ill fate. This caused him to shelter alrahm alot. He provided alrahm with books to pass the time, and alrahm became very partial to books, particularly, history books a book about magical creatures that his father had bought years ago from a traveling merchant.<br /><br />At the age of 15, alrahm had grown tired of being kept inside the house all the time. His mother supported that alrahm should go out more, and spend more time outside of home, whereas his father wished differently. Of course, this changed when his mother threatened his father with a frying pan ( which alrahm thought very comical, and indeed it was.) alrahm and his mother won out, and he was given more freedom. Besides his love for knowledge, he developed quite an exploration streak, which grew as he did. From exploring the vast plains outside of ponyville along with the everfree, he often found tranquil places to read books in.<br /><br />When alrahm had turned 19, he moved out on his own from his parents and managed to score a nice house deep in ponyville. He held various odd jobs that ponies would hire him for, such as freezing ponds for the winter so ponies could ice skate, making ice cubes for restaurants, and purifying water, like his father. In his off time, he would often go exploring, and even had an expedition planned to go to morashok ice caverns, a dangerous cavern located at near a lake deep in the everfree. It seemed to call to him, and he found the stories behind it fascinating, as the ice there never melted, not even when pyromages tried to hurl fire at the crystals. They stood resolute.<br /><br />Alrahm eventually traversed the icy cavern, almost dying from slipping into the abyss that awaited below. He used his ice magic to manipulate the various ice crystals that jutted along the abyss walls in the cavern, shaping them into stairs to aid him in his descent. A presence had felt him do this, and beckoned him to come. <br /><br />" thou who hold sway over the ice in the cavern, cometh into my sight, and cross the blades of intellectual thirst with my mind and thine."<br /><br />A presence? There in the cavern? Who could even live down there, he asked himself as he descended. When he made it to the bottom, he beheld quite a sight. A crystalline staff sat in a pile of snow and ice, with numerous skeletons around it, quite possibly those who fell trying to scale the cavern. <br /><br />The staff eminated a cool, snowy aura. A voice seemed to eminate from it. " thou who hath journeyed in the perils of ice... Answer me this question of philosophy. What is knowledge's price?"<br /><br />Alrahm thought long and hard. But what kind of knowledge? There were different kinds of knowledges.... Ah but that was it! He answered. " if knowledge is power, and power has a price, then knowledge has a price. However, all knowledges have different prices. Some you pay with time and devotion, and others, you pay with your life."<br /><br />The staff spoke out to him. " ... Thou art one who hath engrossed thine self on knowledge many a night. Thou art worthy. I am Serro the windigo monarch, father of the icebound. You have conquered the trial of philosophical truth, and have proven your worth in both coming here, and displaying the knowledge needed in both magic and mind. If you will it, you shall become my chosen, and inherit ice itself."<br /><br />Alrahm asked a question. " what is the catch?"<br /><br />Serro answered. " there is no catch. You have passed the test... What you do with this power is your decision. However, destiny may call for you... And it may do you well to train to defend equestria, as an evil in the west... In the griffon empire, looms. It will be a long time before fate becomes cruel, but if you are not ready, equestria may come under attack by those who bite the hand that feeds."<br /><br />" very well" alrahm said. " I accept the fate as your chosen, Serro." He then took the staff with him out of the cavern, and registered as a battlemage in equestria's army. <br /><br />Decades passed. In that time, he had served many years in the equestrian army, earning a title as a master cryomancer. He had married a military mare named miria, who gave birth to his son, Galam. 40 years had passed since the ice cavern expedition. He was now 59 and had seen alot of service along with his beloved wife. His son also had Grown to join the military as an infantry swordsman, inheriting his mother's earth pony qualities.<br /><br />Soon, a war had broken out in the griffon empire between a tyrant usurper and royalist forces. As equestria was azarik's ( the griffon empire's name) ally, they sent help to the royalist forces. Miria had retired from the military and stayed home in ponyville while galum and alrahm went to fight. Amplified as serro's chosen, alrahm a ice magic decimated enemy troops through snow storms devised by alrahm to destroy their crop food supply, and clever traps where water would be dumped into an ambush area where Galam would lead enemies there and alrahm would pierce the flying griffon dissenters with ice pillars that caught them off guard. After a year of crop destruction, the rebels fled to the city of Feyrien, the last stronghold city that was still in their possession. Galam was ordered back to the safety of the reserves, and alrahm was sent to join a special unit comprised of a griffon who was one with fire, a Minotaur with the strength to move mountains, and a pegasi with the speed of a typhoon.<br /><br />Alrahm, with the power that Serro granted him, conjured a great ice storm to start the first wave of attack. The ice shards hit many of the flying griffon rebels, causing them to fall from the sky, dead from bring cut to death by the ice. The ice storm eventually ended, and so did alrahm's part in that battle, as it had all but exhausted him.<br /><br />When he saw the city burned and heard that the tyrant Gorven was captured, he rejoiced, and went home. <br /><br />Upon arriving home, he was invited to canterlot castle by Celestia, who thanked him and the pegasi known as syuren for their major play in the war. He received the title of a master cryomancer, as well as a manor in canterlot with an extroidnairy library. He resides there with his wife, his son, his grandson, voran, and his daughter in law, kael.<br /><br />2 years passed. A griffon embassy was established after the war. The griffon who he fought beside, kazas, summoned him there for a meeting, where he also found syuren, and Lorec, the Minotaur. Kazas had discovered knowledge of the primordial forces trapped in each of their weapons, and that it was their fate to put down a potential threat that could have destroyed all of their homes. As the brings in the weapons were represented as divine entities, and they had brought retribution upon those who would be warmongering usurpers, kazas suggested that they take an oath to fix any anomaly in the world, be it magical or physical. Alrahm came up with the name " order of the divine retribution" and it stuck. To this day, he helps guide acolytes in the order with his knowledge and understanding of tactics, creatures, and magic, along with being part of the primordial keepers, the names given to them by their other-worldly companions.