Cairn

By MasterCombine

• January 3, 2013




Age: 21

Gender: Male

Species: Earth Pony

Appearance: *See above image<br /><br />Cairn possesses a deep burgundy coat and a dark-gray mane, almost black. His tail is of the same color as his mane, and both are shaggy and unkempt, as is the fashion of the forest tribes. Cairn's eyes are a rich orange. <br /><br />He is possessed of a considerable stature, standing a head taller than most stallions with a lean, heavily-muscled physique. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

Cutie Mark: Cairn's cutie mark, earned at the age of his first kill, is a twist on the tribal symbol of the Stormriders. It depicts a large, regal hawk perched on a dark bank of storm clouds, its wings spread wide. The hawk bears a twisting wooden crown on its head, set with rubies and wreathed in wildflowers- a sad reminder of what was once promised... and what may yet come to be.

Personality: Quick to laugh, quick to anger, and fearsome in the heat of battle, Cairn is a terror to his foes and a shield to his friends. Under a savage exterior lies a strange sort of charm, and more cunning than might first seem apparent. Those who earn his trust will find a staunch, unwavering ally.<br /><br />All the same, Cairn is undeniably stubborn- a trait common amongst those raised in the wilderlands. The ways of the forest tribes form the backbone of his belief system, and few are the city dwellers that would consider such ways civil or kind.

Backstory: On the night of Cairn's birth, his father made the spirits a single promise: One day his child would be a king. <br /><br />Cairn was the eldest son of Rok, the chieftain of the Stormriders, the largest and most powerful of the many tribes scattered across Violi's savage wilderlands, and, as such, much was expected of him.<br /><br />First and foremost he was expected to be a warrior. As soon as he could walk, Cairn was given an axe to clutch between his teeth. On his twelfth birthday he was gifted a fine suit of leather armor, cut from the hides of wolves and wild boars. At the age of thirteen he partook in his first raid, earning his first blood and tasting the flames of battle. <br /><br />Cairn was also expected to lead. One day his father would unite the tribes, sweeping down on the weakling cities, on the fools cowering in their keeps and castles, and those who called themselves "civil" would drown in a wave of blood and iron. Then, Cairn would be first in the line of succession, first in line to rule as the Forest King. His father had foreseen it in the waters of the Aether Well. The shades of the Spirit Realm had shown him the great wooden crown that Cairn would one day bear upon his head...<br /><br />But the spirits are fickle, their ways esoteric and unknowable. Not everything they whisper comes to pass, and such that does often happens through unexpected means. <br /><br />In Cairn's eighteenth year, his father was betrayed. The leader of a lesser tribe, once a fast friend of Rok's, struck a deal with the Delirian military. In the middle of the night, his tribesponies, together with a legion of heavily-armed soldiers, descended upon the Stormriders' encampment, burning and slaughtering as they saw fit. Rok's life ended on the point of a spear, and Cairn's mother and siblings were put to the sword.<br /><br />Few survived, and those that did, "savages" as they were, found themselves imprisoned or forced into servitude for their crimes. <br /><br />Bereft of his family, Cairn was shackled and sent to Thornwood Prison, a large penitentiary in Violi that housed enemies of the state, ponies that the ruling caste of Delirium deemed a threat to their power and to societal order at large. <br /><br />For three years, Cairn toiled and suffered under the whip of Thornwood's lord, the cruel Warden One-Eye. He had been sentenced to life behind the prison's stone walls, and would seed the ground with his sweat and blood. The crown of the Forest King had become nothing more than a dream, a faint whisper on the wind.<br /><br />But the spirits are fickle. Suffering is just as wont to turn to fortune, and at last Cairn's hour came. A successful riot at Thornwood, instigated by Cairn and a pyromancer that he had befriended, won him his freedom. With the warden dead and the vile prison burning in his wake, Cairn set off into the horizon, and toward a meeting that would decide the fate of all Equestria...<br />