Renius Shahuntro

By That One Techpriest You Used To Know

• September 14, 2015

Age: 35

Gender: Male

Species: Earth Pony

Appearance: Renius is an average-sized though rather lean pony. However, he has several interesting features due to his... unique heritage. He has a thicker coat then most ponies, but a significantly smaller amount of body fat. His tail is thinner than usual as well, and his hooves have very thin pads, like a cat. (This prevents him from wearing horseshoes, but he's alright with it.) Finally- although it will only be obvious when he is truly excited and in his element- he has fully developed canines, like a dog or a cat.<br /><br />Apart from that, he looks much like a standard, though somewhat battle-worn, pony. He has a grey coat and a braided, white mane, while his tail is often cut shorter than most ponies. He is naturally quiet in his movements, and, despite the occasional desire not to, he has a habit of scaring ponies. He wears a thick set of clothes with several different pockets and crystals, including a necklace of animal teeth. Finally, he has a brilliant collection of scars across his entire body (though most are under his clothing), including one across his face had destroyed his eye, causing him to wear an eyepatch.

Cutie Mark: Renius's Cutie Mark (although he hates the term and prefers it as a 'hunter's mark') is a pair of knives crossed behind a large animal skull- representing his first trophy kill, and the birth of his enjoyment of the sport.

Personality: Renius is a jovial stallion. He cares not if he is by himself or alone, if he is among friends or enemies. However, his goals include two things- hunting creatures of ever-increasing sizes in the Everfree, and taking the trophies from said hunts home to prove his skill. He is a very prideful stallion- sometimes even to the point of vanity. He sells most of his trophies for money to the rich of Canterlot, Manehattan, and Baltimare, but he keeps his biggest and best in a small house on the edge of the Everfree. Other than these transactions, he has little purpose to be in the towns and cities except for one thing- he loves the bottle. While not quite an alcoholic, he finds that the best reactions he gets to the bloody retellings of his favorite hunts come from the bars and the alehouses- and that telling these stories while half-drunk himself gives him just enough energy to convince the crowds with his acted out stories, despite the fact that they are realistic (although some of the monsters that he hunts can defy belief at times). Finally, Renius is extremely forgiving and protective- short of trying to kill him, or meddling with dark forces (of which he is almost superstitiously scared of), he will never turn his blade against a civilized being- only three non-beasts or non-monsters had fallen by his blade; a deer (before he discovered they were civilized, they just happened to live in the forests), an assassin, and a Canterlot noble who felt that an assassin's fee was a better option than paying him for his services.

Backstory: A hunter from a long line of rangers and hunters, born with the blood of the eastern tigers in his veins, Renius is unique in that he kills for trophies instead of to keep the forest safe. Well after he got his cutie mark, he left the household of his own accord, living a good, if relatively simple, life of trading arms, pelts, Timber Wolf wood, and various trophies from various beasts that he had come across. He was quickly growing and the Canterlot market which he sold to found his trophies, his general appearance, and his rather wild demeanor as, as stated in a review, 'a charming, if a bit backwards, young gentleman who may not look like much but can tell a great story- and the souvenir that proves it to be true!'<br /><br />It was not long after this that he heard of the story of the destruction of a small village, just south of the Everfree, from the tales of a young ranger named Lilith, bitter and sour from her experiences. Despite her desire against it, that she was to slay the beast herself, Regius decided that he would find it, and take it's heart as the ultimate trophy- the pinnacle of his collection, by which his legacy would continue. Indeed, within a day of Lilith's departure, he had already packed his bags and left Canterlot a week earlier than what was scheduled, a sparkle in his eyes and determination in his veins. He spend the better part of six months tracking that beast, stalking it, and, with his few glimpses, planning on where to drive his knives and his arm-mounted claws into it's hide. It did not take him much longer to set up an ambush site for the beast, learning its patterns, its skills. However, there was one thing that the hunter did not account for, did not take into consideration- it was highly intelligent, and had seen the signs of a predator following it- he was no ranger, despite his bloodline. So, when the ambush came, the beast was prepared for him and was able to dodge the initial strike, destroying all of Regius's carefully made plans which relied, at least to a degree, on landing the essential first blow.<br /><br />From there came a long and arduous fight which, despite injuries, the monster won. Unable to find where it had flung Regius last, the heavily injured hunter was able to crawl away silently before falling unconscious from blood loss. What happened over the next six months went by in a blur, but it seemed that Lilith herself had found the dying hunter and took her to safety, where they bonded over his broken, healing body. After he had healed, he returned to Canterlot and told his tale, with the scars and eyepatch to prove it, and his renown grew- but this encounter had taught him a lesson about being too prideful and underestimating his foes. He continued his business, expanding his travels to Ponyville, Manehattan, and Baltimare, but he will always remember his biggest fight- and will always lust after the heart of the beast, for know he knows how it thinks and reacts as well... and he is the perfect hunting guide for the ranger he will always remember, who has promised him a trophy from the beast in exchange for his help in purging it.