BurgerSlave/BrunorFrostbeard

Brunor Frostbeard

It has been fifteen hundred long years since Brunor Frostbeard was betrayed. Even now, after long centuries in the North, he is haunted by the legacy of his own failure, even as he is surrounded by the legacy of his success.

In the final days of the Solar Deliberative, Brunor was a young man from the Northern city-states. In those days, the Beloved of Luna were brought to the Blessed Isle for training in the use of thier powers. He earned his surname from his Tell--the brilliant white of his beard, in stark contrast to his firey-red hair.

On the vast training fields of the Lunar Exalted, Brunor learned the ways of the Full Moon as was his place in the order of things. However, he had adopted the mighty Ice Bear as his totem, which is a powerful healing totem to the people of the North, even in the Age of Sorrows. Thus did Brunor undertake to learn Charms of healing, learning how to save life as easily as he ended it.

Finally, the Lunar Society pronounced Brunor fit for duty, and assigned him to bodyguard service. In those days, it was a great honor for the Lunar Exalted to guard the lives of the Solars, and Brunor took to his duty with great zest, eager to prove his worth to his people. However, he soon found himself falling in love with his charge, the Eclipse Caste Lady Shen Piu. At first, the much older Solar was amused by Brunor's boyish crush, but after he prevented an assassination attempt by blocking the killer's blade with his own body, she began to reciprocate his feelings.

Shen Piu's Sidereal advisor was one of Mercury's Chosen, a crafty and clever woman named Lady Andromeda. It was she who foresaw Shen Piu and Brunor's stars meeting in the house of the Lovers, and she who oversaw their vows of matrimony. But, unbeknownst to both, Andromeda was one of Chejop Kejak's disciples, and even in those carefree days, the seeds of strife and woe were being sown, to one day reap a bitter harvest.

When the Great Uprising came, Brunor fled with his lover to the Threshold, thinking to return to his snowy home with his wife and newborn daughter. They both trusted Lady Andromeda's assurances that the rebelling Terrestrials could never find them there. But as they wintered on the road into the North, their retinue was set upon by assassins in the guise of bandits. They fought with Sidereal martial arts techniques that not even the mighty Shen Piu could counter. With the last of her strength, she put her daughter into Brunor's arms and begged him to flee, to save their baby. Though he ached to die with his beloved, he could not deny her anything, and so Brunor assumed the form of a vorcel hawk, carrying the baby in gentle talons. His keening cry was one of agony as his heart broke and his beloved perished in the flames of the Usurpation.

Many years passed, and slowly, the Lunar Society became the Silver Pact. The No Moons learnt ways to preserve their forms in the chaos of the Wyld, and they began to live as the barbarians, turning their backs upon the civilization that had betrayed them. With his mighty prowess, Brunor became First Chieftain of the Ice Bear tribe, siring many ursine beastmen on the women of his savage tribe. After the first century, the raging fire that hungered for vengeance cooled, and morose despair took its place. Brunor became a lonely and bitter monarch, taking solace only in his children and the tribe they built for themselves. While other Lunars fought and mated and earned fame and glory, Brunor contented himself with his small domain. Thus, he faded out of legend while his contemporaries became the ideals to which all young Lunars aspired. Had he desired, Brunor might have joined the ranks of Raksi, Leviathan, and Ma-Ha-Suchi. But Brunor let his fire grow dim and his thirst for vengeance die out. In short, he let himself grow old and sad.

But all was not despair and gloom for the First Chieftain, for he took great pride in his tribe. Both human-shaped and beastman lived in harmony, working and living together in happiness. Perhaps once every century or two, a lass would be born to his tribe that would fascinate him, and he would take her to his furs for a time. Though his Essence grew only slowly, there came a time when Brunor's many children began to inherit an echo of his power. Many of them would be honored by Luna's touch as well, while others kept the beastman line strong. It was not the life Brunor would have wanted, but it was not a bad one either.

All this changed sixteen years ago, when his latest lover died in childbirth. The boy appeared to hold no trace of Lunar heritage, save for a shock of silver in his flame-red hair. Wee Eirik was a weak child, but as stubborn as any of his Exalted sibs. At times, it seemed as though he clung to life through sheer determination. It did not take long for him to win his way to a place of favor in his father's heart, much to the jealousy of his elder sibs. But the true surprise came when, on the eve of his fifteenth birthday, Eirik was Chosen by Mercury.

Suddenly, Brunor was forced to relive all the old fears and doubts, for the Sidereals had come back into his life after more than a thousand years of peace. Not long after Eirik's Exaltation, representatives of the Gold Faction came to Ice Bear's longhouse. The deliberations were long and Brunor as fiercly protective as any bear defending his young. But in the end, it was Eirik who made the choice to leave, to receive training as one of the Five-Score Fellowship and assume his duties as one of Heaven's ministers.

Brunor had almost forgotten how desperately heartbreak hurt. For the year while his son was away being trained, the First Chieftain was nearly lost to despair and worry. No fewer than three times, he was forced to defend his place at the head of the table from his jealous children. And all the while, he could not know if his favorite son was safe, or if he would never see Eirik again.

But Eirik did return, a fully-vested minister of the Golden Barque of the Heavens. And he was not alone. During his return trip from Yu-Shan, he had rescued a fellow traveller from one of the deep bogs that formed during the Northern thaw. That fellow was none other than Jarrol, chieftain of the White Stag tribe. He was also Chosen of the Eclipse Caste, and driven by ancient memory and prophecy. Brunor could not believe his luck--for his beloved Shen Piu had returned to him after centuries of heartache and despair. Having learned this, he was able to overlook the fact that his son carried the Exalted Essence that had once resided in Lady Andromeda. It was cosmic justice that their greatest betrayer should mend what had once been put asunder.

With renewed vigor and a fire in the belly, Brunor has reassumed his place in the Silver Pact. He has much to catch up on, but he is eager to prove himself once again. Though at times he finds it... interesting... to love a woman clothed in man's flesh, he has learned not to let something as trivial as gender stand in the way of his vows of matrimony. In the present day, the White Stag and Ice Bear tribes enjoy a close alliance, uniting in the face of common foes. Eirik acts as messenger between the two tribes, having declared his allegiance to the Silver Faction within the Five-Score Fellowship. For the first time in an age, Brunor is able to feel hope for the future.

Image: Brunor is a mighty bear of a man, reflecting his chosen totem form. At well over seven feet tall, he looms over most lesser folk. His barrel chest is broad as two average men standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Many years of sloth and enforced lassitude has made him tubby around the middle, but he has already begun to shed the extra pounds with his newly invigored state. Brunor's shaggy white hair tumbles to the middle of his back, while his beard obscures the lower half of his face and curls its way to his chest. Even in his human shape, his body is covered by thick, curly white fur, which does little to hide the silver tattoos that define his musculature. As a result, he tends to eschew clothing, preferring only a fur-lined kilt to preserve his modesty when he cares for such things. His Tell is the beard for which he is named--in all his forms, his snout is frosty white, and often shaggy with fur or feathers. His deep voice is a low, basso rumble that he rarely raises, except in his times of rare temper, when he thunders like an angry godling. Though he is fond of his pipe (particularly when filled with Southeastern tobacco, a rare treat for him), it is his fondness for hard drink has come close to humbling him more than once.

Statistics

Name: Brunor Frostbeard
Nature: Martyr
Caste: Full Moon
Totem: Ice Bear
Face: 4 "Uf-ya"

Strength 5 (Burly), Dexterity 3, Stamina 6 (Tireless)
Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2
Perception 4 (Scenting), Intelligence 3, Wits 3

Favored Abilities: Brawl 5, Endurance 4, Resistance 3, Medicine 5, Survival 4
Abilities: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Craft (Woodcarving) 2, Linguistics 2 (Airtongue, Old Realm, Riverspeak), Presence 3, Lore 2

Backgrounds: Artifact 2 (moonsilver hearthstone bracers), Heart's Blood 3, Manse 1 (Stone of Healing), Followers 5 (God-blooded children), Backing 5 (Ice Bear Tribe), Allies 3 (White Stag tribe)

Virtues: Compassion 5, Conviction 3, Temperance 1, Valor 3
Renown: Succor 60, Mettle 10, Wisdom 55, Glory 10
Advantages: Willpower 9, Essence 4 (Personal 22, Peripheral 54)
Heart's Blood Shapes: arctic fox, carribou, snow egret, yeddim, jackrabbit, seal, mammoth, whale, bald eagle, vorcel hawk, white wolf, snow leopard, mountain ram

Deadly Beastman Form: Strength +7, Stamina +7, Terrible Beast Claws, Rugged Hide, Impenetrable Beast Armor, Enhanced Senses, Ghost Sight

Charms: Finding the Spirit's Shape, Deadly Beastman Transformation (x4), Towering Beast Form, Calling Luna's Favor, Lunar Ox-Body Technique x3 (+12 -2 health levels), Body Weapon Technique, Bear Embrace Method, Mighty Bear Crush, Angry Rhino Charge, Steel Paw Style, Bowing Reed Technique, Unmoving Bear Defense, Hide-Toughening Essence, Armor-Forming Technique, Scales of the Dragon, Infection-Resisting Method, Bruise Relief Technique, Halting the Scarlet Flow, Lick Wound, Mother's Touch, Beast Instinct Method, Sealskin Endurance, Food-Scenting Method, Unerring Den-finding Sense, Water-Providing Technique, Wolf Endurance Method, Bear Sleep Technique, Fortutide of the Aurochs, Brotherhood of Lake and River

Combos: Gentle Touch of the Bear Totem (Bruise Relief Technique + Halting the Scarlet Flow)

Merits: Large +4, Legendary Stamina +3, True Love +3, Eternal Vow +3
Flaws: Climate Sensitive: Hot -2, Diminished Sight -3, Nightmares -3, Greater Curse -2

Commentary?

Um, seems REALLY weak for a First Age Lunar. Really, really, really weak. But I love the background. - Telgar

That's largely because he's spent most of his time moping and bemoaning his lost love than developing himself. Thus, he's only fair-to-middling powered. ~_^ --BurgerSlave