Cerannen
From Changeling Venue
| Seeming | Beast Dual Kith |
|---|---|
| Court | Summer Court ••••• |
| Freehold | None; nomadic |
| Player | Stephen Michael DiPesa |
Overview: Prey No Longer
Alias(es): Cerannen, the Horned Hunter
Real Name: Unknown
Location: Nomadic
Seeming: Beast
Kith: Cleareyes/Hunterheart
Court: Summer
Character Journal: The Hunt is On...
Description: The Hunt is On
More a force of nature than a person, Cerannen is a creature driven by lusts: for battle and for the hunt, for wine and for women, for vengeance upon the Others. Bowing to no master, he keeps sacred the old ways, the primal ways. Somewhere within his wounded soul - between the animal, the man, and the predator god - he holds to a self pieced together according to the ancient dance of fang and claw.
He lusts for life and for death - for sweat and sex and blood and cries of pain or passion: all of it blurring together into a tapestry of the deepest, most atavistic wants of the flesh. There exists for him no higher law than that of the hunt, the purpose to which he was broken and remade on the far side of the Hedge.
In the heart of what wild places remain in this world, he feasts on raw flesh and drinks sweet mead before a roaring fire, accounting as kin those that share his drive, his all-consuming need. His kingdom extends from his hunter's heart to the tips of his claws, stained crimson with the life of the prey, and he will not rest until the Others are slaughtered to the last.
Mask: Perhaps in his twenties, Cerannen looks the part of a dangerous wild-man: bearded and maned, with eyes that appraise every movement of muscle, every pulsing of blood at the throat. Those that converse with him often come away with the distinct impression that a significant part of him neither understood nor cared for whatever words were exchanged, as though his is a different tongue entirely. He has no use for the social customs of mortal men, walking among them only as much as he must in order to preserve the careful balance between the tattered remains of the human and the savage glory of the Horned Hunter.
Mien: Both the wolf and the stag, Cerannen is the chimera - his head crowned by magnificent antlers, while the teeth of a predator gleam white behind his lips. He scents the wind, ever vigilant for the taste of prey. A feral appeal clings to him, threatening and inviting as one. The powerful build of his hunter's frame promises a blood-spattered chase or a night of animal lusts, though even he is hard-pressed to know which it will be before the moment of choosing is upon him. Fury and instinct define him, and those that keep company with him come to understand that he is as temperate as the storm, and as civilized as the snapping of jaws and flashing of talons.
Mantle: The heart pounds, as adrenaline rushes through the body, and a distinct sense of uncertainty arises as to whether one is the hunter or the hunted. A faint savor of fresh blood, hot and sweet, lingers for but a moment upon the lips.
History: Ten-Thousand Bloody Yesterdays
Basic Timeline: So far as he can tell, Cerannen's existence begins in one of the most rural and isolated corners of the state of Maine, on the night of July 13th, 1988, among the ruins of a modest farmhouse. Everything before that is but a fleeting echo of a memory, the tattered remains of a half-forgotten nightmare, or the deluded fantasy of a mind far too feral to be human. What history extends back from that night is a jagged patchwork of endless fear, pain, desperation and - most especially - rage.
After that, Cerannen adjusts to life in the mortal world in the only way that he knows how: he becomes the Horned Hunter, calling upon long-buried knowledge of the myths and legends of the ancestors he can no longer remember, as well the soul-scarring imagery of the blurred tapestry of agonies that he suffered at the hands of the Gentry, bestowing upon him the aspects of the wolf and the stag, as one.
Current Activities: For Cerannen, such concepts as "yesterday" and "tomorrow" are essentially meaningless, so he carries on in the fashion that has served him best since his return from Arcadia: eat, drink, fight, mate, hunt, wander, and - when absolutely necessary - kill. He exists as a nomad, ranging primarily throughout the remaining wild places of the American Northeast and occasionally traveling further afield. If he maintains a mortal identity, it is surely well-hidden, though most of those who know him suspect that he lacks the civility and subtlety needed to establish such a deception in the first place, let alone sustain it. To those that ask, he says only that he is the Horned Hunter, as though the statement should explain all. Perhaps, to his thinking, it does.
Connections: Kinsmen, Foes, and Fellow Travelers
Adra - Death is beautiful to those that do not fear her.
Ae Lament - When a dragon smiles, be wary.
Althea Sexton - Where the Earth ends, the Sea begins.
Capricious - It is within the soul that the Thorns' cuts go deepest.
Creanna - When the hunt is through, the highest law returns to the cycle all that which is devoured.
Dan Ling Wei Ying Xiong - When the blizzard seems most peaceful, that is when it is most dangerous.
Duma - Teeth and claws and hunger such as Beasts cannot ken.
Edria Meredith - Honor the old ways and the old gods will answer.
Gallowglass - It is one of the deepest failings of mortal men that any should go hungry in days of plenty.
Green Man - All that grows green and good is friend and brother to those that wear the crimson of the hunt.
Hart - Desire is a need, and need is an instinct.
Hush - The fog that returned to the Thorns; the shadow that moves against the sun.
Isadora - Grace in motion and in stillness, also.
Jack Sprat - Wounds heal, in time, no matter how deep; but poison lingers.
Laurel Thorn - Warm waters shun hot blood, and fear is born of lust and fury.
Nujalik - The strength of the pack is in the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is in the pack.
Ox - The most dangerous monster that a man can fight is the one that dwells within.
Ras - The hunt is the hunt, whether for blood or for fear.
Rattenkonigin - All those that wear fangs and claws are fierce and to be feared, no matter how great... or how small.
Saga - Only fools look for honor in lions, but all who gaze upon them see both glory and strength.
Suicide King - Every action carries its cost.
Tanith - Chill even under Summer sun, while passions denied burn hottest of all.
Tommy Blue - They are not all Beasts who revel in blood at hunt's end.
I'm still looking for ties, as well; please feel free to contact me if you've got ideas. (Also, if we've already chatted a bit and you don't see your character's name here, don't feel left out - I just want to hammer out some more details before listing your PC.)
Character Inspirations: Those Who Came Before
Cernunnos, Herne the Hunter and other mythological figures associated with the Wild Hunt
The wolf-goddess, Moro, and the scarier aspects of Shishigami (from Mononoke-hime)
The Last March of the Ents (from The Lord of the Rings)
Titus Pullo (from the HBO series, Rome)
Enkidu (from the Epic of Gilgamesh)
Conan the Barbarian (the original Robert E. Howard pulp stories, as opposed to the movies)
Soundtrack: Music of the Hunt
The 300 soundtrack in its entirety
Tool - Ænema, from the album of the same name
Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
GITS - Stand Alone Complex soundtrack - Rise
A significant portion of the music of The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Dead Can Dance - Cantara and Sanvean, from Toward the Within, and Nierika and Devorzhum, from Spiritchaser
King Arthur (the 2004 movie) - Vanora's Song, also known as "Song of the Exile" (not that you can actually find it anywhere)
The Dreamside - Spin Moon Magic, from the album of the same name
Inkubus Sukkubus - Belladonna and Aconite, from the album of the same name, and Wytches, from the album of the same name
More, as I think of it
Quotes: Howls, Growls, Whimpers, and What-Not
- "There are two versions of the man. The one I remember as strange and unsettling by the light of Beltane fires to my mortal eyes. The other I see in full glory and ferocity. He is the horned one. Honor to the old ways, and the fires lit always for his safe return." - Edria Meredith
- "When the prey stops running and turns on the predator, when the flight instinct becomes only the instinct to fight, when the hunted and hunter become one and the same, there is nothing so dangerous or perfect." - Rattenkonigin
- "'At's alright, hulking big beasty. We've talked and talked and talked 'til our faces turned blue. 'At's right, blue in the face and black in the tongue and choke-choke-choking on ourselves. Some poison works slow, some poison works fast, you big f*cking brute..." - Jack Sprat
- "Words? Why always words to mean other people? He is not people. He is pack." - Nujalik
- "... I looked beneath Cerannen's furr'd face to gaze into his eyes, and almost... for a moment... thought I'd found Him again." - Althea Sexton
- "Say what will you about him and his ways, but there are few I hold in higher regard." - Gallowglass
- "Where is the line between human and animal? When you can tell me that, I'll tell you what I think of Cerannen." - Laurel Thorn
- A Royal Leonine Interlude, by Tommy Blue;
Cerannen: What are you doing there, child? Tommy: Pouncin'. Cerannen: Let an old pro show you how it's done. Capricious? Capricious: ...but you see, the blood smudged here and - yes? Cerannen: Would you turn around please? Capricious: Alright. Anyhow, it smudged here and now I've the most marvelous ... Cerannen: Stay low to the ground. Tommy: Stay low to the ground. Got it, right. Capricious: Wait - what's going on? Cerannen: A pouncing lesson. Capricious: Ah, yes, very good. Pouncing lesson. ... Pouncing?! Oh, no. You can't be serious. Cerannen: The girl must learn sometime. Capricious: Yes, but couldn't you find something more appropriate? A juicy antelope, perhaps? Tommy: There aren't any of those up here! Oh, Cap Cappy Cap, please please cannicanni? Capricious: Oh, sweet madness. Very well. Only for you. Ugh. This is quite humiliating. Cerannen: Now - try not to make a sound. ...Take it slow...one...more...step...yesssss.... Capricious: What are you telling her, Cerannen? ...Cerannen? Tommy? *pounce!* *oof!* Cerannen: Hahaha! That was very good! Capricious: Shut up, Antler Face. Tommy: Whee! Let's do it again!
Rumors: Faded Memories and the Living Now
Cerannen is pretty sure that he killed one of more of the Gentry while on the other side of the Hedge, though he couldn't actually offer details to save his life.
Cerannen was born in Arcadia and later sent by the Others to this world...
...and re-captured, and sent back, and re-captured, and sent back, and re-captured...
...until this most recent time, when he escaped, rather than being deliberately returned by the Others.
Cerannen calls the Others "elves," because of the old belief that it angers and offends them greatly to be so named.
Cerannen claims allegiance to no Freehold - he will neither rule nor be ruled.
Cerannen disappears for several days in the dead of each winter, though nobody knows why.
Cerannen has vowed to return Althea Sexton's ring to her, no matter the cost.
OOC Information
Played By: Stephen Michael DiPesa (US2002056084)
Livejournal: The Hunt is On...
