CHARACTER NAME: Kaylek Nightriver
GENDER: Male
CLASS: Warrior
AGE: 33 (in 272)
RACE: Ulven
HAIR: Brown/Grey
EYES: Brown
OCCUPATION: Warrior / Hersir of Clan Nightriver
BIRTHPLACE: Clan Nightriver – Pack Bloodmoon
APPEARANCE: Kaylek dresses in muted tones and wears armor with little to no ornamentation. Given his background he does not feel himself deserving of drawing attention.
RELATIONSHIPS: Kaylek has spent the last three years as an honor-bound to Pack Longfang. He has done whatever tasks have been requested of him around the settlement and has taken joy in teaching pups how to hold and swing an axe. He’s a known face around the settlement, if not a known name. (Update: Kaylek is now home in Pack Bloodmoon where he has become a Hersir of Clan Nightriver. He spends most of his time training pups and coordinating a training exchange between the Bloodmoon Warriors and the Ulfhednar of Onsallas)
BIO / BACKGROUND HISTORY:
Kaylek Nightriver’s Testimony to the Leadership of Pack Longfang: On the Matter of Honor and Service
Reyna, Ranmir, and Bryech in Attendance:
It goes without saying that the world was never the same after the colonists landed on Mardrun. Everyone remembers the bloody and vicious conflict that took place, but not everyone knows of the dishonor of Kragen Bloodmoon. Not everyone knows of the dishonor of his Warpack. Not everyone knows of the dishonor that plagues me. I witnessed with my own eyes Kragen’s defeat at the hands of a colonist woman. I witnessed with my own eyes the hatred and rage that burned inside his lieutenant, Bovna, as she gave us our orders. Under the dead of night we were to move into the colonists’ camp and, without words, kill every single one.
I was young, fool hardy, ready to follow orders and find glory on the battlefield, but there was no honor in our task; no glory to be found. So why was I there? My hands hesitated and my axe hung in the air. Was it too late to go back? My orders were clear, but my mind clouded. My stomach twisted in knots as I looked over my quarry and I was about to walk away when I noticed small movements. The human at my feet began to reach slowly for a knife lying next to their bedroll. My nerves steeled and I dropped my axe on her neck and at that point I knew I had stepped over the edge. My mind was clouded behind guilt and remorse, but my path was chosen and I walked it. We moved silently and purposefully through the camp and we left no survivors and when it was done we were sworn to secrecy so that no one but the Great Wolf would know of our treachery. Soon after that night the war with the colonists came to an end, but the peace was shallow. In short time the flames of the civil war flared.
I spoke with Jovin Nightriver many times between that night and the day that Kragen’s treachery was eventually uncovered. We often spoke at lengths about the nightmares that plagued us. Every night when we closed our eyes we stood before The Great Wolf; every night we were judged unworthy. Jovin is a veteran warrior. He’d been fighting and killing long before I was even born, and yet our actions that night weighed so heavily on his conscience that months later he still had trouble sleeping. There were others that felt as we did, but there were plenty more who still felt themselves in the right. We naturally began to distance ourselves from them. Warriors that we once counted as friends slowly and over time became people that we could hardly look in the eye; in that same vein they could hardly look at us.
One day, three years ago, Jovin informed me of something big that was in the works. He let me know that big changes should be expected and that the secrets were sure to be exposed soon. He made it very clear that we were likely to be punished by Branthur Nightriver himself and that he could not be sure of what that punishment would be. I was not given a lot of detail, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that I felt some relief. A heavy heart weighs more than an axe and I would take any punishment if it meant the beginning of a journey to cleanse my soul.
I stood with Jovin and watched as Branthur Nightriver came to our camp. I watched as he entered Kragen’s tent. I could hear the roars of his anger as our dishonor became known. I was sure that my punishment would be at the least branding, at the worst execution. I steeled myself to be prepared for judgement, but what I was not prepared for was the mercy of Stanrick Longfang. Jovin came to me after the meeting and informed me that a select few of us would be sent to Onsallas to be trained so that we can one day hope to regain our honor. I was choked up by the news, but over the previous several years I had learned to keep a straight face.
You all know the rest. It was three years ago that I came to the Longfangs. I have spent these three years working hard at whatever tasks have been needed. I have chopped wood, built walls, tended to Pineed Sap harvests. I have stood watch on long nights and helped teach the pups how to hold an axe. Through it all, with every free moment I have had, I have trained so that I may one day be found worthy of standing with Pack Longfang.
I do not stand before you today attempting to claim that I have cleared my name and deserve my honor. I stand before you to beg the chance to fight alongside the Longfang in the battles to come and earn my honor. I beg the privilege to stand proud beneath your banner and wear your flag. The true war is on our doorstep and I am ready to meet it head on. I have a long journey ahead. Let me take the next step.