Haern, the Hunter
The Rhythm is the ever-changing, never static, flow of Nature. The Way of the Hunter is as complex as the Rhythm itself, but is known by three names - The Way of Defiance, The Way of Destruction, and The Way of Severity. This rhythmic balance is the realm of Haern, as He is the force that keeps the Rhythm in motion.
The hunt is about sacrifice - clean and merciful, a conscious and deliberate choice of a greater good over a lesser good. Good, to the Hunter, is this application of force in the appropriate time, space and proportion. Evil is the misapplication of such force, or the unwillingness to act at all. It is a virtue to know one's place in the natural order of Aetolia. To allow another to dictate this to you is a vice.
Haern finds virtuous these traits of strong will, severity and destruction, and seeks a balance of rhythm, rather than of stability. It takes courage to not fear dissolution and to know that all spiritual principles are indestructible. His realm encompasses all animals, and He harbors a respect for the prey as well as for the skilled hunter.
He is intolerant of transgressions and is known to bring swift action against any creature that oversteps its bounds, or any abomination that has no place in Nature. His followers include a mixture of those who strive for a strict balance in Nature, those who value strife as an agent of growth, diversity and harmony, and those who see themselves as passionate advocates of the wilderness and the wild.
As fresh blood on the cold, pure snow, the colours of Haern are crimson and ivory. His symbols are a red bone claw on a field of white, and the open triad, a three-branched knot reminding of the Ways. The bear, the serpent, and the raven are held sacred by those who follow Him.
General Information
His essence was created by Varian in the first epoch.
His mortal shell has been forgotten amidst the dregs of time.
He is aligned with the Eternal Cycle.
He has abandoned His temples to wander the Wilds.
He has no High Priest.
He has no consort.
His power is beyond mortal measure.
Fame
He made war on the people of Tasur'ke and obliterated their home.
He survived the blight of the Aalen Bloom.
He opened the way to Dendara to the mortals of Sapience.
He took part in the battle against Alshek, the Sky-Darkener.
He slew Valakris, the Bellower.
He wrested the Moon from celestial orbit, allowing the birth of Dia'ruis eternal.
Description
He is an Immortal, weathered by centuries of struggle and made whole by life's renewal. A hulking beast of a God, He looms more than stands, a mass of rippling musculature and unfathomable strength towering over even the tallest of mortals in a posture simultaneously lumbering and dangerously adept. Manifest vitality thrums within Him, His heart pounding in His chest as if the pulse of the rhythm itself were given voice. Horned protrusions fan out from His brow and yield to short curves of yellowed ivory reaching far past His head, framing His savage features in a wild crown. His eyes, once hollow and consumed by grief, now blaze with the fel green of nature's flame, passion and vigour reignited like a verdant phoenix risen anew from viridescent ashes. Jagged tusks peel back His lower lip to reveal crooked teeth jutting out at awkward angles, the rest of His face bedecked with partially healed wounds, a feral snarl worn near permanently upon His mouth. Lashings of bristly black hair erupt from His back like a coarse, tangled mane, sweeping the length of His massive arms to a pair of ursine hands, black claws tipping each finger. Scars and tattoos decorate the rest of His frame in a tapestry of carnage, trophies of wild hunts uncountable warring with each other across the chaotic battlefield that is His pockmarked flesh. Yet for all that ravages His body, Haern's demeanour bespeaks neither discomfort nor pain, rather a predator's confident, pragmatic air as He abides, shorn of a terrible weight and gifted the unthinkable: a future.
(cinched neatly) : an unornamented hide loincloth
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