Cumulus

__NOEDITSECTION__Not to be confused with Cumulus the hybrid by Official Cumulus Cloud. This Cumulus in unaffiliated with the [ two previous characters] at this namespace.
Owned by BronzeRattle
Cumulus is a 48 year-old IceWing introduced in "Scales". The ruler of the IceWings, she is known for her violent, organized rule, having incited the IceWing-SandWing War, re-added the Circles system, and enacted a no hybrids policy. She is the younger sister of Aeolis and the daughter of Snowfall.
== Description ==
Cumulus has a somewhat unusual appearance. Large for her size, her scales are very light pink, almost white, interrupted here and there by dull spots. Her spines and back scales are the same color, the latter having splotches of light. Her purplish horns are upturned, while her head has extra spikes, including a couple on the underside of her neck. Cumulus's wings are ice blue. Her eyes are startingly aqua blue, capable of delivering a nasty glare. She is covered in small old scars.
She is often seen wielding her mother's former crown, having been repaired and expanded upon to her liking. A purple cape drapes over her left shoulder starting from a turquoise gem clapse. Cumulus has silver rings lining each talon and double earrings.
== History ==
=== Background ===
Cumulus was born in 5,023 AS as Snowfall's daughter. Cumulus was always ambitious for the crown growing up and didn't believe in peaceful transitions of power like what Glacier did. Ignoring her mother's words, she challenged Snowfall to the throne on her eighth hatching day and won.
Eager for territory, she promoted her brother Aeolis to be her Commander of War shortly before sending IceWings to fight the SandWings, starting the IceWing-SandWing War. Aeolis realized her intentions and began to be non-compliant. In response to his disloyalty, Cumulus demoted him and forced him to instead be her royal executioner for prisoners of the kingdom.
She was forced to stop fighting and negotiate by the other tribes in 5,043 AS.
=== The Affair ===
Cumulus was briefly thought of by Aeolis during his escape from SpurWings, thinking about how he had stolen her gift of stealth and how he hated his executioner job.
=== In Death, Sunshine ===
She congratulated the Hybrid Hunters for capturing Mooseblight and warned Lion for pro-hybrid talk. When Mooseblight ended up escaping, she was forced by Ecru's coaxing into letting Lion take care of Mooseblight. Cumulus called her in about his second escape some months after.
=== Scales ===
Cumulus met Silvana after she was captured by the Hybrid Hunters and treated her as a regular hybrid prisoner. After Silvana attempted to escape, the queen pinned her down and sent her to accompany Mooseblight, promising to rid of her wings in the future.
=== Ice on the Horizon ===
Cumulus was thought of several times in Mooseblight's thought process as he was being escorted to the outside. The queen then put Mooseblight and Silvana in a fight to the death, in which Mooseblight undid Silvana's snout restraint. Silvana spat venom at Cumulus's chest in retaliation, creating a massive scene as the hybrids fled.
== Personality ==
"Ecru, lock the dragonet with our forbidden hybrid and keep your tail barb right at its face. If it even thinks about moving, stab its eyes out. It doesn't need them, and surely doesn't need those flighty wings either. I will ensure that personally later."
:—About Silvana, "Scales"
Cumulus is sadistic at her core. She pretty much lacks a moral compass, punishing IceWings without the slightest thought for their safety, motives, or mental state. She prioritizes loyalty over everything else, hence why she prizes guards, soldiers, generals, and other fighting roles. Cumulus loves to fight and won't hesitate to get her talons dirty if she absolutely has to. Ironically, she is a bit of a clean freak and is hardly ever seen dripping in blood: In fact, her public appearances are often decked in glittery metals and especially her crown.
She is quick to leap to conclusions, likely a result of her love of schadenfreude. Cumulus tends to hold grudges against others for even minor infractions. She is a firm believer of imprisoning those that fail her for them to learn their lesson.
Cumulus is very vocally anti-hybrid. She thinks her kingdom should be pure IceWings: Any "mixes" compromise the safety of the public and secrets passed from them to SandWings could cause the IceWings to lose the war. All IceWing hybrids must be killed in her book, and she doesn't mind doing this personally with her own talons regardless of if they even live in the kingdom or their age. The queen sometimes makes exceptions, most notably by allowing Ecru and Cornmeal to serve in her government despite their SandWing genetics and letting Mooseblight survive in her prisons despite his violent history.
Cumulus adores animus objects. She was known to use the gift of stealth nearly constantly before it was stolen. She is fairly ignorant of side effects, as she wears the Royal IceWing Crown despite knowing its NightWing hatred enchantment.
== Abilities ==
Cumulus has the normal IceWing abilities. She is a ruthless fighter willing to fight dirty.
== Relations ==
Note: Relations with other user's characters is not canon in Bronze's AU to avoid situations with canonicity.
=== Aeolis ===
Older brother of Cumulus. Cumulus trusted Aeolis to plan the SandWing-IceWing War, but quickly found out he was not up to the task and reduced him to an imprisoned executioner to keep watch and making him fear for his life. When he ran away to pursue Egret, she made a commitment to find him, and upon learning that he had offspring, encharged the Hybrid Hunters to look for and bring them to her. She doesn't know that he died 5 years ago.
=== Ecru & Cornmeal ===
Cumulus clearly dislikes both of them for their lineage. Despite this, she trusts them enough to run in significant portions of her government. She occasionally threatens them when they do something wrong and is quick to blame them on issues.
=== Lion ===
Cumulus thought little of Lion, mostly seeing her as that one IceWing who was slightly troublesome in views. Once the latter was reassigned to be Mooseblight's guard, she wasn't afraid to threaten Mooseblight's life to Lion's horror.
=== Mooseblight ===
She originally treated him as a regular hybrid prisoner, having the Hybrid Hunters put him in the hybrid cellblock. Once he escaped, she wanted nothing more than to execute him, although due to Ecru's and Lion's influence she was forced to back off. Cumulus seems to think of him as a burden.
=== Silvana ===
The queen took Silvana's escape attempt personally, intending to eliminate the hybrid's wings to prevent further attempts. Silvana was sentenced to death before running off with Mooseblight.
=== Snowfall ===
Cumulus ignored her mother. She was fully intent on killing her to become queen no matter what, which she did.
== Quotes ==
Quotes that highlight Cumulus's character.
"Pleasant to see another one of Aeolis's mistakes be found before it can cause harm to the world. But we need to find that terrible IceWing! He's caused too much damage already, him and his too many forbidden offspring."
:—To the Hybrid Hunters about Silvana, "Scales"
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"Giving my citizens the satisfaction they want. You see, the SkyWings had a sport back in the days of the SandWing war where prisoners were forced to kill each other. I've only put my own spin on the idea."
:—To Mooseblight about the fighting arena, Ice on the Horizon
== Gallery ==
CumulusReferenceNoAccessories.png|No adornments
== Trivia ==
* Cumulus means pile or heap in Latin. Cumulus in this sense is derived from cumulus cloud, a cloud formation characterized by fluffy or cotton-looking clouds (think summer clouds or Toy Story clouds) that appear in fair, warm weather.
* The evil stereotype Cumulus has was roughly the personality of Tributary before I gave the character away. Her page is now deleted.
Category:Characters
Category:IceWings
Category:Status (Royalty)
Category:Content (BronzeRattle)