Opuntia (Cecropia76)

Opuntia is a kind-hearted, older SandWing, who would always be there to comfort those who were in need of support, and despite his trauma, was seen as the happiest, nicest person in his family, but one day, just left and supposedly, died. But, in reality, really just left to the shore to become a sailor, as his day-to-day life was getting too stressful for him, and although he considered informing his family of his departure, he decided it would be best if they had just thought he had been killed by something or someone, instead of coming over to them and announcing that he would be leaving for an indefinite amount of time (plus, he also just wanted nobody to go out to find him).
During Opuntia's days as a soldier, he battled on the sides of the SandWings, and for a while, his side on the war seemed to be winning against the MudWings, but at some point most of the soldiers were killed with harpoons from above, but Opuntia realized what was happening, and went to get out of the way, but his neck was scraped ever so slightly by a speeding harpoon, and luckily, he was given medical care before it was too late, but once he was fully treated had to have his job changed to a messenger, to prevent that from potentially happening again. Although, this didn't really help, and even with the change in jobs, Opuntia would still get ambushed by opposing tribes, and at some point, as he grew older, couldn't handle this anymore, and just had to retire, before later on fleeing Pyrrhia and sailing across the ocean
At some point, as Opuntia sailed across the sea, he was killed by a group of LeafWings and HiveWings who considered him to be a threat, and now roams the sea as an angry ghost pirate, wrecking every boat possible, but avoided killing dragons, and generally avoided boats or ships with harpoons.
== Early Days ==
Opuntia hatched to Rebutia and Nomad, and lived a relatively normal life, going to school with his friends, helping out with the family, etc. But, still, that stuff can't last forever, not even for him, and at some point came across his father planning out a way to take down the queen so the dragon they wanted to be queen (but would be a horrible queen) could take over, and Opuntia had to inform Rebutia before it was too late. As they began to leave to go back to their homes to collect their weapons, Rebutia burned the list for their plans if anyone ended up forgetting, and any Plan B or Plan C, and took Opuntia so they could tell both the guard and the queen, as well as who were planning it, but were caught in the middle of giving info before Rebutia was suddenly killed by Nomad, before Nomad and his friends were taken down by guards as Opuntia was taken away to an orphanage after everything happened.
Opuntia lived for around 3 years in the orphanage and seemed to enjoy it, often making friends with the other dragonets, helping younger dragonets and hatchlings with stuff (ex: finding their lost toy), and to the older dragons was basically living proof that things can get better, but at some point was adopted by an elderly war veteran, Sardine. The rest of his earlier days were normal, but ended up being homeschooled and became very educated on the wars that took place over the centuries, and learned much more about the cherished treasures of the tribes across Pyrrhia.
== Days as a Soldier ==
Opuntia's earlier days as a soldier were not very memorable for him, only remembering the cycle of waking up > training > eating > training again > going to bed > repeat, with nothing truly interesting happening, until a war actually happened involving the SandWings and the MudWings, after the former queen died and was replaced with her inexperienced daughter, who ruined their relations with the MudWings after suddenly expanding their borders and crossing over MudWing territories with no prior warning or giving nothing for the extra land, and after the Queen of the MudWings failed to make a fair deal with the SandWings, the only option now was to start a war, and hope the new SandWing queen would give her back at least some of her land as soon as there were casualties on the SandWing's side.
Soon, Opuntia was casted out to battle the first few waves of MudWing soldiers on the side of the SandWings, and it was going pretty well, until the fifth battle, where several soldiers were taken down by MudWings using harpoons from high rocks, except for a few who were in hiding, some who took notice before it was too late and fled, and Opuntia, who was only slashed across the neck by a harpoon, and had to be hospitalized for the next few weeks until he was released, and had his role in the army changed to a messenger, but that didn't help him calm down from what had happened weeks prior.
Opuntia describes his days as a soldier as being traumatizing, but sometimes fun when it came to training, although he would never take that role again after his trauma with the fifth wave of MudWings from the war
== Days as a Messenger ==
Opuntia was a messenger for a while, until his retirement. During his days as a messenger, he was mostly on his own, sending out important letters and scrolls to the royal allies of the SandWings about potential new attacks from other tribes, as well as requesting trade routes or meetings on the behalf of the queen. For a while, this was a peaceful role he had, and was often accompanied by a few soldiers if anything turned south, but usually had to go out on his own to prevent being seen by potential enemies, though, sometimes these enemies would spot Opuntia, and would try and ambush him, but were easy to take down, unless they didn't come alone, and brought along allies. Opuntia enjoyed his days as a messenger, until the stakes got higher, and crossing into enemy territory was harder, as some of the tribes in Pyrrhia were going through resource-shortages due to increased criminal activity, and any dragons from other tribes would have to stay careful in order to not be ambushed.
At some point, with no warning, as Opuntia was on his way to deliver a warning to the Ice Palace, he was ambushed by three guards, who tried to slice his throat right open and made an attempt to tear up his sail as a warning, and was sent back to the Kingdom of Sand, and went on break, before going back to his messenger duties weeks later when the tribes found most of the criminals hoarding resources, got back up on their feet, and Opuntia was back to warning allies of potential enemies, but some enemies were powerhungry, and wouldn't let a messenger warn the other tribes of potential attacks, so they would attack Opuntia, and were a huge reason as to why Opuntia was covered in tiny scratches in the form of slight scars. Some were easy for Opuntia to hold off, but some were not so much, as they may have been more experienced with fighting, had a clear strategy, and/or had friends along with them.
== Retirement ==
Opuntia was stressed out by the sheer amount of dragons attacking him left and right as he just tried to do his job, and in a panic, asked to be able to retire, using his older age as an excuse. The Command Sergeant Major ended up giving in, and let Opuntia retire. Opuntia came back to his family reunion, seeming much happier, but something still didn't feel right, and as the years of Opuntia's retirement went on, he made the decision to leave Pyrrhia for the ocean, and hoped that nobody would try to find him, only wanting to be presumed dead, without the worry of anyone knowing where he was, and how to take him back home. So, at some point, he went to one family reunion for the last time ever, before getting out his adoptive father's old pirate ship that he repaired a few days prior, and set off to the sea. From there, he would be going on the best journey of his entire life, only bringing the essentials, weapons, a few animals, soil, baskets, seeds, other things for gardening, stuff for repairing holes and upgrading (Wood, nails, hammers), and nets, and the only changes he would allow himself to make would be expanding the boat to make it capable of holding much more cargo, weapons, animals, more of the essentials, etc.
Opuntia first made loops around the whole of Pyrrhia, stopping into stores occasionally while making sure he wore a large black coat and jewelry, while going under the alias Camel, as he purchased things he would need. After a year of doing that, and more rumours coming out about the "mysterious boat looping around the continent of Pyrrhia", as well as soldiers checking out the place from a distance, Opuntia fled with the boat to nowhere in mind, but was on the path of discovering Pantala, but would be stopped before he reached it.
As Opuntia slowly began to find the continent of Pantala, LeafWings and HiveWings checking out the border flew around the boat, checking it for any threat, but noticed how many weapons the dragon who resided there had, and thus believed more dragons lived there, but usually never left, who they believed to be a threat, and at some point attacked Opuntia. Opuntia fought back well, but was bested, and the boat was taken by HiveWings, who sat it close to the shore, took/killed the animals inside for meat or resources, stuck the boat in the sand, hoping it would never move ever again.
== Afterlife (Post Main Story) ==
Opuntia, now an enraged spirit, thousands of years after his death, found his now wrecked ship floating along the seas of Pantala, and decided to take it back, taking along his ghostly pet animals, before sailing around Pantala, often wrecking other ships or boats to show his rage, and is now considered a cryptid by the dragons living along the shore who had seen Opuntia's ship, telling made up legends about this SandWing to their children.
== Gallery ==
File:Opuntia2.png|Full Ref
File:Opuntia (cecro).png|Original Ref
== Trivia ==
* Opuntia's favorite animals he had while he explored the oceans was a white male Maine Coon cat named Silly Goose, and a female sheep named Sand Cat.
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Category:Characters
Category:Males
Category:SandWings
Category:Occupation (Other)
Category:Mature Content
Category:Status (Commoner)
Category:Deceased