Rath

*"There will be no pyre for your body, but a spit and cauldron. You will wander the House of Nef naked and sightless and without hands as the hounds howl over your flesh and I sip the soup of your blood and marrow boiled. Your children shall bear no heirs, their wombs and seed holding no life, only the husk of your legacy to echo my own. This is an oath, Ignarm, king of worms and son of tallow. Pray now, for the Giarjest weighs well in my hand."*

-Rath to Ignarm the Kinslayer after the latter kidnapped Rath's sister Riastra.

Prince Rath Awthalma of Ingdalhre is the first son of Queen Oryx and King Adraug and next in line for succession after his sister, Crown-Princess Riastra. He is the greatest warrior of his people, the Skogweir, and is renowned as a Wychweir or "Shapeshifter."

## Physical Appearance and Name-deed

A ten-foot tall young man with jet-black hair and shining grey eyes. Rath is considered huge even among his people and is said to have the strength to bend steel blades between his thumb and middle fingers. His arms and legs are likened to the branches of the forests of his homeland, long and hard as bedrock, and his gaze cold and wild like blizzards. In battle he wears a suit of glimmering Petrified Iron and the frozen hands of his slain opponents tied on a long cloak. In his beard he braids slow-burning charcoals and lights them to create glowing embers around his mouth and a cloud of smoke rising from his towering head. Those who face him are said to cower before the "Forest King" of old as Awthalwych was said to spew magic fog from his mouth and spit fire when angered.

Rath wields a hatchet (it would be considered a two-handed battleaxe to most people) called Giarjest or "Laughing Tooth," which he fashioned from the black-bones of a basilisk-demon he wrestled into submission at the age of 10. Born to the name Cethrid, Rath achieved his Name-deed from his encounter with the basilisk-demon.

## Wychweir Power

As a Skogweir with the ability to transform his shape, Rath is a Wychweir of his people. When angered or in physical danger, Rath can shapeshift into a huge and monstrous form with feathers and spines protruding from his skin, blood and pus seep from his pores, and a third eye opens on his forehead. The hands from his cloak melt into his back and will reach out to drag his enemies to his Wychweir hunger. In this form he speaks very little and screams in pain, the sound of his voice shrill and haunting like a mix of laughter and crying. The stench that stews over him while in this form is an overpowering mixture of sulfur and bodily fetor. Few can withstand the fury of his Wychweir.

## Personality and Relationships

A lonely spirit at heart, Rath is at his best when with others he loves. However, Rath is considered by many as kind and noble and yet abrasive, proud, and not entirely sane. He is slow to anger but even slower to forget slights against him or his friends. He has a strong sense of justice, is loyal to a fault, and has a competitive streak. He is generous with gifts and quickly becomes protective of new allies and friends, viewing himself as a guardian of weaker beings. His favorite activities are usually friendly challenges, such as drinking contests, footraces, wrestling matches, and dancing. Most find him to be savagely intense in both love and war which has given him a wide-berth among strangers and acquaintances but also a tight circle of close friends and family.

## Ascension

To ensure the containment of Iyaroh, and to contain him, Rath pursued the ascended Death God to the heart of The Sickle, where he ended his apocalyptic campaign through the universe. Rath jumped from the airborne Century Owl, descending to plunge his Titan-Wing blade into the back of the immense deity. Through the wound, and due to the circumstances, the essence of war was extracted from Iyaroh into the Watcher Stone that Rath carried, which then combined with the nearest being it could; Rath himself. Rath then became the Ascended God of War, retaining his name.