User:Cernen/Cernen Xanthine Katrena

Before someone nominates this for deletion or something, I'd like you all to know, Cernen has something to do with my being a Wikipedian.

Cernen was, according to the backstory I've written for him, an elf mage of considerable repute in the Ascension's Bend area of the Northern Continent. (There were two, in case you were wondering.) He owned a tavern called The Shady Pines, and was at one point married to a human cleric woman named Jenyfir, and had three children by her: Alain, a half-elf male fighter; Kethrin, a half-elf male alchemist, and Lyra, a half-elf female sorceress. All five of them lived in the tavern/inn.

Sometime around Jenyfir's fiftieth birthday (Alain was 24, Kethrin was 19, Lyra was 11), the tavern was burned to the ground by a man named Rylas Kenori, who had usurped Ascension's Bend in some massive landgrab war he'd waged on the area. Cernen returned home from a falsified meeting with the region's Prelate to find his livelihood destroyed and his family butchered. (I won't go into the more gory details.)

He rebuilt the tavern, dedicating it to the memories of his wife and children, and lived there for another hundred years (making him about 246 years old). He discovered, upon his 247th birthday, that he was a member of a group of four called the "Children of the Compass," which explained why he was so proficient in manipulating earth and channeling the element of the same name. (The other three children--Firae Eythernith, Kethri Auvrenddare, and Eilali Kelathem--controlled Fire, Air, and Water, respectively.) He lived with this secret for another ten years.

During the winter of his 257th year alive, Kethri Auvrenndare was murdered by Cernen's right-hand man in the liberation army during Rylas Kenori's regime change, Mackenzie Saiph. Mackenzie did this not knowing that it would kill Cernen due to the special nature of the "Children's" alchemic bond to one another (sidenote: ancient scriptures spoke of four children who would be born to control the elements, and a fifth to control the four -- there would be balance between the four, and if one should die, his opposite should as well; as Kethri controlled elemental Air, Cernen controlled elemental Earth, and was thus his direct opposite). Cernen spent two days wasting away before Mackenzie returned to see him, and when Mackenzie discovered Cernen's wasted and decrepit condition, he was informed of what must have occured; he broke down in tears and cried into Cernen's shoulder. Cernen then told him, "You are not responsible for this, and you must realize that you were playing a part in something much larger than you realized. Please, Mackenzie, keep me from dying a wretched death...end it for me, and do so with expedience, that I might be with my wife and children once more."

Needless to say, Mackenzie did as he was told, and tearfully, using Cernen's own dagger, pierced his heart, allowing him twelve precious final seconds of life before he passed away. Firae ended up with his powers (he couldn't rightfully end up with Air, after all...), and Eilali with Kethri's. Ruoshen, the Fifth, ended up barging in the tavern two days later, covered in a thin sheen of sweat, his clothing torn and spattered with blood. This transfer of power ended up taking a massive toll on his life, as sort of a punishment for failing to maintain a balance. If either Eilali or Firae dies, Ruoshen will die as well, and five more will be born to act as the "Children."

His death theme was the "Orchestral Suite from The Inner Light,", a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode theme, written by Jay Chattaway. For some reason, this song makes me cry now every time I hear it.

It should be noted that the Cernen described above is NOT related to Cernen Ta'afry Katrena, a newer anthropomorphic character I'm creating, whose race and class are TBD. Any ideas/suggestions can be posted on this article's talk page.