Griffon Brenda Razorclaw [Ready]

[RarityDash]

This character was originally an NPC antagonist in a WoE thread, but I liked my design for her and have wanted to app her as her own character for a while. She's clearly not suitable to being her own player character in WoE, but now there's Canterlot Chronicles... so...

Name: Brenda Razorclaw

Gender: female

Age: adult

Species: Griffon

Eye colour: yellow-green

Character colour: Her front feathers are pure white with bright blue tips on the crest, her fur is golden brown and her wings are a very dark brown.

Mane/Tail/Other: Her crest has a small fringe like tuft in the front and a very high, upward swept tuft of thick feathers in the back. Her tail is a long lion's tail; the end has been dyed the same blue as the ends of her crest.

Physique: Brenda is somewhat taller and larger than other female griffons, though not incredibly so. She has a strong, athletic build. A noticeable scar shows through her feathers on the left side of her face, just underneath her eye.

Residence: A private villa on the outskirts of Talonopolis

Occupation: Major in the Aquellia Marines. Private collector dealing in weapons, armor and a variety of relics.

Cutie Mark: N/A

Unique Traits: Brenda is a member of the Razorclaw family, the most prestigious of Aquellia's leading families, and as such has considerable wealth and prestige to her name, as well as connections. She is also a formidable intellect and, being a highly trained member of the Aquellian Marines, is also adept in combat. She is rarely seen not adorned in Rockwington made armor, generally either crimson or gold in color. She is skilled in wielding a variety of weaponry, but is most often equipped with a sinister looking long spear and a short sword for closer combat.

History: Born a member of the illustrious Razorclaw family, niece to the family's current head, Brenda had from very early on a luxurious life in Talonopolis. From the beginning, however, she was a rougher sort of child then most of the children of the three families. She had a tendency to pick fights and constantly rebel and struggled to make friends very easily as a result. The family worried over her tendency to go off and do her own thing, and how it would frequently mean her running off into the city on her own, but the young Brenda had a desire to find her own way in the world that would not be stopped.

Eventually, this lead the young griffoness to run away from home all the way to Rockwington. Taking on an assumed identity as a wayward orphan, she convinced a local master blacksmith by the name of Clive Piniongale to to take her on as an apprentice. It was here, marveling at the results of the smith's toils that Brenda found a love for traditionally forged weapons and armor that would serve to inspire her and give her a set focus for the future. It was also in this time, that Brenda successfully found a friend in the smith's daughter Ava. She felt like she had found a place that suited her there, but there was no evading the powerful Razorclaw clan forever; after just a few short but sweet months in Rockwington, Brenda was pulled back to Talonopolis by her family.

The young griffon had a better understanding of what she wanted to do with herself now, and as such was better behaved. Smithing weapons was not a job for a Razorclaw, but by following the path of an officer in the Aquelian Marines she would get her chance at least to make use of those fine armaments. The young griffon started to train both her body and mind toward excellence. In the process, her standing within the family greatly increased and griffons began to flock to her wanting to be in her social circle. Excelling at her studies and training, as she was becoming an adult, she succeeded in becoming an officer.

Brenda's military career moved fairly quickly in its early stages. She built a sterling reputation as a leader, and moved quite steadily up the ranks. Capturing the hearts of many in the public with her take charge attitude and the distinctive nonstandard arms and armor she favored, she was dubbed the Razorclaws' "Battle Princess", a title she seemed to eagerly welcome.

Throughout her career, Brenda built up an impressive private collection of armor and weaponry. Though starting with standard pieces from throughout the world, she eventually started to set her sights on extremely rare pieces.In time, acquiring the perfect items for her collection became increasingly important to her. She began to abuse her status, name and rank to use military resources for entirely her own ends, setting marines in her command off on expeditions to seek out relics. Unrelenting and quick to employ extreme punishments with little provocation if it benefitted her, she soon fell out of favor with many in the Marines and within the three families, though her overall popularity and her being a Razorclaw made the proposition of dealing with her a difficult one. As years passed and Brenda became only an increasingly loose cannon, she found only more enemies, some of which were willing to go to extreme methods to remove her from the pictures.

Assassins were hired to silence her, but none could get the drop on the cunning and capable griffoness. Already having to deal with thieves and rival collectors, following theses attempts, Brenda became more withdrawn and less trusting. She had a private villa built for her on the outskirts of Talonopolis and soon had it outfitted with all sorts of vicious mechanical traps. She remained undeterred in her pursuits, the revelation that she had more enemies watching her only resulting in her becoming more watchful of those around her.

Her enemies would try again, though to get in close to her in her increasingly paranoid state, they opted to hire someone she would be willing to let her guard down around. Brenda's old friend Ava was sought out and set on her. The ploy seemed ready to work at first, but Brenda succeeded at making her former friend flinch at the critical moment, the bullet fired missing the target and just slicing into her left cheek, leaving a noticeable scar. Feeling deeply betrayed, whatever trust she might have still had in others just crumbled further. Brenda, however, even after this blow, has proven herself to be a griffon who does not lie down when wounded.

Character Summary: Brenda is cunning and intelligent as well as exceedingly proud. She's a charismatic speaker who carries herself with a certain grace and elegance under a public or social eye. She's a very strong willed individual who acts with boldness and flair, equally capable of being inspiring and intimidating. Because of this, she excels at leading others and in winning others to her side.

She can also be described as exceedingly self concerned. She has a selfish personality, and when there is something she wants she will go to any means necessary to acquire it. It's all to easy for her to lose sight of the concerns of others when she has her eyes set on something, and she can get quite temperamental when she doesn't get her way. When she gets worked up or into the moment, she can become quite cruel and vicious, especially at the first sign of defiance.

She has a love of arms and armor and is especially proud of her large collection. She has a distaste for more modern weaponry like firearms, favoring to use and collect bladed weapons and classic fare. Her strongest fondness is for Aquellian made, Rockwington masterworks, though anything well made or rare is worthy of her. In addition to weaponry, Brenda has a fondness for classical music and literature, hearty meat dishes and hunting. She fears losing anything, as she doesn't know how to cope with it.

Brenda is very preoccupied with the with the idea of power. She respects those with it and views those without it as not worth her time. She sees the majority of poynkind as weak, and as such does not have a very favorable of them as a whole. In general, respect is something that is very hard won with her, though those she does respect she will be tempted to stand by regardless of what they think of her. Those she does not respect are more likely to be mistreated by her.

Due to how attached she gets to her things, how she fears losing anything and the number of attempts that have been made against her, Brenda can be rather paranoid when she's not occupied with something. Her villa is outfitted with brutal traps to eliminate intruders. She is quick to persecute and refuses to trust others completely. As such, while she has no problems mingling at social functions, she has few she would consider as friends. She prefers quiet moments spent to herself.

First time writing a purely CC app; hope I'm not pushing it too far

[GhostGirl]

This is just the kind of antagonist that I was talking about wanting for CC, Phil! Great app! Everything looks solid to me, so I'm going to pass this up to SRPH.

[SteelEagle]

A villain who comes into CC with a losing record already is best villain. Good job, Raridash!