Name: Scathach

Overview:

Role: Chief Scout

Relationships: Lugh (Mate); Medb (Daughter); Dullahan (Son); Caoineag (Daughter)

Personality: No-nonsense, outwardly stern, but ultimately warm-at-heart

Biography: When an Plague battalion came roaring into the eastern Starfall Isles, the residents of a small Arcane village were not spared the consequences. As the invaders pushed past the border defences and into Arcane territory, the residents of Hex - a hamlet on the outskirts of the Starwood Strand - were called up as levies by the Arcane Guard to help repel the incursion.

It was in this moment that a young Scathach had her destiny changed by a single choice. When her adoptive sister, Aoife, was conscripted into the levy, Scathach made a decision: in order to protect Aoife, she would conceal her identity and report to the Guard in Aoife's place. Scathach's gambit went surprisingly well - the officers sent to collect Hex's conscripts were inattentive and were concerned only with filling their allotted quota. But her challenge had only begun.

Scathach, deemed unfit for frontline combat duty, was dispatched ahead of the main Arcane counterattack as a scout, tasked with reconnoitering the terrain ahead and determining the location of the enemy before reporting back to the Guard. When she arrived, she made a terrifying discovery - the Plague battalion was dug in, preparing to ambush the Arcane forces coming their way. Scathach's mind raced. By the time she could get word back to the main force, it would be too late, and the defenders would be mauled by the lurking enemy. She would have to act on her own.

Leveraging her knowledge of the environment and her experience with the mind-bending properties of the Starwood Strand, Scathach successfully - and single-handedly - worked to send the enemy forces into disarray. She began by creating a display of eerie lights and unearthly sounds, echoing from the depths of the Strand to the ears of the waiting foe. Once she was confident the enemy was sufficiently unnerved, she performed the final step - driving two full flocks of Basilisks and Sakura Owls straight into the enemy camp.

Already spooked by Scathach's previous display, and now convinced by the sudden onslaught of feathers and beaks that they were being attacked by alien monstrosities from the depths of the Strand, the terrified invaders attempted to abandon their positions and flee - only to find themselves stranded deeper in the forest than before, their retreat waylaid by the Strand's warped landscape. Their morale and formation in tatters, they were quickly crushed by the advancing Arcane Guard forces, with fewer than a third of their total number making it back to Plague lands.

Scathach was celebrated for her achievement and her ingenuity upon her return to Hex. But in her heart, the Arcane Guard's incompetence and callousness had already planted a seed of resentment and distrust. By the time she and Aoife were fully grown, that seed had germinated into open rejection of the Guard and the Flight it stood for, ultimately leading Scathach and her sister to leave Hex in search of a place where their lives would not so be casually cast away by those sworn to protect them.

Soon enough, the two sisters came across an island off the southern coast of the Strand, inhabited by an Out-Clan - one not subject to the authority of the Flights or the Eleven - named Stargulf. It was here that Scathach would find a new home - and meet the love of her life.