Personality:

Before Birth:

Cadena’s father was born a Vagabond, and he lived with his parents for the first ten years of his life.  However, when his family could no longer afford to care for him, they discreetly dropped their son on the edge of Inaria, leaving him behind for a ‘better’ life.  Though the stallion was a pegasus, a lowly Talori couple took pity and adopted him, hoping secretly that he would become a Sacrifice, and they would gain favor for being his ‘parents.’

That was, however, not to pass.  Enoch, the pegasus child, grew to be a fine young lad, and no sacrifice threatened him.  About the time he reached his twenties, he came across a mare.

Valentina was the unicorn daughter of a prominent Talori family.  She was a headstrong mare who never took no for an answer.  Unlike most Talori families, she ran the game at her house.  Being quite a manipulative mare, Valentina was able to convince her parents of most things.

Marriage, however, could not be avoided.  In spite, the mare ran out of her home after being told that she WOULD indeed marry.  She came across Enoch, and an idea formed.  It would be just like her to take the Pegasus as a mate, to spite her rich family.  

It was easy for Valentina to sway Enoch, and she quickly convinced the Marwari stallion that he was meant for her.  Enoch, however, loved the mare truly.  Or believed he did.  Valentina then used her powers of manipulation to twist her family into allowing her marriage.  

No one was happy about it, but Valentina got her way.  No less than three months after her marriage to Enoch, she announced she was carrying a foal.  The mare gave birth to a unicorn filly in early spring of the next year.

Young Years:

When Cadena was born, her family life was tense.  Valentina’s side of the family was not over their daughter’s manipulative marriage proposal, and rarely visited.  Enoch’s family, however was close to the mare as she grew.  She always had playmates and friends around, but no one she was really close to.

As Cadena grew, her early years were spent mostly with her father.  Enoch was an Entertainer, but he always made time to be with his daughter.  When they were alone, in their home, he taught her what his own birth parents had taught him:  Cadena learned about the other gods.  Ignacio.  Alya.  Kaia.  She loved the stories about the pegasus god the most, as Alya was the same species as her father.

While Cadena knew better than to let her herdmates know this, she kept her father’s stories close, and prayed to more than just Cascade.

Teen Years:

Cadena's early teens were mostly uneventful, until she was thirteen years of age.  One morning, Cadena was out playing in front of her home, while her father worked on fixing their front fence.  The young mare strayed too far from her home, almost to the edge of the forest.  Enoch called out for his daughter to return to his side, but it was too late.

A Jaguar sprang from the forest, grabbing the black filly in its claws.  Terrified, Cadena couldn't move as the beat mauled her, only coming to her senses when her father bowled over the creature, distracting it.  At her father's bidding, Cadena galloped to the house, locking the door behind her.

She waited, bloody and in pain, for her father to return.  The noise from outside died down.  Finally, Cadena was in such pain that she had to seek help.  When she stumbled out of the house, she practically fell over the body of Enoch.  He had fought off the jaguar, but his wounds were so severe that he succumbed to them, falling dead at his own doorstep.

In shock, Cadena wandered around until a passing Cleric found her, on the town streets.  The kind creature did what she could for Cadena, but her wounds would leave terrible scars.  Cadena would, from that day on, have terrible struggles with her physical appearance, which took many, many years to reconcile.  

Cadena was despondent after her father's death, and she became quite withdrawn, not reaching out to anyone or anything.  She got it into her head that she was weak, useless.  She began a training regimen to protect herself, should anything ever happen again.  It did nothing to cure her depression, however.  She wished her training would come to something, but the only rank that would allow Cadena’s training to be useful, the Defender, was reserved for stallions.  The fact that she could not use her skills towards her dream only furthered Cadena’s sadness.  It was not until Cadena was seventeen, when Edgar was born, that life began looking up.   

The daughter of Cadena’s neighbors, Edgar, was a rather interesting specimen.  Her mother fully believed that her daughter was her son - and a perfect copy of her mate.  Thus, the name Edgar.  Edgar wasn’t small, per-se, but she was smaller than Cadena, and Cadena immediately took it upon herself to protect the little nugget.  Her training took on a different light, as she now focused on physically building herself up to protect Edgar from anything that might harm her.  Especially the little mare’s mother.  

It was clear to Cadena that Edgar’s mother, Crystal, was crazy.  The unicorn mare believed herself to be a Hippocampus, and therefore believed that Edgar was a hippocampus as well.  Her delusion filled her time, and Cadena became more and more involved to keep Edgar safe from her mother’s lunacy.  Harvey, Edgar’s father, was never around either, so Cadena shouldered the burden of Edgar’s care for him as well.

Only a year into Edgar’s life, Crystal snapped.  She believed that her husband had stolen their son away and replaced him with the mare known as Edgar.  In her craze, she took her child to the edge of the sea and attempted to drown her.

Edgar was saved by her father and a Cleric, but permanent damage had been done, and the filly would never be healthy again.  

This caused a surge of protectiveness within Cadena.  She was constantly checking up on Edgar, even more so than she had done when the filly was a newborn.  As they both grew older, the bond between them grew stronger, until they were as close as blood relations.  Cadena’s training intensified, as she vowed that nothing would hurt Edgar or herself again.  

Unfortunately for Cadena, she began to overexert herself to care for Edgar.  She grew restless, and could no longer take the constant caring for Edgar, even with the breaks her constant training regimen gave her.  In her free time, she began to slip away, exploring more and more of Inaria.  

20’s

As Cadena intered her twenties, she had become quite proficient at exploring the land about her.  She knew all the trails in and out of the area around Aquore by heart.  Without her mother working - due to ‘irreparable grief’ - and with her father deceased,  Cadena needed some way to bring income to her family.  She began offering tours to horses who needed it, mostly new Clerics who did not yet know their way around the surrounding villages.

Cadena’s exploratory business earned her the attention of the Sage, when Cadena was twenty-three.  The reigning Sage offered Cadena the chance to explore even outside Inaria’s borders as an Emissary.  The black mare jumped at her chance.

The unicorn was given her mission: she would become an Emissary for the War Forged Herd.  Just before her first mission, Edgar presented Cadena with a veil of pale blue fabric, which Cadena would treasure, and which she still wears today.

Cadena’s first missions were short, a few weeks at most, but as time went on, she earned the Sage’s trust to complete longer missions.  As time went on, Cadena began to miss her home.  And, with the absence of her presence, Edgar.  Cadena’s final mission lasted nearly six months, and rounded out her thirtieth year.  

30’s

Cadena returned home from her missions as an Emissary for some time, glad to be home.  While she was between missions, Cadena witnessed a stark downturn in Edgar’s health.  The mare was experiencing yet another of her illnesses, though this bout was quite severe.

Cadena was awakened late at night to a feeling of unease.  It was good that she did, for Edgar - in her next door home - was struggling to breathe.  Cadena snuck over to check on her friend - knowing she would be allowed in the home.  When she realized what her friend was going through, she ran for a Cleric.

Edgar made as full a recovery as could be expected in her condition, but Cadena was so shaken by the near loss of her friend that she vowed she would not leave the mare’s side again.  She quietly resigned as an Emissary and searched for some other method of making a living in her herd.

Now that she was old enough, the idea came to Cadena that she could volunteer as a Council member.  As she would never be able to fulfil her wish of being the Defender, Cadena knew that the Council would at least bring her close to that wish.  She was not, however, ready to offer her services.

For the next year, Cadena dove into studying for the rank of Council member.  She learned, with scholarly Edgar’s help, all there was to learn about her herd from all the books she could get her hands on.  When Cadena finally felt that her education was complete, she was ready to volunteer for the Council.  

With her Emissary work and her knowledge of Talori customs, Cadena was accepted into the Council, and decided to make a move closer to the city of Inaria.  When she made the move, Cadena offered that Edgar move with her.  Not only could Cadena care for her friend, but Edgar would be close to an array of Clerics.  She would also be able to visit Inaria without too much trouble, as she was rather weak from her almost drowning so many years ago.  

Today, Cadena and Edgar share a home on the outskirts of Inaria, with Cadena spending her days in the city with the Council, and her free time caring for both Edgar and her training.