Benton

Authors note. This is referring to the wolf in rathnir who goes by the same name and has no relation with a certain other wolf from a popular lets play series.

Benton is the name given to a large gray wolf who inhabited the area of western carn in aldovir. He is currently the pet of jecten, and has played a moderate role in the history of the state as a whole. He now lives in a house in exile out of fear of being a target

Description
Benton sports a blue collar which he has worn since being befriended by Jecten. He is known for being calm and collected, even during a hunt, which has allowed him to remain focused, a character trait that has helped him. Canonically (tho not in game) he has a small scar beneath his left eye, which had been obtained following an attack in which he would be the only survivor out of his former pack. He is currently about 42 in dog years, or around 6 human years of age, according to the lore, and even has a town named after him. In fact, Bentonia is one of the very few towns named after an animal companion in all of rathnir. He is also enthusiastic in what he does, for the most part, and was at one point the de facto mayor of bentonia, which is a rare instance among towns for animals to hold such a position, yet its something that is still being clarified as to whether or not the post will be official.

Early history
benton was born sometime early in the modern history of rathnir, yet most of what occurred during the first 2 human years of his life is unknown. What is known is that he was the eldest son of the alpha pair in the pack, and he did spend a fair bit of time, even successfully taking down his first prey singlehandedly when he was just 10 in dog years, a rare achievement for a wolf of his age, and a sign of his potential later on. 2 human years after being born however, a series of harsh weather forced his pack to relocate. 2 members of the pack didnt survive the journey, including his mother, but the pack was able to find safety in their new home, and even managed to thrive there for just a few years longer. A few dog years longer however.

Tragedy
by the time benton was only 20 in dog years, he was on patrol with his father, when an intruder was sighted. His father was able to recognise the threat that they were facing, but instead of running away, he chose to gather the pack and fight. There was just a problem. What was meant to be a way to get rid of this enemy, instead was a massive bloodbath, where the hunter slaughtered wolf after wolf, until almost all the pack was either dead or mortally wounded, leaving just benton there. But before the attacker could swing his blade, bentons own father, despite already bleeding from several wounds, was able to score a fatal strike to the attackers own throat, killing him within seconds, yet despite this, his wounds were too great and he perished within an hour of that save, leaving only benton alive. It would be a tragedy that he would never forget.

Benton in the wild
now a lone wolf, Benton decided his first priority was surviving, and his next was getting a mate. There was just one problem. Many of the wolves in the area had lost their lives, and prey was getting difficult to come by. However, benton was able to work things out, and soon managed to find a spot where prey was abundant, and thus he was able to use his experience to hunt them down singlehandedly, even being able to win during instances of him being outnumbered by between 2 and 4 individuals on several occasions. Sometimes however, the prey got away, but it didnt faze him too much. This cycle continued until he was between 30 and 32 in dog years, when a battle broke out between him and another lone wolf male, which ended in his attacker being hurled down a ravine and benton suffering a few scars on his back and his left shoulder. Fortunately, he was able to recover from the wounds inflicted by his attacker, and immediately was hit with regret that he had just killed a member of his own species, even contemplating on jumping into that same ravine immediately after the fight, however, he was able to resist the urge and continued his goal on trying to survive. Little did he know that he had to brave that wilderness for just another week

Being tamed and the founding of bentonia
one day, benton decided to wander to the lothrian mountains in western carn, near where the former coenia west gate is located, when a stranger decided to offer him with bones. He accepted the offer straight away and was introduced to this stranger, known as Jecten. He decided to set up camp in one of the many cave passages underneath a river bend, and soon, the owner took a liking to him. From that moment on, bentonia would be founded, and would soon grow into being a major city in the region, and benton would be at the forefront to that success

Starting a family
2 months passed in the caves. The ever changing labyrinth that is the bentonia underground being designed around him, and despite spending his life in the corner and keeping the chicken population in check, something still felt empty. Ever since the loss of his pack all those years ago, he had no family to keep him company. Fortunately, Jecten decided to take him in as being essentially a brother, and during those months, benton became a bit of a local icon, making friends with and getting hugged and patted by several individuals, who he would in turn show respect. One such visitor however, brought him antoher wolf, this time a female named Kiara, whom Benton immediately fell in love with and started a family, but things would soon change, as null12 had decided to adopt Jecten as a son just months later, owing to his service to aldovir during the recent alteniquian war, which Jecten accepted, with a side note of Benton and his new family also joining in. Benton would then be visited by his new adoptive father, and both showed respect and admiration to the other. In this agreement, a site east of the farms in the bentonia neighbourhood of evansyllo, a former ruin that had over the past 2 months been restored and upgraded, would be also turned into the family estate, in which Jecten, Benton, Null and their relatives would move into once completed. So far, the estate is unfinished with only a select amount built, however as things for him looked up, a sudden turn for the worst would occur

Another day, another tragedy
Avalon was one of the people who joined bentonia. Originally seeming to be well intended, after an incident had Jecten barred from entering for some time, he (Avalon) took his initiative and slaughtered bentons wife and children, as well as ransacking the farm and killing the prized chickens that benton had been managing up to this point. When jecten returned, benton was nowhere to be seen, but he did manage to bring him back and banish avalon as punishment upon discovering him as the culprit. What he didnt understand was, why

Segra war
some time passed and all of a sudden, an outside threat emerged. Although blocked again, jecten did recognise the threat, as did benton. Segra. A mysterious being bent on causing chaos and destruction wherever she went, and it was soon discovered that the attacker who killed bentons old pack was under her influence, as was avalon. At the same time, carn found itself partitioned between various states, with bentonia being given to the horde, a nation with a large cultist population. In response, jecten founded the lone wolf resistance, a movement designed to combat segra influence in the horde. This did partly succeed, mainly due to benton seating himself prominently as a rallying post for the cause against segra. The situation continued, however, this war was placed on hold. Horde would soon release bentonia and the surrounding territory, which would be given to the nation of galadonn

Galadonnian war and the evacuation
at first things were peaceful. Null, bentons former adoptive father had been in charge following jectens absense, however jecten did keep himself in touch with benton. However, things started to rapidly heat up. Tensions were rising between galadonn and the newly formed second empire of aldovir, both nations who jecten had strong ties with. Attempts to ease the tensions were made, however, when ferol inherited bentonia, the struggle became a bit harder, yet it was manageable. A proposal was made for bentonia to be neutral for bentons own safety, with rules in place to allow anyone to join except avalon and some cultists who had snuck their way into galadonn, out of fear for bentons safety, but this plan wasnt to be. Partly because of miscommunications and partly due to what likely was a scheme made by skinny, the second in command at galadonn, a war broke out between aldovir and galadonn. Jecten initially decided to stay neutral and managed to convince both sides to not garrison troops at bentonia, but for the time being, however, soon he found the city divided despite no border being present. Now the situation really was desperate and jecten sided publicly with Aldovir. Noticing a sudden escalation and seeing that now, benton was in mortal danger, jecten made a plan to madhursumi to evacuate benton from the very city he had called home. The evacuation was tricky, as jecten couldn’t physically appear for reasons unknown, yet he was able to allow the pair to evacuate by boat, however, as madhursumi and benton approached the farms, the boat was blocked by a low bridge and the two were left stranded, until a local broke the bridge and set them free. Stopping at the nearby town of kaller, madhursumi soon took benton to the safest place he knew, omverlon, which jecten approved of. A house was built in the border between omverlon and azethvir and benton moved in, where he is currently residing today in relative comfort. The war is still ongoing without any clear winner and its unknown if things for benton will return to how they once were.