Thorn

Thorn is a Magus who decides to help the Wild reclaim their old places.

Appearance and Personality
Thorn was once a man, but when his body was killed, he made himself a new body. He is almost as tall as a barn, and his skin, where it showed through layers of moss and leather, seems to be of smooth grey stone. He carries a staff – the product of a single, straight ash tree riven by lightning in its twentieth year. His gnarled fingers are as long as the tines of a hay fork. The Captain describes him as "A great horned creature. Like a living tree, but malevolent".

History
Thorn's real name is Richard Plangere. Some twenty years before, Thorn had been the Royal Magus to then King Hawthor. But Thorn had betrayed the Albans and joined with the forces of the Wild. King Hawthor had raised all the power of Alba, and defeated the Wild in the Battle of Chevin. Thorn was destroyed but no corpse had ever been found. The losses for the King had been great, some fifty thousand men, losses that Alba is yet to fully recover from.

The Red Knight
Thorn decides to gather all the creatures his can from the Wild, in order to reclaim their old place, Lissen Carak, from the men of Alba.

Thorn sends his Qwethnethog allies to kill Sister Haisia in a manor house near Lissen Carak, but when they return they report that they have seen soldiers heading to the abbey. He order them to track and spy on the a company of mercenaries, but not attack them.

Thorn has gathered his army to the west of Lissen Carak, creatures of the Wild; Irks, Boglins, Qwethnethogs, Wyverns and men of the Wild. The mercenaries execute a daring raid on the camp. At first the Irks and Jacks flee and a slaughter in their assault. But when Thorn realizes that the assault is by a mere fifty men, he is dismayed that his forces have fled from such a paltry number. He uses his power of will to send hundreds of Boglins, Irks and some Golden Bears in pursuit. The mercenaries flee. As his creatures are about to overrun the mercenaries, they spring a ambush, filling the air with arrows. Enraged, Thorn tries to use his power directly on the leader of the mercenaries, the Captain, but his power slips off him. They make it to their horses, and flee. Thorn throws fire over the fleeing enemy, but the Captain's shield of power protects most of them, and they escape.

Thorn realizes that the fortress of Lissen Carak is now well defended by both soldiers and the integral magical power of the fortress. He decides to skirt Lissen Carak, and attack Albinkirk in the east. By burning the poorly defended town, he will send a signal throughout the Wild, and many, many more will join his army.