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This article was written by Chondrya. Please do not add to it without the writer's permission.
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| Cerben | |
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| Information | |
| Other Names | "Twelvehound" (Dark Hunter codename) |
| Species | Imbiber |
| Affiliation | Dark Hunters |
| Powers | •Energy blasts •Resistance to toxins and Pit Mutagen •Rahi Control •Ice Resistance •Impermanent Obliteration Rhotuka |
| Kanohi | Great Tryna |
| Equipment | Whirling Blades |
| Status | Alive |
| Location | Unknown |
| Homeland | Unknown island in the Southern Islands |
| Pronunciation | ser-ben |
Cerben, more commonly known by his codename "Twelvehound" (although he disliked being called this), was an Imbiber and a member of the Dark Hunters. Known for his ten-member pack of procedurally reanimated Energy Hounds, he mostly served The Shadowed One as an assistant to "Eliminator", helping him track down incompetent or renegade Dark Hunters seeking refuge in the Southern Islands.
History[]
Early History[]
Like with all members of his species, Cerben originated from an unknown island in the Southern Islands. As other Imbibers quickly left their general area of origin and spread throughout the universe, however, he chose to stay close to his origin, living a rather peaceful life as a sport hunter. After hearing of other hunters finding their Rhotuka powers to be useful to them, he purchased his own Rhotuka launcher. He soon discovered that his Rhotuka would fragment their target and then reform it after around 10 minutes. This ability proved useful, as it allowed him to set up traps for game. He also had a Great Tryna made for him and began using it to reanimate his kills, using them to his advantage in order to obtain more kills from every pack of Rahi he hunted.
Because of his macabre hunting methods, he gained a status as an urban legend among the local Matoran populations. Consequently, fearful Matoran tribes would begin trying to hunt him down. Only some would find him, and few of them would be courageous enough to try and slay him. Eventually, he would begin using his Rhotuka to brutally and temporarily murder his hunters to discourage others from bothering him.
Dark Hunters[]
Cerben's first encounter with the Dark Hunters occurred when, in an attempt to frighten a bothersome Matoran village, he used his Rhotuka to take the life of one of the villagers. When Cerben was found by "Lurker", who had apparently been tasked with capturing the Matoran alive, the Dark Hunter grew furious with him and attempted to kill him. Ill-trained in combat, Cerben barely defended himself, and luckily for him, the Matoran reformed before "Lurker" could gain the upper hand. The two parted ways without major injuries. After learning of this encounter, The Shadowed One became curious about Cerben's powers and skills, and wished to recruit him. A larger group of Dark Hunters kidnapped him and brought him to Odina, where the organization's leader deemed him a good fit and his life as a Dark Hunter began. As his true name already brought fear to many inhabitants of the Southern Islands, he opted not to submit a codename.
Although Cerben was enthusiastic about tracking down targets, he did not find enjoyment in other kinds of operations. He hoped to improve his tracking and pursuit capabilities to make him more likely to be selected for such missions. After experimenting with his arsenal and methods, he settled on utilizing a twelve-member pack of Energy Hounds and equipping his Rhotuka launcher onto a double-bladed weapon. Unfortunately for him, he failed to gain reputation as a tracking specialist, and he began to regret joining the organization.
On one of his most fateful missions, Cerben teamed up with fellow Dark Hunter Tayorús to track down and hijack an airship carrying an unknown but reportedly priceless cargo. The Imbiber found out that this cargo was Antidermis when he was knocked into a vat of it while battling a group of mercenaries hired to protect the airship. He absorbed a significant amount of the substance before Tayorús was able to pull him out. Immediately, his strength was increased, and his organic tissue began to grow immensely, and was damaged through constriction by his tight armor. Despite this, he sealed his success by tricking his opponents into falling into the Antidermis as well, causing them to become docile and receptive to his orders.
Creation of "Twelvehound"[]
Having absorbed as much Antidermis as he did, Cerben gained access to the knowledge that all Makuta possessed and learned about the true nature of the Matoran Universe. "Virid", a secondary entity inhabiting his mind, emerged from the incident as a manifestation of this new knowledge. It told him that, in order to fulfill his destiny to help protect the will of Mata Nui, he would need to make his way to Voya Nui. Cerben did not take these revelations well and refused to speak with anyone except The Shadowed One for several months. His secondary arms were damaged through uncontrolled muscle growth and the constriction of his armor, and they had to be amputated, which placed even more stress on him. He attempted to explain his plight to the leader of the Dark Hunters (keeping a large majority of what he had learned a secret) but was denied permission to travel to Voya Nui.
Desperate to fulfill his destiny, Cerben eventually considered attempting to leave the Dark Hunters, even knowing the consequences of doing so. He brought this up in a conversation with another Dark Hunter, who encouraged him to do so, stating that she wished to be the one sent to kill him. This interaction gave him the idea to specialize in tracking down Dark Hunters attempting to escape the organization. A strong motivation for this idea came after a group of Dark Hunters successfully vanished from the organization's sights. Cerben grew envious of their fortune in escaping The Shadowed One's grasp and wished to hunt them down out of spite. Keeping his motivations hidden, he asked The Shadowed One to send him to kill them. His leader said he would consider it if he could prove his tracking abilities were adept enough that he didn't need to spend his off time on Odina.
Over his next few missions, Cerben discovered his Rahi Control and Ice Resistance powers, as well as "Virid"'s ability to share the load of concentrating on his Tryna. As his Energy Hounds had a high turnover rate, Cerben found that reanimating dead pack members was much more efficient than paying for and training living replacements. He became more efficient at tracking down targets, especially in the Southern Islands where his survival skills and familiarity with the region gave him an advantage. This proved enough for The Shadowed One to send him to accompany "Eliminator" in tracking down the deserted Dark Hunters, who had apparently taken refuge within the perilous Southern Islands. Within mere days the deserters had been tracked down and slain, although two of Cerben's Energy Hounds had been destroyed irreparably in the process. The Shadowed One was pleased by Cerben's competence and agreed to let him assist "Eliminator" in his endeavors when he was not being hired by others. With his desires met and his capabilities boosted by the support of "Virid", Cerben decided against replacing his two lost Energy Hounds. Rather, he finally submitted an official codename to The Shadowed One, "Twelvehound", emphasizing that the term referred to him, his ten Energy Hounds, and "Virid" as one cohesive unit.
Description[]
Forms[]
| Picture | Form | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Original | Cerben's natural form he was created in |
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Current | Cerben's form after absorbing Antidermis, his secondary arms amputated and replaced with large faulds |
Powers and Equipment[]
As an Imbiber, Cerben had immense strength and endurance, slight resistance to most toxins (including Pit Mutagen), the power to emit blasts of energy from his hands, and the ability to be physically enhanced after absorbing Antidermis. After his first and only absorption of Antidermis, he was gifted with increased strength, exhaustive knowledge of the Matoran Universe, and the Kraata Powers of Rahi Control and Ice Resistance. He wore a Great Tryna, the Mask of Reanimation, which allowed him to give artificial life to corpses and control them for as long as he concentrated.
Cerben once bore a pair of secondary arms like all Imibibers, but had them amputated after Antidermis-induced hypertrophy damaged them beyond repair. He wielded the Whirling Blade, a large, double-ended weapon that he could use to channel his energy blasts into more direct beams. The weapon also served as a Rhotuka launcher, allowing him to manifest and fire his Impermanent Obliteration Rhotuka. Upon striking a target, his Rhotuka would fragment it completely (or destroy a portion of it, if it was too large). After around 10 minutes, the target would reform back to its former, undamaged state. He was unable to fire another Rhotuka until these 10 minutes were up. Most commonly, he would use his Rhotuka to set up traps: he would destroy a large structure with it, lure an opponent into the space it once inhabited, and wait for it to reform around them, its fragments killing them as they flew back together. Because his Rhotuka destroyed their targets completely, he could not control destroyed beings with his Tryna.
Cerben's most useful tools were his ten Energy Hounds, all of which were dead and in varying stages of decay. They bore prostheses replacing lost limbs and dorsal armor protecting their central nervous systems. When they were needed, he would use his Tryna to reanimate them, commanding them to do what he pleased. The amount of concentration required to reanimate and command all of them often made Cerben immobile. To counteract this, “Virid” would bear some of the burden of concentrating on the mask, allowing Cerben to fight alongside his pack. If he needed to accomplish more complex tasks with his Energy Hounds, he would also use Rahi Control to manipulate one or two more directly, although this was often at the cost of his and "Virid"'s ability to keep the other pack members undead.
Given his power of Ice Resistance and his natural wide, webbed feet, Cerben was adept at working in frozen climates. If he needed to travel in the snow, he would sometimes forgo motorized vehicles in favor of dog sledding with his Energy Hounds using any sled he could buy locally. As he had access to all knowledge that the Makuta were given, he had a basic understanding of Rahi biology, which he used to modify his Energy Hounds to make them easier to control with his Tryna. In addition, he could use "Virid" to quickly solve complex problems and make calculations in his head; combined with his natural observant behavior, this made it a monumental task to trap, elude, or outsmart him.
| Strength: | 14 | |
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| Agility: | 6 | |
| Resilience: | 11 | |
| Mind: | 13 | |
| Prowess: | 11 | |
| Offense: | 12 | |
| Defense: | 4 |
Personality and Traits[]
Many were often confused about Cerben's codename, especially considering the fact that he owned ten Energy Hounds rather than twelve. According to him, the word Twelvehound was defined as "a collective of twelve entities with intertwined existences”. These entities were him, his ten Energy Hounds, and "Virid". According to him, he and “Virid” had a deep mental and near-metaphysical connection to each of his Energy Hounds, beyond his Tryna and Rahi Control power. Cerben grew angry with those who repeatedly used the codename to refer solely to him, and he constantly stated that using the name to refer to him was “erroneous” and a “failure to understand”.
Befitting of his occupation, Cerben was stubborn, dedicated, studious, and curious. His ability to find clues frequently bled into his social interactions, and he drew ire to himself by trying to learn information about others. He rarely found personal interest in others, but more often saw them as subjects to be studied from a disconnected, academic standpoint. He would go as far as to purposefully offend people to observe their reactions.
After he failed to find enjoyment in anything other than tracking missions, the revelation that he had a destiny that involved traveling to Voya Nui sparked a new sense of motivation and purpose within him. However, his forced and eternal loyalty to the Dark Hunters prevented him from even beginning to fulfill his destiny. Because of this, he held a spiteful and envious hatred towards other Dark Hunters who had even considered going rogue. He strongly felt that if he couldn't leave then he could at least ensure that nobody else could leave either. Since this belief was intertwined with the truths "Virid" had opened his eyes to, he had to keep it a secret, puzzling others who had known him to previously be apathetic about his status as a Dark Hunter.
"Virid"[]
The space inside Cerben's head was shared between him and another personality that referred to itself as "Virid". Similar to how Brutaka referred to himself with "we" after encountering the pit where the Makuta were created, "Virid" also manifested after Cerben's experience with Antidermis, but chose to keep itself separate from him. This separation was not total, given Cerben's definition of "Twelvehound" and the fact that knowledge of the Matoran Universe had come to him instantaneously. "Virid" did not seem to have much of a personality of its own and made no attempt to give its own opinions on anything, feeling little-to-no emotion. It was, however, adept at critical thinking and calculations, and Cerben sometimes "handed" it logistical problems to solve if he was too fatigued or preoccupied to solve them himself. Given this and the vast knowledge it provided, it could be reasonably likened to a computer within Cerben's head.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- After his secondary arms were amputated, Cerben had a pair of large faulds attached to his armor in their place. This was primarily done to make it hard for others to discern whether or not he had hidden arms.
- Cerben and his page were created for the Dark Hunter MOC Contest.
- He makes several references to Cerberus of Greek mythology and other canine guardians of the underworld:
- His name takes inspiration from Cerberus' name.
- He uses reanimated Energy Hounds.
- ”Twelvehound”, when read aloud, sounds similar to “hellhound”.
- Cerben was also inspired by the character Sofia from John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, who owned two combat-trained Belgian Malinois dogs.
- His backstory, especially his relationship with the Dark Hunters, was inspired by the narrative of the song "Hotel California" by the Eagles.
- Initially, Cerben was written to have absorbed only a miniscule portion of Antidermis, with the resulting entity in his mind withholding the truth about the Matoran Universe from him. Although she had already decided on Cerben’s vendetta against fleeing Dark Hunters, Chondrya later found that Cerben having knowledge of the Matoran Universe and knowing his destiny but being unable to fulfill it provided more strength to his motive.