Hepling

Hepling's life became a cycle. He trained, he was starved, he was abused. Before long, all Hepling knew was fighting. After these long nights of bloodshed, his dreams were filled with thoughts of an angel in her mind. An angel that he came to know as Leora. She was the only way he kept his sanity and hope alive.

He soon was placed into fights. It was life or death in the arena. People screamed at him and smacked his hackles as he passed. The stench of money and blood was heavy in the air. If he failed, there was nothing waiting for him at the end of the day. Failure was not accepted. To fail, would be to resign to death. And Hepling would not resign himself. Battle after battle, Hepling destroyed the competition, growing stronger by the day.

As every dog knew in the arena, success only meant a harder competition the next time. He was undefeated and was temporarily retired from fights. People were afraid of putting their dogs against him. He had a new responsibility: raising the next generation. He was bred with other dogs in the hopes that the pups would have the same fighting spirit he was born with. Along with this, he helped train the new dogs. He went from the helpless chained pup to the aggressor in that bloody alley. No sympathy was left inside of his heart. All he knew was what had been beat into him. He traveled to another city with his caretaker, searching for new battles to partake. Everything went smoothly, until a certain fateful night..

The arena was packed, more people than he had ever seen. They yelled with fury and excitement, fists clinging to money and feet pounding against the floor. The sound was deafening as he was led through the crowd, energy filling the air. His competition was already there, another dog roughly the size of him, their pelt littered with scars. The moment they were given the signal, the dogs leapt into action. The combination of the chanting from the crowd, the blinding lights, and the pounding in his ears all distracted him from performing his best. On a good day, Hepling likely could have defeated that dog. But that night ended in disaster. His throat was nearly ripped open and his stomach clawed until it hurt to breathe. Finally, the fight was called. Hepling was taken away by his owner. They dragged him to a dark street, hurling obscenities. He was thrown out like trash, abandoned to die in the cold night. The last thing he saw before passing out was that same bright light from his puphood.

He was found by a group who took pity on him. When Hepling awoke, he was surrounded by questioning faces. After a few days of rest, Hepling insisted on going out to get fresh air during one cool night. Little did they know, the dogs were not alone. A human spotted him from their home and called a rescue group who came down and set out traps. When he woke up the next morning in his makeshift den, most of his new acquaintances were gone. He stumbled out into the open, searching for them, and a hoop was secured around his neck-- they were waiting for him! The humans took him away and the next months were a tangle of vet appointments, medications, and plenty of rest. He expressed gratitude for his caretakers, never attempting to bite or attack them. He gained their trust, but that was all part of his plan. He knew that if he tried to escape or was shown to be aggressive, he would be killed. His need for help outweighed his pride.

Eventually he was cleared medically, neutered + vaccinated, and put in rehabilitation. He made his escape when he was let out on a leash for training. Hepling scurried off, the leash trailing behind him until he had a chance to rip it off.

He was accepted into a group and proved himself to be trustworthy. Piper was the leader of this group. They were more of a group of friends than a gang. He became close with everyone in the group, holding their secrets and protecting them in fights with other dogs. This is where he met Boulder-- she was starving and tried fighting a member of the group for some scraps of food. Hepling was impressed by the fighting spirit in her, and convinced Piper to take pity on her. Boulder was in his debt, and once she recovered, she became a close friend to Hepling. When he began plotting his takeover, he confided in Boulder and promised her power in return for her loyalty and assistance. He slowly worked on turning the others against Piper, spreading rumors, and challenging the leader.

Piper "disappeared" one dark night, and Hepling rallied the group against the former leader, taking control with ease. Boulder claimed to have seen Piper fleeing the group to join rogues while on patrol during the night. Hepling challenged anyone who spoke up against his leadership and used Boulder's story to back himself up. Some months pass and he quickly filled the ranks with more loners. Soon there were more loners than original members. Slowly those original members disappeared until only a handful were left. Most of the group knew nothing about the beginnings of the group. Hepling renamed the group the "Canis Yorks". He started to preach about his religion, about the visions he had of Leora. He recognized one of the members, Bulwrinkle, as being both easily manipulated and a good speaker. He gave Bulwrinkle the title of Diplomat and used them to calm the worries of the other dogs and speak to them in religious services.In the beginning he had pure intentions with his religion, but as the time went on, he started using it to force obedience into the members. Eventually the members were brainwashed until they feared speaking against Hepling, as they thought the goddess would punish them in the afterlife for disloyalty. He began using religious sacrifices to get rid of dogs who he didn't like.

• Hepling grew up in a dogfighting ring.
• After losing a fight, he was abandoned, and in his fear he had delusions of a sun goddess.
• He joined a group of rogues and took control from the inside.
• Hepling established a religion using his ideas and rules with an iron fist over the Canis Yorks.