Alaric Dawnbreaker

Alaric Dawnbreaker is a secondary antagonist of the Soldier's Memoirs saga and the primary antagonist of The Griffon War: A Soldier's Memoirs and Skyfall: Retribution. He is the disgraced former monarch of the Griffon Kingdom and a ruthless war criminal bent on taking revenge against Equestria for past offenses against his kind.

Early life
Alaric was the only child born to Recimir and Gelvira Dawnbreaker, and was the nineteenth generation in the ruling Dawnbreaker monarchy. He grew up in the small lake town of Barton Hollow. From an early age, he was groomed by his father and bred to be charismatic and wise, exceeding in his studies of history and global politics. He becoming particularly fond of the history between the Griffon Kingdom and Equestria in school, spending most of his time memorizing the long tenuous history between the two nations. The losses the griffons suffered at the hands of the Equestrians sparked a lifelong hatred of Equestrians in Alaric's heart, and even in youth, he would carry the idealistic notion that he would bring the Griffon Kingdom back to its former glory. Alaric also took an interest in the old griffon culture of honor through combat and warfare. He took to focusing his studies in politics and warfare as he grew older, and would go on to graduate from the Asgardian Military Academy with exemplary honors. Here he learned what it took to become a well-versed commander as well as a political leader, and how to handle himself around a variety of weaponry and live combat.

Private Military Career
Following his graduation, Alaric opted out of enlisting with the Griffon Army, choosing instead to head to Re'em and serve with a private military company overseas. There, he helped the Re'emian military fight against the Saddle Arabians, employing every skill and tactic he had learned. During this time, Alaric became one of the most fearsome soldiers in Re'em, even going so far as to earning himself a substantial bounty on his head from Crown Prince Malik ibn-Alavi. He earned the nickname "The Angel of Death" from his fellow PMCs for his ability to dominate aerial combat and his skill in commanding troops from above with ease. Alaric would eventually go on to succeed his former leader and take over his PMC group, where he led them on many successful skirmishes across the Re'emian-Arabian border. It was here that Alaric discovered a love for Re'emian history and weaponry during his time in the country, and refused to use anything made by any other nation.

Alaric's PMCs aided the Re'emian military for six years before retiring from the business due to news of his father's failing health. Rather than turn command of the business over to anyone else, Alaric disbanded the company and returned home. His final body count totaled over 300.

Pre-War
Recimir Dawnbreaker passed away from natural causes only three months after Alaric returned to the Griffon Kingdom. As per griffon law, Alaric's mother, Gelvira, was not permitted to maintain her rule without a king and was ousted. Alaric assumed his place as king immediately after, and was coronated on April 28, Solar Era Year 989 at the age of twenty-four. Alaric's rise to the throne was met with veneration for his acts of strength and service in Re'em as well as for his natural charm and charisma. In his early years, Alaric spent most of his focus on switching from his father's isolationist policies, strengthening his kingdom's economy utilizing techniques he had observed in Re'em and raising morale and nationalism through patriotic propaganda. Within years of expanding their exports worldwide, the Griffon Kingdom had an influx surplus of money. Alaric used the newfound funds to triple military spending, advancing research into superior weaponry and armor and increasing the size of the Griffon Army to numbers unseen in centuries. To continue to show his friendship and respect with Re'em, Alaric sent a garrison of his elite soldiers to aid in their war. With a vast amount of wealth building up from foreign trade, Alaric began building better relationships with other nations, including Saddle Arabia, Zavros, Germaney, and Itaily, and even Equestria.

It wasn't long after Alaric had secured the love of his people and his power in the Griffon Kingdom that he began to put forth a powerful anti-Equestrian propaganda campaign. Using tricks he had learned from Re'em, Alaric's propaganda campaign moved slowly, beginning with little more than political cartoons in the daily newspapers across the country and snarky remarks about becoming greater than Equestria. However, as more time went by, the message became more resentful, blaming the Equestrians for the hardships the griffons had endured for millenniums and planting seeds of distrust and spite. Gelvira noticed the signs of his turning and pleaded to her son to see the error of his ways and recant his hatred of Equestrians, but to no avail. By then, Alaric had the entire country under his spell.

During this time, Alaric created a secret organization of his most trusted advisors and followers, known as the Falcons of Asgard. The Falcons were his failsafe should anything happen to him during his reign. The sole objective of the Falcons was to maintain the order of the monarchy in his family's name, and to keep his interests the top priority of the nation, namely bringing down Equestria.

By the year 995, Alaric had convinced many griffons to hate the Equestrians, including powerful political figures and the military. Gelvira took her life later that year, unwilling to bear witness to what her son had become. With nothing left to make him second guess himself, Alaric put his long-term plan of revenge into action. He began setting up spy rings across the eastern seaboard of Equestria to gather intel on their military strength and cities. By 997, Alaric's ring included thirty spies, including some converted Equestrians promised power and fortune in his new world.

Over the course of five years, Alaric received intel on everything in Equestria, from weather formations to troop positions to names of key political figures in each major city. Knowing he would never be able to defeat Equestria in a numbers war, Alaric plotted to attack their only weakness: Princess Celestia's overprotective nature and honesty. His plan involved sieging the coastal cities of Equestria in a surprise blitz attack and seizing as much land and as many civilians as possible, then forcing Equestria into a peace treaty for their lives and the wellbeing of their cities in exchange for the coastal regions to be returned to ancestral griffon rule. He knew that if he could get Celestia to surrender the lands willingly, she would never taint a peace treaty and make herself the villain in the eyes of the world.

The Second Griffon-Pony War
In the year 1,000, Alaric recalled all of his spies back to the Griffon Kingdom in preparation for the invasion, save for one group, which had remained behind to report on new troop movement near Baltimare. However, the group of spies was caught and killed by the Royal Guard during an exchange of information. Alaric panicked and began preparing his army for war, lying to the public by telling them the Equestrians had murdered other griffons in cold blood. When Celestia's emissary arrived with the princess' demands for an explanation, Alaric had no choice but to declare war on Equestria, though he concealed his intentions by claiming it was for violence against his citizens. In the following days, Alaric bolstered troops in Skyfall and Asgard and ordered a royal decree for all civilians to evict Skyfall and flee to Asgard. He also sent for his garrison in Re'em to return to the Kingdom immediately, though the soldiers were caught in an engagement and could not return in time. In the hours leading up to the initial invasion by the Equestrians, Alaric continued to address his citizens, imploring that they keep brave in the face of their archenemies and fight with all their might.

Alaric received news of the loss at Skyfall a couple of hours after the city was captured. While disheartened at how easily the Equestrians had toppled his defenses, Alaric immediately ordered more troops out to defend key points in his kingdom, including Midgard and Barton Hollow. As the war progressed, Alaric became more and more frustrated with the defeats he was suffering. Once Midgard and Barton Hollow had fallen, Alaric recalled all of his troops to Asgard, flooding the capital city with as many soldiers as he could. To this point in the war, Alaric had not left Asgard, nor participated in any combat.

Only once the Equestrian Army had surrounded Asgard did Alaric entertain Princess Celestia's many messages of diplomacy. At the summet held in Dawnbreaker Stronghold, he met with Princess Celestia and the recently returned Princess Luna, along with their military cabinet. This was where Alaric first met Fleethoof as a sergeant. During the negotiations, Alaric deliberately stonewalled every attempt for peace Celestia made, refusing to yield his demand for the coastal region of Equestria. When Celestia refused to grant him his wish, Alaric refused to negotiate, and delegations fell apart after weeks of debate. It was during this summit that Alaric's troops from Re'em returned and recaptured Skyfall, along with Captain Cuirass and Princess Cadance. Upon receiving this news, Alaric believed he had his ace in the hole to get Celestia to surrender to his will. However, Asgard's impregnable defenses were sabotaged that night, and the Equestrian Army stormed the city before he could do anything with it. The fighting in Asgard lasted for two days before the Equestrians finally overwhelmed the griffon forces back to Dawnbreaker Stronghold. Forced to either fight or flee, Alaric fled Asgard through a network of caves in the mountainside and retreating to Barton Hollow.

With Asgard captured and his army utterly defeated, Alaric went to Skyfall to seek revenge on Celestia by executing her niece, but she had been rescued a couple days prior. In a last ditch attempt at redemption, Alaric rallied his remaining troops in Skyfall and burned the Equestrian transport ships, then waited for the Equestrians to arrive to ambush them. When they entered the city, Alaric unleashed a bloody battle between the two sides, fighting tooth and nail to the death. While almost evenly matched between his elite forces and the weary pony infantry, the battle quickly shifted when Equestrian warships bombarded Skyfall and reinforcement troops began to carve through his forces. With no other option left, Alaric attempted to flee, but not before engaging Fleethoof in a deadly aerial battle. Alaric, bloodthirsty and furious at his defeat, ravaged the pegasus, breaking and dislocating his wing badly before finally escaping.

Exile and Revenge
In the aftermath of the war, Alaric's hold on the griffons was destroyed by Cadance's magic. While some still harbored resentment toward the Equestrians for annihilating their lands, many were repentant and denounced Alaric's influence. A parliament was set up in place of a monarchy, and Alaric was ousted and exiled from the Griffon Kingdom, never to return under pain of death. Outraged by the Equestrians disfiguring his home into something so radically different, Alaric met with the Falcons of Asgard and gave them the final order to keep his reign alive and create strife between the new faction of griffons and the traditional ones. He then left the Griffon Kingdom, vowing to return to claim his throne when the time was right. In turn, the Falcons were able to tear up the parliament in a few months, resulting in the assassinations of many political figures and a clash of power between the two factions. However, this resulted in a massive destabilization of the Griffon Kingdom, and permitted for another influential figure, Eriviara orn Vorastrix, to step up and unify many of the griffons together once more.

Not much is currently known about what Alaric did during his years in exile. All that is known is that he carried a vendetta against Equestria, Celestia, and Fleethoof during this time. Some time during his exile, Alaric met Dandridge Clydesdale and became trusting of the pony for his despise of the Equestrian government. Dandridge, in turn, provided Alaric with weapons and information that allowed him to track down Princess Cadance and orchestrate an ambush to abduct her as the first step in his revenge against Equestria. He is currently wanted by several powerful nations, including Equestria, the Griffon Kingdom, Braytain, Marexico, and Germaney.

Personality
Alaric Dawnbreaker is a cold-hearted sociopath. Very little fazes or flusters him, and he carries himself with a cool confidence and sense of entitlement. The world revolves around him and his kind, although strangely enough, he is not xenophobic, and has a great love of cultures that have built themselves through struggle, such as the Re'emians and zebras. He views all others as lower lifeforms compared to himself, and has a disturbing disregard for the value of life. He has no moral issue killing anyone, and even sees it as a game at times. Alaric has never been seen showing affection or love, even for his family, and his actions and thoughts often border on the sociopathic.

A silver tongue is Alaric's greatest asset. He is wickedly charismatic, often able to get others to see things his way or do things they normally wouldn't with relative ease. If that fails, he falls back on his brute force and muscles them into getting his way.

When Alaric gets mad, his temper sets off like a powder keg. He hates losing, and his distinct dislike of Equestrians makes facing them in a challenge even more vicious than any other enemy. He harbors depe resentment for those that get in his way, and holds violent grudges against those that interfere with his plans, particularly Fleethoof and Eriviara. When he is enraged, Alaric leaves no holds barred. He follows a strategy of 'any means necessary to win' and will often use dastardly, underhanded tactics to defeat his opponents, such as threatening their loved ones or using their greatest weaknesses against them.

Equipment
During his time in Re'em, Alaric developed a deep love for Re'emian weaponry and firearms. So far, he has been seen carrying dual revolvers as his personal sidearms during the Second Griffon-Pony War. However, after losing one of the revolvers in his battle with Fleethoof, Alaric switched to a more powerful semiautomatic handgun. He acquired and currently carries a custom Re'emian .50 handgun similar to the Desert Eagle he has named Omega, currently the most powerful handgun in the world.