Bjorn

Bjorn is a hero in Arcanium.

"If the weapon weren’t fearsome enough, Bjorn decorates it with the skulls of his victims, which become twisted and gnarled by the evil of the Shard"

Description
From the official site: Before the Black Shard’s tendrils probed into Bjorn’s beloved homeland, Bjorn was a respectable rhino—a strong, honorable, and jovial pillar of the community. The Shard’s corruption changed all that.

The Shard hadn’t extended its evil beyond the Witch Wall in centuries. In that time, small homesteading communities had formed too near to the old Elysian border, all combining into one medium-sized village named Borderton. They thought the Witch Wall would keep them safe. It didn’t.

As the animals nearest the Scorched Lands became brainwashed by its evil, Bjorn and his brother, Olin, had no choice but to lead a small army against the corrupted creatures. Bjorn loved his home too much to allow them to destroy it.

But an army of villagers was not enough to quell the evil that crawled beyond the Witch Wall. As Bjorn’s troops slowly fell either to corruption or the blades of the Scorched Army, Bjorn hated the Shard more and more. He no longer saw the tragic faces of longtime friends in the corrupted Army—he saw slavering, murderous beasts that needed to be put down. Bjorn would face them to the last animal, so long as it meant the Shard would retreat back behind the Witch Wall permanently.

As Bjorn led troops in the field, only Olin and a small band of warriors were left to defend Borderton. When Bjorn temporarily returned home from his latest battle, he found nothing but ashes and bones. Olin was dead, his family and friends destroyed. With nothing to defend, all Bjorn could do was attack.

To the Shard’s surprise, Bjorn made it past every defense, stampeding his way through and cutting down anyone who stood in his way. Nothing was left of the old, honorable rhino but his hatred for the Shard and its corrupted minions.

Until his brother stood against him.

Olin hadn’t died at all—the Shard captured him and corrupted him for no other reason than to torment Bjorn. Devastated, Bjorn tried to reason with Olin, tried to bring him back from the evil that had taken his brother’s heart, but it was no use. Olin fought savagely, deaf to Bjorn’s pleas. In the end, Bjorn had no choice but to strike his brother down.

And by doing so, he was broken. Broken enough that the Black Shard could find a way through the cracks of his soul and fill his heart with the same evil he had fought for so long.

Despite now being among the Black Shard’s Army, Bjorn’s hatred of his old enemy still remains. He gladly accepted the role of Grand Executioner just to feel the joy of killing members of the Scorched Army again—the foolish and the weak and the disloyal.

In the decades since his corruption, Bjorn has been given a blade forged from the Black Shard itself as his headsman’s axe. It drinks the souls of those it slays, and this thirst has become tied to Bjorn’s bloodlust.

The Black Shard uses Bjorn as its champion in the Arcanium not because of his skill in warfare, but because Bjorn is its greatest triumph. A scorched soul to remind the world that no one is immune to the Shard’s power. No one.