On February 5th, we passed the 9th Anniversary of Redwall Author Brian Jacques’s death. Brian Jacques had a strong influence on my teenage years with his poems, spectacular food recipes and heartfelt characters. His stories of cruelty, compassion, and courage sparked my imagination and inspired my creative writing. Because of this, I’d thought it would be fitting to share the first character he inspired me to write: Rausaro. Several years ago a successor series to Redwall known as “Beyond the Western Deep” held a fundraiser that allowed for the creation of original character art. The story team has a number of skilled artists including one of the original Redwall artists. At the time, I had been clearing out old boxes in the attic and uncovered a printed character sheet and a few posts from an old forum called BZPower that I had made nearly 15 years ago in April 2005. Using those, I was able to work with the artists to reconstruct my character. *** In the old RPG, Rausaro Riverpaw was envisioned as a scout and tracker hailing from the otterclans of Green Isle. Shipwrecked by Corsairs, he and a few allies made their way to Redwall where they were incorporated into the forces of the resident Skipper of Otters. His companions included Sessina, Turag Brookback, Sickle, Pyro, Takuna Rhaknas and Badergermum Hahli. I’m grateful for the memories and writing adventures we went on as kids, and for the friends I made through through the rpg. A final and fitting poem from Mr Jacques sums up my memories... “My chamber is a refuge here, against the snowbound night, a flickering cave of crimson gold, made warm by firelight, where images are conjured, of friends I used to know. I battled and I marched with them, one dusty long ago. I see them now arise again, in memory that ne’er will fail. Their legend is reborn anew, and thus begins my tale.” -High Rhulain Credit to the skilled Rachel Bennett for the character art. Thank you again! #Redwall #beyondthewesterndeep #otter #anthro #anthropomorphic #taggerung #highrhulain #otter #anthrootter #brianjacques #liverpool #england #literature #fantasy #oc #originalcharacter #originalart https://www.instagram.com/p/B8sNBj_jahp/?igshid=z2trw18uez0h