Thunder

This article covers the pet of Cayden Cailean. For meteorlogical phenomena, see weather.

Thunder was the beloved pet red mastiff of Cayden Cailean before his ascension to divinity. After becoming a god, Cayden Cailean is believed to have raised Thunder to immortality.

History

Two years prior to Cayden Cailean's ascension, he came across a litter of mastiff puppies guarding the corpse of their deceased mother. Cayden rewarded their courage with food, friendship, and shelter; buried their mother's body; adopted five of the dogs out to his friends; and kept the largest of the litter, naming him Thunder after the dog's deep growl.

Thunder faithfully guarded the mortal Cayden's home while he was away, and following his ascension Thunder disappeared shortly after. Red-coated celestial riding dog mastiffs then began appearing around Absalom and became known as cayhounds, Cayden's favored animals. Half-celestial offspring of cayhounds are known as caypups. The particularly large cayhound Little Thunder is Cayden's favorite son of Thunder.

In religion

Caydenite worshipers celebrate the Find of the Cayhound annually on 24 Gozran, during which his followers stage friendly competitions of teamwork between pairings of worshipers and the once-abandoned dogs that they have adopted. Caydenites also refer to inseparably bonded pairs of beings as being "like Cayden and Thunder".