Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2010 3:52:40 GMT -5
GENERAL
Name: Coldstar
Name Explanation: Cold - born during a blizzard; Stripe - small white stripe on his chest; Star - Leader's suffix
Gender: Tom
Age: 42 moons
Clan: ThunderClan
Rank: Leader
APPEARANCE
Body Type: Average muscle-build, but very tall
Fur: Black
Eyes: Brilliant orange
Markings: small white stripe on his chest
Overall: At first glance, no cat might notice Coldstripe wandering about in camp. In a gathered group, however, one can easily spot his black ears well above most other cats'. He's not overly muscled, however. His legs are just a little longer than they should be. One might mistake his stature as ominous and threatening unless, of course, they happen to look up at his friendly face.
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PERSONALITY
Positive Traits:
- Tolerant and Patient- Coldstripe can be compared to a rock when it comes to being teased, jumped on, tackled, sneered at, joked about, disrespected, and disobeyed. It's very hard to get him angry unless his clan or their reputation is attacked.
- Open Minded and Kind- This tom is always open to new ways of thinking. All cats are welcome to have an audience with him and any time, clan cat or not. He's very understanding and has sympathy for any cat who proves to be trustworthy.
- Brave and Loyal- Coldstripe doesn't usually hesitate to charge right into any situation. He wants what's best for his clan and will face any physical challenge head-on. He may allow himself to be pushed around, but he doesn't roll over when his clan is at stake.
- Vigilant and Determined- He keeps his own silent vigils from time to time, always thinking about how to better his clan. Coldstripe is protective and doesn't always listen to reason when there's danger around. He prefers to be in with the action when there's a fox or badger in the area. He usually has to be held back by a pair of warriors, especially when there's a risk of losing a life.
Flaws:
- Easily Distracted- Even though he's relatively focused on serious subjects, if Coldstripe doesn't view a topic as relevant or interesting, he'll let his mind wander until he sees something worth focusing on. Usually, he turns to the nursery for entertainment or to a group of apprentices and their silly antics.
- Overly Curious- Wether it's a new game he's never heard of or a twoleg thing that appeared in his territory, Coldstripe will be the first to investigate. He's especially fond of exploring new places. If he's on his way to or from the moonstone and he spots something out of the ordinary, be prepared for a detour.
- Too Trusting- The black tom believes there's good and bad in every cat and likes to think that most choose to be good in their own right. If something seems too real to be true, Coldstripe holds a cat to their faith in StarClan to make sure they're not lieing to him or trying to harm his clan. If a cat is of no clan, then he assumes they're trying to do the right thing to the best of their ability.
- Push Over- If an apprentice is trying to get out of checking the elders for ticks and offers Coldstripe he favorite fresh-kill (any kind of bird), he'll usually let them off. Unfortunately, this also works in the case of warriors and disliked missions. However, Coldstripe believes that there's no harm if the clan as a whole isn't affected.
Fears:
- Drowning- Although not irrationally afraid of water, Coldstripe is very uncomfortable swimming in water deeper than he is tall. If he can't touch the riverbed, you won't catch him in the water. His worst fear is losing a life or two due to a flood.
- Failing as a Warrior and as a Leader- As a young clan leader, or for any new clan leader, it's not surprising that they're nervous about letting their clan down by doing something foolish. It's not too much unlike his nervousness during his apprentice days, his silent vigil, or his first day as mentor. The only difference is that the ramifications would be on a wider scale should he screw up. No pressure.
Quirks:
- Coldstripe enjoys viewing his clan from the top of Highrock, especially when he needs time to think. He believes that by watching the way ThunderClan's members get along with each other, he can find the answers to whatever questions are on his mind.
- The tall black tom can always be found at sunhigh sharing tongues with his father, Blacktail, or his old apprentice, Redstripe. One can be sure that if this isn't the case, something is probably wrong.
Ideals: Individual thinking, Questioning authority, Loyalty to ThunderClan, StarClan, and the Forest.
Overall: One might need to take a look at the rule book when they come across this cat. Aren't most leaders scary, noble, and no-nonsense? Not Coldstripe! He enjoys kit-games and apprentice mischief as much as the next cat, if not more. Even though he's ThunderClan's leader, he still finds time to enjoy life as much as he can. He's loyal, not hostile.
HISTORY
Family:
- Mother-
Cloudpelt- Father- Blacktail
History:
Kithood
Coldstripe learned about the concept of working together when he was very young. He was born during a horrible blizzard, freezing to the touch. He was the only kit born to Cloudpelt and Blacktail. His mother asked the older kits in the nursery to gather around Coldkit to keep him warm and alive. The other queen, knowing that her kits were nearly old enough to be apprenticed, allowed them to leave her side if they promised to stay still and not paw at the newborn. They gave their word and cuddled against Cloudpelt and Coldkit, sharing their body heat. Eventually, the blizzard ended and Coldkit was unaffected by the storm.
As he grew older, Coldkit began to notice a young warrior hanging around the nursery, watching him as he played with his denmates. When he asked Cloudpelt about the tom, she explained that his name was Stonetooth and that he was probably trying to get to know the kits, hoping that he would be chosen to mentor one of them. As the oldest kit in the nursery, it was Coldkit he was watching more carefully. Excited at the idea of being an apprentice, he took special care to show off whenever Stonetooth and the ThunderClan leader were watching.
Apprenticeship
After what seemed like seasons, Coldkit became Coldpaw and was assigned to be mentored by Stonetooth. At first, the dark apprentice couldn't wait to start his training, then he wished he was still a kit. Stonetooth was a ruthless warrior. He didn't allow for mistakes and expected perfection from the younger tom. Even though Coldpaw always tried his hardest, Stonetooth always reprimanded him for a misplaced step or a seemingly half-hearted move. Although he only yelled at him when they were in a group, Coldpaw always expected another cuff to his head if he didn't get something right.
Once while the pair were out on patrol, Stonetooth called Coldpaw over to the riverbank. There in the sand was a half-eaten rabbit. Stonetooth had been trying to get a scent from it, but was unsuccessful and ordered Coldpaw to have a sniff. Something was wrong. Only Stonetooth's scent was on it.
"Of course my scent would be on it! I was just down there!" he growled loudly, "Go and get Badgerclaw. While you're in camp, you might as well tend to the elders' ticks."
Once back in the ThunderClan camp, Coldpaw asked Badgerclaw to meet Stonetooth at Sunningrocks. The senior warrior agreed and left camp. As the apprentice was on his way back from washing his paws in the stream, he recognized Stonetooth's raging yowl.
"If he would have come back to me with Badgerclaw, I could have sent him to get help!"
"We cannot blame an apprentice for this death. There are very few-"
"That doesn't matter! And elder's tick problems do not compare to a border patrol!"
As he reentered the camp, Coldpaw caught his mentor's glare. As Stonetooth hissed in rage, the black apprentice crouched down and made himself small, as if he was a kit being told off by his mother. Stonetooth spat, disgusted, and slinked into the warriors' den. Longstripe volunteered to mentor Coldpaw while Stonetooth was grieving. Eventually, the sorrow passed and Stonetooth took his apprentice out on another border patrol. This time, Marshpelt went with them along the ShadowClan border.
While on patrol, Marshpelt found ShadowClan scent on ThunderClan territory. Again, Coldpaw was scent to report it. This time, however, he returned to his mentor onlyto find him on the thunderpath crouched over Marchpelt's flattened body.
"She was running across the border to attack ShadowClan," Stonetooth mewed, saddened, "A long time ago, a ShadowClan patrol killed one of her kits in a raid. Let's take her back to camp."
Coldpaw obeyed, but saw a falseness in Stonetooth's eye. He wasn't really sad. There was a glint there that betrayed some sort of satisfaction as they walked through the forest. From then on, Coldpaw didn't trust his mentor at all.
"Nice catch, Coldpaw!"
The apprentice growled in response as the rabbit struggled against him. Once more bite ended its life. They were in the moor. Stonetooth had been carving rabbit for a few days now. There was no real enthusiasm behind his compliment- only hunger.
"Take that to camp and give it to the elders. Send Longstripe back here to help me gather all the fresh-kill we've buried, alright?"
"Yes, Stonetooth."
That wasn't going to happen. Coldpaw knew what his mentor had planned. He turned obediently and raced through fourtrees into his own territory. After dropping his catch into the edlers' den without a word, he ran over to Longstripe, who was sunning himself near the warriors' den.
"Stonetooth is going to kill you!" he whispered urgently. The senior warrior flicked his ear and purred in amusement, but didn't move otherwise.
"What makes you say that?"
"He killed Badgerclaw! He pushed Marshpelt into the path of a monster! He's killing ThunderClan!"
After a moment, Longstripe opened his eyes into narrow slits. Slowly, painfully slowly, they widened in understanding, then terror. There was shuffling inside the warriors' den. Two more senior warriors peered out. Grayfur and Rockfang.
"His brother, Rainpaw, was killed in a fight against rogues a long time ago," Grayfur explained, "We retreated. He used to say we should have honored his spirit with a victory. After he stopped repeating that, I thought he had finally forgiven us and let it go. Obviously, we were wrong. He's been picking us off and we didn't realize it."
"I've got an idea," Coldpaw said as the group gathered around him, "Grayfur, Rockfang- we'll stay behind, close to Fourtrees. When Longstripe yowls, we'll fight Stonetooth off and bring him back to camp- as a prisoner."
It went as planned, all except for bringing Stonetooth back. When his mentor attacked Longstripe, the small patrol leapt from the bushes and through the young warrior onto the ground. Somehow, he got free and attacked Coldpaw with all his might, raking his claws across his chest.
"I'll kill you!"
"Leave him alone!"
Out of nowhere, Longstripe through himself onto Stonetooth. An accurately placed claw ended the young tom's life. Coldpaw collapsed from the bloodless and woke up some time later, surrounded by the scent of herbs. He was in the medicine cat's den.
"We spoke to our leader," came Longstripe's voice, "Warriors were sent to take Stonetooth's body out of the forest. He's crowfood as far as we're concerned. The elders refused to bury a traitor on ThunderClan territory."
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!"
It was two days later. Coldpaw wasn't up to full-scratch yet, but he had insisted that his training continue. After all, it would be humiliating if the younger apprentices beat him to their warrior ceremony.
"Before Stonetooth was killed, he managed to injure his own apprentice. Now that Coldpaw has rested, he wishes to get on with his apprentice duties. Longstripe! You are an experienced warrior and mentor. I trust you can pass on your skills to one more cat before you take your place in the elders' den?"
Longstripe twitched his whiskers and let a smile grace his muzzle as he stepped forward.
"I suppose one more time couldn't hurt," he said as he bowed his head and touched noses with Coldpaw. The dark apprentice purred so loudly that he was sure he'd wake up all the elders in StarClan.
As Longstripe's apprentice, Coldpaw was almost constantly getting into trouble. His mentor had to beat him to the camp entrance to stop him from running off to explore on his own. Eventually, however, he did calm down enough to learn something. During one of his evaluations, he chased a watervole into the river. Needless to say, he didn't get his catch and ended up being saved by a RiverClan warrior. Being escorted back to camp was humiliating and he vowed to keep a close eye out for danger from then on.
Warrior Life
After his vigil, nothing very interesting happened to Coldstripe. It wasn't until he got his first apprentice that things started to get crazy. Redpaw was insane! He was so hyper that Coldstripe now realized exactly what he had put his own mentor through and apologized to the senior warrior every night for an entire moon! It was only when he sent the apprentice on his first message-run that he finally started to understand that he had to slow down and take things in before jumping into something. Coldstripe swears to this day that the run had taken a few moons worth of energy out of him.
Eventually, Redpaw became Redbird and Coldstripe could rest in peace. Well, in a manner of speaking. There's still the fact that his old apprentice now likes to sit on him in order to wake him up.
Leadership
RP SAMPLE
See Wolfclaw of WindClan.