Post by sydney ♑ on Feb 27, 2012 20:34:40 GMT -5
t h o r n s t a r
need to know
» clan : RiverClan
» gender : Tom
» age : 35 Moons
» rank : Leader
» status : Healthy.
» apprentice : N/A
» life :
» description : Small tabby tom with yellow eyes.[/ul]
deeper
His fur is sleek and short, fur that does not keep him warm in the leaf-bare but, does keep him cool during green-leaf. He's gray-brown, coloration wise, and his fur is covered in broken stripes. These broken stripes are dark brown in color and, towards the end of his body, darken into a black color. The bottom of his hind feet, for instance, are black, just like the broken stripes that cover his legs. His chin is a dusty white color, a color that bleeds into a lighter brown color that covers his underbelly and the inside of his legs. His eyes are a bright yellow color, the color of the morning sun. Truthfully, Thornstar isn't that much of a looker. He's not as exotic, or as handsome, as some other RiverClan cats but, what he lacks in appearance, he makes up in personality.
Or at least he tries.
» personality : Perfectionist . Workaholic . Obsessive . Stern . Blunt . No Tact . Socially Awkward
Thornstar has been training himself his whole life to be the best, to be the strongest, to accept nothing less then perfection. It can easily be said, because of this, that Thornstar is a workaholic, a perfectionist, a stick in the mud, and many other things of this nature. He'll adamantly deny it, (he is fun, a perfect leader is FUN so by StarClan, he is fun) but, everyone knows it's true. His life revolves around RiverClan, making sure the apprentices are all properly trained, the Queens are fed, ThunderClan is not INVADING, everything is perfect. There can't be any discomfort amongst the Clan, any problems, he won't have it. Everything has to be wonderful, perfect, otherwise it just will not do. Thornstar will not have anything less then perfect, his Clan will be the best, his apprentice will be perfect. It just has to be! So yes, Thornstar is a perfectionist, an anal perfectionist who craves organization and order above everything else and will sometimes fly into mini (private) panic attacks if his den isn't organized. (Moss is the right corner, the moss HAS TO BE IN THE RIGHT CORNER.) But, yes, he is a perfectionist.
Some might also describe him as “OCD”, this may or may not be correct. While Thornstar does enjoy organization, and having things perfect, OCD may be a stretch. He just does not enjoy chaos, he likes order, structure, and, again, perfection.
He's a bit of a workaholic- okay, he's a huge workaholic and, if he doesn't have something to do, he will go stir crazy. If he's not hunting, he's cleaning out the elders den or talking to his deputy if he's not doing that he's out badgering the apprentices. He has to be doing something, no matter how trivial it may be, at all times. (This is why he usually gives himself an apprentice.) Thornstar needs to have a schedule for the day, a purpose, otherwise he'll just pace around his den or make up battle plans for hypothetical attacks. (Warriors would attack, apprentices would help the Queens, kits, and elders escape.) And it's looking more and more like these plans will be needed with the way ThunderClan looms near by.
He hates sitting still, he hates sitting still and not even being able to talk to himself even more. It's not healthy, that's for sure but, it does have its bonuses. Being a workaholic obsessed with perfection has made Thornstar a dedicated tom, after all. It's also left the leader a strategic genius too, mainly from all his long nights making battle and defense plans to himself, though. He's intelligent, certainly (though his perfectionism may not be the cause of this), he knows how to ration foods during prey shortage, how to train apprentices, and tends to be able to keep his warriors in line- Mostly.
Being stern tends to come paw in paw with being a perfectionist so, yeah, Thornstar is pretty stern. He doesn't tolerate silliness or liars, he has standards. Not that many cats can reach his standards, of course but, he tends to lower them when it comes to new apprentices and kits. Though, if you have the bad luck to be chosen as his apprentice, his standards are raised twice as high for you. That's not to say he's cruel, though! Oh no, Thornstar tries his best to be friendly but- .... Well, truth be told the tom sucks at socializing. He has no social skills at all, nada, zip, none. When he's making big, grand speeches he can lie his way through and make himself sound oh so charming but, when around others, when he's just chatting he's... Well, he's like a young apprentice talking to a pretty she-cat for the first time. He tends to forget names, pauses a lot, stumbles over his words and...
Yeah, you can see why he tries to stay in “Perfect Leader Mode” 24/7.
Though, even while in “Perfect” mode you can see a few traces of his true, bumbling self. He has no tact, for one thing, and he also tends to be blunt. And with the threat of war looming near by, and StarClan remaining silent, his perfect self is starting to crack away, little by little.
In time he just may crack, himself. This is a lot of stress for a young cat like himself- Especially one who tries to take it all.
» background : Thornstar was born on a crisp Leaf-Fall day, several moons ago. His birth, from the start, brought about trouble and prejudice for his family and clan. Trouble and prejudice that would follow him as he grew, even into his moons as leader. The younger brother of a well respected RiverClan warrior, his birth would have been a joy had his heritage not been that of a half-clanner and had his mother not been leader. Fernstar had always been a lovely leader, if not a little lax on the Warrior Code and traditions, this was shown more so then before in her ruling, when halfway through her rule as leader, she became pregnant.
Now, while it was never vocally stated who his father was- at least in RiverClan alone, it was easy to tell it was not a RiverClan cat. No tom stepped up to the plate, not to mention, Thornstar, or Thornkit back at the time of his birth, looked far more WindClan then he did RiverClan. Snakefoot, his older brother, was the spitting image of their mother, besides his short fur but, Thornkit looked nothing like his brother or mother. He was the clone of his father- his father he would never know besides stories his mother would tell him.
Brackenclaw was a normal tom, normal in all sense of the word, Thornstar would never understand why his mother had chose him as her mate. (She never stated his name but, Thornstar figured it out overtime. No WindClan cat would mourn the death of a RiverClan leader like that- not unless there was something there.)
Anyway, Thornstar had a lot going against him from day one. He was a half-bred mongrel, the illegitimate and illegal son of a Leader, and the runt amongst a littler of stillborns. It was surmised his other siblings, a she-cat and a tom, were born dead to punish his mother, and he, the runt, was left alive for this reason as well. None the less, his siblings, who were never named, were dead and he, he was not.
He was alive and left in the shadow of his elder brother, who was born before his mother was a deputy, (and was assumed to have proper parentage), and the forbidden relationship that brought him to be.
Now, while Thornstar's older brother, Snakefoot had managed to become a warrior two moons early and receive an apprentice very early on, Thornstar, only Thornpaw back then, did not fare as well as his brother did. He tried hard though, he pushed himself early on, from the day of his apprenticeship, to be the best. Better then Snakefoot, the deputy, better then his older brother. He saw the way Snakefoot made his mother look, his clan members look. They were proud- Proud of Snakefoot and everything he did. Proud that he was the deputy. Forget the fact he was 31 moons older then Thornpaw, forget the fact he was older and larger- Thornpaw didn't care. He had to be better then Snakefoot, had to break every record his elder brother had set and make his mother and Clan proud.
Despite his best efforts though, nothing much came of it. Sure, he was made a Warrior before all the other apprentices his age but, he did not best his brother's goal. He was still only twelve moons old when he was granted his warrior name, Thorntooth, and not ten moons. His brother had bested him, again, and again, and again-
Thorntooth felt he would never catch up. His brother, thirty-three moons by then, already had trained three apprentices by then, and, was about to receive his fourth, when the newest litter of kits reached the appropriate age.
Thorntooth begged, he begged his mother, for one of the kits when the time came. He begged, he begged, and, overtime, she relented. He could have the kit Snakefoot was going to train- The deputy had more important things to do, anyway.
When he was seventeen moons he received the runt kit, Fishpaw, to be an apprentice.
He was disappointed but, at least he had one.
Now, it was when he was eighteen moons, that things started to go wrong for Thorntooth. One month into training his apprentice, and, his brother, strong, grand Snaketooth- perfect Snaketooth, the deputy, caught Greencough. It was strange, it was new-leaf, and it was strange for the large tom to get sick like this. But, he did. He got sick, and, before the moon ended, he died.
And just like that, he was gone. One of Thorntooth's shadows was gone- And the only light in his mother's life was gone, too.
Fernstar was sick with grief. She mourned for what seemed to be moons and there were days when the Clan wondered if they would ever see her leave her den again. She didn't even name a new deputy- making the Clan have to rely on senior warriors to get things done. Snakefoot had been her life it seemed, cats could recall him being the one to comfort her mother during her second pregnancy- to defend her against cats talking bad about her- even against the rest of the Clan.
So, RiverClan floundered on. Their Leader had retreated into her den, mind numb with grief, and they tried their best to continue on.
And then, two moons after Snakefoot's death, when Thorntooth was nearly twenty moons, Fernstar left her den and returned to camp like normal. As if nothing had happened. As if she hadn't been holed away for two moons. It was easy to see her mind had not all returned to her though- this was obvious when she named Thorntooth, her young son, as deputy in Snakefoot's place.
Thorntooth was shocked- happy but, shocked. The rest of the Clan, save Fishpaw, was just as shocked. Thorntooth was a good warrior yes but, pick him over older, experienced warriors? It was strange but, that was it. Thorntooth was the deputy now.
And so, like it often does, life continued on. Thorntooth tried hard to work in his new duties and training his apprentice but, at times, he found himself floundering. He felt as if he was out at stream, stuck in the currents of the river, drowning.
He still feels like that.
So, he continued on, trying his best but, ultimately failing in some aspects, until he was twenty-three moons. It was the day after Fishpaw- Fishpelt had been made a warrior, and, Thorntooth went in to check on his mother.
What he found was a cold, lifeless body. Fernstar, in her aged glory, had passed away the night before, joining their ancestors in StarClan. Returning to her dead kits and Clan members.
The clan mourned, and, Thorntooth named a senior warrior, Badgerface, one many cats felt like should have been deputy instead of him, as deputy, and made his journey to Moonstone.
As it turned out, that night, as he received his nine lives from StarClan, would bet the last time StarClan would speak to the Clans. He should of seen it- should of noticed the way the cats talked-
He beats himself up now, for not noticing a sign, not noticing anything. It became apparent though, when the medicine cats made their way to Moonstone later on that Moon that StarClan was not speaking, and would not be, for a long time.
The next gathering was chaotic, as one could expect. His leadership was called out by a few cats but, he pressed on.
It was that leaf-bare, however, that things truly took a turn for the worst. A fight broke out amongst the cats at a gathering, ”The Battle of Four Trees”, fueled on by hostilities between his own Clan and ThunderClan. Many cats were killed in the battle- in fact, Thornstar's previous apprentice, Fishpelt, were killed.
After the battle the clans all limped home, taking back their injured and dead with them.
There hasn't been a Gathering since.
And now, with war with ThunderClan looming on the horizon, Thornstar can only try and keep his clan together in this new found darkness. They blame him for StarClan's silence, and, in his heart, Thornstar can not help but wonder if it's true.
But he can't dwell on these thoughts long. He may be young but, he has a Clan to run. To keep alive.
They have to keep floundering on, if only for a little while.[/ul]
immediate kin
» sons : ---
» daughters : ---[/ul]
extended kin
» mother :
» brothers :
» sisters :