Post by Egotistic on Jan 16, 2023 12:21:14 GMT -6
Sacredlight
LichenClan
a blue-and-white mackerel torbie tom w/ amber eyes.
warrior
Tom | Male
21 moons.
Appearance
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In many ways, Sacredlight is inoffensive—in fact, he is quite average and does not attract the attention of many in passing. He is not imposing, nor is there any undue heft in his step. He is of a height with his peers, though he may appear somewhat larger due to the density of his furs. His face is narrow, the slant of his eyes pronounced, and their hue an amberish-green, while both of his ears end in short, inconspicuous tufts. In color, he is equally unimpressive. Blue from head to toe, aside from the vague presence of cream mottling, he is an almost solid hue, though he is striped, however elusively. He bears white at his chin and throat and at the tips of his feet and nowhere else, with a vibrant streak of cream fur from the crown of his head down between his eyes and along the bridge of his nose.
Despite his youth, Sacredlight has earned himself an array of scars from past fights, though most noticeable of all are the tatters of his ears and severance of flesh at his throat. This wound elicits a great deal of irritation from its wearer; he is often scratching at it when lost in thought or otherwise idle.
Personality
Positive Traits: composed, ambitious, resolute, and conscientious.
Negative Traits: pessimistic, distant, remorseful, and moody.
Long since outgrowing his former boyish ambitions, Sacredlight is no longer the quixotic youth of his previous moons but a warrior transformed by hardship. Having endured more death in his short lifetime than many of his peers, his one irascible nature has been greatly tempered and his anger more contained. He is a composed individual who is resolved in his convictions and meticulous in enacting them. He cares a great deal about the Old Ways by which he was raised, and he holds the preservation of LichenClan culture at the forefront of his ambitions. After witnessing the recent disappearances that have plagued the Clan, Sacredlight had begun to feel a call for action against the new laws enforced upon his people and has assumed the position of a stalwart conserver of old practices.
Among his peers, Sacredlight is deeply conscientious and spends more time considering his words before he speaks. Understanding how, in his ignorance, he allowed the wrongful defamation of his father, he has developed a more cynical outlook on those who do not have the traditions of his people in mind and has developed what he considers a healthy suspicion of those around him not raised in a similar fashion to himself.
He is distant with most, including his family, and shoulders a considerable amount of guilt over the death of his father and Stoneclaw. Feeling he must continue to serve the customs they died defending to grant himself safe passage into the afterlife, he has sworn himself to a life of brooding service.
In many ways, Sacredlight has begun the effort to fashion himself as an idol for traditionalists within the Clan. Where before, he was a more passive participant in their culture, recent developments within the Clan have spurned him into action and resurfaced some of the dormant anger he has gone to such great lengths to quench. He is understanding to all who share in his struggles, though markedly blind to the failings of his own traditionalist values, and with the belief that he is an enforcer of StarClan’s will, is not easily swayed from what he considers to be a path of righteous dissension.
Negative Traits: pessimistic, distant, remorseful, and moody.
Long since outgrowing his former boyish ambitions, Sacredlight is no longer the quixotic youth of his previous moons but a warrior transformed by hardship. Having endured more death in his short lifetime than many of his peers, his one irascible nature has been greatly tempered and his anger more contained. He is a composed individual who is resolved in his convictions and meticulous in enacting them. He cares a great deal about the Old Ways by which he was raised, and he holds the preservation of LichenClan culture at the forefront of his ambitions. After witnessing the recent disappearances that have plagued the Clan, Sacredlight had begun to feel a call for action against the new laws enforced upon his people and has assumed the position of a stalwart conserver of old practices.
Among his peers, Sacredlight is deeply conscientious and spends more time considering his words before he speaks. Understanding how, in his ignorance, he allowed the wrongful defamation of his father, he has developed a more cynical outlook on those who do not have the traditions of his people in mind and has developed what he considers a healthy suspicion of those around him not raised in a similar fashion to himself.
He is distant with most, including his family, and shoulders a considerable amount of guilt over the death of his father and Stoneclaw. Feeling he must continue to serve the customs they died defending to grant himself safe passage into the afterlife, he has sworn himself to a life of brooding service.
In many ways, Sacredlight has begun the effort to fashion himself as an idol for traditionalists within the Clan. Where before, he was a more passive participant in their culture, recent developments within the Clan have spurned him into action and resurfaced some of the dormant anger he has gone to such great lengths to quench. He is understanding to all who share in his struggles, though markedly blind to the failings of his own traditionalist values, and with the belief that he is an enforcer of StarClan’s will, is not easily swayed from what he considers to be a path of righteous dissension.
History
Season 2022-2023
Born at the start of leaf-bare and in the aftermath of the Great War, Sacredkit has no recollection of the fighting yet was effectively surrounded by it. His days were spent admiring his wounded Clanmates and creeping at the backs of funeral processions, while his nights were brimful of the war-torn reminiscence of his elders. It was only natural he developed a childish fondness for war, and his parents did all in their power to reinforce this interest.
His mother, a warrior by name of Wavefrost, and his father, a seasoned fighter by name of Falconfire, were as loyal to the stars as they were their Clan. Each bore a reputation of their own; each were fighters well-decorated in victories claimed in training and in conquest. From them, he learned most everything, and with a surety, he vowed to become a son worthy of their praise. And with his sister alongside him, he never doubted that he might, for no closer of a pair could have been forged than they, and with each other's company, they never wanted for that of their softer, traditionalist nest-mates nor mourned the two siblings whose death they might never know of.
With age, Sacredkit only felt the conviction of his own ambitions strengthen. He saw a future for himself like his fathers, though he hardly knew what it meant to become those very things. He would not know until the night he found Falconfire returned from the glade with a fresh wound between his brow, muttering of demons and traitors. Only then, by the glare of the stars, did Sacredkit begin to understand what it meant to serve his Clan. Not only against the enemies across their borders but also against those who lay within it.
He never told anyone what he knew, and he did not question his father when Chicorypelt was reported missing many nights later.
By the time Sacredkit was six moons old, he had been granted the title of Sacredpaw, and his training was entrusted to Yarrowstar. The two lived in constant conflict—Sacredpaw believing the tom the source of the Clan's unrest and instability. Yet he thrived, even so, under the leader's tutelage and with the secret interventions of his father. He learned faith from one, calm, and reason—things he never truly mastered—while his father imparted to him the talents of war and bloodshed.
For a time, his training continued this way. His mornings and evenings were spent dutifully walking in his leader's wake, drinking in his lessons; his nights alongside his father, being taught in the Old Way his mentor sought to vanquish. He never told his leader about his father. He never saw a reason to, for his leader would never teach him the battle arts, and he felt somehow in his heart that he must know them.
And know them he did. By the time of new-leaf, Sacredpaw, despite being refused his battle training from his mentor, began to develop into a skilled warrior. He hunted well, and he fought even better. And as his skills matured, a sense of restlessness weighed on him that sought the ways of old and a chance to prove himself as his father had.
His opportunity came in the wake of the Great Floods. Days of endless rain flooded their camp. Even now, he remembers the roar and crash of the waves as they overcame the cave mouth. The sound of cats screaming for aid, the wails of mothers salvaging their herbs and snatching the sodden bodies of their young from the deepening shallows. He had wanted to prove himself then, and as the Clan fled, he remained alongside his leader despite Yarrowstar's demands to leave. It would be his own stubbornness that would cost the life of a senior warrior named Stoneclaw. Attempting to save him in the undertow of a high tide, the warrior gave his life to ensure Sacredpaw's safety. It was a moment he never forgot and that weighed on him greatly.
In the aftermath of the flood, the Clan was forced to search for new hunting grounds. They were offered sanctuary on RedwoodClan land, away from the worst of the flooding, and sheltered beneath the aspens. It was a time rife with unrest. LichenClan yearned for home, and tensions grew between their neighbors. It was inevitable that fighting might occur—the extent, however, was less known.
So it came as some surprise to Sacredpaw the evening that his father took him to field. In search of prey, he had thought, though it was RedwoodClan warriors, in the end, that they found. A warrior and his apprentice—of an age with Sacredpaw. Sandpaw, he would later come to know the youngest by; Milkblaze, the oldest. He forgot, in the end who had sprung the first blow. He only knew by the end, when it was done, both Milkblaze and Falconfire were dead. Falconfire had done the killing of the first, and Sacredpaw the killing of the latter.
An accident, yet he had no way of proving it, and when the battle had finished, he took his father's body by his scruff and returned him to the border. He fell, fatigued by the waters, and was found by Yarrowstar, who asked him what had happened. He told him the whole of it, so great was his grief, and the two sat together, mulling over what to do. By the time the sun first nudged into the sky, it was decided that Sacredpaw would do a devilish thing—he would lie. His father had died by the claws of a RedwoodClanner, not himself. He had acted without cause and instigated violence with their allies.
When he rose to stand beside his leadership, he had not known that his father might be denied a vigil. He had not known and felt betrayed by it. But the deed was done. His father's legacy ended like that of a traitor of his Clan, refused rights and granted sullied passage into the afterlife. It was the last thing he had wanted, but a necessity for his safety.
He never thought to tell a soul.
Not even Lilacmist, who beckoned him down into the Moon Cave when she heard of his plight. She granted him purpose where his weary heart had lost sight of it and steered him again down a path of righteousness. As his father had once told him, with the blood of another on his brow and paws, it was his duty to act on behalf of the stars. He took it as truth, having nothing else to stir him to action, and did not stray from it. Even in the face of those who doubted his claim to warriorhood.
Again, he fell into his work. He shouldered the responsibility of repairing the Moon Cave to grant his clanmates untroubled passage to the pools below.
Steadily, a sense of normalcy began to return to his life.
Season 2024
Even so, their days of peace were numbered. At the arrival of new-leaf, the Clan was again stirred to action at the sudden disappearance of their medicine cat, Briarfall. Much like the medicine cats from prior clans, she disappeared without a trace. Search parties were sent for moons; still, no sign of her could be uncovered, leaving them with only Lilacmist to tend to their hurts. Though the search continued, many were forced to admit an unfortunate truth—that wherever Briarfall might be, she most assuredly was not alive. And yet, to their immense discomfort, there had been no sign or report of a body.
Some continued to hope for her return.
Such hope only waned with future disappearances. The disappearance of Yarrowstar is the most grating. Lost to the tunnels, when the patrol returned, the Clan was entrusted with a new leader—Quickstar—and his chosen deputy, Emberscorch. Only a short while later would Lilacmist, too, turn up dead. Her body was found underground and returned limp and lifeless. She had been murdered, though, by whom no one knew.
Sacredlight could only watch on, a weight in his chest and fear unlike any he’d felt.
With time, the tunnels attracted further attention from their new leadership. In fear that the safety of their ranks might be jeopardized by the continued exploration of their depths, passage underground became heavily restricted. Guards were posted at the Moon Cave to ensure safe passage, and prayers were carried out under the watchful eye of StarClan. Steadily, the sense of relief felt during the end-stretch of camp repairs gave way to uncertainty, further punctuated by the Clan's traditionalists and their outcries of tyranny against the strict regime of their new leader.
And despite Sacredlight’s best efforts for reason, he could not help but to hear their cries, and agree.
Born at the start of leaf-bare and in the aftermath of the Great War, Sacredkit has no recollection of the fighting yet was effectively surrounded by it. His days were spent admiring his wounded Clanmates and creeping at the backs of funeral processions, while his nights were brimful of the war-torn reminiscence of his elders. It was only natural he developed a childish fondness for war, and his parents did all in their power to reinforce this interest.
His mother, a warrior by name of Wavefrost, and his father, a seasoned fighter by name of Falconfire, were as loyal to the stars as they were their Clan. Each bore a reputation of their own; each were fighters well-decorated in victories claimed in training and in conquest. From them, he learned most everything, and with a surety, he vowed to become a son worthy of their praise. And with his sister alongside him, he never doubted that he might, for no closer of a pair could have been forged than they, and with each other's company, they never wanted for that of their softer, traditionalist nest-mates nor mourned the two siblings whose death they might never know of.
With age, Sacredkit only felt the conviction of his own ambitions strengthen. He saw a future for himself like his fathers, though he hardly knew what it meant to become those very things. He would not know until the night he found Falconfire returned from the glade with a fresh wound between his brow, muttering of demons and traitors. Only then, by the glare of the stars, did Sacredkit begin to understand what it meant to serve his Clan. Not only against the enemies across their borders but also against those who lay within it.
He never told anyone what he knew, and he did not question his father when Chicorypelt was reported missing many nights later.
By the time Sacredkit was six moons old, he had been granted the title of Sacredpaw, and his training was entrusted to Yarrowstar. The two lived in constant conflict—Sacredpaw believing the tom the source of the Clan's unrest and instability. Yet he thrived, even so, under the leader's tutelage and with the secret interventions of his father. He learned faith from one, calm, and reason—things he never truly mastered—while his father imparted to him the talents of war and bloodshed.
For a time, his training continued this way. His mornings and evenings were spent dutifully walking in his leader's wake, drinking in his lessons; his nights alongside his father, being taught in the Old Way his mentor sought to vanquish. He never told his leader about his father. He never saw a reason to, for his leader would never teach him the battle arts, and he felt somehow in his heart that he must know them.
And know them he did. By the time of new-leaf, Sacredpaw, despite being refused his battle training from his mentor, began to develop into a skilled warrior. He hunted well, and he fought even better. And as his skills matured, a sense of restlessness weighed on him that sought the ways of old and a chance to prove himself as his father had.
His opportunity came in the wake of the Great Floods. Days of endless rain flooded their camp. Even now, he remembers the roar and crash of the waves as they overcame the cave mouth. The sound of cats screaming for aid, the wails of mothers salvaging their herbs and snatching the sodden bodies of their young from the deepening shallows. He had wanted to prove himself then, and as the Clan fled, he remained alongside his leader despite Yarrowstar's demands to leave. It would be his own stubbornness that would cost the life of a senior warrior named Stoneclaw. Attempting to save him in the undertow of a high tide, the warrior gave his life to ensure Sacredpaw's safety. It was a moment he never forgot and that weighed on him greatly.
In the aftermath of the flood, the Clan was forced to search for new hunting grounds. They were offered sanctuary on RedwoodClan land, away from the worst of the flooding, and sheltered beneath the aspens. It was a time rife with unrest. LichenClan yearned for home, and tensions grew between their neighbors. It was inevitable that fighting might occur—the extent, however, was less known.
So it came as some surprise to Sacredpaw the evening that his father took him to field. In search of prey, he had thought, though it was RedwoodClan warriors, in the end, that they found. A warrior and his apprentice—of an age with Sacredpaw. Sandpaw, he would later come to know the youngest by; Milkblaze, the oldest. He forgot, in the end who had sprung the first blow. He only knew by the end, when it was done, both Milkblaze and Falconfire were dead. Falconfire had done the killing of the first, and Sacredpaw the killing of the latter.
An accident, yet he had no way of proving it, and when the battle had finished, he took his father's body by his scruff and returned him to the border. He fell, fatigued by the waters, and was found by Yarrowstar, who asked him what had happened. He told him the whole of it, so great was his grief, and the two sat together, mulling over what to do. By the time the sun first nudged into the sky, it was decided that Sacredpaw would do a devilish thing—he would lie. His father had died by the claws of a RedwoodClanner, not himself. He had acted without cause and instigated violence with their allies.
When he rose to stand beside his leadership, he had not known that his father might be denied a vigil. He had not known and felt betrayed by it. But the deed was done. His father's legacy ended like that of a traitor of his Clan, refused rights and granted sullied passage into the afterlife. It was the last thing he had wanted, but a necessity for his safety.
He never thought to tell a soul.
Not even Lilacmist, who beckoned him down into the Moon Cave when she heard of his plight. She granted him purpose where his weary heart had lost sight of it and steered him again down a path of righteousness. As his father had once told him, with the blood of another on his brow and paws, it was his duty to act on behalf of the stars. He took it as truth, having nothing else to stir him to action, and did not stray from it. Even in the face of those who doubted his claim to warriorhood.
Again, he fell into his work. He shouldered the responsibility of repairing the Moon Cave to grant his clanmates untroubled passage to the pools below.
Steadily, a sense of normalcy began to return to his life.
Season 2024
Even so, their days of peace were numbered. At the arrival of new-leaf, the Clan was again stirred to action at the sudden disappearance of their medicine cat, Briarfall. Much like the medicine cats from prior clans, she disappeared without a trace. Search parties were sent for moons; still, no sign of her could be uncovered, leaving them with only Lilacmist to tend to their hurts. Though the search continued, many were forced to admit an unfortunate truth—that wherever Briarfall might be, she most assuredly was not alive. And yet, to their immense discomfort, there had been no sign or report of a body.
Some continued to hope for her return.
Such hope only waned with future disappearances. The disappearance of Yarrowstar is the most grating. Lost to the tunnels, when the patrol returned, the Clan was entrusted with a new leader—Quickstar—and his chosen deputy, Emberscorch. Only a short while later would Lilacmist, too, turn up dead. Her body was found underground and returned limp and lifeless. She had been murdered, though, by whom no one knew.
Sacredlight could only watch on, a weight in his chest and fear unlike any he’d felt.
With time, the tunnels attracted further attention from their new leadership. In fear that the safety of their ranks might be jeopardized by the continued exploration of their depths, passage underground became heavily restricted. Guards were posted at the Moon Cave to ensure safe passage, and prayers were carried out under the watchful eye of StarClan. Steadily, the sense of relief felt during the end-stretch of camp repairs gave way to uncertainty, further punctuated by the Clan's traditionalists and their outcries of tyranny against the strict regime of their new leader.
And despite Sacredlight’s best efforts for reason, he could not help but to hear their cries, and agree.
