sheephowl

PERSONALITY .

✓ shrew, level-headed, attentive, soft-spoken, reputable

Sheephowl is a quiet cat who holds himself with a confident, but not evocative, manner. He has a strong attention to detail and approaches things in an analytical manner. However, he is not one to talk much. He much prefers to blend into a crowd than to stand out in it. In high pressure situations, he keeps an extremely level head, and is good at keeping down emotions; that isn’t to say he is completely unexpressive, but he certainly isn’t easy to read if he doesn’t want to be. His reputation in his Clan is extremely favourable; he is seen as a very reliable and clever warrior, and is expected to chase leadership.

■ obedient, outwardly intimidating, loyal, dutiful, guileless

Sheephowl’s appearance and overall demeanor can easily give off the false impression of solemn sternness; this can cause some cats to find him intimidating or humourless. His attitude towards authority is generally one of falling in line; he is extremely loyal and obedient, completing any task given to him, even if he finds it distasteful. He is not one to break from his loyalties; it would take an extreme situation to make him do so. While he is diligent and hardworking, he is quite naive about other’s intentions.

✘ insincere, timid, insecure, easily a pawn, feigning stoicism

Despite his outward appearance and his reputation in his Clan, Sheephowl is quite a timid cat who puts on a mask for his Clan. He is completely uninterested in doing anything that would put a spotlight on him – he wants to be a follower who is given orders and nothing else. He often feels like an imposter among his Clan, though he keeps it to himself. Since he lacks any qualms about just following orders and can be slow to pick up on other’s intentions, it is easy to manipulate him.

HISTORY .

Sheephowl was born to Lionmask of MarrowClan and Dovespeckle of BarkClan. He was born in the territory after his mother was turned away from joining BarkClan by Cypressthorn at the border, alongside a stillborn sibling. While he knew from a young age that he was half Clan, it was kept a secret from the rest of the Clan. Though he met his other mother on the border, he kept his distance from his BarkClan heritage; he simply wanted to fit into MarrowClan without any turbulence.

As an apprentice, Sheephowl was dutiful and obedient. He was a quick learner, and while he wasn’t exactly ambitious, he was willing to go along with whatever extra training his mentor wanted to give him; this resulted in a lot of extra training sessions, as Sheephowl more or less said yes every time. He also received extra training from Lionmask. Altogether, it gave him a reputation for being a reliable and strong apprentice with natural talent. His soft-spoken attitude and hard to read demeanor didn’t exactly give him a good reputation around other apprentices, who typically just found him intimidating.

When Sheephowl was ten moons old, he was on a border patrol with MarrowClan’s then deputy, Pheasantplume, and a few other warriors. A fight broke out between them and BarkClan, in which the ensuing fight killed Pheasantplume. Sheephowl tackled the warrior in response, and in doing so accidentally put too much weight on the warrior’s neck and snapped it. While it was an accident, he received heavy praise from his Clan for avenging his deputy, so he kept it a secret that he never meant to. To make matters worse, Campionstar awarded him with his warrior name early for it.

Sheephowl feels a strong pressure from the older warriors in his Clan to be ambitious and a leader. However, he feels no interest in doing so, and would rather just blend into the crowd. He still simply goes along with whatever his Clan wants him to do, further leading him down the path of heavy expectations on his shoulders.