Thundercatcher

Name/Alias: Zack
Age: 25
Location/Timezone: AZ, USA
Experience: Ample, thank you.
How You Found Us?: Oakleaf
In the event of unexplained inactivity, should we adopt out or kill off your character?: NPC and adopt out preferred but if he does end up having to die, make it GLORIOUS! Like the 300 Spartans, the Alamo, or Gandalf vs. the Balrog level.


Name: Thundercatcher
Heritage: Mostly Jackwolfrider with some Sun Villager.
Soul Name: Gyrfol [like the first two syllables of Gyrfalcon, J-EYE-er-foal]
Preserver Name: Stripehair Highthing
Title: Blacksmith
Age: 500
Gender: Male

Bio Picture: (optional, please no large formats)

Face Claim: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/96/f8/97/96f897286e227fd2f3836e69da1dea26.jpg

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/eb/a2/76/eba2761cb49f0460cd41048c78c18465.jpg



Hair: A deep blood red with a long streak of silvery white. Most often held back in a long braid that he keeps loose at the end.
Eyes: Sapphire blue
Height/Build: 4'3" with a lithe yet basically muscular build (think Cutter but taller and a bit more wiry of frame). "I am stronger than I look, faster than I look..."
Skin: On the pale side of skintones but generally healthy, a series of scars along his back and several along his arms from accidental cuts or pieces breaking off a blade.

Clothing:
Warmer climate: When in a warmer climate, Thundercatcher prefers light brown, hakama style pants, sandals with straps part way up his legs, and a red vest or sleeveless shirt, either option bearing gold trim. When forging, he removes his shirt/vest and dons a brown apron and gloves, both made from heat-tempered leather.
Colder climate: When in colder climbs, he prefers to switch out his sandals for boots and a shirt with baggy sleeves under a vest, save for when in the forge.

Personality:
+/- Complex/complicated person. Opinions and desires might seem contradictory at first.
+ Fond of song, dance, and festivities. Not as much of hangovers but he still enjoys drinking.
+ Likes making things. Exercising his imagination and mind are two things he doubts he could live without. Will also recognize skill and ability when he sees it. Maybe not out loud but recognizes it, even if he does not like the person.
+ Usually fairly calm and levelheaded, easy enough to talk to on a good day, even when he's being vindictive.
+/- Tries to be patient and caring to a point but he is not above snapping, harshly so, if pressed too hard.
+/- Grew more cynical and pessimistic after losing Saleen and seeing Sikeen kill Smokefur.
+/- Aware of the contrary nature/duality of some of his likes/dislikes and personality. Not interested in changing. At least not for just anyone. Even then, don't expect him to change THAT easy. He will at his own pace.
+/- May grumble and complain a bit, especially when irritated or feeling defensive/prickly, but still a decent person.
+/- If you earn his love/affection/loyalty, he will fight tooth and claw to defend you and yours until given a seriously good reason to do otherwise. Given such reason, he can change his opinion of and turn on you fairly fast.
+/- Clever, imaginative, and knows it but does not always show it aloud. Sometimes leads to paranoia.
+/- Worries that he might be seen poorly by other members of the tribe so he tries harder if especially feeling the pressure.
+/- His work ethic can lead to him being awake day and night for a prolonged period of time. Especially if he has multiple projects to work on.
- Can be surprisingly prickly on a bad day or if pushed/prodded in the wrong way. Such as if he's being pressed to hurry up with his work.
- Does NOT like being pushed around, especially if he or the person in question happen to be in a mood.
- Bottles certain things up and mulls them over or otherwise let them fester.

Magic:
Type: Fireshaping
Strength: Strong. Nearing excellent on a sufficiently good day but not as practiced as Ashra.
Description of powers: Fire-shaping is an extremely rare magic that allows the user to ignite an object through localized combustion, though the strength it requires to do so depends on how flammable the object is. Once a flame has started, the user can control the size of the fire, though not the temperature. Fire-shapers also have a natural resistance to flame, able to carry or endure contact for short periods of time. Fire-shapers also have bodies that naturally run a bit warmer than most. (description based on information from Elfquest Wiki: click here)

Skills:
Sending: Strong
Hunting: Average to kinda strong on a really good day.
Tracking: Average. Needs a semi- to moderately clear sign or scent to follow.
Fishing: Okay to average.
Weapons:
- Bow/sling: Not bad. Working towards average.
- Spear: Excellent, either in hand or throwing.
- Hammer [forging or weapon]: Excellent
- Shortsword: Weaker than he'd like, can hold his own if needed.
- Average-sized sword: Okay to average
Swimming: Weak [his breathing techniques in particular need work before he becomes average as those are different from breathing techniques he used in forging]
Herblore: Weak but he's able to identify a couple to a few plants. Better at making pigments with them than gathering or making tonics and salves. Knows the common ones to stay away from.
Blacksmithing: Excellent.
Clayworking: Average to strong.
Sewing: Okay to average.
Riding: Average.
Cooking: Weak in that he has a slightly different sense of taste than others so they might not agree with what he thinks is good.
Singing/dancing: Average on a bad day to strong on a good day.


Likes/Dislikes/Phobias:
+ Song, dance, furs, and wine. In short, a good time or a good festival.
+ Loveplay/lovemaking, even if he cannot or does not engage in it often, for reasons like his work.
+ Well-made items.
+ Gems. Amethyst in particular. While not greedy like trolls, he still finds gems to be beautiful and something wonderful to add to fine metalwork.
+ Rain, particularly as he's working. The beat of the rain and thunder can help him set the pace or, if need be, REALLY work out some frustration.
+ When he can be doing something because he wants to, not because he was told to.
- Losing control.
- When people demand something of him when they know they can and should ask. (This includes being pushed/nagged by Tusk to hurry up, especially when he thinks Tusk ought to know better or ought to sleep or something. "Just hurry up and wait if you're that anxious. It will take as long as it takes.")
- Getting TOO drunk. He'll tolerate it to a degree but waking up in a strange place with a bad enough hangover and no idea how he got there or what happened is not fun for him.
- Being completely and utterly isolated from absolutely everyone. He may enjoy the peace and quiet of solitude but even he can't stand being completely and utterly ALONE in absolutely every sense of the word.
= Spiders. Not necessarily an outright phobia but... He can get a bit freaked out and/or paranoid if it's not made dead and swiftly so.

Family/Friends:
Father: Greendream, Jackwolfrider scout (Killed in the wildfire 184 years previously)
Mother: Ishela, Sun Villager
Uncle(s): Elir [Nerecia's mate]
Aunt(s): Nerecia [Ishela's sister]
Siblings: None
Cousins: Elacia [first cousin], Selecia [second cousin]
Lifemate: None... Not after Saleen died...
Lovemate: Not yet. Still dealing with Saleen's death for now.
Furmate: Shared furs with Sefna and Whyn for a time, separately. Furs with Fangsong from time to time.
Friends: Fangsong. Has a decent relationship with Pehra [has to repair and replace his axes from time to time] and works closely with Renah on account of her being master of arms.
Agemates: Dusksinger, Fisher, Joren, Leyna, Pehra, Sefna, Tusk.
Cubs: Whitefox, Wisp [both by Saleen, the latter not long before her mother's death but still a source of love and pride for him, "Daddy's cubs"].
Mentor: Metalskin [deceased, blacksmithing teacher], Ashra [fireshaping tutor], Vashti [concentration and basic magic].
Student: None yet. It's far too early to say, even if he has been seeing potential in others.

Freesharer: Yes, tries to be selective to a degree, especially as he's not interested in more than furring for the time being, but if he likes you enough beforehand, don't be surprised if he opens his furs to you rather easily. Also okay with 'friends with benefits' or various other kinds of relationships so long as both parties are or will be on the same page about what kind of relationship it is.

History:

Born to Greendream and Ishela several centuries after the Windrunners were removed from their Wrapstuff and left to found a new home, he was a rather unexpected cub at the time he was conceived because of how sudden his parents' Recognition was. The night of his birth was unusually clear the night of a centennial meteor shower. It was for this sight that earned him his first name: Startrail, brilliant streaks of light in a dark night that promised a clear path. His small form at the time of his birth had been unusually warm as well, as if he were burning with desire from the second of his birth.


It was clear from a young age that Startrail was drawn to the art of making things over the thrill of the hunt. While he could hunt and catch and gather with the other children of his age, his eye always fell on incomplete crafts, examining how they were made and how they would need to be finished. This was especially true of the blacksmith, Metalskin, named for his endurance to everything set against him. Startrail began learning the art of metalsmithing from him, a talent and imagination for the craft emerging and outstripping most of his other skills. The fit and finish of his creations, especially the way the metal shone on a warhammer he made from Brightmetal as thanks to Metalskin, was considered fine enough that he could no longer be considered an apprentice but a smith in his own right.

Not long after this, he was working on a project after having been hard at work for a few long, hard days of work and was getting rather tired. As such, he dropped an intensely hot billet from his tongs. Without even thinking, he reached out and grabbed the heated metal with his bare hand. In that moment, he felt the heat of it coursing through the uncovered skin but it was far from as hot as he expected it to have been. Instead of instantly searing his flesh, it was more like touching a hot stone that had been beside a fire. Still far from comfortably warm or pleasingly hot yet he was unharmed. And it seemed to grow warmer in his hand as he considered it. He placed the blade on his anvil and summoned Ashra as quickly as he could. When the older male arrived and Startrail demonstrated what had happened, it was clear that Startrail had awakened Fireshaping and Ashra took him under his wing. The skill proved valuable to him over the years following as he showed a fierce desire to learn the magic, using it in time with his forging to create blades that had been even better tempered and, far closer to the present day, helping Ashra combat the wildfire and save the tribe members put at risk that day.

Over the centuries since then, Startrail grew to become the tribe's primary weaponsmaker and assisted Ashra from time to time in ceremonial duties. Metalskin was growing in age and, despite his ego demanding he not tell anyone, deteriorating after having been bitten by a snake in a sensitive area of his thighs and hiding it. He had endured much anyway, thinking he could live through the poison and sharing Longtooth's belief of not needing magic to make his life easier. A few centuries after Startrail had become his disciple, Metalskin sent him off to find particular materials to make one last blade to leave behind. To help do so, a few other elves were sent with him. During the journey, the party was forced to make camp by a fierce storm, sheltering in a naturally formed cave far from the Canyon Homes. The storm had whipped the local wildlife into a frenzied state. And they had sheltered in the wrong cave as they soon found out when a heavily grizzled cougar, larger and more powerful than most of its kind, attacked them. The ensuing struggle led the group outside as they tried to fight the cougar off long enough to kill it or escape. But the winds were pushing and shoving, skyfire echoing near and far. Before anyone could stop it, the cougar had lunged over Startrail and seemed to have him pinned.

It was at that moment that Startrail managed to shove a long spear that he had brought right through the cougar's back and, for a brief moment, hold it back up on its hind legs. A bolt of skyfire crashed down with a thundering boom and, due to the spearhead being high in the air from its angle through the beast, crashed down on the weapon, roaring through animal and elf alike. A long, jagged streak of Startrail's hair turned white as it passed through his body, the skyfire also leaving a gash along his back that has since mostly healed on its own. The cougar died with a roar of pain as Startrail let go of the spear and roll out from under the cougar, barely making it in time for the animal's corpse to fall, his hands singed by touching the metal spear as the skyfire ran through it. After treating their wounds, finishing their mission, and returning, Startrail was given his new, and current, name: Thundercatcher, for he had caught skyfire in his hands and it left its mark upon him in return.

Not long after, Metalskin passed on, having made a fine waraxe for any member of the tribe who could be deemed worthy to wield it or for ceremonial use. It still hangs in Thundercatcher's forge, waiting to be used. Thundercatcher took up his teacher's position as the primary metalworker and blacksmith of the tribe and has spent a significant amount of his time tending to that post. He has also dedicated some time to learning other methods of crafting to ensure that he never worry for options or position, should someone better with metal come along, and to aid his tribemates if they are unable to do their work for a time. At times, the scar on his back from the skyfire still aches but he tries to power through it.

Not long afterward, he and Saleen, beloved younger sister of the elder Sikeen, began a gentle romance, the latter flattered by his attentions, despite Sikeen's worries and hesitance to let his sister be with a Jackwolfrider-Sunfolk hybrid. To him, anyone with any wolfblood was not worthy of his sister, only his suspicions. But, after years of courting, including winning some modicum of trust from the near-implacable Sikeen, Thundercatcher and Saleen became lifemates. Their first daughter, Whitefox, came a few years into their mating, outside of Recognition, and they, as most parents do, tried to raise her as best they could while learning from the example of others around them. Several decades passed, Whitefox growing from their precious fawn to the cusp of young adulthood, until Thundercatcher and Saleen conceived another child. It was a great surprise to both of them as such fertility was hardly common to Sunfolk or Wolfriders but the mates were still delighted. Their second daughter, Wisp, was born. Little did they know that Wisp was born several months before Thundercatcher's wolf-bond, Smokefur, would contract the foaming sickness.

However, when Smokefur did become rabid, he became so hard to control that not even fear could motivate him. When trying to corral him, Thundercatcher accidentally drove him toward where Saleen and Sikeen were, unaware they were there. But when Saleen turned to see what made a strange noise, Smokefur lunged up and sunk his fangs deep into her neck. Thundercatcher caught up in time to see this happen and tried to move so he could pull his wolf away and deal with it himself, as he was responsible and reacting from fear. But Sikeen killed Smokefur before Thundercatcher could reach them, prying the wolf's jaws away from his sweet sister's throat, weeping and cursing the blacksmith as he held her.

Since the funeral for Saleen, Thundercatcher has tried to bury himself in his work and, with the help of both Whitefox and others in the tribe, raise Wisp to adulthood in a way that Saleen would be proud of. And put up with Sikeen's severe hatred for him. While he suspects his former brother-in-law to be plotting something, his daughters and the tribe must come first. No matter what he has to do.

Animal: None at this time. His last bond died years before, at Sikeen's hand for killing Saleen in the midst of the foaming sickness/rabies, and he hasn't found a new one since.
Name: Smokefur, his last bond
Age: 12 upon becoming rabid and being put down by Sikeen for killing Saleen.
Gender: Male

Animal Picture: Smokefur link

Canyon Home description: (optional)

Canyon Home Picture: (optional, please no large formats)

Tent description: (optional)

Tent Picture: (optional, please no large formats)

Any other information: Tends to be right-handed, mildly allergic to tuftcats [odd sneezing, for example], and fond of pieces of Amethyst.