Originator of Character: Kathy R. Coleman
Name: Catsclaw (soulname Iylann)
Sex: Female
Generation/ Birth year: BCD, approx. 150 yrs old in 1180.
Status: alive
Original Tribe/holt: Brightcolor Desert, then the Hidden Valley
Hair color/length/style: Dark auburn-brown, worn long, usually parted
in the middle and worn in two braids; sometimes three braids that are,
in turn, braided down her back. Often wears a red headband.
Eyes: Dark blue.
Height: 4'5"
Build: Slim, hard-muscled, curvatious but strong--VERY firm-bodied.
Skin: Deep, rich brown.
Voice: Soft, mid-range--not a "die-away" voice but doesn't carry
far; almost too delicate for her appearance.
Other obvious physical attributes: Strong jawline, straight nose,
broad cheeks, rounded chin, full mouth.
Parents names: Rattlesnake (father), Little Eagle (mother, deceased)
*R*
Brothers/sisters: Several halves on both sides; no full (her mother
died when she was five).
First cousins: Undoubtedly.
Nieces/Nephews: Possibly.
Current mate's name: No one regular lover.
Any previous mates: Several, of course. Nez, Recognized
occasional lovemate.
Children? (If any, name of other parent): Butterfly (Jeimi, F, b 1280)
and Wildrider (Yalon, M, b 1414), both by Nez; Scorpionsting, by someone
else, from the desert.
Closest Friends: Sageduster, Sandrunner, Rattlesnake, others?
Soul Name Known By: Nez
Other's Soul Names Known: Raikan (unfortunately), Nez, Jeimi, and Yalon.
Special Talent: N/A
Skills: A warrior; skilled with weapons--uses bow, war club,
sling, and spear with deadly accuracy.
Hobbies: Knotwork (makes "dream catchers"), beadwork, makes body/face
paints and designs.
Weapons: Bow, primarily; daggers, spear, sling, war club.
Can use a sword, but prefers spear for close fighting. Also skilled
with a quarterstaff.
Bondbeast: N/A
Jewelry worn: A beaded bracelet, most of the time; wears beaten gold
arm bands for ceremonies, decorative hair clasps, feathers--likes tortoise
shell, coral, and pyrite (marcasite).
Outfit (s) most often worn: Generally wears traditional BCD clothing
in deep earth tones--dark earth reds, browns, sandy yellow, etc.
Favors the sun-symbol in her personal design. Adds sleeves and heavier
gear in the much colder climes of the Hidden Valley and New Hope.
Other Info:
Catsclaw was born into a pure warrior family and grew up training to be nothing else but. When she was five her mother was killed in a raid, leaving Catsclaw to be raised by the extended family; her father's lover of the time took her into her hut. Catsclaw studied with her father, ran with him, rode her first wild mustang at seven and was on her first raid before she was eight-and-four.
Happy with life the way it was her world was shattered when Peaceseeker--whom
her father called the "Pathdestroyer"--and she joined her father and other
disgruntled warriors in private raids on trade lines, going against the
orders of the Dreamberry Keeper and the Chiefs, until Silara came and answered
the warriors' prayers.
Catsclaw considered staying with Silara when the promised war
fell through, simply because she respected the warrioress and believed
her tale--however, she ended up choosing to stay outside with her father.
They started to head for home, of course, but then Doleera discovered them.
Whereas there wasn't going to be a war immediately, as Silara had promised,
at least in Doleera's valley they would be allowed to live as warriors,
fighting and raiding without fear of reprimand. She had thrown herself
into life in the Hidden Valley, a proud part of the ground troups under
Lord Beliel, throwing herself in the periodic raids that made her life
very much what it had always been--a part of the tradition, as she liked
being. Until one routine raid turned everything in her world upside
down, as she looked up and Recognized the enemy--and found him inside herself.
When Catsclaw Recognized Nez she didn’t know what had invaded her mind. She set out with her single-minded warrior’s purpose to infiltrate the Tower with the scant intelligence she had on it, rape him, and escape with her mind intact, breaking the bond of Recognition ruthlessly. Unfortunately for her, Nez was on his way to the Hidden Valley to find her and his own piece of mind. They met on a rise somewhere in between their two worlds, and there joined not only in body, but in mind. Catsclaw found out that, perhaps, the enemy wasn’t always “wrong,” and the ones she was allied with might not always be “right.”
Still, Catsclaw loves her family, and so chose to stay with them, however much questions and doubts might be gnawing at her. Realizing that her child might end up tall, and fairer than is usual for her people, she set out to seduce Beliel in order to pass off the child as his. However, one night with him told her for once and for all that Nez had been right about him, and she found she preferred touching the mind of the enemy than the ally. When the child was born, she lied, telling everyone that it had died in birth (which is common to her people), and smuggling her out to give to Nez to raise.
Catsclaw learned a complexity inside of her during this time that she had not been aware she had. Before her Recognition, she would have described herself in very simple, straightforward terms: A warrior, solid and dependable of mind and body, with dreams and interests that did not distract from the simple, straight lines of her life. Afterwards... she found in herself curves and turns and twists that she had been unaware of. Suddenly there was a new way of looking at things, at seeing things, and thinking things. War took on a new color, and it wasn’t a very pleasant one. Suddenly there were ways and reasons to fight beyond old reasons and old traditions--and those old traditions didn’t seem to mean as much as they used to.
During the hostage crisis, Catsclaw compromised her position and her personal honor by siding with the prisoners. She knew that a lot of her people did sympathize, but Catsclaw actively helped them escape, and finally, because she couldn’t face her father, came to realize her world view had changed. She went with the hostages when they escaped and went to a new home: New Hope. She hoped that it would prove to be so for her. She moved into Startide Household with friend Chimreh, and a few years after the Crisis ended, discussed with Nez the possibility of a second child--one that she could raise, as she had given Jeimi (whom she calls Butterfly) to him. Wildrider was born a few years later.
Catsclaw remains loyal and straightforward, curious, intelligent, surprisingly easily hurt; she lost her first two children, one to Beliel and his loyal ranks and the other to Nez and the Tower, leaving her confused about both herself and her place in the world. She came to hate Beliel and all he stood for for what he did to her people, while she honestly cares for Nez, she finds the Tower and everything in it alien and strange... including her own daughter. She doesn’t consider herself complex, but in truth, she is; trapped between two worlds, with the old slipping away, she found a way in between. At New Hope, she is a hunter, and still won’t eat fish (although she helps clean them, if necessary). Enters hawkriding training after a few years at New Hope.