Description
Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
G E N E R A L
Name
Castalia
{pronounced Cas-TAAHL-lee-ah}
● meaning: Sacred fountain of the Muses
● previous names: Pumpkin
● nicknames: Cas, Cassie, Pump, Kin
Rank
Cub
● born in the city far away from her true home, she has since been rescued with her mother and siblings to be a cub in Shadow Empire. Despite being of apprentice age, her training will be delayed due to her physical and mental health.
Species
Snow leopard x Amur leopard
● with the build of an Amur leopard and the short limbs of a snow leopard, Cas is a ... strange mix of genes. She has a very strong build with thick limbs and low body, as well as fluffy winter fur from her mother that makes her appear even larger. One of two surviving cubs to take after her father, her golden fur stands out among the gray-scale snow leopard pelts of her siblings.
Age
5 months
Starting Age: 0 months {born in winter}
Traits
Dominate Traits: eye spots [Aa], rosette pattern [AA], golden pelt [AA]
Recessive Traits: large size [aa], heterochromia [aa], fluffy fur [aa], splotched paws [aa]
Carrier Traits: green eyes [aa], snow leopard spots [Aa]
Physical Description
The first thing to note about Cas is her height. She's still rather large due to her father's genes, but unfortunately she also inherited her mother's shorter snowie legs -- compared to her body length, her legs are a bit stubby, but they're bound to grow as she gets older. Her apparent size is also doubled because of her extremely long fluffy fur. Well, Thalia and Laertes are both cold-climate cats, so what do you expect? Cas is literally pure fluff. Her coat color and patter are pretty much a direct copy of her father; she's the only cub in the litter that looks nearly exactly like him. In essence, she's just a large snow leopard with golden fur. Her poofy tail is devoid of any and all markings, which is kind of strange, but her siblings all seem to love it. And the poof doesn't stop there: even her ear fur is longer than usual. This should be a warning to couples everywhere; that if both of you are thick-furred, one of your cubs are bound to end up with just too much fluff. Not that that's a bad thing. I mean, this kid is the embodiment of the word 'adorable'. She even has a face full of freckles and lil chubby cheeks, not to mention her feathery whiskers. And her eyes complement her appearance perfectly: as brilliant blue as the sky, with golden streaks around the pupil that make is seem as if the dawn light were trapped in her gaze.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
PERSONALITY
{ nervous } - { amiable } - { excitable } - { naive } - { honest } - { morbid }
nervous Cas is a smol shy baby -- mostly around new people. Spending roughly six months in a locked room with only one other cat (besides her family) to talk to periodically, she is new to the whole 'being social' thing. She tends to ramble and stutter when faced with strangers, even if she's not scared or frightened of them. She's inexperienced in ... pretty much everything, and doesn't really know how to act around cats who aren't her family. Large crowds make her even more on-edge, so it's advised to approach her one-on-one until she's more used to being part of an Empire. Her nervous habits are less because of fear and more because of inexperience, and she is likely to grow out of it as she grows older and more sure of herself.
amiable Even if she can be a nervous, clumsy wreck most of the time, she's also ridiculously happy. Even when she's tripping over her own words (and paws) it's usually with a smile plastered on her face. She's just full of love. Literal living plush muffin. She's cute and squeaky and just really, really friendly. She loves being with her family and playing with her brother and sisters, and is one of those annoying forever-an-optimist type of people. While wary of newcomers, she is rather open with them and can quickly become attached even after just talking to them once. It doesn't take her too long to decide whether she likes someone or not -- first impressions are a big deal for her, especially because she's so utterly bad at them.
excitable Naturally curious of literally the entire goddamn world, Cassie just gets riled up about everything and anything. Is that a weird looking tree over there? Holy crap Eden we need to go see it. You know that river dad told us about? I heard there's a sparkle-fish in there and I need it right now. I mean, Cas spent her childhood staring at four stone walls and not a lot else. She is amazing by everything. You should've seen her face the first time she saw a cat that wasn't a leopard. New things instantly put her in a state of awe, and her excitable nature will help develop her more adventurous side as she grows. If you ask her to do something with the right words and the right tone, she won't be able to say no -- especially if it's one of her siblings who's asking.
naive She's just so ... innocent. In a really weird way. Because of what she's been through, she has a warped view on a lot of things, and misunderstands nearly everything she's ignorant of. I mean, before her escape, she had never even seen clouds before. Her and her siblings have strange quirks and ways that they grew up with, such as made up words and their own silent language. However, this also means she knows almost nothing about the world and how it works. Except for what people tell her; and Cassie is inclined to believe almost everything that someone tells her. If you say the moon does actually turn blue every once and a while, she'll stay up all night from then on to try to see a blue moon. Until of course one of her parents or siblings tell her it's not true. Then the entire thing starts all over again with someone else.
honest To go along with her naive nature, Cassie doesn't really understand the concept of lying either. She's always honest to everyone no matter the situation, even if the truth will get her in trouble. Secrets aren't really a big thing for her either -- what's the point in hiding something? Of course, she'll do anything her siblings tell her, and any secret they tell her is a secret that's going to the grave. Cas just doesn't believe in hiding things from others, and is an open book to pretty much anyone and everyone. If she doesn't say it straight, her eyes will definitely speak for her. The girl wears her emotions on her face -- she couldn't lie even if she wanted to.
morbid So Castalia isn't all sunshine and cupcakes. What did you expect? Being raised as a prisoner in a city where cats regularly fight to the death will leave its marks on a kid. She has a warped view on death like most of her siblings, and has a thing for dead things. She doesn't understand the concept of death -- she's actually kind of grossly fascinated by it. She's so acclimatized to it that's she's not exactly numb to it ... just ... neutral? To an odd extent. Ya, she's just one more messed up cub in a family that's practically made of cubs with varying degrees of issues. Let's just leave it at that.
H I S T O R Y
DEVELOPMENT
[caged]
Castalia was a lot more ... feral, you could say, when she was in the Room with her family. Food was hard to come by, it was dark 24/7, and a small kid that was born into that can only act so civilized. Her happy personality was more subdued, and she spent most of her time cowering behind various siblings (most often Eden or Athios). Since escaping and joining the Empires, she has become the cub she was never able to be in the city -- bubbly and happy and carefree, even if her nervous habits still cling to her like a dark shadow.
----
HISTORY
[ hear my song ]
I was born in darkness. That's all I really remember. It was dark, and damp, and ... it was home. It was just me and my family in that room. Momma, and my siblings. They all have different names now, but I know them as their original names. My brothers, Fuzzbutt and Flufficus. And my sisters, Snowpuff and Poffle. Momma called me Pumpkin. There were others, too, but ... momma doesn't like to talk about them. It was just us and the room. Others might have hated it, but for me it was all I knew. It was all any of us knew, except for momma. She used to tell us stories of dad, and the Empires, and the sky and the rain and the grass. But to us they were just stories. The room was real. The darkness was real. And none of us really minded.
Momma got worse, though. She got sick. She stopped talking. She stopped telling stories, and we were left to mostly take care of ourselves. It wasn't much, but it was our life. And it wasn't that bad! We had each other. We loved each other. Fuzzy kept us all in line. He stepped up to take care of us. We got food, and water, and we survived. All we had to do was wait for rescue. I knew dad would come for us. Momma said he would. Avita said he would.
Five months passed with most of the same every day. Fuzzy made sure all of use got our rations and that we all got along. We played, we slept, we did ... well, whatever we wanted really! Sometimes we got moved to the big-cage-room. That's when Avita would come and talk to us and tell us stories when momma couldn't anymore. Everything was great!
And soon I would meet dad. And get to see all the things momma and Avita told us about!
Q U I R K S && F E A R S
● bright sunlight can startle her, and her eyes have trouble adjusting when she's directly in the sun -- she happens to be more active around dusk/night, as she's much more comfortable in the darkness
● large spaces make her VERY nervous, as she's used to being in a closed space. More often than not, she'll outright refuse to take one step into an open field, and stay nice and safe under the cover of the trees
● sometimes suffers from night terrors, but she can never remember what they're about when she awakes. After an episode she'll be really quiet and skittish for a few days before recovering
● loves collecting all things dead: bones, teeth, feathers, anything. She also likes giving dead things to others as presents, so if she randomly comes up and drops a dead and mangled bird at your feet, just smile awkwardly and wait for her to trot away before whispering to yourself, "what the actual fuck"
● EXTREMELY attached to her family. She's less loyal to the Empires and more to her family. Wherever they go, she goes, and she would readily turn on someone else for her family's sake
● plush muffin. that's literally it
● stars are fucking amazing to her. The first time she saw the night sky she didn't sleep for two days straight. Don't even get her started on the moon. She still doesn't know what the hell that thing is
● first time it rained the entire litter flipped out and Cas thought the world was ending. Lesson: don't take these cubs ANYWHERE
● I could literally write ten more bullets about all the hilarious ways these cubs act because jfc it's just hilarious
● knows kitty sign language! Or at least something kind of equivalent to it. Her brother Athios can't speak, so the siblings created their own silent tail-signal language to communicate with him back and forth. Along with that, they also have strange words for objects they're not familiar with, such as big-water for a lake and clear-milk for water
T R A I N I N G && M E N T O R S
→ cub
Draw your cub with their parents / siblings / Empire caretaker: n/a
Draw your cub playing: n/a
Draw you cub meeting someone new: EBC: ... who are you?
→ apprenticeship
mentor
TBD
● [ still a cub ]
Have your apprentice meeting their mentor for the first time: n/a
Have your apprentice practicing "offensive" type moves: n/a
Have your apprentice practicing "defensive" type moves: n/a
Have your apprentice hunting: n/a
The apprentice needs to sneak up on Evander and take the purple sapphire from him while he's walking about the territory: n/a
F A M I L Y && R E L A T I O N S
FAMILY
→ blood
Thalia
mother; alive; Shadow Empire healer
rp'd by Asante-Sana
Laertes
father; alive; Shadow Empire gladiator
rp'd by Staniqs
Flufficus [aka Caedric]
brother; alive; Shadow Empire cub
rp'd by PancakeShiners
Snowpuff [aka Eden]
sister; alive; Shadow Empire cub
rp'd by Staniqs
Fuzzbutt [aka Athios]
sister; alive; Shadow Empire cub
rp'd by Asante-Sana
Poffl e [aka Freya]
sister; alive; Shadow Empire cub
rp'd by Firewolf-Anime
Tiny
sister; alive (assumed dead); Roman Bounty Hunter cub
rp'd by Asante-Sana
Lily
sister; deceased; Shadow Empire cub
rp'd by ---
EXTENDED FAMILY
Evander
uncle; alive; Shadow Empire leader
rp'd by Sky-Lily
Cilina
aunt; alive; Ice Empire gladiator
rp'd by NeonNica
Benedictus
uncle; alive; Roman Bounty Hunter leader
rp'd by Staniqs
Oceanus
aunt; alive; Roman Bounty Hunter
rp'd by akiya
Tatiana
aunt; alive; Roman Bounty Hunter
rp'd by NiaWolf15
Willow
grandmother; alive; Solus
rp'd by Staniqs
Insanis
grandfather; alive; Solus
rp'd by baliwik
FAMILY
→ heart
Castalia currently has no mate, crush, or cubs !
RELATIONS
S T A T I S T I C S && R P / E P T R A C K E R
TDR Statistics
Tactics: 7
Endurance: 5
Speed: 5
Strength: 7
Defense: 9
Attack: 6
STRENGTHS //
--
WEAKNESSES //
--
RP/EP TRACKER
A R M O R && I T E M S
ARMOR
no armor
● [ Cas is a cub and therefore has no armor; she does, however, dream of one day having armor like her father's ]
ITEMS
no items
● she has yet to find something to carry on her person at all times, but she does seem interested on finding a special bone of some kind to make into a necklace.
R O L E P L A Y S A M P L E && T R A C K E R
Sample
taken from actual roleplay
No, no, she was perfectly fine. This forest wasn’t scary at all. What would her siblings think if they found out she was scared of a forest? The little dark room she had grown up in had been so much simpler than this wild and downright chaotic landscape. Sure, it was pretty, but being in such an open space made her feel vulnerable and, well, exposed, and anyone could see her now that she –
”… Who are you?”
Castalia nearly jumped out of her fur at the sound of the voice behind her. She had been so focused on her own thoughts and trying to do, well, she didn’t know what, she hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings like she should have been. She really shouldn’t be surprised that someone had managed to sneak up on her like that. Father would be disappointed.
Blue-and-amber eyes wide with her momentary fright, she whirled around to see what was behind her, only to be confronted with a relatively small apprentice seemingly around her own age. Had she seen him before? She probably had, but she was still having trouble memorizing all the names and faces of the many cats in this Empire. The dark fur and the startling blue eyes should have stood out in her memory, but alas, you can’t have everything.
“Oh, ah, well, hello, haha –“ she laughed nervously, trying to cover up her obvious frazzled nerves. “I’m Pump – I mean, my name is Cas – erm, Castalia. I just got here, with my family, we were rescued from the city but ah that’s probably obvious at this point and I’m rambling I’m sorry I’ll just stop talking now.” She clamped her mouth shut, overly flustered and completely out of her element. First impressions were never her strong suit.
*Castalia is always open to RP, so feel free to send me a note!
Castalia © rattarie 2015