Clay Shabadash

Clay is a Corsac has spent most his days learning how to cure others and not being afraid to help those who others see as beyond help. His nose and paw pads are extremely sensitive to temperature and touch due to getting a life-threatening sickness in his life. Because of this he always wears shoes, gloves and a breathing mask to protect them, as well as to protect him from dangerous diseases he might encounter. He has a goal to go on some kind of grand adventure in his life, so why not start now?

Like many Corsac, Clay grew up traveling. The caravan he and his family were a part of wasn’t too large but wasn’t small either consisting of around 100 Animalian. Over the years of wandering in and out of cities, the caravan would occasionally come down with sicknesses that they caught from their travels. Clay would always try his best to help out in these times of distress when he wasn’t inflicted himself and found that along with being a helpful extra pair of paws he also had some excellent bedside manner and worked well under stress. Because of these traits, the Animalian in the caravan started to come to him regularly with their aliments and not wanting to disappoint them he made it his job to study and learn all he could about sicknesses and cures. Whenever they passed through towns he would pick up healing ingredients local to that area as well as books about ailments. He would track down any doctor or nurse that he could and would talk to them for hours trying to pick their brains for any new bit of information that they may have. Because of this varied information he learned about many different cures and got to see firsthand a varity of treatments. 

One day the caravan passed through a town that seemed to be coming down with something and not wanting to catch it, they left quickly and made their way to the next town on their path, however, they left to late. One of the Animalian in the group had caught what the town Animalian had and it was starting to spread quickly. The caravan quickly became weak and many of them were close to death. Pushing themselves to the limit they managed to make it to the next town and attempted to ask for help, but the Animalian in the town would not let them in. Keeping the town gate closed tight they refused to help and or even communicate with the caravan for fear that they would catch the illness as well. Unable to go anywhere and on the verge of dying Clay and a few other Animalian who still had energy snuck into the city in an attempt to save their families. Taking all the books and healing equipment they could carry they made it back to their caravan undetected and did their best to heal those around them with the materials they had managed to get.

As a few days past many in the caravan started to recover from the illness. A few of them were unable to pull out of it and passed on, but most seemed to be on the rebound. With things stabilizing Clay wanted to return the books and studies he had taken. Slipping back into the city he found that it was very quiet…. too quiet. As he returned the reading material back to where he had found it he realized he hadn’t spotted a single Animalian in the city. His curiosity piqued he decided to risk it and started to look around to see where everyone had gone. After a bit of searching, he quickly found out what had happened. Scattered around the town were a number of unmoving Animalian strewn about, their bodies wracked with the same sickness the caravan had come down with. When they had snuck into the town not only had they left the town with their sickness, but they had also taken all the supplies and material they had needed to fight it. Unable to heal themselves from the desises and unwilling to step outside the gate for fear that they would come down with something worse the whole town had quickly been whipped out.

After recovering from the shock Clay made it back out of the soulless city to his caravan. 

Unable to tell them what they had done he kept it to himself simply stating that the city didn’t want anything to do with them, and with that, the caravan moved on and although his body traveled many miles away from the city, his mind never really left it. He tried his best to move on, but visions of the city and the sickness filled his head whenever he slept.

After wrestling with himself for quite some time he decided as penance for what he had done that he would do his best to help those that were sick whenever he could, never turning away anyone for any reason. If they needed his help he would be there, however, he would be unable to help many if he continued traveling. He found a city that had many travelers and was in need of a doctor and after a few convincing lies to his family about why he had to leave he parted ways with the caravan. 

He spent a good many years in that city helping all who came to him. He talked to any Corsac caravan that traveled through and tried to teach them the need for hygiene safety and helped many families through rough times. But then one case came into town that put an end to all of this.

A few towns away, there had been a deadly outbreak and a small caravan of Corsac had made their way through that city and had caught the sickness. Every town along the road had turned them away for fear of catching the sickness and now they had arrived to his town begging for help. Thinking back to the outbreak his caravan had been through all those years ago, Clay was unable to turn them away, however, he also needed to protect the Animalian in the town.

Being careful he set up a ward just outside the city gates and with a bit of help from a few brave nurses he went to work trying to help the dying Corsac. He could see their bodies were wracked with a coughing pain as they struggled to breathe, the temperature was high, they were unable to eat and their ability to even think was quickly leaving them, but the surest sign of what they had was that their nose and paw pads where stiffening and hardening causing their body to be shot with pain anytime anything touched them. They had the Canine Distemper Virus, and we're already in the late stages of the sickness.

Unwilling to give up on them he spent many hours and late nights trying to cure them or at the very least give them some comfort in their suffering. To keep them company in their weakened state he would talk to them and they would tell him all about the many adventures they had in their life and how after they were cured they would go on to do even more. However, after a few more days the group that had strived so hard to save the Corsac failed. The entire caravan had died and as their bodies were put to rest Clay found himself wishing he had been able to help them sooner. Then, maybe then he could have saved them…. Fate is a funny thing sometimes as Clay would soon have his wish. As they started to take down the ward outside of the town he found himself starting to be short of breath and losing his balance more than normal and right before they were about to head back in he passed out entirely. 

Waking up with his nurses at his side his hands, feet, and nose stung with pain and a quick visit from a coughing fit confirmed it. Even though he had tried his hardest to be careful, he had caught CDV. Although his friends, the nurses who had trained under him, begged him to go back to the city where they could truly help him he was unwilling to go back into the city sick as he knew what had happened all those years ago would happen again. Unable to leave him the nurses started to tend to him the best they could. For the next two weeks, his body and mind were struck with unimaginable pain. It was during these dances with death he confided in his closest friend about how all the adventures the other Corsac had talked about sounded so amazing and how he regretted doing nothing really with his life. He had spent all his years trying to make up for something that had happened years ago and although he had done good with his life, he had never really done anything for himself. He felt as if he had never really lived his own life as he had felt stuck to the city and wished he could have one more chance to at least go on one adventure. One selfish trip to feel what it was like to really be a Corsac and travel all over, see things others rarely got to see, and not be rooted to one spot. Sure he would still help those that were sick, but he wanted to also help himself. Fading in and out of consciousness he would mutter these wishes. After a few more hazy days passed, he started to feel strength returning to him. Thanks to the studiousness of those helping him he managed to pull through it and recover, although not unscathed.

From that day his hands, feet, and nose felt pain any time they touched anything. His sight was also much worse and he became susceptible to fits of sneezing at the drop of a hat, but he was alive. With a bit of a push from those that stayed near him as he recovered he decided that if he were to die again he didn’t want to find himself on his deathbed with regrets and so after saying his goodbyes to the city, he set off to find an adventure leaving the clinic under the care of his close friend.

Clay is a player character so his call to adventure consists of him wanting to have an adventure as he does not want to die with regrets.

Outfit: Clay has a long brownish-red trench coat with light brownish green pants and large brown dark brown boots with black souls. He wears a dull yellow scarf on top of his jacket and a white button-up shirt. His jacket has a pocket on its left chest where he keeps a white handkerchief that he uses for his coughing fits. He also has long brown gloves to protect his sensitive hands and a black muzzle like mask that he wears to stay protected from germs (as well as not infect others). He can often be found with his large bag that has his doctor's supplies in it (needle, thread and bandages are often overflowing out of it).

Clay is a Corsac who has brown Ancient eyes. If you draw him PLEASE take a look at his general species notes here for details that are easy to miss but important to me!

Ideas for what you could draw him doing:
- adjusting his mask
-fixing someone's wounds
-putting on his gloves
-cleaning his medical gear
-putting ointment on his painful nose
-taking a moment to take in the view of a location (such as a sunset)
-Reading some doctor's notes or medical book
-traveling around or sitting next to a fire

a song about how he wants to go on an adventure - https://youtu.be/TnQv3c9kwKc