Dawnstar

A well muscled pale tabby tom with thick fur and green eyes. He has a long scar alongside his left side from a fox, a scratch above his left eye from a battle, and a smaller scar on his left front leg from a fight with a rogue.

He's ambitious and loves having power, though isn't always the best at leading. Despite what he did to his brother, Dawnstar ironically is on the stricter side of the warrior code. While he won't shy away from battle, he fights with the belief in protecting his clanmates and making Thunderclan stronger. He’s got a real soft-spot for kits and cats who hurt or abandon them are seen as worse than traitors in his mind.

He's the type of cat who wants a family one day but puts responsiblities before finding a mate, especially when it takes him a while to experience romantic attraction. In a less ambitious life, he might've made a great nursery queen.

PRE-RP(50 moons at start of rp)

Dawnkit was born to Cherrystripe and Flamecall alongside his brother Sunkit. From the beginning both of them aimed to become leader one day at the encouragement of their father—though his ambition was much greater than his brother's.

As an apprentice, he was given the mentor Pinefrost and trained hard to outdo his brother. This was also around the time he started having dreams of what he believed was a Star Clan cat—in reality a Dark Forest cat—who foretold it was his destiny to become leader. During a border skirmish against a rogue he gained a scar on his left front leg, which only made him more determined to get better at fighting so he could defend his clan.

His apprenticeship was mostly focused on training and doing his best to become an outstanding warrior who could be seen as deputy material one day. But he still had time for friends. Nightpaw and Fallenpaw both liked to spend time with Dawnpaw and his brother. As they neared warriorhood Dawnpaw would start to notice Fallenpaw looked prettier than he remembered but never thought much on it even as she tried to stick closer to him. Dawnpaw was nearly one step closer to his goal, he couldn't lose focus on that now.

When he was a warrior, Dawnfire took on an apprentice at 24 moons named Emberpaw. He trained her to follow the code well and use her training to better Thunderclan. It was often that he would train Emberpaw with against Sunglow's apprentice, her sister Duskpaw. Though training with her other peers was also common, as he wanted his apprentice to bond and get to know her denmate's as a friend and a way to learn their styles of battle moves. During a patrol, a fox attacked. While they managed to drive it out of the territory, he earned a scar on his flank and his mother eventually succumbed to an infected bite.

While he was focused solely on being a mentor, Sunglow had begun growing closer to Nightwing. It wasn't long before Dawnfire became an uncle to Nightwing and Sunglow's litter of three. Fallenbird was still lingering around him, patiently waiting for a similar relationship with him. Not that he looked that deeply into her friendliness at the time. She was pretty and he did want a family someday, but he held no romantic interest for her at the time. Not to mention he still hadn't achieved his main goal yet. Shrikesong was preparing him to become leader and he would!

He became jealous when Sunglow was chosen as Mallowstar’s deputy over him. His brother was competent and level headed but the 'Star Clan' cat called Dawnfire to action. In celebration of their apprentices getting their warrior names, his being Emberflower, the brothers went out to hunt. While hunting, he shoved Sunglow from a tree where his brother fell to his death, which was decided to be an accident by the clan. After a sign from 'Star Clan' that was left for the medicine cat to find, Dawnfire was made deputy at 30 moons where he waited patiently to become leader. In his short time as deputy, his father would fall ill with a random and isolated case of greencough and passed away only a moon before his elderly predecessor, Mallowstar, died at 196 moons.

As a younger leader of 35 moons, Dawnstar wanted to pick a senior warrior with experience to aid him in leading the clan. He chose Honeybranch, who was a loyal Thunderclan warrior that agreed with being stricter with the warrior code than Mallowstar had been. When a wave of greencough swept through the camp however, Honeybranch was one of the few cats who fell ill and died. His current deputy, Jaycrest, also has similar thoughts about the code as him.

DURING RP

Dawnstar spent most of the moon doing his own duties as leader and checking on the territory. He took in Hazepaw as a Thunderclan apprentice after the young cat was found by a patrol and decided to mentor them himself.

At the gathering, he spoke cordially with Redstar despite their clans' histories with each other. He felt the tension between Lightningstar and Saffronstar but it was Redstar who intervened. He stayed quiet on the matter, not wanting to get his own clan involved in Windcland and Shadowclan’s grudges. When the deputies got into a spat, he was glad to see his own deputy hold his composure, even with Lakeshade’s temper—Dawnstar hopes the Riverclan deputy doesn’t become leader anytime soon.

Shortly into the rainy moon Spottedwing and Palefur would find a strange rogue with a clan name: Fadingkit. Much too old to actually be a kit but looking near-death, the tom agreed to let her stay and had Lightbloom take her to his den. Spottedwing would admit to feeding the poor she-cat before bringing prey to the clan, apologizing for breaking the code. Dawnstar understood and rather than give a real punishment, gave him a fair and useful one by putting the warrior in charge of hunting for Fadingkit during her recovery. Not long after he was approached by Beartooth and Palefur about having a vision from Star Clan. Proud that two of his warriors were chosen for something that sounded so important, he wished them a safe journey and saw Spottedwing see the two off.

Hunting and training Hazepaw took up more of his time but during a visit to his brother's grave, Jaycrest would approach to discuss Cinderpaw and an incident with a Shadowclan and Windclan apprentice at their shared borders—dangerously close to the Thunderpath for any cat. He can't help but think Shadowclanners could be a bad influence on other young clan cats. But Jaycrest's idea for a punishment was enough in his mind and he left his deputy to overlook Cinderpaw's consequence. One last request from Jaycrest as the conversation continued: to give Cinderpaw the suffix 'flower' when their warrior ceremony came due to their desire to become a caretaker for the clan. An unusual path but Dawnstar would agree with a smile, always open to input on matters such as that. The conversation continued, ranging from their apprentices to the events of the last gathering before the two decided to go hunting.

And then the Sunning Rocks treaty came. Dawnstar would take Jaycrest to meet Redstar, Lakeshade, and a warrior named Lilystream at the border. He'd send for Spottedwing to act as witness as well before discussing the matter further. In the end, they'd do a trial with Thunderclan taking possession of the rocks in leafbare. He's wary of whether this would be a good decision, especially given the consequences of breaking a rule could result in a leader being demoted. Dawnstar planned to keep a close eye on how this trial goes and if Star Clan has anything to say about it.

This trial would be officially announced to the clans at the next gathering. Unfortunately, a disruption from a Riverclan warrior would make Dawnstar even more wary about the future of this treaty. While no blood was shed, he did comment to Redstar that she needed to learn to control her clan before emphasizing that this treaty was only a trial and they'd see how it went.

The next moon brought a chain of events to the clan. He'd learned that the rogue, Fadingkit, was the abandoned kit of a former Thunderclan warrior and offered her a place in the clan. She would accept and also choose his suggestion of a new warrior name: Hazelwish. He'd leave her to continue resting in the medicine den, a plan in mind to make this announcement soon.

Not long after however, Thunderclan had Windclan visitors. Duststorm and Falconpaw told him and Jaycrest about Palefur and Beartooth's disappearances during their journey, though recalled their bravery beforehand. He would have his deputy learn more about the mission from them while escorting them to the border. Meanwhile, he would call Spottedwing in and inform him of his sister's disappearance. It was a surprise to hear Palefur might've vanished on purpose, never being fully happy in the clan, but he would accept the warrior's words and request not to send a patrol after her.

Dawnstar would call the clan to a meeting after Jaycrest had met with him and Lightbloom. He informed the clan of what to watch out for regarding the Wither as well as about their missing clanmates. He would go onto the happier news of Hazelwish joining the clan and reassigning Robinpaw to Emberflower to continue his apprentice training.

Later that evening, Duststorm, Falconleap, Houndkick, and their Brightwood companions showed up asking to join. Strange but after losing their Star Clan chosen cats, Dawnstar took their joining as a sign and allowed it. He would give Falconleap a private, but official warrior ceremony in front of the small group after hearing their reasons for leaving Windclan. Houndkick would also request to be called Hound for the time being. He would once again call the clan to a meeting and announce their joining to the clan along with assigning cats to help keep tabs on them and help the Windclanners adjust. With all these cats it was looking to be a tough leafbare but... he was sure the clan would pull through.

The gathering was ripe with drama from all the clans, most bringing new high ranks. It seemed Thunderclan was the only one where nothing had switched up. Something he considered to mean Star Clan was smiling down upon his clan. Shadowclan was the most different, as unlike Saffronstar who made the clan late, Duskstar had gotten there not only on time, but first! Dawnstar would quietly join her on the leader's rock and watched as Riverclan arrived. Then they waited... and waited... Worry began to seep into the leaders at Windclan's absence. But finally, Lightningstar showed up.

Their deputies below had amassed a gathering around Stormpath and while Dawnstar mildly listened in, mostly focused on the conversation with the other leaders. Thunder rumbling overhead and clouds circling the moon above despite the calm gathering made the decision to get the announcements started. Redstar would warn of a dangerous exile named Leopardstalk who had taken their medicine cat, Tigermoth, and seemed to be going after medicine cats. She would also announce Clayfoot as their new deputy, though wouldn't say what became of Lakeshade—good riddance that no one would see him become Lakestar though. Dawnstar would assure that Thunderclan would keep watch for Leopardstalk and take necessary action against him before announcing the losses of the two warriors who'd gone to the Brightwood and of his apprentice, Hazepaw. He'd go to the happier news that they welcomed Windclan's pair who'd gone to the Brightwood along with their companions and a long lost clanmate. He'd keep quiet about Hound joining, not wanting to step on Lightningstar's paws should he not want that story shared.

Lightningstar would then share his news of letting some warriors who didn't trust Graytalon or Fogstone leave the clan and urged that any who hadn't joined Thunderclan be given a fair chance elsewhere. Duskstar went last, telling of a lost apprentice and the death of one of their warriors due to the foxes Saffronstar had allowed to take root in their territory. Saffronstar's failure of leadership with the foxes and how he'd abandoned his clan during the patrol to dispose of them was also brought to light while the bravery of cats who joined the patrol to rid Shadowclan of the foxes was praised. Dawnstar was pleased to hear the foxes were dead and no longer a potential threat lingering just across the thunderpath. He also found her choice of deputy well picked, as Stormpath had been a cat Star Clan had chosen to go on the journey and seemed like he'd be a good fit after such an experience.

This time it wasn't just thunder that pushed the gathering forward. A flash of light blazed into the clearing as lightning struck a tree closest to Shadowclan's territory. Dawnstar was sure it was a sign of something more than just Star Clan saying it was time to return home, but he doubted it was something for Thunderclan to worry about. He'd linger behind, leaving Jaycrest to take the clan ahead, when Lightningstar asked to speak to Falconleap. Dawnstar helped track the young warrior down but stood back as an observer to their heated argument. When it was all said and done, he assured Lightningstar that he wouldn't encourage Falconleap's desire to make Sandpaw join Thunderclan and made it clear that the choice would be left up to Sandpaw himself—though Dawnstar hoped they wouldn't have yet another cat to feed in the leafbare moons. With a polite farewell, he'd escort the apprentice home, silently concerned about the tom's attitude and how well he might end up fitting in.

Scarce prey would go into outright famine for the clan. Dawnstar could do little besides watch as the clan began to starve. Not long into the famine, he'd be alerted to an incident at Sunngingrocks and go to find Redstar with Lakeshade and Clayfoot standing over a deceased Riverclan tom. While not looking for a fight, he wasn't thrilled about having a dead Riverclanner on Sunningrocks considering how that could look for his clan during their ownership. Dawnstar warned Redstar to keep better tabs on cats from her clan crossing borders, claiming Thunderclan had respected the border when it was Riverclan's turn owning the rocks.

But that wasn't the only issue. Four kits were also found. Their recognition of Lakeshade was obvious and Dawnstar immediately was suspicious of the ex-deputy. While in better moons he might've pushed to take all four kits back to Thunderclan given they were found on Thunderclan territory, he put up no fight when Redstar suggested each of their clans took two. Picking one that looked more similar to himself and then one of the sisters—Thistlekit and Piercingkit—Dawnstar would ask Redstar to take their dead and leave.

Dawnstar would start raising the two as his own, keeping them in his den rather than moving to the nursery. During an unsuccessful hunt one day, he'd spot Lakeshade at the border with fish. After initially being ready for a fight, he ended up making an empty promise to allow Lakeshade to see his two kits... If he continued to provide food. Empty promises made to keep the kits, himself, and Lightbloom—or rather Lightbloom's parents—better fed. Apparently, Lakeshade was more desperate for that chance than he expected despite Dawnstar's excuses as to why Lakeshade couldn't see Thistlekit or Piercingkit.

It was some source of prey and that was all that mattered. He wished Lightbloom wouldn't waste his portion on elders every time but Dawnstar wouldn't force him to eat the scraps. The only thing he enforced was the guard that had to accompany Lightbloom when he left camp. With Leopardstalk still out there, it was too dangerous to let their only medicine cat go out alone. Even guards weren't enough. Lightbloom would still be taken right from under Twilightmask's watch. Fury made him want to throw her out for letting it happen, though Fallenbird would keep him from making such rash accusations—she pressed that it was an accident, it could've happened under any cat's watch.

And if there was one good thing that was coming from this leafbare then perhaps it was Fallenbird. He'd known her from when they were apprentices and had always thought she was pretty, but had never given much thought to anything beyond that. Training and Shrikesong's prophecy that pushed him into the deputy rank then finally making it to leader was where most of his focus had always lied. Romance just... never stirred no matter how pretty a molly looked. Yet recently he felt something change in that regard. He'd wanted a family eventually, no matter how easy it could've been to have kits with someone willing and leave it as nothing more. He now had two kits to care for and yet... now he was seeing Fallenbird felt like the mate he'd been waiting to find. A strange time, a poor time with the lack of prey but as much as he's swiftly fallen for her now, Dawnstar is taking his time. He has a clan to get through leafbare, a medicine cat to find, and two kits he'd want to see grow up before having his own litter.