Eclipseclaw [Finsterkralle]

Eclipseclaw is a tall cat with dense black fur that seems to melt into the shadows if you don’t look closely enough. They’re generally well-muscled giving them an advantage in battle with their long legs still giving them a relatively slender and elegant look. Their fur is short and easily groomed most of the time which works in their favor since they don’t like to waste time on grooming. A thin scar parts the fur on their side – a memory of a harsh battle with a WindClan warrior.

Their head is angular with a pointed muzzle that ends in a dark gray, nearly black nose. In addition to that they have triangular, pointed ears. Their almond-shaped eyes have a pungent green color, which they inherited from their parents. Most of the time they have a cold expression that could even be interpreted as aggressive at times and prompts strangers to rather stay away from them instead of getting in touch.

Eclipseclaw is a rather withdrawn and distrustful warrior, who only ever opens up to a small number of selected cats and usually seems unapproachable to strangers unless they decide that it’s necessary to put on an act to reach a goal. If they trust and rely on anyone it’s usually themselves. They avoid openly sharing their feelings with anyone since they think that requiring support would make them weak and disdain weakness in themselves as well as in others. Other cats might describe them as cold or even brutal since they don't show mercy towards others be it in battles or arguments and get pleasure out of hurting or humiliating their enemies. They have an aggressive attitude and have a combative spirit which makes them a dangerous opponent who wouldn’t flee from a battle, which they would judge as cowardice.

Their positive traits definitely include their intelligence and their way of thinking strategically which comes naturally to them. They tend to have a plan, which can be readily adapted to changes of the situation. The fact that they're very attentive to their surroundings certainly helps with this, but if they realize that they can’t get what they want by normal means they might resort to manipulative tactics. Eclipseclaw hates giving up and is usually very determined to reach their goals. If they fail one time this doesn’t stop them from trying again or trying other ways to get what they want. Their persistence helps them to satisfy their ambitions and makes them a very independent and strong young warrior. Because they love their freedom they might act controlling or aggressive towards anyone they perceive as a threat and seems to be weaker than themselves. If a cat earns their respect they adopt a cold and serious behavior towards them and are willing to take orders that make sense to them. In addition to this Eclipseclaw is a very patient cat who actually can wait for the right moment if they have to. They don't like to waste time unnecessarily but failing to get what they wants due to impatience on their behalf isn’t a mistake they would tolerate in themselves.

Somewhere inside the black warrior is actually a very sensitive being who’s very attentive to their surroundings and takes in a lot of information with ease. Even though they don’t like to show their feelings they certainly inform their actions. They become resentful or even hateful when hurt and don’t forgive easily. This leaves them restless and always running away from their own weakness in favor of becoming the strongest cat they can be, which is how they believe they will find peace.

The night Eclipsekit was born wasn’t easy for anyone. Their father Dragonpaw had dared to openly challenge their leader Shadowstar during a full moon Gathering and therefore been punished for disrespecting his leader alongside his mentor Skysong whose position was given to another cat. Eclipsekits mother was deeply embarrassed by her mate’s actions as well and choose to separate from him as soon as she heard about what happened. Still that night Eclipsekit started the journey of life alongside their sister Goldkit. In the aftermath of this chaos they were born outside camp. When their mother carried them back Dragonpaw had already made his way to the nursery and was telling Emeraldfrosts first litter – six kittens who were about to be apprenticed – his own version of their parent’s separation. Since he changed some parts of the story to make himself look better this resulted in another quarrel between the former mates which caused their family to fall apart when the older kits started to take sides and decided which story they wanted to believe in. Since Dragonpaw accused Emeraldfrost to have cheated on him with another tom, claiming that Eclipsekit and Goldkit weren’t his blood, some of their older siblings refused to accept the two new kittens as their siblings. Because of this the black kitten and their sister ended up having enemies in their own clan right from the start. When Emeraldfrost adopted four kits who she claimed where abandoned by their rouge mother near ShadowClan camp Eclipsekit was happy to welcome them into what was left of their family. Knowing how it felt to be treated as an outcast or hated for your mere existence they weren’t willing to inflict the same pain on others and happily connected with their new playmates forming a deep friendship with Hazepaw. They tended to get in conflicts with Newtpaw and Darkpaw though.

Their kittenhood changed when they were kidnapped by BloodClan cats to be used as bait and provoke a battle. In the war that followed this transgression ShadowClan lost many cats among them Shadowstar and Shardheart who was deputy at the time. Experiencing such a bloody battle while being so young traumatized Eclipsekit, who blamed themselves for being too weak and unable to save themselves, which lead to many ShadowClan warriors and apprentices losing their lives for taking them back.

With the help of their mother and some of their siblings she slowly started to recover from this harsh experience. They deepened the relationship to their sister Goldpaw, their mother and Hazepaw as well as to their older brother Pantherclaw. Soon they also noticed a warrior named Willowdance who quickly became an important role model for them. They attached to the warrior and started to idolize her. Even though the fawn tabby warrior didn’t pay much attention to the kitten Eclipsekit decided they wanted to become a warrior like her one day. With this goal in mind the young cat was apprenticed with Thistleheart being made their mentor. They started their training knowing exactly what they wanted and working for the day when Willowdance saw their hard work and praised them for the outcome. Sadly this wish wasn’t granted. Instead the warrior would always find something wrong with their work or attitude critiquing every mistake they made – or at least that’s how it felt to Eclipsepaw. But it wouldn’t be them if they had given up easily. Believing that Willowdance would one day have to see their accomplishments they decided to simply work harder and harder deciding they wanted to become leader one day (after Willowdance became leader of course). Their ambitions intensified their rivalry with Newtpaw who wanted to become leader himself. Willowdance in contrast didn’t seem to notice the work Eclipsepaw put into refining and bettering their skills.

As they became a better and better fighter the young cat was chosen to take part in a battle against ThunderClan and WindClan in which their sister Goldpaw was severely injured and lost part of her memory. After carrying their sister home and calling the medicine cat Willowdance approached to them to critique them losing her second fight with a WindClan warrior even though they brilliantly beat an apprentice of their own age earlier in battle. Something inside of the black apprentice snapped in this moment as they realized that the warrior wasn’t as perfect as they had made her seem within their own mind but only saw their wrongdoings without paying attention to all the things they did well. All the anger and hurt that had built up in them for the last moons suddenly became apparent and the young cat ran off to the apprentice den where they told everything to their friend Firpaw. Eclipsepaw turned their back on Willowdance that day growing more and more resentful towards the warrior as they decided to become the best warrior they could be. They wouldn’t settle to be second after not so perfect former role model in order to surpass them one day and therefore force them to acknowledge their skills. From now on all their energy went into becoming even stronger with the goal to surpass Willowdance. They became an even better fighter and during their warrior assessment she even managed to catch a pheasant. When they were later fighting Fieldpaw to show their combat skills they came to realize that it gave her pleasure to inflict pain on other cats and make them suffer since they were forced to acknowledge their strength in that situation.

During their warrior ceremony they were given the name Eclipseclaw but they weren’t really satisfied yet. Soon their rivalry with Newtpaw got even more intense and at the same time they started to withdraw from everyone else believing they have to be strong on their own if they ever wanted to reach their goal and in order to avoid being disappointed by other cats ever again. This caused some unnecessary quarrels and lead to some of her former friends disassociating from them which certainly worked to cement their new views of the world.