NAME: Kadaj

AFFILIATION: Outsider, Kadaj's Group

IMMEDIATE KIN:

Sunstripe (mother)

Mallowclaw (father)

Silver (foster mother)

Flareheart (sister)

Shrikestar (brother)

BASIC APPEARANCE: Silver-gray tabby tom with bright amber eyes.

DETAILED APPEARANCE: Kadaj has built up a solid form, with his strengths remaining in his back legs, making him an excellent hunter. His fur is a silverish gray with lighter points on his belly and muzzle, along with darker, almost black stripes that become more apparent as they run down his spine. His bright amber eyes contrast greatly with his pelt, making for a strange but alluring appearance.

PERSONALITY & DESCRIPTION: Strategy is his game, but you would find it difficult to say it is his highest priority. In fact, it would be difficult to name any one thing as the most important thing on his mind. There are too many things to think about. His eyes will tell you nothing, but their clearness and lack of any true story is a comfort to some. As a young apprentice, they reflected his impulsive and carefree personality that slowly started to change into one of loneliness and bitterness. Every part of him would suggest that he is merely a contradiction to every belief. A loner, yet one who surrounds himself with other cats. An intellectual, who nonetheless continues to make the same mistakes. His name, Kadaj, was not the one given to him at birth. He was given the name Zephyrkit alongside his siblings Flarekit and Shrikekit, branding him as a Clan cat that would eventually grow to become a warrior. He was on the straight and narrow, if not a little unsettled, as he was given a mentor and his training proceeded as any normal apprentice. Zephyrpaw needed that routine, that stability, to calm his active mind, as he always pushed to be the center of attention and show off his abilities at every opportunity. His obsessive, overcritical, and even pompous personality often put him at odds with his siblings, but he had never anticipated a complication that would shift the world beneath him. Barely a moon after becoming an apprentice, a quick and sudden illness swept through the camp, claiming the lives of cats that had previously been completely healthy. With two parents as close as soul-mates could be, it was unavoidable that after one went down, the other would follow. One second here, the next, gone. There was no chance for him to prepare, and no way for him to grieve. His self-indulgent and compulsive behavior was partly to blame for his siblings pulling away from him, outweighing him in every virtue that he lacked. In the wake of their parents’ demise, Flarepaw and Shrikepaw pushed him away—at least, that is how he saw it, leading him down a path in which Clan cats should not venture. At around nine moons of age, he disappeared without a trace to leave behind, covering any and all scents that would point to his whereabouts. With that, he lived many moons in silence, making allies and enemies as he went. In the Clan, he was never able to form lasting friendships that would provide him the help and companionship he needed, but out here, he was able to form a life. Shortly after his departure, Zephyrpaw met a she-cat known as Silver, who at the time was living alone. In exchange for food and assistance, Zephyrpaw asked for knowledge: a new perspective on life, and all of the tools he needed to make it in a harsh world. She was the one who gave him the substance he needed until he could stand on his own. It was a tough sort of love, but one he appreciated long after he was old enough to be on his own. Perhaps from there, he should have been able to let go of his past life after so long apart, but his ability to hold a grudge is unparalleled. The same unsteadiness that claimed him as an apprentice keeps a tight grip here, giving this often calm and collected tom a more selfish, unpredictable side that is better kept to the shadows. The tom still searched for a new meaning to his existence, yearning to separate Zephyrpaw from the cat he was now. He found a new name in Kadaj, and found other young cats who could not speak for themselves, either by choice or by other oppressors that were seeking someone to look out for them. He comforts them in the way he should have been. Despite his higher goals, Kadaj’s vengeful and bitter nature has not left him—more, his focus has shifted to one that has made him a stranger to all who may have known him, burying other parts of him deep below. He is no stranger to hypocrisy, but it is unlikely that he will ever say it out loud. He gives a voice to the voiceless, hoping to help them face their own demons despite not doing the same. In short, he is the same cat he was long ago, following the path that he has drawn for himself.