Woodsmoke
Rope & Trap Maker
Player: Ron Swartzendruber
Last Updated: March 7, 2004
Woodsmoke
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Attributes
Current Name: Woodsmoke [899-1770]
Cub Name: Cloud [884-899]
Preserver Name: Make Wrapstuff Highthing
Soul Name: Rhir
Known By:
Quill (mother, deceased)
Hailcloud (father, deceased)
Lilydawn (lovemate, deceased)
Moonblur (Recognized mate, deceased)
Dreamshadow (Recognized mate, alive)
Summerset (daughter, missing)
Sex: Male
Age: 886
Hunt Blooded: No
Eyes:
Average and level. Grey/blue in colour.
Hair:
Platinum dark grey with semi-spikey bangs and a long tail gathered at the base of his neck.
Facial Features:
Square face and narrowing jaw with fine goatee and moustache. A straight nose, thin lips and full eyebrows.
Height: 4'9" (145 cm)
Skin: Light tan.
Build: Tall and stately, square shoulders.
Magic:
Sending (below average)
Magic Feeling (weak)
Wolf Bonding (average)
Clothes:
Light beige leather breeches with blue cording. Blue vest with beige and black design. Black boots.
Colours Worn: Black, dark blue, beige.
Jewellery: Pair of claws pierced into both earlobes.
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Heritage Skills
Acrobatics |
Personal Skills
Crafting: Rope ** |
Weapon Skills
Dagger ** |
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** = Primary skill * = Secondary skill |
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Relationships
Family:
Quill (mother, deceased)
Hailcloud (father, deceased)
Brightmoss (sister, deceased)
Summerset (daughter, missing)
Echo (daughter, alive)
Dirk (neice, alive)
Mates:
Lilydawn (lovemate, deceased) [1082-1211]
Moonblur (Recognized mate, deceased) [1216-1219]
Snowsoft (lovemate, alive) [1754-1755]
Dreamshadow (Recognized mate, alive) [1755-1770]
Friends:
Dreamshadow, Snowsoft, Echo, Dirk, Wildstar, Dreamberry, Duskwater, Firemoss, Lovemaker, Wise Elk, Birchbark.
Role Play
Personality:
Woodsmoke has a calm demeanour, being very methodical in the workings of his craft. He likes to plan things out carefully, follow them through to their completion and carefully observe the results. When things don't go as he anticipates them, instead of reacting immediately he usually steps back to consider the situation and then tackles the problem again from a different angle. He is always looking to learn, whether from his own mistakes or the ideas of others.
This, combined with his being one of the oldest members of the tribe, has resulted in quite a repertoire of skills. Sometimes he will learn a skill that only one or two of his fellow tribe members know, just to ensure that no single death will deprive the tribe of a needed craft. In these cases he does not compete with the acknowledged expert (such as Harmony with pottery, and Colorcast and Wise Elk with tanning) but is available to help whenever needed, and ready to step in should anything happen to them.
In other areas, such as rope and tool making, he is the acknowledged expert, but is not flashy about it. He does not go out of his way to seek praise, gaining satisfaction instead from the knowledge that his efforts help the tribe. His attitude is that the tribe is all in this together and should be able to depend on each other, and he does his best to live this out.
His deliberate and decisive mannerisms are generally praised and highly valued by the tribe, and he often acts as an advisor to the chieftess, Wildstar. However, many of the more take-action elves find him slow and frustrating, much to his amusement. He takes it all in stride, willing to let others walk their paths as he walks his; his long years have taught him that there is value in many different ways of doing things.
Although he might appear detached to those who don't know him, hidden passions burn strongly in his heart. Deep inside he yearns for the NOW of wolf thought, though due to his temperament and near-total lack of wolf blood, he doesn't often experience it fully. His sense of humour is notorious to those closest to him, mostly the other elders. He's apt to trust his intuition and has a very strict code of values that governs his life, though he doesn't feel the need to put it into words. Basically, whatever helps the tribe survive is good, and whatever makes things harder for the tribe is bad. The fact that the tribe's numbers have been slowly declining worries him deeply, though he only speaks openly of this with the chieftess and the other elders, feeling that sharing his fears too widely would hurt the tribe. However, this feeling manifests itself to all as a deep concern for the well-being of every tribe member.
The losses he has faced during his life have prompted him to be a shoulder for others to lean on, to comfort others when they are in need. He is always willing to counsel someone and offer sympathy. However, there are limits; if a friend falls into the trap of self-pity for too long, Woodsmoke will try to snap them out of it, by shock tactics if necessary. He knows the tribe cannot afford to lose members through the distraction of too much wallowing. He is especially incensed when members of the tribe leave for months and years after some emotional hurt; to him this seems like a selfish refusal to face reality, not to mention betrayal of the tribe and loved ones. He understands the urge, having fallen prey to it himself occasionally, but to his mind a few days of solitude should be enough. (He once violated this himself, though; see history.)
Treasures:
Jewelry from both previous lifemates. His father's spear. Due to its age, the spear is unusable for its original purpose, but Woodsmoke keeps it on the wall of his den. (His old den, which he now uses as a workshop; he sleeps with Dreamshadow in her den.)
History:
Woodsmoke initially learned many of his skills from his mother, Quill. She was named for her craft of working the fine, sharp quill bolts from sticker-pig hide into beautiful designs on leather, baskets and jewellery, but she had many other craft skills as well, and taught them to her son. He set out to model himself after her, much to the chagrin of his father Hailcloud, who demanded that he learn the ways of the Hunt and follow in his footsteps.
When Woodsmoke (then known as Cloud) was very young, he and his father did not get along at all. As he matured, however, Hailcloud eventually accepted that Woodsmoke would never be exactly as he wanted him to be, and Woodsmoke accepted that his father really did have a lot of valuable things to teach him. Much of Woodsmoke's initial skill with weaponry, including its crafting, care and repair, came from Hailcloud's example.
When his father was killed by Land Loper humans, along with Woodsmoke's lovemate Lilydawn, he was crushed. Even though he was over three hundred years old, this was the closest that tragedy had yet touched him. He forced himself not to brood, and focused on caring for his mother and tiny little sister, Brightmoss. His resolve wavered when his mother was also killed by humans, but he was saved by the need to care for Brightmoss, and by his new Recognition to Moonblur. He settled into his mother's former role as primary rope and tool crafter for the tribe.
His Recognition with Moonblur was a pleasant one to both elves who had on occasion joined together during previous Dances of Joining. Theirs was an intimate lifemating, their souls joined more completely than most; they were truly one together. After their Recognition they no longer sought joining with others. The birth of their she-cub, Summerset, made their lives a joy.
A mere three years later, a surprise hurricane killed Moonblur and this tore Woodsmoke to the core. He clung to the only remains he had of her: Summerset, spoiling her rotten and doing his utmost to protect her from the dangers of the world. He did not see how this was affecting her; though she soon grew to be a skilled crafter and valuable member of the tribe, she formed an attachment to her father that was so close and exclusive that it would cause problems later. The pain of Moonblur's death has softened for him now, although there are times when he's sure he sees her during a haze of dreamberry drunkenness.
For a brief turn of the seasons he enjoyed a happy lovemating relationship with Snowsoft (then Silverblade). During that time, he felt as if he'd achieved a peace he hadn't had since he lifemated with Moonblur. He had his beloved daughter, his closest friend Dreamshadow, his niece Dirk, and lovemate. Everything was suddenly thrown off balance when, completely out of the blue, he Recognized Dreamshadow.
He and Dreamshadow realized that they were a perfect pairing and immediately decided to lifemate. This threw all of their other relationships into turmoil; Snowsoft and Summerset especially were hurt. Woodsmoke had a hard time with all this, but knew it was up to him to make things right, so he began to work on rebuilding his relationships. Eventually, he managed to make peace with everyone again, remaining good friends with Snowsoft and reassuring Summerset's fear of losing him as a father.
Summerset's reaction to his and Dreamshadow's Recognition and her actions at Echo's birth has caused a noticeable divide between father and daughter. Their solid relationship began to crumble, even though, in desperation, Woodsmoke gave his soul name to her. Even this did not work, and Woodsmoke finally realized how blind he had been for so many years; it was his overprotectiveness and spoiling of Summerset that had made her what she was. At first he could not face up to this and retreated into the NOW, actually leaving the tribe for several weeks. Finally he snapped out of it and realized that he was only hurting those he loved, so he returned and promised never to to that again.
However, the problem with Summerset remained. Woodsmoke knew it was up to him to solve it, but unable to see an immediate solution he considered the problem silently for months, not realizing how Summerset was taking it, and how deep a divide remained between them. This rift was still unresolved when Summerset disappeared. When Woodsmoke finally accepted that she would not be found, it was nearly the last straw for him; he felt that he had lost everything from his past, and blamed himself for driving Summerset from the tribe. Only the love of Dreamshadow and Echo pulled him from his despair.
He and Echo have a curious relationship, not unlike the one he used to share with Summerset. It's obvious that he adores his daughter, and he spends every moment he possibly can with her, hardly letting her out of his sight, as if worried that someday he will lose her, too. Once again he is blind to how a daughter is affected by his way of showing love.
Wolf-Friend
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Name: Troublemaker Sex: Male Age: 15 Rank: Omega |
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Markings:
Dark black with a white underbelly, large paws and long, gangly limbs. His eyes are a deep, friendly brown, his ears floppy and he has a curly, somewhat stumpy tail.
Personality:
Friendly, playful and mischievous, Troublemaker earns his name time and time again. Not afraid of elders, be they wolves or elves, he teams up with several different wolves to cause trouble for the tribe. His main cohort is Flea, and between the two of them they've managed to terrorize all the footwear in the holt, and insure that Colorcast and Wise Elk are kept busy.
Troublemaker is very loyal to Woodsmoke and listens to him, but not to anyone else. Even when Woodsmoke tells him to stop being a pest, as soon as the elf turns his back, Troublemaker forgets all about it and is off again. He can be very patient and gentle with cubs (luckily, since his Omega status means he spends a lot of time with them), but he doesn't always get along with the other wolves. He seems to regard the constant dominance struggles as some sort of play, and he is always challenging those above him without apparently realizing how seriously they take it. This same belief that it is all in play keeps him from fighting effectively, so he loses every time and remains at the bottom of the pack hierarchy.
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Timeline
884: Birth |
Fanfics
Tales |
Awards
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