>> Cenek

    Personality 
{ Ambitious // Authoritative // Blunt // Honorable // Jaded // Loyal // Spiritual // Receptive // Reserved }

Cenek was born in the tribe lands shortly after the first great war ended. 

Though he is convinced that his parents were both Shadow Tribe cats, his mother was in fact an Orange-Earth and his father a Green-Water. He likely had litter-mates, but their fate remains a mystery to him, their very existence more than questionable. They must not have mattered much to him, or if they did, he learned quickly to live without them. His kithood, whatever it was like, was almost certainly unpleasant. He received his first scar, a jagged mark around the side of his head and neck, before he became an apprentice. He remembers it being a fight with Earth-Tribe cats, but given that Earth-Tribe was the place where he was born, this is unlikely. Since reaching adulthood his fur has grown over the scar, but it is still visible when the wind is blowing in just the right way. 

At the time when he received his tattoo, Shadow Tribe was not a part of the 4 main tribes, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. During the Great War with the Golden Butterfly the Shadow Spirit had given his life to save his sister, the Light Spirit, and both tribes were destroyed. Light Tribe was scattered among the others and Shadow Tribe was exiled from their homelands, forced to live among the mountains. 

But the blue mark upon his face was that of Shadow Tribe, and so the young Cenek ventured forth into the mountains, in search of the place where he belonged. By some miracle he found the remains of Shadow Tribe and it quickly became the only home he had ever known. 

His mentor was the Silver-Shadow, Killian, his elder by nearly four years. Yet Killian quickly became his closest friend, and when the Yellow-Shadow died in a series of unfortunate events, Cenek was quickly promoted almost immediately after his tattoo turned green. Cenek admired the strength and ruthlessness of the Silver-Shadow, his loyalty was unbreakable, so this turn of events was perhaps not surprising. 

Even then, Killian had shown some signs of instability. They all feared him (he had murdered cats in his own tribe for calling him weak) and his harem was vast. Every female belonged to the Silver-Shadow. And so did his deputy, though arguably in a different way. Whether or not Cenek minded was irrelevant. It was the only life he had ever known, the best life he had ever known. In the mountains, he had friends, he had power, though somewhere in the back of his mind he always felt tortured by his powerlessness. But he loved the Silver-Shadow, more than anything else in the world. 

Then one day, they returned. An earthquake shifted the mountains, clearing a path that lead directly from Shadow Tribe's refuge back into the tribal lands. Considering it a sign from the Spirits, Killian led his tribe (the majority of them, some stayed behind as exiles or moved north into unknown territory) back to their home. 

It was the happiest Cenek had ever been. Things in the tribes were very different, and Shadow Tribe quickly changed to meet the standards of those around them. There was so much life in the tribes. Here, even war was a beautiful thing. 

    Life Among the Tribes

• Claiming the return of the Golden Butterfly was imminent, the Silver-Water, a cat named Aujir, created an Alliance to prevent him from rising to power. Shadow-Tribe and Air-Tribe joined her, but Fire-Tribe and Earth-Tribe refused, and formed the Rebellion. Cenek fought alongside Shadow-Tribe and served during what became known as the Second Great War. During this time he took on an apprentice, Sojir, after the death of her mentor during one of the war's many battles. Her loud personality and insistence on knowing his secrets came to be something of a comfort to him, and he came to see her as family, and eventually his soulbond. 
• At the end of the war, the Silver-Shadow, Killian, asked Cenek to take his remaining lives in a desperate move intended to end the war. Cenek obeyed his leader's command, but Killian's plan didn't work, and Cenek chose to lie, claiming that a member of the Rebellion had killed the Silver-Shadow instead (there had been no witnesses). 
• After the death of Aujir and the end of the Second Great War, Cenek remained Shadow-Tribe's deputy. The Spirits had chosen to punish him for taking the life of his leader, though he believed he had done so out of loyalty to Killian. 
• Plagued by guilt and paranoia, he continued to serve as deputy under Tylluan, during which time he began spending much of his time with a mysterious new cat named D'ialia and made an enemy of an Air-Tribe tom named Ross.
• Eventually the tribe lands began to crumble and after the death of the Silver-Light by what was deemed "divine intervention" the tribes were forced to move north and rebuild their territories - this was also when Light-Tribe regained its status as a separate tribe, with its own territory.
• After the tribes had rebuilt their lives, Cenek realized that he had fallen in love with D'ialia. She rejected him at first, and their relationship continued as it had been, and eventually they eased into something of an unofficial mateship, bound by mutual interests and a strange sort of loyalty to one another.
• Before long another conflict arose. With the Caiman War, the tribes saw the deaths of many leaders, including the Silver-Fire and Silver-Shadow. Finally, Cenek's tattoo turned Silver and he was able to take his place among the leaders. The caimans were later defeated and chased into the old tribe lands, which were blocked off by erecting a large wall. 
• Later, when Cenek and D'ialia's first litter of kits were born they struggled to adjust their mindset to treat their young children as children - and as a consequence of this the first litter became emotionally distant, and in the case of a few, distraught. 
• Not long after their first litter was born came the drought, during which Primus was lost. 
• Things were largely peaceful for a while, until Alriyel's Army appeared, claiming to be his chosen confidants. They kidnapped several leaders and deputies- including Sojir, and tortured them. Not long after this, a voice claiming to be Alriyel visited Cenek in his dreams and promised to have the leaders and deputies released, all he had to do was provide a safe haven for Alriyel himself, who would be reborn into the body of a soulless kit and chase Alriyel's Army out, claiming that they had not obeyed his will. 
• Desparate to save Sojir (and the other leaders) and believing it was best for his tribe, Cenek did as Alriyel had asked. Many cats from Shadow-Tribe abandoned him, and although the Silver-Air allied herself with Shadow-Tribe, many of Air-Tribe's cats abandoned them too. But Sojir and the rest of the leaders were returned, just as Alriyel had promised. During this time, Alriyel grew and began performing miracles for those who asked - primarily of the healing nature. 
• Eventually, during a gathering the Spirits chose to take away the tattoos of both Cenek and the Silver-Air, Tara. Tara chose to become a loner but Cenek refused to accept the decision of the Spirits, and Ariyel was able to give him back his powers. But then Alriyel declared war on the Spirits, and the Cosmic Battle began. By the end of it, the Spirits and Alriyel had destroyed each other, and the tribes were left as powerless cats until the Spirits were able to regenerate and the one called "Alriyel" (who was in fact another Spirit from a different land) formed a seventh tribe, Void-Tribe. After this Cenek worked harder than ever to rebuild his tribe and regain their trust. Many of them were angry with him, but some seemed to understand why he had done what he had.  
• Cenek and D'ialia's second litter of kits were born, and this time they tried to adjust their parenting strategy. It wasn't entirely successful, but by the time their kits had grown up Cenek was able to feel somewhat satisfied that he had done his best. 
• The star stone falls and cats collect some of the broken pieces, discovering that they provided powers that the Spirits did not. Cenek chose one that gave him energy, which was particularly useful now that he was beginning to feel some of the physical effects of age. However, there was something calling to the tribe cats, and the Void Spirit urged their tribe's deputy to lead and expedition north. The kits from Cenek and D'ialia's second litter were among those to go. Only two of them returned, and while they were gone D'ialia also disappeared - of her own will, but without saying goodbye. 
• Then came the Epidemic. Many cats fell ill and died, Cenek lost a life during this time.
• With the coming and passing of many leaders over time, new conflicts arose between the tribes. Cenek had outlived most of his colleagues and now he watched as a prey-shortage drove Light, Water, and Void-Tribe to claim new territory. Shadow-Tribe began to create a prey stockpile, since they were largely spared from the food shortage. When word got out, a group of Light-Tribe apprentices took it upon themselves to raid Shadow-Tribe and steal some of the prey. They were caught by Sojir, but Cenek chose to let them go, which caused a great deal of upset among Shadow-Tribe's members. Because of this, he chose to let them decide among themselves how to continue forward, and took from their advice in planning the tribe's next moves. 
• Later, a volcanic eruption caused more chaos among the tribes. Again, Shadow-Tribe was largely spared and Cenek was beginning to feel more at peace than he perhaps ever had before. Although he missed D'ialia terribly, he was on good terms with their remaining children and Shadow-Tribe was thriving.