Eleka the Blacksmith

Tawny Pelt [AA]; bigger ears [AA]; Thinner, Longer Tail [Aa]; Lighter colored toes/paws [AA], White Spot behind ears [AA]; Lion Spots [AA]; Single Tone Pelt [Aa]; Head tuft [AA]; Dark Ear Tips [AA]; Golden Eyes/Brown Eyes [AA]

Recessive
Back stripe/marking [aa]; Yellow eyes/Blue eyes/Purple eyes [aa]

Carrier
Purple eyes [Aa]

***Note: Her short tail is NOT genetic (sorryyyy >_<"")
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Personality:

[Tomboy / Fierce / Competitive / Playful / Strong-headed / Outgoing ]

Tomboy: This girl loves to play rough. She'd almost prefer playing with males since they tend to be stronger and fight/play harder, making it more of a challenge. She's not a girly cat and tends to get dirty and scraped up a lot. She never wants to let others get the best of her. Even when she gets down, she never loses her spirit for long

Fierce: Everything she does is to the best of her ability. She is very bold! She always wants to learn new things and is a very intense cat during battle or play. When she sets her mind to doing something, for herself, her family, or her whole empire, she will stop at nothing to prove that she has the strength and ability to overcome all odds

Competitive: Never wanting to lose to the boys (or girls for that matter), Eleka is always looking for ways to prove she is great at what she does. If she loses, she tries her best to figure out what went wrong and then challenges her opponent for a rematch until she bests him/her. She will boast whenever she wins, and sometimes rubs things in other's faces, being a bit too blunt at times. She doesn't take losing easily. She wants to be loved by everyone and doesn't take too well to the possibility of losing friends or family to others

Playful: Eleka has a very playful nature and tends to joke around sometimes (even when her jokes might be a bit harsh). She always likes to have fun and loves to be the center of attention. Her goal is to make others laugh and she likes to laugh as well. Sometimes her playfulness can get her into trouble, but she is not necessarily intending harm. As she grows, she never loses her playful spirit for long, even in times of hardships, as she tries to be a strength for her empire

Strong-Headed: Eleka is not willing to back down easily, and once she gets an idea in her head, it's hard to stop her or change her mind. She's not easily intimidated and always fights for what she thinks is right. She is protective of her family stance and has issues with others "moving in on her turf"

Outgoing: Eleka wants to meet everyone and everything. She's not very shy. When she sees a new cat, she's more likely to treat them as an acquaintance than a stranger. She's always ready to greet new cats and goes out of her way to make friends. Cats may be surprised as she might treat them more like an old bud if they hit it off

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Background:

Eleka was born in the big city of Massilia. Her mother was a pet and her father was a gladiator. They were mated by the humans in hopes of creating a powerful and stunning young male lion (preferably). Sadly, Eleka's mother Sina, had problems giving birth, and the two other male cubs in Eleka's litter were stillborn. Eleka herself never cried in the first few days of her life. She was thought to be a weak cub in a weak litter, so Sina's human decided that they were going to make her a bait cat (for training other gladiators), and then if she proved herself to be a great fighter, they would reconsider her for a gladiator. They also decided to cut off Eleka's tail to keep it from getting caught by other cats, and causing blood loss (also to experiment if it would increase or decrease fighting capabilities, since she was considered a "throw away" cub.

Sina was horrified at what the humans had done to her baby, and learned of her cub's future. She had hoped Eleka would become a pet as she was, but knew the horrors of the colosseum, from the brief stories told to her by the male she mated with. She didn't want that for her cub. When Eleka came of weaning age and the humans came to take her away from Sina, she attacked and killed one of the guards. Taking Eleka, she fled deep into the forest, but not before sustaining mortal wounds from a second guard. She heard the guards getting closer and closer as her movements weakened. Finally, she decided to hide her Eleka in some shrubbery and gave her one last lick and a nuzzle, telling her to "stay here and be silent" and that she would "return when the bad humans went away". Sina had heard about the rouge empires scattered around the forests, and hoped that she had entered far enough into it that a kind cat would take pity on her cub and care for her. Picking up a small stone (relatively the size of Eleka), she raced away, hoping it would fool them at least from a distance. The humans finally did catch up with Sina after a good distance of chasing her, and speared her to death after she decided to confront and attack them one last time. She ended up taking one more guard out with her. The humans considered Eleka as a loss and did not bother to find her, even questioning if it was worth tracking and killing the mother as well. They finally returned to the city, leaving the body of Sina.

Meanwhile, Eleka stayed where she was for hours, quietly waiting for Sina to return, but she never did. Night fell and Eleka grew hungry. She timidly called out for her mother and listened. She then proceeded to leave her spot to find her mother. After traveling for what seemed like forever to a tiny cub, Eleka grew braver and sadder. She cried out for her mother, the cold night air chilling her to the bone. Finally, someone heard her call. The young snow leopard mix, and shadow empire apprentice, Luna, heard her cries and followed them to find the forlorn little lioness. Luna took Eleka back with her to camp, where Eleka joined the shadow empire, and cared for her.

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(Cub days)

As Eleka grew, among all her special friends, she became especially close to her "big brother" Seidon, and "big sister" Luna (more so to Luna in search of a mother figure) who, though young apprentices, did their best to give her a supportive and loving family. She loved playing with the older members of the empire, and as she realized they were not so easily injured by her roughhousing, became more and more rambunctious with her playing (such as throwing herself at her big brother with full force). She easily became friends with most of the cats in the empire. Growing up without a specific mother or father to teach her the ways of the world, and an ever-changing variation of set tolerances with whoever she was with, Eleka kept her sweet, and playful innate nature, but also developed a spoiled side with her spitfire attitude and unwillingness to let others get the better of her. She developed a unique ability to sweet-talk her older "siblings" into getting out of trouble... most of the time. She was especially jealous of the ocelynx cubs, Evira, Roanoke, and Argyl as they appeared to form a complete family (with gladiator parents), whereas she was without parents (besides the older apprentices that she only considered siblings, not parental figures). She did have her fair share of adult exposure to help guide her in her cubhood (Thalia, Itzal, Atticus, and Drake to name a few), but she always wanted more than that. A tangible, full family that she could call her own. She never developed a strong relationship with the empire cub caretaker, as her affections were spread amongst all the cubs in the empire.  She developed an almost paranoid need to ensure that her family remained hers, and became extremely jealous when other same aged cubs interacted more intimately with Seidon or Luna, shunning them with verbal jabs or arguing with them.

(Teen days)

With her coming of age, Eleka was granted the ability to become an apprentice. She grew much closer with the male figure in her life, Seidon, fawning all over him in efforts to please him. As a tomboy, she developed stronger relationships with the males of the empire, seeking them out over being around females (except a select few). Being that Seidon was never one to speak with her using harsh words (and letting her get away with more), she tended to become closer to him than any other cat in the empire. She became incredibly proud when it was announced that Seidon would become her mentor.

Time passed and it was a dream come true for her, training alongside her big brother and mentor, Seidon, and fending off a newly acquired and pesky brother, Zemar, until one fateful day. During a peaceful meeting between the shadow and lightning empires, they were suddenly attacked by a small, but skilled group of Bounty Hunters. Despite their overwhelming numbers, many cats were captured, including Thalia, Indra and Tuko, and Eleka's front left canine was knocked out of her mouth. Losing Thalia was a big hit to Eleka, as she cared for her when she was very young (with a special, strange mixture of Thalia love and discipline). Eleka believed it was her fault that the cats were taken, that she was not strong enough and got in the way of the others. After some time thinking deeply, Eleka came to the conclusion that she wanted to do more than just train along side her mentor, Seidon. She wanted to keep anything bad from ever happening to her family again. After making the difficult decision to leave the side of her big brother, for the greater good, she approached the blacksmith Sullas and requested apprenticeship from her, so she could do more than just fight for her empire. At 11 months old, she was received as apprentice and found herself with not one, but two mentors, as Seidon remained her mentor for her gladiator training. She became the 2nd blacksmith apprentice, alongside the current one, Strider.

(Blacksmith Training)

During Eleka's apprenticeship, she experienced a bit of a conflict between herself and Seidon. It hurt her to see him lacking confidence, and she was helpless to help him regain his footing, being a young teenager with little grasp of her own emotions. The friends she use to be more competitive against as a cub, became her closest friends, mainly a young leopard, Scratch, and her cubhood rival, Zemar. She longed for interactions like she use to have with her big brother, Seidon, and her big sister, Luna. In her own lack of understanding of her emotions and where she stood with them, she became a bit distant with her adopted siblings, although she would always love them for who they were.

7 months after she became a blacksmith apprentice, the war happened. Eleka did her best to help repair armor for the other cats in the empire, but she was limited in her knowledge. After the war and as she grew older and more experienced in her trade however, she did get quite a few armor sets under her collar. During the war, Luna lost her mate, Atticus, and Philos was captured. Thankfully, she didn't lose anyone else she had deep connections to this time. Thalia and many others were returned to the empire, Thalia being carried along, half-dead, and 5 young cats, around 10 months old, trailing after her. Shortly after, it was found they were Thalia's children, sired by Laertes.

After the war, Laertes was banished from the empire. He was accompanied by one of his daughters, and another left shortly after, leaving Thalia with two sons, and a small daughter. Thalia wasn't the same..

Life returned to normal, and seemed fairly peaceful. Philos returned to the empire 3 months after the war ended, much to the excitement of the empire. Eleka worked hard during her time as an apprentice, training daily. When she wasn't working in the forge, she was hauling cats after her to collect supplies. Eventually, she even fostered a young lioness, Mulligan. Although not deeming herself skilled enough to be a good mother figure, Eleka swore to guide her newfound young friend the best she could as an elder sister.

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With the passing away of her mentor from old age, and Strider disappearing, Eleka rose to become the empire's head blacksmith at 2 years and 7 months of age. She took her Philos as her apprentice.

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-Her stub tail is not genetic

-She is larger than most females due to her barbary genes, rivaling the size of a full grown male lion

-Eleka is tough and not afraid of meeting new cats

-Eleka has an overwhelming, paranoid jealously of other cats moving in on her family

-Eleka's only weakspot is disappointing the ones she considered closest (tho she might not act that way to save face) _lol

-Her left canine was knocked out during the Lightning / Shadow / Bounty Hunter raid by a hunter named Azrael (although she doesn't remember)

-She is the half sister to Shani

-Eleka is Araceli's blood niece, and Damasen and Eros' cousin

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