Dunestar

Dunestar was a medium-large, long limbed tomcat that sported a body that was strong and lined with muscle, especially in his legs and chest due to his habit of wading in the marshes. His tail was short, a good deal shorter than the average cats (Quarter mixed Manx Bobtail decent), and later kinked due to lasting damage from losing one of his lives. As he aged, he attempted to keep himself in shape and ready to tackle any adversity, but as pain slowly crept into the later moons of his leadership, he became more sinewy and lost weight.

Dunestar’s dense, short coat was a ticked taupe, fawn coloring over most of his body, although his belly and his tail tip was white. He had primal tabby markings that were faintly visible on his face, legs and tail with broken up ghost streaks on his hind. His wide, angled face had a scar that crossed diagonally across his nose and his eyes were round and hazel in hue.

Dunestar was a cat who attempted to see the silver lining in everything and believed that all cats were capable of bettering themselves no better through times of hardship. Through hardship a cat’s true nature shined, and while he was a cat bound to duty to his clan he always tried to be available and friendly towards his clanmates should any need arise. His seriousness and confidence was often embellished for the sake of his clan, although at heart he was a rather light-hearted, even mischievous, tom.

• Born in the Moon of Unnamed Blue (2013) 044
• Died in the Moon of First White (2019) 127

Dunestar, named Sandkit at the night of his birth, was the sole surviving kit of Frondbristle (A spotted fawn tabby point with a bobbed tail) out of Brackenfreeze (blue ticked torbie with low white) who was the daughter of Aspenbright, former Shadowclan deputy.

As a kit he got into some usual kit like antics; playing with moss balls, bugs and the like, and began to emulate what it might take to become a warrior, and always tried his best to be attentive to direction even if he was a bit energetic.

As an apprentice, given the name of Sandpaw, (Moon of Leopard’s Rest 2013) he was partnered with a mentor that might be more suited to his rambunctious behavior, and over the moons learned to hone his strengths while uplifting and correcting his weaknesses, mainly his focus that was required for more delicate lessons. His recklessness nearly caused him to drown in the marsh when he was dragged under by a large fish.

Nevertheless, when he became a warrior at 13 moons (Moon of Long Sun 2014), he earned the name Dunehaul from his fight with the fish in returning to shore. His warriorhood was punctuated with the usual border conflicts during times of hardship, as well as the occasional hunting incident and the accumulation of minor scars. His diligence and capacity to provide was rewarded with an apprentice at 27 moons (Moon of Lion’s Glory 2015) where he was chosen to replace the deputy a moon later at 28 moons (Moon of Unnamed Blue 2015).

Dunehaul was a patient, sometimes lenient mentor but always encouraged the best from his apprentice, even if that meant learning hard lessons. His apprentice received his warrior name without a hitch and continued to provide for the clan as deputy to the best of his abilities. At 48 moons (Moon of Melting Water’s 2017) he received his nine lives and became Dunestar.

Dunestar provided and did his best to protect his clan, leading to a loss of lives that would eventually lead to his death:

1. Loss of life due to wounds inflicted by a heron during hunting patrol
2. Loss of life due to protecting a kit from a snake that had infiltrated camp (poisoned)
3. Loss of life due to Whitecough
4. Loss of life to infection caused by rat bites
5. Loss of life defending apprentice from rogue attack near the border, kinking tail
6. Loss of life due to dry drowning during hunting incident
7. Loss of life defending borders during confrontation
8. Loss of life preventing another warrior getting hit by a monster
9. Loss of final life to Whitecough (Moon of First White 2019)

• Dunestar had two biological kits, both she-cats, of which at least one is still living. These she-cats would have been born a month or two before his death, which would make both of them 12-13 moons of age from (Moon of Cheetah’s Flight 2020).
• Potentially other biological kits (20+ moons)
• Dunestar is the grand-kit of Aspenbright, Shadowclan’s former Deputy and one of the original Four for the Future cats, who followed her desires to provide kits for her clan.