Nouri

Tahmina and Issa (Nieces)

Nineveh and Anshar (Nephews)

## Application Sheet

Nouri was a brown-furred male wolf with emerald green eyes. He served Xassa as a Theta Marduk, and was one of his nephew, Cyrus Nineveh's, most trusted advisors. His story is ongoing. He was created and RP'd by LESter66.

## Personality

* ***Retrospective*.** Nouri has a resigned, objective view of life; he doesn’t feel that he personally has been dealt an unfair hand, but he *has* suffered losses, including his only sister very shortly before the end of Hassan’s Silence, and he has watched too many wolves younger than himself die. He often finds himself lost in thought, traveling deep down memory lane. He is also becoming quite conscious of the fact that the majority of his life is behind him.
* ***Tired and Cynical*.** Nouri’s seen a lot, and with events in Xassa taking such a difficult turn for everyone in the pack during Hassan’s Silence, the sickness, and the fire, Nouri is feeling some emotional and empathetic fatigue. This compounds with the fact that he simply isn’t *quite* the wolf he once was physically, to cause him to feel pretty beaten down a lot of the time.
* ***Sarcastic*.** While not spiteful, Nouri is never above dealing out a dose of scornful mockery if he thinks you might deserve it, or just to tease, if he likes you. He has a deceptively mild, sardonic manner.
* ***Kind*.** Despite himself, Nouri is kind at heart. Sometimes it exhausts him; when a part of him just wants to not care, because caring is hard, another part of him still won’t let him off the hook. If he can help someone in need, he will.
* ***Supportive and Patient.*** Partly by nature and partly due to the long-ago wisdom of his father as he taught him to put everything he had into helping care for their clan, Nouri has an intrinsic desire to help and support others, emotionally as well as physically. To this end, Nouri is very patient and not judgmental with other wolves. You can come to him with any problem, even a mistake.
* ***Languorous*.** However, you’re going to have to rouse him if you want to take advantage of his help. Until you do, Nouri is likely to be found inert, sunning himself on the warmest rock of a morning or dozing in the shade of a hot afternoon. He likes to call it energy efficiency.
* ***Sharp and Observant*.** Capable and quick-witted, Nouri's mildness can sometimes be deceiving. He watches; he listens; and he tucks knowledge away for whenever it might become useful.
* ***Eloquent and Conversationalist.*** Nouri can be quite eloquent when he chooses, though especially as he gets older, he is conscious of how much space he takes up in a conversation. He is a good conversationalist, seeming to know exactly when to speak, when to listen and how to get right to the heart of a matter when necessary.

## Pre-Group History

Nouri and his sister Farrah were born in a small, nomadic pack that scraped out a hard living in the harsh lands of the South. Their father taught them to survive by a philosophy of hard work and willingness to sacrifice for the good of the clan. While confident, spunky Farrah reveled in the joys of their roving lifestyle, as a juvenile Nouri began rebelling against their philosophy, growing disillusioned with the hard work and selflessness life as loners required. He argued often with his father.

When the siblings were two years old, a freak accident in a flooded canyon separated Nouri and his sister from their clan, and though they held out hope their family survived, they never found them again. The young wolves barely scraped by; and finally, Nouri learned the value of the self-sacrifice and work ethic his father had tried to instill in him as he and Farrah leaned on one another just to get through each day. But if life had been difficult for a small band in the demanding landscape, it was harder still for two young wolves alone, and when they stumbled entirely by accident upon Xassa, exhausted and hungry, they joined the pack, knowing another opportunity for a better life might never come their way.

Farrah thrived in Xassa with the same confidence and joy she brought to everything, blossoming into a respected member of the pack. It took Nouri longer to adapt, but as the weeks stretched into months in their new home, he too came to care deeply for his newfound family. Only wishing that he would have shown his father and his birth clan the same dedication, he threw himself into becoming a Marduk, a warrior and guard of Xassa, in order to protect and care for them all. He watched with pride as Farrah caught the eye of Cyrus Zagros, and with delight as she brought his nephews into the world. Laying the shame and struggle of his past to rest, Nouri built his happiness over the years watching his sister, nephews and all of Xassa living their lives, finally at peace with his place in the world.

Nouri was affected deeply by the pack’s suffering when the sickness struck. Xassa’s numbers dwindled as more were taken by sickness, fire and misfortune. Finally, in short succession, the illness took his beloved sister Farrah and his brother-in-law, Cyrus Zagros. A grieving Nouri faces the uncertainty surrounding the end of Xassa’s seclusion with the trepidation of a wolf who had thought life’s biggest challenges were behind him; but no matter how uncertain the future, what remains rock-solid is his love and loyalty to what is left of his family.

## Trivia

* Nouri considered his sister Farrah to be his better half. He deeply admired her spunk, intelligence and confidence and misses her enormously.

## External Links

* Official Application Sheet
* LESter66's deviantART Gallery