Metalstar

## Appearance & Personality

Metalstar is a giant, standing much taller than the average cat. He has a short gray pelt and a faded, darker gray underbelly. He has a sharp tail tip. His pelt is dotted with darker and lighter gray speckles. His eyes are extremely shiny and textured. Their brown and gray coloration gives them the illusion of looking like polished metal.

He is a man of few words. His silence speaks volumes about him, however. He's an incredible listener, and learns much about his Clanmates because of that. Knowing everything about a cat is infinitely stronger than knowing the battle moves to defeat them. Metalstar grows angry easily, but refuses to take that rage out on any cat, no matter how deserving they are. He'll simply lash his tail or flatten his ears. Deep, deep down, Metalstar is a lost soul who wishes for peace, without the means to achieve such.

## Brief History

Born as English into a kittypet fighting ring, the tom spent his first fifteen moons in continual battle. Once abandoning his kittypet life and aggression, the tom lived as a rogue. The Clans interested him, and after some time of deliberation, he chose to join them, joining ShadowClan. His life as a warrior was insignificant until the time of Nightwing's reign, in which he realized that staying quiet forever would better life for no cats. He stepped down, becoming Hailstar's ally, and eventually, her deputy. He became leader a moon later, when all of her lives were lost in a catastrophic landslide. He picked Foxwind as his deputy the next night.

## Detailed History

#### Kittypethood & Lonership

English was born into a vicious kittypet fighting ring. His parents had been selected by the twolegs that owned him, and he'd been specifically bred to be big and strong. He certainly was - by only six moons, English was a monster, towering over the competition. Every day, he would be placed in a box with another cat, and made to fight while the twolegs watching cheered. English thought the world of it, thinking he was the closest to a lion a cat could ever be. He was fearsome and vicious, and the twolegs loved him for it. Never once did he think of this life as abuse. He thought he was the definition of a cat.

One night, when he was about fifteen moons old, his twolegs didn't return home. Starving, English escaped from his crate, raiding the twoleg kitchen for food. He was admittedly distressed by his twolegs' absence - it meant that he could not fight that night. After eating his fill, he waited patiently on the counter, but by dawn, they had not returned. This time of waiting had given him lots of time to think, and in truth, English was enjoying being in control of his life. He padded around his twolegs' home until nightfall, taking in all of the rooms and sights he'd never been exposed to, before the door slammed open. Twolegs stinking of the fighting ring barged in, calling his name, but none of them were his. English realized that if he showed himself, they'd make him fight more, and the longer he stayed out of that cage, the more he realized how much his claws ached, how much his whole body ached. He realized that he hated this life of fighting, and so instead of returning to his life of war, he escaped through a nearby window, becoming a loner.

English taught himself how to hunt and patch up cuts with leaves. He had a small den for himself in the hills of the mesa, a narrow tunnel which he filled with leaves, prey, and moss. He'd met other cats, but didn't tell any of them about his past. He wanted to start over again. He was known by the locals as 'the loner.' He remained a peaceful loner for some moons, until the passing cats began talking of Clans. He attended one of these Clan meetings, where he caught a glimpse of some of the Clan founders. Listening to Icestar's proposal of a Warrior Code, English spent many nights deciding whether or not to abandon his den and join these Clans. As it turned out, his current home was included in ShadowClan's territory, and though the founders were willing to let him continue to live there and share the territory, he decided to change his life again, packing up and joining ShadowClan with all the prey he had. He was given a new name - he would be known as Metaleyes.

#### Warriorhood

Because of his size and hunting skills, Metaleyes was a prime choice as a mentor, and was assigned an apprentice named Fawnpaw. She was a light brown tabby she-cat, and a former kittypet, like him. Though he was still adjusting to a life surrounded by so many cats, he felt as though he could handle training Fawnpaw just fine, and he cared a lot about making his apprentice into a strong warrior. Metaleyes was struggling to suppress his aggression and anger around so many cats, though. He couldn't help becoming infuriated whenever something was going wrong. He was slowly getting better, day by day. It was hard to adjust from complete isolation to teamwork. However, while he succeeded, Fawnpaw did not. His apprentice ran away in the dead of night. Metaleyes and a patrol of other cats searched the territory for her, but her scent ended at the ocean, and the cats had to assume she'd died there. Though the entire Clan grieved for Fawnpaw, Metaleyes took it the hardest.

He blamed himself fully for her disappearance. Metaleyes shut down completely, sticking to the shadows. He didn't put himself out in the open again, refusing to train apprentices, and rushing through his duties. He was like this for Graystar's entire reign, and the entirety of Hailfall's deputyship. He was on the verge of leaving forever... but then Nightwing rose to power.

Metaleyes nearly left that day, but had a revelation of sorts. If he continued his ways of staying away from his own Clan and chose to continue being invisible, nothing would change, and they would suffer long after he left. Metaleyes pulled himself together, choosing to support Hailfall, and abandoned Nightwing's camp. He helped rebuild their new camp, and guarded it nearly constantly, earning the attention of many of the rebels. When Blazepaw begged Hailfall to join the rebels, terrified of Nightwing and her crew, Metaleyes saw Fawnpaw in him. He saw Blazepaw as a stronger Fawnpaw, nearly at the end of his wit, and so he asked Hailfall if he could train the young tom. She accepted, and Metaleyes finally became a productive member of the Clan. He was respected at last.

When the rebels launched an attack on Nightwing and her crew, Metaleyes fought no cats. He broke up a battle between rebel apprentices and loyal apprentices - specifically, Thrushpaw, Blazepaw, and Smokepaw teaming up against Raptorpaw, a she-cat loyal to Nightwing. Metaleyes couldn't believe that other cats were blaming Raptorpaw for her decision. She was only an apprentice. Once they took down Nightwing and regained order of the Clan, Metaleyes spoke with her, as well as her brother, Heronpaw, wanting the apprentices to forgive themselves for their choice. Raptorpaw remained closed off to him, but Heronpaw quite liked Metaleyes. Both Heronpaw and Raptorpaw would become warriors soon, but Metaleyes found himself wishing that in another life, he could mentor them.

#### Deputyship

At this point, Metaleyes was a very trusted warrior. Hailstar would often leave him in charge of watching camp while she was out, as she had not yet picked a deputy. When she did pick at last, however, Metaleyes was appalled. He was now the deputy of ShadowClan. And while anxiety about the incredible responsibility he now had weighed down on him, he was determined to make it up to the Clan he'd neglected for moons. He accepted his position with his head up, looking forward to working closely with Hailstar. However, immediately after selecting him, Hailstar was attacked when she was out alone on a walk. After several hours of watching camp alone, Metaleyes left to look for her. She'd been rendered immobile after fighting Silver and losing a life. He carried his leader back to camp as quickly as he could, leaving right after to track down Rowanwolf or Firewatcher. And though he didn't know who Silver was or why Hailstar had fought her, he buried the rogue she-cat, knowing that once she'd healed, Hailstar would explain herself. She did, explaining her past with her sister, and how she'd tried to kill her many times. Metaleyes simply reassured her in explaining that now she was dead, and could not kill her any more.

Their peace was short-lived. At the next Gathering, Sulfurstar appeared, claiming responsibility for the drought that was plaguing their land. Metaleyes was unimpressed until Glitch, a cat he recognized from the Gatherings of The Median, shoved Sulfurstar off of the stone, where he was killed by Shiningheart. Metaleyes was horrified as Glitch took a life from each leader, including Hailstar, and rushed over to her as soon as the coast was cleared, demanding ShadowClan make their way home while he helped her back. Glitch did not appear at the following Gatherings, much to Metaleyes' relief. Perhaps the Council of Nine had done something about her... though the tom had his doubts.

Metaleyes was rather popular with the Clan now, having redeemed himself, changing from a fiercely-introverted average warrior to an intimidating deputy. He even gave Gravelcave and Goldcloud their warrior names. However, one cat consistently disrespected him. Smokeclaw, the same tom who - as an apprentice - had been captured by Nightwing and started the final battle in the first place, all because he wanted to satisfy his ego and take down his fake sister. He often irritated the young warrior, not because he particularly disliked him, but because he was very similar to how Metaleyes himself had been at his age.

Otherwise, Metaleyes got along with the cats of his Clan. He was a diligent deputy, and straight to the point. If you were out of line, he'd point it out and help you get back in your place. He was on a walk with Hailstar one fateful evening, discussing patrols and Clan activity on the border, as they often discussed. The drought had only worsened as the moons had dragged along, and their Clan was finally feeling the pain. Patrols were returning empty handed. Metaleyes explained the situation to Hailstar, who attempted to provide a solution, before tragedy struck. The heat had caused significant stress on the cliffs and arches of the mesa where ShadowClan made their home, and Hailstar was crushed beneath an avalanche. There was nothing Metaleyes could do but stand back and listen as Hailstar lost every single one of her lives, one by one. He remained in shock for hours, returning to his camp late at night to bury her with the rest of his warriors.

#### Leadership

As soon as he sent out a patrol of cats to bury their leader, Metaleyes set off for the Moongarden. He was fiercely unwilling to allow this to happen to any cat under his leadership, and so he went alone and immediately, to minimize the chance of his untimely death. There, in StarClan, he indeed received the lives of a leader, as well as the wishes of some of the life-givers. Stormwatcher asked him to let Icefall know that he was watching over her. Graystar asked him to go easy on Smokeclaw. Perhaps the most peculiar of all of the givers was a RiverClan warrior named Pebblefrost, who mentioned her untimely death. The newly named Metalstar couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about her.

Immediately upon returning to camp, Metalstar was met with news that Rowanwolf had abandoned the Clan. He was furious - how could a medicine cat abandon her duties, when they had all just lost their leader? He announced to all warriors that they needed to stay alert for any rogue scent, knowing that he had to find the medicine cat. Fixing his Clan, Metalstar made some long needed changes, starting with promoting Thrushpaw - the half-blind apprentice who was now twenty moons old - to the status of warrior. He also accepted Icefall and Brighteyes' pleas to become elders. The Clan rested that night with the addition of a new warrior in Thrushscar and new elders in Icefall and Brighteyes.

Metalstar wanted to pick a deputy as fast as he could. He was eyeing several warriors who could potentially succeed him, but none immediately jumped out at him. He opted to instead take individual patrols with the warriors of the Clan, speaking to them one-on-one. Foxwind was one such cat, and when Metalstar expressed his concerns with Rowanwolf running away and Hailstar dying, Foxwind insisted that ShadowClan was strong enough to take it, and urged Metalstar to move on and help the Clan. It was this conversation, in front of the tumbled rocks that had killed Hailstar, when Metalstar found his deputy. Returning to camp, he announced that Foxwind would be the next deputy of the Clan, much to their excitement. He also took this opportunity to explain to Icefall that Stormwatcher was watching her from the sky above, and he lifted the elder's stress significantly.

## Lives

01) The Life of Patience, given by Cheetahpath, his Clan's first medicine cat

02) The Life of Compassion, given by Kestrelfall, a Council of Nine cat

03) The Life of Perception, given by Pebblefrost, a mysterious RiverClan warrior

04) The Life of Honesty, given by Chamomilepelt, an elder of ShadowClan

05) The Life of Friendship, given by Rainbowstar, the first leader of WindClan

06) The Life of Parenthood, given by Doeeyes, a Council of Nine cat

07) The Life of Certainty, given by Icestar, a Council of Nine cat and founder of the Clans

08) The Life of Strength, given by Stormwatcher, a brave warrior of his Clan

09) The Life of Resilience, given by Graystar, a Council of Nine cat and his Clan's first leader

* Life 1: Intact
* Life 2: Intact
* Life 3: Intact
* Life 4: Intact
* Life 5: Intact
* Life 6: Intact
* Life 7: Intact
* Life 8: Intact
* Life 9: Intact