Giuseppe

Rowena (Cousin)

## Application Sheet

Giuseppe was a pale ivory-coated male wolf with long, wispy fur framing his face. A cousin of Archqueen Rowena of Mhor, he was very close to his mother, Ileana. His story continues as he serves the pack as a Mage. Giuseppe was created and RP'd by IraWolfeh.

## Personality

Giuseppe is a kind and gentle soul, making him very trusting in others. This is perhaps his most fatal flaw as he often expects more of others than he should. He's very susceptible to being mistreated, especially since he's rather easy-going and generally won't advocate for himself. This also extends to him not taking credit for his own accomplishments. He doesn't like attention so he won't acknowledge his own skills, even if they are brought up. His quiet, but kind nature make him easily approachable, much to his own displeasure. He certainly has no issues with others in his belief that all are good-natured and well-meaning, but he'd much rather keep to himself than engage in conversation. When he does speak, he can hardly be heard due to his quiet voice, but there is no mistaking the clear expression of his own thoughts in his speech. Anyone who had listened to him for long is sure to realize just how much Giu has to say despite the young male hardly ever speaking his mind.

If you don't overwhelm him, he'll be sure to open up to you in his own way. Patience and kindness goes a long way with him. Leaving him be and letting him open up to you himself is how Giuseppe prefers things. He generally keeps to himself and doesn't speak of his worries. Should he have problems, he keeps quiet about them and often won't even address his own feelings. He'd much rather pretend a problem doesn't exist than face it.

From a young age, Giu has always marched to the beat of his own drum even if he was considered "weird" by others for doing so. He likes what he likes and he is unapologetic for doing so. From the time he was a pup and even now into his adulthood, he's easily distracted by practically everything. Sometimes, he'll even unintentionally distract himself should he be in a social interaction he doesn't particularly want to be in.

Though Giu has many child-like qualities about him and seems the type to need to be taken care of, he himself likes to be the one to look after others and his gentle nature makes him a good care-taker (a quality that his mother believes would've made him a rather good Cleric).

## Pre-Group History

Mhor had once been a strong grand pack, one with traditions that had been passed on for generations. After a great civil war that tore the pack apart, the Mhorians were reduced to but a fraction of their former glory. The remaining Mhorians, descendants of the survivors of the Calamity, had taken on a nomadic lifestyle as they searched for the perfect place to rebuild their once glorious pack. One autumn morning, during one of the pack's many stops in their journey, a single pale pup was born. His birth had been unexpected as it was earlier than the healing-figures of the pack had anticipated. As a result of the pup's early arrival, he was of a pitiful size and scarcely had the strength to move. Had he been born in the wintertime, he was later told, he would not have survived.

Perhaps it was due to his sickliness, or maybe due to the fact that he was her sole child, but the pale he-pup was endlessly worried over by his mother. His mother, Ileana, fussed over her child from the moment he entered the world. Though other pack "healers" had been tasked with helping her take care of her sickly newborn son, Ileana (being a "healer" of the pack herself) insisted on being the only one to look after him. The pup's father, Alchalar, took a more "hands off" approach to the caring of his young son, though Ileana cared little. In the end, Ileana had the stronger presence in her son's early puphood.

The pup, named Giuseppe, soon ceased to be one of the only pups among the small band of Mhorians. During the winter immediately following Giu's birth, three new pups were welcomed into the world. Unfortunately, of the three, only one survived that winter: Rowena. Giuseppe, being as small as he was, had miraculously survived.

As he grew older, Giu began to be taught the various Mhorian cutstoms and beliefs. More often than not, Ileana took on the responsibility of teaching, but every so often Alchalar and other Mhorian packmates shared their knowledge. Through his mother's stories, Giu learned of the Otherworld, reincarnation, and many of the other important aspects of Mhorian beliefs. Early on, Giuseppe found himself completely in awe of all he was told. These early teachings sparked a keen interest in every aspect of Mhor and the world around him that would remain with Giu from that point on.

By springtime, the Mhorians began their journey once more. Giuseppe had mostly lost the sickliness he'd had as a young pup, but his timid nature he'd always had remained. Being as shy as he was, Giu found it hard to make friends, despite his mother's attempts to get him to socialize with the other Mhorian pups. He had his mother, so why did he need any other friends? From his puphood into the time he was a juvenile, Giu was practically joined at his mother's hip. But like a lot of childhood habits, Giu eventually grew out of his clinginess. As he aged, he became more independent and spent a good deal of his time wandering about by himself, never straying too far from his small band of packmates. He began taking part in reflection vigils and his puphood curiosities about his Mhorian culture grew. By the time he was an adult, he'd already begun diligently working towards becoming a mage.

While he was working towards being a part of The Academy, his cousin Rowena had an even greater task ahead of her. During one of the pack's reflection vigils, Rowena had had a vision, one that had convinced her father that she was the reincarnation of a Mhorian archqueen from generations ago. From that moment forward, she'd been treated as their archruler. Giu was by no means skeptical of Rowena being the reincarnation of a past archruler, but he always wondered what it was like for her to be born with such an important role to carry out. So much was expected of her and Giu was secretly glad that he hadn't been born the reincarnation of someone with such big shoes to fill.

The relative good fortune the small pack had experienced in recent years soon ended as a sickness quickly overtook their band. Packmates he'd known his whole life were dying one-by-one and Giu feared that he'd soon be next. As if by some miracle, by the end of it all, he and his family had somehow managed to survive. The same could not be said for many. Wolves lost siblings, parents, mates, and even children. The spirits of the pack were at their lowest and Giu did what he did best: retreated within himself and did what he could to remain distracted from the pack's misfortune. Vigils became his escape, and more often than he had before he retreated to secluded spaces to find comfort in his own company. From time to time, his mother checked on him, but never did he express his feelings about the loss of his packmates to her. He knew his mother was shaken by their loss every bit as much as he, if not more. After all, she was a "healer" so it was likely that she was taking the losses as her own personal failure. Giu didn't want to burden her with his feelings when she herself was suffering.

In the spring, still grieving the loss of so many of their packmates, the band of Mhorians continued onward. Things were starting to look up, but then something happened that would shake the pack once more.

Giu had always been a light sleeper, but even if he hadn't been, the commotion that broke out one summer night would've been enough to wake him. A fight had broken out, and despite the fact that he couldn't immediately see who it was, his father's voice was unmistakeable. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. His packmates pushed past each other, jostling his small body as they fought to break up the fight. Shouting, screaming, crying; they all rang in his ears and he prayed that it would all stop. His mother's words were the only ones he could make out as he retreated to the sidelines, covering his ears with his paws once he'd found a place he could be apart from the chaos. *"Alchalar, please!"* Ileana repeated her words over and over, up until her voice grew hoarse. After what seemed like an eternity, the fighting ended, and by the end of it Giuseppe was no less distraught than he had been when it had begun. His father, along with a few others, were chased off of Mhorian lands. With the chaos of everything having subsided, the aftermath of the fight became clear. Alchalar, the father he had believed to be so righteous and good, had taken his own brother's life.

His father had intended to take Rowena's life, but Renwythe had sacrificed himself for the sake of his daughter. Giuseppe had heard his father's complaints about Rowena's leadership on occasion, but he'd always thought they were nothing more than that. Never had he expected his father to do something like *this.* He found his father's betrayal hard to accept, and Ileana took it especially hard. Both had been blindsided by his actions as each had believed Alchalar capable of no wrong-doing. In time, Giuseppe eventually came to terms with what his father had done and accepted it as his father doing something terrible with seemingly "good" intentions. He'd wanted what was best for the pack, but he'd gone too far in that pursuit.

The pack put the tragedy behind them and a still-grieving Rowena led what remained of the Mhorian band north to new lands. Harsh winter snows forced them all to take refuge sooner than expected, but the Mhorians made the best of their situation. They decided their days of traveling could finally cease and they made their home in a valley far north.

## Trivia

* Giuseppe is an old soul who finds beauty in the most ordinary of things.

## External Links

* Official Application Sheet
* IraWolfeh's deviantART Gallery