Rowena

## Application Sheet

Rowena was a pale golden-furred she-wolf with light jade eyes. She was born into a family that carried on the traditions of Mhor, and was believed to be the reincarnation of a former Archqueen, Aewen. She gathered followers and brought them to the Domain, creating a reborn Mhor with herself as the Archqueen. Her familiar was a common raven named Larken. Her story continues to develop. Rowena was created and RP'd by iBadge.

## Personality

* ***Empathetic, Sage, and Dedicated.*** At the end of the day, Rowena has a great deal more to her than she’d give herself credit for. Wiser and more sage than most might recognize, she takes a careful approach to all she does and sees far more than most would expect, and she sticks both to her instincts and by her packmates’ sides with a fierce dedication to put even the most powerful of other packs’ gods to shame. That dedication bleeds into a strong sense of empathy - she struggles to understand each and every new situation and the wolves that present them to her. And she does this not just because she feels like she should, but because she genuinely *cares*. Rowena has a good heart, a sound mind, and a strong sense of loyalty.
* ***Moralistic and Questioning.*** Partially due to her upbringing as a Mhorian, but also because of an inherent sense of principal, Rowena has a strong concept of morals and is determined to stand by them. She takes being a moral and upstanding wolf very seriously - but as such, in many ways, she questions what so much of it all *means*. She can easily get lost in semantics, or get nervous about the implications of a decision.
* ***Charming, Quirky, Erratic, and Clumsy.*** There’s a certain charm to Rowena that, truthfully, probably takes getting used to. She’s always been a quirky, spontaneous, and an erratic wolf to the point where some might even think she’s unstable. She does things on a whim, and this is the kind of she-wolf who’s more likely to prance than walk, who’s more likely to smell something even when she knows it’ll smell bad. She does odd things simply because she can and does. What’s more, she’s rather clumsy both on a physical and sometimes emotional level. She makes mistakes and trips up, in more ways than one, as hard as she tries not to. It’s enough to endear her to some who may think she takes herself a little too seriously.
* ***Self-conscious, Insecure, and Vulnerable.*** From a very young age, it was expected from Rowena that she be a leader. The Archqueen. Their small band of pack wolves had never named an Archruler, but Rowena’s father had always been steadfast that she was meant to be their alpha, the reincarnation of a phenomenal wolf that had led the pack until a bitter, bloody death. As such, the weight of such responsibility and expectation has been almost too heavy for Rowena to handle. As hard as she’s tried, she’s extremely self-conscious, and over aware of the fact that any screwup on her part could mean disaster for the wolves around her. She doubts herself, perhaps to an unhealthy degree, and it sometimes leaves her open and vulnerable to negative influences.

## Pre-Group History

They were not from the Domain. In plains far to the south, within a half-collapsed rabbit warren, a small litter of pups was born in the bitter dead of winter to a dwindling band of survivors that had come from dark forests far, far to the north. Two of the pups, a male and female, had faded away by spring before their lives had truly even begun. In the end, the only surviving puppy was a small white and golden she-pup, which her parents had named Rowena. By the time spring came, she was old and sturdy enough to travel, and so the small band moved on from the warren, and wandered.

From the time she was old enough to understand what she was being told, Rowena was immersed in the traditions and lore of Mhor. Her father, Renwythe, was her primary teacher, though all who traveled with them took turns in giving this precious youngling the lessons she would need to survive. From puphood, she was raised to know one thing: she was a Mhorian. She learned what that all entailed. She learned how their small band of ragtag wolves was the remnant of a once revered and grand pack, but that pack had been torn apart by civil war and strife. None who taught her seemed to know what had caused the conflict, or what had precisely happened. They only knew the end result, and that end result was the reality that Rowena, her family, and their friends now lived.

Her life changed, however, when she was just eight months old. Their band had found a small grove, a place that Renwythe decided would make a perfect spot for a vigil for their group. It was here, surrounded by friends and family, that Rowena would have her very first reflection vigil. It was one that she would never forget. In a half-hypnotic state, the young she-pup watched blood being shed as wolves she didn’t know turned on each other and stained hard, icy snow red. It was a horrific, terrible vision, one that ended with one grief-stricken, angry howl; when Rowena opened her eyes, she realized it was *her* own howl that had pierced her ears. The other wolves with her were all staring, and it was then that her father embraced her.

“We had no idea she’d return to us,” he’d said. “You’ve come back. My grandmother told us stories of you, Aewen. We’ll do you proud, my Archqueen.”

From that moment forward, Rowena was treated as the reincarnation of a Mhorian Archqueen long past. For generations, it seemed, there had been no Archruler to lead Mhor, as none of the wolves that had come before felt up to the task. Rowena, still so very young, didn’t see how she was different, but wanted to please her parents, please the wolves around her. So she did her best to play the part, and eventually came to believe that the visions she saw, and the dreams she would continue to have, were messages sent from her former life, from Aewen, the last Archqueen of former Mhor.

For over a year, Rowena was trained vigorously in the various tasks that her fellow travelers had been taught about in Mhorian custom. She grew from juvenile to a gangly young adult, and while a great deal changed, one thing did not: she was regarded as Rowena, the new Archqueen of Mhor. Her compatriots didn’t really seem to know what that meant, or what that meant for *her*, but she always did her best to take care of those around her.

Until the winter when Rowena turned two. An illness fell over their band, and their band of stragglers went from a small number to even fewer. Rowena’s own mother Helena was among those that passed away, and it was a loss that Rowena took personally. Had she been trained better, could she have saved her? If she had been a better leader, could the sickness have been avoided? It was a hard winter.

But as the world began to warm again, and spring began to blossom, Rowena had another dream, another vision. A wolf that looked eerily like her mother, and sounded like her too, urged the young Archqueen to lead their band back to the north. When Ro told her father of the vision, he immediately agreed, and their group began to trek northward. For many long weeks, they traveled.

Their journey, however, would have one last twist.

It happened just as summer was beginning to heat the world around their band, on the night of a full moon. Rowena was in the midst of a dream, her packmates keeping their own reflection vigils around her, when suddenly within the dream, she could hear the vicious sounds of a fight. They seemed so real… until it turned out that they were.

Rowena was jostled awake when some of her packmates pushed her away from a vicious, bloody fight that had broken out between Rowena’s father, Renwythe, and his brother Alchalar. Other wolves joined in the brawl, and by the fight's end, loyal Mhorians had driven away Alchalar and two other packmates with him. Renwythe lay bleeding out from his wounds, his blood turning the small stream they had all been sitting by red. He died moments later, Rowena hovering over him, begging him to stay with her.

She learned that Alchalar, her own uncle, had attempted to attack her while she had been in her meditative state. He’d had a fierce argument with Renwythe just before, about how their pack shouldn’t be traveling north, but staying south, to claim a new territory and rebuild the pack there. *He* claimed to be receiving visions that Rowena was leading them all to their deaths, that she was no Archqueen of his. And when he’d tried to launch himself at Rowena’s exposed back, her father had thrown himself between them. He paid the ultimate price to save her.

Shaken, grieving, and now even more unsure than she had ever been about her capabilities as an Archqueen, Rowena still made the decision to continue north. She wouldn’t ignore what her dreams had to say. If she truly *was* the reincarnation of a great alpha, she would listen to her instincts. So, the Mhorians, even smaller in number now, pressed onward.

As the biting cold of winter hit, the Mhorians have been hard-pressed to find a place to take shelter. The winds have been colder, the snow heavier, the climate harsher; something did not feel right, but this was as far north as Rowena could lead them. Their small pack have settled in a valley, taking refuge in a cave that shelters them from the harshest of the elements. Despite the hard conditions, Rowena has determined: this will be the place to rebuild.

## External Links

* Official Application Sheet
* iBadge's deviantART Gallery