Woollypelt

Character art by Maple

## Description

Woollypelt is a very light brown/cream-colored tom with thick, curly fur and dark brown eyes. He has small brown flecks like freckles across his face. He has scars on his head, shoulder, and three "tallies" on his chest.

## Personality

Woollypelt is golden-hearted, wise and protective. He's grown a lot since he was an apprentice, but still suffers from the trauma of being a hostage during the Gang War. Despite this, even because of it, he strives to be strong to protect those he cares about. He has a strong moral code, and while he is intensely loyal to his friends and Clanmates, will always stick to it. He is an experienced hunter and warrior as well as an attentive mentor.

## History

Woollypelt (then Woollypaw) was an eager, forgetful and naive apprentice who was about to become a warrior before the Gang's invasion of GladeClan. Unbeknownst to him at the time, however, his cheery and well-liked mentor Hickorysnap had been killed and replaced by a similar-looking imposter beforehand, along with his family, many of his friends, and his clanmates.

During the initial invasion, Woollypaw fought against Lionpride's imposter. The imposter injured his shoulder, smashed his head against a rock and moved on, assuming he had died. Woollypaw had survived, but was rendered immobile and forced to watch the battle helplessly. He blacked out before Ambrosia announced the Gang's takeover of GladeClan, so at first, he didn't know that any of the cats had been imposters in the first place. He also still believed that Waspstar was alive.

He woke up in the medicine den where he remained with other hostages Leopardspark, Cloudstep, Lavenderkit, Creekfeather, and Rockpelt, as well as medicine cat Ashnight for a year (and a few others who died). He grew close with them, especially Cloudstep and Creekfeather. He received the "tally" scars on his from chest from from Ambrosia due to a failure to catch 5 pieces of prey during a forced hunting outing and for speaking out against their nickname for him, "Snowball'.

Woollypelt officially received his warrior name after the liberation of GladeClan. From then on, he focused himself on protecting others and coping through his warrior duties, and took on and trained several apprentices. As a senior warrior, he continues to serve his Clan despite showing symptoms of old age.

He moved to LionClan camp with the rest of GladeClan after a major fire, but when Sun attempted to merge GladeClan with The Society, he followed Halfstar (then Halfmask) and Ashcloud (then Ashsun) back to the original camp, along with the others who wished to remain.

He escorted Ashcloud to DustClan to talk to Boarstar, and later joined the deputy’s patrol for a “diplomatic meeting" (requested by The Society) into The Society's territory where he fought against Thistle and Melody. He fell unconscious shortly after Ashcloud yelled out his name, about to get dragged away. Woollypelt responded, but couldn't do anything to help while underneath Thistle. He woke up a few minutes later and was assisted back to GladeClan camp, where he was brought to the medicine den for a concussion. He stayed there during the Gathering that night, confused and dazed but reminded strongly of a past failure.

He spent time recovering in the medicine den until the next Gathering. That night, Halfstar entered the den in search of Robinpaw, but found Woollypelt instead. She told him her concerns and plans, and Woollypelt offered his advice about the Gathering and The Society. He reassured her that Ashcloud was alive, and said he'd be there for anything she or the Clan needed. Despite this, he worried about how Ashcloud was now in the same position he was so many moons ago - a hostage, most likely starved and beaten. He represented GladeClan that night at the Gathering (Halfstar was "doing pregnancy things"), and stood on the tree next to Lionstar, Ravenwhisper, Gingerstride, Curlingsmoke and Society reps Sun and Melody, who seemed surprised to see him. Robinpaw, concerned about Woollypelt's wellbeing (he was still suffering from some symptoms of his concussion), watched him carefully the entire time.

Lionstar advised Woollypelt to end the Gathering immediately after GladeClan's announcements (Fawnpaw is a new apprentice, we're doing good, what else could he even say?), however, Sun spoke out that he had not yet had a chance to speak. He reiterated his demands that GladeClan join the society peacefully or Ashcloud dies, and requested that Woollypelt bring Halfstar to the Gatheringplace that night for a meeting. However, Robinpaw was still concerned about him in case anything happened to Halfstar, and demanded he stay in the medicine den again. There, Halfstar, Robinpaw and Woollypelt discussed the situation and their strategy. Robinpaw urged that Halfstar accept the offer for Ashcloud's sake, while Woollypelt proposed teaming with CavernClan based on Halfstar's earlier plan and his own interactions with Lionstar at the Gathering. Lionstar was waiting at the border to meet with Halfstar at this time.

That night, before the meeting, Halfstar appointed the 5-moon old Littlepaw as Woollypelt's apprentice. He was glad to be a mentor again, but concerned about the young apprentice. Robinpaw stated that Littlepaw would not be trained until she was 6 moons old and Woollypelt was fully recovered, to which he fully agreed. Ashcloud was rescued that night and brought to CavernClan.

The next day, GladeClan evacuated into CavernClan camp, where the two leaders planned out an attack on the GladeClan camp then occupied by the Society. Woollypelt was going to stay in the medicine den during the attack, however, he spotted Littlepaw making his way out with the older apprentices and warriors and ran after her (sorry, Robinpaw). He lost track of his apprentice in the crowd but finally reunited with Ashcloud, who was also not supposed to be there. They headed into battle at GladeClan camp together, but quickly split when Woollypelt spotted Littlepaw again and Ashcloud saw Melody. He carried Littlepaw, who was badly hurt, out of the battle and returned to find Ashcloud when both the Clans and the Society called to retreat due to the flood. He and Ashcloud arrived to find the CavernClan camp flooded, so they split once more.

After that, he stayed in the temporary medicine den above CavernClan camp. Along with Ashcloud, he urged Halfstar not to move the GladeClan and CavernClan cats out of Clan land. He was assigned another apprentice, Tinypaw, and voiced his disapproval and concerns to Halfstar afterwards, in response to which she assured him that only six moon-old apprentices were allowed out of camp. After Woollypelt explained what had happened to Littlepaw, she decided not to punish the apprentice, but to reiterate the rules to the Clan. Despite this, Woollypelt urged her to reconsider the five-moon policy altogether, to no avail.

Although his own injuries were fully healed at the time, Woollypelt continued to frequent the medicine den to check on Littlepaw and spend time with Robinpaw. Woollypelt and Robinpaw grew very close.

At the first Gathering after SeaClan’s split and return, Woollypelt represented GladeClan once more. Though no Society cats were in attendance, conflict arose over how ReedClan and DustClan came to be at peace with the Society. As it turned out, Hawthornstar (maybe Ginger too check this) had arranged for the Society to occupy the half of GladeClan’s territory which contained LionClan camp. Curlingsmoke and Woollypelt responded with shock and anger at the action, not to mention that the arrangement did not guarantee safety for CavernClan and/or GladeClan. To prevent further argument under the full moon, a smaller meeting of leaders and representatives was arranged to be held soon after the Gathering.

Soon after, Ashcloud said he had to tell Woollypelt something that may be shocking, but as one of his closest friends, he expected him to understand. Ashcloud proposed that it was the perfect time to attack the Society and that it was their destiny to bring about the Society’s end, though Halfstar believed they were not prepared. Woollypelt resolved to work with other mentors and his apprentices to further train and prepare GladeClan’s of age apprentices for battle.

He discovered the injured Honeyleaf while on patrol with Tinypaw and brought her back to camp, where she died. The scene smelled of Gang.

At Robinpaw's request, Woollypelt helped train him to fight. After a session, Robinpaw confided in Woollypelt that he worried Tinybrook was ignoring him from StarClan, and felt as if the entirety of GladeClan hated him. Woollypelt reassured Robinpaw that the Clan, especially himself and Halfstar, loved him.

Before GladeClan's attack on the Society, Woollypelt caught Littlepaw practicing behind the high rock. Proud of her progress, he promised to be by her side during the battle. Though not faithful himself, he told Ashcloud that StarClan was on their side. Woollypelt reassured Robinpaw about the battle, but stated that he wouldn't hesitate to give his life to save others (much to the medicine cat's disapproval). During the battle, he confronted Phantom, a fight in which he received a third scar across his chest. Though conflicted by the mercy that Phantom showed him, what was most important was that GladeClan won and its cats survived. He realized it would have been foolish to throw away his life to pursue anything further than that.

After Halfstar's death, Ashcloud asked Woollypelt to become his deputy. He agreed, but later stepped down due to old age, though he vowed to complete Vixenpaw's training before his retirement.