Valorstorm

Valorstorm more than lives up to his prefix. He has all the honor of a knight of Arthurian legend and all the battle skills of... well, admittedly someone who was raised in extremely peaceful Clans, but he does make it his duty to look out for those who need it.

## Appearance & Personality

### Appearance

Valorstorm is an elegant cat. He moves with a certain power and grace in every motion. His every action is deliberate. His fur is always sleek and well groomed, sometimes a challenge given how thick it is, but he does his best. Valorstorm's pelt is primarily onyx black. He has a few white markings, each very clearly defined. There is no gradient to Valorstorm's fur, only black and white. He has taller socks on his back paws than his front as well as a white tail tip. He has a ring of white on his chest. Valorstorm's eyes are a bold golden color that stands out well against the dark fur of his face, which is marred only by three small white dots beneath his right eye. He always stands with perfect posture, which gives him an illusion of being taller than he actually is. He is of average height and has a very muscular build.

### Personality

Valorstorm is, in a word, noble. He strives to always do the right thing and live up to the name his parents gave him. He always looks out for those in need, he is confident in what he does, and he behaves with honor. Valorstorm knows the warrior code, he knows the laws that govern the Clans, and he will defend them to his dying breath. In addition, Valorstorm is loyal. He is reliable, dependable, he always can be counted on. He values his Clan and Clanmates and will do whatever it takes to take care of them. And, of course, Valorstorm is courageous. If there's something dangerous that needs doing, Valorstorm will do it - for the good of his Clan, of course. He is valiant and will always strive to remain fearless in times of uncertainty. Courage isn't the absence of fear, Valorstorm knows, but doing the right thing in spite of it. Valorstorm isn't all perfect, though. He is quite serious and stoic, maybe even stern. Any apprentice he receives would be lucky to have him, but they would hate the experience. Fun is secondary for Valorstorm and he would be "you can eat *after* you've hunted" kind of mentor or patrol leader. In addition, Valorstorm is very disciplined. He will put his wants aside for the greater good and he will encourage others to do the same. Finally, some true negative traits. Valorstorm is very stubborn. Once he has set his mind to something, good luck getting him to change it. Usually this doesn't interfere too much with Clan life - he does what he can to serve his Clan, after all - but it can and has been a problem. He is also incredibly reckless. He acts first and thinks later, particularly in combat.

## Background

### Kithood

Valorkit was born as the firstborn kit of a FallClan warrior named Truthcrest. He had one sister, Noblekit, who was born a few minutes after him. Truthcrest didn't disclose her kits' father to anyone, including the kits themselves.

Valorkit had a good kithood. He liked watching the apprentices when they practiced in camp and often tried to copy what he saw. He enjoyed listening to stories. Not only the histories, of which he favored tales of the founders, but also the made-up ones of heroes and StarClan and grand destinies. Valorkit was serious and quiet even as a kit and he didn't mind if he had no company. The stories and the elders that told them were enough for him.

That's not to say he was alone. Besides Noblekit, there was another kit in the nursery named Halfkit. Halfkit was four moons older than Valorkit, so they didn't spend much time together. He became an apprentice when Valorkit was two moons old. There was another kit named Oceankit who was around Halfkit's age who Valorkit also didn't pay much attention to.

The nursery was quiet with just Valorkit and Noblekit in it. Russetwisp's kits ended that quietness when they were born, Vulturekit, Dormousekit, Volekit, and Thrushkit. Valorkit also didn't care too much about them, though he did think it was nice to have other kits around.

Also while he was four moons old, a kit named Emberkit joined FallClan. She actually caught Valorkit's attention. She was only a moon younger than him, closer in age to him than any of the other kits had been during his stay in the nursery. She had odd scars on her face and a quiet demeanor. Valorkit found her intriguing, but she didn't seem very open to friends. He kept his distance but did occasionally offer her a place in a game if he and Noblekit were playing.

The rest of Valorkit's kithood was pretty normal. Certainly not quiet, what with four young kits tumbling around for the last three moons of it, but average. Valorkit grew more and more antsy for apprenticeship the closer he got to six moons old.

### Apprenticeship

Valorpaw was apprenticed to Weepingbrook. She was a younger warrior and he was her first apprentice, which made him a little apprehensive, but she was a good mentor and Valorpaw appreciated her guidance.

Valorpaw threw himself into his studies. After moons of waiting, he had finally become one of the apprentices he had idolized as a kit. He enjoyed training and he liked being in the apprentices den. He was once again denmates with Halfpaw and Oceanpaw, with the addition of Drizzlepaw, a gray molly formerly from OrchidClan who had recently moved to FallClan. She hung out with Halfpaw a lot and Valorpaw had no reason to be with her most of the time, but he thought she was a fine cat.

A moon later, Emberpaw became an apprentice. Her mentor was Stormclaw, who Valorpaw knew primarily for his excellent stories. He also had overheard Weepingbrook chatting with Stormclaw's mate Sorrelseed on more than one occasion and got the impression from what he heard that Weepingbrook didn't have the highest opinion of the cat. Weepingbrook denied any such feelings the single time Valorpaw asked, so he didn't pay much attention to Stormclaw after that.

Valorpaw's training progressed as normal. He found that he liked fishing quite a lot and frequently took his catches straight to the elders' den or nursery. Occasionally, though, he'd take them back to his denmates in the apprentices den, particularly when he was around eight moons old.

See, the original intrigue that Emberpaw had held for Valorpaw had developed into a bit of a crush. She still wasn't very open to talking to other cats or the concept of friendship, but her apprenticeship had made her a little more comfortable within the Clan. Valorpaw thought that her scars gave her a unique and distinguished look - after all, if she had managed to fight something big enough to give her scars like that as a kit, she had to be something special. He did his very best to subtly impress her, but Emberpaw was one of the better fishers in the Clan and anything Valorpaw did he felt was inferior to her work. That's rough buddy.

Mallowstar, leader of FallClan, also died when he was eight moons old. Valorpaw held her in high regard, having grown up on stories of the rogue war, but he wasn't very close to her. He respected her but didn't mourn as heavily as some cats.

When he was nine moons old, Ducksun, Mallowstar's replacement, also died. This left the leadership of FallClan to be filled by Milkweedcall, now Milkweedstar. Valorpaw thought that Milkweedstar was rather foolish and would not make a good leader. He was quite pleased that Weepingbrook was made deputy. He was proud to be the apprentice of FallClan's deputy (even if he privately thought she should be leader instead of her dunce of a mate) and definitely tried to use this to flex on other apprentices, specifically Emberpaw. Tragically for him, she did not care and neither did anyone else. Rip.

The next two moons of training were relatively smooth. Valorpaw was good at what he did and now that the leadership had settled down a bit, he had the Clan stability to do pretty well. There were a few small incidents - he sprained his paw once when he was nine moons old because he slipped on a rock and another time when he was ten, he tried to catch a catfish that seemed a lot smaller from above than it actually was - but overall, Valorpaw had a pretty steady apprenticeship.

He was 11 moons old when Weepingbrook moved to the nursery with the announcement that she was expecting Milkweedstar's kits. Valorpaw was happy for her, but did not like that she would be unable to continue his training. Weepingbrook had been a pretty good mentor to him the whole time and he was sad to lose her guidance. He did get reassigned to Sorrelseed, however, which he was excited about. Sorrelseed was good friends with Weepingbrook, but she was also mates with Emberpaw's mentor, Stormclaw.

Since he was so close to the end of his apprenticeship, Sorrelseed frequently let him work on whatever skills he felt needed improving. This was how he argued his way into joint training sessions with Emberpaw, as she was even as an apprentice one of the better fishers in the Clan. After the catfish incident, Valorpaw was significantly less confident in his fishing abilities. So, sometimes with Sorrelseed but mostly without her, Valorpaw tagged along with Emberpaw and Stormclaw whenever he could. He had fun with that and even found that maybe Stormclaw wasn't that bad of a guy.

The last thing of note to happen in Valorpaw apprenticeship was Truthcrest almost telling him about his father. During an otherwise normal meal shared with her and Noblepaw, Truthcrest started talking about her younger moons. From the limited information said before Truthcrest stopped talking, Valorpaw gathered that his father was gone. Great job genius. He couldn't tell if he was a loner who left the area or if he had simply died or if there was another explanation. It was very confusing for poor Valorpaw.

### Warrior Life

Valorpaw earned the name Valorstorm right on time, twelve moons old and eager to take on the world. Noblepaw also earned her name, Noblecrown, at the same time. Valorstorm was rather proud of his name, especially with his increased respect for Stormclaw. He was honored in his warrior ceremony for his diligence and loyalty.

He was 13 moons old when Weepingbrook's kits were born, which was very exciting. Or, it was supposed to be. The two she-kits, who were named Frostkit and Glorykit, were born dead. The only survivor, a tom that Weepingbrook named Torrentkit, seemed weak but did eventually recover. It was a sobering experience for Weepingbrook and Milkweedstar, and Valorstorm felt pretty bad for them. Milkweedstar became a bit of a better leader afterward, though, which was the only plus from the situation.

Emberpaw also became a warrior that moon, earning the name Emberglow. Valorstorm thought it was a very pretty name. As newer warriors, they were sleeping in the same area of the den and Valorstorm tried occasionally to talk to her. He frequently chickened out. His crush on her fluctuated a bit over the next several moons, fading and then coming back fairly often.

He got his hopes up for at least being her friend a moon or two later, when she befriended Ashface, the Clan's mediator. Valorstorm had never paid much attention to Ashface, given her odd tendencies, but he respected her work to keep peace in the Clan.

   He started trying to hype himself up to talk to her. It was a little odd for Valorstorm to be so timid about something as simple as starting a conversation but, well, he had a crush on her. It's valid. Anyway, while in the process of working up the courage to go befriend Emberglow, she started hanging out with the messenger, Larchflight.

Valorstorm eventually decided that he'd work on that later, because he picked up a hobby. At the Gathering when he was 18, he met Crocusfire, a HorizonClan molly, who was sporting a flower crown. Valorstorm, who already had a fondness for flowers and decorating his pelt, complimented her on it and she offered to teach him how to make them. So he became pretty obsessed with making flower crowns for a while.

The next moon, flower crowns and talking to cute girls became the least of Valorstorm's problems, because the plague happened! Yay... To him, at least, it seemed to happen very suddenly. One day, everything was fine and the next, there were like a billion sick cats. And cats started dying of it too.

Valorstorm was not particularly fond of the idea of dying, so he spent most of his time out of camp. He became the self-appointed main hunter of the Clan, spending as much time as he could out in the far corners of the territory catching fish. Each night he took his catches back to camp and slept on the next island over. It wasn't good for his social life, but he did avoid getting sick the whole time. Cheers bud.

One of the many lives claimed was Milkweedstar's. All nine of them over the next moon. Rip. This meant that Weepingbrook was now leader and *that* was exciting news. Valorstorm actually returned to camp for that, feeling like it was his duty to support his former mentor as much as it was to stay healthy to take care of the Clan. The celebration for her was very much subdued, as Milkweedstar had been her mate and there were plenty of cats who were still sick.

In all the chaos of losing Milkweedstar, Valorstorm did his best to look out for Torrentpaw, the only surviving kit of Milkweedstar and the newly-named Weepingstar. They hadn't been too close when Torrentpaw was a kit, but Valorstorm had hung around the nursery a bit. He took the young cat out hunting with him several times with Weepingstar and Permafrost's approval, the latter being Torrentpaw's mentor.

When he was twenty-four, Emberglow left FallClan along with the mediator, Ashface. Valorstorm was kind of sad about that but he honestly couldn't blame them. If it weren't for his concern about what would happen if he stopped fishing, he probably would've left too. He certainly thought about it more than once, but he couldn't leave Weepingstar and Torrentpaw and he definitely couldn't leave his mom and sister. So he stayed.

Life went on, though, and a cure eventually arrived when Valorstorm was twenty-six moons old. The Clans were very cautious about it at first and Valorstorm couldn't trust that everything would be fine, but the cure did work and the Travelers who brought it seemed like a good group of cats. Things cleared up enough that a Gathering was held on the full moon and the first cross-Clan event in what felt like forever was announced, a hike hosted by HorizonClan. Valorstorm didn't really want to go, but the cats who did go ended up having fun and he got to just chill in camp.

Good things only last so long, unfortunately, and the next moon was no exception. Valorstorm was excited to be back at a Gathering. Crocusfire wasn't there, but he got to meet her mate Marbledawn. She seemed nice, though a little more distant than her wife. That was probably the least interesting thing about that Gathering, as that was when Stormclaw, Swallowfrost, and Whitebird all shared news that pointed toward a war and the possible destruction of the Clans. Yay.

## Other

### Trivia

* The concept for Valorstorm was born in early 2022. He was initially based on the song "United We Stand" from the movie Quest for Camelot. The ending of the song names a bunch of traits and I was like "whoa valor would be a cool warriors prefix." A few months later, boom, Valorstorm.
* He was originally created for a roleplay called The Unknown.
* Valorstorm loves the name Honorkit and would want to use it if he ever has kits. He also likes Glorykit and Bravekit. Valorstorm likes virtue names, there's kind of a family history.
* Valorstorm doesn't think much about his father. He assumes that Truthcrest had a reason to never share and he's never been one to overstep his bounds. He has resolved that if he does have kits, he will *never* put himself in a position where they would grow up fatherless.
* If I had a nickel for every FallClan cat who had a decent apprenticeship until they were 11 moons old, at which point something happened with their mentor that rocked their entire world, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but isn't that wild?
* Valorstorm's voice claim is Ricky Montgomery

### Playlist

Line Without A Hook | Ricky Montgomery | *oh baby i am a wreck when i'm without you* | It just has his vibes. Maybe ValorEmber but it just has his vibes