Issa

Anshar and Nineveh (Brothers)

Tahmina (Sister)

Elam and Ashur (Brothers, NPCs)

Nouri (Uncle)

Farzin (Brother-in-Law)

## Application Sheet

Issa was a brown-furred she-wolf with pale sage green eyes. She was born in Xassa, to the Cyrus Zagros (NPC) and his mate Farrah (NPC), alongside siblings Nineveh (the future Cyrus), Tahmina, and Anshar. She took on the role of Marduk and helped her pack in the Winter War and the Hive Wars. Her story is ongoing. Issa was designed by Hyperesis, and created and RP'd by littleredloup.

## Personality

* ***Outwardly Stoic and Stubborn, but Privately Loving.*** Issa is a wolf of many emotions but most of the time none of them peak through, her face is often stoic leaving others to believe that she doesn’t care for others or that she’s hiding something but that’s not the case. Issa has a heart and although it is not often seen her maternal instincts are strong and she is extremely protective of those she loves. At times she can be stubborn and unwilling to budge her opinions, sometimes leading her to become more aggressive with obnoxious or pushy wolves but it’s only because her beliefs are so deeply imbedded into her.
* ***Quiet and Private, but Honest.*** Issa tries to go through everything with a clear head, learning from a young age that making rash decisions without any forethought isn’t the way to go. Keeping a clear head is usually difficult with emotions so Issa likes to keep to herself. The she wolf is pretty quiet in general so it’s not hard to keep quiet about most things including her personal life. Issa is very private, unwilling to open up to almost anyone unless they are close to her. When the she wolf does speak though, she tries to be honest every time she converses with someone, but she often comes off as insensitive and blunt.
* ***Hardworking, Adaptable, and Loyal.*** Issa has always been an example of a true hard worker. It’s ingrained into her personality. She’s never felt comfortable with the good fortune her father’s position guaranteed her. It’s that feeling that has always made her strive to establish herself in the pack, to prove that she earned any position they gave her. Issa always exclude a strong and firm presence, especially when doing her job as a Marduk. Being a warrior has taught her to calculate her moves both in a fight and in life, she is adaptable to change and willing to do anything to keep her pack safe. When helping her fellow Marduks Issa is extremely strict in her training, barking orders and expecting only the best from everyone as she gives her all. She is forever dedicated to her family, pack, and task so she expects everyone else to be as well.
* ***Protective and Moral.*** Issa is a warrior in her own right, instinctively protective with a strong will. Issa is a she wolf with strong morals and a mind wise beyond her years. Ready to take on anything that is thrown at her.

## Pre-Group History

Issa was born in the Xassa pack at the end of the fall months, to the Cyrus and his mate. In Zagros last litter with his mate Farrah they had four pups Issa along with her three other siblings: Nineveh, Anshar, and Tahmina. The she wolf is their first daughter. Before that Zagros had two older sons, Elam and Ashur, both full grown at her birth. Elam being the heir apparent to their pack while his brother Ashur was a Su’En.

Issa’s childhood felt like a normal one, at least in the beginning. The siblings were relatively close at the beginning of their life only to split as their father began to show Issa and her sister favoritism. Their brothers were left on the sideline as Issa, along with her sister, received much of her father’s attention. The she wolf was never completely sure why they received such attention while her brothers were barley spared a glance from her father but the she wolf never said a thing. Issa only looked on as her brothers were swept away from the attention of her father, being cared for by her own mother, her oldest brother and his mate, and the Gulas in her second brother’s case.

Issa stayed glued to her sister’s side as her father raised them, teaching her about Xassa’s history and Hassan’s Silence along with all the task that Xassa had to offer. Issa was immediately drawn to the idea of being a Marduk. She would sneak off to watch them train only to come back home and force her sister to spar with her. Her father encouraged her to follow her passion although he only practiced with her if he had the time. Issa never thought much of her father’s position in the pack at her young age. The pup didn’t know the effect her father, as Cyrus, had on others until she grew older.

As the she wolf grew older her determination to become the best Marduk only grew. The day she put her stone in the Sacred Caves felt like the best day of her life and Issa wanted nothing more than to prove that that stone was meant to be there. Issa spent less time with her family and more time sparring with her pack mates and helping with hunts in order to prove her worth. Issa was older now, she understood the influence of her father’s position, and although no one said anything about it she felt it all the same. Issa always felt like she was treated differently, more as the Cyrus’s daughter and less like a regular wolf trying to prove their worth. It only made her work harder, she trained night and day and slowly closed herself off from her family, unwelcome of the influence they had on the pack. She kept her private life to herself and tried not to bring them up. Which seemed quite impossible considering her brothers. Nineveh was always running around the pack recklessly  while her other brother stayed with the Gula’s constantly due to his condition. It didn’t help that others would bring up her family either.

Issa regretted her choice to push away her family the second the Nineveh returned to the father ack with news that her oldest brother was dead. Issa had been cooped up in the main den with the pack as storm clouds roamed the sky and lightning brightened the sky only to see a fire growing in the grasslands. It wasn’t a new sight to Issa as the dry season usually meant that something would burn but the dread welling up in her gut told her otherwise. Elam’s hit her hard, knowing that she was never able to grow close to her brother and would now never be able to made her feel numb inside. It didn’t help that her second oldest brother, Ashur, died not long after. The grief was getting to her. Issa became distant, similar to how she was previously but without thought for others, she would snap at anyone who brought up her passed siblings and disregarded the feelings of others as she stated her own opinions. When Issa finally came to her senses she decided it best to stay away from the pack as much as she could. She had grown harsher and insensitive to others and while she didn’t know how to fix that, she wouldn’t harm her pack.

Soon after her brothers’ death, her mother and father passed. An illness that swept through the pack hit the two of them in their grief and old age and took them from her. Issa was lucky enough not to be hit by the disease, but with her parents death she felt the effect it had on the pack. Unwilling to fall apart like she had with the death of her siblings, Issa put more effort into her task than she had in the last year.

The end of Hassan’s Silence marked the end of her own. She would always be the same she wolf she was years before, and even if grief had changed her, she felt that she could still be that wolf. Her brother Nineveh was Cyrus now, a new era was beginning, and Issa will be apart of it.

## Trivia

* She is not completely comfortable with Xassa's opening but she is willing to give it a chance.
* Issa will wiggle her ears around at the sight of bugs flying near her.
* Issa's not completely sure how to act around her brothers now that her parents are gone, the obvious favoritism her father had for her and her sister isn't something she asked for, but she was never against it. She's almost 100% sure they resent her.
* Issa is extremely happy the burden of being Cyrus hadn't fallen onto her shoulders. For this reason, Issa is attempting to lighten the blunt that has fallen onto her younger brother, be him willing or not.

## External Links

* Official Application Sheet
* littleredloup's deviantART Gallery