Hecate

## Appearance

Hecate is tall and almost lanky in build. Her fur is exceptionally long and it droops off her where it curls at the ends. It is especially long around her cheeks. She is a dark gray, almost black color, which is heavily purple-toned. She has narrow red-orange eyes and a long muzzle. She has white on the ends of her paws. Her tail in particular is very long and fluffy. Her face is slightly darker than the rest of her.

## Personality

Hecate is a very intelligent cat who knows well how to assess situations. She can come across as heartless and incredibly cold. She doesn't care about her friends or allies, and has a history of using others to get what she wants. She is ruthless and vicious, and in her opinion the end justifies the means. she is distrustful and wary of other cats as well, prone to thinking she will be betrayed by everyone around her. This causes her to be a bit paranoid and secluded. She always keeps a cool head and has never been known to lose her temper.

## History

#### **The Tribe**

Hecate was born to a surrogate mother in the Tribe of Rushing Water, having two fathers. One of her fathers was named Cry of Hidden Burrows (Burrow), a cat born and raised in the Tribe. His mate was a cat who at the time was called Mayfly that Shelters in Crook (Mayfly). She had two siblings, called Goat with Stars in its Horns (Goat) and Lichen that Hunts beneath Stone (Lichen). At the time, she was named Quiet Crow watching the Moon (Crow).

For a while, Crow's life was normal, and good. She was close to both her fathers, and though she had to remain in the cave to avoid the dangers of the wider expanse of mountain, she had plenty of fun with her family. However, her father Mayfly decided that he no longer wanted to live in the Tribe. Before Hecate was born, he had been a loner, and he was tired of the constant rules he had to follow. This angered Burrow, and he demanded he be allowed to keep two of the kits, and that Mayfly would only get to take one. Mayfly obliged, and Burrow picked to keep Goat and Lichen. Crow was taken by her father, to travel back down the mountains and leave the only life Crow had ever known.

Crow became angry and resentful, and it didn't help that Mayfly started spending less and less time with her. Her father was lost in his own regrets and that left no room for his remaining daughter. Eventually, he renamed himself Crook, a new name that bore resemblance to his old one, and renamed Crow into Midnight. She was immediately receptive, seeing this as a small kind of revenge against the Tribe and her old family.

#### **The Twolegplace**

Not entirely long after, the pair encountered a cat named Cora. She was a kittypet, and she offered the fairly bedraggled Crook a safe, warm place to stay with guaranteed food. He, of course, agreed, taking Midnight with him. They ended up staying in a twoleg den, where Midnight grew quickly bored. Her life had been so exciting thus far, being born in a hostile environment and seeing the wide world for the first time while she was still very young. The stability and repetitiveness of her new life didn't take long to bore her.

She wouldn't remain bored for long, though, as Cora and Crook had kits. Midnight hadn't been paying attention to her father's recent endeavors, so she was especially caught off-guard to learn he had had children with who Midnight assumed to be some random kittypet. This made her angry, though she didn't quite know why. Over time, she had become clingy and possessive, and she saw this as something of a betrayal. She fought her father on the issue, and her yelling and hissing disturbed Cora, who was exhausted from recently kitting. Midnight was sent out of the house until she could behave herself.

This is around the time that she met Kagutsuchi, who at the time was not a leader. She was shocked and intrigued to hear of groups outside the Tribe. She was introduced to the Oracle cats, and she visited more and more every day as her younger siblings started to grow up.

Eventually, her little brother, who at the time was named Russet, grew curious about Midnight's wanderings. She started to take him with her, and he was just as excited as she was to learn of the Oracle. They started spending more and more time away from home, and Hecate's opinions soon influenced her younger brother. He started resenting his parents as much as she does. There inevitably came a time where they left home without warning to join the Oracle.

#### **The Oracle**

They were individually renamed by the seers. Midnight was now called Hecate and Russet was now called Shai. Hecate was delighted by this, and she became a hunter as her brother became a guardian. They were happy for a while, but eventually, Hecate grew bored again. After all, she was only capable of living one life for so long before she goes seeking another. She even considered leaving again. Her relationship became strained with Shai as well, as he started to bore him with his repetitive nature. Just like Crook, Hecate was sick and tired of her brother for just being stable.

However, the universe yet again didn't let that boredom last. One night, Hecate tried to leave the Oracle, but Shai stopped her. He stood in her way, and they fought. Shai still loved his sister and didn't want her to abandon him. He didn't understand her hatred for complacency, and still had thought they were as close as they had ever been. All the noise they made ended up attracting a predator, a fox. They both fought, but at the time, Hecate was a hunter. She didn't have the proper skills required to protect Shai for such a beast, and he ended up being killed.

Hecate mourned, but took it as a sign from the universe she was meant to stay in the Oracle. So she lived that life for a few moons longer before she received sudden news. Without warning, one of the seers informed her she had been chosen to be one of the leaders of the Oracle. Hecate was somewhat surprised, but not particularly. At this point she had accepted that she was special, and destined for greater things in the Oracle than just remaining a simple hunter. She took her new position with grace.

Later, she was taking a walk. She wanted to visit the twolegplace where she was born, having some curiosity about what had become of her family. When she got there, the house where she had grown up with a wreck, little more than a pile of debris. The initial dark amusement she had felt quickly faded as she remembered her father. Her father, who after all this time, she still loved fiercely. Hecate rushed to search the wreckage, and she found Crook. He was already dead, crushed by a falling rafter. She mourned for him more than she had mourned for her brother.

That's not all she found, though. It seemed that the entire twolegplace had been hit hard with some kind of storm, and there were other wreckage similar to the one that had become of her kithood home. She searched through them with grim curiosity. Mostly, she found nothing. But in one she heard mewling. When she investigated, she discovered two kittens, looking only a week old, curled against the belly of a queen that was no longer breathing. Hecate was close to leaving them there, to die, but part of her still felt guilt. Particularly, guilt relating to the death of Shai and her father. Maybe if she had tried to convince Crook to leave with her, he would still be alive. And also, she still remembered when she was young. She remembered her desperate wishes to have parents that still cared about her.

Hecate ended up taking in the kits. She brought them back to the Oracle where she named them. The female she named Fortuna, and the male was named Tyche. Two different gods of fortune, for was it not fortunate that Hecate had found them when she did? She loved them fiercely, and she was genuinely happy for the first time in a very long while.

Of course, nothing in Hecate's life ever seemed to last, good or bad. As the kits grew, so did their curiosity. Hecate could have swore they took after her. She was also a leader, and was busy more often than not. There were many times she allowed a cat named Saturn to babysit her kits while she was away. She trusted him as much as a cat like Hecate could trust someone. Which, admittedly, wasn't much.

However, in this instance her distrust was warranted. In the middle of a meeting with the other leaders, she was abruptly informed that Tyche had died. She didn't comprehend the words, at first. She was shocked out of her wits. Then she grew angry. That anger turned to wrath, and she killed Saturn before they could even explain themselves. But they weren't the only one she blamed. She also reacted with rage towards Fortuna. The kits had snuck away from Saturn together, and Hecate believed that her daughter had allowed her son to die. She drove Fortuna away from the Oracle, snarling that if she ever saw the young cat again she would kill her where she stood.

After this event all the coldness she had once held returned tenfold. She barely spoke to anyone, and when she did she was issuing orders or hissing a quiet threat. She soon became not just respected, but feared as well. Her cats gave her a wide berth. She lost any interest in social or emotional ties, abandoning them completely. When the Oracle started to grow, it was her who first thought of the idea of taking the Clan territories. She had no remorse for anyone she would hurt, or how that would effect the Clans. She barely cared how it would help the Oracle, either. But at this point, every cat she cared about was out of her reach. She was guided purely by her own cruel intelligence and nothing else. She became determined and unrelenting in her goals, and she's never looking back.

## Relations

##### **Cry of Hidden Burrows**

(father) When she was young, Hecate loved Burrow with all the innocence a young kit would have. She loved him, maybe even more than Crook when she was young. He was her idol. But when he picked her other siblings to stay in the tribe instead of her, she was heartbroken. She had believed he loved her as much as she loved him. This grew into a burning resentment later in life that she never fully let go of.

##### **Crook**

(father) Hecate always considered Crook as one of the few cats that ever mattered to her. He was always by her side, from her very earliest days. She stuck to him like glue when she was young. His death destroyed her emotional state more than anything ever could have. His loss may have been one of the leading factors in her later resentment towards the world and closed-off nature.

##### **Cora**

(adoptive mother) Hecate was never particularly fond of Cora. She always just seemed like a stranger that Crook seemed to favor. She was anywhere between distant and downright hostile towards Cora, and eventually her adoptive mother's attempt at bonding whittled away.

##### **Goat with Stars in its Horns**

(sister) Hecate never really knew Goat. They were very young when they were separated. She internally resented Goat for getting given a place in the Tribe while she was not, and this resentment hasn't faded much over the moons upon moons apart. Hecate is still very much salty about the whole ordeal.

##### **Lichen that Hunts beneath Stone**

(brother) Hecate was very close to Lichen in particular, but she got over his loss quickly. Similarly to Goat, she continued to remain angry at him, even after he had faded to little more than a distant memory in her mind.

##### **Lily**

(sister) Hecate was okay with Lily, to some extent. She never much cared for her, as Lily and Shai were both part of a later litter. She always saw Lily as ditzy and stupid, and all to much like Cora. After she left the twolegplace, she never looked back.

##### **Shai**

(brother) Hecate loved Shai a lot more than she loved Lily. Shai was always adventurous, actively seeking out the world beyond the twolegplace. He was never complacent to live the soft life that Cora, and now Crook did. Hecate and him constantly bonded, as Hecate was his only family member that indulged his curiosity and bravery. However, later on their relationship deteriorated. They gradually became more distant, with Hecate spending less and less time around him. In turn, this caused him to be frustrated and resent her, which only served to annoy Hecate and push her further away .When he died, Hecate grieved, but moved on quickly.

##### **Fortuna**

(adoptive daughter) Hecate loved Fortuna almost as much as she loved her brother. But that's the key word. While Hecate definitely cared for her adopted daughter, Tyche always had a closer place to her heart. In the end, Tyche's death was a breaking point for Hecate. Her gentle parenthood towards Fortuna ceased abruptly as she drove her kit away, deciding that having family was a weakness she could not permit.

##### **Tyche**

(adoptive son) Tyche was one of the few cats that Hecate ever loved fully, with all her heart. Despite not being his birth mother, she treated him as if she was. He reminded her of her family, of Shai before they grew distant. This was only aided by the determination that she had to always be there for him. She was dedicated to being a better parent than she had (even if she was just as bad to Fortuna). She started to make a turn against her cold and violent ways, is only so Tyche could grow up with a normal mother and the best life possible. His death was something of a breaking point for her, and it destroyed all of the self-improvement progress she had made. After he was gone, it was all downhill for her.

##### **Kagutsuchi**

(friend) After everything, Kagutsuchi is the only cat that Hecate holds any semblance of trust in. She cares about him to a small extent and wouldn't be pleased to see harm come to him, which is saying a lot for her. She still remembers and appreciates him as the first cat to introduce her to the Oracle, and as a supportive presence in most situations. He didn't matter much to her until later on, when he revealed his traumatic past. Hecate and him shared a solidarity over their former suffering, and were able to bond.

##### **Zeus**

(acquaintance) Hecate doesn't know Zeus particularly well, though this may be because she never put in the effort to try. Being the last of the current three leaders to be appointed, she does hold some kind of respect towards him. He is a fellow leader, after all. But her feelings don't really go past a mutual okay-ness. She thinks he's alright, but wouldn't be particularly saddened if he died. Her only concern then would be how it would effect the Oracle to have one less leader.

## Trivia

* Hecate is the goddess of magic and crossroads in Greek mythology. This fits because in her life Hecate came to many choices and turning points.
* Hecate doesn't particularly care about her fellow leaders. She does have a softer spot for Kagutsuchi, though, as he was the one who initially invited her to the Oracle.
* She has a softer spot for kits, as well, but has never taken in any or expressed no interest in such things. Her days of being a mother are long over.
* Out of all the Oracle leaders, she has the most fondness for public executions.
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