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This contest begins January 14th and ends January 28th at 8pm EST.

There is no restriction on who can enter, but we might well show preference for people who are active in the thread.

If you would like to enter, please fill out the following:

Kiokote Name: Seeking Peace
Gender of Kiokote: Female
Personality Keywords: Prideful, strong, and broken.
Character Concept: She was strong- Fastest in her tribe and a member of the council. Her hunting skills were unrivaled and all who met her respected or feared her. Until an accident left her with a broken leg, a broken leg that never healed correctly. Instantly lamed, Seeking was slowed and weak. She hated having to depend on the others, of being looked down upon, and eventually she was deemed unfit to rule on the council. Being cast down and replaced in the only position of strength she had left Seeking Peace started to form the ideas of leaving the tribe and being a free doe.

But where would she go?

How would she survive?

That's when the Ache started. Every night she went to bed she had dreams of a place where she could live in quiet, with readily available reeds and roots and bugs to eat. Food that in her dreams promised to taste sweeter than the grasses of the plains she had resigned herself to. So one night she did something she hadn't thought she'd ever do again: She ran.

She ran. She stumbled. She made her way to Peace.

Kiokote Name: Child Of Dust
Gender of Kiokote: Male.
Personality Keywords: Strong, stubborn, rebellious.
Character Concept: They ask me who I am. They ask me what I am. Do they have the right to know? Not really. Why? Because dark secrets aren't for beings you barely know. Dark secrets aren't allowed to go out and see the light. Dark secrets are to be kept deep down inside...

I never meant to kill him. It was just a simple fight over a doe. Nobody knows I'm the one to blame and I'm not taking any chances. He was gone and I was scarred for the rest of my pathetic life. I was a murderer. A monster, as they say. So I ran. I never listened to my brain nor did I listen to my heart. The only voice inside my head was the hallow silence, pierced by the loud and fascinating songs of the Ache.

Kiokote Name: Kin-to-Cats
Gender of Kiokote: Female
Personality Keywords: Lonely, escapist, faithful
Character Concept:
She should really join a tribe, they said, after she left her father's. She was always so alone; wouldn't the tribal fellowship help?
No. No.
Cats loved her people, kiokote and otherwise. It was the Ache that kept her from getting too close. She couldn't stay, she couldn't be still.
She had to move, she had to run.
Where?
The dreams tormented he, alternatively promising the delights of new places and the fellowship of like-minded individuals, and threatening bewildering clusters of sky-reaching plants and the suffocating lack of fields and sky.
Then she dreamed of odd, yet familiar animals, and remembered her first dream. Now she understood her name. Why she was not simply Kin-to-Cheetah.
Kin-to-Cats didn't even take the time to say goodbye. She'd be back someday, but now, she had to run.

Kiokote Name: Fleet-foot
Gender of Kiokote: Female
Personality Keywords: Willful, questioning, stubborn
Character Concept: Despite her name, Fleet-foot is not a fast runner. She was born with an imperfection - one of her legs is shorter than the rest. This results in her limping, slower-going nature. Her mother (a very powerful mare in the herd) had hoped she would grow out of it (especially with such a name), but it never happened.

Fleet-foot could never be a strong member of the herd, and was mostly dependent on them. At an early age, her mother convinced one of the cats to allow one of their young to look after Fleet-foot for protection, help, and friendship. The young ones took to each other immediate, and Fleet-foot found a best friend in Snaggle Claw. From then-on, the two were mostly inseparable.

Her infirmaries did not cause her too great of impairment in the herd's movements - she could kind of run though it caused her pain, but she had a stamina no one could match. Fleet-foot was fairly low on the hierarchy and could not participate in the hunts or races, but where her physical skill lacked her mental ability flurished. Fleet-foot was considered one of the smartest kiokote in the area, and others would seek her out for advice despite her age. She also collected stories, and when the Great Ache came, many looked to her for answers. However, Fleet-foot was still young. She had theories on where the dreams came from, what they meant, and if she could stop it, but it was hard because she did not have them herself.

In an act of desperation, as the Ache was affecting the strongest in the herd and their Hunts were going poorly, the Council decided to send Fleet-foot off on a Quest: to investigate the legends and see if she could find a cure for the Ache, and bring it back.

With a sense of duty and urgency, Fleet-foot went off in the direction the dreams were leading the others. She only had Snaggle Claw around for companionship and his continual protection. While her pace was slow, her heart drove her forward. Fleet-foot would not quit.

And on that journey...the Ache came to her too.

Kiokote Name: Thunder Step
Gender of Kiokote: Male
Personality Keywords: Independent, Loyal, Cold
Character Concept:

Thunder step is not the sharpest of mind, nor purest of heart, but he is built like a rock; strong and fiercely loyal to those who win his trust. He was growing up, always cast in his older brother's shadow. His brother so swift and cunning, the leader of their herd. Thunder Step never felt a single twinge of jealousy towards him though, only pride and love. Grateful even that his brother asked him to stay and help him with the overwhelming task's that leadership brought.

Hard time's befell his brother's harem though, a wicked deed and a loss of a great love, steadily drove his brother into rage and madness. While the others slunk away in fear, whispered cruel things and lies behind his brothers back. Thunder Step stayed loyal, hopeful, always optimistic. Even after his hope and joy faded his loyalty did not, he was determined to be strong always; solid like the mountains, unmovable in his decisions. So when his brother came to him that final time with his greatest request, Thunder Step did not flinch or waver, he simply bowed his head, and trudged along beside him.

He would have-and did- follow his leader anywhere, his blood kin. Into the darkest depths of wrongness to commit unspeakable deeds, Thunder Step followed his one and only brother. Never questioning, never looking back. The shame it brought upon him and the loss of his dear brother did not seem to touch his cold heart. For in his mind he had done well, had completed a task that only he was brave and strong enough to do. His brother had asked it of him and he had succeeded, that was truly all that mattered.

Those who knew ostracized him, those who did not often seemed to sense his tainted soul well enough to keep their distance. Thunder Step lived on the outskirts as it was, not feeling the need to rejoin any group, his brother's harem already scattered and in no want of him...

So it was when the ache touched him, he followed, with the same mindless loyalty he had followed his sibling, he would follow these new dreams until he saw them fulfilled.

Kiokote Name: Belongs to the Trees
Gender of Kiokote: Male
Personality Keywords: Restless, aggressive, misunderstood
Character Concept: Belongs to the Trees was mostly average in the world of the Kiokote. He was of decent size, decent athletic ability, and of decent intelligence. Without any outstanding qualities, it was unlikely that he would have attained a position of leadership on his own. That was where his father came in.

Belongs to the Trees' father was from a long line who had led roughly the same harem for several generations, so naturally he insisted that his only son take on the role. They formed a joint leadership, but Belongs to the Trees was never satisfied. He just wasn't interested in hunting or choosing a mate, and several times the herd's council had petitioned his father to remove him. This was because he was uncommonly aggressive towards others, having a constant frustration with no understood cause. It was naturally assumed to be the Ache, but Belongs to the Trees never found himself with the disturbing dreams that were such a common symptom.

Sometimes he was ridiculed for his name. There were hardly any trees at all in the hilly plains of the Kiokote, so why in the world would a Kiokote "belong to the trees"? This caused much of his aggression towards the does, which was deeply frowned upon. He often found himself running, away from his tormentors, his father, and himself.

Finally one day, his father said to him, "Son, your heart was never in this place, and I cannot help you any more. Go south and leave us in peace, because you belong to the trees. There is some place in the world for you, my son, I'm sure of it. You have a destiny, but you need to follow your dreams," After that, Belongs to the Trees left. He didn't feel much grief, but continued on south as his father had told him. That was when it started. The Ache had sensed that he was ready, and it hit him like lightning in his sleep. The trees, they spoke to him, urged him to run, faster and faster until his hooves were immersed in the mud and water of the swamp. When he awoke, he began to run, with more energy than he ever had before...