Appearance

Cream base-coat, rust-red along shoulders, hips, spine, and the backs of the ears. Tan cheeks and a white snip on the top of his muzzle. Saddle of dark gray and lighter silver sable; sea-green eyes.

Personality

Masterful in his undertakings, prefers to be in charge, and always aspiring toward an ideal. Firmly believes his life is out-of-the-ordinary and “special”, and that he possesses a great knowledge of the world through personal experience and brilliant intuition (not necessarily untrue). Likes sensational, new things. Acts instinctively, but fortunately has a good sixth sense. Likes to give advice and is honest, loyal, and open. Inventive, non-conformist, and bound to break rules he doesn't agree with. Strives to treat others as equals even when he can be self-possessed with his own grandeur. While he can be arrogant, he is also the first to criticize himself and is genuinely humble when faced with praise or acknowledgment. He perseveres and is serious in most things he does, but is also humorous and sarcastic. Can be particularly analytical of others and may be presumptuous at times. Thrives in complex relationships. Admires beauty in all its forms. Emotions are big, dark, and mysterious, but he embraces these things, instinctively understanding and accepting the many sides and complications of his feelings.

History

NOTE: Kiskadee does not have all his memories (yet?) since arriving in Canis

Kiskadee originates from the Wallowa Mountains region of Oregon, North America, where he sat on the Council of a pack known as Ad Astra. Nestled in the crook of the Snake River under skies that stretched clear and full of stars for the majority of the year, the culture of Ad Astra was built on the principles of astrological divination. Those born into the pack under particularly auspicious signs are elevated among the membership, and encouraged to practice the art of reading the stars for the benefit of all wolves they come in contact with.

The culmination of a number of star-gazing families, Ad Astra was created, as they would say, by fate. Three small and independent familial packs living in the desert forests of Northeastern Oregon, Central Idaho, and Southwestern Montana, respectively, all used astrology as a tool for survival and understanding of their world, destinies, and paths. The core of their beliefs were and are linked to celestial tracking, and how the phases of the seasons, moon, sun, and earth predict the properties of physical and emotional spaces. This enables them to be particularly good geographers based on star mapping, as well as strong believers in horoscopes (the daily influence of celestial bodies upon their lives). Each of these family packs tracked each member's sun sign (the twelve signs of the Zodiac), assigning great worth to each sign's modality (cardinal, fixed, or mutable). Each of the twelve signs falls under one of the three modalities and combined, these properties define an individual's "root power" - or what their defining traits and paths will be, and how astrological events will affect them.

Many years ago, as the legend goes, each of the three families spawned a singleton puppy during separate lunar eclipses, and while these wolves varied in age, each pack's celestial readings sent these three out on individual journeys during what they considered an exceptional alignment of the planets. Meeting several creatures and crossing several miles of terrain, each wolf was unsure of their purpose until, at last, they found each other. Their magnetic energy together was obvious, and the three wolves each represented a cardinal, fixed, and mutable modality.

These wolves formed the first council of Ad Astra, and through the coming generations, the pack grew with new gifted and even stronger astral diviners than those who came before them. Although there was harmony and balanced power between the sitting council members at all times within the pack, there was nevertheless a historic natural leadership in the sitting Fixed sign which, to outside packs, would often appear as the alpha. Under the leadership of a descendant of the Oregon wolves, the Astoria family, word spread of a foretold astrological event that would splinter the pack. The council members poured over the information delicately, until it was decided that the readings of the star map and the coming transit of Venus across the Sun (a rare event) indicated the pack must relocate, and they traveled further into the mountains of Idaho.

They chose a new home higher in the mountains, not just for its exceptional star-gazing, but to keep a watchful eye on their geographical location, believing it to be only a matter of time before a Great Event would occur in their proximity. As the years passed, pack members began to read the stars differently from one another, and not all continued to believe the divination of the Astorias who, persistent in their belief that change was coming, did not seem to have any tangible evidence to support their claims. Tension grew, some wolves longing for the fertile valley they left behind, and the Council struggled to maintain clear leadership.

Affirming the Astorias’ prediction, the Great Event came quite unexpected on August 21, 2017, in the form of a rare total solar eclipse. Caught in shock, awe, or both, Ad Astra was left stunned. Only those who have seen the sun turn completely black, its fringing white light illuminating just a halo around the darkest of moons, casting the world into shadowless darkness, can begin to understand what it does to you. But the eclipse was accompanied by a most auspicious event indeed: the birth of two Astoria brothers, Kiskadee and Vetiver, the former taking his first breath during totality itself. The connection between the pack’s origin story (Council members born under lunar eclipses) was not lost on the present members of Ad Astra, and the pack became tighter and more dedicated than ever under Astoria leadership.

As a result, Kiskadee was instilled with near prophet-like reverence from a young age. He spent most of his time under the tutelage of his mother, who was the sitting Fixed council member, and who intended for him to follow in her footsteps. He became quite outspoken in the pack as an exceptionally accurate diviner as an adolescent and dedicated himself fully to the pursuit of the rare knowledge and transcendence said to come of a solar eclipse. He was typical of all that embodied a Leo - funny, charming, mysterious - and that uncanny oxymoron of being both aloof and an extrovert. When he was not immersed in the stars or setting up altars of sacred objects to bring good fortune to the pack, he was cultivating another pursuit: love.

A bold and fiery romance erupted between Kiskadee & and Emese (E-me-she) Gesztenye, a Gemini wolf descended from the Montana lines. They were in part pushed together by their parents, who found their match to be incredibly fortuitous. By the age of 14 months, Kiskadee was already showing great promise in defining his root power, while Emese, 7 months his senior, was an accomplished star-mapper outstripping many of her seniors in the pack. The two were brought together during Emese's second estrus once both were of age. Although hesitant about becoming parents so young, Kiskadee & Emese nevertheless could not deny the will of their destiny, nor the deep love they held for one another.

It was quite beyond their divination, however, that Emese would perish just three months after the birth of their litter during a hunting accident. Devastated and a bit terrified, Kiskadee would go on to raise the litter alone, acting as both father and mother to his young pups, trying his best to capture the unique gifts Emese surely would have wanted to pass along to them. As a parent and as an individual, it is hard to define Kiskadee as just one role. He exists as both masculine and feminine energies, and neither. Believing himself extraordinary and capable of great spiritual awareness, he vowed to keep the legacy of Emese alive inside himself, for his children, and beyond, almost to the point of having two personalities. These threads ultimately wove together into an epiphany of identifying as genderfluid.

After a year and a half of parenthood, Kiskadee assumed the role of Fixed Council member. No sooner had he been sworn in, however, was he transported mysteriously to the world of Canis, leaving many of his memories, along with his family, in the past...