Name: Katelyn Ann Macleod
Nickname: She only lets certain people call her Kate or Katie, but to everyone else it's Katelyn Ann.
Age: She is young compared to some of the non-humans in Thar Shaddin. Katelyn has been in existence for only twenty-three years.
Date of Birth: 145 Post War was when she was born.
Race: Katelyn is something other then human, she is a shapeshifter. Being a shapeshifter means that she is half human and half something else. Her something else is that she can shift between her human form and her dog form. The dog breed that she is Irish Wolfhound, which is a big wire-haired breed that would probably be mistaken as a terrier if you didn't have previous knowledge of them. Katelyn Ann can sometimes be in her human body but have the tail and ears of a wolfhound, which is her preferred form.
Physical Description:
Human- Standing about five feet and five inches and weighing one hundred and fifteen pounds, Katelyn Ann is a beautiful young women. Straight light brown hair runs down her back to rest just below her shoulder blades and is most worn down or tied back with a piece of leather thong. Her skin is a creamy white color while in this form but can sometimes become a light tan if she spend more then two hours in the sun, but that is not very often. Just below her eyes on her skin, she has a little spread of freckles as well as on the bridge of her nose. Her bright green eyes stand out against her skin and with the yellow ring around the pupal make then actually fit with her face instead of looking out of place. While in this form, she can be known to wear a black flowy skirt that goes down to her ankles and billows out as she walks. Upon the top half of her body she wears a light pink corset that laces up in the back with black string and instead of just straps holding it up, there are cap sleeves that are the same color as her corset. Around her neck is a gift from her mother, that she has had since a small child. On a old piece of braided leather is a piece of amber that has been passed down from all generations of McFarl women with a shifting ability.
Dog form- Standing about twenty-nine inches from the ground, though she is one of the most tallest breeds of dogs, she is shorter then most of her family but to her that is a good thing. Her wiry fur is actually a mixture of browns, the most prominent one being the color of her hair as a human, milk chocolate brown. The eyes never change, always staying a vibrant green color with a ring of yellow around her pupal.
Hybrid- She looks the same as her human form but the difference is that her dog ears and tail are visible. Katelyn Ann only goes into this form around those who know about her or when she is alone in her home above her bookshop.
Possessions:
Bow and arrows- Her favorite weapon to use while in her human and hybrid form. The bow is made out of wood from on of the elder trees she frequently passes while hunting, and the string of the bow is made from horse hair. Her arrows are made of the same wood as her bow, but the arrow head is a bodkin point that is made out of iron. As for the fletchings, they were made from the feathers of a turkey she had caught while in her dog form.
Bookshop- Katelyn Ann is the owner of a bookshop, the only one located in Downtown next to one of the many Inns and a Black Smith's shop. It is a two story bark brown building where only the bottom level is the book shop. The upper level has actually been turned into her home, decorated to her liking. Her bookshop is called Lyskonia. She humorously named it that because it has a very rough translation of Canine Guardian of Literature.
Puppy- She has a blue-grey Irish Wolfhound puppy that she found curled under a tree, fur all mangled and so dirty, that once she brought her home and cleaned couldn't not keep her so Katelyn Ann named her Zaira.
Powers or Strengths:
Owning a bow and arrow doesn't mean that your good at it, but in this case she is really good and uses it to go hunting or even just to practice her skills against a tree.
Strength is something she has that is the same as a healthy human male and doesn't look out of place on her petite frame. When she is a dog she's on all fours, so it builds up the muscle but it's not magical strength or anything just something that has occurred from her shifting. She also got it from working with her mum and father on the farm.
Her speed is also twice that of a normal human, but only comes out when she is running or trying to get away from something.
Hunting- She is a great hunter. Taught at a early age, she's refined her hunting skills from just small animals to larger animals like deer and moose.
Friendly- Katelyn Ann is very friendly, always being nice to others. Making friends is quite easy for her, as she is always there for others. She is the listener type, and is pretty quiet actually.
Optimistic- She is a glass half full type of girl. Always looks at the bright side of things, hardly ever being a pessimist. Katelyn is always positive towards others, thinking the best of them, even if they are the one of vagabonds.
Knowledge- Having read almost all the books in her shop, she know many things. From history of Thar Shaddin, history of Pal Tahrenor, history of animals, to mechanics. Though she may know how to do things that doesn’t mean she can do them. Just having the knowledge is something, it seems, she craves.
Weaknesses and Flaws:
Shyness- When it comes to being around people she is friendly but is not known to start the conversation herself. She is cautious and shy of those around her. Always wondering if they know her secret or what they feel about her. To her fitting in is something she makes certain she does. She knows people might freak if they saw her true forms, but hopes one day to find someone who doesn't run once they know. Though, she doesn't know how that's going to happen when she can't talk to a man without freezing up.
Curiosity- When there are things she does not know and wants to know she will find them out no matter what she has to do. Rather it be sneaking into a brothel or eavesdropping on someone. She is also very nosy. If she hears someone talking about something and they pronounce something wrong or don’t know what something is, she just interjects and tells them, nicely of course, before going on her way.
Fire- Since the fire that she believed killed her parents, she has reservations of using it but only uses it for candle light and to roast her the meat she killed., Though large amounts of it bring back the terrible memories of that day and can sometimes cause he to just stare into space for about an hour, which is why she tries not to use it too often. Waking with the sun and sleeping once it sets. Though sometimes, when she goes for a run in her shifter form and fire is necessary she'll use it.
History:
Born the daughter of farmer and his wife in the outskirts of Marn, Katelyn Ann grew up as an only child of two shifter parents. Her father was a wolf shifter and her mother was a Irish wolfhound shifter. From the time she could understand, she wondered which she would be and if maybe she'd be the best of both. By the time she was seven, the answer was obvious. One her seventh birthday was her first full shift. Before it would just be the ears and tail that would appear but that day she because just like her mother, an Irish wolfhound. Though her father did wish she had shifted into a wolf like him, he was proud and happy for his daughter. Her mum was ecstatic. After she had shifted back to her human form, her mum sat her down and told her the story of all the women on her mum's side.
It seemed, no matter what the dad was if the child was born female then they would shift into an Irish wolfhound. It had been like that for as long as her mother's mum could remember. Only if a child was conceived during a blue moon would the child be born male and would shift into what the father was. Her uncle, Sebastian, was like that. His father was a bear shifter and his mother an Irish Wolfhound shifter, but being a male he took the form of a bear on his first shift. Once her mum was done telling her about the family history, she took a necklace from her neck and put it into her daughter's hand. "This is the necklace that has been passed from generation to generation of McFarl women. The piece of amber there is from when the first women of our family shifted into a dog and then didn't know the breed. It looks like a terrier and a wolf, so the came up with Irish Wolfhound." She told her with a smile as Katelyn Ann turned the amber over in her hand and before having her mum tie it around her neck. "Thank you mummy." She said giving her a hug and a kiss to her cheek.
From that day, her parents and herself would go out hunting in their animal forms instead of in there human forms. Also, on that day after everything was explained to her, her parents took her to the Justice Hall and introduced her to the Judges. After telling her the laws of Marn and asking her to show them both her hybrid and animal form, which she of course did, they let her go after making her making her swear not to tell or show anyone what she is and that they'd be watching her. Once she agreed, her parents and herself got back into their horse drawn carriage and traveled back to their farm. As they were going through the districts, Kate looked around at all the shops wondering what each one was and what the signification they had to Marn. From that day, she knew she wanted to live surrounded by those who lived in the Downtown District of Marn. Liking the hustle and bustle of everything going on. When they finally arrived at their farm, the all became their animals and her parents taught her how to hunt in said form.
By the time she was seventeen, her hunting skills in her dog form had improved beyond what she's initially thought it would be. When she turned eighteen her parents gave her a bow and some arrows whose fletchings are made out of the feather of a goose that was her first catch in her dog form. From that day on she has been becoming better in both forms where hunting is concerned. Sometimes she will shoot the animal while in her human for then take it down in her Irish Wolfhound form. Though, she does like to just use her hybrid form, since it's the better parts of both forms.
Other then hunting or fishing, Katelyn Ann has a thirst for knowledge. Whether it be reading, writing, or just learning things she doesn't know. Reading is one of her favorite free time things to do. She would go around the house and read every piece of writing she could find. She would sit in front of the fire at night, reading about far away places and the traditions of that country or city. Even cookbooks sometimes found their way into her hands. Though her mother was the cook and cleaner of the house and her father was the farmer, she would sometimes help then so that she knew and understood each duty. Plus she would read about it and want to try it for herself. Every once in a while though, she would get into trouble with how far she would go. One time when it was her parents thirtieth wedding anniversary, Katelyn was cooking a recipe she had found for a roasted chicken and eggs, for breakfast for them, but while cooking the eggs they caught fire and almost burned their farm house to the ground. She got out, but what she did realize though is that her parents did not. They had been sleeping when the house caught fire, and hadn't woken up. They'd both died the night before in their sleep together. Crying was not something she did often, but that morning as she watched the fire engulf the house and her parents. The bad thing was that she didn't know that her parents had died not by the fire but by natural causes. She blamed herself for her parents death.
Since there was no house left, Katelyn Ann moved into the Downtown District of Marn. The first thing she did was go to the Judges and told them about her parents and their home and that she was moving into the city. They reminded her to keep her dog form to herself, which of course she agreed for she wanted to fit in here with the humans. After leaving the hall, she walked onto the road and looked around. Walking to the The Drunken Rat Tavern, she got a room and stayed their for many months. She knew she wanted to open a shop in town that would help her earn a living and also provide her with a home, but did not know what kind. So, to make the money to afford a shop, she asked the bartender's wife if she could have a job and explained to her what she was working towards. The wife had smiled at her and asked her a few questions about things concerning who Katelyn Ann was and if she would mind certain things that might happen. After answering them as honestly as she could, she was given the job of a waitress but was told the rules and given a tray. There were only a few patrons in the bar at the time, so to prove she could do it, she put a smile on her face and take their orders and bring them to the bartender and then take said orders back to the one who had ordered it.
Two years later, Katelyn Ann had been walking from the market with things for the Inn when she saw a For Sale sign in the window next to the Inn. She had saved enough and knew she would be able to afford it. She ran into the Inn and went straight to the bar calling for the bartender's wife, whom she had befriended from her time there and was so excited she was jumping up and down. Telling her about her plans and the shop for sale upstairs, Katelyn asked for her help to be able to get it. With their help, she bought the shop a few months later. It was her twenty-third birthday when she bought it. Looking around and seeing all the shelves, she smiled to herself. Knowing that this shop was destined to be a bookshop, that is exactly what she turned the first floor into. Having saved a little by having the bartender and his wife take the previous owner knock down that price left some money for her to stock the shelves with books of literature, fiction, children's book, and much more. The top level she turned into her personal home. She already had the old furniture, so she just asked around and found some who would make like curtains and blankets for her and the shop. Also, she offered that she would sell some of their things in her shop with them getting 70% of the profit, which to her relief they agreed. In her shop she sells books, blankets, and small trinkets that people make that they think others would like. For food though she doesn't really buy anything. She goes next door to the Inn with the things she hunts in her Irish Wolfhound form, which no one but her (and the Judges) know about. Katelyn Ann hopes one day to tell them and maybe to find someone who will like her for that as well. She knows other shifters in the community but keeps mostly to herself.
