Step One:

First step.. Creating your marvelous new found second persona.. Your wolf.. Here at Soul of the Wild, each character is unique in his or her own way, and I am going to help you get through at least the basic steps of creating a character, with as much depth and feeling as is possible.. So that we are able to imagine and almost see the wolf in before us.

First step is the name.. What sort of thing will be reflected from the choice of your wolfs name? All of the wolves I possess, have names that sometimes (mostly reflect their personalities)

Moldavia for instance, was named after a region in Transylvania, strong and in partnership with everyone, willing to succeed.

Brack, his name I made up off the top of my head, deciding that it reflected the fact that he is not truly evil.. Only half and perhaps even another half.

Other names, have meaning also, although I wont get into detail about this, but I will say this, Names are important.. Search for names that are unique and original, ones that no one else will ever think of.

Next is the age. This will definitely put an impact in your rping.. An aged wolf will not jump around like an exuberant puppy, and a puppy will not necessarily have the knowledge and wisdom of an elder.. For it is impossible. Otherwise the age is what I think to be a somewhat small part of the application.

Appearance. Now this is truly important in the application.. Where ass some people will put down, small, dark fur, brown eyes.. etc.. There is a certain lacking of creativity something that I look forward to reading in the applications, and helps us all to understand how your wolf moves and appears to the eyes. An example, one that I use with a wolf I rp at another site, “Hera” Although I changed her up a bit and she is not the same as here.. No not at all…

Appearance: A truly beautiful wolfess, well defined curves, slender legs, fox like face.. The list goes on and on. Her fur of a duller shade, hues of charcoals and bland grays all smudged together to make.. well… One beautiful smudge. She has flaws upon her porcelain face, a scar runs across the very tip her maw, where both charcoal nose and ebonite fur meet in a splash of smoky hues.. A rather curved scar is traced along her rib cage… the fur there still blood stained, giving her ebonite fur a tint of seemingly crimson. The ebony wolfess, with eyes of metallic gold They seem to bore through you as if they stare into your very soul. Her fur at the moment is quite ugly, having been matted and bloodstained during her epic battle. Her muzzle is beautifully tapered, ending in a dainty nose, and once she is given somewhere safe to reside her fur will grow back to its once glossy texture. Her gaze is what some would call poisonous, managing to make others have to look away when gazed upon... Or submit readily.. Hey, she wont deny that she likes the submissiveness, power only adds more to her already large ego. Only to those that she becomes close to will ever see true emotion. Her tail is long and scraggly, as if been dipped in black ink and left out to dry. She has scars raked along her rib cage and one across the very tip her maw, where both charcoal nose and ebonite fur meet in a splash of smoky hues..

During the “appearance section” you can describe many things including, Movement (grace, Exuberant, attentive, paranoid etc) the way the voice sounds to the ears (seductive, voluptuous, high pitched, low pitched, etc), Obviously the appearance, but don’t just describe the fur color, and or eye color, go deeper then that, describe what the paws are shaped like, how the ears are pointed, eyes intense? Or not so much? Claws, teeth, tail, everything that is visible can be tried to be described in an interesting form.

Next we have Personality. Your character can be many things, good, bad, neutral, warped, crazy.. The list continued on for ages.. Most of my charries are unique to their own suitabilities, and once more here is an evil character form from that of Hera. Swearing is involved, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Personality: There is only one way to look at this wolfess for the way she truly is; The Bitch above all bitches. The ebony fae is exactly the opposite of what her slender form portrays.. for her heart is withered into a small clump of useless muscle within her elegantly chiseled chest, and her brain had become filled with darkened thoughts that would make even the most evil wolf cringe if they ever had the chance to peek inside. She tends to use her form to her advantage.. Which in most cases gives her both pleasure and a sense of power, her vanity held high above all else. Her eyes can take on that of many emotions, for she is an actress, and the globe is her stage, and she will do with it what she wills.. When she wants to. Her mouth tends to be set into a sneer, or some kind of smirk… Her mouth usually prepared to throw some smart remark, dripping with sarcasm towards the unwary. The ebonite wolfess for some reason tends to mumble strange things to herself when there is no one around to hear.. Leaving some to think she is crazy.. Or mentally unstable. Although who really isn’t?

Obviously from this you are able to tell quite a bit about the character deemed, “Hera” and should be able to paint a somewhat realistic picture of her in your mind. This should happen when someone reads your application, and if it is managed it makes it a very enjoyable read indeed!

And last but not least there is History. This I admit, is the hardest and most time consuming part of the application. Although there are many people out there who write things such as, “Her parents were killed by hunters.” (I myself have done it with “Kiri” as I'm sure we all have at one point) but it is merely.. Insufficient. One paragraph will do, although there are rps out there that will ask you to be able to come up with at least five paragraphs. Although I know that there are people out there that can not write that much (even I cant all of the time) It is a must that you reflect on how your history will affect your wolf. The personality will sometimes reflect what has happened in the past. A depressed wolf, is most likely going to have an awful past, a cold hearted wolf having an interesting past, broken heart, betrayal etc, Happy go lucky wolf with that of a magnificent life. Although the history should be interesting and an enjoyable read, summing up the whole of you character sheet in a couple of paragraphs. Remember, “Quality, not Quantity.” Is the important thing here, although length could help a bit, (no one liners lol)

An example: (This is the application I used at Faith In Destiny.. It is longer then most, and We (SOTW) Do not expect all to be this long! No worries there!)

(**As Moldavia is a tundra wolf, she was brought up in the great north, (Most likely Canadian wilderness)**)
Moldavia was born to the alphas of the pack (As most wolves are) and there was nothing wrong with her. Her eyes were a cold blue green color, but they would change eventually as most pups eyes did. Her parents were both proud that they had given birth to such a beautiful wolfess and were proud of her and her sisters. She was the only light colored wolfess of the three, the other two being a deep brown color and ebony. Her parents thought it odd but were hopeful that their daughter would eventually darken. Which was the trademark of the pack dark coats and darker eyes. As the alphas were of darker hues, they expected their children to be the same. Before their eyes a wolfess was formed, a strong proud pup. A sure fire leader to be. The pride that burned behind their eyes was true and held fast until the day Moldavia turned a year old.

Unfortunately for Moldavia there were secrets about her mother and father she did not know or not figure out until a year later. Her eyes had still not changed to the amber hues of her sisters, and to the dismay of her parents they did not darken, but lighten. Her eyes went from the normal baby hue to that of emerald green, and her pelt did the same as her eyes, dark fur sprouting upon her legs, forehead and ear tips. Yet her body still remained the same creamy white color that she had inherited from who knows where. A strange coloring indeed. Her parents looked down their noses at her; afraid that she was not a pup of their own but of someone else, for no one in the pack possessed the same fathomless expanse of eye color. They argued continuously wondering where this strange pup had come from. The father accused the mother of foul play, having mated with a loner of the same hue, and then mating with him leaving him to think that he would have healthy perfectly normal pups, and he was the father; the only father. The mother accused him of faulty genes, a weak link in the chain and that some great ancestor of his had had the same coloring and that it just happened to appear now. They spat out every plausible excuse. Finally they decided behind the back of the entire pack, to plan something so terrible and morbid that Moldavia would have to get driven from the pack, if not the others would kill her.

Days later the plan was set up by the alphas they had the bait, out ready and set all they had to do was carry it out. Both male and female knew what they had to do, even though they would regret it later. They had let the omega play with Moldavia before the actual plan, so that her scent would be strong on him as they took him out. After the two were done playing, they lured the Omega out into the forest telling him that he was going to get raised in rank; obviously that was not the case. When they got far enough away from the pack lands so that no one would hear what was to come they began to circle him, preparing to kill him. Bloodied snarls racked the air, claws and teeth clashed against one another. At the end of the night there was a dead body lying between the two, and triumphant looks upon their faces. The very same night they dragged the body back towards the pack ands, but not before they took their plan a tac farther. With their teeth they engraved what seemed to be ancient scripture upon his delicate face and head. When they got back to their pack lands they left him beside a lake, waiting for someone to find him and tell them about the strange body upon their lands, and the odd writing that marked his frail and broken body.

The next morning the body was found by a patroller and they were informed immediately as they had thought would happen. The whole pack surrounded the body and shed tears of guilt, for no one had treated him well (he had been an omega) and now they regretted it deeply, wishing they had done something to improve his last waking moments on this earth. Moldavia cried most for she had been one of his only true friends. They all became wary of his corpse as they saw the odd scripture. They all wondered what kind of beast would cause such pain on such an innocent wolf. Suddenly the alphess padded towards the omega and shed some tears on his poor innocent frame. She let her ears perk up, and she let out a whine as she recognized the scent upon his body and she told the other wolves of what she had smelled. The others began to push and shove, all hoping to scent what had upset the alphess in such a strong way. The packs lips all began to curl as the deathly scent of Moldavia was scented upon the wolfs frail frame. Snarls suddenly filled the air and they all glared accusingly at Moldavia. She opened her mouth to protest and suddenly saw the pride on her mothers face, for her own mother had defeated Moldavia at last. Moldavia’s eyes were filled with anger and fear of what the others would now do to her. She opened her mouth in defiance and tried to find words that would make the other wolves believe her but nothing came out of her mouth… Her padded through the crowd forcing herself to be heard above the snarls, that silenced them. She began to explain how she believed that Moldavia was cursed, a sin sent down from the forces of evil. The wolves all became silent at her words, shocked looks appearing on their faces as the so called ‘truth’ sunk in. No one thought to not believe what the alphess had just stated for here what she said was considered law. Moldavia watched as wolves she had considered friends turned their backs on her, thinking her a cold-blooded killer. Her mother raised her head to the skies and shouted to the pack, “Drive her from these lands! I never want to see her again! And if that be the case, Ill kill her myself….” The warriors of the pack leaped forward fur bristling ready to drive this wolf away from their beloved alphess.

Moldavia ran through the woods, tears streaming down her face as she thought of what she had thought her mother once was. A mother who loved all of her children, including her. This was obviously not the case. She could hear the labored breath of the warriors behind her and let out a whimper in fear. Once she was out of the pack lands the warriors left some slack, knowing that she would never return, she was not that stupid as to be killed worthlessly. Moldavia wandered for weeks on end, stumbling onto other wolf’s pack lands, but by then the whole area had heard of the “cursed” wolfess and they would chase her from their lands with bared teeth as the others had. During her times in the wilderness she became lonesome and forlorn, most wolves avoiding her and her bottle green eyes. One day she met a loner and to her surprise he was handicapped, cast out to the lands as she had been, yet for totally different reasons. He was blind. She learned many things from the elder wolf, how to stalk quietly and sense when others were around. The older wolf helped her through some tougher times and she appreciated all that he had to offer. She now carries a certain aire of knowledge around her, as if she knows more then she lets on. When she had spent a year with him learning all that she possibly could, she decided to leave, start a new life for herself. One day while he was sleeping she just simply left him peacefully lying there hoping he would not miss her… much. She now searches for something or even someone to love her, accept her… and not care for the color of her fathomless expanse of emerald green…. Her eyes..

As you can see, length is not all that important, although at some sites they seem to demand it.. Unknown to me as to why though.. Your history should be captivating and leaving the reader wanting to read your first post, and the ones to follow!

Step Two:

Moving on… Here are some Tips on Rping.. Feel free to browse through them, use what you feel will help your own rping skills. And here we go.

Before you post even the first post, reflect on the way you want your wolf to sound.. Do you want her it to sound smart? Dumb? Elegant? Extravagant? All of these things are seen through the way you portray your character.
Examples:

Intelligence: He trotted onwards, large cranium swinging from side to side, the feverish search playing out behind his eyes.. His dream was that of simplicity, Knowledge.

Dumb: He trotted onwards, large cranium swinging from side to side in a cumbersome manner, the feverish search playing out before his eyes.. His dream was large, something that would most probably take some time to acquire; that of Knowledge.

Elegant: He trotted forwards, regal head swaying gently from side to side, the feverish search played out upon his handsome visage of ebon hue. His aspiration was as such; to acquire a knowledge of which no other possessed.

Extravagant: He trotted onwards, slender legs splaying forth as his gait was hastened towards his prize. Eyes widened during the feverish search.. Egoistic mind stopped to glance down into a puddle, making sure that nothing marked his handsome face.. Nothing marred his graceful appearance. His search was for something he had always longed for.. knowledge.

As you can see, just by tweaking a few words in each sentence, you get a different meaning from the sentence. So instead of using something like,

“He walked on… Noticing something to his left before returning to the trail before him…”

Go into detail, explain how he walked, graceful, cumbersome, steadfast, slowly, hastened, etc.. Explain what it was that he noticed, A rabbit? A small group of odd shaped leaves? A gnarled root? Use your imagination, go crazy and pick up on little things that some people leave out.. How the wind is moving, which direction.. The list goes on and on, there are so many things that you can add to that one sentence to make your introduction more interesting, leaving the reader craving more.
Here is how I, myself, have converted the sentence, just to prove that it can be done, and isn’t all that hard.. Just put a little bit more effort into your posts, don’t feel as if you have to reply right away!

“He walked on, each step placed in front of the other in a futile attempt to traverse the forests before him. Eyes catching something to his left, large cranium swung to the side, an unusual shaped flower catching his attention. The petals spread from the middle in an odd fashion, the shape rather thought provoking as he gazed at it for a moment, before returning once more to the same slow careful pace. The trail before him carved out as if with the gentle swipes of a paw…”

And now for the following sentences, and of you feel up to it, paragraphs. I am going to use the same above sentences to create a post for all of you to follow and understand.. For the sake of reality I will name the wolf “Bob.” From what we have written now, we can tell he is searching for something, whether it be love, knowledge, family.. I chose love, as it is a deep and powerful thought.. One that I hope all of you will enjoy as I lead you through, step by step.

Well the first thing that we have established, is that “Bob” Is searching for love.. Something that is rather hard to come by in our crazy upside down universe. What would you add one after, “-With the gentle swipes of a paw…?” I urge you to create something of your own.. Merely for practice.

The next step would be to introduce some sort of appearance description.. Despite the fact that you have posted it in your application, there are those among us that will merely read your first post and not necessarily read the application at all. What color shall we make ol’ faithful Bob? Let us make him grey, with grey eyes.. Strange coloration, rather bland if I do say so myself. So here could be what you would write for an introduction, including some of things that I personally enjoy using.

“Listless eyes scanned once more, the flower now stored within the cavernous depths of his mind. Bland colored paws hit the ground once more the now tired male afraid to move on, the chances of him collapsing slowly increasing as fatigue became evident in his long legs, large torso heaving from the long journey he had made to get to where he now stood.”

Ok, so what do we know so far? He is bland colored, more or less meaning that his coloring does not make him stand out against others, and his eyes our of grey coloring, rather listless as I like to think. A somewhat large wolf, regal in his ways even if he is about to collapse. All of this we can tell just by reading that.. Small amount of writing. If we continued we could go on to describe as to if he collapses, whether or not he is truly wishing with his essence to find the one things he desires.. Although it may not even happen.

There are other things to describe as you think about posting; What sort of weather is he in? Trees, surrounding shrubs, brush, scents, tastes, feelings, emotions.. What surrounds you’re wolf? Describe it with utmost feeling.. Is it night time? Daytime? Morning? Sunset? Sunrise? Explain! Don’t be afraid to express what you (your wolf) is feeling.

Thanks to Moldavia

Anything to add will be added under this and a Thanks to you. - Niccy