species coywolf
physical description coming from a family composed of coyotes and wolves and the offspring of both, yule takes after his coyote ancestors more than he does the wolves. he is tall and lanky, with long and bony legs that give him somewhat of an awkward lope. his face is narrow, with soft green eyes sitting on tall cheekbones. though taking the stature of a coyote, yule's coat resembles a wolf's; his fur is thick and plush, especially around his neck, giving him somewhat of a mane. his coloration--his whole village's coloration, more accurately--is unnatural for standard coywolves. hundreds of generations of adapting to the surrounding environment led to the muted brown pelts with stripes to help blend with the dark wood of the forest, hence yule's interesting appearance. compared to the rest of his family, his pelt is a slightly richer brown, less bland looking and thus considered more attractive. several golden rings adorn his round ears, two on each, accompanied as well by gold studs. from his nose dangles a septum piercing. on yule's right shoulder is a tattoo of a salmon swimming upstream, gotten as a tribute to his family.

personality
charismatic + passionate + adventurous + perceptive
volatile + blunt + brash + vindictive
to say the least, yule has a very strong personality. he's relatively easy to get along with, and is a very talented speaker. a majority of his success in the trade business came from his way with words; though a majority of what he says is just fluff, he seems to be able to sway others with ease. he is very passionate about things, though his voice may deceive him at times, and he can go on and on about topics for hours--much to the chagrin of someone who may be arguing his point. to top it all off, he is extremely perceptive of both body language and emotions. there are times when he can look at someone and easily tell them what they're thinking, or what type of person they are. yule enjoys traveling and adventure; when not working or being held down by something else, he's out in the wilderness, exploring and taking in the scenery. he loves to take long trips and can be away from home for days at a time. he never shies away from trying new things.

although he has a good head on his shoulders, the events of losing his family shook him to the core and resulted in large changes in his personality. yule became somewhat erratic, unsure how to deal with the grief; his emotions often swung from one end to the other, changing at only a moment's notice. he has a tendency to be set off by even the littlest things, and though he doesn't mean it, can become very harsh and snappy. he is very blunt and often incites arguments due to his straightforwardness. since the burning of his village he has been quietly hellbent on finding the ones responsible for the fire. he isn't sure what he'll do if he does find them, but he will get justice for his family.

history yule dowling was born into a family of fish traders, in the small village of dimoa at the base of the dimoa mountain range. he was the first pup born after a long, harsh winter, and the village considered it a blessing that he was perfectly healthy. he grew up well-liked and naturally charismatic; in the small marketplace, he could very easily haggle prices down to half of what they were, and such came in handy as he grew old enough to begin trading with other villages and towns.

at a year old, he began to learn his family's trade, and became relatively skilled at fishing with them. the village's largest source of commerce was the sockeye and king salmon, which they both bred year round and caught as they swam up river to reproduce. one of their trade partners was the halters family; yule took a liking to the one named hickory, but they did not see each other often.

upon becoming a year and a half old, yule made his very first trip outside the village to a nearby town. he set up shop in their marketplace, wandered around to various larger shops, and thus began to earn his reputation as a trader. he enjoyed his job very much, and found it relatively easy to make trade partners and acquaintances in these towns. yule became his village's main exporter and spent large amounts of time away from home. he made a name for himself at 3 years old and earned enough coin for his village to expand and get better fishing equipment. he was making them proud, and that's all he cared about.

at about three and a half years, tragedy struck. yule was on his way home from a long trip, ready to settle down with his family for the winter months, when the scent of smoke hit his nose. he spotted a group of three animals--one hyena, one tiger, and another canine of some sort--fleeing some distance away, but what they'd done did not fully process in his mind until after. the closer he got to the top of the hill, the stronger the smell of smoke became, and the more orange he could see in the sky. he reached the top, and he saw--

fire.

everywhere.

his village was burning, being turned to ash before his eyes, and all he could do was watch. his legs wouldn't move, no matter how he urged them forward. yule remained there until morning--until a storm had mercy on the ashes and exstinguished the flames. he watched, waited, hoped to see movement. any sign at all that there were survivors, but... nothing. yule eventually gave up, and with heavy heart and heavier legs did he make his way to the halters' home, where he collapsed finally at the feet of hickory. the deer ended up taking the poor boy in, and over the next few months she adopted him as her own. she helped him get on the path to recovery, but no amount of kind and loving words in the world could fill the whole in his heart. he was disappointed when she announced her vacation, but he understood; everyone needed time away. yule took to wandering while she was away, and one day ran into (quite literally) a flying fox by the name of aquila. they became fast friends, bonding over their misfortunes, and spent lots of time together. it was nice to finally have a companion--someone he could call his friend, aside from his mother.

before waking up in the cube, yule remembers being out exploring with aquila. strangely enough, his memory cuts off in the midst of them wandering around.