Warbow is a slender man of medium height. He is in peak physical condition and can often outlast a much younger man on the trail or in a fight. Although not very tall, his presence makes up for his lack of height. His hair is long, blue-black in color, and kept clean and free of tangles.  His face is strong with high cheekbones and a slender nose. His mouth is firm with fine lips above a strong, slanting jawline.

Eyes

John has very expressive dark brown, nearly black, eyes. They shine with intelligence and humor most of the time.

Hair

The Tsiiyéél and Navajo Identity (Traditional Hair Bun)

The traditional hair bun is an essential component of life. It is comparable to the relevance of eagle feathers or tobacco because it represents the identity of each person, their intellect, and even their way of life. It is a hair style worn by men and women. Each yarn strand used to form the bun is sacred and purposeful. The tsiiyéél is as much a spiritual practice, or a form of prayer, as it is a way to put one’s hair up.

John Warbow usually wears his hair in the traditional tsiiyéél  (hair bun) although, depending on occasion, he will wear it loose, in braids, or pulled back in a simple ponytail. When wearing his hair in other styles than the traditional bun, he also dons a wide headband wrapped around his forehead to keep the hair out of his face.

Grooming and Hygiene

Having lived a portion of his early life on Lost Lake Ranch in the Thornton household as a valued member of the family, Warbow learned early on how important hygiene was to good health and the control of disease. It was a lesson he took back to his clan when he returned to his native home in the San Francisco Peaks area of Arizona. Warbow is always clean shaven and bathes as often as circumstances allows.

Clothing

Another instance where it depends on his location and the occasion. Under normal circumstances, Warbow prefers to dress in the traditional manner of the men of his tribe although he has become accustomed to wearing white man's clothing when needed to blend in.  For the majority of the time, he wears brown deerskin leggings held in place at the knee by a woven garter wound several times around the leg and the end tucked in. with a wide sash wrapped around his waist. In summer, he often wears a vest of deerskin of woven cotton and no shirt unless in the company of whites. When walking and tracking, he will wear deerskin moccasins that reach just above the ankle. For ranch work, Warbow dresses like the typical cowboy.

• Honorable
• Good sense of humor despite life's hardships.
• Honest and truthful
• Straight forward
• Rather formal mode of speech lacking the use of contractions commonly used.
• Quiet, low voice, pleasing intonation, very well-spoken.
• Since the Navajo are a matriarchal society,  John Warbow has a deep and profound respect for all women.
• Will never be seen to openly grieve a death as that could lead the ghost (spirit) to remain and haunt the living.

Anglo Name(s)

• John Warbow
• Raven That Sings (secret war name)
• Gaagii Wintersong (Anglo/Navajo Name)

Navajo Names

• Gaagii Kinyaa’áanii (actual given name that means Raven of the Towering House People clan)
• Hosteen Warbow (Hosteen or Hastiin means "man" and serves as an honorific like Mister in English),

Current

Lost Lake Ranch

• Works whatever jobs he is needed for, but primarily works with the horses and helps with tracking lost cattle and other livestock.
• Offers his services as needed for other tracking jobs.

Traditional

When home in the San Francisco Peaks of Arizona, John tends to the daily chores expected of one of the tribal leaders. He is a hatáli (Navajo medicine-man/singer), well-versed in many of the ceremonials of his people. Warbow is also well-known amongst his people as a healer. His white man's education helps him in that aspect of his duties as he learned much while at the college Josiah Thornton sent him to.

Skills

• Tracking
• Hunter
• Horse Training, Taming
• Translator
• Navajo traditional ceremonials and healing.
• Fluent in English, Spanish, Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo.

Weapons

Warbow is an expert with bow, lance, and rifle. However, he prefers to not carry a weapon with him unless he is going hunting. The carrying of a weapon, to him, signifies the intention of taking a life.

John Warbow was born to Kin Yaa'áanii  (Towering House People clan) and for Tódich'ii'nii (Bitter Water clan). Note: I will add his actual parents' names and grandparents clans later.

Will determine his late wife's clan later. Per Navajo tradition, he would have moved to her clan-house after marriage.

Foster Parents: Josiah Thornton and Nascha (means owl) of Kin Yaa'áanii  (Towering House People Clan).

• Due to Josiah's close relationship with his wife's clan, he was asked to foster her sister's son as the white man encroached more and more into sacred Navajo lands. Warbow's mother wanted him to know both the white man's way and his own traditions to better arm himself for the future.

Childhood

1821 (0):  Born in the period known as When the Thunder Sleeps (12/21) near the San Francisco Peaks north of Antelope Springs (Flagstaff), Arizona.

1823-1836 (2-12): Time spent learning the ways of his people, hunting, tracking, etc.

1837 (13): Sent to live with Josiah and Nascha for education. Warbow returns home during the spring and summer along with his foster siblings who are sent to live with their maternal clan to learn the ways of their Navajo heritage.

Adult Life

Dates TBD: Attends college

Date TBD (x): Marries and moves to his wife's clan.

Date TBD (x): Wife dies, Warbow returns to his maternal clan.

The Long Walk

1864-1866 (43-45): The Long Walk was the forced Navajo relocation to designated reservations.

Current

1876 (55): After being accused of rape and murder, John Warbow is ultimately cleared by Shade and a sympathetic army officer friend. He now lives and works on Lost Lake Ranch.

Current

• Hogan near the shores of Lost Lake and not far from the ranch's main bunkhouses.

Primary

• Hogan on the clan lands near the sacred San Francisco Peaks of Arizona.

Relationship with the White Man

Warbow is a follower of the Navajo Way and though he has experienced hatred for what has occurred to his people at the hands of the White Man, he has refused to let it make him bitter or to hate all bilagáana (Anglo). He has a much deeper dislike of the Utes. 

Linguistic Note: The word “Hozho”  in  Dine’  (roughly translated) Concept of Balance and Beauty. Consideration of the nature of the universe, the world, and man, and the nature of time and space, creation, growth, motion, order, control, and the life cycle includes all these other Navajo concepts expressed in terms quite impossible to translate into English.   Some Navajos might prefer the term: “Nizhoni” meaning  ‘just beauty.”

Walking in Beauty

In beauty I walk

With beauty before me I walk

With beauty behind me I walk

With beauty above me I walk

With beauty around me I walk

It has become beauty again

Hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shitsijí’ hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shikéédéé hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shideigi hózhóogo naasháa doo
T’áá altso shinaagóó hózhóogo naasháa doo
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Hózhó náhásdlíí’.

Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me

I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.

I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.

I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.

I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.

I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.

In beauty all day long may I walk.

Through the returning seasons, may I walk.

On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.

With dew about my feet, may I walk.

With beauty before me may I walk.

With beauty behind me may I walk.

With beauty below me may I walk.

With beauty above me may I walk.

With beauty all around me may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.

My words will be beautiful…

Horse(s)

Níyol (Wind)

• Gender: Stallion
• Age: 5 yrs. old
• Size: 16 hands
• Breed: Appaloosa

Color/Coat: Wind is a grullo (black dun) appaloosa with a full white blanket and black spots. He has a narrow blaze, white socks, and mixed silver and black mane and tail. The coat pattern is commonly referred to as a "coin dot" appaloosa.

Temperament: Wind is spirited, but well-trained and well-mannered.

I love the Diné  (The People) which is the Navajo word for themselves. I have done tons of research on them over the years, but I am not Navajo so playing one realistically would mean spending more time researching than writing. Therefore, I have blended Warbow's life in with the Thorntons' lives so that he has a good perspective on what it means to be an Anglo.

Family and Relationships

*The Navajo people's way of life revolves around kinship or K'é, which arises from familial and clan relationships. It is about far more than just who one is related to and how. Where you "come from" isn't just the location of where you live, but more what defines you. For the Navajo people that comes from their clans. The Navajo people are a matrilineal and matrilocal society, with each person belonging to four different clans. The first clan is from the mother, second is the father, third is the maternal grandfather and the fourth is the paternal grandfather. When a child is born and presented to its mother, the mother greets the newborn by telling them their maternal clan, followed by the paternal clan. 

Traditional Navajo Introduction

Yá’át’ééh (Hello). 

Then they move into their name.

Shí éí (name) yinishyé (I am called ... )

Following the name, they introduce their four clans.

• Mother's clan: nishłį́
• Father's clan: bashishchiin
• Maternal grandfather's clan: dashicheii
• Paternal grandfather's clan: dashinalí

An English translation would be "I am (mother's clan), born for (father's clan), my maternal grandfather is (maternal grandfather's clan), my paternal grandfather's clan is (paternal grandfather's clan). 

If someone also comes from another heritage not part of the Navajo clan system, it's common practice to substitute out the clan for a word indicating that heritage, according to NavajoWOTD.com.

The introduction is usually closed off with Ahéhee’, which translates to thank you or I am grateful.

Navajo Glossary

Ahéhee': Thank you, I am grateful

Bilagáana: Navajo word for white man. Most Navajo refer to anyone that isn't Diné or of another tribe as Anglos. 

Diné: Means The People and is the name of the Navajo in their language and beliefs.

Gaagii: Means Raven, unisex name.

Hatáli: A medicine man or singer of the Diné. Not all singers can perform all of the ceremonies and blessings. For example, depending on how long they have been training, a singer might be proficient with The Blessing Way, but not The Enemy Way. It is extremely important that the singer perform the ceremonies exactly right to insure a positive outcome.

Hastiin  (Hosteen): Navajo word for man, but also serves as a term of respect in the same manner as the word Mister. 

Nádleehí: Navajo word for those that do not conform to traditional heterosexual norms. It is believed that the Navajo were more accepting of homosexuality prior to their forced relocation and education in white man's schools.

Yá’át’ééh: Hello, traditional Navajo greeting.

English to Navajo Dictionary

Note: I am not an expert in the Navajo or their language. However, this appears to be a decent translator that will serve for RPG purposes. No disrespect intended toward the Navajo people.