#-thunderclan even though she most likely will be

[vic-does-battlecats]

If I throw a bunch of hats in the ring surely one of them has to fit right

Featuring the three recolors of one design cause I like them all

[canon-notcanon-warriorcats]

you know that vision leafpool got of brambles surrounding the camp and she took it as meaning that brambleclaw should be deputy because he'd protect the clan

first of all, shout out to leafpool for being very mature and assuming the most positive outcome about that vision even though she fucking hated brambleclaw (rightfully)

but also what if she was wrong, what if she interpreted the sign wrong, what if the vision meant brambleclaw, like brambles, would ensnare, strangle, and cause HARM to thunderclan, not protect it

bramblestar's leadership has literally caused more harm than good to ANYONE in thunderclan (as well as outside of thunderclan, literally all of the clans (except skyclan i guess?), as well as the sisters have SUFFERED because of bramblestar being thunderclan's leader

and not to mention the individual cats who've suffered the most from him being leader, like him using his power to literally ABUSE squirrelflight, as well as his decisions actively causing leafpool's death, as well as the death of moonlight, killing a harmless group's leader and leaving three newborn kits as orphans, and ALMOST killing squirrelflight

not to mention brambleclaw literally had to STOP AND THINK about whether or not he should save firestar from the foxtrap like what the fuck man, and maybe if he hadn't literally hesitated firestar wouldn't have lost that life and then at the great battle firestar would have survived

what if starclan WAS sending a warning, and specifically sent it to leafpool because she was already suspicious of brambleclaw, but because she was still so young and less experienced, because she was so kindhearted and wanted to see the good in everyone, she WANTED her sister's mate to be a good person, a good leader, and was such a positive person, she thought, she wanted, she HOPED that it was a sign from starclan that brambles would protect her clan, her sister, her family

but it wasn't

[bonefall]

Mapleshade Discourse O'Clock

It's that time again!!! SO I just kinda want to jot down all of my various thoughts about it as a story and just generally weigh in about Mapleshade.

I like the idea of Mapleshade more than the actual Mapleshade that is used throughout the books.

She has a really good gimmick-- to haunt Applekin though the generations. I don't like how they turn her into a generic "cat satan" for Tigerclaw's Fury and keep making her appear as a vain lackey demon.

I like her characterization in Mapleshade's Vengeance the most, of all her appearances.

But, I don't think my reading of the character depicted in MV is what the author intended.

See, I like MV as a story with no hero. The only blameless characters are the kittens who drowned and Perchpaw, while everyone else is some flavor of selfish, cruel, or vengeful. Everyone thinks they're in the right, but no one truly wins in the end.

Nothing about it was noble. Every tragedy that happened was utterly avoidable. In the end, everyone bears some responsibility for the pain and suffering that happened the day those children drowned.

BUT I'm pretty certain that the intended reading was that Mapleshade would be the one clearly in the wrong the whole time, as she justifies her own actions like a villain does.

Especially knowing how poorly the writers thought of similar female characters like Squilf and Leafp lying about the three, or Nightcloud being jealous her crummy husband is acting strange around another woman.

I feel justified in assuming that when Mapleshade is not happy she's being cheated on, or when she refuses to correct Frecklewish's record knowing it's unsafe if her kits are revealed as half clan, the writer really does think you're not supposed to take her side.

Because women should just not have emotions about being cheated on or something, and lying is unspeakably bad even if the truth puts you and your children in danger.

But. Y'know. We can all use the braincell for a moment and see that this is fucking stupid

SO when the book goes on to have Mapleshade ignore all the warnings about the swollen river, show both ThunderClan and RiverClan being obscenely cruel to her, and then walk across that bridge while insisting in her head that the deaths weren't her fault, I think the implication is obvious AND SHITTY.

Ergo I reject it completely. I can see what the book wants to say, and I think it says something trashy.

In spite of how badly the writer wants it to be Mapleshade's fault the kittens died, I say it was the asshole who threw a bunch of kittens out into the rain for being mixed race, actually.

Oakstar had the power here. Ravenwing had some power as well, but he makes it clear it wasn't his suggestion to throw the babies out into the woods.

And when it comes to Bridge Discourse, it was at least the afternoon, raining heavily, and Mapleshade was trying to get to RiverClan Camp. A straight shot across the stepping stones.

I think it is ridiculous to imagine an extremely emotional parent managing three very scared children, attempting to get out of the rain and dangerous wilderness before nightfall, would be rational enough to realize a large detour would be safer.

MAYBE the distance from ThunderClan Camp to the Bridge is equal to the distance to the Stones. But the distance between the bridge and RIVERCLAN Camp is longer.

I hope this goes without saying; but Frecklewish didn't deserve the Dark Forest.

Even in Banana World logic where she was sitting on the bank watching those kids doggy-paddle. Do not fucking jump in to save drowning people if you are not trained to do that.

I'm dead serious, this is the first thing you learn in any kind of water safety course. They WILL panic, you WILL get dragged down, you WILL become another liability someone else has to save instead of helping your initial target.

And that isn't even mentioning this being a flooded river. That's POOL safety.

In spite of how I think Mapleshade was right to lie, I do think Frecklewish being that upset and angry was understandable.

You're entitled to your feelings, but not how you treat people. She still attacked Mapleshade and called the kittens a slur.

That's what makes her interesting, though.

I don't think she deserves the Dark Forest, but Frecklewish's anger is an interesting trait. I don't like how a lot of defensive interpretations of her character end up downplaying how she acted at the exile

why does a woman being rightfully angry suddenly strike people as "unsympathetic." Girls can also say things in fury they don't fully mean. OR girls can rationalize their unjustified, ballistic response post-hoc out of pride.

Idk let girls be mad. Admit they were wrong without deserving HELL. I don't like the woobification impulse.

It's not really a hot take anymore I think, but Frecklewish is definitely only in the DF because the writing team judges women characters more harshly. Oakstar threw babies out in the rain in fury, and Ravenwing didn't stop it. But somehow only Frecklewish, a normal warrior, gets DF'd.

But what really rattles around in my head about the whole story is the way that the in-universe culture is able to suddenly value ethics like peace, forgiveness, and tolerance when MAPLESHADE is ready to throw those things out, but BEFORE then, it's well established that Clan culture is violent, vengeful, and intolerant.

One of our earliest scenes is Rainfall snarling at Mapleshade that he loves the way Birchface and Flowerpaw drowned. He's threatening that he'll kill even more ThunderClan warriors.

Over in ThunderClan, everyone is itching for revenge against Appledusk for those deaths, even though it seems to have been an accident. Oakstar even hates RiverClan well into sequel books for this.

But then later on, everyone acts Shocked Pikachu that Mapleshade actually went and GOT revenge.

And like, let's be real. This is a battle culture. Yes, by OUR standards Revenge Is Bad.

But in these books, so full of war and clan conflict...?

What I'm saying is that I wish the books let Mapleshade be a little more "controversial" in-universe. Like some cats actually frame the story very differently, and you can learn a lot about a person by who they think the hero is.

And how RiverClan responds to the drowned kids bugs me a lot tbh

We just established over in ThunderClan that there are people who think the babies were born filthy for being HalfClan.

We know everyone there stood by and watched as Oakstar threw them out into the rain-- only Ravenwing even seemed uncomfortable.

AND we know very well that in a few generations, TigerClan will rise. Which openly executed a HalfClan cat and wanted to kill 2 apprentices.

We KNOW the bigotry in Clan culture is deadly and unfair.

But then they go over to RiverClan and Darkstar is sad these three kids are dead? And RC is furious with Mapleshade for that?

Again, YES, you and me with OUR morals know that this bigotry is insane and spiteful. What I'm getting at is that IN-UNIVERSE half clan kittens and their parents face extreme discrimination. Even within this book.

It's odd to me that Darkstar refuses to let Mapleshade bury their bodies, sends her away for the death of the kids while saying it's "not the season for losing warriors" to Appledusk, and it's meant to come across as delusional that Maple thinks her babies were buried dishonorably

I wish more women in WC got so pissed off at the absolute injustice of it all that they went on a girl rampage. Perhaps it's my own taste, but I like it a lot more when the villain isn't entirely wrong and there's several angles you can read the story from. If she didn't do what she did, she would have been the only one who saw any consequences for anything that happened.

Anyway in conclusion uhhh idk murder is wrong. But Mapleshade's allowed to do it because she's a silly billy. Her greatest crime was not killing Oakstar also

[mud-castle]

Nutmeg: Your help today was invaluable, Scourge. Thank you. Scourge: Uh- yeah...sure...whatever

The leader of Hope Colony and her emo, emotionally-constipated second taking a stroll after a mission.

More info under the cut:

It dawned on me that there would be a fairly large time gap between Scourge and Nutmeg's experiences with the clans. Now, I could make Scourge younger, but I think I can make it work

So, Tiny makes it out of his house, barely alive with some fresh wounds and his collar broken off, and runs into the city after a forest cat raid. While he never does the whole dog and Bloodclan thing, he does grow skilled in ways to survive in the city and builds his own reputation.

Four years afterwards, a new name is sweeping the city, Nutmeg. A kittypet who not only managed to save two of her kittens in a raid but killed a forest cat while she was at it...and lived. She rapidly gains followers and builds up a group she names the Hope Colony.

Their mission: Keep the forest cats out of their homes and away from their kits by any means necessary.

Scourge is down for getting some forest cat blood on his claws and breaks his four years of routine to join. Having lived most of his life by himself, he's difficult to work with initially, but they help each other and eventually get along. Eventually, he becomes her second.

Nutmeg has a very warm, friendly personality. She's very charismatic and people-oriented. She generally prefers to try diplomacy, even with forest cats. If that fails, she turns to the power of incredible violence.

Scourge is always down for the power of incredible violence. He's well known for doing the "dirty work" of the Hope Colony, mostly because that's what he's good at. On the inside, however, he's struggling to live in a group after spending most of his life watching out for only himself.

Bro barely remembers to eat most days yet now he's supposed to keep up with the dynamics of the different city groups as well as forest cat issues. ugh. Politics.

As seen in the photo, Nutmeg freely gives compliments and expresses gratitude. Scourge is unsure how to react to the feelings this brings up.

Designs:

Nutmeg is now buff because Nutmeg deserves to be buff. And Squilf gets her tail from her grandma. She has scars on her side and on the eye hidden by her bangs from Thunderclan's raid on her home. The other scars are from the many fights she's been in since then. She still lives with her humans, though she's gone much of the day to run the Colony.

Scourge now has his iconic red bangs because I can't give him his edgy personality and not have them there. The fur naturally grows like that because I said so. The scars on his leg is from the forest cat raid he escaped from. The ones on his face are from random fights. He's also underweight cause he forgets to eat when in a work mindset.

[sparrowsoupp]

some of the most iconic queer poster children of the warrior cats fandom. happy pride to the girls gays and theys (particularly those who enjoy brawling feline content)

dabble in my headcannons for these pairings under the read-more button if i’ve piqued your interest…

RAVEN x BARLEY (gay x gay)

i know there’s been a bit of controversy going around about these two and how they could be seen as toxic, with barley being insecure over ravenpaw’s connection to thunderclan. i get that perspective for sure, but i think it’s representative of REASONABLE flaws in a real relationship. obviously it’s not ideal that they never completely resolve it (since it’s ‘solved’ in the graphic novel but reopened in ravenpaw’s novella) and i wished that they addressed that more concretely (i say about a fucking middle grade book about talking cats LOL) but even more so i think you could see it as a realistic relationship as with issues in those, they often subdue and reoccur at intervals. it’s just about talking it out with your partner 🦭👍 plus if the majority of their relationship outside of this is good (which i definitely see it as, since obviously the books have to take place at points of conflict for there to be interesting things to write about) then it seems to be a somewhat small flaw.

that being said i haven’t actually read the books this comes up in so take my opinion with grains of salt, just online discourse about it. totally get if your life experience makes you see their interactions another way as this is just my two cents based on my experience with people.

overall i’m not a superfan of the sickly-sweet reputation these two get but i do like them for what i see them as, which is a Normal Relationship with Some Flaws. i like that they find solace in each other in a peaceful place after fleeing their less peaceful pasts. it’s a great dynamic (and i’m a sucker for farms) and i think they compliment each other’s personalities really well, with barley bringing ravenpaw out of the shell he’s been forced into and ravenpaw inspiring more cautiousness in a very brash barley who would otherwise probably jump into fights at the drop of a hat.

on a somewhat unrelated note, as a kid did anyone else wish that ravenpaw dropped his paw suffix? or blue/firestar granted him an honourary suffix for everything the poor kid went through? this isn’t like a super big meanigful thing but it just annoyed me when i was younger that the paw suffix kind of belittles him to apprentice level when after the fuckery the poor kid went through i think he deserves more recognition from the clans than that.

BLUESTAR x YELLOWFANG (bi x bi)

OKAYYY old women! while fanart of the two of them being in a loving happy relationship is very cute i like to take my old woman yuri one-sided and traumatic.

i think that yellowfang would have an unrequited crush on bluestar. what’s there not to like?! at the point when they meet bluestar is a compassionate but commanding cat in the prime of her leadership. after a bit of her being in the camp i think bluestar would also start spending a curious amount of time in the medicine den… unconciously she definitely saw the appeal in yellowfang from the getgo- it definitely strengthens the reasoning of her surprising decision to defend yellowfang as a member of thunderclan depsite risking a full on war with other clans from it, and her other clanmates lives in the process. obviously bluestar’s a leader that wouldn’t base a decision like that just based on a crush, and it was definitely because of what she wants her clan to stand for, but it’s Not a downside that the cute lady she used to see at gatherings gets to stay a while

bluestar’s definitely not letting it occupy her mind though, of course, totally not (the lady has Trauma from her relationship with oakheart and i see her as having an attatchment issue where she doesn’t feel like she deserves to have a healthy relationship, especially after losing mosskit. she’s just not fully ready yet). yellowfang pines as she watches bluestar throw herself fully into her work to distract herself from the growing feelings, and at some point probably grows annoyed with the cat-and-mouse and starts dedicating herself fully to her own work as a medicine cat too. there are moments of sweetness and clarity and words on the tips of tongues, but just as unexpectedly as they come bluestar will turn her head back to her duties.

unfortunately once tigerstar’s betrayal happens all cute flirting comes to a screeching halt as bluestar is consumed by the paranoia. on the good days she’ll hold stilted conversation with her clanmates, but not so much on the bad days. yellowfang hurts as she watches her crush sprial into madness and dysfunction, the likes of which is only heightened when the fire happens and yellowfang passes- completely insetting bluestar’s hatred for starclan for taking her love (who she still does have deeply-buried feelings for) away from her.

overall, can you tell i love inflicting mental anguish on bluestar? it’s my favourite hobby. i’m not even joking.

LEAFPOOL x MOTHWING (bi x lesbian)

okay this one might make you realise i love doomed yuri. Anyways,

put simply, i think leafpool and mothwing find each other attractive and secretly hook up on a frequent basis for some…. Funny Business. Hanky-Panky, if you will. ‘no-strings-attached’ yeah right i don’t think sapphics have ever pulled off a no strings attatched relationship without casualities.

mothwing definitely wants to confess but leafpool by that point has been forcing herself to move on and ends up telling mothwing about ‘liking’ crowfeather right before mothwing works up the courage (reading leafpool x crowfeather for the first time in the canon books geniunely felt like someone’s ao3 crackship. i guess that’s what traumabinding will do to two mfs). or maybe mothwing notices that leafpool is pregnant (which HOW THE HELL DID NOONE NOTICE IN CANON) and backs the hell off from that. maybe a very angsty argument over that… delicious.

how very ‘good luck babe’ by chappell roan of them! i think things end pretty awkwardly for mothpool and neither leafpool nor crowfeather are really in love with each other they’re just something shiny and distracting from each of their respective circuses of personal lives. i literally hear the clown music playing as they run away together. maybe it’s tinnitus.

they probably pine for each other forever and ever after that, neither falling in love again because they never get over each other. damn. how awkward is it to see your kind-of-ex at the moonpool every month…

anyway thanks for reading though beau’s cat rambles! if youve stuck it out to here… a tip of the hat to you

[sleepyspots-wc-designs]

guilty pleasure of mine but ....

blackstar x firestar hypokit.....?

Trying to get back into the hypokits swing, and I think Scorchflare looks a little wonky but… uh. I don’t know how to fix that hsjdhf-

MEET: Scorchflare

Born of a union forged to ease the lingering tensions between ThunderClan and ShadowClan in the wake of the war with BloodClan, Scorchflare accepted their fate and role as pseudo peacekeeper practically from the moment they opened their eyes… Though they felt so ill-suited for such a thing.

Scorchflare knew what was expected of him: perfection. Nothing more and nothing less. Every step, every word, every movement, every hair on their pelt had to be perfect, so as to not strain the fragile peace between his sire’s Clans… But Scorchflare was a mild-mannered cat. Someone most at ease deep in the shadows… But his fate, his role, his unusual pelt, stars above, even his name demanded attention that he never wanted… Demanded the problems and tensions of others to be piled high onto his shoulders.

As a result, she developed developed intense anxiety from being under so much pressure, and began to isolate herself from both fathers and both Clans, ultimately growing despondent and impassive with a deadpan so stable it wouldn’t shift even under an earthquake… Until, one day, she woke up, walked out, and was never seen again by a Clan cat. Living out the rest of her days wandering aimlessly, solving petty disputes between cats or helping others along the road, but never lingering in one place for too long — and never sparing the sky, glittering with cold, judgmental stars, too long a glance. Things are better this way. No need to double-check your paws when you’re letting them guide you far from your troubles, after all…

But peace felt an awful lot like loneliness.

Please read the rules when requesting future hypokits!

This character may be up for grabs, for their design, storytelling, or any other personal use! Keep an eye on the status below if you're interested! :)

Status: CLAIMED! by @juniperstar

[ihopesocomic]

If you did go through the original plan with Storm killing Fade, how would she feel afterwards? Would she feel immense guilt over what she did or would she try not to feel too bad because it was to save Hopeful and Adamant? I’m just imagining Storm might feel the same way Graystripe felt when he accidentally got Whiteclaw killed (if you don’t know what I’m talking about you can just ignore the last part)

Man I love this comic and I’m so excited to see where it goes! Keep up the good work! :)

She was going to feel immense guilt over it. It was going to be completely accidental and she's still relatively young so it stands to reason.

Though the whole deal with that happening in Warrior Cats (because yes, we are familiar with those books lol) never made sense to me because I never got why 'don't kill your enemy' is a cast iron code when you have these cats fighting over territory in every other chapter near enough. Especially in the case of ThunderClan vs. RiverClan where it got pretty intense for the longest time over.... a bunch of rocks. lmao

idk I would think killing would be par the course in that kind of situation. Maybe if it had been Greystripe's first kill, I could get it but he was pretty stoked about wasting ShadowClan warriors in the previous books. I'm sure there's in-universe reasoning for it that I've missed but, to me, it just seems 'we wanna make money so we have to make these books family friendly, which means we can't have good guys who kill'. And you totally can have family friendly books where the good guys kill because it's self-defence or self-preservation most of the time anyway.

It's why we just opted for the scenario where - yes, while these lions have no qualms about killing if they need to - they don't necessarily want to. So, yeah, we didn't want to be like Warrior Cats where the ethos seems to be: 'don't kill anybody like ever, even when they're trying to murder you pretty hard!' because I feel that's kinda silly. oof - RJ

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

how are you going to handle ashfur in wcr? i’ve always loved him but also felt like he should have been more clearly written either as a sympathetic tragic character or a total asshole, instead of kind of both

Technically, both!

On one hand, his mother was brutally murdered when he was young. He and his 3 siblings relied heavily on each other, but when Ferncloud got together with Dustpelt, Tulipfur grows closer to the older cats of Thunderclan, and Elderleaf buried herself in her work to try and become Camp Keeper, he feels upset and left behind. He has a right to feel that way, but he keels feeling that way. Stuck in the past... And over time, he blames everyone around him for his troubles.

A bonus scene shows his trial shows that he is incredibly charming. He sways the jury by pleading to see his mother, being incredibly loving towards her, and asking about his passed on nieces, Larchkit and Hollykit.

He plays up the sympathy card, talking about how it was such a foolish thing to do, how he just loved Squirrelflight too much, and how he totally deserved what Hollyleaf did. He blames Brambleclaw in a roundabout way. See, he just looked do much like the cat who killed my mom :(

The jury is mostly split and the final vote falls to Yellowfang.

After she and Raggedstar split up, he became mates with Foxheart. He didn't love Foxheart, just used her feelings and affections to hurt Yelf. Yellowfang admitted that, though she knew what he was doing, it still hurt. She wanted to shout at him, hurt him, and even wanted to hurt Foxheart, who hadn't done anything wrong.

She votes in his favour, because she finds it a bit relatable. She fell for the act, many cats did. She is ashamed to admit it later on, but in that moment, she knew what that anger was like. She still disapproves of his treatment of Hollypaw, and his anger towards the Three, but his trial is about The Fire Scene specifically, and all of Starclan knows Squirrelflight is going to be on trial when she eventually passes away.

And, for a good chunk of his time in Starclan, he looks normal. He hangs out with his nieces, cheering when they get their Star names, Hollyfoot and Larchwhisker. He hangs out with Tulipfur when his brother dies during AVOS, defending him when his cross-clan relationship comes into question.

In Squirrelflight's eyes, he was strange, and controlling, he treated her like some precious thing that couldn't do too much or she would break, some kind of prize to be hoarded.

Many cats alive did not like him. His was an ass towards most cats in Thunderclan, and he wasn't popular.

TBC shows his true colours. Controlling, manipulative, holier-than-thou, vindictive, and entitled.

Squirrelflight is glad to finally put him down for good.

[ails-of-ardor-au]

The three potential powers sound something sorta to what a leaders “lives” are… so what if, left alone and reeling for some sort of safety, Leafpool takes her heavily pregnant self to the Moonpool? She had a rough kitting in canon so maybe she was dying to. Pleading that maybe in some way the stars she always put over everything else would save her this once. She’d always follow them she swears- as she slides into their holy pool.

Adds another line to the kits having a sort of forbidden birth. Not only from another clan but also only ever breathing because the stars saved them. Some once it’s revealed in whatever way may scream that they weren’t even supposed to be born- others bow and beg for mercy from these miracle children. Idk how to word it but something about the water of the womb instead being of stars sacrifice, the kits breathe and sustain off the “magic” (radioactivity) of the pool. Tho I am now realizing this throws a huge wrench in with Dovewing cuz she’s not of that original litter. Maybe explain Holly’s lack of powers due to her having been delivered before her mother went in. Oh but maybe if some of the clan cats saw the three as great saviors of sorts, when the one disappears presumed dead, they take the actively in labor queen and put her in the pool, hoping it’ll save whatever prophecy they believe they’re going to be doomed by. Dovekit is born this way, giving her powers in an incredibly scary way, but also harming her just as the other two of the three are hurt.

Idk if this works in universe but a possible idea :D

This is a really cool idea… But I’m not sure how much I could work it into the plot… I’ll keep it in mind 👀

OKAY RAMBLINGS:

For starters, the idea of Leafpool’s litter being forbidden not only because of their halfClan status, but also due to the fact that their mother trespassed into holy grounds in a desperate attempt to keep herself and her children alive… So good, so so tasty…

My ideas for how to spread this “magic” amongst the “chosen”, which will not be limited just to The Three, but will likely include a cat from each Clan:

Leafpool and Sol hook up. Sol, shortly after Leafpool discovers her pregnancy, is labeled a criminal and a danger to the Clans’ very way of life…

Leafpool’s pregnancy is long and hard. Expectant queens will sometimes slip off to be by themselves (an irl cat behavior, feeling restless and trying to find the perfect safe space), so when Leafpool disappears, ThunderClan isn’t especially worried. But Squirrelflight, driven by concern for her sister, chases after her and finds her in labor and losing far too much blood near the path of the moonpool; Leafpool had been aiming for the lands beyond, because she was desperate for Sol’s presence and comfort, and her pain was blinding her rationale.

Squirrelflight drags her sister to the moonpool, despite knowing full well what a massive invasion and crime this is. But Squirrelflight would much rather put the lives of her loved ones over the warrior code. Leafpool survives her kitting, and has a litter of three… but rejects most of them, partially due to the power (radiation) of the moonpool within her.

Somehow, Squirrelflight manages to hand two of the kits to two of Leafpool’s (or maybe Squirrelflight’s own, as a final favor) old flames: Mothwing and Crowfeather. Hollykit goes to WindClan, and Lionkit goes to RiverClan; where Hollykit is in such close proximity to the also newborn and very weak Breezekit, some of the moonpool’s power latches onto him in turn.

Meanwhile, in ShadowClan, a pair of kits are born secretly of their leader — and the Clan’s concerns about a leader’s blood carrying magic to taint their kin come true. (Dove and Ivy, OR, Dawn, Flame, and Tiger tho I’m thinking of nixing Tiger entirely)

And then uhhh…… Some outsider also with magic. I’m thinking maybe Darktail possibly being born into SkyClan though...

Depending on the status of BloodClan at the time, I’m also thinking that they follow the other Clans to the lake, so we could get a BloodClan protagonist as well…

But anyway, there’s going to be multiple “blessed” kids running around the lake, but only four of them (one from each of the original Clans) will actually be uhhhh “important” for a lack of a better word; their powers will pose a direct wall against a new, grand threat that rises against the Clans: i.e., the Dark Forest (though I’m still figuring out their whole deal… I mentioned beforehand that I wanted ghosts to stick around, both for the sake of this event as well for the Sisters, so I’m thinking maybe like.. mass possession dealie. The dead unable to come to terms with staying dead, so they haunt and “infect” the living to tear the Clans down from the inside)…

[cagedcats]

Still thinking of the hypothetical Redux Iterum game in my head

These are what I wanted-

Turnbased RPG as a homage to the Warriors fangame retelling the first, second and third arc.

Custom sprites tho, with custom fighting animation and sprites all the shebang

Capability to join any of the four Clans (or not)

Thunderclan is basic Clan and you’ll always be mentored by the Leader- being mentored by the Leaders in the other Clans opens door to new skills/specialty of that Clan.

- RiverClan - Swimming / WindClan -Tunneling / ShadowClan - …?? Warden? City Runner? Couldn’t figure ShadowClan out

But there would be option in the other three to be mentored by the Deputy maybe, which would just be basic Warriors stuff rather then added things to learn.

Also possibility to be a Seer or Matriarch apprentice 👏 which Seer wouldn’t be a select to be that but rather prove your worth.

Outsider to Clan type story. Or not, could be option to not join the Clan (probably the last story to be added tbh).

Having a “Greypaw,” “Ravenpaw” and a “Sandpaw” / “Dustpaw” in each Clan. At least one of each, though there could be a double. such as two Ravens and a Grey and Sand/Dust, or two Greys and a Raven and so forth, you get the idea.

Each Clan would have its own little issue that would connect it to the higher plot, and choices the player makes would determine the fates of some cats around them.

- this goes for suffixes even for the other apprentices. Doing certain quests with them can determine them receiving certain suffixes or even possibly ranks / which small aside these cats do have “true” names which would just be the name they have if you’re not a part of that Clan.

- So for example ThunderClan player could get Pansypaw to the Pansywhisker name, but if you’re in WindClan/RiverClan/ShadowClan, she always is Pansystorm. Pansystorm is her “true” name.

Which quests! You can do tasks for you Clanmates which can open up information, help them out and in general boost your skills, or reputation in the Clan. Or do the aforementioned.

And also special missions which you can take from listening to stories. Where you get to play as someone else in a mythos (One of the Three, Petalfall, etc.). As added bonus, but maybe you could receive rewards from completing these quests (major stat boost or special items?). You can always “pause” these missions tho and return to main game.

And you can do quests for other Clan cats. It won’t change much in their Clan, but like I said, information.

-

Somehow lock appearance to prefix options, which would be the most nitty gritty for me. Also for animals/weather/trees try to work on requirements to earn the -step/-flight/-fin/-fall suffix.

👏 Suffix requirement markers for Skills / Personality 👏 and the appearance portion of it just going off appearance. To earn the Skill / Personality suffix mark though your character’s skill would have to pass a threshold probably.

- So instead of having the highest skill in Fighting, your Fighting Skill would have to pass something like… idk 50? Or something? Not sure about numbers. If it doesn’t pass 50 then Suffix would refer to Personality and then to Appearance.

- inspired by recent ask on the Iterum blog, the threshold for certain skills are probably higher in certain Clans

- which going further appearances itself would have stats!!! 🫠 for the -face suffix! Imagine that. And it could be different depending on the Clan, oh god.

- -step/-flight/-fall/-fin would be be gained from a culmination of Skill / Personality / Appearance stats. And those skills would have to be somehow locked to that specific prefix.

And also locking the Clan specific suffixes to those specific Clans (-Dawn/-dusk and -leaf/-light-/-feather/-stone).

Locking -flower suffix, and locking Seers from receiving it along with -claw, -whisker, and -fang.

Maybe highlighting prefixes that are preferred in each Clan. Such as you pick RiverClan, and the preferred names being Green, so-so names Yellow and names they wouldn’t choose in a million years being Red. Still possible to pick, but you’d stick out with that name.

You can get injured in the game so name changes are possible. Which you can pick whether you’d want this, and if you do then you get the option of name-change-prefix for the suffix correlated with whatever damage your cat has received.

-

Just random things I’d like as well

“Notebook” for notes. This can be used for Clans and locations in that territory. Dens, ranks, or even other Cats. The drawing for the dens and ranks would change depending on the Clan you’re in. (Drawings would be a sketchy style).

Mini-games? Such as swimming mechanics, tunneling, whatever is going on in ShadowClan. But also for the Seers to keep it interesting and for Matriarchs and Wardens (maybe).

- tho a lot of Seers and Matriarchs could be memorizing tbh? Point and Click for Seers? Family tree crafting for Matriarch (baby mama minigame????)? Something! Something to add some spice rather than sit and have character moments.

As for being blessed and assessments… I think they’d go off of current stat distribution among Skills and Personality.

- and for being blessed, I’d imagine whoever the Player is blessed by, it would lead to a chance of 4 unique possible dreams for each. So 12 dream possibilities (maybe dreams depend on relationships). And with a chance of just having no dream at all.

There would probably only be 1 Arc. Probably ends when the cat becomes a Warrior/Seer/Matriarch. But Y’know anything would be possible.

Determining whether you can have kits, or sire them in character creator. Or neither (spay/neuter). Along with that pronoun options (maybe with custom pronouns too? Not sure how Sims did it).

Small idea I had was for coat patterns to be “purchased” similar to Untold Tales. Like pointed pattern, or breed specific coat textures

Beyond that, if there is another Arc maybe possibility of having an apprentice. Which would go off of reputation, and maybe relationship with the apprentice before so. Tho to mentor maybe the player could speak to the Leader or “purchase” the possibility. Just so players aren’t blindsided by sudden apprentice.

-

Beyond that I can’t think of anything else I’d want for my hypothetical game. Without going into plot detail, since this is just mechanics. Leaders are the only ones I really remember. Loststar (my Shadow girl), Lilystar (Thunder) Lionstar (River), and Molestar (Wind) would be the leaders, and the main mentors typically.

Tho I do recall the former ThunderClan would’ve been the demo cat Hollypaw (named Hollystar), and that the deputy was Leopard- something. As ThunderClan would’ve been the first I’d focus on cause it’s the main guy Clan Y’know.

If I have any more thoughts I’ll either add to this or reblog it. But for now take this horrible horrible ramble.

[f0xfangs]

GREY CAT DRAWING CHALLENGE 👍👍👍 except with my favourites instead because i'm a rebel *⁠\⁠0⁠/⁠*

design notes and transparents under the cut!!!!! <3

IVYPOOL AND DOVEWING MY BELOVEDS <333 i think they both got done so dirty with their characterisation past just their main arc (and even within that arc tbh) but i can't help but love them

ivypool to me is the smaller of the two (they are both giant though) and a lot less fluffy, but when they were younger they had basically the same huge ass eyes and looked suuuper similar apart from colour- then they both had crazy growth spurts and dovewing got fluffy! i wanted to keep them sharing a couple of design elements to reflect this, so their eyes are both rounded and i kept ivy's ear scars and fluff round too. this is her after the great battle, but i ignore all of her writing after that because. no <3

ashfur is so hard to visualise for me!! i wanted him to be real spiky and this is how i see him looking as a young warrior, before anything happened with squilf. i also give him a dark leader's star- i visualise my leaders with a white/lighter mark on their forehead so it feels like foreshadowing to me to give him that blaze.

needletail is another favourite!! my design has alopecia and is missing quite a few patches of fur so her pelt looks quite spiky, and her tail has lost most of its fur as well. in general i see her having not a lot of fur anyway, kinda like a lykoi?

dovewing's design is pretty conventional but i've always been so mad at how the books treated her, especially in terms of her leaving thunderclan and later joining shadowclan?? i love that she makes choices she knows are right for herself and i just wanted her to look happy and confident :)

[someone-took-lost]

it’s the spotted gray family of thunderclan! tadaa!

i like designing these guys in family batches instead of being on their own. but i’ll have individual cats who i’ll grab every now and then. but for now--here’s the brindlekids! keep in mind though, most of these are my headcanon versions of these guys. so if they differ from canon, that’s just how my variation of them is.

brindleface is the spunky-big mamma of thunderclan. she’s the sweetest cat you’ll ever meet, who will almost immediately come to your rescue even if she just met you. but man, will she scold you up and down for being such a feather-brained fool! she’s one of the best clan “wrestlers.” due to her being so fluffy and strong, brindleface is very talented at pouncing and fighting, and will even challenge cats at gatherings to see if they can even get her paw down.

oh the bitter boyo, ashfur. he’s probably one of the most canon-diverging characters i have, so sit back and get ready for this guy! ashfur is a goofy guy, who likes playing around and making quips if given any opportunity to do so. he has a tendency to be pretty sharp with his words though, so one playful jab can turn into a quick remark on something you might hold dear. he has a bit of a grudge streak, which is an unfortunate mix when it comes to his relationships. which especially holds true to his boyfriend, brambleclaw. those two could fight all day if you left ‘em at it.

my sweet babi babi girl, i love her so very much. ferncloud is the gentle jam of her family. while her ma and brother are rough and rowdy, ferncloud is much more preferential to sitting aside and cheering them on. she’s not much of a fighter, and she isn’t the best at remembering stuff. but what she does love is taking care of others! be it getting them prey, cleaning up some of their nest or even getting them little presents! she may not like fighting or rough housing, but she will walk about the forest and find the prettiest leaf for her friends!

elderkit and tulipkit weren’t initially in the plan to add to the family, but i figured “why not.” i don’t have a lot of notes on them, but they both are very much their own characters. elderkit and tulipkit weren’t alive long enough to fully develop themselves, personality-wise. but they were still very important to both their siblings. elderkit is the lazier brother, while tulipkit is the sweetest boy, who just adores hearing stories of all sorts. and when taken to starclan, they both wanted to wait until their mother was with them until they could reincarnate.

aight! all done and finished. with that, please enjoy this doodle of brindle and her babis

[lacystar]

swag freaking ever. warrior cats your phantom thieves.

picrew is here. Morgana excluded bc it's funny. headcanons and names under the cut because. sure.

All cats are in shadowclan, except for akechi. ryuji: Yellowskull -(tentative. I wanted smth with lightning but lightningskull sounds dumb and I can't name him thunderskull bc that breaks naming rules) - a determined warrior. got in a squabble with a certain deputy from windclan when he was an apprentice that left him with a permanent limp and nasty scar on his leg. originally thought he would never fight or hunt again, but the support of his classmates and some intense physical therapy along with his fiery determination has helped him improve significantly. he can patrol and can hold his own in a fight!! - was originally contender for deputy, but his injury let makoto get that promotion instead, but he's chill with that because he knows she can handle it better than he ever would.

Ann: Pantherstep - originally Pantherpelt, but took on Shiho's (Smokestep) suffix in her honor when everyone was originally unsure if she'd pull through. - Even though Shiho can't leave camp, ann brings her things from her adventures outside and helps her with her physical therapy and does everything she can to cheer her up. she even learned a couple medicine cat basics to swoop in and help if need be. - descended from a couple generations of kittypets and still gets judged for it.

Joker: Nightstar (formerly Nightmask) (yes, mask is canonically a WC suffix) - born and raised as a rogue until late into apprentice age, got found by a clan elder (sojiro) and dragged by the scruff into camp for "trespassing" even though he had no idea where he was or what he was doing, and things sort of snowballed into him going from hostage to clan member, and now he's the leader.

Yusuke: Foxfrost - originally from riverclan, trained as a medicine cat apprentice before getting caught up in his mentor's evil plot. ended up getting help from joker and grew close to him as they navigated that whole ordeal. riverclan wasn't exactly stoked to get their inner corruption discovered by an outsider, and Yusuke got some flack for asking for help from him, and the accusations just sort of piled up and joker brought a sopping wet Yusuke home with him and now he's in shadowclan. - obviously shadowclan didn't need another med cat, so he gave that up and finds satisfaction in fighting beside his clanmates.

Makoto: Maplestrike - Joker's deputy - Has seen the fate of a deputy that lacks patience and faith in her sister and refuses to make the same mistake

Futaba: Sunsplash - Shadowclan's medicine cat - "why isn't Takemi-" shut up . she was prolly her mentor idk - following in her mother's footsteps of being a med cat. has been having visions from starclan since she was very young- most of which were painful and inflicted the horrors. - joker acts more as her advisor than she does his, but he doesn't mind that. she supports the clan well and theyre close. - man she's literally an oracle what do u want me to say

Haru: Blackfern - I always feel bad having to write shit for Haru in Aus or stories and not having anything to say because she's just kinda . there. :sob: - uhhhhhhh man idk maybe her dad was from riverclan or something idfk this post has turned into an unexpected project

Akechi: Crowstripe - deputy of thunderclan, double crossing his father and leader to assist Shadowclan in an attempted mutiny. but he plans to get the last laugh - I forgot what those fucking like meetings the clans met up at every moon things are called. but anyways ever since he was an apprentice and so was joker they've tussled at those to "Train" until they became warriors. seeing joker become a leader before him has been actual hell. - killed Futaba's mom. thats also just canon thats not the au but I felt like it needed to be restated.

[bonefall]

Do the cats have a good way to preserve meat? Boar meat wouldn't be so worth it if it could only feed the clan for a day before it spoiled

In BB yes, absolutely. Preserving food for later use is a major job of the Head of Kitchen Patrol, which in ThunderClan's latest arc is currently Sorreltail. Though she's definitely already training her successor so she can finally retire, if she hasn't already

Even before the food processing begins, Clans have some different behaviors to account for this;

Big hunts are never done in summer (ThunderClan) Not only is it so hot that you're more likely to get heatstroke (cats can't sweat the same way humans do), not ONLY do you have less time in a day to hunt because of that (In any other season, you can hunt into the day or night, but in summer there's an entire 8-hour stretch of time where the sun is beating down on you), but you're also racing against time before the organs begin to spoil. Getting a boar home is a HUGE task, even a small one. Human hunters "grallock" our prey, digging a hole and leaving the organs behind, so that we can carry the carcass easier. But organs are MOST of the nutrition for a Clan cat. No, better to simply hunt big food when it gets cold. (plus, ThunderClan finds the snow helpful. They don't sink into it the way that a heavy boar does.)

Animals are quickly stored in a larder (All Clans except RiverClan) A larder is a deep tunnel that is dug in the ground at various points along a patrol, like a "root cellar". Unlike canon they don't "bury" it where they find it and come back for it, because this causes wasted backtracking AND wasted prey as the hunter forgets where they buried it. Larders are at strategic points along popular routes. Sometimes a cheeky apprentice in ShadowClan will shove their catch in the bog, where it gets preserved TOO well. Batear hopes HIS is still there though :P

Everything is DROPPED when a cat happens to come across a large carcass and runs back to camp Seriously, when someone runs in saying they've found a fallen or dying deer, a bunch of cats will jump up and follow them. Yes, you could use this to your traitorous advantage, but dying deer are a lot more common than coup-de-tats.

When it comes to food preservation itself, the way they preserve meat is going to depend a lot on the Clan. ShadowClan likes fermentation, chopping stuff up to store in stomachs and intestines and processing them as sausages. ThunderClan smokes everything. RiverClan likes to preserve things in spices and leave stuff out to dry, but has a massive event in autumn where they catch and store salmon for the winter. WindClan used to use their tunnels but is going through a salt kick at the Lake.

A truly canon-compliant Clan is going to have issues. Digging tunnels will help to make food last. In the winter, the snow can be used directly; but only a desert Clan (ironically) will be able to construct a natural refrigerator. You can follow this recipe for Dried Minnows to preserve just about any strip of meat.

But overall... you will have issues as a canon compliant Clan. but also a compliant Clan could never take down a boar, so, it balances out.

[everybody-loves-purdy]

Imagine dying and the one time your brother mentions you post-mortem is to complain about how you’re not alive to have children. Hazeltail deserved so much better.

With that out of the way, Berrynose’s concern about the amount of she-cats that’ve died in ThunderClan seems very misplaced. Even with the casualties from the Great Battle & it’s subsequent Greencough Outbreak, ThunderClan was still 35 cats strong with 5 young apprentices (who were kits very recently?) and two new pairs of mates (even though Dovewing later broke up with Bumblestripe). Realistically, there was no reason to hear news of a litter of kits due in WindClan (who only had 21 cats at the beginning of Bramblestar’s Storm) and suddenly have an existential crisis about how there’s no pregnant she-cats in ThunderClan.

At this point, ThunderClan is still reeling from the trauma the Great Battle & the Greencough Outbreak brought. Dustpelt was so heartbroken over Ferncloud’s death that he kept a scrap of her fur so he could keep her scent close, and was further heartbroken when her scent began to fade from it. Brackenfur kept visiting Sorreltail’s grave & his grief was described to cling to him like mist. It just feels shallow as a reader to see Berrynose talk about the Clan’s recently deceased she-cats in this manner. No one is particularly worried about starting families, Berrynose!

ThunderClan having 5 apprentices was also the most apprentices any of the clans had at one time at that point. What is your problem Berrynose lol. His priorities shouldn’t be “good job my half sister didn’t get seriously injured because there’s not enough she-cats to have babies”

This whole “we need more kits” subplot in Bramblestar’s Storm feels so forced and weird given all the factors you’ve mentioned. And he’s wild that Berrynose says this in literally chapter 1, they don’t even ease the reader in any it’s just “ok here’s what things are like shortly after the great battle, now a theme in this book is going to be how overpopulated ThunderClan wants more babies. They literally discuss building a second warriors den in Dovewing’s Silence (can’t remember if anything like that is discussed in Bramblestar’s Storm, I haven’t gotten that far yet) so both the authors and the cats are aware ThunderClan has plenty of warriors lol

[upon-deaf-ears]

also been seeing sm mlp infected au and i CANNOT stop thinking about that in warrior cats (old territory tho, not new)

cw: death, gore, self mutilation

the outbreak starts in thunderclan first because they’re closest to the twoleg place, right? one day firestar is leading a border patrol w/ cloudtail, thornclaw & shrewpaw because apparently kittypet scent has been all over the border and there have been really weird noises. they’re approaching and they see this kittypet, maybe apprentice-aged — not even an adult yet, collapsed at the border in what looks like a bear trap.

this rancid scent is in the air, like blood but somehow wrong. firestar is obviously cautious but they approach because its clearly dead.

it’s completely disfigured. fresh blood is coating its face, paws and chest, but even worse it’s eyes are stretched so wide and freakishly that it looks like the cat has gone completely blind. it’s bones look almost out of place, fur ragged and, upon closer inspection, seems to be completely rotting off in some places, but theres no way its veen dead for even 24 hours because they have regular patrols.

the whole patrol is put off, and firestar sends shrewpaw to fetch cinderpelt to figure out what the fuck happened.

thornclaw, squinting at the dead kittypet: "hey, uh.. firestar, i think hes still alive. can you hear us, kittypet?"

they all gather around it, and sure enough, its paws started to twitch. unnaturally, though, bending the wrong way. thornclaw prods it with a claw and it blinks.

it doesnt do anything at first, but its jaw cracks open wide and starts to let out the most blood-freezing noise, almost clicking and groaning noise that should be impossible for a cat.

they all back the fuck up, and it starts writhing. doesn’t even notice the teeth of the trap ripping and shredding its skin, bones cracking beneath the strength of it. the groaning noise is louder, almost like a scream, but still so un-catlike that the three are all frozen staring at this kittypet literally rip itself apart trying to get out.

cinderpelt can’t figure out what the fuck is wrong with it because none of them want to go anywhere near that thing, so she organizes an emergency meeting with the other clans' medicine cats and

firestar posts a guard— thornclaw— to watch it, only telling him to not touch it under any circumstances (per cinderpelts demand). he also informs the rest of the clan to keep an eye out and be extra cautious.

things get weirder. not even three days later, sandstorm and sorrelpaw come back early from training, reporting that there was another foreign cat walking just outside the border and making that same sound.

"firestar.. it was wrong. you should’ve seen it. it’s legs were freakishly long, and it’s back seemed to be permanently hunched. it was walking like it was.. i dunno, i can’t even explain it."

"and the smell was awful, like it'd been dead for weeks. we weren’t close, but i swear it’s skin was rotting off, and it’s jaw was completely broken."

thornclaw comes back from his post because he can’t seem to stay on his feet. tells firestar he’s exhausted and needs a break; plus, the kittypet stopped moving. firestar of course agrees and has him rest in the medicine cat den for some peace and quiet, but in the next few days cinderpelt tells firestar that thornclaw has been completely restless at night. she can see the bags under his eyes, and his pupils seem to be… smaller? it’s unlike anything she’s ever seen.

out of precaution, she quarantines him in the old twoleg nest. her reports get increasingly concerning.

first, it’s that he seems like he’s.. almost growing? hes been complaining and writhing at night, his legs apparently aching so bad he can’t sit still, even poppy seeds don’t help, but there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong. he‘s also been anxious. there have been times cinderpelt comes to check on him and he whips around, claws out, fur bristling. she catches him staring at the doorway all night, barely blinking, hunched over himself. on multiple occasions.

things start happening quickly. thornclaw ms ribs started showing, and he began getting snappy with cinderpelt. she also tells firestar he’s been scratching and biting his legs to the point of self mutilation, but when she tries to get him to stop, he flips out.

she doesn’t know what to do. he’s definitely taller now, and his fur seems patchy. thornclaw began coughing up blood, and his paranoia intensified, making it unsafe for cinderpelt to even be there. his weightless was even more rapid, despite eating far more than normal.

the second night, she wakes up to shrieking. she finds thornclaw writhing on the ground, screaming to make it stop, that his body is on fire. his eyes are glazed wide, just like the kittypet they found, and she can hear his this gut wrenching cracking sound. blood is leaking out of his eyes and jaw. he lashes out, and she’s forced to flee, alerting the clan.

they come as soon as they can with warriors, but thornclaw vanished.

MORE ON THIS LATER WHEN ITS NOT THREE IN THE MORNING… warriors cat brainrot has me in a chokehold.