#Better Bones Au

[bonefall]

Heartstar, crawling out of the moonpool: I’m gonna have the COOLEST party

Heartstar: "dOVEWJNG IM GOING TO THROW A HREUGH PARTY. BAUHGH CAUGHPHF DOVEWING. DOVEWING THERE’S GOING TO BE HAIFGH BLEGHF BALLOONS. AND STREAMERS DOVEWING."

Dovewing, not catching much of it because of her hearing problems, drying off her tiny wife with a PNG of a towel: "yes love."

[kiwianacat]

I’ve been sketching some of @bonefall ‘s BB!au character designs as warm ups recently.

It’s always fun drawing other people’s designs and compromising with style to adapt to suit them; I think it’s a good learning experience and these headshots are a lot more diverse in terms of features than my typical designs.

I really enjoy how these characters have changed in this au btw, recommend checking it out if you haven’t already.

[bb-fennelposting]

bumble....................................

[your-fave-is-being-blended]

Can you blend Bramblestar from @bonefall's rewrite specifically (https://www.tumblr.com/bonefall/728623469710934016/what-does-bramblestar-think-of-his-reputation-of?source=share)

Better Bones!Bramblestar from @bonefall is being blended!!

You cannot save him.

[llamasandcat]

tried out printmaking recently and made a scene from @bonefall better bones rewrite

[jayleap]

Where’s that post that’s like ‘making tigerstar’s daughters look like him and his sons look like the moms’? Bc that’s what I did here

[fallingstarsau]

(Lack of) Reflection

————

Heeeeyyyy…. sorry that I haven’t posted in a while! I was scrolling through @bonefall’s BB!Hollyleaf/Fallenleaf posts and felt inspired…. Please ignore the weird water reflection stuff ;-;

[rippleclan]

[Image ID: Twinekit and Moonpaw in their StarClan forms. The title above them says "StarClan: Structures & Basics of Power"]

So, StarClan is… an interesting group. Everyone has their own take on them, because almost no one likes how they are written in canon. The Erins clearly want StarClan to be a Christian analogy. They want interaction with StarClan to be a story about having faith in an omnipotent, benevolent force despite the challenges you face. I don’t think this is a bad thing, per se. However, the basic world building of StarClan makes this almost impossible to effectively portray for two reasons.

A: The living cats speak to StarClan all the time. This means that the writers must write dead characters in a character-accurate way while giving them divine knowledge and power. StarClan lacks the separation needed to say “we may not understand them but we need to trust they’re working towards a greater purpose”. When our heroes can actively talk to God, God needs to have something of value to say, something that would contradict the characterization of whatever dead cat you’ve chosen to deliver the information.

B: StarClan is a body of dead spirits who make terrible decisions. As readers, we can scan through the entire Warriors timeline, and that makes a lot of decisions seem ridiculous, contradictory, or outright cruel. Some notable examples include the Leafpool and Squirrelflight issues, Goosefeather, Jayfeather, letting Ashfur into StarClan but sending Frecklewish to the Dark Forest, and more. Some of these could work if we weren’t in constant communication with StarClan, but we are.

With all these issues, every AU or FanClan needs to explain how they view StarClan in an effort to craft better world building and useful tension. For RippleClan’s Promise, I take some inspiration from @bonefall and his Better Bones AU (hi bone love your work hope you like this). Other details are based around the mechanics of Clangen and my own personal tastes. For this lore post, we’ll discuss the basics of StarClan and what they are capable of.

Positions In StarClan

Clan culture is based on hierarchy and on listening to figures of authority, so why would StarClan not have their own unique positions? In this series, positions are based on how long someone has been dead, their reputation among the living, their personal interests, and the occasional bout of StarClan politics. In StarClan, all are meant to be equal, but authority is to be respected when working towards the good of the living.

The Newly-Dead are StarClan's most recent arrivals. They are often chosen to present information to the living due to their close ties to living friends and family. They could also be called the "face" of StarClan. They spend their time learning about StarClan, reuniting with loved ones, and delivering prophecies/visions/omens under the orders of others. After some time, they can move onto other roles, although some prefer just to rest.

Fetchers spend their time escorting the souls of the Clan's dead away from Earth. When a Clan cat dies, their soul sticks around for a while. Their souls can be stuck on Earth if their deaths are not properly acknowledged and/or the Fetcher cannot find them. There are stories of souls hiding from Fetchers long enough to return to their bodies, but the Clans aren't sure if they are stories for historians or artisans. Fetchers also protect the souls of leaders as their bodies recover from a lost life.

Judges keep an eye on the choices of the living to see who deserves to join their ranks. When someone dies, if there is a chance they do not deserve StarClan, the Judges will host a trial, like those of codekeepers on Earth. One judge will defend the soul while another accuses them of breaking the code one too many times and standing against the values of the Clans.

Blessed Ones can create blessings and miracles for the living. When the living have earned their favor, Blessed Ones encourage the growth of certain plants, foster the expansion of prey, and design kits in the bellies of pregnant queens. If StarClan is angry, the Blessed Ones help guide that anger into a specific manifestation.

Rather than fading, if a cat is forgotten by the living and has grown tired, they join the All-Seeing. The All-Seeing is considered a singular deity who stores the memories and personalities of every StarClan cat within them. If they push themself, they can separate a soul from themselves to present as an individual, but they prefer to stay whole. Few living cats have ever met them, for they stay out of living affairs. They tend to the river of space and time, which shows them all events of the past, present, and future concerning the Clans. They share these notes with other StarClan cats through prophecies and orders for dreams and visions. It's hard to tell if the All-Seeing truly cares about the Clans, or if they just want to watch a story unfold.

Sometimes a cat reincarnates rather than joining the All-Seeing. They can be dead for any length of time, but the act of reincarnation is a sacrifice. Their next self will recognize who they once were after they die, but their own personality will be gone.

Cats who want to stick around or have a strong memory in the Clans gain more power and authority in their chosen roles. These cats are known as Celestials and are similar to Christian saints or niche gods in a pantheon. Celestials can display god-like forms and are considered the guardians of a specific domain.

The highest of the Celestials is a small group known as the Guides. There are five Guides, one for each Clan. They can be considered the leaders of StarClan due to their determination to maintain their beloved Clans. Each Guide died or lived in such a way to permanently tie them to their Clan. Moonpaw was chosen as the guide of RippleClan and is therefore the Celestial of RippleClan.

What Can StarClan Do?

StarClan's power is largely based on individual prestige and collective emotion. All StarClan cats can take a form matching any part of their lives and visit the living Clans. Fetchers have unique abilities that allow for the manipulation of souls. Judges have the power to take cats between StarClan and the Dark Forest. The Blessed Ones work together to bless the territory. Celestials have some special abilities connected to what they represent. However, all these cats only have power because they have a community to look after so they can one day join them in their peaceful, starry abode.

The All-Seeing is the only one who actually receives knowledge of the future. Their rather neutral perspective on life, death, and what the living need to know is a source of frustration for anyone who isn't ready to join them. Sure, StarClan sees a lot, but the All-Seeing gets mad if they reveal too much to the living. Even the Guides don't want to piss off the All-Seeing.

In terms of influencing events, StarClan's power is limited by their emotion. Some of their greatest signs are the result of moments of utter rage. The Blessed Ones manage the collective emotion of StarClan and guide each boost of emotional power into a stronger blessing or curse outside of their own limited abilities.

There is more to StarClan, such as their relationship with the Dark Forest, but I'll save that for another day. I'll leave you with this: Twinekit may be a Newly-Dead as of Moon 8, but she will eventually become a Fetcher for RippleClan.

[bonefall]

weird question, but in your rewrite do you keep tree’s mediator role, or do you think he’d be better suited as an educator? do you keep the mediator role at all/is the mediator skyclan exclusive?

I'm honestly considering if it's even a good idea at all.

For the record, I have totally completed designs and art for BB!Leafstar and BB!Waspstar, it's just a matter of opportunity for when I work on their profiles. With those two, I'm going to be gathering most of the big changes done to BB!SkyClan in one place; Firestar and Brokenstar rebuilding it, the Ancestor Rats, Leafstar's death by poison, Waspstar's ascent and xeir hitman Harrybrook, etc.

I'm making a lot of changes to it already, turning it into a really distinct culture and injecting everyone in it with delicious creamy character filling. It's waaaay more fun to write dialogue from actual SkyClan political entities. Unlike the Erins, I LOVE tense dialogue filled with double meanings, and the active threat of a heated argument escalating into violence.

So... is Tree's "special role" really worth salvaging?

A drama series with a character dedicated to preventing drama from happening...?

I'm sort of thinking of drastically reworking it to instead be a role about therapy. A sort of guru type character who's just really good at giving advice. Part of me wants to go even further and gut Tree, significantly scale back his resentment towards The Sisters and make him more of a "I don't agree with them on everything but that's the way they shuck their corn, the Clans aren't perfect either" type of guy.

In any case, Tree himself is totally safe. He's part of a polycule with Violetshine and Dragonfly. He's definitely not an Educator though; for some reason, my heart is just telling me he's not.

[bonefall]

would heartstar get an anointment or would her unorthadox way of getting her lives be considered her anointment?

The way her dad drowned in the Moonpool to ressurect the corpse of his last child and she's reborn as Heartstar, breaking the holy surface of the water coughing and sputtering, is probably good enough.

...for SOME OTHER LOSER. Heartstar is too cunty to not throw a party and invite everyone.

If I add Stardust Anointments, I'll probably update the last scene of Heartstar's Rise to be during her party lmao. She was already anointed by the Moonpool for that first one, but in subsequent years she sends someone to go fetch some holy water for the "renewal of the vows," so to speak.

[bonefall]

I know it’s just an idea, the leader ritual, but I have questions I thought of immediately

If a leader prior was driven out, would they still use the exiled leader’s lives as reference for the ceremony?

If a leader is exiled without having lost a life, what would they do instead?

Did Tigerclaw just get pollen a single time for Nightstar, who didn’t actually have his lives, or get stuff representing Brokenstar, or since he was exiled, would was he cleansed with Raggedstar’s lives?

Also it’s a metal as h*ck image imagining Blackfoot being welcomed in a shower of blood for every life Tigerstar had taken that day. It’s such a powerful image in my head, standing there as the blood runs down his fur yet he remains standing there unflinching, face unreadable.

Hmmm...

Previous Leader Driven Out

This is the kind of complex situation where it would depend on what sort of message the new leader wants to send. How much of the Clan stands behind them? Are they trying to court those who don't support them, or are they trying to shame them with what they did?

BB!Nightstar would want to court them, which frustrates the cats who actually put him in power. Deerfoot would have demanded he be anointed by Brokenstar's victims. Let the Clan see the rotten blood and grave soil of WindClan cats and ShadowClan warriors alike; impossible to tell which droplet comes from who.

But instead, Nightstar has someone slash open his forehead. His own blood anoints his fur. "The blood of the rebels who drove him away." A signal that such radical behavior is behind them, a return to normal.

Deerfoot, in the crowd, wishes he would bleed himself dry for it.

In general though-- it would be pretty rare for this ceremony to ignore a previous leader, legitimate or not. The purpose is to "clean away" that which came before, like ending an era. For example; if Icestar chooses to be anointed in acknowledgement of Mistystar instead of Splashstar, she would be including Splashstar's brief rule within her own era.

(Which could be a choice worth making, if she has a point to make.)

Peacefully Abdicated

This is a shameful thing to Clan Cats. You are given your lives to die for your Clan 9 times. This ritual would be pretty extreme, because the new Star REALLY wants to scrub away that association.

It would probably use salt. In the old territory, this is one of the rarest and most useful substances they have. It's a flavoring, it's an effective parasite killer, it's an antiseptic for wounds. Anointment by gold dust, essentially.

For Pinestar, they might use crushed up kibble for a clean break. Tigerkit formative memory unlocked; Sunstar standing on the highrock, furious and disgusted, brown dust streaked through his golden fur and quivering on his angry whiskers.

What was Tigerstar anointed with?

Pollen for Nightstar's illness. Runningnose wouldn't want to jeopardize Tigerstar's legitimacy by revealing the fact Nightpelt was unblessed. ShadowClan cannot go another day without strong leadership...

Especially not in BB where there's a non-zero chance Runny violently smothered Nightstar for briefly looking like he was about to survive his plague LOL. He has immense self control but every time he looks at Nightstar he's biting back the I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream hate speech.

(It massively amuses me that every member of the Mudlizard Family in BB hates Nightstar for completely different reasons. You cant mention politics at Cat Thanksgiving unless youre cursing Nightstar.)

[bonefall]

so what I'm getting is thar nightstar is the Joe Biden of shadowclan

Nightstar: "I wouldn't have picked vice deputy Brokenstar to be vice deputy if I didn't think she wasn't absolutely capable of it."

Tangleburr: "bro dym cinderfur 💀"

Runningnose: "Cinderfur is dead, he means Tigerclaw."

Deerfoot: *constructing an elaborate fantasy in his head involving a car driving off the road and right through the camp and hitting nightstar and runningnose and tigerclaw exactly 9 times*

[bonefall]

bones. bones they made moonpaw a schizophrenia and plurality stereotype. bones. bones help us

OH NO IS THAT WHY THERE'S 16 MESSAGES

I TURNED MY BACK FOR 5 MINUTES GREAT GOOGLY FUCKELING MOOGELY

I still have to finish reading Star (you have to forgive me for being a capital G Gamer who's been uber distracted) to gather together my final fair assessment, so I can start putting down the fragments for BB!ASC. But I WILL tell you this;

The whole Moonpaw Discourse from a couple of months ago really opened my eyes to just how pervasive intersexism and plurality stereotyping is, even in this space.

Not all of it is malice-- like many other cultural biases, people often just pick up negative stereotypes passively and don't realize they reflect poorly on real people. "Scary evil head voice" is one of them. Yes, intrusive thoughts exist (they are something I deal with), but it's about the snap, subconscious association between "voice in head" and "mental torment."

As the case and point; Look at how FAST the fandom conversation changed when the team first teased it. What was a fantastical, equal parts sincere love and horror exploration of shipping a cat with a magic pool morphed. Overnight, The Voice was an abusive thing, an expression of a dead baby who wanted to live, or a reincarnated monster, or another evil Ashfur-esque posession spirit.

Something bad, malicious, unwanted. By contrast, the voice of the moonpool was mostly portrayed as a supernatural yet good thing. Genuinely asking her for help.

(Part of me also ponders the religious angle of it. "Voices in my head" that come from God are generally much more socially acceptable than "Voices in my head" that come from the self. Regardless,)

So, as always, I Don't Rewrite Arcs Until They Are Done (I DRAU TAD, if you will), BUT... I know for certain that I will want to subvert this.

If Canon!Moonpaw must be a system, and we're all ready to buckle up and bunker down through how the Erins handle this one, then for BB!Moonpaw I'll try to do the same. But for my portrayal, I want to write her relationship with her headmate to be generally positive. Or at least more complicated and multifaceted.

One idea in particular I like is the thought that she absorbed a twin... but writing it as a chance the twin GETS to live, NOT a life denied. Death would have claimed them if they didn't become part of her. So, they love her-- of course they do. They're two souls with one heart.

The specifics will have to come with time. I need to see how her plurality impacts the plot, the overall story being told, plus wait to assess the criticisms that real systems and fusion chimeras in our fandom will have. But I can say with certainty that I would like to attempt my redux with the sad truth in mind that headmates in media are almost never approached as non-malicious. I'd like to do what I can to make a difference.

[bonefall]

a while ago you said that Starclan cats design kittens and customize them with patterns and colors from their parents genes. So, do the clan cats raise any eyebrows when it comes to people who know cat genetics? Is there a geneticist who is holding their head wondering how these two cats have this colored kit while their starclan designer was just playing around? Or do the Starclan designers still have to stay within the rules?

Basically, do the humans notice that some of these clan cats are sparkle cats lol

I try to not get too "lost in the weeds" since the humans aren't the focus of the story, just taking care that they DO have real motivations behind their actions rather than construction crews materializing out of nowhere to Do A Chaos, but...

First, the genetics of cats in Albion are different than humans in equivalent Great Britain.

Partially, this is because I honestly just don't really enjoy learning about in-depth genetics or applying them realistically. I like drawing anime characters and writing anime battles, so they have anime genetics. But more than that, off-screen, the intelligence of cats has altered the timeline of this world.

If cats really were capable of higher thinking, that totally would have had some butterfly effects. I like dropping crazy alt-history and then not elaborating on it, because it's funny. Archimedes' cat helped him invent a death ray, btw.

On that note of genetics though, you guessed right. StarClan designers DO have to work with what they have. Whatever the genetics of this alternate universe of cats are, every kit born still abides by the laws of nature.

Which brings me to...

Second, the researchers do notice that the Clan cats are special. In fact, there is a "study of magic" in this universe-- Thaumatology. "The science of wonder."

(There's no world where magic actually factually exists that science isn't all over it lmao)

Thaumatology facts I haven't shared so far since it's all offscreen and just Bonus Worldbuilding;

It is a "soft science," not a hard one.

It has a LOT of problems with replicability. Thaumatologists and Quantum Physicists have a lot of in-jokes.

The most well known (to the point of being a cliche) is "magic and quantum particles both hate being watched."

Magic is highly variable based on a bajillion very personal factors, like emotion, environment, culture, personal background, etc, so it's severely difficult to re-create it in controlled environments.

Thaumatology has a lot of overlap with sociology, archeology, and theology, so people from these fields work together a lot.

There was absolutely not a dedicated Thaumatologist working in the Research Team early on, sadly.

It was probably discovered when the Battle of the True Eclipse blew out a bunch of field cameras.

It's pretty common that photography equipment fritzes out a bit during "supernatural" times like eclipses, but the damage was extensive enough to be noteworty

The Clan cats were initially notable just for the fact they had advanced culture.

Cats are usually comparable to crows and monkeys, in this universe. So cats with fire and a crude writing system were enough to SHAKE the field of zoology.

The fact they're cats helped a lot. The public loves cats, enough that since their discovery after Speckletail attacked a bulldozer, massive outcry has secretly helped the Clans several times.

The discovery that the culture also has Thaumatological elements is more of a goldmine for a scientist than the public, though.

It's common knowledge that "animals are magic," because humanity projects traits onto them. "Of course they do, they're cats...?"

The Thaumatologist is freaking out because "THE CAT IS PROVABLY DOING ITS OWN THAUMATURGY"

Most people don't know the difference between Thaumaturgy (the functional work it does on the world) and Thaumology (the study of that as a whole), so this particular scientist is going to have a hard time explaining WHY this distinction is so special.

(And possibly even offensive to certain groups, who would insist only humans are capable of this)

In any case, eventually there would be Thaumatological interest in the Clan cats, but they weren't there in the mid to late 2010s when BB!ASC takes place.

[bonefall]

Big question cause I’m so mad about how they were used: any ideas on changing Berryheart and Curlfeather from this book?

I have ONE controversial opinion and you must allow me this;

Curlfeather not apologizing to Frostdawn kinda rocks as an idea.

Obviously it reads as insulting because of how they gave Berryheart a Tom the Wifebeater ass Redemption Death in this book, and the general way that they've not approached her with the nuance she deserves is frustrating. I agree.

But hold my hand and walk with me. Imagine Curlfeather, mauled and bloody before the daughter she died saving. Frostpaw's gone through so much fixing the damage she caused, furious at the state her mother's in, the mess she made of RiverClan, all the suffering everyone's gone through... and Curlfeather says,

"I don't regret anything."

"Really? REALLY? I go through all of that, I come ALL this way, and you won't even give me a rotten little sorry?"

She doesn't give her mother a chance to respond, lashing her tail towards the grimmace that hangs off the side of her shredded cheek, "You're not sorry for how you lead to yourself looking like THAT?"

Frostpaw shoves her scarred throat foward, "You're not sorry for THIS?"

She claws dig into the sodden black earth of the Dark Forest, "You're not sorry you're HERE?"

Curlfeather is quiet, her remaining eye stoic like a stone. Frostpaw begs furiously, "NOTHING?"

"I will vow on our blood that I will not lie to you anymore," the demon's tone is soft and honest, "and I hope that means more than the insincere apology I could offer you otherwise."

Just when it feels like Frostpaw has so much anger that her body can't handle it, pain stuffs itself inside her in equal measure. Her stomach is sick with love, throat choked with affection. It takes her a minute to form the word,

"Why?"

"When my father, Reedwhisker, was taken by the Kin, I saw how they broke him. His uncle, Stonefur, did not buckle under Tigerstar. My grandmother Mistyfoot quietly rescued the Clan from his accomplice, Leopardstar, while Mistystar willingly worked alongside a vicious impostor."

Now that Frostpaw is the one who's waiting quietly, Curlfeather's voice flutters hopefully, "I was willing to do anything to restore my Clan to greatness," the specter pads foward, touching her nose to her daughter's trembling forehead, "except sacrifice you."

She didn't expect to feel the harsh sting of her daughter's paw smacking her across the nose. She reels back.

"You don't get it! It's not about YOU! It's about everyone you hurt! Dont try to pretend it was all worth it, you didn't make anything great, you just broke it!"

"I had to break it so it could be set back stronger. I gave you the chance for the power, and now you are making it better than it was."

"That was in spite of you! You told me to trust no cat and I had to unlearn that!"

"I saved you when I could have escaped with my life."

"From a situation you caused in the first place!"

"It was a warrior's death!"

There is a silence that settles over them. Curlfeather is snarling in offense. Frostpaw looks, again, at her mother's fatal wounds, the defensive stance. She's reminded of how the cats of other cultures don't always see scars as rewards for a fight survived-- just reminders of pain you've gone through.

"...it was a warrior's death," she agrees, gently, watching tattered hackles smoothen out, "...and now you're dead, while I'm still alive."

The emotion in Curlfeather's face is solemn, but otherwise incomprehensible to her daughter. The expression on Frostpaw's is equally unreadable to her mother. This is the only thing they will ever understand about each other-- that there is an irreconcilable difference between them, steeper than the divide between sky and earth.

The last words the demon speaks to her daughter are, "I love you."

It's only years later that Frostdawn can say, "I love you too."

[bonefall]

Did she escape captivity, or did they release her? Would she have been deemed unreleasable by the research team

It was a field procedure, and she was immediately released afterwards to Whistlepaw who was hanging back and watching. The biggest dilemma on their end would be if they're going to record it for the scientific record or not.

The team is there to observe-- they learned long ago that the Clan cats fear humans, and that's good for their research. They don't want to influence the culture any more than the Destruction of the White Hart Woods did, they are here simply to document.

The tools they keep in their truck are for taking samples, biopsies, recording weight, tranquilizing. The Clans are wild animals, to them.

So... what do you do, when a wild animal is dragging itself towards you, making a distress call? Not just a distress call-- the same exact meow that you have, on video, from individuals when they're asking each other for help.

It's language. Your test subjects are making contact with you.

But then dreadful reality sets back in. If you help her, you're interfering. This will alter your results from here on out. You know there's some kind of power struggle going on in the western group, and there is a chance that this is going to have ripple effects on that.

...that's not going to stop you, though. The vets on the team are already moving her onto a sterile tarp. She asked for help directly, what are you even doing this for if you let her die?

You're reminded of a lot of things. The cheetah who left her cubs with a camera crew. The seal who jumped up onto a research vessel to escape an orca. The elephant who approached a vet to treat a bullet wound.

Man, citing those incidents would be an ACE opener for your thesis paper. But it would be admitting that you possibly overstepped a boundary. Then again, it would totally get the sanctuary more interest, and maybe you'd get more funding...

You'll think about it later. Nancy is telling you to find the tincture of iodine. Dang it must be SERIOUS.