#Bones Gives Advice

[bonefall]

I was thinking about your tags, and while I understand the caution, it feels like it would still be a stretch to baseline equate common traits among the clans with eugenics. I know that humans can rly quickly go from everyone has biological differences = there are innate qualities that are "good" and "bad", and there's a quality of fascism in that, but when the clans are fairly isolationist, it seems like it'd be natural for there to be trends among its members.

this is also just me prompting for your thoughts on biology and politics surrounding that, since i appreciate your thoughts on fascism in warriors overall.

I think you're missing a piece in your takeaway that I'm more conscious of-- it's not that I'm wary of population genetics and natural trends; it's that the Clans have an obsession with "blood purity" paired with that.

When you introduce "subspecies" Clans to that, cats who are truly biologically suited to a particular environment, you are inevitably narratively connecting the rhetoric to this worldbuilding fact. Unless you're going to massively overhaul the theme and setting of Warrior Cats, to me it's like looking at xenophobic characters that say "mingling with out-groups is bad" and announcing, "I AM GOING TO GIVE THEM PHRENOLOGY BUT REAL."

Even canon is wise enough to not do this-- Graystripe shows in TPB that it's the oily diet that makes RiverClan's fur so water-resistant. WindClan's lanky legs never get more extreme than a general population trend; enough Clans have skinny warriors that you wouldn't "clock" mixed cats like Jayfeather and his siblings.

But in making those Clan differences MEGA extreme, suddenly, you have taken the irrational social bigotry and turned it into a potentially legitimate practical concern about adeptness in an environment. Not just against an individual, but against that individual's population.

As an example of what I mean, imagine if RiverClan had special, extreme adaptations to living in water. Let's say they're webbed-foot cats who can close their orifices like seals and their coat is twice as thick to keep the water out.

Outcrossing to another Clan means hybrid kittens display the opposite of hybrid vigor-- hybrid depression.

Without webbed feet, other cats are always slower swimmers than their counterparts

Hybrids have thinner fur, making them lose heat in cold water much faster, requiring them to eat more to stay healthy or get sick more often.

They may not have the same muscles to close their orifices, meaning they're more likely to damage their senses by swimming in dirty water.

You can reduce disadvantages with accessibility technology in a more advanced setting like BB, but... they are still born significantly disadvantaged, compared to a ""pure blood"" RiverClan cat.

Doing this also says something you might not have realized you've said at all; Your population is proof of evolutionary pressure. Highly specialized genetics like this (not just trends but HIGHLY specialized) implies there's been something preventing the genetics of other Clans from intermixing with RiverClan.

Which has two implications;

The hypothetical RiverClan cats achieved a positive goal by self-inflicting a selective breeding program onto themselves. (...eugenics. that's eugenics.)

The hypothetical RiverClan environment is so harsh and demanding that it will naturally, swiftly eliminate unfit phenotypes. (The river totally cancels out any secret outcrossing)

(as a side note, ppl tend to misunderstand evolution. Darwin wasn't totally right with "survival of the fittest," I prefer Bill Nye's description of "survival of the good enough." But that's a topic for another time)

Either way, I find those implications DEEPLY unfitting for BB. This is a project which has major themes of exploring bigotry, showcasing its irrationality and digging into how it's perpetuated and exploited in spite of that.

I think BB's themes have a better clarity of purpose if the physical differences between Clans are kept subtle. Never more extreme than what you'd see between ethnic groups-- with frequent reminders about how culture, environment, and politics shape behaviors more than genetics do.

Don't misunderstand me-- I'm not saying that every setting with physical differences between races/sapient species is doomed to this. I actually have good things to say about certain artworks that lean into it (Steven Universe, Beastars, Oren's Forge). I'm saying this specifically about WC and my work within that context.

If you're curious though, I actually have a loose set of "rules" in my head to try and keep my Clans' population differences within my own critiques! I've given a lot more thought to this than I've shared.

There are no "unique" Clan mutations, any trait could appear within any hypothetical kitten.

It's a matter of prevalence. ThunderClan is like 80% Sweetness Tolerant and the other clans are between like 15% - 60%. It's not a sign your mate cheated on you if your kitten likes honey.

But it is something that an accusation can be based on, if your mate is insecure or the Clan's politics are going sour. A "pedigree" RiverClan cat could still have a mane, and it can get used against them.

Some traits do help or hinder ability slightly (ex; thick tails making RiverClan cats better at steering in water), but typically not significantly. I Just Keep It Reasonable.

Most importantly, I just make an effort to have most traits be based on social behavior. Reflect enough and eventually you sorta train your brain to think differently. As a bonus, it helps with cultural worldbuilding.

Related: If you found this insightful, I also dove into fascism and TigerClan in a way that's relevant to this.

[bonebabbles]

OH I THINK I CAN EXPLAIN THIS

Context: I am not aro or ace but I live with a family member who is aroace. This is based on differences between us, so personal anecdotes.

When I'm in romantic love with someone, I really am thinking about COURTING them. I imagine bringing them things, doing stuff for them, I want to cuddle them, in joy of the way they feel how I do and basking in how they make me feel. There's like a magnetism, and the environment/activity is making that pull stronger.

Romantic love is an emotion that's hard to describe, warm and light on the top of my heart, upper back (thoracic spine), and a little in my upper arms. There really are pleasurable "butterflies" in my stomach, too, like a fluttering that matches the heartbeat. But it can PHYSICALLY hurt when the interest gets upset, like the soft, warm feeling suddenly gets sharp and cold.

Like a cloud freezing into a block of ice

(When I was in a bad relationship, it felt like near-constant guilt because the negative version of that feeling would tug, like a shackle, whenever I thought about my personal needs and any "interests" they didn't approve of. Being a full person felt like disappointing them.)

Point being, romantic love's like anything else. There's good and bad.

So anyway, a "Romantic Situation" is like... just going somewhere so you can feel that feeling mutually. "Alone Together," dates to romantic locations (subjective; I find hikes romantic and my partner does not), staying in late, eating nice food together.

When my aroace family member wants to hang out with a friend it's like... it's hard to describe how it's different, but it's more about the act of showing that friend they care, the FOCUS they can put on them as a person through their shared interests, and the good time they're sharing.

It's more like how I do a game or movie night with my buddies to enjoy a thing and each other's presences. We're making memories that contain each other.

There's overlap. You should ALSO like your lover as a friend. I hate the way Platonic vs Romantic interest is framed like romantic interest is a "stronger version" because GOD it's not. It's a DIFFERENT one.

My family member has no point of reference between romantic and platonic interest, because they only feel the platonic type. Doing the romantic things was just "something they did" for their partners, an expected part of a relationship. Not something they DISLIKED but very obviously just social expectations for what "domestic partners are supposed to do."

Literally like engaging in things they're just Okay about, to please a best friend.

For example, when I go to a fancy restaurant with my lover, it's about them, and it's about Us. On this emotion I am feeling for them, doing something we enjoy, the atmosphere making us feel a way. When family member went on a date it was about the pasta. And the date too because they're fun to be with! But mostly the pasta.

(This is also an older family member who only learned there was a name for their feelings because I came out as queer. I could talk about them all day but that's off topic)

Anyway, hope this helps. And RE: this is my/our own personal experience, no two queer people are the same, asexuality is a spectrum/umbrella

When you look up the differences between platonic and romantic love, one of the . The things. Is "imagining romantic situations with them" and just. The. H!???1??! I DONT KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!!

[saguaroooo]

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

I hope one day YA fantasy and dystopia authors will realize just because the target audience are teenagers, it's not necessary to dumb down the concept and every aspect of war and its consequences. Yes, war is an unimaginable horror and you cannot write the gruesome and psychologically scarring details in YA, but it still should be treated as a horror and not something glorious or easily fixed. The characters cannot fight in a war in one book and be just fine in the next. You can make light of the situation without making it out to be a light situation. It's actually harmful and sends the wrong message.

If they're worried about the readers not liking it, may I remind you The Hunger Games trilogy didn't shy away from showing what war is and it's still considered one of the best YA books to this day. Harry Potter, which is considered a children's book, portrayed a corrupt government, silent overtaking of power, disappearings and mass panic fairly well.

Teenagers and young adults might not be ready for adult books, but if authors choose to write a heavy topic such as war in YA books, they should deliver it well, even if it's vague, rather than prettify the image and distort the facts.

It's insulting, even. We know what war is. We see it on the news. We see it on the internet even if we don't want to see it. Some of our loved ones have experienced it. Sometimes it's like the authors forget their books are read by people from all around the world.

"It's supposed to be an escape from the real world"- well then, give the book a happy ending. Or abandon writing war altogether and embrace the whimsy.

[swimminginyokohamasrivers]

He comes in through the front door. His wrist is bent in a not so normal kinda way.

Hi papa. Uhm.

He holds up his wrist.

Yeah-

// @wherenightmeetsdawn

....Oh! That's broken-

[trek-tracks]

Bone on Bone? I think I read that Star Trek TOS/AOS crossover fic

[abelllia]

Transcript:

[From MAG 92]

Elias (Statement): -if I leave a letter here, in your institute, you might find it, you might be able to save me. I have no other hope. I have no other hope. Please, Jonah, if you have any compassion within your heart, you will not leave me in this place. Your loyal servant, Barnabas.

Elias: Jonah Magnus did leave him in that place, Jon. He got the letter, oh yes, and was on good terms with Mordechai Lukas. He could have interceded, perhaps even saved him, but he did not. And it was not out of malice, or because he lacked affection for Barnabas Bennett: he retrieved those bones sadly enough when the time came. Bones that you can still find in my office, if you know where to look.

No, it was because he was curious. Because he had to know, to watch and see it all.That’s what this place is, Jon, never forget it. You may believe yourself to have friends, to have confidantes, but in the end, all they are is something for you to watch, to know, and ultimately to discard.

[From MAG 159]

Jon: Martin. He’s gone, Martin. He ��� he’s gone. 

Martin: His only wish was to die alone.

Jon: Tough. Now – listen to me, Martin. Listen.

Martin: Hello, Jon.

Jon: Listen, I know you think you want to be here, I know you think it’s safer, and well – well, maybe it is. But we need you. I need you.

Martin: No, you don’t. Not really. Everyone’s alone, but we all survive.

Jon: I don’t just want to survive!

Martin: I’m sorry.

Jon: Martin. Martin, look at me. Look at me and tell me what you see.

Martin: I see…

I see you, Jon.

I see you.

Jon: Martin.

Martin: I… I was on my own. I was all on my own.

Jon: Not anymore. Come on. Let’s go home.

Martin: How?

Jon: Don’t worry. I know the way.

[CLICK]

End Transcript

Going insane about this for a multitude of reasons

[silvertiefling]

maybe every day we let grief in, we’ll also let a little bit of it out, and eventually we’ll be able to breathe again.

THE AGONY OF UNMADE DECISIONS // @harpershigh

" HAVE YOU BEEN READIN' self help books again, old lady? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard- the only way to get rid of grief is murder EVERYONE knows that-"

[barrel-crow-n]

Nikolai: Don’t preach to me about romance, Tolya. I had a three-way in a hot-air balloon.

[glamfellens]

astarion: its always a pleasure to see you sauntering over 😏

aeres:

[grishaverse-chaos]

shit I remembered this too late to add to the post I was replying to, but: people (and by "people" I mean darkl!ng stans and nikolai antis) will call nikolai an example of the White Saviour trope, and they're kind of half right in that he is a SUBVERSION of the trope

so yes, he's initially presented as that archetype - a member of the majority group, who sympathises with the minority group and uses his institutional power to improve the lives of that group

(of course, this is subverted right off the bat because he is CONSTANTLY offering to share his institutional power with Grisha: proposing to Alina, creating the Triumvirate, even the Nolniki to an extent)

but the trope is FULLY subverted at the end of RoW, when he literally addresses the question of whether he is the right person to "save" Ravka, and decides to literally GIVE all his institutional power to a Suli Grisha woman (Zoya)

[bonefall]

"How big should a Clan territory be?"

For the dozens of people who have asked this over the last couple of years!

This question comes in a lot of forms; "How big are the Clan territories?" "How much space does one Clan need?" "How much land should I give my Clans to exist in?" The answer is a bit complicated, and depends on the type of land, what you're going for exactly, the setting, so on.

But, broadly, there's TWO particular factors at play here; How anthropomorphic you're portraying your warriors, and how productive the land is.

Factor 1: The Anthro Scale

I'm starting with this one because it could you the simpler answer. The Erins write Clan cats like humans in cat bodies, with massive social units and communal living. Realistic feral cats don't act like Clan cats. They are only semi-social, due to domestication.

See, a Clan cat will "share" territory between all of its members, and some Clans have canonically hit populations of over 50 individuals. Real feral colonies consist of "overlapping circles" of somewhere between 2 - 15 cats, most of them related females.

This is relevant because, even in densely populated areas with as much food as they can eat, truly feral colonies will have about 2 cats per 5 acres, capping out at about 15 members. Queens will hang out together and raise their kittens communally, but they will hunt and patrol in their own "circle." These boundaries are violently enforced against outside cats, especially if it's too crowded.

(Toms have circles 5x as big as a queen's, overlapping several territories. They're also considerably less social.)

So, if you wanted to incorporate some cat behavior into your Clan's mindset about how big their territory should be, while still being willing to sacrifice a bit of "realism" for groups over 15-ish members, simply take Clan population and multiply it by 2.5 acres.

30 cats = 75 acres. That's a little under 57 football fields, if you're American, or 50 football fields, if you're European.

Extra reading: How realistic cat territories work. Contains the numbers I'm referencing.

It's also very important to know; feral cat density is completely tied to food availability, the big numbers numbers are for cats whose needs are met. Cats are solitary hunters, and when they feel like they have to work for their food, they become VERY territorial. The density of cats in rural areas can be as low as 1 molly per 15 acres, even lower for toms, and they will leave if hunting is not easy.

THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT FEED FERAL CATS. Please GOD they are SO invasive, please do not give colonies food, they still hunt when they're full so you just end up concentrating a ton of predators in one place. They are not warriors with a law against disrespecting food, they are just kitty cats with silly kitty instincts

I have a suspicion that most of the people who are asking the question aren't really looking for a "realistic cat" answer, though. We LOVE our big cat Clans with their complicated politics around here. You're probably wondering how much land you need to feed your population!

Factor 2: Land Productivity

The exact amount of space is going to vary a lot, because it's more about productivity of the land to sustain a prey population than it is raw size. Remember what we learned back in Warrior Bites: Dietary Needs; a 30-cat Clan will need approximately 3 pounds of meat (10,500 calories) per day, which is about 2 rabbits, or 105 mice.

Here's some visual examples of what I mean. This one (1) acre homestead...

Has 20 patches of high-value crops, plus an orchard, AND livestock pens. This territory alone could attract enough crows, mice, rats, rabbits, and sparrows to feed all those cats daily. That's not even counting the humans themselves, who may be friendly enough to the colony to toss them kibble occasionally.

(this is why cats domesticated themselves. Even without the free food from the humans, farms are extremely productive hunting grounds.)

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Mall, which is a whopping five (5) acres...

Would be utterly barren. Best food you're going to get out of this wasteland is the leftovers humans toss out, and maybe the rats and pigeons that scavenge as well. It's 5x the space, and yet, infinitely harder to feed the same amount of cats.

So, the most helpful bit of advice I'm gonna give you is this; DON'T ask yourself "how big should this territory be?" You're starting with the wrong question. Start with a real location, and think about how you'd find 3 pounds of meat a day in that area.

It will be a LOT easier to think about the logistics in those terms, and this will lead you to the waaay more productive (and fun) worldbuilding questions. Such as;

"Where would the good hunting spots be?"

"What kinds of animals would they be eating? What sorts of beasts can threaten them, here?"

"How many of these animals would my 30 cat Clan need to hunt a day to equal about 3 pounds?"

"Where would these animals be getting THEIR food?"

"Is there enough habitat in the area for the prey to breed and nest? If not, is there more land beyond the territory that the prey is coming from?"

"Where would infrastructure like dens, walls, and dirtplaces go? What would these be made of?"

"Are there any neat spots for the cats to casually hang out on?"

"What would make for a super cool arena for my climactic narrative boss fights?"

"Does this area have unique stage hazards that my cats would have to learn to deal with?"

"Which sorts of plants and herbs would they encounter?"

If your Clan is tool-using, like BB!Clans are, then you can ask even more advanced questions. Like, where you'd find kindle for fire, what objects you can use as crafting materials, and what might make for unique trade goods.

Think about other things related to your Clan's biome-- in a tundra or desert, there will be less for prey to eat, so the territory will be large to cope with the low density. If there's a major body of water, they might have a constant supply of aquatic prey from upstream. Hunting grounds might change based on the seasons.

Also remember not to underestimate how fast small animals breed, and how many of them there can be in one area. Even using low estimates, 1 female mouse has 6 pups, 7 x 6 = 42, 42 x 6 = 252, 252 x 6 = 1,452. It takes only 4 months for mouse population growth to get exponentially ridiculous.

Finally, remember that prey can vary. A well run Clan would be able to generally understand when they've been overhunting one particular species, and start shifting gears to lift the "pressure" off that population.

(In my cultural expansions series, this management task is assigned to one of the new roles-- the Head of Hunting.)

[cryptic-rainfall]

I've been hemming and hawing over this big impulse purchase for months now. I keep going back & forth, will I use a sewing machine enough to justify its purchase, do I even have space for a sewing machine, will I get the time/energy to even do anything with the sewing machine or will it just take up space and be a waste of money. It's been like this for months. And just today I realized two things:

1) I've done so much research and internal debate and even measuring the space in my closet. It's been months since I first considered actually getting a sewing machine. This is no longer an impulse purchase. This is a well deliberated purchase.

2) I am tearing myself apart over a purchase that would be less than $150. People who make less than me can blink that much money away and not be negatively affected at all. They wouldn't even notice. This is not a big purchase, it's a medium purchase at best. I should just get the damn sewing machine.

[lanternlightss]

don’t have the energy for it rn, but god i want to write something with loop and siffrin, because i. have been thinking about how loop reacts to siffrin coming back to talk to them repeatedly

they’re the one who asks and keeps insisting for company, yet when siffrin comes back twice, thrice during the same loop, they’re—baffled? don’t you have anything better to do, stardust? go on, talk to the others, you might’ve missed a little something!~

just thinking about. the specific conversation of:

“my, with how often you come to see lil ol’ me, i might begin to think you see me as a friend!”

“…yes? would that be so bad?”

and loop… grows quiet. lost, for words.

[jinanreona]

@wishkept sent:

"A question for you, Kingscholar." Malleus tucks a hand under his chin, tipping his head to the side as he studies his fellow dorm head. "What advice would you be willing to give in regards to earning a woman's romantic affection?"

He gives a disinterested hum at the other's voice, only half listening as he continues in his solo game of chess. It's only when the other's query sinks in that emerald eyes settle on the fae, the lion doing little to conceal his amusement. Malleus Draconia asking for romantic advice? He had to wonder if the world was ending or was the other so infatuated with this 'lady' that he's desperate enough to ask Leona of all people for help.

"...Advice huh?" The curl of his lips in a mocking smirk is hint enough that Malleus may not hear the advice he wants, Leona giving the other little time to respond to the rhetorical question as he continues, "I could write you an entire book and I doubt it'd be any help to you, lizard. You're 'bout as smooth as that goop the bat makes~"

Of course that didn't mean he wasn't curious who had caught the fae's attention. It wasn't like the guy frequently had a partner to parade around. "So who is it? Someone from the island or back home?" Or is she even real? He was tempted to say as much, but held his tongue for now. It was best not to push the other's buttons too much lest the fae storm off at his teasing.

[scriptedencryptid]

Cured