#It's Thunderclan cats im pretty sure

[bonefall]

i know u dont rework arcs untill theyre complete but im very excited to see what you do with a starless clan, theres so much exciting things happening in this arc to work with. do you have any changes you already know for sure you’ll be incorporating?

No for-sures. I don't want to make any for-sures. I have ones I'm feeling but I don't want to call ANYTHING a for-sure yet. I need to find out what the ending is, WHERE this is all going, because I have a strong philosophy in my writing that a story is like a spear;

IT'S ALL ABOUT GETTING TO THE POINT.

But we are 4/6 of the way in, so I CAN start talking about thoughts!

I'm actually leaning pretty heavily towards axing Nightheart as a POV. There's still time for the books to turn around and justify it, BUT HEAR ME OUT

(Saying AS someone who is a Nightheart Enjoyer)

So far I'm really feeling that his character would benefit from us never being inside of his head, or seeing what he's been going through. As much as I WILL stand by that I enjoyed books 1 and 2 and liked his perspectives there, I'm starting to think that it would serve the story a lot better for Sunbeam and Frostpaw to be guessing just as much as we are.

We'd get introduced to Nightheart on the journey for catmint.

Sunbeam connects with him immediately, because she's tossed on this mission while she's in the middle of a swirling tide of drama. With nothing but Clerics and a hardened Rootspring to the left and her ex-bestie (exstie) to the right, he's really her only other choice for companionship. She's chronically unable to stop problems before they get out of hand, the sort of person who becomes frozen by indecision, and then here comes this Glorious Bastard

In her eyes, he's so caring, and bold, and fun! He's the first one to jump headlong into danger, to really be interested in her problems and just let her talk, and his story is so heartbreaking! A mother who's so hard on him... and his Clan is so mean all the time, but he wants to prove to all of them that he's more than just Firestar's descendant... but he was so brave to choose his own name.................

And then, when she follows him into ThunderClan, she learns he fucking lied. She changed Clans based on SOB STORIES

When she first comes, no one knows what he's been saying behind their back. Even if they did, they don't want to start trashing Nightheart right to his new mate's face. But then he LEAVES, and Sunbeam will bring up,

"Maybe it was because you were hard on him?"

And then Sparkpelt tries to agree, just to take blame onto herself and stop all this, but Finchlight's had eNOUGH and ends up setting the record straight;

"No this is DEFINITELY another tantrum. He already ran off once before."

"NO he didn't pick his own name, he stopped the whole ceremony to complain and Bramblestar gave him a compromise"

"MEAN to him?? I had to do HIS WORK because he couldn't STAY ON THE GROUND"

"Oh he's buckling under the weight of his legacy? that must be so hard. I was cat-fifteen when i punched my first fascist and he was wearing the face of my grandpa."

"His mom aba-WHAT?? ABANDONED???? OUR MOTHER WAS EXILED AND HE STAYED HOME!!!!! WE WERE CAT-FIFTEEN!!"

With this false hope shattered, Sunbeam is thrown into a devastating situation where... her mother was right. She was tricked. And now she's stuck in this new Clan without any of her old friends, without this mate who was too-good-to-be-true, the ONE impulsive choice she's made on her own in her WHOLE LIFE turns to ashes in her mouth. She can't go back, either, because Berryheart would NEVER let her live this down.

But... it's okay.

It's a slow shock, to make a choice SO impulsive and SO self-concerned, and find a safety net below her. It's going to be okay. The trials are fair. The cats of ThunderClan interrupt and speak over each other, but, that teaches her to be more assertive. Sparkpelt and Finchlight are not the mean assholes that Nightheart built them up to be, and they'll support her no matter what she chooses to do with her possible mate.

I want Nightheart TO get better, but, in order for that to happen, he has to face, and, more importantly, ACCEPT consequences. He needs to develop the maturity to say, "I acted like a brat and didn't appreciate what I had. and I'm sorry. you don't have to forgive me."

Bottom line being, Nightheart is striking me lately as a character that works best as unpredictable, because we have NO IDEA what's truly in his head. It would be interesting for him to have a novella later, but as it stands, his POV has consistently just been a duplicate since he joined ShadowClan. We gained NOTHING from splitting the Frostpaw Journey of the newest book in half POV, and VERY little from splitting the ShadowClan one into half POV.

I might reduce the POVs to 2, just Sunbeam and Frostpaw, or change Nightheart's to Lightleap. If I NEED 3 main characters, then they should all be a consistent camera on different parts of the conflict.

Again. I do not commit to changes until the arcs are done. Nothing in BB!ASC is set yet.

But here's some other little things I'm thinking,

Bramblestar is VOTED out.

He does not step down. The little "game" he played with Nightheart to create a situation to yell at Squilf, who hasn't been his mate in a long time in BB, was the LAST straw for ThunderClan.

They had sympathy for him before that point, because of what he went through with Ashfur, but his leadership was long and controversial even before the Impostor.

And there's a really strong sentiment that IF Bramblestar had been a good leader... they would have realized he was possessed sooner. So, there are those who partially blame him for the tyranny of the Impostor.

Basically; enough is enough.

Berryheart's hate group has ACTUAL consequences. Someone gets killed; probably Antfur, who survived the last arc to die here.

More fights. This arc has been too bloodless. Already planning SEVERAL sudden, random brawls in RiverClan as tensions boil.

Heartstar is going to be MORE controversial. Not controversial enough in canon imo. I don't like how Leaf and Squilf seem like they have "hypothetical" issues with the invasion instead of being able to point at REAL ones.

riverclan didn't forget how to do the chores they've done their WHOLE lives, no. I'm going to talk about POWER VACUUMS and create ACTUAL factions that begin to coagulate in RiverClan.

if we're going to have a brainless plot about how "Well Ackshually democracy has enough problems to make us reconsider not having unaccountable, tyrannical dictators, because a vote could maybe be called over One Single Issue" then I'll talk about shit like the spoiler effect, mob mentality, and factionalism. Get the hell out of my way ERIN I'll cook

No Smoky. Society has progressed past the need for Smoky. No Smokyng Area.

Whistlepaw should to try and take care of her ALONE, not trained enough to take care of SUCH bad wounds and barely able to keep her trembling paws straight, and Frostpaw realizes that she's making her watch her own friend die.

Is this how her life is going to end? slipping away under the paws of someone she loves, for what? pride? to do what her mother told her-- trust no cat?

As she TRUSTS Whistlepaw? Trusts her SO much, that Frostpaw will force her to be the only witness to her death?

FROSTPAW CALLS THE HUMAN

...which in BB, is a team of researchers. She drags herself to them, and collapses. This is why they just HAPPENED to have the proper equipment on them; they're WILDLIFE VETS.

Not sure how I'm going to handle Frostpaw's Journey though. In BB, the Park Cats are already a foundational part of Clan Culture.

In all honesty, while I HAVE to praise the fact that the Erins have FINALLY created ONE outsider group that isn't malicious or defenseless... I don't much care for them.

sending frostpaw on a side quest to what's essentially a big DOTC reference. Look! It's that group we introduced in the last 5 chapters of our latest glorified recap! cooool.

We're just going to get nothing but fucking founders in every dream from now on. I'm SURE of it.

As a consolation prize to myself though I will be writing cool angel scenes of the absolute BEING that Riverstar has become in heaven.

Riverstar (normal cat): "Elder Bones I'm going out!"

"not dressed like THAT you're not!!!"

Riverstar (the manifestation of the river, the rain in the sky above, and the abyss below, and how through water we are all truly connected as one being): "better?"

I will probably keep the Park Cats and rework them significantly, but I'm leaning pretty heavily towards Frostpaw visiting a LOT of places. A holy pilgrimage.

ESPECIALLY one of the Tribe's three wards; the River Ward. The Tribe of Rushing Water believes (it's even in the name) that water connects all things.

So I think it would be really fitting for Frostpaw to learn from MANY perspectives, starting with this philosophy put forth by the River Ward.

And she realizes-- that's what Riverstar is, as well. As a being. He is mentoring her on this pilgrimage, while barely saying a word. She can feel him wherever she is, because he isn't JUST the God of the River.

He is connection. He is peace. He's water. Too much and you'd drown, not enough and you'd thirst.

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: Here is the rough draft of Frostpaw's Journey

[official-darkforest]

in your anthro au, does bramble actually make it to canada? is the plotline of the lake territory scrapped for something else?

rambled quite a bit here!

no, they dont make it to canada. they abandoned that idea after feather was killed. instead her funeral and burial is held in california by her dying wish and her family drives/flies over. graystripe and mosspelt took feather's car, but mosspelt flies back home via plane. graystripe is staying wirh storm indefinitely and eventually meets millie.

with storm's blessing, bramble,tawny, crow, and squirrel take the van back home. tawny is dropped off on the way, but crow insists on tagging along to thunder because he's not ready to be alone yet. his family is pretty small and he's not sure his parents will be able to help much, as much as they may try.

dodging the draft can get you into trouble, but there are many that got off scot free and bramble was one pf those lucky fellows (especially with firestar's involvement. he made sure bramble wouldn't have it held against him in return for keeping squirrel safe and bringing her home). firestar was furious at both bramble and squirrel but he's not cruel and unsympathetic, especially considering they just lost a very close friend (and that gray isnt coming back for a while).

this is where crow and leaf meet, crow is kinda bunking with bramble at his place and even had plans to move in for good. his parents were pretty combative but couldnt do much since he was a few states away!!! they dont know where the fuck thunder-whatever is. but eventually he gets a call about his father's rapidly declining health and immediately abandons his plans to stay. he asks leaf to come with him but leaf still isn't finished with med school (she doesn't know she's pregnant yet) and they part ways. crow makes it home to help ashfoot care for deadfoot in his final few months and fills in after his father dies. it's something he didnt plan to continue but its notnlike he HATES doing the work. eventually meets+marries nightcloud a 1-4 yrs later

leaf meanwhile continues med school. being unmarried with kids is still a social taboo, especially at such a young age (im imagining she and squirrel are around 18-19 by now, 17 during the road trip). squirrel and bramble, however, had been in a relationship with one another for a while after coming back home. sure, it got a bit messy when ashfur came back from vietnam and got a bit too close to squirrel for comfort, but they sorta resolved it and eventually bramble/squirrel got engaged. leaf confided in squirrel for her help with the pregnancy and squirrel immediately offered to take the children in as her own if leaf needed. it was a huge jump but leaf took the offer. bramble was let in on the plan the closer leaf got to her due date. he thought it was a very impulsive decision and they fought a bit about making the decision without him but he was enthusiastic about being a father regardless.

the others in town had their suspicions but dont ask dont tell.

theres some other parts i havent fully ironed out yet like where hawkfrost and mothwint come in.

as for the actual lake territories, they coexist with the forest territories by just being in different states LOL windclan and thunderclan's territory was pretty consistent in terms of The Basics so theyre mostly in the same general area (tc is east coast forests, wc is southwest-midwest prairies. theres a lot of cowboys, farmers, and ranchers in "windclan" as a result). shadowclan i can see being in the southern swamps, especially florida or louisiana, and riverclan is kinda interspersed alont the mississippi and ohio rivers. maybe a few along the east coast, too, as the lake territory equivalent. skyclan is probably in the rockies or the redwood forests out west. maybeeee old skyclan is in the appalachias???? idk LOL since the cats are so far apaer now the conflicts are a little less wide scale and more personal if rhat makes any sense at all. of course this whole au is a huge work in progress so some of what i say here may change!

the clans are rural/small/poor towns in my head. tight knit communities that have to rely on each other. kittypets are urban/suburbanites as a contrast and keep the 'kittypets r fucjing spoiled' theme going . you inow the city slicker junk LOL

bloodclan is probably a gang in new york. at least scourge's bloodclan. the other iterations are probably in other huge metropolitan cities. idk what warriorclan is, and the tribe is a whole can of worms im trying to be very careful with so im not gonna talk about them as a whole quite yet other than imply they exist

[shummthechumm]

since seeing a few posts about TPB and how it treats firestar’s kittypet origins as a flaw he needs to overcome, wouldnt it be amazing if the “fire alone” prophecy was failed in some way? yes, short term, he DID save the clan, but in all the arcs following this? 

(looong post under cut)

yeah he’s a decent guy, but his clan immediately turns back to the status quo. sure, lionclan united to defeat tigerclan, but the relationship between wind and thunder deteriorates as soon as windclan rebellion starts. cats within his own clan, who witnessed the impact his very not-in-accordance-to-the-code actions had on defeating tigerstar. aka ONE OF THE BIGGEST TYRANTS IN RECENT CLAN MEMORY. but oh actually everyone dislikes kittypets still in tnp. dustpelt/mousefur especially love to bring up their distaste with the state of thunderclan (”too mixed”). even brambleclaw, his own apprentice, judges cats like daisy based on the fact that she isnt clanborn. it reads as thunderclan respecting firestar in spite of where he came from, instead of them appreciating a major part of his identity that they wouldnt let him forget just a few books ago? you know? getting over their biases and learning to respect others outside the clan? 

were these xenophobic ideas not utilized by tigerstar to climb maim and torture not just cats outside the code, but those who dedicated their lives to it? is that...not a sign for introspection?? 

and on a similar note: the books really want us to know that the only reason scourge was defeated was because he didnt believe in god, which is a really weird conclusion to end this arc on. we see fireheart constantly questioning the code and using his better judgement (most of the time anyway) to do what is the morally righteous thing to do. his unique outlook on clan culture saved a lot of lives. he wanted desperately to find belonging in thunderclan, but often sacrified his safety + position to save lives. but no actually the moral we’re supposed to take is “firestar became leader and proved that his soft kittypet roots couldn’t hold him down!!!” i dont know if him being born in thunderclan wouldve changed his very justice-driven personality, but maybe not being brainwashed from infancy played a factor in many of his choices in TPB.

so with these moments where firestar starts to show some of his conditioning crack through (ex: feeling horrified at the idea of cloudpaw not believing in starclan--and wanting to SHOCK him into being a believer; etc etc), is genuinely an engaging character flaw...that should be treated as a flaw. all of these standards of what a “true warrior” should be--constantly being crammed into his head from a pretty young age; against his own sense of personal identity and moral compass. does he WANT to be seen as a true warrior? does he want away with all of these redundant rules? does he want to redefine what that even means?

even in FQ he is pretty pissed to hear bluestar trying to justify an ENTIRE BRANCH OF THEIR CULTURE being axed off because no one was willing to spare territory. while that book has other issues, its still nice to see glimpses of that characterization i like slipping through. if it was an intentional internal conflict, you can take it even further. 

this is why i like to imagine that firestar’s prophecy came from whatever ancient beings sent down the po3 prophecy (i believe in oots they downright confirmed that the ancients likely sent starclan/the tribe of endless hunting the po3 prophecy decades before even mapleshade’s time). firestar may have served as the short term solution, maybe as a way to get set up the three in thunderclan. im 90% their prophecy outdates his, anyway. what was the intent of this prophecy, truly? 

was he meant to save the clan(s) from a few one and done baddies, or was something more long-term intended. if so...did he fail???

how does firestar cope with this? does he reflect? he knows about the po3 prophecy--what if he were to learn of the manipulation his kids went through by the forces he was taught to worship? ik canon firestar doesnt rlly react to the secret reveal post po3, but...in a better series...would he stand for it? how could he react, knowing that starclan targeted his very bloodline for a prophecy far older than the clans themselves? 

in a different world, would bluestar had even accepted him had it not been for the prophecy?? where would he be then? how would he fare with the knowledge that many cats he idolized when he was younger--cats he grieved for, were roped into perpetuating the unhealthy cycle of reliance both starclan and the living clans have for each other?

......is starclan even the source of the fire alone prophecy??? if not them, then who was??>?? how far did this go?? how far is starclan willing to go to get their desired outcome?

 give me existential  firestar, PLEASE 

[stickstone]

ok so! my predictions for thunder based on the preview (spoilers under cut of course)

starting off with the prologue. my first thought reading it was that it might be hinting at her being eventually being the leader of riverclan, heavily emphasizing this idea of destiny. i also feel like it’s pretty much confirmed at this point that frostpaw really doesn’t have the special starclan connection, which is honestly a really fun little twist on the usual warrior cats formula and ALSO further makes me wonder about curlfeather and what she was up to

that brings me to the frostpaw chapter, obviously. i love how urgent everything feels here. you can really feel frostpaw’s panic and distrust in this chapter, it’s great. also her decision to make sure only whistlepaw knows she’s still alive is actually very smart. if her attacker thinks she’s dead that means she’ll be able to figure things out and come up with a plan without worrying about being attacked again. i can already foresee some problems it will cause though and i’m Very excited for that

next up nightheart chapter. no secret that he’s my least favorite of the protagonists this arc lol, but this chapter was pretty good. or maybe i was just giddy about squirrelstar (yes i know it’s still up in the air. but look. i really really want it to be real. ok.) im not really sure why squirrelflight decided she wanted nightheart specifically there but i understand that he kinda has to be there for the plot to progress, cause obviously he’s going to end up running into frostpaw. he seems like he might be more tolerable this book, mostly because all of the female characters around him aren’t being portrayed as evil harpies sent to kill him

and finally! sunbeam. i’ll be honest i think she’s my favorite this arc. i love her interactions with some of the thunderclan cats, and am VERY glad that the erins didn’t make sparkpelt and finchlight evil xenophobes who vehemently hate nightheart’s girlfriend. berryheart is such a fun antagonist and the way that she’s actually able to get sunbeam to doubt herself and her relationship with nightheart is so good. especially because she has a point! nightheart has continually put himself before sunbeam and placed her in bad positions, this is not at all a stable situation sunbeam’s in

based on these chapters, i can pretty easily guess where things are going. nightheart meets frostpaw and, for whatever reason, she needs him to help her on her quest (which makes sense considering she is severely injured). because nobody can know that frostpaw’s alive, nightheart either won’t be able to tell sunbeam that he’s leaving OR will be able to speak to her briefly. either way, he’s leaving her alone. again. which is pretty much a confirmation of sunbeam’s worst fears, and sort of proves berryheart right. because of this sunbeam is going to really struggle, not just with her trials, but with the fact that she’s made a massive life change for someone who might not even like her back. Looking Forward To This

last thing! i wasn’t really sold on ivypool as deputy initially but now that i think about it there’s a lot of potential. i really liked her in sunbeam’s chapter, and i’m honestly very eager to see how her opinions on cross clan relationships and clan switching have changed after bristlefrost’s death. there could be a lot of fun stuff to explore there, and also idk. maybe she’ll finally apologize to dovewing. that would be great.

but uh yeah. genuinely looking forward to this book, i’m very excited.

[sliverpelt-cats]

what i don't get is the choice the Erins made to label Snowkit as essentially useless, purely for being deaf.

my cousin's cat is pretty much exactly like Snowkit and Cloudtail, a part from being a girl, in the sense that she's pure white with blue eyes.

its, in a sense, like being around a deaf person. there's visual cues you can use with a deaf cat that lets them know you're giving them dinner or looking for cuddles with them.

a specific instance of this is when my cousin and his fiancée look to get her attention and she's not physically looking at them, they tap the (hardwood) floor with their feet. i guess it would be harder to make the dirt shake in the wilderness. but they also tap on her tail, back or head if they're close enough to her.

and no one can tell me visual cues can't be used with a warrior. im pretty sure speckletail used them with her kit (please correct me if im wrong), and there's a headcanon that shadowclan use visual cues to communicate while hunting as to not disturb the prey.

all the visual cues ThunderClan would've had to use could be done by tail or head movements.

i dont have any deaf friends, nor am i deaf, but my friends and i use head gestures to communicate when we just dont feel like speaking in the moment.

like a head tipped back would mean "come here" and gestures to the right or left would be "look there" or "they're there" with eye movement too.

it's be harder for a warrior to patrol and hunt, sure, but they wouldn't be rendered useless.

on the topic of my cousin's deaf cat again; the last time we visited them, the cat brought a caught, dead bird inside after she'd been let out to pee.

[cryptidclaw]

ik this is relatively irrelevant but i am really curious on how youre going to write stumpytail! in canon, he was abused by brokenstar during his apprenticeship (of which broken was the mentor) and i always thought he stayed in shadowclan after brokenstar's exile and was loyal to them, dying from the sickness or maybe other thing like that? but that seemed to be retconned in tigerclaw's fury (or maybe it just was always like that n i just didnt notice but. i just rlly Do Not Remember him being mentioned as one tigerstar's or even brokenstar's followers in tpb at all. im even almost sure the Only scene he had in it was actually him taking part on the shadow/wind raid in thunderclan camp when they were keeping brokentail as a prisoner so?? huh???) and then he was sent to cat hell alongside his. actual. murderer. dad, clawface, and the cat who abused him when he was a teenager with no real explation as to why

sorry for sending such a long ask abt a background/filler character !! i just love him so so much n wanted to know how youre going to write him as the erins didnt rlly.. do it very well, to say the least (and not only him but the broken n tiger followers in general tbh, they were a super important part of tpb yet we got very little info on most of them. so if u want to use this ask as an opportunity to talk abt them in general too feel free to lol!)

Ough yes,,, I feel like in a lot of ways the Broken and Tiger followers are kinda like the Dark Forest trainees from later arcs...

Like they are manipulated and traumatized and I feel like a lot of them could be redeemable??

Idk how in depth im gonna get in characterizing the background characters like Stump but, I dont think Im going to send many to the DF , they are just victims of Broken, Tiger and the fucked up society that the Orders have :(

I feel like a lot of them probably just followed these guys because that's what they thought they were supposed to do and also they feared the consequences of rebelling.

Then ofc there would be the cats like Vulturemask (Blackstar) who did some really fucked up things because they were fully bought into Broken and Tiger's bs ... I like Vulture bec he did some terrible things, bit i like the idea that he is plagued with guilt for it...

The whole of Shadow and RIver are made up of traumatized and guilt ridden cats tbh (reason #1 that i am mad they didnt get more pov in arc 2)

Though I do think that River and Shadow have a pretty high amount of conservative, xenophobic cats just from their history of leaning more that way politically. Which is also why they are the most vulnerable to being taken over be evil leaders heh... But thats also why so many cats are just forced to blindly follow these evil dudes, they have no choice, bec the majority already agree with these terrible ideals

hmmm Now im just rambling about the Order's political climate :P

[istherewifiinhell]

[Watching the female autobot ep]

>why does firestar sound like it could be like a thundercat. No. Warrior cat.

Im pretty sure thats the main character??

>oh i dunno. Sounds it

[Reading wiki page aloud]

Firestar: Affiliations

Current: StarClan[1]

Past: Kittypet[2]

ThunderClan[3]

LionClan[4]

SkyClan[5] (temporarily)

>NO STOP.

[puppiekit]

(( NOT sure if this counts as spoilers since its about the Shadow Excerpt ))

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HONESTLY.......... NOT SURE IF THIS IS AN UNPOPULAR OPINION... BUT IM ON NIGHTHEARTS SIDE IN THIS SCENARIO LMFAOO

like okay sorry not to project on the silly book cats but I have experienced this exact same scenario before its insane... Finchflight seriously cannot name ONE single reason she wants NightHeart back beyond "we work harder now"? LMFAOO this is insane. I've had people say similar things to me in the past and it just reeks of manipulation and guilt-tripping (not to say FinchFlight is this way, but the people I knew personally certainly were).

NightHeart very much feels like... The scapegoat child of his family dynamic overall. the 'problem child'. (not to say NightHeart has never done anything wrong ever but like... Be serious... A good majority of the crap his clanmates nagged at him over was stupid as all hell)

And like... Okay I love SparkPelt in all but imo if you, as a parent, are not present in your childs upbringing whatsoever (no matter the reason), and the moment you attempt to form a connection you instantly jump to pressuring and getting bad at them (the whole FireStar lineage + raging over changing name nonsense)... You really have no right to sulk over them being rightfully upset and seeking a different environment altogether. ESPECIALLY if you lack the will to communicate face to face.

NightHeart was nothing but an angry bitter mess back in ThunderClan... So honestly I dont know WHY they would want him back when his entire stay at ShadowClan has been rage free... its pretty obvious none of his clanmates genuinely respected him or cared for him, at least beyond a surface level obligation to watch over ones clanmates, causing him to lash out.

Or at the very least they totally FAILED to communicate the fact that they did care. I mean hes not the first character in the series to be this way for similar reasons (breezepelt, jayfeather, ivypool to an extent...).

They treated him like a problem and yet, now that they want him back, cannot so much as provide a good reason WHY. Not even a "because youre my kin". Not even a "because I miss you". How sad is that LMFAOO I would be upset too! If his personality is really that insufferable perhaps its best to let him be because he seems chill in shadowclan so far!?!?!

[cartoonishvendor]

Evil, evil, evil!!! You are EVIL and indeed a SUCCESSFUL bastard for hanging me off of this cliff like laundry. Having said that it is IMPERATIVE you provide me with more Long After Starclan lore.

anon your verbosity never ceases to amaze me!! alright then, what you wish for you shall receive!! well start right back where we left off, in Maggotblood's story!! if any of you haven't read the first post, maybe you should, because there'll be barely any recap here!!

as always, details are subject to change, especially in this section since the whole plot following is still a bit sponge-y (i don't care that it's not sponge-y in english)

(also... ask to tag? lots of dark stuff and im not sure what to tag it as)

well then, let's-a-go!!

so last time, Maggotblood received her medicina cat name and assumed her new, full position in ShadowClan. though she is still shaken a bit by her dream for a few days afterwards, her return to ShadowClan marks the first time she's felt... respected by the general clan population. sure, there were still cats who strongly disliked her (Hawthorn, for instance), and cats she was closer with (Misty, and of course Giantcloud), but overall it seemed the clan finallysaw her as an equal. at that point, however, Maggotblood was jsut already kinda done with their bullshit though and didn't bother befriend anybody she wasn't already on good terms with. she developped a tendency for impatience, especially with cats who hadn't respected her prior, but she was also plagued by quite the insecurities. being so reliant on Giantcloud, her surrogate father, she didn't really believe she could do this job by herself should it ever come down to it in the future.

well. turns out that future would come sooner rather than later. one day, about a year after Maggotblood received her new name, a patrol of cats from ThunderClan stepped into ShadowClan camp and respectfully bowed their heads. Oh, LAS ThunderClan... i scratched the surface of clan differences in my last post ever so slightly, and ThunderClan is definitely... interesting, in this regard. By a lot of means, LAS ThunderClan is similar to it's canonical counterpart, though not in the best of ways. Stereotypically, ThunderClan cats here are obsessed with legacy and bloodlines, they're practically living in their own monarchy with their current leader, Leaves, stemming from a longer line of leaders and leader's relatives. They tend to be very proud (though that could be said about all LAS Clans) and hate asking for help fro mthe outside, sometimes outright refusing it. making it all the more surprising to see them here, like this. asking for help.

their request is simple: their elderly medicine cat has passed away and the clan's apprentice, Wren, is short of becoming a full medicine cat himself, but too short to just up and go to the Moon's Deep himself and get his name. ThunderClan's request to ShadowClan is that Giantcloud, their medicine cat, stays in the ThunderClan camp for a few moons to finish Wren's training. now, the majority of ShadowClan cats present did not thinkly highly of ThunderClan, and that went both ways. it wasn't too logn ago that ThunderClan was at war with SkyClan, with ShadowClan supporting their direct neighbours who were outnumbered against ThunderClan. cats on both sides lost their lives and overall even after it was over the cats were still bitter, so a lot of cats did not want to help them, including the newly appointed deputy Hawthorn. the ShadowClan leader Grebe, however, decided to think it over.

lookie here's Grebe you may have seen her on art fight.

she's pretty young herself but barely anybody i nthe clan ever doubted her abilities as a leader, so theres little backlash remaining in camp after she decided to allow Giantcloud to temporarily move to ThunderClan camp. one of the cats who do revolt, however, is Maggotblood. she didn't want Giantcloud to leave, there was no way she could take care of the clan without him!! if he wasn't here, who'd tell her when she mixed up herbs by accident? who'd help her if she started doubting her abilities as a medicine cat like he had? who could she rely on if he wasn't there? Grebe was confident though, that Maggotblood vould do the job well. so on the same evening, Giantcloud shared a heartfelt goodbye with his former apprentice and promised to be back soon.

during that short period of time after Giantcloud left, Maggotblood already got thrown into the ful stress of managing the medicine den by herself. Larch, a queen of ShadowClan, was due to give birth and now Maggotblood had to assist in bringing her kittens into this world. it was complicated, but ultimately went over fine. or at least so they thought, more on that later.

it felt so much longer, so much more tiring than it should be, to have to be without the cat she trusts most, but finally, during the half moon, Wren received his full medicine cat name, Nettlewren. having hoped she could be there to meet up with Giantcloud, Maggotblood was a little sad when she couldn't be, as she was stuck caring for a cat with an acute infection. but, she told herself, it mattered little. after all, the next morning Giantcloud would be right here again, in the ShadowClan medicine den with her, and everything would be fine again. right?

well. fate loves to play with the unfortunate.

the next morning, Maggotblood was greeted with a traise of pawsteps and the distinct stench of ThunderClan. however, instead of her mentor's big, black pelt and kind eyes, a patrol of warriors rushed into camp, erratic, shaken up and eyes wide from shock. they were there to bring news of a body they discovered in their territory. Giantcloud's body. they all rush to the scene and in that moment, Maggotblood's world shatters completely. her mentor, her father, laid there with wounds so gruesome, his eyes open in shock, bit his body so, so cold. nobody's voice was getting through to Maggotblood. she cried and wailed out into the forest, cowered there with him and pressing her snout into his cold fur. she wouldn't leave his side, not once, not even as the cats of ShadowClan carried Giantcloud back home. he laid in the clearing, stiff, and Maggotblood didn't want to believe it, yet here he was, dead, right in front of her.

as is tradition, the elders prepared Giantcloud for the burial and dug his grave. around this time, Oriole walks into camp and gasps at the sight, a piece of fresh kill falling from her mouth. Oriole was a bit of an odd one out in ShadowClan, she is a former rogue who sought shelter in the abandoned twolegnest in ShadowClan territory (the one that is seemingly not-abandoned in canon). it was Giantcloud and Maggotblood, then Jasmin, who found her there while looking for catmint. and it was especially Giantcloud who convinced her to join the clan, as well as convinced his clanmates to let her join. though hard to convince, the clan learned of her abilities soon: photographic memory. these days, Oriole still lived at that nest instead of camp, and only had Grebe's brother Wryneck as a close friend, but she was still very friendly with Giantcloud who made it possible for her to say, making her very heartbroken at this sight. but before the elders began their procedure on Giantcloud's body, she noticed something.

she was the first to say it: those wounds look like they were from a cat. not a fox, or a badger, or even a dog. a cat. others carefully snuck closer to his body as Oriole explained her reasoning. silence followed. no more talking until the ceremony was over. at last, Giantcloud was put to rest in the ground. LAS ShadowClan cats don't hold lovely remarks at funerals. among other things, the cats present must not speak until after the sun had set or risen, depending on when the burial took place.

the last ray of sun had vanished and immediately, an uproar. a cat angrily growled at Oriole for her remarks. another joins in, loudly voicing their suspicion that it was Oriole who killed Giantcloud. Wryneck steps in. the usually quiet and introverted warrior lashes out, claiming him and Oriole both spent the night at the twolegnest together. suddenly he gets accused as well. chaos breaks loose, cats are snarling, mumbling, then yelling, about rogues and strays. Grebe is just about to step in as somebody else already does: Misty.

you may remember Misty from before. the only friend of Maggotblood's who was not a medicine cat, basically. known each other since Maggotblood was just a kit. during the whole rest of the day, Maggotblood had felt horrible. numb. she was glad nobody could talk to her, and nobody could get hurt and require her treatment, since most activities were cut shirt to only necessary patrols. she couldn't think about Giantcloud's cause of death or who killed him, she couldn't think at all! all she could do was stare blankly and recall all the things they've done together, all the times he helped her, and... she held back her helpless wails, for the sake of silence. when the uproar began she simply stepped outside and watched with a blank expression. would Giantcloud have wanted this? her stomach turned. but as soon as Misty entered her field of vision, Maggotblood could hear her words as more than just a blend of noise. She could pay attention.

why blame each other when the real enemy was apparent: it was ThunderClan who took away Giantcloud, and it was ThunderClan's territory he was found on. Misty had never been the most outstanding among her clan peers, but now everyone listened, to her unshaken confidence shining through in her speech. and soon, the fighting clan became a rallying clan, loudly exclaiming their hatred for ThunderClan. cats claiming they should have neevr trusted them in the first place, cats demanding revenge. at last, Grebe demanded silence from her clan, reminding them to honor the deceased. she would hold a clan meeting the next day. though, despite respecting the orders, the seed of hatred was planted, and Maggotblood herself was no exception. after all, it made sense, right? but, Maggotblood being who she was, this wasn't a satisfying enough answer for her. she wasn't just gonna accept that ThunderClan killed her father. she needed a name. a cat. someone who could feel the full extent of the wrath that was rising inside her.

Maggotblood would sneak into ThunderClan territory the same night, avoiding being caught by any warriors out and about at night (one of the many quirks of living in ShadowClan), to investigate the crime scene herself. however, the were no discernible scents left, only muddles ThunderClan and ShadowClan scents to be detencted. but it was still proof it couldn't have been anything other than a fellow cat, further evidenced by the lack of any big, chaotic fight. she headed back.

far quicker than her, Maggotblood's clanmates settled back into their everyday lives. death was not a rare occurance, right? they couldn't understand what his death had meant for her, not even with the side remarks of condolences from her clanmates. Misty and her words of encouragement were the only ones she accepted, Misty knew what it was like after all, to lose one's father like this. Maggotblood, too, was forced back into reality, now assuming the position of the primary medicine cat. whenever she had free time in between treating a patient, she spent it brooding, thinking of other things she could do. other ways she could find out who killed Giantcloud. the next gathering was still far away. when Oriole showed herself around camp, still getting a few side eyes from some cats, Maggotblood, in private, pressed her about her remarks at the burial, questioning whether she remembered any scents on top of her detailed visual impression of the events. she couldn't give Maggotblood an answer, didn't recall smelling anything other than death and herbs that day, but she noted how utterly stressed the she-cat seemed.

the New Moon rolled around. ShadowClan celebrates this event by having every warrior old enough who wants to join in take a walk up the stream that separated ShadowClan and SkyClan territory. then, they would all pick one stick each from a tree or one on the ground, carve it clean with their claws until all teh bark was gone, and at moon high, they would all drop their sticks into the stream and wish for things such as strength and durability. Maggotblood wished for the strength to keep going, to find out the truth behind Giantcloud's death. soon after, it turned out she'd need that strength for a lot more.

Larch, the queen who had given birth, woke up the whole camp the next morning, screaming. Maggotblood rushed to the scene and was meet with the horrible sight of Larch's daughter, dead in her nest. any and all attempts by Maggotblood to revive her came to no avail. She couldn't understand, when she was born everything seemed fine with the kitten, and even now there was no apparent reason for her to die, and yet she was dead. Maggotblood panicked, she was shocked and Larch surely did not fare better when Maggotblood confirmed her death by unknown cause. she lashed out, screamed and snapped at Maggotblood, very loudly blaming her for the death of her kitten, for all the clan to witness. Ice, her mate, heldher back from actually attacking Maggotblood, who had been cowering there, expecting to have her life ended over this, which she viewed a failure on her part. inconsolable, both of them. the night after the kitten's funeral, Maggotblood cried herself to sleep, wishing her mentor had been here, for he had not let that kitten die.

Larch was far from keen to let her other kitten alone with Maggotblood, which she had to considering the state she was still in, but Ice did his best to calm her nerves. He had been a tad nervous himself, though for other reasons. the next day, he'd find out what path his son would take in his life. to appease Larch, Ice asked if Maggotblood could take a warrior escort with the two of them to the Moon's Deep. that escort, Larch decided, would be Hawthorn's brother Toad, who could defend the patrol from any danger (putting emphasis on it which led maggotblood to believe Larch saw her as a danger as well). the past time had been rough on the whole clan, Maggotblood especially, for reasons you can imagine. she couldn't bring herself to look forward to the Half Moon night ahead of her, the thing she had always looked forward to as an apprentice, because she got to be with her friends. too much had happened. at the very least, Toad was doing his duty without antagonizing her, though she could tell he grew uncomfortable in her presence. well, she thought, at least the little kit was nice to her. just before sunset, the three of them got going and soon arrived at the end of the sandy paths and at the Moon's Deep where nests in the pit had already been in the process of being set up.

not an unusual sight, but Toad commented on the sheer size of the carpets of moss down in the pit. a she-cat arrived at the scene, respectfully bowing her head to the patrol. as neither of the two other adults recognized her, she introduced her as Flower of WindClan (which the latter they could guess from her scent already), here to accompany Lakerunner, as well as a queen here with her four kits. Maggotblood's ears perkeed up at the mention of her friend's name. after Flower voiced her condolences to the patrol, for the news of their loss had reached WindClan too, her and Toad continued setting up the nests and settling in Larch's son, as well as the queen who soon arrived with another escort. the escort would leave again, and the queen introduced herself to Toad as Nightingale, and her four kits wind up befriending Larch's son. they share insight with each other, about beliefs and superstitions of their respective cultures. larch is especially fascinated to learn that the WindClan kittens will get to pick their names after this ceremony, and the four of them are equally astounded that the ShadowClan cats can only name themselves at 6 moons of age.

meanwhile Maggotblood had set off into the surrounding nature, soon running into Lakerunner, who had looked for more nesting material. Lakerunner too had heard the news of Giantcloud's death, saddened too, as the two of them had known each other for as long as he was an apprentice too. Maggotblood broke down at the scene, confided into Lakerunner all her feelings, and all that had happened, and Lakerunner provided her with much needed reassurance and a grounded perspective of the events that had occured. after calming down a bit, after having talked through the Larch incident, the death of Giantcloud and this incredible loss, Maggotblood talked a lot about needing to find out the truth. and while Lakerunner, at first, seemed concerned, he couldn't help but promise to support her through this journey. Her suspicion that it was a ThunderClan warrior, or even a whole ThunderClan plot seemed outrageous, and that ultimately piqued his interest. after all, once Maggotblood presented him with the details, he too wanted to find out if it really was a murder or not, because somebody like Giantcloud, who had no enemies beside disease, seems like the most unlikely target.

For now though, the two of them went back to the Moon's Deep and slept through the night. Maggotblood, for the first time in moons, feeling warm, sleeping beside her friend. Larch's son would not be the next medicine cat, it turned out. though, one of Nightingale's kittens showed a potential Lakerunner would first have to go back to camp to report to both Nightingale in private, as well as his elderly mentor Ashflight. now, with this half moon over, the next thing on the agenda would be the Gathering on the full moon.

oh my god. over twice as long as the first post and still not nearly done. i already figured id have to 3-part this but it might even be a 4-parter. sowwy!!

[limescars]

👴 : nightstar

❓️ : i fucking love Myler!!!!!

📖 : I'm not sure if I have a top favorite but maybe the one where Scourge kills the rogue in rise of scourge...its visceral and i love how it illustrates his change in character

👶 : in 2nd grade i saw another kid with into the wild and i was like. hm. i will look into that. and then i was hooked

💢 : bluestar naming brightheart lostface

💧 : literally i cant even count i sometimes cry just thinking about it bruh

💋 : i dont hate em but idk, a lot of canon couples im meh on, esp lionblaze and cinderheart

🐾 : not exactly, but i like to come up with warriors names for my cats for fun. like my cats warriors names would be stinkyfur and shrimppaw/prawnpaw (havent decided)

1️⃣ : probably?

👑 : duh!!!!

🗺 : oh lord who knows? lmao ive been watching em for years and years...i remember golden age of warriors being pretty early for me

🖼 : again idk what the first was but i watched scourge -radioactive, bluestar - skyfall, longtail - why did you change?, and ashfur - mr brightside a LOT

🖌 : first i can remember is like...5th grade but im sure i had ones before then

📝 : i could write an essay.

💔 : oh my god no?? are yall ok? :(

🌈 : i do think scourges collar is purple and i see dovewings eyes as green with some blue tinting. im sure theres more opinions i hold that i cant think of rn

🆕️ : yes and no. im still on the broken code

📱 : yeah for at least a year lmaoo

🏠 : im sure they know at least a bit...they def recognize the books and some character names

🎶 : pls theres so many i dont wanna be here all day! i have so many warriors mvs in my head

🎥 : not sure i have one! maybe bright guardian akira?

❎️ : i was literally thinking of a left4dead warriors crossover the other day

🗳 : not currently but i think brackenfur wouldve been a good leader

🌟 : starclan i hope

🤔 : i really really really need to know about the ancients, the mountain cats before they came to the lake, and the origins of rock

😱 : maybe...a handful

☯️ : ashfur/a lot of characters tbh, crowfeather/leafpool, mapleshade/various characters, yellowfang/brokenstar, tigerstar 1/many characters, etc

�� : icecloud lowkey...like i recognized her name but couldnt remember her lmao. also theres too many cats in thunderclan rn like i cant keep up with whos who theres way too many forgettable cats

fuck it. warriors ask game except the questions are all weird and niche as hell

👴 : fav elder?

❓️ : fav total background character (im not talking minor characters like say. whitewing or moonlight, i mean cats with like...3 lines tops)

📖 : fav comic page from any of the mangas and why

👶 : how old were you when you first touched a warriors book? howd it happen

💢 : what scene made you the most irrationally angry upon first reading

💧 : how many times have you cried over this wretched book series? any favorite memories

💋 : is there any ships out there you absolutely hate for genuinely no good reason at all. like its not problematic in the slightest, if anything it's one of the better ones, you jusr cannot bring yourself to enjoy it

🐾 : have you ever named a cat after a warriors character OR given a cat a warriors styled name? if so, tell us the story

1️⃣ : was warriors your first animal based fantasy series? if not, what series was?

👑 : when roleplaying (if you ever have roleplayed warrior cats), did you used to power play? be honest.

🗺 : first map you ever watched?

🖼 : first amv/pmv you ever watched?

🖌 : when did you make your first warriors oc? (if you say you've never had OCs, i dont believe you)

📝 : if commanded to, without warning, approximately how many paragraphs could you write about your favorite warrior cat before you ran out of things to say

💔 : have you ever lost friends over warriors related topics?

🌈 : what's the most 2010s wcforum era esque fandom opinion you still hold onto and will fight people over (things like scourges collar color, dovewings eye color, etc)

🆕️ : are you still up to date / reading the new books? if not, when did you stop?

📱 : were you ever on warriors amino? (if you were, i'm terribly sorry)

🏠 : about how much do your family know about warrior cats, if anything?

🎶 : give me a song you're surprised you haven't seen turned into a warriors pmv yet - and what character(s) you imagine it to

🎥 : fav warriors related youtuber?

❎️ : what's the weirdest crossover au involving warrior cats that you've made? (if you haven't made any, then what's the weirdest one you've seen?)

🗳 : if you could make any cat leader of any clan right now, who would you pick?

🌟 : would you hypothetically go to starclan or the dark forest?

🤔 : what's the biggest series plothole that's bugged you?

😱 : how many people have you blocked over innocuous, not at all important warriors related takes?

☯️ : what dynamic between two cats has got you up at night pacing for hours? (romantic, platonic, familial, etc)

🌫 : what's a cat you genuinely forgot existed until recently?

[bonefall]

I was never able to really get a feel for Leafpool's personality in the books, especially since she's always contrasted with Squirrelflight who has a pretty consistent personality (at least for Warriors standards). She's kind of like Hollyleaf where they change her personality depending on what they want to happen in the plot I think. How do you approach writing her? I'm really fond of your Spottedleaf, so I was wonder if Leafpool has any fun quirks like her.

[ID: Leafpool from Warrior Cats. She is chunky, has a mane, and green eyes. Her stripes are horizontal.]

I approach Leafpool as being VERY tired. Her life is characterized as never really being in control of her own fate, being punished for any simple pleasures she takes tenfold, so I write her as becoming very defeatist. Poor girl.

Because Leafpool is never in REAL control, somehow, it gives her this air that she's in total control. You can't scare her. StarClan can tell her that her kids are cursed, Hollyleaf can tell her to kill herself, Bramblestar can jump in front of her and snarl, she's never more than briefly phased. "Yeah sure this may as well happen."

In a way, she's almost the total opposite of Jayfeather, who never met a rule he wasn't willing to punch. It is interesting that each one of the Three has a unique relationship to the fate that chains up Leafpool.

Allows herself to love Mothpaw... war breaks out and Moth has to return to RiverClan.

Tries to warn Squilf about Brambleclaw in spite of StarClan wanting them to be together, first fight with her sister ever.

Runs off with Crowfeather, returns home to find out her mentor died before she could say goodbye.

Gives birth, allows Squilf to take them, eventually gets threatened by Hollyleaf.

(side note: i am considering leafpool's name being an honor title, with her old name being Leafstripe, and Squirrelpaw failing two assessments just like Nightheart)

But a big change in my rewrite is that the dramatic scenes that aren't consistent with that resigned sorrow go to Crowfeather. He's a complete and utter ham. Leafpool isn't out here trying to name Hollykit 'Crowkit' or confessing her unwavering love for him in front of his wife and child, THAT is Crowfeather making an ass of HIMSELF in front of that wife and child lmao.

Leaf's feelings are more complicated and repressed. Hard life.

On the bright side though, there ARE changes from canon so that the Clan has more nuanced feelings about her instead of her whole life being a nonstop beatdown.

Most of ThunderClan, which heavily leans Fire Alone, agrees that Leafpool did the right thing by giving her kits to Squilf to invoke the Queen's Rights. Sure she lapsed, but Fire Alone cats are softer on the Cleric's Vow in general.

Bramblestar demoting her in Cruel Season has a VERY mixed reception. It's Leafpool!! Leafpool Moonpool!!!

Her death many years later in the Sister Raid actually tanks Bramblestar's reputation. It was seen as cruel, pointless, and avoidable, and they lost a very popular and experienced Cleric.

(side note again: still considering how the 'unclear sign' plot beat is going to go in my rewrite, because i cannot imagine jayfeather not just lying about that. "yeah yeah yeah they said yes bramblestar, im supposed to heal this cat obviously. move.")

Misc Design Stuff:

She's got a mane that you can see on Dovewing too, since Dove is Leaf's grandchild now.

Like Sandstorm, uncle Longtail, and grandpaw Runningwind, Leafpool's stripes are horizontal.

I'm still doing research into what she has specifically, but Bonefall Leafpool is intersex. Those are stud jowls.

Considering the cat version of PCOS because it explains a lot; weight gain, a receding hairline that could be shared with Lionblaze, the jowls as a facial hair parallel, difficult pregnancy, etc.

Still doing my research though.

And lastly, Mothpool is endgame in this Rewrite. They can never be together officially, but it's about the yearning. It's about finding freedom with your escapist fantasy partner or being in shackles with your true love. She chose the CHAINS.

[mineashthetrash]

LONG ASS POST ABOUT CHAPLAIN ANGELS AU

Been a long time since i posted any physical/traditional art, and that's for a reason- my cameras suck! But i was doing some sketches and planning for chpa and don't have it digitally rendered, so.

I use metallic pens when i sketch, as its both pretty and helps the eyes and details to stand out, helps me remember where they are and recognize them. This sometimes fucks with the camera though, so im sorry but a lot of the colors are either muted or fucked up in other ways. These sketches are about chpa, so i kinda have to fully explain it now. Sorry.

my chpa au shuffles the events of po3 back into OOTS, due to the three all being born in the same litter (or the five, i guess?) It also revamps Starclan into a more, spooky cosmic afterlife inspired by the 'biblically accurate' trend a while back. chpa stands for Chaplain Angels, since the medicine cats still act as a 'chaplain' spiritual guide and connection to 'god' (Starclan), but also take on the appearance of Angels and are direct connections, as opposed to indirect. That is, they take on part of the powers of Starclan, instead of just ferrying vague messages.

This shuffle is actually caused by this, as medicine cats cannot have kits once they're full medicine cats (as in, biologically impossible. there is nothing there). Their body mutates slightly due to the influence of starclan and the direct unfiltered connection to their powers, and its less of a 'vow of celebacy' and more of a 'your body's change makes it impossible'. Lots of medicine cats have kits, but leafpool is the hardest to get around because she wasn't a warrior, or it was before she got her full name, or it wasn't a thing yet (like mothflight). So she cannot give birth to the Three, hence the shuffle.

ALL THIS TO SAY. a lot of shit gets shuffled and changed. Sol actually goes to Windclan, since the three weren't there in thunderclan to influence, and he had no reason to be walking on the Shadowclan border in that moment. Instead, he finds a grieving windclan lead by an irrational leader, and takes advantage of that. Why are they grieving?? FINALLY time for what this piece is actually about!! THISTLEKIT!!! WOO. Dark river happens before the three are born, but they don't really do much in the first few books, so most of its the same. Graystripe and Millie come back, Heatherpaw finds the tunnels still, Thistlekit and their siblings still go into the tunnels and get lost. Except this time, there's no Jaypaw to be guided by Fallenleaves, no five cats to carry them safely through the lake. It takes Heather and Breeze a lot longer to find them, and by that time, Thistlekit is already half dead. Jaypaw isn't there to warm them up and keep them alive until they get home. And even though Rock briefly shows up to make sure they don't die (spirit to spirit connection to Thistlekit, they find the strength to say a few words to Heatherpaw due to her body heat warming them up just enough), the cold of the river quickly kills them for good. Even if they did survive the cold, Breeze and Heather can only grab two of the three by their scruff. Heather tries to keep Thistlekit with her, but they get swept away, washing up to shore later.

All this to say, i killed Beechfur without really looking, considering he shows up for 2 seconds, and made him the spirit guide to Thistlekit. Starclan cats have a spectrum of forms, from the cat form they take to interact with the living, to the incomprehensible form that makes no sense. Their cat form, or 'comprehensible' form, is still a bit weird, but its mostly a cat. Beechfur is weird, because his fur doesn't really look like the grayish bark of a beech. So i gave him eyes the color of beech leaves in LeafFall, which is a beautiful reddish orange. It doesn't show up well in the photos, but i used a pale vermillion mixed with sunny yellow. Then his spirit form was pretty simple, i gave him textured fur (like a rug with patterns shaved into it) like a tree, and some leave accents on his tail and ears, plus a few scattered around his fur.

I also jotted down a few notes about how the afterlife works. Kits in chpa's starclan take the idea of the kits not ageing and uh. changes it. They still age mentally, but instead of always being baby for no reason, they just dont shift forms a lot. They almost always look the same as when they were alive. As much as kits being forever kittens unsettles me, the idea of aging in heaven ALSO unsettles me, so instead the spirits are ageless beings and kittens just. Prefer being a baby. They do mimic the adults by collecting cute and shiny things they like that reflect them, and using them to change their appearance. Thistlekit has a necklace of thistles, which never die or dry out. Intentionally similar to the dried thistle necklace i gave to Heathertail, who lives with the guilt of them dying.

Text: Beechfur observable form - Textured fur, like a shaved rug. Tail & ears are beech leaflets? (the bunches of leaves on a tree; i dont know the term for them)

Text: (arrow pointing from thistlekit (bottom left) to gorsetail (top left)), "same, but paler." Note next to beechfur (top right), "eyes the color of fall beech". (Arrow pointing from sedgewhisker (bottom right) to beechfur), "more muted"

[moodbroads]

IM RE-READING SOME OF THE WARRIOR GRAPHIC NOVELS I HAVE AND THERES SO MUCH DETAIL THAT NOBODY PUTS IN LIKE GAMES AND RPS????

LIKE RIVERCLAN WEAVES REEDS AS DENS- THATS SO SMART!!! also u can see them with some sorta colorful thing, im not sure if its shells or seaglass as windows but its pretty XD in winds of change- the moonpool has like places the starclan cats can sit on like the concil they are and a tiny waterfall that i think is so cool :D in graystripes adventure-husker has like a fookin bowlcut and i just think thats kinda goofy so ig cats have wigs = confirmed XD AND RIGHT BEFORE THE PAGE TO WARRIORS RETURN MY SORTA AU IS ACTUALLY CONFIRMED!! THUNDERCLAN LIVED IN A BLOCKED OFF SECTION OF THE GORGE AND NOT JUST A RANDOM HOLE!! (not sure if its actually the big gorge but HEYY ITS CLOSE ENOUGH) the yellow-striped cat (i forgot his name xd) in ravenpaws path has a lazy eye! also its seen in barleys dream/memory that hoot and jumper are the ones who attacked violet!

bonus things for those books too! graystipe asks barley and ravenpaw for directions when he passed them so ravenpaw is prob still there to this day! its confirmed that they can de-root and move bushes to where they like! one of mintys and willies kits is named sniff which i love AND IN THE SAME BOOK- MITZ'S SON IS NAMED FRITZ! :')

anyways i only have like a small amount of the manga books (ravenpaws path, skyclan and the stranger, a shadow in riverclan and graystipes adventure) so if theres any other stuff plz tell me,id love to know :D

[fabricnotice]

Ik I said I was gonna restart the series but decided to read Goosefeather's book for fun and like what medicine cats are supposed to know in relation to typical warrior training is so damn confusing. Just from memory medicine cats only know how to look for herbs / communicate w/ Starclan in the first series, I think at some point it's mentioned that Shadowclan teaches their medicine cats how to fight to fit their edgy look. Then we get more scenes of medicine cats sometimes hunting and that absolutely shocking some warriors, esp when it comes to Leafpaw when we see her hunt a bit. When Leafpool is demoted from medicine cat and made a warrior it's noted that she's weaker bc she had to learn how to properly hunt and fight.

So most of the series it feels like medicine cats went from just not having any kind of warrior cat training to at least having basic hunting skills but in Goosefeather's book w/ the badger scene I don't understand why Moonpaw is so angry at Goosefeather for not being able to defend himself. Medicine cats aren't supposed to have any warrior skills, even basic fighting ones I can't remember any medicine cat who wasn't a warrior first ever being noted to be a good fighter. What is the point in bringing it up at all it's such a weak point to make " Goosefeather how dare you not have the knowledge or skills that don't match to the role yr in yr a burden on us all "

[official-hawknose]

Somewhere only we know

[thewisestdino]

BiblicallyAccurate!Warriors AU Info

Heres a basic write of the concept behind the AU, besides the whole aesthetic. 

Basically the cats with powers get the angel wings (I am not sure if this extends to like, Yellowfang or Goosefeather, so for now im just going to stick to the main PO3). When Jay and Lion are born they do not have wings, but they slowly grow in alongside the eyes that watch over them and the halo that slowly materializes around them. By the time they are warriors they have all their wings, and like an energy that sits around them. I like to think that the halos look kinda like migraine auras that surround them, and can be sensed by cats around them even if they cant always be seen. (Kinda like this)

The clans in this AU know that there are three fated and powerful cats that should be emerging soon, but they are not sure what that means. At first thunderclan tries to keep Jay and Lion separate so no one knows. This isolates them like crazy, but the news slowly gets out. (I think it would be cool if like Heathertail has something to do with this.) The information about the God like creatures living in Thunderclans camp spreads and becomes somewhat legendary. Everyone is aware of their powers, Lion's super strength and Jay's mind reading abilities. The other clans fear thunderclan for this. While Thunderclan is glad they landed with the powerful cats they also don't know how to treat them. They continue to be isolated in the clan because their clanmates don't know how to treat them/act around them.

Meanwhile, Hollyleaf has not grown her wings, (It was assumed they would just come in later, because Lionblaze's wings grew in before Jayfeathers). In some ways this is good, because Hollyleaf is not isolated to the extent her brothers are. But she is separated from her brothers as much as possible, and has no idea how to be there for her clan with no powers. She is devastated when her wings never grow in, and it helps push her over the edge when it comes to the whole Ashfur Squirrelflight debockle.

Most other things happen the same, Hollyleaf does the big reveal at the gathering everything, and she goes into the tunnels. I think this drives Breezepelt over the edge as well because his father is also Crowfeather BUT he was not granted powers.

Okay like a year after Hollyleaf disappears Dovewing is born, and she is just like a normal cat. But, when Dovepaw goes on the journey to the beaver dam, her powers start emerge and all the clans suddenly know. When she heads back life is different, and she is isolated in the way that Lion and Jay were isolated. It pushes Ivypool away, and suddenly the expectations on her are huge.

Everything else pretty much goes the same. During the Great battle when Firestar is revealed to be the fourth cat, his wings and eyes and everything suddenly appears all at once. (Thanks to the ask sent to me for the idea) After the battle is over however, Lion, Jay and Dove loose their wings, eyes and halos immediately, as well as their powers. They have to adjust to life not being seen as different, and also life without powers. It is a very difficult transition.