#Silentkit

[maplewood126]

Silentstrike

She looks a bit strange... but im not gonna draw her again.

Smokestars mate! She is the brother of Graniteclaw and is with the rebellion. She and smokestar had always shared feelings for one another since they were apprentices, so no one was really surprised when they became offical mates a few moons after Brackenstars death. She wasn't very happy with smokestar siding with Brackenstar but she understood his reasoning. She, contrary to the name, is a talkative she-cat. As a kit she was more on the quiet side. She is a great hunter, knowing how to silently approach prey and strike them before they know whats coming.

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

The roughdrafts of the monokits, please ignore why Silentkit looks like that they've always been a little...off compared to their siblings, especially after Rockkit nicked their ear. Also f to Beekit that yellow cats arent really...a thing...and i barely cheated in green by making it super dark, so Beekit just had to have Vulturetalon's eyes instead of his mother Bearheart's or father Salmonstar's eyes. This is likely right before they were all separated, all wondering where their mother is, not knowing she was killed on accident after her treason was uncovered.

[eeveearoace]

Meow ^^

wuh- HUH??? SILENTKIT????? SILENTKIT REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lightclangen]

Silentkit was born to his dad, who was extremely sick and died only about a moon after Silent was born, and his other parent was unknown. His sister caught the same sickness their father had and passed only about 2 weeks after she was born. His peers bullied him for this, treating him as though he was the disease in the flesh, and though his clanmates pitied him, they weren't sure how to connect with the kit. He remembers the first night that he met the other founders of the light, and was shocked at the warmth that and fondness he had felt towards them. Though he wanted desperately to show LakeClan how he could be of worth, he also wanted to follow his heart. He could start over - create a new family. He swears to keep them safe.

[clangenhead]

man i wonder why, SILENTkit. it sure is a mystery

[thecreatureinthewoods]

allegiences

Thunderclan

Leader:

Lynxstar- pale gray she-cat with amber eyes

Apprentice, Opalpaw

Deputy:

Acaciaheart- dark brown tom

Medicine cat:

Finchflower- light brown she-cat

Warriors:

Lavenderstorm- dark gray tom

Shrewtail- dark brown tom

Apprentice, Hailpaw

Spottedtail- white she-cat with a dappled tail

Mousecatcher- white tom

Apprentice, Foxpaw

Queens:

Otterchaser- dark brown she-cat

Braveheart- black she-cat

Elders:

Littlelily- white she-cat

Runningcloud- white tom

Mintclaw- gray tom

Jasmineheart- black she-cat

Apprentices:

Opalpaw- pale orange she-cat

Hailpaw- white tom

Foxpaw- orange and white she-cat

Kits:

Snowkit- white and black she-cat

Yarrowkit- black tom

Glowkit- light brown tom

Windclan-

Leader:

Moonstar- dark gray tom

Deputy:

Willowheart- light brown she-cat

Medicine cat:

Longpelt- white tom

Apprentice, Hopepaw

Warriors:

Ratclaw- black tom

Paleshade- very pale brown she-cat

Apprentice, Sparrowpaw

Fernflower- dark brown she-cat

Icepelt- blue gray tom

Apprentice, Sunpaw

Queens:

Silvereyes- white she-cat with gray eyes

Shadetail- black she-cat

Elders:

Moorcloud- dark gray tom

Daffodilheart- pale yellow she-cat

Toadchaser- black tom

Apprentices:

Hopepaw- pale yellow she-cat

Sparrowpaw- light brown she-cat

Sunpaw- golden tom

Kits:

Tallkit- black and white Tom

Mistkit- black and white she-cat

Oddkit- black tom

Leafkit- white she-cat

Riverclan-

Leader:

Crowstar- pale gray tom

Apprentice, Quailpaw

Deputy:

Irisheart- black she-cat

Medicine cat:

Tawnyspots- tortoiseshell she-cat

Warriors:

Houndchaser- white she-cat

Apprentice, Adderpaw

Cobrabite- black tom

Sandrunner- pale yellow tom

Apprentice, Darkpaw

Heatherpool- dark brown she-cat

Queens:

Fireflower- orange she-cat

Brightpath- white she-cat

Doecatcher- light brown she-cat

Elders:

Rowanscar- dark brown scarred she-cat

Frogtail- black tom

Moonstripe- gray tabby she-cat

Apprentices:

Quailpaw- thin gray tom

Adderpaw- white she-cat

Darkpaw- black tom

Kits:

Songkit- light brown she-cat

Toadkit- light brown tom

Whitekit- white she-cat

Shadowclan-

Leader: 

Sorrelstar- light brown she-cat

Deputy:

Foxchaser- orange tom

Medicine cat:

Sparrowcall

Apprentice, Robinpaw

Warriors:

Pipitcatcher- lean black tom

Jasmineflower- white she-cat

Apprentice, Asterpaw

Whitetalon- white tom

Mistletoeheart- blue-gray tom

Apprentice, Pansypaw

The mysterious clans:

Elmclan-

Leader:

Shadestar- black non-binary cat

Deputy:

Oddpool- white she-cat

Medicine cat:

Sheepfur- white fluffy tom

Warriors:

Dreamrunner- black she-cat

Apprentice, Foxglovepaw

Embertail- orange she-cat

Queens:

Rabbitleap- trans cream colored tom

Songflower- black she-cat

Elders:

Browntail- dark brown she-cat

Monarchchaser- orange she-cat

Blackpelt- black tom

Kits:

Silentkit- mute white tom

Moonkit- white tom

Solacekit- gray she-cat

Puffinkit- black and white Tom

Apprentices:

Foxglovepaw- black tom

Batclan-

Leader-

Finchstar- ginger tom

Deputy-

Heatherheart- dark brown she-cat

Medicine cat:

Quietcall- white tom

Apprentice, Mintpaw

Warriors:

Thornheart- black tom

Hornetclaw- black and white Tom

Apprentice, Willowpaw

Glowflower- white she-cat

Cobracatcher- brown she-cat

Apprentice, Fireflypaw

Queens:

Fallingsong- pale blue-gray she-cat

Tawnytail- brown patchy she-cat

Apprentices:

Mintpaw- black tom

Willowpaw- white she-cat with brown patches

Fireflypaw- ginger she-cat

Kits:

Mudkit- brown tom

Moorkit- brown she-cat

Elders:

Runningheart- black tom

Quillclaw- black she-cat

Raccoonclan-

Leader-

Ravenstar- black tom

Deputy-

Redface- white tom with a reddish brown face

Medicine cat-

Sorrelsnow- white she-cat

Warriors:

Fernmask- reserved brown she-cat

Apprentice, Troutpaw

Berrycreek- white tom

Nightrunner- black she-cat

Apprentice, Vulturepaw

Smallfern- light brown striped tom

Queens:

Sandfur- pale yellow tom

Elders:

Gooseclaw- black tom

Feathercreek- white she-cat

Leopardpetal- white she-cat

Apprentices:

Troutpaw- gray tom

Vulturepaw- black tom

Kits:

Squidkit- black tom

Twilightkit- black she-cat

Dragonflyclan-

Leader- 

Goosestar- white tom

Deputy-

Inkpelt- black non-binary cat

Medicine cat-

Swiftcloud- white she-cat

Warriors-

Bluestorm- blue-gray tom

Ravenfrost- pale gray she-cat

Hornetcatcher- pale yellow tom

Apprentice, Ashpaw

Daffodilheart- golden tom

Queens:

Tigerflower- light brown she-cat

Peppermintheart- gray she-cat

Elders:

Mistletoeclaw- black tom

Fogtail- white she-cat

Owlfur- dark brown tom

Apprentices:

Ashpaw- dark brown tom

Kits:

Lavenderkit- dark brown she-cat

Cadencekit- dark brown she-cat

Cats outside the clans-

Athena- a sweet calicokittypet who has begun to have strange dreams 

Yarrow- born a clan kit but exiled at a young age due to their parents breaking the warrior code repeatedly, he resents the clan cats.

Twig- a small dark brown kit who hangs out with the barn cats

Hades- blue-gray tom with no respect for others

[floodclanblog]

Moons 10-12

Moon Ten-

-A kittypet mother has given her kit to the clan. The kit has been named silentkit.

-Hornetpaw's broken bone has finally healed and Chestnutstar has decided it's time he's made a warrior. He has been given the name Hornetpelt now in honor of his unbreakable will.

-In addition, Crowpaw and Torrentpaw have also been made warriors and are now named Crowtide and Torrentthunder.

-On a patrol Chestnutstar, Cinnamonsmoke, and the newly made warrior Torrentthunder came across and abandoned kit who has now been named Starlingkit

Holy fuck why is he so pretty omg

STOPP the fact that they both have the white spots, ginger fur, and pale yellow eyes what if they're brothers

Moon Eleven-

-Wrenpaw no longer has whitecough and can now return to apprentice training! yippe!

-A patrol of Chestnutstar, Downypaw, Wrenpaw, and Troutbud came across a cat being chased by a dog on the border. The patrol lead the dog away while Downypaw made sure the cat was okay. The cat felt compelled to join the clan after being saved and has been named Bitteriris.

-Hornetpelt and Tumblefreckle are now mates! <3

Moon Twelve-

-UHM Rabbitthorn is blind in one eye now??? God I feel so bad for him hes literally partially deaf and partially blind now.

-Wrenpaw has finally been made a warrior and is now named Wrenleaf, and Downypaw has also been made a warrior and is now named Downyback.

Rabbitthorn :(

[leafpool-loves-ashfur]

s'pose i should add the allegs now lol

Moon 339

Leader: Stoatstar Deputy: Stumpynudge Medicine Cats: Aspenpelt, Sharkback, Quillspider Mediators: Hailstripe, Reedskitter, Breezefoam Elders: Mumblefur, Tadpoledapple

Cat Facts

Aspenpelt and Sharkback are mates, and Lemonpaw is their only surviving kit! Lemonpaw was also the only cat "shocked" by the mass deaths, for some reason.

Queeniedance and Catleaf are the newest non-clanborn members. Catleaf and Minkfur are mates. Working on getting Queeniedance a mate and/or kits so he can be added to the family tree (its a rule I have that outsiders must join the family tree so they're not forgotten [by me])

Lavendershade is the only other non-clanborn member (not counting "abandoned" kits). He was mates with Duskspots (dead), and only 1 of their 8 kits are still alive---Daisyspeck, their eldest. Their entire second litter died as kits from different causes.

Icespot (and by extension, her kits/grandkits) is related to every current or former FretClan leader except for the founder, Skipstar.

Minkfur has vitiligo.

Duskblink is the only queen left in the nursery. Both her kits, Thistlekit and Branchkit, are alive, but she also now takes care of Cosmospelt and Seaspeck (both dead)'s remaining kits; Moonkit, Silentkit, Minkkit, and Hazelkit.

Additionally, Duskblink's mate was Squidcatcher BUT she and Furledbracken had a very, very high love for each other. I had been hoping for poly or drama, but... Squidcatcher's dead now, so I'm imaging it'll be a relationship that forms through grieving/comforting.

FINALLY!!!! DEATH!!!!

only undoing Stumpynudge's death because Plot Reasons

lotsa family lines and cool names died with this one BUT im just glad to slim down from 5 pages of cats lol (Cosmos and Sea literally had 5 kits last moon, now they're dead, and so are 1 of their kits... the poor remaining 4 yikes)

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

RIP to them 😔

also, i know Wolfpetal is Silentpaw's mentor but i long for Brownstar being the dad who stepped up for him OTL

(this is like Firestar n Brambleclaw but hopefully better)

Brownstar gave him to Wolfpetal(Sakura) because he thought she'd be the best influence for him but he was SUCH a den dad for Silentkit, luckily Rosesmoke(Hiroko) had experience as a queen as the mom of Fidgetwhistle and was willing to leave the elder's den temporarily to help take care of Silentkit which helped a lot

[wcstarless]

Capeclaw's girlfriend/mate/murder wife. Who got a name change!!! Her dark forest form is a bit frightening. Those are her ribs sticking through her chest. She died via a fall off a cliff and apparently smacking the ground rearranges your bones so Idk thought that would make for a cool design.  Anyway Silentblaze is called such because when she was a kit a head injury caused her to fall mute. Her mother, wanting the whole clan to suffer because she thought they let her only kit get injured, decided to change the kit's name to Silentkit.  idk I think she looks cool lol x x x x x x x x x x Like my work? Subscribe to my Patreon and get WIP drawings, pencil sketches and sneak peaks at the comic! CLICK HERE FOR PATREON Can't do Patreon? Consider a commission!  ETSY SHOP BUY ME A COFFEE

[swanbelly]

i used to redraw a scene of my oc spottedpelt dying each year but i haven’t in a really long time and bec dared me to

i just kind of shitted on the background and went “okay i’m done”

old ones in order under the cut please do not look or perceive

[windsclan]

Hollyleaf and Fallen Leaves for the hypo kits?

Tunnelkit, Fallenkit, and Silentkit

hollyleaf comes back from her self-imposed exile with three strangely unsettling kits. they all have ghost-related powers since their other parent is literally dead lol.

send me a wc ship and i’ll draw their kits!

[wcspingfieldclansimpsons]

I know her name went from Troutblaze to Silentblaze but in universe is the story she went from Troutkit to Silentkit because she went mute or did I misunderstood?

That's the Starlessverse story, the Simpsons one her mother just found her creepy and named her Silentkit.

The Simpsonsverse is just funny versions of the Starlessverse lol

[mallowstep]

the nature of folklore

today, i want to talk about the nature of folklore.

we're not divorced from it in the modern day by any means: the nature of folklore is that it is always there.

after all, how many times have you heard that if your roommate dies, you get an a? or listened eagerly to someone's tale of an impossible encounter with an impossible stranger?

folklore is omnipresent. it is woven into us.

that said, we don't have a ton of folklore via stories, oral history, and songs anymore. if i could singlehandedly change that, i would. i grew up telling stories, keeping the history of my family in vignettes i taught to my brother, making up comforting fables for my younger cousins when they couldn't sleep.

my mother sang me lullabies, amazing grace, you are my sunshine, tula tula, melodies i can no longer name but would recognize in a heartbeat.

i went to a summer camp where you were never too old for a bedtime story, where the greatest reward, even for a pack of sixteen year olds, desperately vieing for independence, was to hear another story. i can still tell you the story of the invisible prince, of how such and such and so and so met and married, recount the little prince or hatchet or my side of the mountain in impeccable detail.

unfortunately, i am but one voice, and i don't think i really want to change us back. let culture progress, it is the way of the world.

but i have so many stories for cats. trust me, i have about 20 drafts sitting of stories for these murder cats. but i want to take a moment to talk about how folklore works, what it does, and why it's important.

[3.7k words. 20 minute read. section headers, minimal formatting changes.]

oral history: a written explanation

i'm feeling a bit punny.

anyway, i'm not qualified to talk about oral history. what i am qualfied to do is talk about the broadest sense of it.

oral history is not an accurate way of keeping records. stories change, people forget things, the tales become exaggerated and tweaked.

but...it's not the worst way. it's a real, sincere, history.

for example, in my full moon, it's unlikely that one individual really mastermined this plan. especially not the same individual who sorted out some other important part of skyclan business, which in it of itself is a tall-tale.

realistically, the clans realized they had an error, decided on when they would meet, and just went with it.

but briarleap is one of skyclan's heroes. she's not the only one: rushfoot and dovestar are also important heroes. she fills a particular type of archetype: she's the young hero, who sees the world more clearly than those around her and comes up with a solution.

so it makes sense to assign her to the problems which are clever and had no obvious solution. she's not really a trickster archetype, but she is clever, young, and has no real power within the clan.

in other words, she's a ya novel protagonist.

likewise, the yet-unwritten story of briarleap and swallowpaw definitely didn't happen as it's told. that's just a nice box to put it in, a nice cover for an important lesson: mark unstable branches.

all the clans probably have a similar version of briarleap's story. i can't tell you for sure who the equivalent is, because i don't know, but it's worth remembering that almost none of these cats existed.

i think riverclan's will be a cat named briarstream.

you see what i mean, they're both named briar- because briarleap belongs to no cat. they just have a suffix that corresponds with common clan names.

now, i can't speak for anyone else, but in come back to you one by one, by solacefruit, there's a cautionary tale about catching koi. we get this line:

The koi were left alone because the tall folk loved them. That was the truth of the story. The real truth, not Linnetleaf’s version.

that confirms it, the story is a warning that's been polished into something kinder and more forgiving. (i highly recommend come back to you one by one btw.)

that's how oral history works.

it's not good for having a factual understanding of historical events, but...that's not really the point.

shared stories

another thing is, a lot of clans share the same stories.

i already talked about briarleap/stream/??? for the other clans, but it's more than just that.

every clan is going to claim that they have the right, correct story, that the other clans don't tell it well, etc., but with the exception of clan specific stories, that's not generally true.

okay this is hard to explain bc i'm still drafting/editing a lot of what i'm talking about right now and full moon is kind of a boring story for this. so i'm going to use the story of the long night, because that's the closest to finished and most likely to have been published by the time i finish this.

cw: the long night is a story that involves infanticide and cannibalism. i'm not graphic about it, but it's featured very heavily. we move into discussion at "STORY COMPLETE," and i move on entirely at "SAFE"

okay, so to summarize very briefly, the long night is a story about the seasons and about queen madness. it's one piece of clan creation mythos.

basically, before there were seasons, the night and day just took turns. during the night, everyone slept, but during the day, everything woke. one night, the night doesn't end. i'm telling the thunderclan version, because that's the version i'm working on, but this is a tale from before there were clans, so while every clan says their version is universal, it's definitely not.

there's a queen, slateflower, who has six kits (pigeonkit, harekit, fallowkit, dewkit, ripplekit, and muddykit), who are very young. her mate, silvershadow, has been hunting for her, because there was no clan to provide.

he's able to catch a small amount of prey, but as the night goes on, slateflower just doesn't have enough milk. she knows her kits are going to starve, so she picks the weakest one, kills it, and eats it. when silvershadow returns and asks what happens, she says that muddykit died and she buried her. this repeats itself until only pigeonkit and harekit are left.

silvershadow fails to catch anything, so he comes back, and sees slateflower try to decide who's weaker. he realizes what's happening, takes harekit from slateflower so she doesn't have to decide, and brings the kit into a clearing. he begs the moon to end the night so he can feed his family again.

it takes him a couple times, and he also is searching for another nursing queen. he finds a queen named flamepuddle, who also had a litter of six kits (silentkit, webkit, wildkit, dustykit, beetlekit, and talonkit), as well as taking in the kits of her sister, echofur, (heatherkit, redkit, goldkit, leafkit, cricketkit, and graykit), and right now, only redkit, leafkit, talonkit, goldkit, and cricketkit had survived. (the rest, and her sister, died of starvation.)

flamepuddle agrees to take in harekit, and the night eventually ends.

silvershadow decides that he, flamepuddle, and slateflower will live together. this isn't a thunderclan origin story, mind, just the beginning of collective cat behavior. but one of the reasons it is a distinctly thunderclan edition is because the implication is that later on, the other clans are all splinter groups.

there's also an implication that such large litters used to be more common, à la how in the bible, people used to be more fertile.

so anyway, because all cats are said to be descendents of these nine cats (silvershadow, flamepuddle, slateflower, redkit, talonkit, goldkit, cricketkit, harekit, and pigeonkit — leafkit dies later on), it's said they all carry the trauma of the long night and queens, feeling unsafe, will choose the strongest of their litter.

STORY COMPLETE

so.

in thunderclan's telling, flamepuddle and silvershadow are made to be the heroes, and slateflower is the villain. notice that slate is a windclan name, and the kits who die don't have very thunderclan prefixes. the implication is that this is because the other clans are weaker.

in a riverclan telling, instead of flamepuddle and slateflower, we might have puddlefeather and tallsong, and the kits who survive might be fallowkit and dewkit.

in skyclan, we might have mothpetal and nightstep, with surviving kits echokit and maplekit.

and so on. silvershadow usually keeps his name, tho. or at least half of it.

the 10th cat who dies is also variable. in thunderclan, it's another kit. slateflower is understood to not have intended her actions. in shadowclan, it's the slateflower analogy who dies. in riverclan, silvershadow dies and puddlefeather and tallsong have to work together.

so we always have the same story, but the details of it change, and there's a lot about the clan in that.

it might even be that the reason puddlefeather is able to keep five out of twelve kits alive is because she can fish for herself. tallsong can't.

and this is a story that's supposed to be universal, before the time of clans.

imagine how differnt briarleap and briarstream are. no, seriously, i don't have it in me to do five versions of every folk tale i write, so y'all have to live with one.

anyway, i could go on here, but wow, this section is...much longer than i meant as it is whoops.

SAFE

morals, protagonists, and antagonists

i'm not going to lie, i'm somewhat exhausted from the last section.

basically, the "protagonists" are often the ones who make mistakes. this is because that's a common theme for parables. you want the protagonist, who listeners relate to, to understand the mistakes and learn from them.

there's almost always a moral in these stories. they're not told just to entertain. they're ritualistic, nigh religious, tied in deeply with their culture.

finally, when an opposing clan is needed, (a) the clan telling the story is nearly always in the right, and (b) it tends to shift to whoever the clan is most antagonistic with.

a lot of my stories are shadowclan v skyclan because they have the strongest story-telling development and i don't have any aus planned for shadowclan and (old) skyclan, but i really like what i've developed for them.

in the case a friendly clan is needed, that also tends to shift, but it's less likely to change. it's significantly more likely to change if they're fighting with the clan in the tale.

for this reason, clans tend to be allies with cross territory clans in stories. you're just less likely to fight with someone who's territory you're across from, and you get fun flanking if you gang up on someone in the middle.

characters and archetypes

so i mentioned how briarleap is a certain kind of archetype, and that's pretty common in folklore. you've got your tricksters, witches, wise elders, w/e. i could do a bunch of research into folklore and find a canonized list but i'm approximately 90% sure it's going to tell me it varies by culture so. instead of doing that, i'm going to talk through some of the character archetypes i've been using.

please keep in mind that this is highly suspect to change. also, i'm referring to a lot of cats in my lore posts, so i'm sorry, because if you don't keep up with that, you might be a little bit lost. if you want to check out my folklore, it's here. maybe one day i'll make a kit simulation list that gives them to you in the order a kit would be told them.

the young warrior — characters like briarleap. smart, creative, and willing to speak up when something is wrong. they're who young kits should aspire to be. they're the most common protagonist in stories for young kits, and they're one of the only protagonists for stories with a "good" lead.

cassandra — prophetic characters who struggle to act on their prophecies. goosefeather types. they're cautionary tales, warnings about who not to be, because these are true seers who failed. sometimes, it is framed as the clan being wrong (e.g., berrymoon's main story is about this), but usually it's because the character said too much/too little, at the wrong time, etc.

impulsive apprentice — another warning. characters like swallowpaw. their actions are usually not actually wrong, but they end up being wrong with hindsight. they're tragic characters, and their warnings are usually about the rules established because of them, rather than not being like them.

wise leader/deputy — it's exactly what it sounds like lmao. usually, this is going to be the deputy more than the leader, because the deputy is a far more relatable position than the leader. these are your rushfoots and lilytails, deputies who make quick decisions on the behalf of their clan.

foolish/selfish warrior — warriors who take actions selfishly, which wrap back around to hurt themselves. these are the "protagonists" of the tales about feeding elders and kits first, and so on. they're actually the most common protagonist in stories over all. it's kind of a wide category, including everything from slateflower from "the long night" to lightningcall from "full moon." you know, a queen who only escaped the dark forest because it didn't exist, and a tom whose "mistake" was not showing up to a deputy meeting he was physically unable to attend.

there are, naturally, many more archetypes. there are archetypes for every role in the clan, often many. there's probably some amount of symbolism in the names — perhaps "-leap" is a skyclan indicator of a young warrior, etc., but at least right now, i'm not interested in that. i have more fun naming characters than worrying about the symbolism behind it, because i'm trying to also provide an understanding of clanlife, and that requires bending the rules.

(i mean, for what it's worth, this is true of many things. "the long night" as thrushpelt tells it is not the full version. usually, you wouldn't separate it from "the four seasons," but also, he glazes over the infanticide and cannibalism because he's talking to, like, four-year-olds, explaining how their mother had inherited a trait from slateflower.)

overall, though, i think these five are enough to give you an idea of what the archetypes look like.

interestingly, i also want to call attention to the fact that there's no specific trickster archetype. i mean, there is, because it's (a) one of the most common, and (b) it needs to exist for what i'm about to say, but it doesn't properly count.

see, cats are good at being sneaky and smart and clever. you know this if you have a cat.

clan cats also have to be good at following rules.

so basically every protagonist and antagonist in a story is some permutation of the trickster. the young warrior is the trickster but with less pointless trickery. the impulsive apprentice is probably the closest to straight-up trickster, but there's usually no associated deception. etc.

but in general, all cats should be clever and smart and finding new solutions, so there isn't a specific trickster.

names and times

on a related note, one that's significantly harder to demonstrate, the names of cats get repeated a lot.

in the real world, this is because the names are approximately 75% generated and 25% tweaked, and i have a bias towards certain names.

in the context of lore and worldbuilding, and why i'm not doublechecking against my database of every cat i've ever mentioned, this is because, well, it should make sense for certain elders to tell multiple stories, or, logically, for a kit to grow into a warrior grow into an elder and tell a story.

i mean, dovestar's nine lives are a huge part of skyclan, because each life is supposed to demonstrate some fundamental principle, and they're told over the nine moons of a kit's life (again, cats count kits' lives from the season before they're born for the purpose of holy nine, and from their actual birth for every other purpose, which is how brokenstar got around the warrior code fun fact), so yeah, i'll probably have some repetition in there.

likewise, there's no timeline for these. we don't know what happens when at all, except that the cats telling a story are younger than the cats in the story, and any "book cats" are younger than any other mentioned cat.

(that last point is because exactly one story is told by thrushpelt.)

so anyway, really hazy times and names because...that's how things go m8.

impact of the great journey

so as you can imagine, the great journey is a pretty big deal.

first of all, we're running out of cats who can remember the forest. in thunderclan, according to moonkitti, who i trust in this, birchfall is the youngest cat who can remember it. so considering birchfall could have great grandchildren in the next book or two, i'd say that we're pretty much done with cats who lived there.

even among the other cats, squirrelflight was an apprentice, and she went on the first journey, so there's that. cloudtail and brightheart won't be around for much longer, and graystripe might be immortal, but if he isn't, he'll be gone soon too.

i mean, i know there are non-thunderclan cats, but do you know their names? do you?

yeah. that's what i thought.

anyway, my point is, right now, in canon time, all of the stories are set in the forest. but like, that's kind of not helpful.

who knows, there's probably a story about sunningrocks that just doesn't make sense anymore.

i don't know for sure how the great journey impacts the folklore. this is because there's not an easy way for me to write it. my elders' den stuff is specifically set before tbp, so i don't have to think about adding in the villains of tbp.

why only tbp? because we have 3 wonderful, fantastic, folklore worthy villains. in tnp, we have the journey, in po3, we have interpersonal drama, in oots, we have rehashings of old villains, in dotc nothing matters, in avos, we have weird fuzziness i don't really remember what happened after darktail tbh, and tbc is ongoing. but wait! i hear you saying, what about hawkfrost? and darktail himself? and... no. shut up. they don't matter. just. they're not. they don't. they're not lore villains is what i'm saying very poorly. they're not the kind of villains who inspire lore. maaaaybe darktail? but he was far too recent for folklore.

anyway.

i'm sure in all of the po3 stuff i have on the horizon, i'll explore this more. dovefeather lore is in the awkward middle ground — everything is from the perspective of cats who never knew the old forest, but pretty much everyone older than them does, so it's unlikely anything substantive has changed.

but i have a lot of po3 extended universe plans that might dip in to this?

but for spitballing purposes, what probably happens is that most stories are just reskinned.

things like stories about sunningrocks are going to be repurposed. maybe about that weird strip of territory that they fought over? i'm not sure.

some stories will get to stay in the old forest, like the battle with bloodclan. and some stories will fade out, just as they always do. but for the most part, once the elders didn't live in the forest, they're just going to start plopping stories in the lake.

also, the great journey itself is 100% already folklore. i don't have to do that part, canon actually does it for me. kits are constantly being told about the great journey, or apprentices are telling us they were told about it, or someone is having a weird dream sequence that involves it.

the great journey is a major part of folklore, and that's cool. maybe if i run out of old stories, i'll do some post-canon elders' den stuff. we'll see, i'm definitely not feeling it right now, but that could change.

speaking of great...

this is a minor thing, but like, what's up with all the greats?

the great journey, okay, yeah, sure, makes sense.

and then we have the great battle.

also legit. it had been a while.

and then...the great storm?

look, i understand the storm in bramblestar's storm was a big deal. i have a lot of thoughts about bramblestar's storm as a book and this isn't that. but...

can we compare how many cats died in the great journey and the great battle? and we lost, like, three cats in the great storm

don't get me wrong, i sobbed like a baby when briarlight died.

oh hold on i lied that wasn't this book. never mind never mind.

i just, like, it's very strange IMO to have this great being a thing. or at least, i don't now, i guess it's evolution of culutre?

bluh okay i'm hungry and i do not focus well so i'm going to finish up but just. great. interesting.

conclusion

folklore is a topic i'm really interested in, and i try really hard to think through the consequences of, well, everything i can.

i'm definitely missing a lot of details — specifically, i scratched out my plans for a specific creation myth — but i like the general shape of the lore i'm building up.

[dystopian-thunderclan]

Silverheart - Thunderclan Deputy - He/him - 65 moons

The charming deputy of Thunderclan, Silverheart is the polar opposite of his father, Marrowstar. He opposes his treatment of the low-ranking cats, and usually converses with them from time to time, something many high-ranking cats refuse to do. He’s well-liked by most of the clan, even cats like Sparktooth, who usually side with Marrowstar, can’t deny his persuasiveness. He earned the un-divine’s respect when he convinced Marrowstar to keep Silentkit, who’s mother had recently been executed, in Thunderclan, after that, he made sure she was well taken care of, even mentoring her himself, now, he remains the only high-ranking cat Silentfeather feels she can trust. He’s recently had two kits, Heatherpaw and Stormpaw, he’s an active father for thunderclan standards, though his Deputy duties sometimes diverts his attention. He and Orchidspine became mates only moons before she fell ill, losing all movement in her hind legs. She’s bitter, even towards her beloved mate, and refuses to raise her kits, Silverheart has tried to reason with her, but he struggles to put his paw down. The handsome tom is arguably too soft for a deputy position, he seems begrudging to upset anyone, even if he knows it’s the right thing to do, such as when he failed to get Beetlestripe, his brother, proper punishment, and instead only banned him from mentorship. He can’t stomach gore, which makes him stay clear of the medicine den and dread executions. He has his trusted friend, Frogjaw do most of the physical work in executions, like getting the convicted into the pit. When Thunderclan buries the cat in stones, each adult clan member contributing, Silverheart is always close to last to place his rock. 

Father: Marrowstar

Mother: Daisycloud

Brother: Beetlestripe

Sister: Shimmerkit †

Mate: Orchidspine

Daughter: Heatherpaw

Son: Stormkit