Trip to the Lake: REDUX
I have been re-planning how cats move between the Lake, Mountain, and Forest for a long while. Since @halogenwarrior asked some specific questions about it this morning, I finally sat down and made a 1st draft of the Between-the-Territories map, and a quick guide to the Sundrown Patrol’s Expedition.
NOTE: this is still a rough draft. SkyClan’s territory wasn’t included because it isn’t relevant at the moment, and Midnight’s den is nondescript beach as I’m still working out what it looks like in the revamp... since Midnight is a god now, and should have a cooler den.
(also i considered casually ‘revealing’ this is a world totally unlike our own by having the sun set in the North instead of the West at one point but im not that funny... yet.)
[ID: A map of the territory between the Warrior Cats ‘forest territory’ and the ‘lake territory’, including several landmarks. A Beach and an Unknown Town are labelled purple. The Tribe Land and its Stone Ward, Cave Ward, and Valley Ward are marked in blue. The Mouth of River Chell and Mothermouth are marked in red. The bottom of the map is marked “FARMS” in a purple box. The top of the map is marked “LAKE” in green.]
The Tribe’s waterfall feeds into nearly every waterway in the area at some point, and the Lake is the northernmost point between them all. Just above the forest territories is farms. There is now a sizable wetland below the lake territory, at the base of which is the Tribe’s third settlement, the Valley Ward.
In that wetland is probably more farms, roads, factories, and various types of human structures.
Travel time has been given hard definitions; it takes an adult warrior, traveling alone at maximum reasonable speed (not marathon-running), a full week to go from the Mothermouth to the Lake. That’s two weeks for a round trip.
This journey becomes longer with multiple traveling cats, or cats who don’t know the way. In addition, a lone warrior will have a harder time hunting in the unknown land and be more exposed to the dangers of the wild.
An adult warrior, traveling alone at maximum reasonable speed, takes 2 days to reach the beach. Going to the town is easier; that trip takes a little over a day. Round trips double the time, more cats are slower but safer.
So let’s take a look at the new Sun Drown Patrol Roadmap!
[ID: The same picture as above, but grayed out in color with red dots marking the journey of the Sun Drown Patrol over the TNP journey. They start at the Mothermouth, go north to the Lake, then go west to the Beach, go southeast and hit the Tribe Lands, and end in the Farms.]
Set-up Changes:
The beginning of the journey is a bit different and there are some changes to Bonefall TNP as opposed to Canon TNP worth noting;
Bonefall TNP is split between the perspectives of the Four Tigerkin; That’s Tawnypelt, Brambleclaw, Hawkfrost, and Mothwing.
Tawnypelt is the new leader of the Sundrown Patrol.
Crowpaw is a full warrior before going on this journey. His name was Crowfoot, he requests -Feather as an Honor Title.
Gods are real now; Sharptooth and Midnight are deities for Summer and Spring respectively.
They are starting this trip at the Mothermouth
Bonefall TNP: The Sundrown Patrol’s Expedition to the Lake
StarClan no longer sends them to the ocean. They sent them directly North, to the Lake.
Something happens that sends them on a detour west, to the Sundrown Place. I’m not sure what it is yet; I’m thinking it could be Fallen Leaves (is now Time Travel Hollyleaf) appearing to be a StarClan warrior and completing a time loop, or, Midnight creating a false sign to coax them over because she’s a lonely god who wants company.
From the Sundrown Place, they do a little bit of basic geography and realize they need to travel southeast. That’s when they hit the mountain.
There is no more Silver Warrior prophecy. The Tribe cats help the Sundrown Patrol cross the mountain, but recognize they’re long-lost descendants of the ancient Sun Trail Cats. There’s a happy celebration, interrupted by the resurrection of Sharptooth, a god who has plagued the Tribe through history.
The Tribe has killed Sharptooth before and they’ll do it again. They assure the Sundrown Patrol that they will survive... but the Patrol looks at the graves of the cats who helped them cross the mountain, slaughtered suddenly by what they think is a LionClan warrior. They realize that the Tribe will survive, but there’s no way of knowing what individual cats won’t.
(technically Sharptooth is a European Cave Lion but they don’t know that)
The Sundrown Patrol makes a choice; Do they run home to complete their mission, or do they stay and help?
They unanimously agree to kill the beast. The Tribe says they’re family, and this is what family does. A bit of a moment where the cats of the Sundrown Patrol decide THEY are family, as well.
Feathertail, of course, dies. Crowfoot is never the same. Sharptooth will return someday, but when he does, this time he will haunt the Clans... or at least, the Forest Territory they left behind. That part isn’t decided yet.
Because of all the detours, size of the patrol, and fact it was unknown land, the Sundrown Patrol’s Quest takes well over a month.
The Clans leave, together, shortly after. It still takes coaxing from each member of the Sundrown Patrol to get all of the leaders on the same page, but the extra territory-pummeling helps to encourage Blackstar in particular to be less stubborn.
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