#bloodclan era

[burning-thistles-bt]

"Goodbye to the good life, and to daddy's little girl Gotta ripped dress, and some red nails So completely off the rails Never does anything fun, repeating the days as they come It's a countdown to the day she comes undone There's a girl and she's badder than the bad boys Psychopath, yea she'll play you like a cheap toy There's a girl and she's badder than the bad boys Look at them run, isn't it fun, didn't they tell you She's the baddest of the baddest Got no method to the madness"

Lightningfur vibes 💕

[pigeocore]

The diffrent collars colors of Scourge

[scourge-sympathiser]

SCOURGE SUNDAY 013/???

[AU] tht weird guy who keepz showing up in jaypawz dreamz

[bonefall]

while i do agree with the sentiment that bloodclan should be more nuanced as an entity i still believe it is wrong to portray them as the necessary "response" to clan injustice (haven't read the books in years but i am pretty sure that bloodclan started with no connection to the clans) / an opposition to the clan's flaws. some of the thing scourge did was out of selfishness and bloodclan isn't the other colour of the black and white debacle with the clans. the clans are heavily flawed yes, but it isn't realistic to completely say that their structure had no redeeming qualities altogether and that all outsider groups is fundamentally better than the clans.

all clans and groups are flawed in their own way and i believe we shouldnt brush past the things that other groups (the sisters and what they do with their toms *cough cough*) did solely to be able to degrade the clans and their culture.

Buddy, you're setting up a strawman. I promise you that if you look into the reduxes I've made of BloodClan, Guardians, The Sisters, and the Tribe, you will see that I don't make any of them a "flawless" alternative to Clan life.

Nor do I say that the Clans have no redeeming qualities. In fact, you can browse the "Clan Culture" tag to see the various expansions I've made to show how these traditions, values, and technological advances make Clan life so alluring.

The overarching theme of BB is that the nature of culture is change. For better AND for worse.

With respect, I think there's something insidious in the wording of "the things the other groups did." We're talking about fan responses to a work that consistently demonizes and degrades foreigners to make the Clans look like the "best way to live," justifying xenophobia. These are not real groups, they are writing choices.

In the franchise with some pretty extreme examples of misogyny, the authors said "What if bizarro world where women rule and have no men... woag..." and only includes a single Clan-alligned member of this culture, with a BAD opinion of them, who can't even do his diplomatic job because he HATES them so much.

In the same franchise that shows Fireheart getting bullied, facing prejudice, and fighting a murderous tyrant who publically executes a mixed-race character, their endgame villain is an outsider, like him, but this one IS a godless heathen who HATES love and friendship and banned families.

In the VERY same franchise which made its first non-malicious group barely able to get through an arc without needing to be saved by Clan cats, totally unable to defend themselves, framed as "whiny" for not wanting their clearly 'inferior' culture to be forcefully changed.

And I'm re-stating all this because, again, no offense to you in particular Anon, but I've been seeing a few people with a sentiment like yours lately. Complaints into a vacuum that don't make targeted critique of anyone's fanworks, gesturing at this broad "woobification" which is apparently out there somewhere over the rainbow, saying things like "well Scourge is selfish" or "well Moonlight abandoned her 13 year old" as if we haven't BEEN knew.

As if we're not all directly responding to these choices. As if I haven't written ESSAYS on this topic.

Since this was about BloodClan in particular though, and you admit you haven't read the books in years, please go back and actually read Rise of Scourge before trying to make critique of the ways fanon rewrites its origin. It's EXPLICITLY a response to the Clans, in the text, that the Erins wrote, it is canon that fanon is working with.

And you want people to take that out and approach it a different way... why? Because it's so incredulous to you that a nation forms in response to a threatening neighbor? That a common enemy through invasions is a way that people might choose to unite, and encourage their new culture to value brutality? Because you don't like the idea of Clan Culture's XENOPHOBIC BATTLE CULTURE affecting surrounding communities??

Could YOU, maybe, be doing this "woobification" thing I keep hearing about? Can I play this stupid game too? What's our stupid prize? Can it be a lollipop? Do we get stickers

TL;DR, ok.

[burning-thistles-bt]

this is so cool!!!!!!

new era bloodclan here we come <3

@burning-thistles-bt basically what i saw when i read the reveal of lightningfur (and claw) as bloodclans new leader(s)

took me roughly 3 days before i was satisfied

i found reference art for lightningfur and a head pic for nightshine, but i mostly just winged it for feathertail, claw, and tadpole

does claw have a collar? no clue, so i gave her a yellow one. because.

i made feathertail a mist marble tabby because i wanted to make her a sokoke tabby but i didnt have the motivation to do so. i didnt want to make her a boring classic tabby because silverstream is described as a very pretty cat (which to me means she doesnt have normal stripes) and feathertail is like.. silverstream with long fur. i made the stripes on her tail vaguely feather-shaped but i cant draw feathers for the life of me, so...

[bb-fennelposting]

i think the concept of a vantablack bb!scourge would fuck.

a cat so dark you can only make out his white marks and icy blue eyes. a cat so dark he seems to absorb all the dim, cold light around him. a cat who does not truly live, but remains menacingly present in the background, running his clan.

a reflection of the darkness of bloodclan's history, formed out of necessity. a manifestation of the darkness this vile battle culture brought to these lands, where dishonorable pride festers at the heart of these cats. the clan cats had who stained these streets and alleywats with innocent blood, only backstab and betray them, again and again. when firestar hears of chelford's history and bloodclan's formation, he starts to recognize where this darkness of scourge's came from. not from an inherent evil within his own place, but something deeper, present in the very forests he walks in.

and when firestar's radical new ideology blazes through the clan's culture, burning away the darkness of the thistles that once took hold, the shining light of his kindness and fairness is reflected in scourge. when he changes his name to iceheart, when life shows in his eyes and his softened, healthier appearance, he changes right before them. a cat whose golden age lay in the era of fire alone. he takes in the light of his brother's fire, and his world isn't so dark anymore.

iceheart is no longer vantablack, a shadow who he once was. he can live now, instead of survive.

[pinetreepilgrimage]

I nearly cheered when The Elder’s Quest peak chapter actually talked about Oakfur, the cat that has been left to his own devices for well over a decade now. I thought they were gonna kill Oakfur off between books but I do hope he has a shot at being given an actual character like some of the RC cats. I’m actually really glad Oakfur and Mosspelt weren’t entirely forgotten cats, so consider this an appreciation post for them both!

Being apart of the series for that long, both Oakfur and Mosspelt have seen and survived many tragedies and events. Oakfur specifically has survived the aftermath of Brokenstar’s bloody leadership and the sickness that followed, The Kin, The merge of ShadowClan into SkyClan, Mudclaw's Rebellion (as a participant!)

Mosspelt has survived Splashtail’s reign, the death of all her children, The Kin’s raid on RiverClan (which she actually walked away from unlike some of her clanmates who were forced to stay), the fire on RC and the closed border situation.

They both witnessed giant plot events like The Great Journey and the destruction beforehand, The Battle with the Dark Forest, the drought, The Tigerclan situation, BloodClan battle, and many MANY historical bouts of disease.

Basically every large plot point after Into The Wild.

Some more info about Oakfur

-He’s a GIANT DICK. He canonly calls a RiverClan cat a slur during Star and gets his ass handed to him, he also watched Berrykit struggle in a fox trap. Like, he’s been an asshole for YEARS. He has these nice moments here and there but in his most recent appearance he hasn’t learned.

-Oakfur has been alive since the first arc, he was an apprentice RIGHT after Brokenstar’s rule, he’s seen the rise and fall of 5 leaders (do remember that Tigerclawstar and Nightstar’s leaderships weren’t long lasting, and Rowanstar didn’t have the longest reign either.)

- He’s mostly known for being thrown into a tree by Fireheart

- He’s trained four apprentices; Tawnypelt, Smokepaw, Ferretclaw, and Tawnypelt’s son the 2nd Tigerheartstar!

-Speaking of sickness, he’s survived being very ill several times unlike the other cats in his age bracket who died long ago to similar circumstances.

-Oakfur has actually been given a lot of opinion agency as a bg charcter, having joined Mudfur in his rebellion and years later leaving The Kin on his own accord. Which gives us a lot of questions about his morality. I think the many Erins forget about him and just use him as a vessel for SC hate but they… just kept doing that. Therefore I’m taking his character at face value. I feel like Oakfur is one of the very few remaining cats who has the early other-clans-are-enemies mindset. He acts a lot like cats in long ago super editions that had a very survival of the fittest attitude in contrast to how the Clans are now. Current era clans are a lot closer to how the DOTC clans were at the end of that series than to how they were in Tallstar’s Revenge.

Now Mosspelt!

Mosspelt is a RiverClan elder. She’s been given more focus in Frostdawn’s and in Nightheart’s POVs while they were in RiverClan.

- She’s survived 5 leaderships; Crookedstar, Leopardstar, and Mistystar’s being long healthy reigns while Splashtail’s ended quickly and Icestar’s has just begun. She was also a survivor of the Kin’s raid on RiverClan.

- She was a foster mother to Feathertail and Stormfur, though a mysterious queen named Greenflower was supoosed to take that role. She later vanished from everything as a handful of first arc cats did. I should write about her too. Mosspelt was actually super friendly towards Graystripe, and loved fostering his children. Though she did have maternal children; Dawnflower, Robinkit, Woodkit, and the late RC medicine cat Willowshine.

- Mosspelt had 3 apprentices: Swallowtail, Pebblefoot, and Perchwing.

- Mosspelt is most likely the oldest cat in the Clans right now, being a queen in Fire and Ice. Mistystar may have been impossibly older than her but she got nine lives which extended it quite a bit. Mosspelt survived with only one AND outlived her.

-Mosspelt doesn’t take a hostile role in the RC conflict, making her one of the only RC cats with clean paws.

-She survived a direct fox attack

Here’s some offical art for these characters

Mosspelt

her design is shockingly consistent.

Oakfur

He’s neat your honor

Welp, here’s to these forgotten old people, I hope they survive this arc or are given character roles that give them interesting deaths or development.

[thunderclangens]

Allegiances - Moon 0

The cats in and outside of the forest, a few moons after the battle with BloodClan. Frostpaw, formerly Scourge, steps into clan life on unsteady and unsure paws after being spared by Firestar. Squirrelkit and Leafkit have just been born, and, hopefully, an era of peace is on the horizon for ThunderClan.

All cats I've added into the game. Includes deceased cats and cats outside of the clan. This will eventually have descriptions but for now, here's the names.

ThunderClan -

Leader - Firestar Deputy - Sandstorm Apprentice: Snowpaw Medic - Cinderpelt Warriors - Mousefur, Greystripe, Ferncloud, Brightheart, Swiftpath, Cloudtail, Brackenfur, Thornclaw, Longtail Apprentices - Snowpaw, Scourge* Queens - Willowpelt (nursing Rainkit, Sootkit and Sorrelkit), Sandstorm (nursing Squirrelkit and Leafkit) Elders - Frostfur, Speckletail, and Goldenflower

Cats Outside The Clans -

Barley, Ravenpaw, Princess, Smudge

StarClan -

Thunderstar, Jake, Redtail, Yellowfang, Spottedleaf, Lionheart, and Whitestorm

Dark Forest -

Mapleshade, Brokenstar, Darkstripe, and Tigerstar

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

Some Dark Forest members that either are put there in the rewrite or little OCs (that aren't really important too often but the Dark Forest needs more than 10 cats come onnn)

Version 1.1: Lizardstripe is now a pretty different kitty and is no longer on this list, her ex Mudstep is here however, and Leopardstar's morality has finally been cemented.

Version 1.2: Clarified Batear and Fenneldust's crimes, as well as recreated Clear Sky's role as no longer self inflicted, but rather a punishment from his first victim.

Spiderclaw - Spottedleaf's killer instead of Clawface, Brokenstar's lackey.

Thornclaw - Supports the Dark Forest, dies during the Great Battle and banished upon death.

Mudstep (Lizardstripe's mate) - Though he had an okay relationship with Runningnose, and was proud to raise a Medicine Cat son, he was a terrible mate and poor excuse for a father, the cherry on top being his physical abuse of Brokenkit. Abuse of kittens and mates is not tolerated by Starclan.

Rabbitswoop - Riverclan Dark Forest Trainee, he takes one of Mistystar's lives before Hawkfrost kills him.

Milktail - Born during the Brokenstar era and hates her non-clan born adopted brother. She supports Tigerstar, Blackstar makes her deputy after her "I'm sooo sorry' act that actually is convincing. She and Mistfang (Tigerstar's surviving sister) try to kill Blackstar only to get stopped by her adoptive brother. She is a piece of the Blood Will Spill Blood Prophecy (which you can imagine drove her mad), along with Hawkfrost killing Mistfang.

Mistfang - Speaking of. Tigerclaw's dickhead sister. Her attitude stemmed not from 'being spoiled' or anything like that. But the fact that her brother was praised for his strength non-stop, which made this once sweetheart begin to act more like her brother, on a very dangerous path. She thinks her brother is perfect, and idolized him. She followed him to the Dark Forest after being killed by her own nephew.

Nestfur - Another Brokenstar lackey, killed by Mudclaw during the Battle Of Bloodclan.

Parsnipfang - Shinecloud's brother. Oakstar's brother-in-law, Birchface and Frecklewish's uncle. Tried to kill the leader and abused his mate to gain power, Oaksnap (Oakstar) killed him before he could kill the leader, becoming deputy after his death, but something feels... Familiar, about that scenario.

Ratscar - Dark Forest Trainee who kills (yes, KILLS) Blackstar with Redwillow's help (not that he'll let Redwillow have any credit), before Ferncloud beats him into paste.

Rotflower - Rainflower.

Leopardstar - Genuine Tiger Law supporter who tried to instill the mentality into Hawkfrost, and allowed Tigerclan to get out of control/endorsing it.

Onestar - Prison Sentence, but not for too long. Roughly 1 and a half moons.

Sol - After his death, he is banished here and he is PISSED about it, everyone picks on him, guy basically has a kick-me sign on his butt.

Frecklewish - HANG ON! Let me explain. She CHOSE to be in the Dark Forest, because she realizes what Thunderclan has done, and no one but Mapleshade was punishes for trying to give them justice. She can travel the border at will, but spends most of her time in the Dark Forest.

Batear - Fenneldust's boyfriend who helped cover up the murder and supplied the 'weapon', a Boar.

Fenneldust - Thunderclan cat who killed the Medicine cat that gave an omen that she would make a bad deputy. Gee, I wonder why?

Quick Water - Apologizing as you bleed out is not enough. She is one of the OLDEST spirits there, and is mostly uninvolved in things.

Oakstar - Only punished after a huge uproar Frecklewish started. But he seems to be missing. How odd...

One Eye - The OG Dark Forest King.

Star Flower - A genuine force of evil, like she should have always been. Dark Magic practices and trying to destroy the Clans leads to her getting trapped in the Dark Forest.

Clear Sky - Due to not being leader, his toxic influence is now seen by the spirits of Starclan. Bright Storm had the most perfect punishment for him. You wanna make borders? You can be one. To protect the cats of Starclan from the ones in the Dark Forest, Bright Storm and the other cats of Starclan sacrificed his spirit to become the fog border around the area, the fog choking and thick, just like his thick white fur. Now only appears as blue eyes in the shadows and a disembodied voice. His spirit has whittled away, now gaining holes in it. Not to mention the... things... rumored to be laying within the fog.

Gray Wing - The OG Curse Layer. His horrid enabling behavior has damned him, but he'll never see it that way. He technically still roams the earth, but he SHOULD be here. His hatred is toxic, and he plans to destroy the Stars of the Clans, starting with Riverclan....

[splashspeck]

Concept I'm jotting down here and may flesh out later but it's nearly midnight and I need to go to bed:

Warrior Cats Royalty AU, complete with political marriages and a fun twist

SilverFire arranged marriage ruined when his best friend knocks up his wife and she dies giving birth to her kits out of wedlock.

Tigerclaw is the result of a political marriage with Pinestar, then Pineheart, of Thunderstar's line with Leopardfoot of Shadowstar's line, and because he's Shadowstar's kin he can take over when Brokenstar's line dies out and Blackstar, who is Shadowstar's kin as well, is exiled with his littermates dead in this au.

During the Tigerclan Era Mistyfoot's kits are arranged to Tigerclan allies as partial mates partial hostages. Primrosepaw is arranged to a young Bloodclan warrior(idk who yet) who Scourge names his heir out of obligation. Perchpaw is arranged to Tawnypaw. And Reedpaw is arranged to one of Blackstar's kids he gets to have in this AU.

Also. The fun twist; if you aren't related to the Founder(s), you don't get nine lives. Nightpelt, Leopardfoot, and Sunstar were actually all Regents holding power in lieu of cats either not able to or not ready to take leadership.

[blimbo-buddy]

Regarding the Twolegplace Culture Expansion hiatus

To summarize for those who may be in the dark about it: My Twolegplace Culture Expansion was a series of posts that covered my attempts to properly flesh out different Twolegplaces that we see in the series, stemming from my liking for the Kittypets.

So around month back, an ask that I had gotten from one of my mutuals mentioned the Twolegplace Culture series of posts. I had answered with a sort of “summarization” as to why the series has been put onto a long hold, and I feel that the same also somewhat applies to my wc rewrite in general.

It’s unfortunate that I’ve come to this at the moment: But the series won’t be continuing

Well that’s only half-true. We can more accurately say it’s on a very, very indefinite hiatus.

When the series of posts started gaining traction I was super excited to start working on more stuff for the Twolegplaces and during this phase I had written a few rough drafts and outlines for some big posts:

A revamp of the Demonios post (What the Twolegplaces call evil demons)

Epochs and Eras: Chelford (A huge history post about Chelford’s history)

Recipes and tools

Dogs and other city-dwelling animals

Bloodclan, Skyclan, and Warriorclan

Marriages

Figureheads of the Chelford Raids

Patrons

The Flickering (Ghosts that haven’t moved on from Earth)

A Molly Named Johnny (A cat’s adaptation of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”)

But I ended up slowly losing that steam through a bunch of shit: School, personal life, decreasing motivation, and comparing my posts and rewrite to other rewrites. The latter one especially just made me feel like total shit and made me feel like I was being a total hack (Didn’t make it better when I got an anon hate about its quality). Coupled with my real life, I slowly started losing motivation about it.

Writing for these posts became absolute chores and not fun anymore for me and I stopped caring about it all together. “A Molly Named Johnny” from the previously mentioned list was a last effort that I just wanted to get out already.

Of course at some point I felt a bit dejected from how little attention that the posts were getting but it blew over pretty quickly. In terms of the rewrite I had, the last one was the Tom Fate post, which itself is also tied to Twolegplace Culture. I decided this one was going to be the “last” one because it was something that I considered to be a good “sendoff”.

I say that the series is on a very indefinite hiatus because I’m still unsure if it’s a project I even see worth going back to and continuing. And I feel that way even more now seeing as I’m trying to balance College and writing/drawing for Bug World No Mercy, a new project of mine. Right now I’d rather put more thought and effort into that story than try and expand upon an already existing one, especially when so many other people have been doing it for longer to a much larger degree.

I keep repeating myself but the project’s status is an indefinite hiatus, but I unfortunately wouldn’t hold out hope that the project will be continued any more.

[burning-thistles-bt]

hey! i was wondering how are things going with the fanfic? is everything fine? its been a while since a update

for you anon :)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31008365/chapters/159619282

[atdwarriorsau]

Cedarheart

Cedarkit - Cedarpaw - Cedarheart

Kit - Apprentice - Warrior

Shadowclan

Mentor: Boulder

Apprentices: N/A

Grandparents: Toadskip, Poolcloud, Nettlespot

Father: Deerleap

Sibling: Rowanclaw

Kin: Littlecloud (uncle), Tangleburr (auncle)

Cedarkit and Rowankit were born to Deerfoot in Shadowclan, right at the end of the Tiger Era. Their father (and only parent) died in the Bloodclan battle, along with their last grandparent, leaving the two Shadowclan orphan-kits, being raised by the clan. They were both apprenticed to former outsiders. Cedarheart is gathering-friends with Sorrelpaw.

[wan1one2]

Oc-tober day 5, redesigned oc

So what changed? well, the species for one

Louise was originally created as a Warrior cats oc in 2020, because i was in the era where all of my ocs where warrior cats adjacent in some way, mainly because i didn't know how to draw humans, so when i started watching anime and brute forced myself into drawing people, i decided to humanize most of my still used warrior cats oc

originally she was the..."leader" of an unofficial rogue clan (something like bloodclan) thus, it was sort of like her being a mafiosa, im so smart! the only thing that didn't change is that she still kills people, good for her!

[bonefall]

the ShadowClan talk made me look through Brokenstar's BB Tags, and. a) is Lizardstripe still related to Finchflight, if you are keeping Finch-Dawn as a couple (with Dawncloud's age redux)? b) i keep seeing stuff about Snowtuft and killing kits, but i cant find anything actually detailing on that on the blog, and one of the older posts also mentions that Blizzardwing is either his son/grandson AND that Lizardstripe's mother was the kit he couldn't kill. what is all that about, im dying to know.

This is info that's scattered across a bunch of different posts, plus more deets and changes I haven't had a chance to dive into. Snowtuft committed an atrocity which would torment his victims and descendants for generations, for both its legacy and its trauma.

SO I wanna put as much of it as possible into one place for now, so you don't have to go guessing based on older posts. Especially since some of those posts are long outdated, but I haven't contradicted them yet.

To start the story of the two families, it begins with Snowtuft and the bloody end of the Crusade Era.

CONTENT WARNING; this is one of BB's darkest tales. It involves depictions of xenophobic violence, child murder, war crime, PTSD, abuse, and kidnapping. BB!Snowtuft's a bad kitty!

SEE: Kitten Stealing

(Also: After writing it out, I kinda realized this would be great as a BB entry on its own. I should come back and clean this up someday.)

PART 1: THE LAST CRUSADE

Cedarstar inherited the Crusades from Houndstar, continuing them more out of respect for her legacy than true zealotry.

He had actually been chosen as a deputy because he would run the Clan while she was off gallavanting.

He wasn't a pushover or anything, just prefered logistics. Him and Pinestar were tragically ahead of their time.

...but like other cats of his time, he was from a culture that didn't extend personhood beyond the Clans. So, he continued the Crusades.

Even though they weren't getting easier.

Crystal of Chelford had already used a new tool to carve a red future for the cats of the town...

and what were once defenseless little targets began to unite into organized, armed response teams.

Non-BloodClan "zones" got rarer and rarer.

The territory and underlings of an influential cat named Jay were among the last holdouts, so it's where most of ShadowClan's raids were launched.

And on one of these raids... it happened fast.

Snowtuft turned an alley and was ruthlessly attacked. He defended himself.

In the confusion, another assailant ran towards him. He acted swiftly.

It was reflex! Instinct! He couldn't tell what was coming at him. It was a split second decision.

He couldn't undo what had happened. The kitten was dead, next to its mother.

And the others were screaming, crying, terrified.

Snowtuft doesn't remember what he did next. He doesn't want to.

But Puffballburr does.

She used to see it every night.

She remembers her name, too-- Pixie. And her mom. And her littermates.

And the look that washed over his eyes when he realized the ragged flesh at his feet was a kitten.

Raw shock, electrifying shame, the dawning horror of knowing you've definitely done something that you're going to get punished for.

And when his white, blood-splattered face turned slowly towards her and her wailing siblings, she recognized that emotion too.

It's a very childlike response, really.

He needed to cover up his accident.

And he almost did, too. It was dumb luck that stopped him as he grabbed her tail and dragged her out from her hiding place. One of his clanmates heard the awful racket, and Pixie had survived just long enough.

PART 2: ONE OF US

They took her away, just like any other "honor kitten," but the Clan cats believed this was different somehow.

Something about the naked horror of what Snowtuft did, maybe. Impossible to ignore.

But it's not like he faced any real justice for it, not that Puffballkit could remember seeing. So clearly it wasn't very different at all.

His mate left him, and the older warriors regarded him with a distant sort of "shame." He was ostracized from many circles.

But Puff's siblings had not been "clan cats" so the Warrior Code did not apply to them. He faced social dishonor, not legal.

Ever-merciful Cedarstar did not want to "ruin" more lives.

"Not when the kit is far too young to even remember what happened," he said. But she did remember.

And her name. Her mom. Her littermates. That face.

She just knew, growing up, that she couldn't know about it.

Because Snowtuft was always right there, just around the curve of the den, just behind the cover of the rose bush thorns, listening.

They're ALL Snowtuft.

To admit she remembers it is to admit she isn't one of them. And if you're not one of them, the law does not apply to you.

As a kid, she couldn't articulate it. But she understood it.

Deep down to her brittle, kittypet bones. Her filthy, stillwater blood.

The ungrateful heart that beat in her chest.

Fear expressed as a constant, calm obedience of authority. A permanent dread, as if living in a pack as a sheep in wolf's clothing

So she was quiet, notoriously so.

Whoever her foster was, Puff was like a little white shadow. It's where the warrior name came from, eventually-- a puffball clinging to someone's fur. (after writing this though, half of me wants to start calling her Lambfur or Lambfrost.)

ShadowClan plunged into the Campaign Era with Heatherstar's invasion of the Mothermouth Moorland, and the massacre of some kittypet family became awkward history. Those old enough to remember still kept a distance from Snowtuft... but war took its toll.

War means death and those older members of the Clan are not replaceable.

Younger cats weren't there to see the horror of what Snowtuft had done... and time would make him bolder.

Finding growing sympathy in his apprentices, spurred on by the hardening of the culture in tandem with the official birth of Thistle Law, Snowtuft started to change history.

The official Educator of ShadowClan (still unsure who this was) had one story, and Snowtuft had one too.

"Details" were quietly changed in his. They weren't "kits" but "young cats." They charged out to aid their mother. Then maybe she wasn't their mother. Who knows.

Pullball's name was left out of these stories, on both sides. No need for the kittens to know that she wasn't one of us.

And if she was? That's a good thing for her. Living the life of a Clan cat.

He wouldn't share if "he wasn't asked," but all of his actions, his language, was a silent plea to be asked.

He wanted to forget the whole thing, because of his nightmares, his constant shame and punishment, how hard the whole ordeal made his life-- but he couldn't so it was constantly coming out of his mouth.

There was a deep resentment on his end, towards Puffballburr. How she was part of the Clan now, always reminding him. Like it was her fault.

In the end, Snowtuft didn't blame himself. He blamed everything else. The guilt was killing him a little bit every day...

But not as much as that WindClan cat's claws did. Those killed him a lot in one day!

But Snowtuft's death didn't bring Puffballburr any peace. She just felt... annoyed. Which was strange to her-- she should feel relief, but, she didn't. She was just thinking about how the next battle with WindClan would be harder without an extra set of claws.

PART 3: GOING HOME

Puffballfur is the queen of low empathy, and her emotions are... hard to predict.

Not in a chaotic sort of way, but in a "Huh, interesting, I didn't think that of all things would get me going" sort of way.

She both lives in constant "fear" but also a persistent banality. It's kind of like being in a cage with a chained tiger, but you've marked the exact spot on the floor where the tiger's chain ends.

Imagine getting nightmares that stop you from sleeping, but you know that they aren't going to come true. So you lay there with a throbbing heart, mostly feeling annoyed that you're going to be tired in the morning.

That's her life.

Sometimes when she couldn't sleep, she'd roll on her back in the nest and critique the assassination attempt in her mind.

Did he think his dumb plan through? Or did he just react without thinking? It was going to be obvious he killed a bunch of kids, whether she survived or not.

Or maybe he would have just said that the rogue killed her own kits to prevent them from becoming Clan cats. They'd probably believe that.

Either way it was sloppy. Could have had more kits if he didn't kill her sibs.

She had connections within the Clan. A foster, hunting buddies, apprentice. She was kind to them, especially when they were useful. But...

It feels like she's not like them. Like they have variables to their behavior that she doesn't. Drives and desires that are pointless, sometimes even frustrating.

Like the concept of "honor." Ridiculous. Every single person who talks about it is hypocritical about it in some way, and it causes unnecessary fights in the camp and on the border because of ridiculous ego.

She just performs it because the other cats value it-- and when people like you, you get what you want.

I'm not sure who her mate was, or if it was even just one. In any case, when she found herself pregnant, she declared Queen's Rights. I feel like she might have had a fling with someone, but got annoyed by their clingy behavior.

When her daughters were born, Bracketkit and Lizardkit, she felt pride.

Because... they didn't belong to someone else. They weren't even really ShadowClan's. They were hers.

For the first time since her mother and littermates had been taken away from her, she felt like she was looking at family. People who would always be with her.

But that didn't last...

...because a chance encounter only a few moons later reconnected her with someone who remembered her.

Not a littermate, but an older sister. Marmalade. She couldn't believe that Pixie was alive.

This is a WIP zone because I'm not sure, yet, if I'm keeping Hal's attack on ShadowClan. In any case, they continued to reconnect for moons.

The fact that she was remembered, that she could talk openly about what happened, and that Marmalade wanted her and her kittens to come home made Puffballburr's stomach flutter with excitement. She felt valuable.

And with the war getting worse and worse, this was absolutely the best choice for her kittens as well. They would be safer with BloodClan than they would with ShadowClan.

No longer would she be Puffballburr. Her name was Pixie.

ENTER: LIZARDSTRIPE

Puffballburr wasn't a bad mother, but it would feel a lot better to be Lizardstripe if she could have the simplicity to just say she was.

Her earliest memories of her mom and her sibling were outside of the camp on a cool, clear spring night, laying in soft marshgrass. Puff was laying on her back with her hind legs bowed out, a kit tucked under each paw, pressed to her fluffy, warm chest. Her face was turned upward, quietly, at the moon, as her daughters slept peacefully.

She's not sure how long after she'd opened her eyes that this memory took place, but Lizardkit looked up towards the bright, starry sky... and she remembered that the light hurt.

Her needs were always taken care of, but Puffballburr hated explaining things.

You learned quick to treat your questions like a valuable resource, and to listen carefully.

Lizardkit was sharp, much sharper than her sister. She caught onto the way that her mother viewed relationships in a very transactional sort of way-- and stayed aware of her balance.

And had to consider the cost of doing the things her mother was fond of, versus what the other kittens and queens in the nursery expected of her.

What Puffball didn't realize when her children were born was that they were family, but they were also ShadowClan. Even if this was not something she had ever felt a connection to.

Deep down, it didn't truly click with her that her children were not extensions of herself.

And when Lizardkit was a child, learning history from the Educator and getting involved in more of the Clan's goings-on, Puffballburr spent less and less time with her. Because she was reconnecting with Marmalade.

When Bracket and Lizard had their apprentice ceremony, Puffballburr was not there.

Lizardpaw's mentor was the infamously powerful, chaotic fighter, Finchflight. Bracketpaw was assigned to Brackenfoot. (There is an earlier post suggesting that Lizi and Finf were going to be related. I decided to make them mentor/apprentice instead.)

Finchflight immediately began to stress the importance of loyalty. Being one of the younger cats who had sympathized with Snowtuft and knowing the secret behind Puffballburr's beginnings, he nurtured a pain within Lizardstripe. Encouraged her to let the distance between her and her family grow.

Eventually, Puffball told her children that they were going to leave ShadowClan. They had family in the town, would be safe there, could start a brand new life together.

And Lizardpaw was shocked.

It was like everything Finchflight had said was true.

And they were going to leave her.

She reacted violently to the suggestion, attacking her mother. Told them that she was going to expose them, lead a patrol right back to their new hiding place, bring them "back home."

In defense of Puffballburr, Bracketpaw brawled with her sister. They fought viciously, until their mother separated them with a desperate, devastating whack to Lizardpaw's head.

Laying dazed on the ground, she heard an apology before passing out.

When she woke up, she was safely protected within a blackthorn bush-- with a nick on the outside of her ear.

She stayed out there for hours, not knowing what to do, where her family had gone, or what she was going to say when she got home.

But, looking at her reflection in a puddle of water, she became so angry at the idea of this being her first scar that she ripped the other ear, on the opposite side.

When the search party found her, they asked what had happened to her. If she had seen her mother or her sister, or if something had gone wrong.

"Nah. Took a nap to get away from them. Ripped my ears on the thornbush."

Later, when she would be interrogated or questioned by people she didn't want to lie to, she would tell a half-truth;

"I did it to myself. Liked how it looked. Last I saw of Puffballburr and Bracketpaw, they were upset I'd done it and left, so I took a nap."

She didn't mind that her Clanmates thought this was weird. She didn't care about whispers that it was all done for attention, or that it was dishonorable to do such a thing and they probably met a predator after storming off, and she didn't even mind the gossip guessing at the "real" reason behind her ripped ears.

The only people who ever got the whole truth were the Forget-Me-Nots. After their disappearance, Lizardstripe didn't talk about her family for years, insisting upon having no further details. Even if it meant that mystery and suspicion would hang around her like a cloud.

BLIZZARDWING: KIN OF SNOWTUFT

Snowtuft's daughter was named Lilyfur. She was a kit when her father slaughtered Pixie's family.

When her mother left her father, she also distanced herself from him. This was something Snowtuft was outraged and saddened by.

But Lilyfur's mother couldn't stand the idea of a kitten-killer trying to stay close to her daughter. How could he look at little babies, the same age as his own child, and kill them?

Lilykit grew up very conflicted. She remembered how much she loved her dad, understood that he was a kitten murderer, but he continued to be so kind to her into adulthood.

It was hard to think of him as someone who could do something so horrible.

Earlier draft had Lilyfur die and her kittens were raised by their kin, Snowtuft, but I'm currently leaning towards Lilyfur being alive but just letting him be an active part of their lives-- in spite of her discomfort.

Because the more time he spent in her life, paradoxically, the more obsessed he became with all the "time he lost out on."

Which ended up including entertaining a lot of conversations about how he'd never done anything wrong, ever, and everyone was mean to him.

Lilyfur: "ok maybe he's not evil but my dad is really annoying <:/ but he's really lonely. He needs me. and i cant take him away from his grandkits"

From this, what Blizzardwing absorbed was the idea that love and forgiveness was always tolerating your family no matter what. This would express itself in his toxic relationship with Hollyflower.

But Blizzardwing now has a sibling. I haven't settled on a name yet-- but I'm playing with him either being Angelshade or Silkflower.

I really like the name "Angelshade" as a reference to the notoriously deadly white mushroom, the Destroying Angel. But also. someone in the audience asked if I could give the prefix "angel" to a cat because it's their name, and I feel a little bad about giving it to a character who is going to be one of the nastiest little background characters in all of BB lmaooooo

i'm so sorry angel (positive), is it okay if there's an angel (derogatory)

ANYWAY, Untitled Blizzardwing Sibling grew up adoring his grandpaw.

Radicalization can be a slow creep. He loved peepaw, so if he was asked when he was young, he would happily repeat the adjusted version of history he was taught.

And then when Snowtuft died, he wanted to remember him fondly. The story slowly changed, becoming more "accurate," just getting more comfortable with the idea of dehumanizing outsiders.

So what, if he killed some kittypet? And if some kits had already been indoctrinated into their kittypet life? It was still a gain for ShadowClan, in the end.

One summer day, without warning, he came home with two little kittens. One was white, one was brown, both had the pinkish tinge of poorly cleaned blood.

He grinned playfully at Brokenstar, and claimed Queen's Rights in a singsong tone.

Because of that rite, no one could ask where he'd gotten those kittens from. But everyone knew he'd done something grim.

Those kits, Whitewater and Brownstone, grew up under the crescendo of Brokenstar's reign, both taking part in the WindClan Massacre.

Whitewater's bloody story includes joining Mudclaw's Rebellion, giving birth to three kits, a souring relationship with her son, condemnation to the Dark Forest, ends in the Battle of the True Eclipse after killing her grandson.

Brownstone's tale includes a relationship with a WindClan cat during the bloodiest period in the history of their two Clans.

And their father's story ends in Chelford, after being exiled from ShadowClan by Nightstar. His canon counterpart is the Unnamed White Rogue from Rise of Scourge, who tries to order Scourge to be his personal servant.

(the other two cats are Braketail, the "Offbrand Brokenstar" pale tabby, and Pirateheart, the gray rogue with green eyes. Glitch Warriors for the pile!)

[the-owl-tree]

What happens after gray wing dies in your au? What happens to bumble?

When Sky pulls back from his brother’s dead body, watching the blood drop down highrock, the sky clears. The storm begins to move on to reveal the bright full moon, it’s light casting a shadow with the trees of the five great oaks- a shadow that divides each group’s leader. It’s clear what must happen, that Gray’s attempt to keep them together only postponed the inevitable: they are to separate.

The cats that fought alongside Gray and died are not along the spirits who come to them. They are not accepted into the afterlife that is currently being formed. Their fates lie somewhere else alongside Gray’s restless and angry spirit (a spirit that is invoked when fights break out at a gathering).

I imagine this is the era where the base of the Clans is established: ranks, hierarchies, borders. It’s not the brand era of violence and war that comes to define them, but it is where the seeds are planted. Otherwise, Moth Flight is still the one to discover the moonstone, and I might shuffle the code a bit but otherwise it’s fairly similar in who creates what.

Bumble I’d initially envisioned as the sole survivor of the massacre of Gray’s supporters. She’s not a fighter but she was valued for her kindness, honesty, and networking skills that she and Dove shared. I initially wanted her to be the sole keeper of the original story but I’m thinking of making my BloodClan Founder-ish Bumble au canon to the dotc au. She sows the seeds of a community, creates some light etiquette to what would eventually lead to the creation of the Clan when Scourge emerges. She’s far from a badass leader but she’s the kind of leader that the scared city cats (some who escaped the Clans) need.