#i haven’t even gotten to omens and sign reading yet ahhg

[clanborn]

How does starclan work in Alaska clans versus canon? In the same vein how to leader lives work, how many do each leader have currently?

Ah I’ve been waiting for this question and the answer is complicated and not fully developed yet but the vagueness is sort of inherent to the clans’ beliefs.

So the clans do not believe in a Starclan or any kind of specific afterlife. The question of what comes after death is a question entirely unknown to the cats of the clans, though naturally most cats have their own individual ideas regarding it.

Instead, the cats of the clans mainly worship a set of four patron gods, four large carnivores: a lynx, a bear, a sea lion, and a wolf.

Each god serves as a patron for each clan, as well as a patron of other natural phenomena.

- The Lynx: Patron god of all cats, of Iceclan, of death, winter, games, snow, and time

- The Bear: Patron god of Brookclan, life, spring, rivers, change, cycles

- The Wolf: Patron god of Stoneclan, wits, autumn, community, crafts, lakes

- The Sea Lion: Patron god of Oceanclan, the sea, summer, fortune, strength, and challenges

I refer to these gods in the singular, but the cats worship these animals as one unit. Any lynx would be considered The Lynx. The clan cats themselves view their own lives this way, each as an extension of a single conglomerate, of Catkin as a whole (though Oceanclan has some philosophical objection to this).

Along with this, any sort of creature is considered its own sort of deity, just as minor ones compared to the ones the cats follow. For example, the snowshoe hare is a creature of spiritual importance, a symbol of sacrifice and deference to the gods.

The leaders each receive nine lives like in the original series, a precedent set by the first clan cat/leader, Stonestar, who fought a lynx for nine lives (an origin story I need to finish soon). All of the original leaders of the four clans won favor with one of the patron gods, each earning nine lives in turn, and swearing fealty in return for the privilege to inhabit the Bay.

The lives the leaders receive may provide insight into the afterlife of catkin: when new leaders get their lives in the Moon Cave, each one appears to be a glimpse of a cat’s life lived before, suggesting some sort of cycle in play. And cycles are relevant to the beliefs of the clans, specifically a spiritual emphasis on water and its cycles.

As for how many lives each leader currently has, I haven’t really figured out specifics since it’s not super relevant to Event Horizon, but Sandstar definitely has the least due to his age and reckless nature, followed by Shalestar, who is also an older leader. Fogstar is very cautious and has not lost many lives despite her age, and Aspenstar still has many lives as well due to being the youngest, though she has lost several as a sacrifice while serving her clanmates.

This is only a bare bones overview of the clans’ religion but there’s a lot to cover and I wanted to make sure I answered your questions lol 😭