#next up - the Skyclan Stuff

[theanoninyourinbox]

New Longstar AU - A Journey and A New Land

Between Books

Brambleclaw asks for his suffix, claiming it as his way to claim power over his dishonorable Sire.  That night, he wakes in a familiar place – the clearing where Tiger”star” was killed, and Bloodclan run off.  Brambleclaw bows as his father, belly leaking red and black and thorny vines, approaches.  Tigerstar’s grin is all teeth and menace, and he congratulates his kit for keeping the Clan’s trust in him…but this is only the start of their plans.

In Riverclan, Feathertail and Stormfur make their way.  The siblings notice that the former loners Hawkpaw and Mothpaw bear a small resemblance to Tiger”star”, but agree that even IF they were somehow his kits, that the blood of their sire makes no difference on who they will be. 

In Shadowclan, Tawnypelt feels the weight of her sire’s sins around her neck.  With the help of Runningnose and Rowanclaw, she begins to heal.

In Windclan, Hopfoot announces his retirement, and Mudclaw is promoted to Deputy.  Hopfoot’s adopted son Crowpaw and niece Nightcloud prepare a nest especially for him.

In the Hope’s Rest Clowder, Darkstripe and Sasha have been noticing more signs of Twolegs around their Camp, and begin making plans to move the Clowder entirely.  A few cats express wishing to live in a forest.

In another place, an elderly cat named Skywatcher gathers Kittypets and Loners under his wings, hoping that others will come to take his burden and delight of a Clowder, and make them a Clan, before he passes away.

The Quest

In Thunderclan, the three kits of Longstar and Flamewish are being apprenticed.  Tactician Graystripe has deduced that Swiftpaw’s anxiety would lead to her being a terrible Hunter or Brawler, and suggests Nursery Guard, which she happily accepts, apprenticing to Goldenflower and Brackenfur.  Foxpaw wants to be a Warrior, and apprentices under Brightheart as her lead Mentor, with other cats there to help her learn other skills. Darkpaw asks to be mentored in the art of Healing, and apprentices under Fireheart and Cinderpelt.

Foxpaw is annoyed that Brambleclaw keeps interrupting her training sessions to give advice and tells him so to his face.  He sputters, and gives a non-apology, but does back off.  Brightheart thinks that he must be trying to be a better cat than his father, but Snowthorn just thinks he’s trying too hard.  Shrewpaw makes funny faces behind Brambleclaw’s back during the non-apology and makes Foxpaw laugh.

Swiftpaw and Foxpaw tell their parents that they can sometimes talk to each other in their minds, and Historian Mousefur assures the worried parents that twin births sometimes Do That – it might be a Star Blessing, but that’s not always the case.

Darkpaw beings trying to figure out how to heal minds, as his father sometimes freezes up around the smell or sounds of dogs, and some cats are terrified of thunderstorms and even a hint of smoke on the wind.  Fireheart asks Starclan for guidance on how to best help his nephew, and the Spirit of Goosefeather begins showing up with Yellowfang to build this new kind of healing.

Foxpaw begins having dreams about distant salty waters and a badger with starry eyes, with the sun drowning, and talks to Fireheart about it. He suggests it may be related to the sightings of Twolegs around the forest, and takes Foxpaw and Longstar to the Moonstone.  They have a collective vision of the Clan lands being torn up by yellow Monsters, and of the Hope’s Rest Clowder being chased out of their camp by Twolegs with long silver looped sticks, and Longstar immediately starts making plans.

He sends a warning with Graystripe to the Hope Clowder, and warnings to the other Clans.  Riverclan denies that anything like that could happen, Windclan starts making preparations, and Shadowclan admits that Twolegs have been marking some of their trees with orange markings.  Hope Clowder is already mid move to a new Twoleg Den, one with more Twoleg decorations on it, but agree to be prepared to evacuate if Twolegs are sighted.

After some time has passed, Yellowfang appears to the whole LongFlame family one night, and says that Foxpaw needs to go on a Quest for a new home, as the Twolegs are planning to turn their territories into more Twoleg Dens.  Flamewish makes Yellowfang promise to keep an eye on Foxpaw, and Yellowfang says that there are other cats from the Clans coming too.  Foxpaw says goodbye to her family, her mentors, and Shrewpaw, before leaving.  She meets Tawnypelt, Crowpaw, and Feathertail and Stormfur at the border, but is bothered greatly when Brambleclaw shows up, saying he’ll keep her safe.

The Questers make their way through the Twoleg Territory, skirting past Hope Colony’s old home, and eventually meet an old tom named Purdy. He guides them the rest of the way, becoming the Quester’s Grandpa, and they are sad to see him go.  Crowpaw, Foxpaw, and Feathertail become close friends, with Tawnypelt and Brambleclaw bonding a little.  Tawnypelt notes that her brother is a little distant, but chalks it up to their separation. Stormfur thinks Foxpaw is cute, but she’s also not an adult so he shakes it off.  Crowpaw talks about how his parents found him – on the edge of the territory, sopping wet and terrified of unclear water.  Ashfoot spoke of seeing a ghostly cat running from him, and assumed that was his sire or queen.

(They will never know it was a cat named Pine, who once walked the world in Thunderclan.  He refused the gifts of Starclan for ages, and once he saved the innocent kit, he finally entered the fields he had abstained from.  For once, he did the right thing for a kit of his bloodline.)

They meet with the starry-eyed badger Midnight, who confirms that their home is to be destroyed, so they must Journey past the great mountain to find their new home.  As they leave, Midnight catches Brambleclaw by himself, and warns him that the path he walks leads only to a sudden sharp end.  He shakes her off and continues on his way.

The group goes up the great mountain, and are stopped by a patrol of cats wearing mud and berry paint in swirling patterns. They are escorted to the Coldstone Clowder camp inside of a cave, with a great waterfall, a wide floor, and great stone teeth hanging from the ceiling.  Feathertail shivers as she looks up, noting that they look so fragile.  One of the cats that escorted them in, Brook, states that they are the teeth of the Sky Cat, which protect them from evil.  The Questers meet with Stoneteller, both Leader and Seer, who advises them that he has Foreseen a silver cat stopping their Punishment - a Sharp Clawed Spirit that has tormented them for ages.  When Stormfur asks what their Clowder was being punished for, Stoneteller sighs, and tells them that the Clowder has forgotten their crimes, though they must have been great.  Foxpaw disagrees, this Spirit sounds like a Geist, and decides they must free the Clowder from their torments.

A plan is set – some freshkill is used to lure the massive Geist into part of the cavern, and then the Hunters, Stormfur, Brambleclaw, and Tawnypelt will leap on it and batter it.  Crowpaw, Foxpaw, and Feathertail will distract it, along with some of the faster Hunters and Scouts.  The plan starts perfectly – the great Geist comes into the cavern, its birch-bark pelt curling and jagged, its eyes dripping river weeds and mud.  Foxpaw streaks over its paws, dodging slime and tree sap, and the attackers jump on its back, peeling the bark back farther to release murky water.  This is what sends the plan reeling – Crowpaw sees the water and freezes.  The hunters are battered, and Brambleclaw curses Crowpaw for cowardice.  Feathertail sees a starry cat with silver fur, and sees what she has to do.

She runs for a craggy path, up to the stone teeth, and

She

   Leaps

      And

         F

           A

               L

                     L

                         S

                               Taking the largest stone tooth with her

It CRACKS into the Geist’s back, pinning it to the cave floor, sending sap and water and mud out in a wild wave, soaking Crowpaw and Foxpaw, who had leapt to Crowpaw’s defense.    The Geist scrabbles at the ground, and slowly whisps away like fog in a beam of sunlight, leaving only the clawmarks and the stone tooth, embedded in the floor as if it had grown there.  And atop it, Feathertail, silent and still.

Stormfur wails, rushing to the limp body of his sister, as Stoneteller and the other Coldstone Clowder cats gather incredulously.  Crowpaw leaps up to his friend, and screams. SHE’S STILL ALIVE!!!!!

Stormfur and Stoneteller carefully leverage the fallen cat to the softest nest the Clowder has, and Crowpaw lays at her head, apologizing over and over.  Stoneteller shoos him, and Crowpaw weeps against Foxpaw, who assures him that it wasn’t his fault, that any one of them could have freaked out.  Stoneteller declares that Feathertail will live, but he is unsure of what the damage to her back will do.  Brook comforts Stormfur, and Foxpaw makes Crowpaw laugh a little by joking about Brook making moves on Stormfur.

After a day, Feathertail wakes, but she can’t feel her hindquarters at all.  She stops Crowpaw from apologizing, and assures her friends that she will do her best to heal, but they have a job to do.  Stoneteller promises to take care of Feathertail like one of his own Clowder, and Brook swears to personally keep Feathertail cared for.  After a tearful goodbye, the five remaining Questers head down the mountain.  They break through a fog bank, and behold the vista below them.

A grand lake, surrounded by woodland and marshland and moorland and a winding river.  Birds fly past the group unafraid, and Crowpaw spies deer feeding in the distance.  A small Twoleg Den sits on one side, with a Barn and strange creatures dotting the Twoleg Territory there.  Near where the river meets the lake, another Twoleg Den sits, with a structure jutting out into the lake.  It gleams with the rising sun, and it’s as close to perfect as the Questers will ever find.

The group heads back to the Coldstone Clowder, and after transporting Feathertail to see the view, the five Clan cats head back the way they came.  Foxpaw tries to send Swiftpaw good vibes, but gets a strange feeling – like anxiety creeping up her tail and rooting in her spine.  Something is terribly wrong. And as they come into view of the Clan territories, and see the devastation that the Twolegs have wrought, and understand.

The Time Between

While the Quest was going on, the Twolegs had begun their attack on the territories.  All the Clans were under threat of starvation.  Windclan found themselves poisoned by prey.  Shrewpaw was nearly killed by a Monster – only saved by a shining Swiftspirit pulling him out of the way.  His leg was still broken, but he would live.  And worst of all, the Twolegs had set traps!  The Clans would have lost so many, save that Sandstorm led a rescue mission – at the cost of the Monster holding the prisoners stealing the brave molly away.

The Hope Clowder had better luck at least – their new home was safe, as their old camp had been destroyed by Monsters as well, but at least they had a place to stay! 

Preparations were made to move.  Seers chipped pieces of the Moonstone away, to bring with them to their new home.  Herbalists gathered their plants into carriable containers.  Queens and Kings worked with Crafters to make kit-carriers.  Hunters and Trackers took down every prey they found, and butchered the meat into transportable parcels.

And then the Questers returned.

The Journey

Foxpaw fell into her family’s embrace, crying with joy.  Goldenflower held Brambleclaw, who reassured her he was FINE MA.  Stormfur informed Leopardstar of Feathertail’s injury, and was welcomed back by Hawkfrost and Mothwing.  Tawnypelt rushed into Rowanclaw, holding him like he was a treasure.  Crowpaw ran into camp calling for his parents, and was swept up in their embrace, Nightcloud and her mate Gorseflicker dancing around them as Tallstar watched.  Foxpaw was named Foxflight for her swift return, and she congratulated Swiftpool on her calm name.  And Crowpaw requested he be named for the bravest cat he knew, and became Crowfeather.

Within three days, the dens were dismantled, the histories gathered, and every cat accounted for. But some of the Elders were too tired and weak, and Mudfur is recovering from an illness.  As the Clans walked through the Twoleg Territory, a group of Hope Clowder cats stopped them – their leaders wanted to talk to the Leaders of the Clans before they left. 

The Leaders, and the Elders so they could rest, were led to Darkstripe and Sasha, and Longstar asked what they wanted.  Sasha explains that some of their more spiritually sided cats have had visions of a distant Clan of cats that need help – do they know anything about this?  As she speaks, stars fall through a crack in the wall, and Willowpelt emerges.  She greets the tearful Darkstripe, and confirms that the records are missing something – there once were five Clans. 

The fifth, Skyclan were banished after the Leaders decided the fifth Tree at what became Fourtrees meant that Skyclan needed to leave.  They were forced to split, some joining the Coldstone Clowder, others became Kittypets or Loners, and some joined the remaining Clans. The Leaders then forbid the Historians from ever speaking of Skyclan, leading to everyone forgetting them  This was terribly wrong of the past Leaders, and now some of their descendants needed aid.  Mudfur raises his head – I can do this.  Frostfur agrees, followed by Loudbelly, and a Windclan Elder named Hollowback, then a Shadowclan Elder named Yewtail.  Their Leaders confer, and agree as well, so long as the Hope Colony cats going along understand they’ll have to care for these treasured Elders.  The Colony cats are brought in, and fervently agree, one tom named Macguyver vows to see them to Skyclan if it’s the last thing he does.  The Elders say goodbye to the Clans, and the mass of cats departs.

As the Clan cats go up the mountain, an apprentice named Smokepaw almost falls off of a cliff, but is saved by Russetfur.  This sets off a chain reaction that leads the Clans to become closer.  Queens and Kings huddle together, their kits becoming friends.  Apprentices chatter with each other, sharing tongues and stories. Historians compare notes, and Crafters compare techniques.  Hunters and Trackers share notes and bring down prey together.  Swiftpool finds herself becoming enamored with Crowfeather, and Crowfeather begins getting a crush on Swiftpool.  Foxflight is not blind and needles them cheerfully, with the help of Shrewleg.  Notably, Onewhisker keeps close to a slowly wilting Tallstar, and seems to be brown-nosing, at least according to Nightcloud.  He only leaves the elderly Leader’s side to talk with Brambleclaw.

When the Clans reach the Coldstone Clowder, they shelter for a night in the cavern, Graystripe being reunited with Feathertail.  She gets teary at Crowfeather’s name, and she and Stormfur decide to stay behind in the Coldstone Clowder, feeling more at home there.

The Clans marvel at the sight of the New Territory, but some cats wonder if Starclan came with them.  These doubts are erased when every Senior Seer AND Healer get similar visions of past Seers or Healers, assuring them Starclan reaches as far as Silverpelt.  As the cats bed down for the night, Barkface summons the Leaders to meet with Tallstar.  When they enter the bush where Tallstar lies, it becomes very apparent what is happening. 

Tallstar is dying, for the last time.

Mudclaw and Onewhisker stay at the entrance, Onewhisker shooting glares at the Deputy.  Tallstar weakly asks Leopardstar, Longstar, and Blackstar to help his chosen Deputy guide his clan, and as he passes, names…Mudclaw.  Onewhisker storms off, and Mudclaw lowers his head, mourning.

As this is happening, Hawkfrost and Mothwing meet with Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt, having deduced that the four share the same sire.  As they’re talking, Foxflight and Crowfeather trot over to say hello.

And the Riverclan siblings freeze.

Foxflight asks if they sat on slugs, and Mothwing shakily says that she’s seeing a Spirit, Hawkfrost’s wavering voice rising.  It’s our brother.  Tadpole.  We lost him when he…drowned… Crowfeather tilts his head.  I’m not named Tadpole, but…you look familiar…and tells his story.  Mothwing tears up – it’s you – oh Tadpole you’re ALIVE!!!  Hawkfrost is blubbering, beaming hopefully. Crowfeather, shaking a little, smiles weakly – I think I remember you, oh Moth, oh Hawk!  The three tumble into a teary embrace, with Foxflight and Tawnypelt cheering.  Brambleclaw looks…angry, that the attention is off of him, but hides it quickly. Of COURSE he would be excited about another sibling, he’s just shocked!

The next morning, as Windclan mourns Tallstar, many wonder how Mudclaw will gain his nine lives, with no Moonstone.  Darkpaw wonders as well, but is distracted by a tortie molly with a starry pelt.  He grabs Sorreltail, and they follow the cat until she leads them to a pool of clear, shining water.  With familiar shining stones at the bottom.  Darkpaw and Sorreltail race back to the group excitedly, and when the Healers come to the pool, they collectively agree that this will be their new Moonstone.  The Moonpool.  Darkpaw is given his Healer’s name on the spot by Cinderpelt – Darkmoon.

Settling In and Blood Spilt

The Clans settle into their new camps, and it’s busy for quite a while.  Camp Guards working with Crafters to weave new Dens, Herbalists and Healers planting their medicines and locating more, and Trackers and Hunters finding and tracking the lives of the new prey groups.  Foxflight finds herself bothered by Brambleclaw, finding solace in her pseudo-uncle Ashfur and his mate Flyshadow, and her best friend Shrewleg.  Eventually, they are forced to work together to drive off some Rogues that were harassing the border patrols of Thunderclan and Shadowclan.  Blackstar is furious that Longstar stepped in, but comically backtracks when Flamewish steps up. She had recently helped dive out a badger, and is Not Amused by Blackstar’s nonsense. We help each other, Moronstar!

Unfortunately, Onewhisker leads a revolt against Mudstar, claiming that Tallstar named HIM Deputy on his deathbed, and that Mudstar is a False Star.  This accusation brings Shadowclan supporters, and a fight breaks out, with Riverclan and Thunderclan supporting Mudstar.  As Onewhisker yowls angrily against Mudstar, a tree falls upon him, and he is crushed.  His body is retrieved, and the tree becomes the bridge to the new Gathering Place.  (Brambleclaw seethes, as his ally falls.  But he still has the Foxflight plan)

After some time, a Barn Cat named Daisy meets a patrol exploring the edge of the Twoleg Den.  She asks if they protect kits, which Cloudtail affirms.  She brings her three kits, Berrykit, Hazelkit, and Mousekit, to Thunderclan, saying that the Twolegs took her last litter, and she refuses to lose another to them.  Longstar welcomes her, and asks if she wishes to have a Clan name.  She passes, stating that she was named to honor her mother, and joins Thunderclan.  Cloudtail is attentive to her, which bothers Brightheart.  Thankfully, she communicates with her mate, and the three cats come to a romantic agreement.  The kits are delighted to have three parents!

Swiftpool and Crowfeather begin having a secret relationship, though not quite as secret as they think.  Hopfoot and Ashfoot exchange glances when their son looks so cheery, and Snowthorn pawspeaks jokes to Darkmoon about Swiftpool being obvious as a snowfall in Greenleaf.  Eventually, they decide to run away together, thinking that their Clans would never let them be together.  But that night they are stopped by Midnight, who tells them that her kin are attacking Thunderclan Camp.  The pair split up, Crowfeather running to Windclan for backup, and Swiftpool rushing for home.

She enters camp to pandemonium.  There are at least a half-dozen badgers, and she leaps at the one atop of Sootfur, saving his life.  As she helps drive them off, she hears Darkmoon scream in anguish, then sees him pin a badger with a bloody face.  Behind him, in front of the Healer’s Den, is a downed Cinderpelt.  Suddenly, a Windclan Battle Patrol bursts into camp, finishing off the badgers.  Swiftpool mourns the Healer alongside Darkmoon, Fireheart, and Flamewish, as Longstar confers with Mudstar.  Eventually, she and Crowfeather are called to meet with their leaders, and they confess their affair, waiting for their punishments.

But instead, Flamewish whoops delightedly, Mudstar sighs and mutters about idiots not talking to their Leaders, and Longstar pats them gently, you are not subtle kits.  Right there, Windclan and Thunderclan create a cross-clan relationship rule – so long as the Clans are at peace with each other, cats may be in relationships.  The moon remains bright and clear, and Swiftpool and Crowfeather have official permission to date.  The rule is added to the code at large, though Leopardstar seems somewhat iffy about it.  But if the Stars approve, then who is she to deny them?

After some time, Brambleclaw keeps trying to flirt with Foxflight, even though she’s mates with Shrewleg.  Eventually Fireheart steps in, and gives Brambleclaw a talk about consent, and taking NO for an answer. This is interrupted by Cloudtail rushing into camp with an injured Berrykit, who snuck out and got his tail stuck in a Twoleg snare.  He loses the tail, but lives, and is scolded for leaving camp by himself.  Brambleclaw gets an idea.

He meets every so often with Hawkfrost on the border, the pair complaining and training together.  Hawkfrost admits to once having a dream of Tiger”star” calling him, but denied it after seeing a moth float by. It reminded him of the one time that he tried to fake a sign to make Mothpaw a Healer, but there was already a moth’s wing at the Healer’s Den.  The pair both wish to be Deputies, and plan to become Leaders together.

On the evening of their last meeting, Hawkfrost feels a sense of unease.  As he approaches the meeting place, he hears a commotion, and finds Longstar trapped by a Twoleg snare on his neck, Brambleclaw standing over him.  Hawkfrost is horrified as Brambleclaw speaks, help me kill him, and Whitestorm when he makes me Deputy, and I’ll help you kill your opposition.  We will rule TOGETHER!

And Hawkfrost?

Says NO!

The pair clash, with Hakfrost getting knocked around by the Miretrees-trained Brambleclaw, eventually being thrown next to Longstar.  He sees the snare-thorn, and as Brambleclaw leaps at him, grabs the snare-thorn in his mouth

                                                                               And

                                                                                        Stabs

Brambleclaw falls on Hawkfrost, and the Riverclan tom shoves his half-brother off, the snare-thorn lodged deeply in the Traitor’s throat.  He frees Longstar, who coughs weakly, and thanks Hawkfrost for helping him.  Blood spills into the lake. Hawkfrost vows to never become Leader – he will support his clan, but the shine of Leadership has been forever tainted by hot blood and shocked amber eyes.

(Brambleclaw wakes, coughing up blood and black ooze.  His father sneers, what a failure…but we will try again)

And Swiftpool realizes she’s pregnant.

(Crowfeather denies that he fainted, it was a Manly Swoon. Foxflight disagrees heartily)

[nickelbag610-blog]

Foam (Warrior ver.) of Stanley and Stanford Pines

Here is Stanley and Stanford as warrior Cats. And as s bonus I put them next to the other Pine twins. As I made the Stan twins have some features I put on Mabel and Dipper. No the size isn't relevant I just accidentally made the Stan twins smaller.

Stan and Ford are Sliver Speckled Tabbies. With green eyes.

Stan Pines isn't surpost to be cross-eyed he was surpost to be looking at the camera but I messed up so he's a little cross-eyed. He has a collar to represent his gold chain. Due to damage he can't hold up his left ear. His tail is also surpost to be a bit scruffy. You may notice his paws aren't part of his body and that's because as I was finishing cutting out the base. My dog had jumped up and started barking at the door. Causing me to loose construction and cut off one of his paws. So I just cut them all off and made new ones. Since he was going to have white paws anyways. But I don't like how it looks so I won't be doing that again. He has the same white muzzle as Mabel along with the same white chest, belly, tail tip, and paws as her as well.

Ford Pines has black around his eyes to represent his glasses. The blue glitter on his ears are repressions of his deal he made with Bill. It was a way to permanently connect Ford to him. They rap around the ears to represent Bills hold he has on him and to represent how Bill is always telling him to do stuff. He is has a similar white face marking as Dipper. As well as a white cheat, belly, paw and tail tips as well. While not shown he has six toes.

To note in my AU idea I'm still kinda workshopping they were sent to the warrior universe and turned into cats by Bill/ the portal malfunction. So they weren't born into the Warrior universe but rather end up there. I want to set the story I'm working on during the A Vision of Shadows arc in Warriors as that is my favorite arc. But unsure for when during Gravity Falls universe. But have a general idea. In the story I was to focus on the family aspect plus I don't want to juggle way to many characters so Soo and Wendy aren't here. But I may make Warrior Cats version of them for fun. But in the story Dipper and Mabel are taken in by Thunderclan a little after Violetkit and Twigkit get separated. So to prevent the same thing happening to them and because the clan believes they are part of Alderpaw's vision. Bramblestar tells the other leaders that Dipper and Mabel are Daisy's kits. Named Pinepaw and Maplepaw as cover. I debated separating Mabel and Dipper into Riverclan and Windclan. But it would just make everything way to bloated so I'm keeping them in Thunderclan. As for Stan and Ford they are taken in by Skyclan as Leafstar gets a dream from Starclan telling her to take them in. Plus since being kicked from the gorge she needs more warriors. And because Stan and Ford don't know what else to do they go with Skyclan in hopes of finding Mabel and Dipper. This is as far as I got but I'm re-read AVOS currently and and writing an outline. I will drop a link to my first chapter when it's done.

[everybody-loves-purdy]

I feel like the Stormclan thing is not as outlandish as everyone presents it to be. It makes sense that it didn’t last and that it was a failed attempt; so of course the clans don’t want to expose that kind of drama to everybody and get them wondering about what happened…

I also like that they combined the Wildcats and the normal cats. I assume the next super edition will be either about the past (although I feel that that’s kind of unnecessary given the amount of explanation Galestar gave us) or pounce, stretch and hunt… or maybe Icewing 

SkyClan is far more outlandish conceptually than StormClan, Firestar’s Quest hit the clan lore with a sledgehammer with that. I feel like if people accepted SkyClan as a thing when they first found out about that, then they should be able to accept this.

I reckon personally it will be following up the river of blood stuff, and have the next SE take place between Star and The Elders’ Quest, with my money being on Icewing as the pov. That’s just my personal hunch, and I have a history of being very wrong about these kinds of things lol

[bonefall]

If you flip the spade upside down and put it on Gorseclaw’s neck, it could kind of look like a tie

Hello anon with the most convenient ask in my inbox, you have been selected to receive a FLOOD OF SKETCHES

I had only drawn Gorseclaw and Ripplestar before, and I'm about to do a redesign of Larkstripe so that she has the "hearts" motif that her son gets. I did a bunch of sketches just to try and figure stuff out so, messy post

Glossary:

Ripplestar

Gorseclaw and Spottedpelt

Larkstripe

Birdflight, Marshscar

After I post this I'm gonna jump back into Clip to play with Cloudstar next

RIPPLESTAR

[ID: A sketch of BB!Ripplestar. The text points out his major features and reads, "Heterochromia: Amber + Brown." Smooth scruff, with an arrow that points out the shape. Ginger on 1 side. Deer-eared. 3 layers with an arrow that points out the three stacks of fur on his chest. Wooly, kinda like a half-shorn sheep.]

I've actually drawn Ripplestar a lot in the margins of my notes and such, so this design's pretty solid.

I change the side the hearts are on, plus the number of hearts, literally every single time I've ever drawn him lmao. It dozen madder.

What DOES matter though is that there's a HEART over his BRIGHTER eye. I use it as a bit of a visual metaphor, if he's trying to size you up or negotiate with you, he keeps you in the bright eye. When he trusts you or becomes comfortable with you in some way, he turns the brown eye on you.

So in most scenes where he's not talking to family I imagine he's not fully looking at his conversational partner. Especially on the Highrock as leader of ShadowClan, because the layout makes the leaders sit side-by-side. Might as well play with that simple logistic fact, y'know?

He does this because I imagine this marking kind of intimidates people. It's like the ginger of his eye socket has set his iris ablaze with fire, while the other is as cold as rain-soaked peat.

The ear on the "colorful" side is also orange. All of his orange is on one side, except for his tail-tip.

He's actually distantly related to Nightcloud-- his Honor Sire (who was known but not involved) went on to have a mate. So he's the half-brother of one of her ancestors, and Nightcloud has inherited this thick, wooly fur texture.

Again, I draw him a lot so this was the easiest one. I didn't have to decide anything besides that I made his nose into a cute lil carebear heart.

The drawing I did for this synopsis of Ripplestar's Rot was actually the first time I drew him, for comparison! It's fun to see what's been streamlined.

GORSECLAW AND SPOTTEDPELT

FIRST sketches didn't feel right.

[ID: BB!Gorseclaw and BB!Spottedpelt. They have long, curly tails, long claws, and bell-shaped heads. Gorseclaw has a sharp 'tie' on his chest, and Spottedpelt has a heart]

I feel like Gorseclaw's spades look too much like diamonds in this one, but I was really going for a tie.

I've been giving him those sideburns for months, so, they don't really fit the "shape theory" but I'm having a hard time removing them lmao.

And this is the first time I drew Spots which is a shame. I love a bad bitch.

If you look at my designs, you can notice that I have a few traits that cats from each Clan "tend" to have. They're all pretty genetically similar actually and there's a lot of crossings between the groups, secret or otherwise, but some traits just get selected for more than others, and StarClan is likely to toss them into kits. SkyClan has saggy skin (like a bear) and really bendy tails.

Don't think it's come through well here, though. In future drafts I'm going to try and make them saggier.

(Why? It actually helps them against insect stings and impact damage, like falling from trees and being hit by branches)

Then I went on to draft 2,

[ID: Second draft of the characters above. Spottedpelt is fatter, with "dapples" on her back which are actually spades, and a distinctive spade-shaped mask. The ears of both siblings are now spade-shaped, and Gorseclaw's tie is different, along with Spottedpelt's heart with is now more of a medal.]

I like Spottedpelt a LOT more in this draft. That's probably going to be close to the final design I do, I'm really vibing with the dapple-spades.

I DON'T like Gorseclaw in this one though, the face shape reminds me waaay too much of Dustpelt's familial face-plate. Absolutely going to revise that, probably making it more mask-like akin to Spots'.

Also very proud of myself for the spade-shaped ears.

Hate Gorse's tie here though, that's not a tie that is a stinkhorn mushroom.

But Spots' medal is excellent. Absolutely keeping that. She is a distinguished little war crime kitty

Still not fat and saggy enough. Coming back to this. I need to learn how to draw a primordial pouch.

LARKSTRIPE

I'm trying to redesign her and I'm losing :/

[ID: BB!Larkstripe. She's a very plain cat with a string of hearts from her eye down to her leg, with a heart-shaped nose, cutie marks, and a heart-shaped tail tip]

This was the FIRST first draft of the redesign and that heart chain is underwhelming.

It felt like too much of a downgrade from the diamond-pattern Larkstripe I did, and I'm worried that maybe it's because diamonds just look so much nicer in a "chain"

I feel like I see too many perfect hearts on chests in WC designs, so when I do them, I try to do something weird with them like what I did to Heartstar

So I turned hers into a little fur tuft splash. I like the idea tbh, I might repurpose it for another design.

[ID: A version of the above sketch with bigger hearts on the chain and a single heart on the flank, followed by another sketch attempting to make the stripe more "blobbish"]

I'm beginning to think that maybe I don't like the sketches because Larkstripe is sad :( I like when I can draw her angry, before the strikebreaking broke her

And unfortunately she is the absolute most tragic character in BB. They took the fight out of her. I figure it would be symbolically fitting for the heart shape on her chest to "break" after Dalestar's decree.

For those asking questions, no, she never joins Skypelt. She is convinced she did the wrong thing and ended up unleashing an era of suffering on the Clans by having Ripplestar follow in her footsteps, though she had no control over him.

She's a character who would offer her life as an example during trials involving the Cleric's Vow, especially since I've gutted Moth Flight in BB. She argues about how important it is to avoid birthing cats who will claim their conquest is holy in the name of their parents.

She would also have something to say to Mudfur, admonishing him for breaking his Vow so openly, even saying that he's responsible for Leopardstar and all of her choices.

Basically, Larkstripe is beaten. She is a very tired, shameful spirit who repeats exactly what Silverpelt told her, during her own trial. She's so grateful to be here that she acts with devotion towards it.

Hurt people hurt people and all

But anyway, I still feel like it's a bit of a downgrade from the older design for Larkstripe, so I'm probably going to keep playing with it.

BIRDFLIGHT AND MARSHSCAR

[ID: BB!Birdflight. She's a tabby with the spades motif, long bases stretching up into hears on her shoulder, side, and flank.]

I want her to look old and tired. She's got that Leafpoolyness about her.

She's technically the very first member of the Tigerkin family, and has those characteristic long-claws.

I imagine in Clanmew her name is actually Yassgafba, "Raptor preparing to take flight." I have this really sad mental image of a majestic hawk that keeps spreading its wings, as if to take off and fly away, but never does.

Fitting, because she waited her whole life for Cloudstar to send word they'd found a new home, to come and fetch her and their children, but never did.

While I'm at the trivia, yes, Ripplestar and her were very close. Larkstripe argues in StarClan that Ripplestar started his war because of her, but it's not true. It was Birdflight who made him believe that Cloudstar would never abandon his family; if they hadn't heard from him, something was very wrong.

She died before he became leader, probably of a sickness outbreak. She likely didn't take the journey because she's immunocompromised in some way, plus the two newborns.

She was given a place in StarClan, but I'm not sure if she followed Ripplestar and Birdflight into the Dark Forest. She DID vote to accept them though.

I think she's practical about this. Leave for the Dark Forest, and you loose your voting power in StarClan.

She sees that there are very few SkyClan ancestors left here, hears Skystar scoff that the others are fools for leaving, that if more had remained then the rebels would not have been damned... and understands the value in his words.

If there's any reason for the Tigerkin Curse (which I hadn't really been working with until now, tbh, I just chalked it up to Bad Mojo on the night of Ripplestar's last stand), it's probably related to Birdflight in some way. Which is why no one knows what's causing it.

I don't know why, yet, though. Maybe it's an accident on her part. She could be crafting their litters, but every time she finishes a set, she can't help but cry about how much the fresh souls remind her of the newborns that stopped her from joining her mate, and her kits in the Dark Forest.

It's probably why the PROPER curse might stop abruptly after SkyClan's return. She joins Skypelt as soon as it's an option.

[ID: BB!Marshscar. He's a scrawny, battle-scarred old tabby with a diamond motif.]

He doesn't have any markings in-canon so I tried to just make all of his scars diamond-shaped. I don't think it works, I'm going to give him some markings.

I like the ears though, that's staying. I might also borrow from the old Larkstripe design, give him those funky diamond-spikes on his chest.

I have barely talked about him, but he is actually very important to Ripplestar. They've been mates since they were young warriors.

I kinda want to make it so that Spottedpelt was Ripplestar's deputy before being killed that night, but it was always implicit that if something happened to them, Marshscar was next in charge.

This drawing is definitely when he's older and more worn-out, he lives a long life without Ripplestar, ruling ShadowClan reluctantly, half-heartedly doing the bare minimum.

It's a downer story, and I think it really fits the theme here that Clan Culture is about to get a whole lot worse before it gets better... but still I love the fact that Ripplestar's Rot just ends with the entire cast like

[ID: Spongebob sits at a diner with his hands folded, frowning slightly, disquieted and deep in thought]

Like there really isn't a happy camper in this one lmao. Nobody wins. Alexa play 'That's Not How The Story Goes'

[blizzardstarx]

Happy Lesbian Visibility Week!

This is Eclipse of (AU) ThunderClan!

some info on the au is here

Eclipse is the mate of Gingerstar, who’s the leader of ThunderClan!

they are gay and happily in love <3 Gingerstar is bisexual and Eclipse is lesbian

Gingerstar is friends with Blizzardstar, leader of StormClan :)

AU Synopsis: The five clans discover three clans living near the old SkyClan’s ravine, StormClan, StoneClan, and SunClan.

there was one other clan but imma change it to only those three

Gingerstar was a role that i made up called ambassador, for ThunderClan, which basically meant she traveled around the clans and territory and stuff and relayed messages, basically a messenger. She discovered the three new clans too while on a mission. She was offered the deputy position multiple times but turned it down for a while because of that role. Gingerstar met Eclipse too, and brought her back to her clan after she ran away from her parents on a farm.

StormClan was created by a cat named Soaringhawk, who was a SkyClan cat in the old forest territory. He left when SkyClan was kicked out and created his own clan.

StoneClan was created by a former ThunderClan cat, Adderstrike/star. In Blizzardstar’s apprentice time their leader is Boulderpelt/star. Blizzardstar is friends with Snakeeyes/star, the leader after. They became friends when the former StormClan cats that fled when the coup happened came to StoneClan for help.

SunClan was already there a long time ago, created by a rogue who had heard of the ancient Clans. They have a very interesting line of leaders, but I don’t remember what their creator’s name was. However, notable leaders were Badgerstar, then Lynxstar, Badgerstar’s apprentice and mate of Honeystar, the next leader who killed him because he had become a tyrant and was… a shitty cat, like Badgerstar. Honeystar had another mate after, who became the next leader. Their leader is Flamestar in Blizzardstar’s time.

There’s also a rogue ‘clan’ called DarkClan living near those three as well. They killed a lot of StormClan, Blizzardstar lost three lives.

i never named the au sooo its now named StormStoneSunAU, maybe I’ll make more posts on it maybe not

Old art:

Allegiance from Blizzardstar’s Storm:

StormClan:

Leader:

Lightningstar (gray tabby tom with blue eyes)

Deputy:

Whitefur (white she-cat with blue eyes)

Medicine Cat(s):

Leafpelt (tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes)

Apprentice, Darkpaw

Warriors:

Houndstrike (black tabby tom with luminescent yellow eyes)

Shimmertail (silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes)

Acornleaf (ginger she-cat with white patches and green eyes)

Ravenflight (black tom with green eyes)

Fawnleap (brown she-cat with white splotches and green eyes)

Goldenstripe (golden tabby tom with green eyes)

Flamestrike (flame-colored tom with green eyes)

Shadowclaw (black she-cat with white highlights and green eyes)

Blossombreeze (tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes)

Cinderclaw (gray tom with blue eyes)

Eagleflight (brown tabby tom with green eyes)

Harepounce (white tom with amber eyes)

Maplefur (russet she-cat with green eyes)

Mistpelt (blueish gray she-cat with blue eyes)

Robinflight (brown tom with amber eyes)

Squirreltail (orange she-cat with thick bushy tail and green eyes)

Sunfur (golden tom with green eyes)

Wolfclaw (gray tom with blue eyes)

Apprentices:

Darkpaw (black tom with blue eyes)

Queens:

Whitefur (deputy)

(Blizzardkit (gray tabby tom with white belly and muzzle and blue eyes)

Splashkit (white she-cat with gray striped patches and blue eyes)

Spiderkit (gray tom with blue eyes) Lightningstar is the father)

Elders:

Mousetail (brown tom with long, ragged tail and amber eyes)

Thrushwing (brown and white tom with dark brown speckles and green eyes)

StoneClan:

Leader:

Boulderstar (light gray tom with blue eyes)

Deputy:

Otterwhisker (brown tom with amber eyes)

Medicine Cat(s):

Rowanleaf (red tom with white belly and green eyes)

Apprentice, Sunpaw

Larkflight (gray and white she-cat with blue eyes)

Warriors:

Owlwing (gray tom with dark gray speckles and amber eyes)

Fernleaf (gray she-cat with dark gray striped patches and green eyes)

Apprentice, Swiftpaw

Ivyleaf (light gray tabby she-cat with blue eyes)

Liontail (golden tabby tom with amber eyes)

Finchwing (tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes)

Doespring (light brown she-cat with white spots and green eyes)

Jaysong (gray and white tom with blue eyes)

Apprentice, Sparrowpaw

Nighttail (black she-cat with green eyes)

Sageheart (light brown tabby she-cat with green eyes)

Cedarwhisker (reddish-brown tom with amber eyes)

Shellclaw (gray tabby tom with blue eyes)

Palewhisker (black and white she-cat with green eyes)

Mudtail (light brown tom with brown tail and amber eyes)

Featherfall (light gray tabby with white speckles and blue eyes)

Thornfrost (white tom with golden tabby patches and amber eyes)

Apprentices:

Sunpaw (golden tabby tom with amber eyes)

Swiftpaw (light brown tabby tom with green eyes)

Sparrowpaw (brown tabby tom with light brown belly and green eyes)

Queens:

Petalfall (tortoiseshell she-cat with white speckles and green eyes)

(Cherrykit (tortoiseshell she-cat with a red tail and green eyes)

Briarkit (mottled tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes) Owlwing is their father)

Kestralwing (light brown tabby she-cat with green eyes)

(Snakekit (light brown tabby tom with amber eyes)

Leopardkit (brown she-cat with red patches and green eyes)

Duskkit (reddish-brown tom with amber eyes) Cedarwhisker is their father)

Elders:

I got too lazy to do SunClan’s allegiance

This AU was based on a ton of rps I did 6 years ago. Blizzardstar was created 6-7 years ago.

[fan-clan-fun]

So I know you just got back but you DID say you'd be open to talking about naming conventions and culture so I wanted to get some opinions on my re-imagined canon syatem! I don't have allegiances just a bunch of rambling tbh.

So, I actually changed a lot of stuff for each Clan, one of which being none of them have rank suffixes anymore, and their individual traditions for names largely revolve around belief. Also SkyClan isn't included bcuz in this little rewrite/rebuild thing they basically never existed/became ThunderClan. Anyways let me get going lol. (Note all names still have a prefix and suffix bcuz I couldn't abandon that)

RiverClan: RiverClan cats believe that there is only one kind of spirit, cat spirits, who aid the living with wisdom from their collective experiences, Clan or not. They can't see the future or anything but they are VERY WISE and your responsibility in life is to gain as much experience as you can so you can add to the knowledge and guide your own descendants/Clanmates of the next gen after your own death. Their names change at their own accord as much as they want to rlly whatever they want (with a prefix and suffix) as a way of like storytelling your history and life as you accumulate that wisdom until you feel youve found the one thats perfectly you ig? Like you feel fulfilled in your life and dont need any more experiences to name. So they can have tons of names in their lives or just one or two depending on the cat.

ShadowClan: ShadowClan believes there's all kinds of spirits from every animal, and that their ancestors are there to protect them from the harmful ones like vengeful cats or predators. But they know battle is not easy, and see their ancestors as tireless and admirable defenders. So knowing they can't help directly, they instead use their names as tools to hopefully ward some of them away as a way showing gratitude. Sort of like "I know you are protecting me, but let me do my best to help you do it". The uglier, scarier, and more unapproachable the name the more protected you are against evil spirits and enemies, because they will hear your name and be disgusted or afraid of what it means for them if they come near you. They're given at birth and kept all throughout life unless there's like a major brush with death and then it's meant to act as more of a "I survived this what makes you think I'm an easy enemy?".

WindClan: WindClan is kinda fucked up tbh. They only beleive in one spirt: Clan Cat Spirits. Right to an afterlife is earned, your ancestors are above you, and they are powerful, capable of controlling events. They don't predict the future, they choose it. They make it. And your job is to honor the skills they've given you, obey them, and be worthy of your place among them in death. Your job is to be tested by them with hunger and hardship so they can be sure you are ready for the responsibility of their power. You are what you inherit, that is your legacy. That is what you'll be. None of your skills are yours, they are what your ancestors have graciously given you. Your honor is simply being their blood and your purpose is to use what they gave you well. They're names are A. Inherited appearance traits, B. Inherited personality traits, or C. Both together.

ThunderClan: I haven't actually fully decided what I want for them. They beleive in all spirits, but they think that they each ascend to a higher knowledge at death, being able to have perfect clarity of the future and be free of worry because of it, even if they aren't Clancat or even a cat at all. They act peacefully among eachother and are guides to the living, usually the ones they were involved with in life. They guide and care for you as best they can, and you are to listen, serve their messages, and be something to be proud of the best you can. Originally I was gonna keep them with the original system but I've been seeing a lot of discourse abt it/similarities with it and native american tribal naming so I'm trying to not. As far as I can tell, I'm going to do a sort of nickname oriented system. You don't have a true name until you earn it through a display of skill in service to your Clan and Clanmates. Until then, you have accumulated nicknames from your parents, peers, elders, other Clanmates, and then usually the one name you give out to cats who aren't particularly close enough to give you one of their own, which would act as a sort of beacon name until your official one is earned.

So, basically, I'm asking what you think of what I've got so far, any ideas you might have, any critique, even renames for canon chars, etc, anything really. I really like this but I'm not sure if it's offensive in any way or anything like that so yeah just lmk what u think 💀🙏 sorry this is so long

Very interesting, it seems you've combined how the clans view the afterlife with a direct connection to their naming conventions!

I'll address each one individually, so I can give some basic thoughts.

For Riverclan, while the idea sounds really cool, I would suggest maybe name changes be a little more... Structured? So we already have within canon, name changes happening at various points of time in life. I think it would be difficult for the clan as a whole to keep up with the entire clan changing names at will. Perhaps they have special name change ceremonies, which are based on certain achievements or wisdoms or age gained. It would make everything a little easier to keep track of, and make the names still important, even more so as they are celebrated by the entire clan.

I love the idea for Shadowclan. The other clans think they are crazy for naming themselves like they do, but to them it's just normal. I imagine the clan in general is just more comfortable with morbid topics, and perhaps finds amusement in them. It's a nitty gritty life out there.

Oh Windclans belief system makes me flashback to growing up, wild beliefs for wild times. I do like that their names are very much about inheritance and tradition, so many interesting things one could do with that, so many ways that would impact their culture.

I do think it would be wise to tighten Thunderclans a little bit more, again cause of the same issue for Riverclan. A cat having too many names, or changing them to often would be chaos in a group of 20+ cats. That said, having a name which the clan could call you by, and then nicknames different people use for you individually is fair. Kind of how we have our legal human names, but different friend groups call us different things all the time, in those groups. But still have to have that main name you are known by so everyone else can relate to you or refer to you in some way.

I won't offer any suggestions for canon names, mostly cause this is your system, and I think you have a lot more background information than I do for it. Otherwise, enjoy playing with your ideas for your rewrite!

[yarnclan]

Heres things i head cannon have changed culturally for the clans since the new prophecy/moving to the lake territories:

- General openness around borders, and awarness of the other clans. I know they have to hold onto this as a source of stupid conflict, but I like to think that the clans were even more agro about borders before. That yes, war over a squirrel was not only common, but expected. I also seem to remember that like... the location of the clan's various camps were secret in the first few books? Idk if i made that up, but it sure isn't the case at the lake. Its fascinating to me to think about how some of this is also due to the layout of the clans at the lake vs the old forest. At the lake they have to cross each others territory area every moon, where at the old forest they were all in separate little pizza slices. I also think Firestar being an outsider, and the kind of cat he is, gave a semi-skewed perspective of life in the forest in the first series, that he was more open and willing to transgress on borders than most other cats.

- Willingness to travel far beyond the territory. The journey that fireheart and greystipe take to find WindClan again is treated as a fairly big deal. But i dont think it takes them all that long? Implying WindClan hadn't gotten too far. Its just interesting in light of the many post new prophecy trips to the mountains and skyclan adjacent teritories and beyond. My personal headcannon is that everyone picked up better navigation skills of the journey and those skills have been peacmeal passed to newer generations. I miss the "traveling to mothermouth" requirment of the 1st series, and think it could have been cool if they had replaced it with like... a once a season journey/gathering at a midpoint with the tribe, where young cats get to learn different skills from traveling and from each other.

Greater contact with kittypets and twolegs. This ties into my headcannon that the lake being a campground/more integrated into twoleg activities means the clans just have more day to day contact with twolegs and twoleg related stuff than they did in the forest, though its a more managable ammount of twolegs than the high concentration of the town next to the old forest.

This is more of a geography headcannon but... it makes sense to think that the lake territories are bigger and more abundant with prey. It would explain why there are more cats, and also add a little bit to the slightly more relaxed aditude they take towards borders and prey. Though the geography/ size of the lake territories is hilariously inconsistent depending on the needs of what ever plot.

This is a bit more out there, but i also like to think that because the StarClan connection point is a pool that feeds into the lake they all live around, rather than a distant rock, its caused more cats to have a clear connection to StarClan/the after life. StarClan felt way more distant and vauge in the first series, and while i know its probably more of a stylistic change, it could also be because they are now all drinking magic water and eating prey that drinks magic water.

[waspsinyourclan]

I waited until Alderheart left to get herbs or something. He hasnt seemed to care about me using the weird magic computer before but I just want to be safe. Here’s everything I’ve figured out thus far:

I’m pretty sure that I’m about to become an apprentice. I don’t know when but it’s probably going to happen soon.

This world is some sort of variation on the one in the books. Firestar died during the migration by falling off a cliff, and starclan chose Bramblestar to replace him because Graystripe wasn’t around. Bramblestar led thunderclan through the whole dark forest thing but his first deputy, Squirrelflight, died so he chose Brackenfur as his next. It’s been a while since then obviously. The stuff with Skyclan and the Broken Code arc hasn’t happened yet. Maybe it never will. Idk. It doesn’t seem like anything has happened for a while.

I don’t recognize any other names of currently alive cats I have heard except Alderheart, the current medicine cat. I don’t know why he is here when there are no other cats I recognize.

The gathering is probably soon.

The mother of this cat I am is named Smokewhisker and I have a sister named Petalkit. I don’t know anything about my father. I suspect he is dead.

I can access more than just Tumblr on this thing. I’ve been looking up herbs and stuff on the Warriors wiki because I’ve never been one for physical competence and it’s always smart to make contingincy plans.

[rainsnap]

Warrior AU inspired by yet another song I listened to and that’s:

What if the timeline was extended a bit in the first arc? Have it be that Brokenstar is the main villain of the first arc (outside conflict) and Tigerclaw as a secondary villain (inside conflict).

OKAY SO:

Rusty and Princess are kitnapped by Brokenstar, who is in need of more young warriors due to his whole kit killing training program. Rusty and Princess grow up under this harsh rule, making it to their apprenticeships. During this time, Spottedleaf gets the fire prophecy and Bluestar begins keeping an eye out for fire.

During a border skirmish between Shadowclan and Thunderclan, Graypaw is injured by a cat who he says “has a coat like fire.” Catching Bluestar’s attention. During the next gathering, Bluestar sees Rustpaw and takes an interest in him. Meanwhile Graypaw, Ravenpaw’s, and Rustpaw’s friendship begin to grow.

Just as Bluestar is plotting a way to steal Rustpaw, Rustpaw and his sister Petalpaw appear in Thunderclan’s camp. As it turns out, Graypaw and Ravenpaw had been meeting Rustpaw in secret and have plotted to save him and his sister.

After this, Rustpaw becomes Firepaw and Petalpaw returns to the life of a kittypet, becoming Princess once more. The story continues on similarly after this point, only with Redtail’s death happening while Fireheart (no longer an apprentice) is in Thunderclan. Ravenflight witnesses Redtail’s murder by Tigerclaw and flees with Graystripe and Fireheart’s aid. Tigerclaw becomes deputy after laying the blame of Redtail’s death on Ravenflight because clearly an innocent cat wouldn’t run away.

The whole fight with Brokenstar happens, he’s imprisoned and blinded by Thunderclan and Tigerclaw helps him and all that good stuff about Tigerclaw taking over Shadowclan as Tigerstar. Bluestar dies by the dogs and Fireheart becomes Firestar.

For several seasons after, Firestar and Tigerstar remain at war with each other. The clans turn into two with Lionclan and Tigerclan. Things are tense in the forest.

Firestar is called away by a vision to seek out a fallen clan of cats. Thinking they might help him rid the forest of Tigerstar, he journeys with Ravenflight to the remains of Skyclan. After Skyclan is reformed, he doesn’t understand why he was sent so far away from home to help strangers. Especially when the new Skyclan is unable to return with him to help him in the war against Tigerclan.

He returns home only to discover that his mate Sandstorm and his deputy and friend Graystripe have been imprisoned by Tigerstar. Horrified, Firestar turns his back on Starclan, feeling misguided for leaving his home unprotected. He declares a final war against Tigerclan to end it all.

The war begins and Firestar fights with all his might, only to be struck down in battle by a strange black cat. While regaining his life, Goosefeather appears to him in a vision and warns him of a greater danger yet to come. The son of Brokenstar’s son. Goosefeather reveals this cat to be nothing more than a kit, telling Firestar that he must kill this kit to ensure the clans survival.

Firestar refuses and decides instead to steal the kit and to raise him as his own. Goosefeather says that this won’t work and blood will be shed no matter what.

Firestar returns to life to face the black cat, Scourge. Slaying him and frightening away most of Scourge’s cats. After this, Firestar breaks into the nursery and finds not only the kit he must slay, but Sandstorm! He learns that Sandstorm is heavy with kits, but thankfully isn’t the mother of the kit from the vision. The two escape, with Firestar and Sandstorm stealing the two kits in the nursery. (As their mother was slain in battle and Sandstorm refused to leave them to die).

During this time Graystripe is freed and the battle is won. Tigerstar has vanished too, only to be discovered in his den ripped in two. The doing of Scourge.

It is then that Firestar realizes the point of his journey to Skyclan: there always needs to be five clans. And so the clans split once more and peace is had.

Meanwhile, the dreaded kit from the vision is growing besides Firestar’s own kits. This kit? Is none other than Bramblekit, the son of Tigerstar, who in turn was secretly the son of Brokenstar this entire time. (Tigerstar’s mother had an affair with Brokenstar. Pinestar was informed of this through a vision telling him to kill Tigerkit. Pinestar refused to believe any of this and fled to the life of a kittypet. When Tigerclaw learned of the truth of his parentage he was proud to have Brokenstar as a father and not a weakling like Pinestar.)

[atdwarriorsau]

SOOOOOOOOO

We got some changing skies, time to update this.

Idk how to tag EQ/CS spoilers so spoilers below the cut

(Also art block soo bad I haven't been posting... I have been writing tho, next chap should come out soon)

OKAY

(note I haven't read it myself, I haven't read a new wc book since book three of tbc. I have tbc 4 and 5 sitting on my shelf unread lmaoo)

Leafstar:

So the ableism... isn't as bad as I thought? I mean, it seems like the 'problem' is (implied dementia) memory issues/Leafy being old. Like I don't think mistaking a cat for a Badger is a vision thing. I agree that almost killing someone's kid is a good reason to step. Hopefully this means modern Skyclan will get a second leader. Hoping it's not Hawkeing, hoping it's someone young. Maybe Waspwhisker returns, but he's also old, hm. Hope we don't just get last arcs Riverclan succession issues, Skyclan version.

As for the poison stuff, I'm hopeful. It might be wishful thinking, but maybe it's Sleekwhisker? In that arc we had someone poisoning Skyclan, so maybe?? Since we have Tawny pov, that is her granddaughter... maybe... I would love that.

(If the erins can remember the family tree loll)

Tawnypelt:

First off, CrowTawny is hilarious. Random ass ship. I don't even care,it's funny. How does this guy get so many bitches he should get negative, what???

Also hoping maybe this means this arc will kill off a lot of old people? Praying no Crowstar pleassseee.

(Jus saw the worst timeline where they gave Crow and Tawny kits.... shudders....)

Honestly not much to say about Tawnypelt, except Birchfeather. Idc about the actually relationship, I like Tawny defending her grandkit. The cost is making Tiger2 and Dove dumb. Like I get what they were going for with the Rowankit stuff but still.. you guys are a half clan relationship, and technically so is Tawny (thunderclan).

Moonpaw:

Honestly I'm just happy they didnt do the absorbed twin thing. Thank stars. I'll happily lose that dollar. The stillborn litter thing is fine.

Thunderclan:

HATEHATEHATE

...

I swear to all stars WHHYYYYYYY

Shellfur and Myrtlebloom. Heavy sigh. Let's talk about it.

Oaaaahhhhhh this pisses me off.

They made the father of Myrtlebloom's kits Shellfur. Okay. Donor, honour sire, polyamory. That would be cool. But no. The erins would never do anything like that, sorry.

WE LITERALLY JUST HAD A WHOLE ARC ABOUT CROSSCLAN RELATIONSHIPS, IN WHICH SHELLFERN PLAYED A BIG ROLE. DUDE.

At this point its not stupidity, it's incompetence. I genuinely believe who ever wrote this into canon did not read last arc. At all. How do you make a mistake as huge as this. How.

Based on how the erins treated the three's adoptive relationships, no they will never do a donor/honour-sire situation.

As for polyamory, that's also a no. Saying this as a polyamorous person, as cool as it would be they would never do this. Any fanon/fan favourite polyamrous situationship, like ToadNettlePool, FeatherBlizzardHolly, RobinPatchFuzzy, are always a situation of either family tree retconning, a new mate replacing the old dead one, or an actual cheating story. I wouldn't be surprised if the writers considered polyamory the same as polygamy, or just evil lol.

Speaking of...

No, I would be surprised if this is actually a cheating story. I know I just brought up FeatherBlizzardHolly, but I don't think that's what's up. I might be tinfoil-hat-ing but given the fact most previous outsiders, Stormcloud, 4/5 daisykin, have not had kits, there might be a xenophobia thing happening. It feels farfetched, but does it? Doesn't it feel like something the writers would do? They don't want outsiders bringing new blood in. They're committing to making the family tree a wreath. These guys could have saved Thunderclan's gene pool, but nope. Immigrants bad apparently /s

The writers could have done this on purpose. Either to keep the blood blue, or it's weaponised incompetence. They do not care. They do not keep track of the family tree because they do not care.

Anyway TawnyCrow funnnnnyyyy

if you had to change anything like. big big abt plot in canon what would you change

Dawn of the Clans next question.

Man like... so much. I think most warrior cats fans can agree the writing isn't that... good.

I could say so much. The fact that racism, xenophobia, colonialism, sexism, ableism, fatphobia, abuse apologia, are not only all present, but normalized and are explicitly shown as the moral and righteous viewpoint/status quo/thing to do. Now portraying these topics, even in children's book (which wc is), is fine, as long as it's clear these things are wrong. It's important for this information to be accessible to kids, if they read about abuse they can understand that their own situation is bad; hence why Kosa bill and book banning are real bad. I want to say the writing in this regard isn't deliberate, but not to get controversial but I don't exactly trust white middle aged British women (sowwy)

A post about my dotc feelings, see @bonefall for more or the moonkitti Bumble video

ANYWAYS

I think it's fine to have these kinds of elements in warrior cats, but you HAVE to show that they are bad things. Which is a believe you should have anyway but...

For overarching stufff, I would really love to do something about that ableism. Part of the reason it's so weird that wc society treats disabled cats like... that... is because if you look at real cats that are blind, or have a missing leg or whatever, they are almost always perfectly mobile, and most of them could hunt. Cats rely on their other senses far more than humans do. You could find plenty of videos of 'disabled' cats doing just as much as 'abled' cats.

You could argue that the cats in wc are basically human, which is true (moonkitti's 'the cats are just people' video). HOWEVER, you know who else can still be mobile and do things with disabilities? That's right, humans!

It doesn't make sense from either the 'wc cats are cats' OR the 'wc cats are humans' angles.

And the thing is, Jayfeather was the perfect opertunity to tackle this! Everycat and their mothers have made a Jay as a warrior au, and even without that we could have had a great discussion through the books about the society's ableism. Don't even get me started on Briarlight's death. Absolutely insulting.

As for smaller plot things, ima do stuff for all the arcs!

The Prophecies Begin

(I have not read every book but have absorbed the plot through Tumblr osmosis)

- This is the best arc writing wise so I don't have much but...

- the last book. not great

- It's such a weird sudden heelturn from the previous books. Like Firestar adopting the xenophobia when it doesn't make that much sense from a character standpoint? If anything, he should at least have to struggle with his duty to the clans vs his feelings about Scourge. It would make sense for Firestar to sympathize with him

- Speaking of....

- Listen ima say it. While I love the aesthetic and potential, as it is, Scourge is overrated. Send the fire and pitchforks and stuff, ima say it like it is. Be honest without the Scourge Manga would he be as popular. Be so fr

- It's so so so weird for Scourge and Bloodclan to have similar if at least conflated ideologies with Tigerstar. Why would they be weird about half clan kits and such.

- Also.... sigh... the evil atheist thing gets me. I'm a certified Starclan hater and it is so boring for every villain to be the evil atheist (unless you're going to actually explore that) Implying someone is evil or doomed or whatever because they lack (your) religion is bad and dumb

- and this is the arc I have the least to say about

The New Prophecy

- We do NOT need to know every step of the journey

- Biggest problems here are pacing and POV

- This arc is about clan solidarity. That's had to pull of with only Thunderclan POV. We NEEDED at least Wind and River POV and thos arc would be perfect

- Tribe racism is bad.

Power Of Three

- If you thought TNP pacing was bad...

- huh I wonder if that has anything to do with the arc being created for the fire scene. I don't know though

- Listen I love the idea of slice of life but you have to stick to that. PO3 can not decide on high stakes magic stuff or slice of life. Pick a lane.

- Dark Forest plan makes no sense. At all. I ain't gonna explain it here but yeah it's bad

- Also the prophecy. What's up with that. How did their powers affect the battle except maybe Lion? What's up with them not knowing where it came from?

- This arc has just... so may dangling plot threads. You just keeping throwing them at the wall and giving no answers.

- The cave. The time travelling. Random tribe visit. Rock. Midnight. The spirit world. SOL. THE ECLIPSE

- Most of the things I mentioned have... wait for it... NO EFFECT ON THE MAIN PLOT WHATSOEVER. OR ANY PLOT

- The ending feels like a middle. Like I love the Holly stuff but that's for the middle idk

- Also I would love for Lionblaze to have a paw in killing Ashfur

- I don't like the weird 'adoption bad' thing they have going on

- Oh and Tribe racism is bad again

Omen Of The Stars

- OK I need to talk about the prophecy.

- First literally any other candidate would be better than Firestar. Raise you hand if you cared. Oh alright.

- Hollyleaf, Ivypool, Breezepelt, Flametail, idk Whitewing?

- Speaking of give Flametail something to do or cut him. Why is this like our only main series Shadowclan POV? (this arc in general has too many POVs, pleaseeee we do not need Lionblaze POV)

- 'Hollyleaf didn't have a power because we couldn't think of one.' Gives Dovewing a power

- Just throwing in a quick 'Dovewing deserved better' in here...

- For spending thirteen books setting up the Dark Forest battle, man was that disappointing and a lil boring. Good for them for killing Firestar tho. Shoulda killed more guys off.

- Starclan acting like complete idiots for no reason. Cool I'm sure this will never happen again.

- One tiny thing to make the plot better. Make it so Starclan can't come to the living world (or won't hehe) while DF spirits can. Makes the battle actually plausible (for DF) and adds more stakes and tension. (Maybe the prophecy came from the DF... hm...)

- Oh and Tribe racism bad again

A Vision Of Shadows

- Okay if this is the Skyclan return arc why do they have such small a role?

- Darktail's backstory sucks I'll say it. Cowards

- The Tigerheartstar book and the Hawkwing book should've been inside the main arc. Whyd you give me required reading. At least the Hawkwing book anyways. Skyclan's journey to the lake 100% needed to be IN this arc

- Here begins the reoccurring theme of the ending destroying the arc. This is probably the least bad of those. But still not great chief. If you can't fill the six books with enough plot maybe you need more plot... (or yanno replace b6 with Hawkwing's Journey and shuffle it around? Who said that?)

- Alderheart's character growth being offscreen and him just not having anxiety anymore irks me

- First time the sister would have been a more interesting protag. This will happen again..

- Also the mediator stuff flopped. Skyclan should have invented it earlier. Skyclan NEEDED to be so much more weirder. Now we have copy-paste clan number five, old people edition

The Broken Code

- Sisters being more interesting part two

- First time two of the protags have a relationship while the other protag has the entire plot. This will happen again.

- What did you do to Mothwing.

- The ghosts thing, while interesting, yet again requires required reading from a super edition. Okay. Leafpool's death not being in a main arc book is insulting

- Alright this arc was pretty alright I'll admit it

- If Bristlefrost somehow returns I'm deducting points I stg

A Starless Clan

- (the Southpark kid voice) KILL NIGHTHEART!

- Ugghhh can I get a misogyny number two combo?

- Everything else with Sunbeam except Nightheart is SO interesting and the arc needed more of that.

- Oh we have evil atheists again. Okay.

- At least Curlfeather had a bit of interest. Splashtail flopped hard in, you guessed it, the last book! Yet again they ran out of plot for the last book, sad!

- Starclan should stay away more often tbh

Changing Skies

- I could just say Moonpaw's parentage but that would be lazy

- ughhhhhh I bet we're getting loads of ablesim against Leafstar. Sounds fun. Also Leafstar is one million years old but I doubt they'd have the balls to kill her off. Modern Skyclan will never have another leader.

- Also ableism against Moonpaw cause I'd bet a dollar they'd imply DID with her and they will NOT do any research and it will ableist as hell. If the voice is evil istg

- The absorbed twin thing isn't great either. Don't get me started on the chimeraism thing. None of it works that way

- Also we might be leaving the territories again. I bet the next place will have even less to do in it than the lake

- They will find a way to get Stormclan stuff in here and it will be bad and I will be mad about it

- The arc ain't even come out yet and I'm mad lol

Ughhhhh yeahh that went long... ugh picture of my cat fo your troubles..

[morningmask27]

Au where skyclan managed to survive long enough to form the clan far away from the forest and remained strong and often let kitty pets and rogues join as well, Nutmeg(has a warriors name maybe) is a part of skyclan when she has her litter with Jake, so her kits including firestar grow up in skyclan, where the first series is just the clans trying to find the cats of the prophecy

nutmeg's warrior name is lichenstream. she’s a dutiful mother and does her best to raise her kits.

jake is jake, he’s the same as in canon. he met talltail (they have a quite homoromantic relationship) he and lichenstream aren’t romantically interested, they both wanted kits. jake isn’t a part of skyclan, he comes and goes whenever he wants

her kits are firekit (rusty), swankit (princess) robinkit (filou) shrewkit (tommy), and daisykit (luna)

other kits at the time; wavekit and kitekit two siblings that are two moons older than our protags(and rookstorm’s kits). hedgehogkit, strawberrykit and fuzzkit, 3 littermates that are one moon younger.

the leader is jasminestar. a calm and open leader, but who is still very angry at the old clans for having chased them away. the deputy is rookstorm (a direct descendent from buzzardstar) a great mentor and dad who puts his clan first. their healer is toadcreek, observant and silent. very devoted to the duty of healer

fire and his littermates spend an idyllic childhood in skyclan’s camp. all 5 littermates play with the other kits, admire the warriors and bother the apprentices for some battle moves. lichenstream allows them to play in camp, but is very strict about them not leaving camp without a warrior going with them. 

skyclan lives well, they allow kittypets to join their ranks during the day (daylight warriors) and they are secure and well-fed. the 5 kits become apprentices. firepaw, shrew, robin and daisy become warrior apprentices, swan decides to become toadcreek’s apprentice and the next skyclan healer. 

the 4 clans are in a bad situation though. bluestar falls ill very often, many important cats from all clans die without any reason, there aren’t even marks, they just die in their sleep or something (imagine that most cats who die are placeholder guys without any meaning)

jake visits every so often and tells stories of other clans to his kits. they are so interested in the 4 other clans. jasminestar isn’t really pleased with jake telling stories about the 4 clans who chased skyclan away. firepaw and kitepaw were too fascinated tho. skyclan cats are allowed to go freely and wander around, but are kinda expected to return during leafbare to help the clan survive.

jake says goodbye to his kits and goes to visit his boyfriend the clans. he tells his kits that he’s returning soon (to tell them amazing stories) and he goes on his merry way. he arrives just when riverclan and thunderclan are busy in a violent conflict for sunningrocks, caused by tigerclaw who trespassed on riverclan teritorry with his patrol. the fight is terrible and redtail is killed like in canon. (oakheart aswell, but who cares about oakheart) 

jake is allowed to help the thunderclan cats bring redtail back to camp and this is when he sees bluestar. she is sick, she has been for a while now and there’s nothing mistberry(mistkit) nor spottedleaf can do to help her. she and jake talk about little stuff one day and he namedrops his kit, firepaw who lives in skyclan. Bluestar being too ill to think properly heard fire and sky, which directly made her think of the prophecy spottedleaf had;  “find the fire in the sky as only it can save the clans” she doesn’t sy anything at first, but discusses the fire in the sky with spotted and mist when she’s getting treatment. the two healers suggest asking jake for more information.

but jake’s gone. nobody knows where. which is very, very annoying for bluestar. oh well, when redtail died she made whitestorm deputy (lionheart was in a coma due to an incident) tigerclaw is very pissed. he’s always pissed honestly, but even more right now. especially because his apprentice ravenpaw has failed every training he has been doing since the sunningrocks battle that killed redtail and tigerclaw wants to get rid of ravenpaw. 

one day ravenpaw is sent out to fetch herbs for mistberry and is found dead. there are no visible traces for how he was killed, but he’s dead. dustpaw is shocked to have lost his brother and dives even deeper in training than before. he had already lost is mentor and now his brother so now he was only doing things for the clans. and his mentor darkstripe was certainly using that and formed dustpaw into a strict warrior, who doesn’t show emotions and does what his leader says. 

some days after ravenpaw’s body is found shadowclan attacks thunderclan to steal their kits. multiple cats are killed (npcs mostly) and frostfur’s kits were stolen. lionheart is also dead now, from a severe wound to the stomach (there are clumps of gray and brown fur around his body)

now thunderclan is in high alert. sandpaw and dustpaw do the kit saving thing that fire and gray do in canon, but this time with more stealth. they sneak their way into shadowclan camp and while dustpaw is keeping the guards busy sandpaw is discretely stealing the kits (plus some extra kits the shadowclan queens wanted her to save from shadowclan’s disaster) sadnpaw rushes away and dustpaw, using the distraction sandpaw made also runs away. in total they saved 7 kits. the frostfour and 3 other kits.

sandpaw and dustpaw are given their warrior names because of their bravoure, even though they are chastised for having done it without authorisation (sand had dragged dust with her to save the kits, he didn’t want to do it at first) they are named sandstorm and dustclaw by a very ill bluestar who shortly thereafter collapsed in a fit of severe cough. she is brought to her den by mistberry but loses a life. after she comes back to life she is going way better than before. she isn’t sick anymore and can finally retake her leadership duties.

she sends sandstorm and dustclaw to find windclan and they do really well! windclan returns to the clans to directly attack shadowclan with thunderclan. the two clans work together to chase brokenstar and his followers. tallstar dies in this battle. deadfoot becomes deadstar and makes bristlepetal(paw) deputy.

back in skyclan firepaw and his siblings get their warrior names fireleap, daisyhail, robinwingfall, shrewnip. swan still has to train a little more, but one night she gets a dream. she sees jake walking in some barren lands, close to a river and getting attacked by a huge dark figure. she cannot see the end of the fight, but hears the words “four become five. fire has to burn the old sins away” and tells toadcreek about her dream. 

toad is obviously interested because of the four become five thing. which is probably the clans, but no skyclan cat knows where the clan live. the only one who knew was jake and he isn’t here (and didn’t tell anyone exactly how to go). jasminestar is a bit pissy, but she accepts to do what she can for this prophecy. one of jake’s besties in the clan, leafdapple, knows some stories of jake’s travels so she kinda knew how she would have to travel based on the little details he gave her. 

leafdapple is thus going, they kinda expect swanpaw, now swangleam actually, to go aswell because of the dream. then fireleap and kitestorm want to come with swan. it’s an obligation, they have to come. jasminestar and rookstorm do not want them to go, but toad argues that the “fire” might be fireleap which seals the deal for fireleap, but rookstorm doesn’t want his kit going on a dangerous adventure, they are too young. so kitestorm has to stay (rook’s so protective because wavepaw along with hedgehogpaw died in a freak accident).

so now fireleap, leafdapple and swangleam prepare to leave for their journey. they are going, following the river to know how to return to their clan. one night they are camping when a dog attacks them. kitestorm jumps in to take the dog’s attention away from the wounded fireleap. the dog leaves because fighting four, wait not five cats daisyhail sprang in the battle and made the dog tumble by tackling its legs and scared it away by being so furious.

strawberryleg then comes in with herbs to take care of the wounds. swangleam and strawberryleg take care of the wounds and leafdapple is quite unpleased to see 3 young warriors who shouldn’t have come with them be here. well it’s too late now and fireleap is too wounded to be left with only one warrior and a healer so they stay.  kitestorm doesn’t leave fireleap’s side any moment. fire eventually gets better and the group can go on their journey again, albeit a little slower than before. 

back in the forest bluestar’s falling ill again, but the clans are at peace for now. some cats still die, bristlepetal being one of them. spottedleaf gets another vision about the fire. this time “the scorching sand will lead the way to the skyfire” this made bluestar decide to send a group of cats to look for the sky fire. she decides to send sandstorm, dustclaw, and tigerclaw after consulting her senior warriors, elders and healers. enough cats for a journey, while still leaving enough cats back in camp. sandstorm is kinda saddened that she has to leave the 3 shadowclan kits she kinda adopted, but it’s time and they go. 

on their journey the group finds the horrifying corpse of a dead cat, with a blue, pink and purple bandana nearby. they realise this is, or was jake (honestly for your sanity don’t imagine what this looks like). tigerclaw seems disgusted by what he sees, dustclaw is mortified and sand wants to leave asap, but convinced dust and tiger the remains before going further. while moving the carcass she sees a little clump of brown fur.

anyways the group keeps going, they don’t encounter any real dangers while on their way to wherever they think they have to go, there was one time they came upon an area with dried up blood and some medicinal herbs, but nothing too special. then, honestly by pure chance they one day encounter a patrol of cats (rookstorm, fuzzflight, lichenstream and her apprentice) rook is quite curious what those weird cats are doing in skyclan’s teritorry, but takes the group to a place that isn’t their camp and lichenstream’s apprentice is sent to fetch jasminestar. 

the remaining cats ask if the 3 met any of their loved ones (rook’s the one asking the most intently) and when jake’s name is mentionned the 3 thunderclanners are surprised. lichen tells them that jake’s a friend of hers and the father of her kits. sand tells her that they found his body (they didn’t add th fact that it wasn’t in a great shape) and buried him. there’s quite some talking, but the group didn’t meet any skyclan cats on their way here. 

jasminestar arrives and kinda coldly asks what 3 thunderclan cats are doing here in skyclan’s teritorry. tiger says they were sent on a mission, but doesn’t want to give more information than that. sand and dust read the room and also don’t say more than what tigerclaw said. it’s a bit of a tense discussion, but jasminestar agrees to let them rest for a bit in their camp. 

fireleap and his clique finally arrived at the other four clans! it was an unpleasant and long journey but they did it. they first arrive on windclan land and are allowed to rest for the night by deadstar. they are offered some prey and a place where they can rest. swan, daisy and strawberry go to eat their rabbit and strawberry already tore a bit of it when swan sees some weird things inside the rabbit. she hurries to make strawberry puke everything they are from the rabbit and it’s shown that there are poisonous items inside and there is a weird scent all around the rabbit now tha it’s open.

the entirety of windclan is very tense now and every piece of prey is meticulously checked for any poison. they found one other rabbit with poison and threw it away. fire and his clique do some looking fir the clan dealio becaus they’re still here for a reason so it’s decided (because they informed deadstar of their mission) that swangleam could go to the moonstone to visit starclan. fireleap want to go with his sister, daisyhail comes aswell!

the 3 siblings go on their way, led by barkface and arrive at the mothermouth. there fire and daisy wait outside while swan and bark meet starclan. while they are waiting they see a gray figure going their way. the cat presents itself. their name is mistberry and they are thunderclan’s sole healer. she’s heard quite a lot about fireleap and wants to see if the rumors are real. fire is confused, daisy is suspecting some bad stuff. there’s a weird smell again. daisy threatens mist, she has to leave or she’ll get her face torn off. mist then caves in and leaves, but that’s because she knew tha barkface and swangleam were returning from the moonstone. 

daisy and fire tell bark and swan what happened, but it’s weird because mistberry’s been missing for some days now and spottedleaf is desperately doing her best to take care of her clan during an active pandemic that has already killed whitestorm and some other cats. swan asks why the other clans aren’t helping thunderclan, but barkface tells her it’s because the sickness is too dangerous. swan wants to see what is happeing herself so one night she sneaks away with strawberryleg to visit thunderclan. (leafdapple has 5 very rebellious teens to handle, she cannot take a break)

swan and strawberry arrive in thunderclan camp and they meet spottedleaf, who is stressed 24/7 because of the sickness. spotted does invite them to rest, but swan directly offers to help her fellow healer take care of the sick cats. spotted is releaved and explains what is happening to the cats. they fall sick, vomit a lot and after some days they just die, they cannot eat as every time they try they puke more. spotted and swan treat the sick cats during the day. tehy had asked strawberry to colect more herbs. late at night swan and strawberry were talking, keeping some young apprentices busy with stories of their travels. then swan grabs some prey, but smells the same weird scent as in the prey. she carefully opens the thing and yes, it if filled with the same weird poisonous things.

tiger and his clique don’t really have a reason to stay in skyclan’s home so jasminestar sends them away with an escort until they leave skyclan teritorry. the 3 cats travel back home, not having completed their quest. tigerclaw is grumpy (as usual) but they go on their way. their journey is quite long and exhausting, but since this time they do know how to go it’s less of a mess, or at least they hoped so. well yes their was home goes okay, and then one day they meet mistberry she smiles at her brother and this is the moment that he attacks sandstorm and dustclaw. the two cats manage to escape, but barely. when they are far enough they check their wounds. dustclaw’s eye wasn’t anymore and sandstorm had a very wounded leg from tigerclaw pinning it with all his weight.

sand and dust return to skyclan and are met by an unhappy jasminestar, but she agrees to let them stay until their wounds are healed. dustclaw’s eye (or lack thereof) is healed and sandstorm can use her leg again after a quarter moon stuck in skyclan’s camp. dustclaw quickly learned how to live and fight with only one eye, trained by a skyclan elder who also only had one eye. rook is worried that is kite is in a place with cats like tigerclaw that kite would be in serous danger so he begs jasminestar to let him accompany the two thunderclan younglings (who are nearly two at this point)

so rookstorm, shrewnip, fuzzflight, sandstorm and dustclaw go to the clans. for real this time, they get there i swear. tigerclaw had returned to thunderclan and seen the mess (and got the topo from mist; the fire’s here, his healer sister is helping spottedleaf take care of the poison chaos, the fire and some other skyclan cats are resting in windclan...) he goes to thunderclan and tells a sob story of how sand and dust died and he couldn’t find skyclan even though he searched and searched and searched, but eventually he gave up. sandstorm’s adoptive kits were devastated by this, but the 3 were comforted by swan and strawberry. 

tiger acts all hostile to swan and strawberry, asking them who they are and what they are doing here. spotted tells tiger to calm down. these are skyclan’s healer and a skyclan warrior and they are here as guests (and helping spottedleaf with the sickness). he calms down finally and drops down in his nest (just after meeting his 5 moon old kits(bramble and tawny) for the first time) and sleeps. he wakes up because of the ruckus. bluestar just died and since she hasn’t appointed a deputy after whitestorm passed the clan has no leader. spottedleaf is now the de facto leader until the clan sorts this out.

the clan is one big mess and there’s the added problem that nearly all the prey they catch is poisoned for some reason. thunderclan is kinda starving (mid greenleaf) and doesn’t know what to do. some other cats die from hunger or from eating poisoned prey because of desperation (look there are many npcs in thunderclan). 

leafdapple had enough of always having to look for the 5 young warriors and busts in thunderclan’s camp, but immetiately gets bodied by tigerclaw in a way that reminds swan of the shadow that attacked jake in her dream. spotted tells tiger to not attack cats like that and leafdapple explains her problems before seeing how messed up thunderclan looks.  she’s honestly pretty scared by what they are living trough and pushes swan and strawberry to leave thunderclan. the two young acts agree and return to windclan where the rest of the skyclan clique is honestly having quite a good time (imagine this is like the travelers from tallstar’s revenge; they visit in the summer n do stuff and leave later). 

windclan was lucky to not deal with many poisoned rabbits anymore, but they do occasionally find one and have to toss it away. honestly the best prey they’ve got right now are birds of prey who see the dead or sick rabbits and want to have a good meal but get ambushed before eating the rabbits. swan decides to tell deadstar what is happening in thunderclan. deadstar is quite annoyed by the problems thunderclan has to deal with, but cannot easily share his already quite scarce prey with another clan. so maybe riverclan could? but nop riverclan’s fish also has some issues with poison and leopardfur already died (others too but who cares)

and this is when sandstorm and her group finally return to te clans! she’s surprised to meet the skyclan cats there and rook, shrew, and fuzz are delighted to see their kin back when they return to windclan. deadstar welcomes the extra group of skyclan cats and is confused why sandstorm and dustclaw are here. tigerclaw had said that the two died. but this is when everything gets put in place. 

sand and dust recount how they traveled to skyclan and on their way back met mistberry. then tigerclaw attacked them and they had to flee back to skyclan. they also mention how they found jake, very, very dead with clumps of brown fur. swan recounts her dream of jake getting attacked by a massive cat and fire adds in the moment where he and daisyhail met mistberry, who suposedly died some time ago when they went to the moonpool. swan also adds how when tigerclaw attacked leafdapple he used the same moves as the massive cat did when attacking jake. and they put the weird scent together and realise that it was the same scent that mistberry had.

yeah mistberry’s the real villan and tigerclaw was her right hand man/goon. she poisons cats. at first with some bad plants, but then she found some ratkiller and ran with it. when i mean some i mean enough to spread trough the entirety of the forest, verse a lot of it in the river and still keep in stock in case.

now that the group have their info tehy prepare to save the clans! but then they hear news of a fight in thunderclan camp. the 3 nearly warriors shadowclan kits brst ino windclan asking for help because thunderclan was overrun by a group of kittypets with tooth in their collars. fuck it’s bloodclan, why are they here?

anyways crookedstar is kind enough to also send help, so does shadowclan for some reason and it’s time to fight. the most fight that happens is in thunderclan’s camp so it quickly becomes one whole mess. sandstorm and dustclaw comfront tigerclaw and mistberry. tiger’s too dangerous for the two of them, but a surpise attack from fireleap and then kitestorm destabilises tiger enough for sand and dust to get the final blow together. (fire then kills scourge because why not)

now that the fight is done a breeze rustles and moves some sand to form a star shape. swan and spotted examine it and both come to the same conclusion. sandstorm has been chosen to become thunderclan’s new leader! this is good and well, but the forest is still very damages due to the poison (that because i do what i want isn’t going to leave before some years) and thus the clans have to leave and find a new home. the skyclan cats are going back home, but whne they arrive skyclan is having twoleg issues and decide that leaving would be an idea so skyclan also goes to the lake and now the =( clans live together again, and at the lake this time.

additional notes

evil healer! the warning pinestar got about his kits was for mistkit and not tigerkit this time

robinfall became a perma nursery resident soon after getting its warrior name. it doesn’t want to be in the drama and relaxes

graysilver still happens, but who wares about graysilver, but this time silverstream doesn’t die and has an apprentice

SILVERSTAR

sandstorm’s kits don’t really factor into the plot, i just really wanted these kits to exist

you might have seen that this sandstorm version is a bit more quick to act and friendly/upbeat that canon sandstorm. i just had trouble imagining canon sand as a mc, so this is basically an oc reskinned as sandstorm

sand and dust are best friends/rivals/siblings, they aren’t romantically interested. at all

sand honestly has more eyes for swan. swan is with both sand and strawberry

firestar gets with kitestorm (after kite gets kite’s ears chewed off for running away when kite wasn’t allowed by kite’s father) they never have kits

daisyhail does the thing that vibe. never taking a mate, just being the strongest warrior in the entirety of the clans is enough for this hothead

we get avos-tbc tired leafstar. skyclan’s destiny leafstar is good, but i needed a tired babysitter for the 5 young cats

i somehow always manage to have a status quo good enough for Po3 but a little different, but still Po3

[cryptidclaw]

Ok, so I’m re-reading the first book to the first arc in almost a year, and damn I’ve missed a lot.

I’m working on the doc to the Au we are making and was thinking, during the Shadowclan fight, when they break into the clan when Bluestar, Tigerclaw(now Thrushpslt), Graypaw, Ravenpaw, and Firepaw are at moonstone. Instead of Lionheart dying and Rosetail, it’s Patchpelt, Redtail (as he didn’t die, was just seriously injured by the rock slide)

(This also means Birdflight is expecting little Spottedkit but doesn’t know it ;The name might change it to Red after her father, no 100% sure, but ya)

Also, Lionheart was injured in the left eye making him blind, so Bluestar doesn’t make him deputy, making Tigerclaw the next option.

Another thing, Ravencall does join the clans after the fight with Barley. Instead of the whole Bloodclan thing. I only ain’t doing that idea due to the fact that it’s a LOT of re-writing and reading. And I really don’t have the patience or time. Also I love Skyclan, and really don’t want to get rid of them.

I was wondering if you think having Red is a good idea first, and second, I was wondering if you would like Lionheart not dying and Redtail instead?

(Heads up, Tigerclaw didn’t kill him because he saw Ravenpaw was watching, though he almost did, that’s why Ravenpaw is still skittish and it gives me a reason to have him run away to the city/kitty pet place)

Also sorry this is so long lol

Ya! that all sounds great! this is your take on the au an basically your rewrite so you are free to do what you want! This sounds super cool!! I cant wait to see what else you do with the rewrite!

Also its completely understandable if you don't implement certain parts of my au that I come up with late in the game lol, I know I keep adding stuff lmao

[solargoose]

I thought I was done for the day but actually I’m gonna talk about Berryheart! Spoilers for River ahead!

Berryheart is interesting because it’s so clear how her current mentality came to be! For a lot of warrior cats characters, unless they get a villain monologue, we just have to guess at what events influenced them to be the way they are. With Berryheart, though, we have a pretty clear path.

So her current mentality is one of extreme xenophobia and strict adherence to the rules, which she also has deeply engrained in her children.  The clan takes precedence over everything, and any break with this worldview is met with hostility. Although the only thing she’s done so far is talk, it’s pretty clear that she’s going to take action at some point in the next few books, or is going to encourage someone else to take action.

What’s pretty clear to me is that this mentality is based on fear and a warped sense of self-preservation. Now, I want to be really clear, this isn’t an excuse for her behavior, only an explanation.

So it starts with Needletail, her rebellious daughter. She initiates the rebellion that leads to the kin taking over. Berryheart joined the kin, along with her daughter and 2 of her sisters, going against her leader, breaking the warrior code. 

In the ensuing chaos, her daughter and one of her sisters die, and Berryheart and her mate flee the clans. She lives away from Shadowclan for a time, then journeys back. One of her brothers leaves entirely, becoming a kittypet. Her kits are born outside the clan, she returns to a clan in shambles, and has to pick up the pieces. 

Then, the Imposter debacle happens. There’s a lot of emphasis put on code breakers. Her remaining brother dies in an act of vigilante justice, once again breaking the code.

In her experience, breaking the code has only ever led to pain and death. She starts out afraid, afraid of cats outside the clan, afraid of breaking the warrior code, and afraid of change. Fear becomes anger, and now she’s so afraid of the past repeating that she’s willing to do anything to ensure that everyone follows the rules, including her own kits.

Now I’m going to poke at a couple things that aren’t as explicit in the books and are partly speculation.

So any cat from outside the clans would’ve likely set her off, but I think Fringewhisker being from Skyclan may have been a particularly sore spot for Berryheart. We might be seeing not just fear and anger at outsiders/rule breakers in general, but also a built up resentment towards Skyclan itself.

So going back to the beginning, alongside the rule breakers at the beginning of the kin rebellion, was Violetshine. Violetshine who was friends with her daughter, who was an outsider that turned out to be Skyclan, whose very existence heralded the coming of Skyclan. Skyclan, strangers from far away, who put all the clans in upheaval, living on Shadowclan land, with strange names and an unusual permissiveness to outsiders. Violetshine joins Skyclan, she has kits with an outsider, and even names one of those kits after her daughter.

Then, when she returns from her exile, she finds that Shadowclan has merged with Skyclan, and are living under Leafstar’s rule. We, as the audience, know that this is very different from when the kin took over Shadowclan, but to her it may have been just another group controling Shadowclan, especially considering she may have already hated/been afraid of Skyclan.

So why does this matter?

Once again, I’m not excusing her behavior, present or future. But I am LOVING that this potential villain isn’t coming out of nowhere. Whatever she does to try to convince the clans that this code change is bad, we’ve got plenty of evidence to see how she got to where she is. And it’s stuff that already exists, not things that were made up after the fact. A lot of the villains we have in previous seasons were introduced as villains, and then retroactively given motivation. It’s a nice change of pace.

[everybody-loves-purdy]

I think it’s really interesting to think about how by the time into the wild rolls around in the warrior cats timeline, the clans are in a really dark age in their history. Despite the clans being founded on the principles that they are all supposed to ultimately stand united, divisions are greater in the clans than ever. SkyClan has been driven out, ShadowClan is seemingly at war with everyone, especially WindClan, battles across all the surviving clans are regular occurrences, and distrust is so great that if another clan even finds out where an opposing clan’s camp is then it is enough grounds to suggest moving the entire camp.

Over the course of the series in the present day timeline we have slowly seen the clans reunify to resemble a system much closer to that they were founded upon.

Was this intentional? During the Vicky era absolutely not, but since Dawn of the clans I feel that’s what the new team may intentionally be building towards, especially with asc, how the clans are now allowing freer movement between the clans, there is much more emphasis in avoiding battle at any costs, and how Riverstar himself is trying to steer RiverClan back towards the principles he founded it upon.

And maybe that’s what the endgame may be for the new team in this present timeline, or at least the place they want to reach before moving onto something else. Vicky’s era was ultimately Firestar’s story. It was his and his family’s history and legacy. But the new team era seems to be going towards the overreaching story of restoring the clans to the principles they were founded on; unity, camaraderie, and mutual respect.

I could be wrong, next arc Evilstar of ShadowClan could have some serious beef with Nightheart Jr and things could go back to complete war and things ending off like they started in the first arc. But I do feel like this is where they’re going with all this recent political stuff. Even TBC, which was clearly something to help bring older fans back to the books with a heavy emphasis on Vicky-era stuff, still featured the clans ultimately unifying together again and then coming together to set up the ASC politics.

[bonefall]

Honestly that whole thing With Owl-Eyes learning techniques from an Owl in one of the Guides that hints at it only being taught in Thunderclan to it never being brought up again...sucks. The guides peppered in a bunch of interesting little things like that, but it's never brought up again. Also, with how Firestar taught Skyclan techniques to Thunderclan in cannon are you going to keep that in your rewrite or have Fire come up with his own technique?

It's unfortunate that the Field Guides were so effective at teasing Clan Culture only for them to utterly toss most of it out. It sucks that the books are uninterested in mentors and apprentices, storytelling, and anything else that could relate to culture being passed on from one generation to the next.

Especially the Great Clan stuff. It would have been SUPER cool if we found out in DOTC or the time travel segments that they're actually mythologized versions of 'mundane' stories. That's actually what I plan to do.

As for Firestar bringing SkyClan techniques back to ThunderClan... I'm not sure. It tracks that he learned something from the ordeal, but I'm not quite sure what. I'm still working out the meat of that story though, so it'll definitely fall into place as it goes along.

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Dark Forest Resident: Mottlecry

Aliases / Nicknames: Weirdo, Freak, Abomination

Gender: tom

Sexuality: asexual, biromantic

Family: Chaffinchheart (mother), unknown father, unnamed stillborn littermates, unnamed younger brother

Other Relations: Greywhisker (mentor, uncle)

Clan: Skyclan

Rank: warrior

Characteristics: kills to compare cat and prey, and to enjoy the ‘toys’ they keep inside

Number of Victims: 18

Number of Murders: 17

Murder Method: evisceration

Known Victims: Antfinch, Badgernose, Golddusk, several unnamed warriors, several unnamed loners

Cause of Death: self-inflicted wounds

Cautionary Tale: ??

Story:

The beginnings of an interest started with his first non-milk meal. What was all of that stuff inside? Red, pink, some yellow, all rather squishy aside from the white hard stuff.

He didn’t have much time to ponder before his mother told him to stop playing with his food, not before two elders had a chance to throw their noses up in disgust at the way her kit picked apart his food.

It wasn’t the first time they had said things about her, looking her way with something the young Mottlekit couldn’t understand, and when he visited them, they looked at him with a mixture of pity and revulsion.

It wasn’t until he was an apprentice that he understood. Two of his denmates, Badgerpaw and Redpaw explained it to him with varying degrees of kindness. Though there was no real proof, Redpaw made sure to put out, there were strong rumors that Mottlepaw’s father was the warrior, Greywhisker, who also happened to be his uncle and Chaffinchheart’s brother.

Mottlepaw had been so disgusted at the idea. Redpaw agreed with him that it was definitely all out weird, while Badgerpaw seemed to enjoy his abhorrence. He made sure to point out how it was probably true, say how Greywhisker was the only tom that Chaffinchheart would really talk to, and they seemed especially close right around the time that his mother fell pregnant with him.

Mottlepaw couldn’t believe his ears. After telling Badgerpaw to back off, Redpaw comforted her new denmate, pointing out that it could all be explained logically. Of course Chaffinchheart would be so close with Greywhisker, they are littermates! As for why they were especially close during such a time, maybe she was already pregnant and wanted the support of the one she felt closest with!

Things got better. Mottlepaw tried not to change the way he looked at his mother or uncle, and between teasing his interest in prey grew. The way they squealed a moment before they were killed, how different animals who could look no more different on the outside were nearly identical on the inside. The same squishy things, the relatively same places.

But over the next moons, Badgerpaw went on mockingly, pointing out more and more things that looked to the supposed obvious-- Chaffinchheart’s hush-hush about the identity of the father, Greywhisker’s interest in the kit, so much so that he had personally asked the leader if he could be his mentor. 

One day, Badgerpaw’s remarks got crueler. He stated how the relationship was the reason for Mottlepaw’s half-blindness and overly-long claws. He stated how it was why all his littermates had been born dead, and how it was a pity such an abomination as him didn’t go with them.

Mottlepaw lashed out, but even if his claws were overly-large, he was no match for the more experience apprentice, who pinned him down and didn’t raise up until he admitted that he was an abomination.

Mottlepaw went on a bit of a spree. Filled with rage, he ran around the territory, killing every prey he came by and that he could catch, not able to take pleasure in looking through them and not bothering to bury them, just leaving them laying on the ground.

He was caught by his mentor, uncle, and possible father. Greywhisker had wrapped his tail around him, angry but worried. Mottlepaw responded by lashing out, calling him disgusting, and running off to hide in a tree.

After waiting long enough to be sure that Greywhisker wouldn’t follow, he looked around. Stars, he had climbed high! What was that?

In the distance, there was a silver pelt. It looked like a cat, but it wasn’t moving. Intrigued, Mottlepaw padded toward it, sniffing warily. As he neared, he realized that it was a body just over the least-patrolled border, with foliage to hide it unless you had a high view.

He began to head toward the camp, but only a few steps. He looked at the body curiously. He had never seen a dead cat before.

Mice, voles, birds, rabbits, even fish. They were all so different, yet were exactly the same inside. Was it possible that cats, the perfect animal, the one above all the others, the ones who could form Clans systems, were the same inside, too?

He stood still for a long time, looking it over, wondering where to start and if he should start at all. Then, seeing the sun begin to dip, he realized he had to decide. 

He went with the stomach, where all the things usually were and, with difficulty with the thicker skin, managed to draw his claws up some ways. The body must have been decomposing for a bit, making the skin weaker. And what would you know? All those things were still there! If not bigger.

He lost track of time, looking through and feeling all the fun stuff. He loved the way it felt on his fur, the noise they made as he pressed on them. He could barely stop himself from rolling around.

But, hearing a sudden ribbit, he looked around and realized how late it had gotten. He hurried back to camp to find his mother and mentor waiting for him, a parent’s worry sparking in both their eyes.

His mother had coddled him, saying how worried she had been, how she wanted to look for him but Greywhisker convinced her that he wanted to be alone.

Then they said that they should talk, to which Mottlepaw responded that he had to get to sleep, or else he would be late to training. He didn’t bother to respond to Greywhisker’s point about being his mentor, already hurring to the den.

The next day, when he was free, he dashed back to the spot of the silver cat, and his heart sunk to find that she, and all her lovely insides, had been eaten. 

Greywhisker and Chaffinchheart tried to talk to him many times, but Mottlepaw would never hear it, pretending to listen or not bothering at all. Strangley, he began caring less about the.... possible relationship, and more about the silver cat. Maybe it was an escape, maybe it was just a perfect thing.

He kept trying to re-create it with small animals, but even the big ones like rabbits weren’t the same. It was while pecking one of them apart distastefully was he interrupted.

Badgernose had laughed mockingly, calling him a creep, and saying how fitting it was. Mottlecry felt no anger, just curiousity.

Were all the little things the same if the subject were still alive? 

The silver cat, after all, had been dead for a while when Mottlecry found her. 

He pretended to run away again. Of course, Badgernose followed with a chorus of insults and a mocking grin. Stupid tom. He lead him to where he had found the silver cat. She, so far away, had never been found by a patrol. Why should Badgernose be?

Badgernose was taken aback by the blood stains still visible in the dust, not noticing as his paw was beginning to slip into a rabbit hole, giving Mottlecry the perfect opportunity. He shoved him, causing Bagernose’s leg to snap and for him to cry out in pain.

He demanded Mottlecry help him. Mottlecry only sat, tilting his head, studying the protruding bone. Then he began his work. It was much more difficult, with Badgernose squirming and such, but he eventually got it. By the time he was pulling out the organs, Badgernose was staring wide-eyed at the sky, the light still present for a few breaths more.

It was a bit different! He swears it was! But Mottlecry couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming twinge of in-accomplishment. Badgernose had died too soon to really tell, worthless fleabag!

Over the next several moons, he tried again and again. Some where Clanmates, such as Antfinch and Golddusk, one of which being an elder-- he wanted to see if her organs would differe with age, some were from the other Clans, and most were loners.

He experimented, learned how to make them last longer, but still it was never long enough.

Then he got news from his mother. In the nursery, he went to see her, proudly presenting a single, healthy kit. It didn’t help her image that Greywhisker had spent the entire birthing process pacing with anxiety outside. 

Mottlecry looked at the little bundle of joy, his brother, and wondered one question: how long would a kit last? So entranced, he neared, and his mother was happy to see his interest until he laid his claws across the kit’s back. 

So protective. She lashed out, giving him a deep wound on his leg. Mottlecry ran, angered that he had been interrupted. When he rested out in the forest, he looked to his injury. 

And was entranced. The blood, the layer of skin visible. He knew the organs, but had he ever focused on what was just under the skin? He curled his claws beneath the fold and began to pull and tear, stripping his flesh in bits, some neat, some not. 

The smell of blood put him over the edge with amazement, and stars, the noise was beautiful!

When he was too tired to go on, he rested his head on the forest floor, bathed and surrounded in a pool of blood, and a smile crept across his crooked teeth.

Additional Information: 

--A weird man! Maybe Badgernose wasn’t so wrong to call him a freak?

--I’ll leave the nature of Greywhisker and Chaffinchheart’s relationship up to interpretation. I think I got the idea because I’ve been watching The Simpsons a lot and Cletus and his wife / sister (also said to be other things) are just so funny.

--Some name ideas given by @wills-woodland-warriors​ !

--The kit is okay! He only had his claws on him for a split-second.

--We might have the first weird loner that someone won’t want to be friends with!