#saffronique

[clangenrising]

GRANDMA SWEEP!!! Nice going Songdust!!! Love that she got such a cool moment to shine. But dang Scorch, gambling with the kits? That's a big, big misstep. Like I understand why it happened, and she clearly knows it was a mistake, but if that had gone south...

Yeah, I gotta give Songdust her moments now that she's retired and doesn't get in game events anymore. That scene honestly just sort of happened, like I lost control right along with Scorch and the characters just sorted it out on their own lol

But yeah, Scorch took a HUGE risk there. She wouldn't have cared though if it weren't for the consequences with Goldenstar and the other leaders. In her mind Russetfrond can go fuck himself, losing Yellowkit and Bluekit wouldn't have been a loss to her at all.

[rippleclan]

Couldn’t properly reply to this post by @saffronique but wanted to share it! I love the mixed opinions I’m getting, and everyone’s readings are valid! It’s a great analysis of the scene, and I love the discussion.

[clangenrising]

Look at her!! She looks so regal in your style, I love this! The feathers look so glossy! Thanks for the welcome back, it is much appreciated!

@clangenrising is back in business guys!!! I had to draw my favorite character Barleybee. Her journey has been so, so amazing to follow and I can't wait to see what's ahead for her! If you haven't read RisingClan's story yet you should 100% go and check it out, the characters are so well done and the writing is amazing!

[clangenrising]

I hope Ospreymask gets the kittens she's hoping for! I was literally just thinking last night "Bluekit and Yellowkit can't be too far out from apprenticeship, I wonder if the game will give us a new litter or if we'll have an empty nursery for the first time since the Oddletts!"

I think it will be interesting to see Ospreymask as a mom. I really like how you've developed her as a character before her POV and how it's continuing now-- especially because she feels like a divergence from the kit-loving stereotype in the canon series. It's been well established that she loves kids, but that doesn't always translate to being prepared to parent- and right now it sounds like she's got sort of an idealized mindset around pregnancy and raising kids. That combined with the fact that she seems to have some unhealthy responses to loss (don't linger on it and try to find new things to bring you joy as quickly as possible (not that moving on is bad, just that doing it without taking the time to let yourself mourn isn't great)) makes me think she'll experience a bit of a learning curve if she succeeds in having kits! Especially because they won't be kittens forever, they'll grow up into teens and then adults, and will need a different kind of guidance and support from her, something I'm not sure she's fully considered. I can't draw any serious conclusions though, this is the first time we've been in her head so it's too soon to really know for sure. Very excited to see more of her!

Amazing analysis, as always! 50 Risingbucks!

I think that yeah, Ospreymask is probably not ready to be a mother or rather she's not ready for the more difficult aspects of parenting. Being a kitsitter and a parent are two very different things and I don't know if she's prepared for that haha

It'll be nice to have new kittens in the Clan though and at the very least it's guaranteed that her kittens will know they're very, very loved.

[clangenrising]

I think it's really cool how you've managed to give Oddstripe a physical transition in your art without relying on the "eyelashes for female cats, no lashes for male cats" art trope (which I myself am guilty of at times lol). I'm sure a developing artstyle and changes in design over time have contributed to it, but that's certainly not the whole story. Your cats have never looked like, vastly different based on sex alone (save for the stud jowels on intact toms) which I've always really appreciated, so I think it's cool that Oddstripe has still gotten a visual transition from where he started. I can even see a bit of a difference from his last official art! It's not all in the jowels, either, though that's certainly the most noticeable change.

I (and most other comments I've seen) focus largely on your writing when it comes to discussion posts, and to be clear it IS your fantastic writing that has made RisingClan what it is, but the visual storytelling in Oddstripe's physical transition is a really nice touch that just adds to the overall experience of reading RisingClan!

Aww, thank you! That's such a compliment, I'm flattered. I think probably the reason people mostly talk about my writing is because I haven't drawn a lot lately so it's mostly been writing that people have to look at.

But yeah, I am really happy with how drawing Oddstripe has changed (and not just the redesign being a lot better in my opinion). I really do think I've gotten better at drawing cats over this last year after taking a long break from drawing them after highschool.

[regulatorsrus]

@saffronique Just wanted to poke you regarding the fines for New Cooperative - that $6k was definitely an air fine. Please *do* reach out to your legislators and demand action, but be aware that the DNR has not yet proposed a fine for this event.

The 5% opacity standard is almost definitely NSPS DDD (40 CFR Part 60, Subpart DDD) which regulates handling, storage, and processing of whole grains. (What can I say, my professionally relevant area is Air.) If there's anything vague/unclear/sketchy, send it my way and I'll be happy to interpret from Regulator to Common.

Hey guys, I know there are a lot of really severe tragedies in the world right now and I in no way desire to push those aside, nor do I really want to load another thing onto people's plates, but anyone here in the US needs to be aware that on March 11, 2024, an agricultural company known as NEW Cooperative spilled 265,000 gallons (1500 tons) of liquid nitrogen fertilizer into the East Nishnabotna River. This is the ecological equivalent of dropping a nuclear weapon into the river. Over a 60 mile stretch downstream of the spill its been a near total ecological wipeout for the river. So far, an estimate of 850,000 fish have been killed from this spill, and that's to say nothing for the insects, amphibians, reptiles and birds that relied on or lived in this river. It is literally filled with animal corpses. This river flows into the Missouri River and the impacts will likely continue to spread far past this 60 mile stretch. And this disaster has barely made local tv in Iowa, let alone national tv, despite the fact that 60 miles of river ecosystem were just wiped out in a way that may be impossible to recover from. And what's the punishment for this heinous act of destruction through negligence, you might ask? As it stands, its looking like a 6k fine from the DNR to the company. Not 600k. Not 60k. 6000 dollars. The maximum fine that the DNR can charge in Iowa is 10k unless they decide to take it further in court. That's why these spills are so frequent in Iowa: it's literally cheaper to eat the fines than it is to bother properly storing fertilizer. I don't know exactly what the proper course of action is here, or who needs to be contacted to enact change--I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than me will chime in with that information--but at the very least, every one of us should know. Every one of us should make sure we don't forget this. And every one of us should blacklist NEW Cooperative fertilizer unilaterally.

Sources:

[clangenrising]

If Jo has a million fans I am one of them. If Jo has 10 fans I am one of them. If Jo has one fan then that is me. If Jo has no fans, then that means I am no longer on this earth. If the world is against Jo, then I am against the world.

Literally already an icon. Jo you will always be famous.

Damn right! Jo is such a great character, I really hope we have more time to explore her in the story cause I adore her. I have a feeling she'll be tied to Ghost's upcoming arc so maybe we'll see her that way.

[rippleclan]

Oof the Puddlewhisper Icekit Pearkit Nimblestep situation is SO tricky. It really seems like there's not a right answer. Just a lot of sadness and complexity. On the one hand, Puddlewhisper is the only parent they've ever really known, and they're happy and safe. They were abandoned with no real way to get them back to Nimblestep at the time. On the other hand though, I really do see Lettucestar's point and part of me agrees with him. It's sad and it's going to hurt Puddlewhisper a lot, but the kits are probably still young enough to adjust to a new home fairly easily and RippleClan IS responsible for the murder of their father. The murderer has been punished, yes, but it still happened. Nimblestep is back now, getting help, and very very reasonably wants her own children back. Like I don't blame her for wanting to have custody of her kids back, for wanting to be responsible for how they are brought up, and for not wanting them to not be raised by the group that killed their father. No, she shouldn't have left them in the first place, but she thought she was fleeing for her life, and the life of the kit she could carry. She was panicked and not thinking rationally. I don't think it's really any evidence that she didn't care about them or that she's not capable of being a good mother to them now that she has support. As much as I like and sympathize with Puddlewhisper, and as much as losing Icekit and Pearkit would be devastating, I just don't see her keeping the kits in RippleClan being the right thing to do, in large part because of the murder of Achilles. I feel like the best, if not at all likely solution would be for Puddlewhisper to agree to join SlugClan and coparent the kits with Nimblestep.

Love your thoughts on this!

[clangenrising]

I share your love of stories of redemption and growth (that you mentioned in another ask), and I really appreciate what you are doing with Ghost. It is never, ever too late to choose to change, regardless of the things you've done in the past. Being genuinely sorry for what you have done is not always enough for the people you have hurt. Sometimes nothing is. But if you truly regret your actions you change anyways, not because you expect to be forgiven, but because YOU want to be different. Ghost's experience feels real right now, especially his sense of uncertainty and discomfort and even reluctance at some points. Change isnt easy. Behavior and thought patterns are hard to shift, even when you can recognize they're wrong. And it is much, much easier to give up than it is to do the uncomfortable work of changing, especially when you come face to face with the people that you have hurt. Especially when you're confronted by someone who has been deeply affected by your actions. Having Fogpaw ask Ghost why he would do the things he did is such a simple but effective confrontation. She doesnt understand the complexity of the situation, but for someone like Ghost I actually think that kind of point blank question can be useful, in small doses. I think it's historically been easy for him to make lots of excuses to himself and others for his actions, but being confronted by his own (very direct) daughter puts him in a hard position where he actually has to think about it. She is someone he doesn't seem to want to lie to, but being honest with her means he needs to examine his own actions more thoroughly. Why DID he do those things? There's a lot to unpack there, and all of it is tangled up with his own personal fears and the sexist society he was raised in. To have a good relationship with his daughters, especially with those daughters living in a society that has very different views on gender and sexuality than his own, he is going to have to confront some of his own biases. So I think that knowing them is going to be a vitally important part of his growth. Whatever happens specifically, you've done a fantastic job setting up characters with complex feelings about one another who are going to be deeply affected by each other's words and actions. There are so many ways it could go, all of which would be interesting. Can't wait to see more!

I'll end this with a quote from my favorite book series (which is also about growth and redemption and change) that I wish I could share with Ghost right now: "If we stop, if we accept the person we are when we fall, the journey ends. That failure becomes our destination. To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one."

Very well said, so well said I don't have much to add. 50 RisingBucks <3

That's such a lovely quote (From Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, I believe, if anyone was wondering) and I think it would be comforting to Ghost. It wouldn't fix everything but it would probably make him feel less alone and that's a powerful thing.

[saffronique]

I'm either Dusk or Saffronique- Dusk from my first Warriors OC Duskstar, or Saffron/Saffronique which comes from my beautiful yellow and orange cornsnake Saffron!

Alr, friendship interaction thing!

What is your online alias? How did you get it?

I'll go first, I'm Vice and I got my alias from a Will Wood song (2econd2ight2eer, specifically "Vice versa, vice versus virtue")

[clangenrising]

June Featured Follower Post!

Congratulations to this month’s featured follower, @duskstar727! She has been leaving so many long, thoughtful, delightful comments recently and it's clear that they understand my characters very well.

The OC they asked me to highlight is Slatestar, a future character for her own ClanGen blog, @taleofturtleclan! I don't want to spoil too much of her story but this beautiful baby has so much on her shoulders and I adore her. I've heard that the blog is on an unofficial hiatus but you all should check it out and follow the blog to make sure you don't miss it when they stop posting again.

Next month I’ll pick another follower! I’ll be trying to pick people who reblog and comment so if you’re interested in being considered, that’s the way to get my attention. Please do not message me or ask to be featured.

A Special Thank You To My Patrons!

A massive, massive thank you to Autum_not_Fall, Daes, Abigalil Warner, and Saffronique! You guys make it possible for me to put more time and effort into RisingClan and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Want your name on these posts? Go check out my Patreon! Patreon members at the Sunrise Tier get their names on my Featured Follower Posts! In addition, all Patrons also get sneak peeks at upcoming pieces and Sunrise members get a unique illustration for every season. I’d love to see you there!

[clangenrising]

Fogpaw is now on my laptop looking on as I teach my genetics lab! I get the feeling that she'd be a fan of science if she knew what it was lol. Thank you for selling these stickers, they're super cute!

Yay!! Look at her!

And yeah, I think she'd enjoy science as well although maybe not if the teachers tried to convinve her magic wasn't real haha

[clangenrising]

Hmmm if Lakepaw needed white added to be genetically accurate that must mean either her parent(s) or her offspring will appear in the story! I'll be watching her closely to discover which it is!

And I'm so excited to see one of the Oddlets get an apprentice. Feels like just yesterday when we were all trying to guess their mentors, and now Floodstrike himself is a mentor! Hopefully he trains her well, seems like they've already got a strong bond and I know he has the excellent teacher trait so I'm hopeful!

Or... it means only cats with white can have blue eyes. Sorry guys, we're probably not getting Lakepaw's parents in the story.

And yeah!! The boy is growing up so fast! Blink again and Lakepaw will have an apprentice of her own!

[rippleclan]

Would you consider including parents of a character in the next allegiances, kind of like FallenClan does? (Eg, charactertail: physical description (parents: characterheart and characterwing, mate: characterstorm)) I think it would help a lot in keeping track of characters- at this point, I know a lot of the characters individually but there are so many cats that it's hard to keep track of who's related to who without searching back through the moons. You also mentioned potentially doing yearly allegiances-- if it's not too much work I think that would be helpful, just because cats are being born and dying a lot faster than they used to.

Anyways love your work! I check for updates like I check the news lol. Thanks so much for creating this story!

If that would help you guys, I can start doing that! The Clan is definitely getting complex, after all!

[clangenrising]

I'm actually really excited for this Luna and Floodstrike relationship because this is such a messy complicated topic and I fully trust you to write it with the nuance it deserves. On the one hand Luna's desire to imagine sex being forced upon her because it removes any guilt associated with being "easy" makes perfect sense given her society, but she's also absolutely fetishizing Floodstrike in a way that reduces him to a stereotype rather than a person, both of which are things you touched on in a previous ask. I do not see this relationship lasting, but it's such an interesting opportunity to consider kink vs fetishization without one party being portrayed as an inherently "bad person".

Yeah, Luna and Flood have such an interesting dynamic! I'm really excited to keep writing them and exploring those topics

[clangenrising]

I have a confession to make. When I found this blog (I think it was just after the first or second post), I wasn't a big fan of the real time updates thing. I mean, I certainly thought it was a cool idea, but I figured "it's going to take forever for anything to really happen, and the author will probably lose interest after the first six months." But that's not what happened at all. You've crafted an incredible story that is well paced and exciting, and each of your characters are unique and memorable. This is in large part because the real-time updates allows your readers to really sit with the characters and get to know them, to theorize about their futures. Like I'm more excited for the Oddlets to become warriors than I've been for anything else in any other Clangen blog, because we've watched them grow from kits for almost a year now. It makes everything much more meaningful and exciting. Thank you for crafting such a beautiful story!!

Thank you!!

Yeah, I think there's something to be said for delayed gratification and the way it helps build a story into something more meaningful and memorable. Its like how I ruined my first D&D campaign because I couldn't wait for the fun stuff and then it wasn't as satisfying as it could have been because I rushed it and there's wasn't any build up to pay off.

I'm so glad the story has managed to capture so many people's attention and make them happy. That's all I could have asked for.