#starting modern thunderclan!

[artaintfartwarriors]

[stagwhisker]

Why is Skyclan in an inbreeding speerun lately

[bonefall]

BB!TPB Titles

Having some fun just absentmindedly thinking of titles for the BB overhauls of main arc books. I think I'm gonna do it for all of them, because I actually really like renaming these and explaining my thought process

But here's TPB for now, because it's on my mind after that little scene bundle I wrote

Below the cut;

Arc Rename: The Prophecies Begin -> The Forest Four

Into the Wild -> Into the Clans

Fire and Ice -> Thermal and Undertow

Forest of Secrets -> Forest of Flowers

Rising Storm -> Rejected Rites

A Dangerous Path -> The Hunting Trail

The Darkest Hour -> Before the Dawn

The Forest Four

It's the intro to the original four, y'know? Plus, I use this term all the time in Clan Culture entries to specify when something is different about SkyClan from the "Forest Four." Makes sense it's the arc title.

Plus, there's a bit of a thing going on, especially in the later books, where the number of the Clans comes up a lot. Three Great Clans, but only four modern ones, River and Shadow combine to make TigerClan leaving three, BloodClan would make four, LionClan's alliance leaving two...

In BB, they know about SkyClan in history lessons, but Firestar doesn't think about it much until after this arc is done. More importantly, his choice to spare Scourge at the end of the arc suddenly means there's a Forest Four, and a Town One. I just think that's interesting.

(for some reason I also just love Scourge's insult where he calls Firestar a "forest fool" lmao. four forest fools.)

Into the Clans

The book with the expanded intro to the culture of the Clans. I feel like it's more fitting for BB to not call it "into the WILD" because... well, Clan cats DON'T see themselves as ""wild"" like animals. They're in Clans, with culture. They have ranks, politics, family, and even cooking and little kitty tools. It doesn't really make sense to me that they define themselves as "wild" just because their home has nature.

To them, loners are who's "wild," y'know? Rusty isn't totally coming to the Clans because it's wild, he's coming because of the community. Friendships and bonds with cats like Ravenpaw, Graystripe, Frostfur, Spottedleaf, Bluestar, and the sense that he could belong here. That he matters to these people.

This title's the one I'm actually waffling the most on, though. I don't like it very much yet. I don't feel like it captures the feeling I'm going for. It's also really close to a field guide title.

Thermal and Undertow

I've always interpreted "Fire and Ice" to be about how differently Graystripe and Fireheart are as people, and how that starts pulling them apart. The thing that people focus on is their "reconciliation" at the end of the book, but what stands out about it to me is that this is the book where Fireheart's TRULY integrated into the Clan.

His friendship with Graystripe is strained because of the HalfClan relationship Gray gets in, and he starts looking back to his roots for comfort because he doesn't feel like he's completely part of ThunderClan. I love this irony; they're BOTH struggling with loyalty in this broken system, experiencing types of xenophobia that prevent them from having happiness, but not yet wise enough to recognize they have a similar problem.

They're both breaking the law to talk to outsiders. Their forbidden love, both familial and romantic, makes Clan life harder. They're BOTH not doing anything wrong, but the STRUCTURE of their society is setting them against each other.

Graystripe responds, eventually, by leaving. Fireheart thinks he can make a home where he is. They're both wrong. The STRUCTURE needs to be challenged.

And meanwhile, they must go to fetch WindClan after it was driven out. They have to face RiverClan AND ShadowClan when Crookedstar and Nightstar show that power acts through them, as leaders. All the while, they experience the simple truth that love for cats in other Clans makes cruel, bloodthirsty battles like these too difficult to be sustainable.

And that's just canon!! I fucking love this book!!!

So in the rename, I'm putting emphasis on the natural flow, above and below. A wind is controlled by the temperature, rising up into a warm thermal. An undertow is a ferocious current that will pull you into the cold depths. They're not so different, in the end.

Forest of Flowers

And that leads right into canon's Forest of Secrets, where we learn that the older warriors also struggled with those pressures. Fireheart and Graystripe were never alone, cats have been suffering under this cruel system for GENERATIONS.

In BB, this is where I'm dropping the flower symbolism for the three major branches of politics in Forest Four society, which persist and are expanded on for the rest of BB;

Traditionalism, represented by the Honeysuckle, is used to justify the current system. "The Clans are branches of a honeysuckle bush. We fight and strangle each other for the light, and this prunes the weakest sprigs and rewards the fittest. When the winter comes, the strongest branches ensure the survival of the bush."

He also learns, much earlier, of Tigerstar's mentor. He hears the Parable of the Thistle, a story about how a young apprentice was forced to attempt to uproot a bull thistle, only managing to spread its seeds across a clearing, and won a trip to the Cleric's den for the trouble. How Tigerstar, and others, believe the honeysuckle must be challenged.

And meanwhile, he uncovers the story of the Forget-me-nots. A friend group even stronger than his collection of allies, with cats of every Clan, and how ambition drove it apart. How Bluestar looks back at it with both silly shame and deep appreciation.

The kindling ember in Fireheart's chest as he realizes he is the heir of a Forget-me-not, and that surrounding the obvious slash across Tigerclaw's nose, are the subtle pockmarks of thistle thorns.

Rejected Rites

I feel like Rising Storm is the "weakest" book of TPB, because it's where canon's cracks begin to show.

There's still a lot I love about this book. I love the way that Bluestar's cruelty arc begins with her grace and altruism towards other Clans not being returned without a catch. I adore the rescue of Bramblekit and Yellowfang’s guilty, harrowing death insisting she deserves judgement as Fireheart insists she is a good person. Its harsh ending revealing Tigerstar as leader of ShadowClan is a gut punch in an already brutal book, making an excellent mid-arc climax

But I feel its sudden turn towards suggesting the status quo was actually good drags it down.

For example, Cloudpaw is constantly arguing with Fireheart, in ridiculous fights Fire started. He's abducted by humans and returns in the same book, suggesting his uncle was totally right all along and he Totally Promises he won't mess with humans any more. The fact Fire was projecting on his young nephew and denying him answers when he questions their way of life, in a way very similar to the shame Firepaw himself went through, is not addressed.

A lot more of this book than you remember is also dedicated to Fireheart and Sandstorm arguing because the writers think a good romance is when you hate each other but stay together anyway.

So instead, this book in BB focuses more on what I DO like; Fireheart learning to be a LEADER. He's young, inexperienced, and has acted mostly alone up to this point. The Clan is in a moment of SERIOUS tumult as it reckons with how no one saw ANY signs about Tigerclaw.

As he loses his mentor Bluestar to paranoia, he has to learn which warriors are truly trustworthy, and try to win back those whose loyalties might stray.

In this way, Rejected Rites is about the WHOLE Clan. It's Whitestorm throwing his reputation and experience behind Fireheart. It's Goldenflower and how her disgust with her ex-mate blows her mind open and she shifts into Fire's most ferocious champion. It's Mousefur deciding that Tigerclaw was a uniquely bad person and refusing to admit fault with a Clan that supported him.

And of course it's about Cloudpaw, grappling with how Fireheart insists he's his mentor, not his father, not his friend, going back to how he botches the Queen’s Rights on bringing him to the Clan. Fireheart, too, is a flawed person capable of being complicit in damaging systems.

The Hunting Trail

The dog plot barely needs a recap, it's this fandom's bread and butter. But there's a small, VERY popular misconception about; in canon, Tigerstar only uses the dogs at the END of this book with a rabbit trick. Before that, the dogs are practically a natural disaster he has nothing to do with.

There's a reason why it's misremembered. It works better if he's more involved with them the whole time, showing how DANGEROUS he is, how Bluestar's fixation on her war with StarClan is blinding her to reality, and adding to the tragedy and madness by having Swiftpaw getting wrapped up in his father's/stepfather's quest for revenge.

So in BB, Tigerstar's involved MUCH sooner. He freed the dogs.

The title change reflects that. There's a hunting trail and the cats of ThunderClan are its prey, but it doesn't specify who the predator is. In the end, it was Tigerstar's scheme all along and Bluestar sacrifices herself to save her apprentice.

(I also want to take the moment to highlight how short-sighted and impulsive Tigerstar's plans actually are, something I find fascinating about him as a character. He's malicious and intelligent enough to make some incredible schemes, taking advantage of every opportunity. But he never accounts for details like... "what if my dogs don't go right to where I want them to go?" or "what if I'm not picked as deputy after I kill Redtail?" or even "what will i do after my demons kill all the living cats?")

TigerClan is also forming earlier. It begins in THIS book. Stonefur and Mistyfoot are "detained" after leaping into the ravine to rescue Fireheart and Bluestar, it's all the "evidence" Tigerstar needed to accuse them of divided loyalty. To finally start his persecution of HalfClan cats.

Before the Dawn

...In spite of its iconic moments, I'll be honest; Darkest Hour is actually the book that makes me the angriest about the original series.

All arc long, we are shown that the Clans are flawed. They have been, long before Rusty set foot in the woods that day. It NEEDS bigotry to exist the way it does, fostering xenophobia between Clan cats so that love and friendship won't get in the way of violence, encouraging and even rewarding extreme Jingoism, and even setting clanmates against each other for these senseless problems instead of the STRUCTURE of Clan society.

Darkest Hour SLAMS the breaks on that theme, and brings the message to a screeching halt.

FIRST of all, this is the book where it's explicitly stated that StarClan "doesn't interfere," even giving them a moment where they yell at protagonist about free will or whatever while simultaneously barking a vague, ultimately useless prophecy at him. The first of many scenes like it in later arcs. It feels completely and utterly out of left field, instantly turning StarClan from a mysterious, possibly not even fully benevolent force, into THE most annoying plot device ever.

Secondly... BloodClan.

BloodClan is introduced as a TRULY EVIL group of horrible atheists who hate love and friendship, to the point of banning families, and are now here to destroy our glorious society and steal our home. They're depicted as being ruled by fear and brutality, unbound by concepts like "honor" or "loyalty." You cannot reason with them or spare their lives, the barbarians must be killed and kept out, lest they replace us.

(there is even a moment where it's implied that if the soldiers lose the war, BloodClan will come and murder the elders and children too.)

It is SO bad and SO egregious, and it's played completely unironically. It bothers me so badly I've talked about it before. Multiple times, actually

After Tigerstar gets his well-deserved grallocking like a 10-point buck, the endgame villain of TPB is a foreigner and his army. Scourge is a foil of Firestar himself, but THIS one hates the clans and doesn't worship the right god, which makes him dangerous. Firestar is textually stronger than him because of his faith in StarClan.

At the end of the day, TPB, and the rest of the series that follows, doesn't refute Tigerstar's ideology. It even agrees. Weakness IS abhorrent. Outsiders ARE to be distrusted. Split loyalties ARE detestable. It just didn't like that he challenged the status quo.

Foreigners and their leaders ARE less trustworthy and more villainous than Clan cats. Wariness and even violence towards them is necessary, "justifying" the isolationist structure of the Clans. Scourge is only the first in a very long chain; then comes Sol, One Eye, Slash, and Darktail. Even Hawkfrost and Willow Tail can fit into this pattern.

With the death of these evil, troublemaking cats, the Clans return to the status quo. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Darkest Hour frames this like a wonderful, triumphant thing, with Firestar noting how the now-leaderless BloodClan fighters look so inferior to Clan warriors, Scourge's evil will never haunt them again (Tigerstar gets to be grieved though), and that with LionClan disbanding, they will all return to their petty bullshit squabbles.

So, BB's renaming.

I had a lot of ideas. I really liked the name "Moment of Truth" because it's the book that really brings together the theme of the arc, ending with Firestar realizing Scourge is right to distrust the Clans and that change is DESPERATELY needed, but the more I thought about it... the more I liked Before the Dawn

Reference to the phrase "The darkest hour comes before the dawn" BB is a much more optimistic story than canon, by tweaking the themes and details while following the major beats. Something is just... idk poetic? About picking the more uplifting part of the idiom. It feels right, like it's almost too perfect to go with any other title

It's a new era for the culture going foward It IS right before a "new dawn." It's the start of major changes to Clan culture, setting the events of the rest of BB into motion. The years and generations that follow are going to see major changes to the code, territory, culture, and philosophy in the universe. The choice that Firestar makes here is going to bring the Clans into a new epoch. Plus the cats are crepuscular now so I can literally have the final battle take place just before dawn because subtext is for CHUMPS

I like the idea of opening up the next arc with Dawn Just because that's really funny to me lmaoo. Something is cute about titles that reference each other. Maybe the first book of TNP could be "Dawn of the End" since the destruction of the forest starts early. Maybe add in some apocalyptic prophecies and such...

[wc-confessions]

The retconned family tree causes too much shipping discourse and I hate it. DustFern (retconned her uncle through Brindleface), DarkTiger (who were retconned cousins through Willowpelt), and AshSquirrel (depending on Vickys authority, as she said sandstorms parents were Redtail and Brindleface) to name a few.

I genuinely think TPB should have its retcons revoked, it adds nothing to the books and just causes unnecessary drama in the fandom. If you like the retcons then it can be a headcanon, easy enough. But it makes shipping difficult if you want to explore interesting dynamics. Don't even get me started on the genetic diversity in modern day thunderclan

.

[violetshine-appreciation]

morningflower especially is probably my fav background character overall tbh. tpb was (for the most part) rly good at giving bg characters their own little arcs/stories and morningflower always stuck out to me as the prime example of that.

she starts out as a queen with a new kit and befriends fireheart on the journey back to reclaim windclans territory after he offers to help carry gorsekit for her. from then on whenever they see each other we are reminded that they are on rly good terms with each other bc of this. when thunderclan has to fight windclan, fireheart and morningflower see each other during the battle and both deliberately choose not to fight each other. that always stuck out to me as a small yet impactful moment of friendship/connection between a protag and a minor background character bc it showed that the erins REMEMBERED their little interaction in a previous book which doesnt happen too often anymore in modern wc books.

then at a gathering morningflower tells fireheart that gorsekit is now gorsepaw and that he admires fireheart greatly and wants to be just like him. and again we are reminded of the connection these characters share all bc of a small act of kindness on fires part that meant the world to morning and gorse. its little things like these that made the world and community in tpb really feel more alive and realistic in terms of the interactions between characters (again, for the most part lol).

and then when tigerstar murders gorsepaw, firestar is grief stricken too. this was a cat who he knew as a baby, who he helped CARRY, who looked up to him and wanted to be like him when he grew up. and tigerstar, his greatest enemy, just murdered him in front of his entire clan, including his own mother.

and morningflower, of course, is DEVASTATED. her grief feels so raw and real. she wants nothing more than to avenge her beloved kit. when she fights alongside lionclan in the battle with bloodclan, firestar hears her calling gorsepaws name. she is fighting for him. we, the readers, have seen her story play out from firestars perspective, and i personally always felt very strongly for her as a result of their interactions and how we see their connection develop.

idk. its a small thing but its hard to imagine modern warrior cats books doing this nowadays. very few background characters stand out now, and when something tragic does happen to them its usually only given a brief description and nothing more. the protagonist has no connection with them and we never see them interact beyond basic clan stuff so we dont feel as emotionally invested whenever the narrative expects us to feel bad for them. but morningflower is a reminder that warrior cats CAN be good at this when they actually do try to remember the little interactions between characters and how those moments impact their relationship and our relationship as readers to these characters.

idk. its like the bare minimum for good storytelling but i always rly rly liked it

[koras-human-warriors]

Per your latest reblog, how does Skyclan feel about tattoos? I'm assuming similar to Thunderclan, but I wonder about what specifically they do with tattoos? Are they more likely to get a certain kind because many of them are from outside the clans originally?

Old skyclan had their own tattoo rules. All members of Skyclan get a tattoo of their clan symbol and their name next to their hearts, marking them as a warrior of Skyclan. This tradition started with Clear Sky as a kind of gang symbol type of thing. However, as time passed, it became more of a mark of honor and a way to identify bodies.

Modern Skyclan does not have this tradition as there was no way of Firestar or Sandstorm to know it, and Skywatcher never got one. Their views on tattoos are much in line with Thunderclan's. Some warriors have tattoos, and some don't. It left to the warrior's preference.

Their main difference is their medicine folk. Modern Skyclan don't let their medicine folk get tattoos opposed to the other clans that have heavily tattooed medicine folk. This is due to Skyclan being heavily influenced by the culture of outsiders. The outsiders don't think holy people should be, so neither should Medicine folk. Fire and Sand tried to explain ita a spiritual thing, the new skyclanners still didn't buy into it.

[emtheanxiousdragon]

So I read Thief in ThunderClan and all the comments people make about the ableism within it… I figured since I’m studying both English and Disability Studies, I could make a fairly informed statement on this.

I’ll preface this by saying that I doubt the Erins think as deeply about this as I’m about to, but let me talk. I also got inspired by a random set of tags that I can’t remember.

Within modern disabled circles, the key cultural value is that disabled people retain worth, even if they cannot contribute to society. The problem readers point out with TiTC (need the c to avoid issues) is that the story focuses on disabled people contributing to society, even in small ways. Multiple characters worry they lack value without service, fears which are not answered by saying the statement is utterly false, but by saying that they can serve in some capacity. It shifts the focus from worth despite ability to finding ways to serve how you can. This shift makes it feel like the characters believe “useless” disabled cats have no worth.

However! I think it is important to consider some facts about the series and disability rights in our world. To start, disability civil rights is simply not as popular as women’s rights, racial rights, religious rights, or LGBTQ+ rights. It simply isn’t. As a result, the general public isn’t aware of a lot of important trends in the community, such as the separation of disability from usefulness and identity. Basic Google searches can still direct them to older and outdated articles which focus on finding purpose within community. They should do more research, but we can extend some empathy regarding a lack of popular knowledge.

Next, the only characters in Warriors who think of disabled cats as worthless without usefulness (excluding villains and hated characters) are those who are disabled. When they struggle to pursue the occupations they want, they experience issues of self-worth. This is a normal response! Few people want to do nothing of importance to their community, and these characters want to contribute in a way they enjoy. It makes sense for a young character to fear going to the elder’s den because they want to do things with their lives. Characters who comfort them go for the obvious solution of pointing out ways they can contribute to their homes.

That’s the next big thing. The “all for one, one for all” attitude discussed in TiTC is central to Clan identity. The Clans are a survival culture. Their small populations have to continually work to provide food and security for one another. As a result, being able to pull a bit of your own weight is very important. Every member of the Clan needs to find a balance between their individual talent and capability and the support of their Clanmates. Otherwise, cats can die. Brightheart is chastised not for being lazy but for taking on too much. For the Clans, warriors need to find the balance.

And then again, if cats aren’t able to contribute in these important ways, they aren’t thrown aside or seen as worthless. The value of the sick and elderly is a key tenet of Clan life! The elderly are disabled, all old people are. The role of the elder is meant for those who cannot serve the Clan, outside of perhaps telling stories or giving advice, regular old people stuff. They are respected cats. This respect is often framed around past work, but that is the nature of their society. It’s kind of weird that they have to bury the dead, but that’s not the focus of this post.

Yes, the Clans are horrible at allowing disabled characters to find their own place in the Clan rather than forcing them into a place. Cats who want to work as warriors are forced into the elder’s den or the medicine den. The fact that they have to constantly prove their usefulness unlike other cats is wrong. It is a missed opportunity that the authors don’t acknowledge this, and it contradicts many of the points made here. However, for TiTC to say that disabled people are still able to contribute to society and find worth in their work is far from the biggest sin of the authors. The response makes sense for the characters and their culture and isn’t a terrible response. After all, many disabled people find they can still do rewarding activities that are seen as useful to their community, even if those activities aren’t major.

If the Erins really dove into this concept, the disabled world of Warriors would be richer and more thought-provoking.

[uhshsmsmaka]

Kin list because I keep forgetting and I wanna keep it written so I remember

giving the biggest “please be my friend ur so cool please please please please” to whoever knows all of these characters

But I’ll say them here anyway, in order from the top left going right.

Mikey - rottmnt

SCP-035 - SCP Foundation

Tawnypelt - Warriors

Ennard - FNAF Sister Location

Dr. Iceberg - SCP Foundation

Moxxie - Helluva Boss

Space Kid - Camp Camp

Phone Guy - FNAF 1 (I think?? I never played the games..)

Phillip Graves - Call of Duty Modern Warfare (reboot)

uhhh idk if I label or spelt that right. I hope I did. That’d be kinda embarrassing if I didn’t lol..

———— why I kin them ig.

btw some stuff is headcanons like so and so being lgbtq and Graves having daddy issues

Mikey ROTTMNT- hell, there’s a lot of reasons.. it’s like… really personal with me lol

4th child, plus youngest. 3 older brothers and often gets left out, or brushed off from being involved. + aro/ace spec.

+ orange theme buddy agh I love u ur so pretty 💛💛

+ ADHD

SCP-035 - hmm.

Wants to watch the world burn, and is here for a good time and is really opportunistic with people, and often forms bonds with people for what they can give him… I’m a bad person I know. I’m trying to change.

+ Latin hehe

+ a lot of people really like him when they first meet, and learn the longer they spend with him, the worse he gets.

Tawnypelt - I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about her bc I didn’t read the 2nd arc, but from what I get, she seems to have struggled with gaining her own identity and being seen as someone other than a clone in her family. I struggle with people only knowing me for my brothers so I relate to her for this.

Also idk her leaving Thunderclan, despite her family, friends, and everything she knows and it being genuinely a good place she is comfortable and happy with— to Shadowclan so she can start a new life just touches me personally.

I don’t want to stay here. It’s not bad here, and everyone I love is here, but I don’t feel like I belong here, and I relate to her for it.

Ennard - yeah.. no, I got nothing. Idk why but he’s just like me fr.

Dr. Iceberg - HE’S AN ASSHOLE!!! I’m an asshole!!! Easily entertained, and doesn’t think of others that much, or the consequences of his actions. + mentally ill

+ bad taste in men

+ probably American with a small fraction of his ethnicity from Europe.

Moxxie - Daddy Issues. shit on by everyone. Underestimated kinda I guess???… and mixed morals. Often really polite— or at least is perceived to be, and is a thinker. Can go absolutely feral if necessary.

+ Italian I guess lmfao

+ short- ish..

+ adults and some older kids shall be referred to as ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’

Space Kid - he likes space. What can I say?

He’s so silly. A lot of the actions and stuff he does feels like stuff I would have done/do.

+ brown hair

Phone Guy - tries to help and probably fails. Hey, he’s trying.

Phillip Graves - Daddy issues. I also headcanon his dad was in the military and he moved around a lot and lived throughout the US, so he’s fairly decent at adapting to different places, and tolerate as hell. “It is what it is” mentality about most everything out of his control.

Finds that one person and looks up to them, and gets really clingy and obsessed with them. Doesn’t show it of course, but in his head he wants to impress them and please them in every way possible. *cough, Shepherd, cough cough*

(I met a lotta people I hyperfixated on giving away everything to make them happy. We’re just casual friends now. Except for that one. She was mean as hell to me. We still meet occasionally tho.)

Outside of headcanons, his personality and the way he acts is just very familiar and relatable to me.

+ American (wtf is a kilometer🦅🫡🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🦅💥🦅🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸)

+ makes shitty jokes no one laughs at

[somerandomwarriorsrewrite]

The clans writing and art

Read bellow about it!

How their writing and art works and how it's made?

The paper that commonly is write and drawn on, is made of papyrus(i know it's on Egypt, but since it's fictional, i think it doesn't matter so much), and the things they use write and draw with vary by clan and acessbility.

For historical events and important cats, cats write on clay, since clay can last for very long time without going bad, they write on it using strong sticks, elongated stones that were sharpened or crafted tools for it.

All the clans can use animal's blood from rests of fleshkill, trough that can be considered a waste if the freshkill can still be eaten, so cats eat all they can while writing.

All the clans use flowers to write and paint(mainly paint and draw), Thunderclan and Windclan have a large variety of flower types, whille Shadowclan and Riverclan unfortunally only have acess to the lotus flower and water lily in their territory, and as variety thoses flowers can be, it's very small compared to the Wind and Thunder diversity. The paint are made as the flowers are smash in a bowl, into a paste and puts alchool or hot water(depending in which clan that the material will change), and mash it with a mash tool(i couldn't find the name sorry), and the paint is made.

The next is kinda complicated as it uses fire, the clan has to start a small fire, pick a tiny stick, burn the tip, put out the fire, and use the coal as an writing pencil, it's more recommended to do it in Riverclan than any other clan(Principally Thunderclan in drought season), as it can cause massive fire, to make a small fire safelly, you would need to circle it with alot of stones and it's recommend it to put it in the middle of the clearing, away from any plants or flammable tools and objects.

For paints, it's very recommended to use a brush instead of your fingers, so you wouldn't accidentally paint your own fur, and it's hell to take the paint of the fur, so the brush is made with a stick or a stone that is more elongated than common, use a cotton(that can planted by the Riverclan, Windclan with their massive open moor can more easily plant it, but Shadowclan and Thunderclan can't plant it, since their territory have more shade, so the cotton can't grow, so they have to trade with Windclan and Riverclan) or squirrel's tail to use as the part were the paint goes, after painting or writing, it would need cleaning before using it again.

Where it originate from?

The modern clans writing system originally came from the Park cats, as they would learn it from the humans(the term two-legs wouldn't exist at that time) with them coming at their park, which Riverstar teached his own clan about, changing and creating new symbols for better understanding of his clan, but he was kind enough to share his knowledge with the rest of the clans.

The first painting came from Windclan, with a cat named Dust Muzzle, creating a painting of his family, Windstar, Gorse fur and Moth flight, the painting was said to be beautiful, even when it was also said to be very distorced and disproportionated when compared to the real cats, but the painting was lost by time, but with that Windclan created a tradition, to every new crafter, they have to try to draw the first painting with their own interpretation on how Dust Muzzle's would look like.

This a painting that an unknown apprentice made, this is their own interpretation on how Dust muzzle and his family would look like.

The Writing system itself

The writing system is very simple actually, since i don't want to waste hours and hours of my life creating a new complex writing system, so it will use own alphabet but with symbols instead of letters, but it doesn't mean it doesn't have its how rules to follow:

Note: This is a concept art.

Each symbol has a explanation on why i choose it specifically, i picked up names that start with that letter, so for example: Petal for the letter P, and the symbols can only have one colour however, so it's easier to identify it.

Symbols:

A = Acorn;

B = Bee;

C = Cloud or Cherry;

D = Daisy;

E = Egg;

F = Feather(new), Fern(outdated);

G = Grass;

H = Heather plant;

I = Simple Ice pattern(new), complex ice pattern(outdated);

J = Jagged line(new), Juniper berries(outdated);

K = Kestrel bird;

L = Leaf or Lion;

M = Maggot;

N = Moon, since it appear at night;

O = Olive;

P = Petal or Pine;

Q = Quail bird head;

R = Rat or Rain;

S = Snake or Spots or Sun;

T = Tadpole or Thistle;

U = Motion to something that is under something;

V = Vine;

W = Web or Wolf;

X = Of viXen(i couldn't find anything, sorry);

Y = Yarrow;

Z = Three Zigzag patterns;

After know which symbol is which letter, you should know how to write it, for example, we will use Fireheart's name as an example:

The right way to spell words here, is writing them down, and using an arrow bellow the last symbol, to move to the next vertical line, and "-" that separate the words, so it doesn't get too confusing.

And when you write a cat's name, you have to ask them, which symbol they use if that symbol have more one option(example S, with 3 options), since using 2 or 3 different symbols in the same word is wrong and cause confusion, principally if the symbol is outdated, so for example, Fireheart use Rain instead of Rat for his R.

The wrong way to spell the words is writing horizontally, using both the arrow and "-" incorrectly, multiple different symbols in the same word and the wrong symbol for the cat, and using outdated symbols.

Outdated symbols were the original ones, but fell out of use for one reason or another, example: "F" used to be a fern, but feel out of use, since it was too similar to "H" symbol, heather, so now the feather is used instead of the fern.

Finalization + author notes

This took way too long, but i'm happy with the result, i accept construtive criticism about it!

I wanted to use this kinda of ""Writing system"" for some time(even when it's not, but i like to swap the words with other drawings, it's cool), this thing will be more present in how the clans preserve their history, of course, things are still lost by time, but somethings like the clans leaders of each era, important events and cats, prophecy and etc.

And a litttle challenge, more like a dare, can you guess what Smallear wrote in the paper?

Anyway, again, english is not my first language, so if you find any mistakes, tell me and i will fix it.

[bozawarriorsposting]

How did Clear Sky feel about the Clan he started getting driven out and having his son’s Clan have to reform it?

Oh, he ain't Happy about it all

The other four founder are at least somewhat connected to their clans, (Thunder in particular gets accused of favoritism quite a bit, both in who in Starclan gets to deliver messages and what cats get blessings in the Clans) but Clear Sky is completely detached from Skyclan after they got driven out.

He was angered by their expulsion and tried to prevent it to some degree, but as time went on and Skyclan suffered defeats and collapse, he cut his losses.

He has no interest in Modern Skyclan beyond disgust and seeing it as an insult. The clan that carries his name was one formed with the help of some Thunderclan kittypet, his bastard sons favorite one, and is composed of loners who barely know Clan customs. Essentially, he is more than happy to let the Four cause general mayhem with very few parameters.

[cheerclaw]

Meet the OCs:

Burning Tree (they/them) - @skyyclan

Burning Tree is from Skyclan in Ancient Times, before many modern codes existed and not long after the original leaders founded the clans. Growing up, their parents had a very strained relationship (mother yearned for adventure and dad was pretty absent) and their grandmother was abusive, particularly to their sister who acted out often due to neglect. Burning ended up reacting to their neglect by being apathetic for most of their childhood, but around the time they became a warrior, many terrible things happened to the clans (an important cat in their clan died, their dad publicly disowned his family at a gathering, and Thunderclan and Windclan were taken over by a tyrant medicine cat)... they decided they wanted things to be better, to be the good they wanted to see in the world. Currently, they're a respected member of their clan, having worked hard to improve themself, and are dealing with newfound drama. Their father has returned to the clans after disappearing for moons... only to join Thunderclan, with an ex-mate running after him to try and force him to raise his kits... Skyclan didn't give him a the chance, taking them in and Burning Tree taking it upon themself to raise their half-siblings with the help of their clanmates. Only, tragedy struck, and one of the two kittens are found murdered. Luckily, they've hunted down the taken revenge on this murderer, but they seemed to be part of a group either run by or inspired by the previously mentioned medicine cat tyrant... so now they must do what they can to keep their remaning kit safe while Skyclan attempts to unite the clans against this threat. (story is a wip because they're part of an rp group!)

Starlingtuft (she/they) - @garfieldwiki

starlingtuft is the strict, quick-witted and stressed deputy of tumbleclan. Her father died before she was born and her mother started training as a medicine cat soon after her birth and wasn't around much. starlingtuft was the leader among her three siblings and was the one to keep them out of trouble during their kithood. During her apprenticeship she showed great strengths in being a excellent strategist and was a very strict rule follower. It was a huge shock when she was made deputy only 2 moons after her warriors ceremony, but while it seemed exciting at first she was put under more and more pressure by the anxious leader lionstar, until she was practically running the clan and dealing with the hostility of the bordering clan hillclan all by herself. Shes the main cat to deal with the border scuffles and the constant threats from hillclan and feels annoyed and aggravated with the leader and is constantly on edge, and shes starting to regret agreeing to becoming deputy in the first place. girlie just needs a break

[thatone-churro]

honestly, what i think warriors needs the most right now is a total reset. like, world-wise.

it’s no secret that most of the clans (ThunderClan especially) have become heavily bloated - for lack of a better word - because the Erins introduce specific, named cats and then have to follow up on them and their family because of the way the arcs occur in rapid succession. that wasn’t so much of a problem in the first two or three arcs, but it certainly is now. and god knows these family trees are enough to drive anyone up the wall. and don’t get me started on how frequently characters and their personalities are drastically altered for no good reason other than to fill a narrative role. which is, fairly obviously, a big no-no for spinning a coherent narrative that relies on previous installments, if it even has to rely on them.

obviously, these aren’t the only issues the modern series has, but it’s certainly become a big one, and it’s probably caused a few other narrative issues, given that we pretty much know EVERY cat in EVERY clan, at this point.

which is why i say the world of warriors needs an absolute reset. perhaps not wiping the slate clean entirely, they’ve gone too far for that by now, but we know everyone. we’ve seen everything these past few generations have to offer. we can’t pull any twists without retcons (not that the Erins are above that, either) because we’ve seen those that would be villains already and everyone else that’s stood against them.

what i REALLY wish would happen to solve this problem (i say as if i’m invested in the actual stories at this point, but i’m saying this more from a writer/storytelling perspective) is a timeskip. a massive one. that’s what this series really needs.

the arcs happen too close together, is one of my biggest pet peeves. if a timeskip is gonna happen, it needs to be LONG. everyone we know in the current arcs/generations needs to be gone, save for maybe one or two of the younger ones as the eldest elders, but they can’t keep relying on the current cast. there needs to be a fresh slate.

new leaders and a new cast with new motives and beliefs (so they can stop butchering the current ones). basically the butchering of personalities and entire characters and retconning entire character arcs and pre-established backstories could so easily be avoided if they just. used entirely new characters.

new family trees. for the love of god, let those monstrosities of the current bloodlines rest. if the timeskip is long enough, they wouldn’t have to worry about them; they could forge relationships (familial and otherwise) from scratch. there could be room for a few references to new characters being descended from older ones, but the connection should end at that; there should be a gap of those missing generations in the family tree, no one should be able to draw an exact line back to that character/bloodline. this is honestly one of the easiest, if not only, possible coherent solutions to this issue at this point.

aside from solving some prominent issues, a long timeskip presents one of the more interesting opportunities for the series: show how the clans have changed over time. sure, there’s change happening in the current arcs, but again, everything’s so close that not a lot really is changing. if the skip is executed properly (read: they make it long enough), they can show not only how general beliefs have changed through the generations, but the actual clans and their capabilities. think of your favorite warriors rewrites (i know you have one) and all the cool little things they add to the clans: crafting, cooking, their own language; all of it could realistically be included in the series if a timeskip simply went far enough and implied that the clans developed these areas as time went on. it could pave a whole new direction for the series. and for the better.

it wouldn’t have the charm and engagement that the first arc had when the world was introduced, but it has the opportunity to be the next best thing. a complete refresh, yet a continuation of the same series.

the only way for this to work (assuming all the previous points were met) is to ABSOLUTELY NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, CREATE ANY SORT OF “PREQUEL”-ESQUE CONTENT. that means no super editions that tell a pre-established character’s backstory, no novella or whatever that bridges generations or covers these changes, nothing! the skip should be made and the entire series should move FORWARD from that point. to go backward would be to muck it all up and ruin the whole premise.

again, i really don’t keep up with the current story in-depth, but as someone who’s working on a long, multi-arc story of her own, this is my take on how to really “save” (or save as much as it can) the series or put it back on the right track. we know this won’t be what happens, but i really wish it was. it would fix so much. i wish it had been implemented already; that would save a lot of us so much suffering.

anyway, that’s my bi-yearly warrior cats essay. do with it what you will.

[bonefall]

For Flowerstem vs Maplewhisker, maybe they're both present and one is like… an aide to whichever is the deputy? Not officially, but in the midst of All That they just happen to be helping/supporting the other, and are a clear choice of new deputy once the dust settles.

They're not necessarily friends at the start, either acquaintances that grow closer through a shared sense of "someone has to keep things working", or maybe even rivals of a sort- they don't get along great initially, but they respect each other, and it turns out they're willing to back each other up when it matters (+ the value of having a second-in-command who's willing to disagree with you)

idk i'm just spitballing here tbh

I layed around and daydreamed about it for a bit, and I think this is a great idea. I have even more thoughts to share as fragments;

To start with, I'm thinking Flowerstem is going to be the Winner of the Conflict, and Maplewhisker is going to become her friend and future deputy. Mothpelt is going to be the oldest heir*, who dies of poisoning along with a few of his children.

And to reiterate, Jumpfoot is the descendant of Riverstar's firstborn child, and Mossfire is his adopted heir.

Renames to get the names more in-line with where they were at this period in history;

BB!Flowerstem -> Flowers Came First. Nickname: Flow. A River Kingdom title. Comes from a translation quirk. "Stem," prryem, is the place where plants erupt from the ground in modern Clanmew. Over many generations, influenced by the story of Redscar's sign, "Came" and "First" merge into a single word, Prryem. Eventual winner of the conflict.

BB!Maplewhisker -> Maple Whisker A Mountain Cat name. Actually a reference to the odd saplings that were planted in SkyClan's territory (and is now ThunderClan's). Maple might be a migrant from SkyClan or a second-generation descendant of them, so a more accurate translation would be Sycamore Whisker, but the translator chooses to abide by the precedent set by Mapleshade. Flow's future deputy. (I don't currently have a Mountain family with the Whisker last name, I might end up making it something that came from a Mountain x Forest/Park blended family, as a Mountain cat wanted to name half of the kits for their mate as is tradition.)

BB!Mothpelt* -> Dead Moths Pelt. Nickname: Moth (though I'm easily tempted by funny into making it Moe.) Another River Kingdom title, for the irony factor. It's actually a reference to how he rescued a ton of pelts from a moth infestation, by recognizing they were laying eggs and stopping them before they hatched. Hard to translate into just three words, because in Parkmew it was "Killed (the) moths (to save the) pelts." * = Watch this space. Might change in a future draft.

BB!Jumpfoot -> Jumping Foot Nickname: Jump Actually from WindCo. I haven't worked out the meaning behind this title yet. I'm going to make it so Duststar is supporting this cat for leadership; they might even be slightly related. Cousins, perhaps.

BB!Mossfire -> Mossfire Alight Only given recently, when Moss set her own fire for the very first time. Barely out of apprenticeship, but very popular. Riverstar's adopted child.

(I also need to pick the ThunderClan "Diplomat" character.)

More fragments and assorted thoughts;

(Three parts: Opening, Middle Stuff, and Redscar's Choice)

Opening and political setup:

BB!Flowerstem, Flow, is kind of like an older sibling/nanny of Moss. She was an apprentice of King Riverstar, and unofficially trusted to watch over Moss, who is considerably younger than she is. She wasn't formally adopted by King Riverstar but he always felt like a father to her.

BB!Jumpfoot, Jump, is from WindCo. Riverstar's firstborn was not legitimate, who lived a long and happy life as a traveler going between the various groups.

Riverstar is actually Jump's great-great-grandfather, but Jump is an accomplished, confident warrior who's just young enough to have a long rule, but experienced enough to make Mossfire look like a child in comparison.

And, importantly, Duststar wants Jump in power.

When Riverstar is on his deathbed, Flow, Moth, and Moss are there. Jump actually blows in later, and the Unnamed ThunderClan Diplomat.

The Diplomat is going to be one who does the poisoning later. Jump is REALLY easy to pin the blame on, because he's aggressive and kind of arrogant.

Through the story, Flow is trying to protect both Moss AND keep the River Kingdom functioning. Without even realizing it, people keep coming to her for advice.

Maple Whisker is her really good ally through all this. I'm not sure how they're going to begin, they COULD be rivals, but the important thing is that Maple and Flow naturally end up supporting each other.

While Flow is trying to keep Moss safe and fend off the other Heirs who are showing up looking to make claims to power, Maple is handling a lot of the logistical things.

Flow is an excellent "face." Her judgement is generally influential.

She's kind and compassionate, and it means that she's able to smooth out conflict in a way that King Riverstar used to be able to.

And there are a LOT of fights to break up.

Jump is a complete troublemaker already trying to assert his claim, and he's got cats to back him up.

Moss, who is really trying to be fair here, often gets pulled into fights.

FLOW'S biggest "flaw" is that she's honest. At some point she even admits, "Moss is really not ready for leadership. She needs more time before she has this responsibility."

unfortunately, opportunists and blood-loyalists who don't believe "adopted" can count as legitimate jump on that. Mossfire resents this, even though Flow is right, and she IS in waaay over her head.

But, thankfully, there's still an option.

The Eldest (currently living) direct child of Riverstar, Dead Moth Pelt, Moth, is the obvious alternative. He's older, speaks highly of his father, has connections to the River Kingdom.

And, importantly, he's got kittens of his own. Easy choice! They'll continue the dynasty and we won't have to worry about this again.

They're Just Like The Wind Runner

(jump and duststar disliked this)

.....hmmmmm. You know what would be cool?

The ThunderClan Diplomat being one of these kids.

Maybe in a future draft the Diplomat will be Mothpelt, and the ELDEST will be Beechstar. Maybe their name can be Beech Shore.

Add some more messy dynamics here, have it that Mothpelt "wants to avenge!" the father he actually killed.

But ANYWAY. This draft first.

Moth is a showman and a people-pleaser. He decides he wants to have a party to honor his father's life,

At this celebration, Moth's direct family all eats from the same, very special pot.

Everyone in this family is poisoned. None of them are able to make the trip to the Moonstone, and one-by-one, Moth and his kits succumb to it.

(except, of course, the diplomat, if he ends up being a descendant of The Eldest.)

The Diplomat, whoever they are, makes the obvious accusation;

Jumping Foot did this.

MIDDLE STUFF

All this while, I think Flow should be realizing there's something wrong with the Diplomat. But there's ALSO a lot wrong with Jumping Foot

As Jumping Foot becomes unpopular, his supporters are rallying around him and the accusations are starting to get thrown around

Re: It's VERY useful that Flow remains the only POV here, realizing that the fighting and the fracturing factions are starting to affect the function of the River Kingdom

Maple Whisker is by her side, constantly running to come fetch her to break up fights and arguments

Dens aren't getting maintained, cats are going hungry as there's no one really "in charge" of making meals for everyone

I want to make sure it's clear that it's not an "ABANDON OLD PEOPLE" situation. It's Flow laying it out directly;

"Everyone who isn't part of a large family is suffering. You HAVE to pick a side in order to have access to good food and shelter... and Jumping Foot is backed up by the Wind Coalition!"

In this shuffle, she's having a hard time protecting Moss, who's getting sick and tired of her Kingdom being yanked around.

She's growing up quick, having to work with Flow to take care of the cats in the Kingdom, but it's also making her more aggressive. Less patient.

Through The Diplomat, ThunderClan also begins to stick their nose in, which The Diplomat frames as "aid, they are our allies after all. Ties to them run deep, unlike those of the Wind Coalition."

Flow starts to realize that between these two huge coalitions, backed by outside forces, the River Kingdom will get absorbed.

In the shuffle, Flow and Mossfire Alight are starting to break apart. They used to be close, but the stress is making Moss aggressive and short-fused.

She NEVER used to start fights like this, but now Flow is finding herself trying to stop her previously so openminded charge from escalating conflicts.

It's a complete lost cause. There's no way Mossfire is going to be able to come out on top between two very powerful choices, backed up by other Clans

Most River Kingdom cats DO actually believe that it would have been King Riverstar's will for his adopted heir to take over. They disagree on if that's the right choice, or if an adopted one can be legitimate at all, or, WORST of all, if they even CAN support her when a lot of their food and supplies are coming from ThunderClan and WindCo

This comes to a boil when SkyClan charges in for a surprise attack, seeking to claim the territory before it's fully absorbed by the other two.

Because the River Kingdom's camp was on the Sunningrocks, an island in the middle of the river, this battle is CHAOTIC and DEADLY

The island was almost too small to hold all of the reinforcements and MORE AND MORE kept coming, packing in like sardines

The fighting was spilling over onto the banks, over the log bridge, a fight almost as dense and even more SUDDEN than The First Battle

Noncombatants were getting swept up into the fighting, no one knowing who they were supposed to be fighting against, some cats just jumping on those they didn't like, cats who couldn't swim were getting launched into the water

Flow and Maple Whisker can't SAVE all of them

And in the brawl, Mossfire leapt on the cat who she felt had been making her life hell, who KILLED Moth and his children, who needed to DIE

Jumping Foot was happy to return the sentiment, ready to eliminate this bloodless brat once and for all

As they tussled and tumbled, they crashed into the waves, biting and scratching, not realizing that their crowns had become tangled.

Mossfire tries to break the water for a breath, but Flow only sees her back breach the surface before getting dragged under

She leaps back in to try and save her, trying to pull her up, but Jumping Foot is a WindCo cat who doesn't know how to avoid drowning. He grabs at Mossfire in a panic, joined at the crown, and Flow can't pull them both up

The last time Flow sees Mossfire is in that terrified, tangled image, sinking down to the depths, seemingly locked in eternal combat down to the bottom of the river.

Redscar's Choice

When we cut back to Flowers Come First and Maple Whisker, Flow is absolutely haunted.

It seemed like the "obvious" choice was The Diplomat... but after that awful fight, an emergency gathering had to take place.

EVERY Clan lost warriors. ShadowClan was demanding to know why-- as they were the only one not officially involved in the fight, and even THEY are missing warriors.

WindCo has the most losses, and Duststar is VERY quiet. Jumping Foot's death shook him. There wasn't even a body to bury, and he hasn't gotten word on if Jump's gone to StarClan or not.

He's quiet because the guilt is eating him from the inside out. He's doing some sort of prayer behavior, quietly, as if he doesn't even seem to realize he's doing it.

(probably keeping his whiskers tilted upwards at the stars, twitching whenever the breeze hits them.)

ThunderClan's leader seems more frustrated than anything. Flow interprets this negatively, like they just want to get on with it and claim River Kingdom as their own.

(in truth, it's more likely this leader is annoyed with The Diplomat's meddling, the Kingdom isn't a prize they really want, they just honored an alliance and lost a ton of warriors for the trouble. But what matters is what Flow feels about them.)

SkyClan got absolutely humiliated. They were the catalyst for the battle but were quickly overwhelmed, and the current leader just took a MASSIVE reputation hit. It's not the Era of Skystar any longer.

(someone makes a xenophobic comment about "Jump back up into your trees, gray squirrels")

Maple Whisker, in a quick-thinking effort to avoid The Diplomat being officiated, calls upon a neutral party. Redscar of ShadowClan.

If mortals cannot figure out the rightful heir, then surely, StarClan must.

Duststar jumps on this immediately.

Diplomat doesn't like it, but it doesn't matter, because the ThunderClan leader does. Speaks right over them.

Over a couple of days, Redscar "deliberates" by visiting River Kingdom to "spend time under their stars."

But what he's REALLY doing is checking out how the Kingdom runs. And he's really gentle with Flow, in particular, like he's very interested in her.

When she questions why, he lies, "You have spirits around you."

This gets her to open up about how close she was to so many of the cats that died, explain how hard she's worked to keep it all together. How much she misses Mossfire, how she feels she failed her.

And King Riverstar, and Moth, and his poor kits.

I feel like The Diplomat is probably constructing signs to try and appeal to Redscar, thinking he's looking for them, but Redscar is NOT looking for signs. He's actually ignoring them completely.

This is going to be remembered as "seeing through false omens" but in truth, he was not interested in what StarClan actually had to say here, if they even did say anything.

(King Riverstar, as a patron, is remembered as NOTORIOUSLY silent. He never says anything directly.)

What Redscar ultimately concludes is, "It seems you and Maple Whisker have ruled together this whole time, with your leadership and her stewardship, it was almost strong enough to keep the Kingdom together."

Flow makes a remark that it sure didn't turn out well, if that's the case.

"Through no fault of yours."

Shortly afterwards, he constructs the False Sign which selects her as a leader. Redscar also insists that, because she did not rule alone, Maple Whisker must become a "deputy," as they have in ShadowClan.

She agrees to this term, justifying it by saying that it is sort of like an advisor role, which she used to be... but it's not. It's quite different.

This law is eventually adopted as Commandment 3: The Law of the Deputy. That all Clans must have a Leader, and a Deputy. The Deputy must be appointed before Moonhigh, and to become a Deputy, you must have once been responsible for young lives.

(This is in honor of Flow's relationship to Mossfire. It will be tweaked over the generations to specifically mean a mentor/apprentice relationship, but the first draft of the law could also include being a Mi or Ba.)

Thus, the River Kingdom is no more. RiverClan is born, and in agreeing to the terms, WindCo becomes WindClan.

Something changes on this day, with so many cats dead and the group now being something very different. The era of charitability and open relations between Clans... is starting to seem like a bad idea.

The current of the river is the same, but somehow, the water is different.

Last plot thread left to wrap up is The Poisoning.

It's GOTTA be a dramatic reveal of some sort. The Diplomat makes one last grab at power. I think it would actually be a BIG power move if Flow came back with her lives, receiving the wisdom from Redscar that Diplomat was constructing false signs, putting two and two together...

A feast is thrown, she decides to eat in the same exact way Moth did, makes it very clear she's "repeating" the mistake because Jumping Foot is dead and that means that the assassin is not here to put down poisons. The Diplomat falls for it, hook, line, and sinker, tainting her food in between servings.

And when they do, Flow INSISTS that The Diplomat come, and have a bite with her.

She's got nine lives to spare now. She can give one up, just for the satisfaction of locking eyes with them as they both have a bite of the same poisoned food. The horror, the panic, in their expression is the most delicious thing Flow has ever tasted.

If seeing Mossfire's crown tangled with Jumping Foot's was like a stag who dies with antlers locked, then Flow dying next to The Diplomat, sticking around in StarClan to watch them damn them and send them to the Dark Forest, and then rise again to attend her Clan, this moment was like being a stag who outlives their foe and wears their skull as a second crown.

Long Live Flowerstar.

[troutfur]

A guide to Augur AU

As my longest solo project (sans a guest addition) and most developed AU, as well as on a request from an anon, I thought I'd make an introduction post and masterlist to the sprawling mess that is augur AU. So, without further ado!

So, what is Augur AU?

Augur AU is the universe in which my series to Aaron and his sons is set. The basic premise is to flip the script on the medicine cats can't have kits rule. Now instead they must because the position is hereditary. They also engage in the making of marriage alliances by transfering their kids across Clan lines, because I really like arranged marriage and marriage alliance drama and it felt fitting to include.

I first floated the concept way back when I was still posting Warriors content to my main blog (@aerial-jace). Since then I've talked a lot about my ideas and worldbuilding for this universe. I consider the Ao3 series the only definitive source of canon, any concept I throw around on my blog is subject to chane at any time for any reason unless it's already been established in an entry on the series.

Why is it called to Aaron and his sons?

The title is a Biblical reference, more specifically it is pulled from Numbers 3:5-10 as quoted in the NIV (New International Version) translation.

5 The Lord said to Moses, 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him. 7 They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the tent of meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle. 8 They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle. 9 Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him. 10 Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary is to be put to death.”

The passage refers to the establishment of the two priestly castes present in Judaism, the levites and the kohanim, which felt appropriate for a series all about exploring the concept of medicine cat as a hereditary priestly caste. Although the series is not meant to be a commentary on any real world religions, least of all Judaism, it still felt appropriate to turn to a Biblical reference for a title just due to how important and widely read the Bible is as a work of literature.

What is a patrician, an augur, and a matriarch/patriarch?

Patricians are the direct descendants of Moth Flight through the lineage of one of her kids: Blue Whisker, Bubbling Stream, Spider Paw, and Honey Pelt (or as the modern clans know them Mothflight, Bluewhisker, Bubblestream, Spiderpool, and Honeypelt). They are the only ones allowed to become augurs which is the term for medicine cats.

In order to not dilute the patrician status too much, only cats with an augur parent or grandparent are considered true patricians. Cats whose closest augur ancestor is a great grandparent don't qualify. So, for instance, while Sandstorm was an augur, neither her daughter Squirrelflight nor her granddaughter Sparkpelt were, thus her great grandchildren Nightheart and Finchlight aren't either.

A patriarch or matriarch is the most senior augur in a Clan, with preference for an augur born in the Clan they reside in. So, for instance, at the start of the story Sandstorm is the matriarch of ThunderClan and under her are the augurs: Leafpool (ThunderClan born) and Crowfeather (WindClan born). Although Crowfeather is 6 moons older than Leafpool, at Sandstorm's death it's Leafpool who gets the matriarch title instead of Crowfeather getting the patriarch title.

As the originators of the augur bloodline, Mothflight and Micah are often given the titles of The Matriarch and The Patriarch. Although it's usually Mothflight alone who's given a lot of press and importance given she was the one directly chosen by StarClan to be the first augur and he was just the matching set of chromosomes to create the lineage founders.

Fun aside about why I chose those terms particularly: I wanted to give them a Roman aristocracy vibe, particularly because in my research as I was looking for terms to replace medicine cat and such it came up that priestly offices in the Classical Greek and Roman world were often hereditary. Thus patrician for the caste, and augur (a term for a diviner/priest that reads the future in bird flight patterns) for the profession. Matriarch/patriarch was almost going to be materfamilias/paterfamilias, but I decided on English instead of Latin as to not seem too pretentious.

What is The Gift of the Patricians?

The Gift of the Patricians, also commonly called just The Gift, is a set of hereditary health conditions and neurodivergences that have been reinforced in the patrician bloodline through generations of intermarrying. These include traits that are seen as positive (such as autism or ADHD, seen as signs of closer spiritual connection to StarClan) as well as those that are seen as negative (such as hip dysplasia, a condition interpreted as a sign that the natural place of a patrician is inside the augurs' den and not out and about as a warrior).

Not all patricians are what the Clan cats call gifted but it's very, very common in the bloodline. Other conditions that often present in gifted individuals include but are not limited to: epilepsy, diabetes, and dementia. Jayfeather's blindness in particular is something I want to emphasize is NOT due to The Gift. It may be congenital but it is not genetic at all.

So, are the patricians all inbred?

Most are to a degree, yes! Outsider blood does enter the bloodline with some regularity. Sandstorm and Firestar, Ashfoot and Deadfoot, Leopardsun and Stonestar, and Littlecloud and Tawnypelt are all examples of augurs taking a mate outside the bloodline. But because of how important augurs are to the foreign policy of their Clan, they often are offered up to the augur of another Clan as a mate as a way to seal marriage alliances.

More often than not, an augur taking a non-patrician mate is done as a way to legitimize a controversial deputy choice or otherwise give them a popularity boost.

What's the family tree situation?

You can consult it right here. Beware spoilers, it goes all the way to Shadowsight and the plot of to Aaron and his sons is only just getting to late Po3. Might merit an update. The fact they don't go all the way back is intentional in most cases. For the sake of my sanity, the ThunderClan patrician lineage only goes as far back as Spottedleaf.

EXTRA!

Posts containing ideas I've thrown around for augur AU. Some explain background events a little more. Some touch upon the future of the series beyond the core plot of the Jayfeather & Willowshine arranged marriage love story. Some are possibilities I'm deliberating for said main plot.

A potential explanation for why Leopardsun and Stonestar are still lovingly married in spite of TigerClan

Unexplored Crowfeather angst

Why was Willowpaw born when her parents were relatively old?

Berrynose, Hazeltail, and Mousewhisker

The politics of WindClan

Ashfoot angst

Littlecloud & Tawnypelt

Daisy's second litter

Needletail's reaction to being roped into all this

SkyClan's reaction to this weird tradition

The current generation of ThunderClanners (Nightheart, Finchlight, Bayshine, Myrtlebloom, Graykit, Stemkit, and Bristlekit)

Frostpaw

As well there are dozens of mini AUs built off this one contributed on by the anons in my inbox. I could give y'all a guide to those as well, but this one has run on long enough.

Hope this was a useful introduction to augur AU for the uninitiated. Hope I can keep creating content y'all will enjoy.

[offkeyed-reason]

...thinking about there being an old thunderclan tradition that's treated with scorn by the other clans, so it stays under wraps as much as it can be: child brides. [really, it's a gender-neutral thing since cats aren't ever too old to have kittens. matching two kits is also done, but it's much rarer, simply bc a lot of the time close family is in the nursery together.]

it's an old relic from when thunderclan was sandwiched between three enemy clans and casualties tended to be high -- from the early days when all the clans shared medicine cats and often withheld the healers from each other. [back then, there could have easily been enough to treat each clan's injuries, but one could live in riverclan, three in shadowclan and a fifth in windclan.]

...really, it started off as insurance that bloodlines wouldn't die off completely. it's literally incest-protection. it's often misconstrued as child marriage since that's what it mainly started as. [in the early days, kits were often trained as soon as they could eat prey on their own, which meant that many kits were seen as adults far earlier than they would have been if they lived in the modern era.]

in the more modern day, it's done to ensure that there will be kits in the nursery after leaf-bare, especially when the season seems like it will be particularly harsh. no clan wants to be the one that doesn't have any new apprentices at the gathering, since that's an obvious sign of weakness.

even though it's technically far more accurate to call the system as a whole an arranged marriage, age is hardly ever considered when the pairings are made. bloodlines are much more important. as long as the chosen cats do not share a grandparent, it's a valid arrangement.

[redux-iterum]

Similar to how the Crone set the precedent for WindClan’s stoicism, was it Brawn’s influence that made modern ThunderClan so selfish?

To the contrary! Brawn was a very open and friendly guy, and continually pushed for alliances with the other Clans (as did all the founders), even RiverClan. He certainly set the beauty standard of ThunderClan, being big, fluffy, hardfaced and powerful, but their selfishness was not due to him.

It's hard to find a starting point for ThunderClan's modern attitude, as far as scholars can search. The best area they've found is around the time ThunderClan's knowledge on combat reached its peak and they had little else to learn. The connection is tenuous, but the theory goes that being so skilled in a fight and self-reliant at that point slowly developed this "it's not your business" attitude towards the other Clans, which then became "it's not our business". They may have assumed, as most people unconsciously do, that their circumstances were the same as everyone else's and no one really needed help or really was concerned with the troubles their neighbors were facing, so why should they be?

If this is the real story, it just got worse from there. And now ThunderClan is high on their own gas and certain that everyone can just take care of themselves and the forest cats need to do nothing. They only get pushed to help in dire circumstances, or when they can benefit from it.

Things may change, though, to the elder cats' horror. Their mistake was letting in someone who thinks the very opposite and has the willpower of a raging forest fire.