#starting modern thunderclan!

[artaintfartwarriors]

[stagwhisker]

Why is Skyclan in an inbreeding speerun lately

[bonefall]

Is there beef with the Holstein cows and you or what was that joke lol

It's kind of wild It's just never come up on this blog before, but I HATE holsteins. Bottom 10 cow breeds for me. I hate how they're so common they account for the majority of milk produced. I hate that they're the "default" cow to the point where some don't even know cattle HAVE other colors. I hate their tiny horns (IF THEY EVEN HAVE THAT. LOSER ASS HORNLESS COW) and their painfully massive udders.

Legit I'm trying so hard to not launch into a No Mouth Must Scream style AM speech-- shoot my hand slipped.

(AM speech about why i dont like holsteins below the cut)

For starters, I have to give a brief lesson on what these terms mean; the "Holstein" is the American strain of the "Frisian" breed. Frisians are an ancient breed from Frisia, in the north of what we now consider the Netherlands. Crosses between the breeds are "Holstein-Frisians."

(There’s even more to this but im keeping it as simple as possible. Also one of my friends is Frisian and she is probably going to kill me for describing it like that.)

Historically, livestock was adapted to the environment they lived in. Frisians were bred by the Frisii people for hundreds of years in extremely grass-rich, lush, flat environments. The "polders" of the northern parts of the Netherlands. They're huge and eat a LOT of food.

Traditional Frisians were developed to produce as much meat and milk from a single individual as possible, without compromising the health of the cattle with constant inbreeding to get quick gains. We are talking about a breed that is over 2000 years old. They had the perfect environment to make The Ultimate Food Cow and by god they did it. I can respect that.

So, take that, drag it across an ocean to a place that does NOT have polders, and add the rapid enshittification of capitalism to it. BAM you've got a fucking holstein.

There is ONE goal for "improving" the holstein. Make More Milk. As long as the black and white milkbag leaks enough, nothing else matters. Health? Fertility? Feed ratio? Ability to not die of infection? WHO CARES. MILK LINE GO UP.

Over 90% of holsteins are inbred to start with, because Milk Line Go Up. To the tune of having an average COI of 8%-- where extreme negative effects (think Hapsburgs) start to crop up around 10%

Holstein bulls are aggressive bastards (many dairy bulls are), so no one wants to keep intact males in their herds, meaning most cows are artificially inseminated

Not being limited by the natural lifespan of a living bull means that the same stud can keep having direct offspring for decades after his death

Toystory the bull had 500,000 calves before he died, and hit over 1 million offspring in 2015. That's ONE animal and to put this in perspective, there are 9 million holsteins in the US.

DON'T WORRY IT GETS WORSE

Not only can 99% of holsteins be traced back to just two bulls-- 99% of male holsteins share one of two exact Y chromosomes with those two bulls.

The gene pool is so small that it's equivalent to about 60 individuals. Warrior Cat allegiances are larger than that. That's barely bigger than modern ThunderClan.

"Massive lack of genetic diversity" does not begin to capture the existential dread of this situation. Mark my words, WATCH, when the Bird Flu finally mutates a strain that rips through a mammalian population, it's gonna be in the USA and it's going to be through our dairy cattle.

This is not prophecy or me laying a curse on the land, this is the natural consequence of basing the stability of US milk production on the equivalent of 9 million clones of two classrooms worth of individuals, and then packing them in close quarters

And we don't have to wait for doomsday for the impacts to be apparent on the cattle themelves

Holstein fertility has also dropped by half since the 1960s when the intensive inbreeding really kicked into high gear

Because their whole body is dedicating all of their resources to milk production, they have a notoriously "bony" frame.

Show judges, however, like this because they think that's a very "feminine" look for a 1600 pound ruminant. Very normal thing to think.

Like. I don't know if i can communicate this to people who don't look at cows a lot (it's not quite as obviously dramatic as a pug skull) but here is a comparison of an "ideal" show holstein and an "unselected" holstein from a herd that's been established as a sort of "control group" for what they looked like back in the 1960s;

The way that the artery on the "modern" cow's belly runs to the udder like a big pink worm freaks me out the most ngl

The udder also bulges out from between the back legs

The show cow is so thin

And then compare these both to a Holstein-Frisian cross who leans more on the Frisian side;

Proper weight, developed legs. Its biggest "problem" is actually just the udder shape-- deep udders, which "hang" low like that, aren't optimal for milk-focused breeds because the higher away from the ground the less chance there is of infection. In that department, the "unselected" holstein clearly outclasses the holstein-frisian.

But it probably won't be surprising to hear that the "show holstein," with its massive, swollen udder, is SUPER prone to infections such as mastitis.

But it is also just more prone to getting sick generally

And, to keep up with these insane demands, holsteins need a TON of food. You aren't going to just turn these things out into a pasture and be done with it. Even its ancestor the Frisian needed premium Dutch polder grass to be such a good cow-- crank that up to 11 with these Monuments to Humanity's Hubrice

The Texas Longhorn developed in semi-feral conditions and can eat a bush to become the best thing in a 10 mile radius. The Scottish Highland was iron-forged in upland moors with a steady diet of turf and rain.

Meanwhile if a Holstein has less than 5 homemade meals a day without poland spring bottled water it will die to death.

And the WORST part? You have to use these if you want to make money in dairy farming. It's WAAY too expensive to just run a suboptimal farm. Their milk isn't great, but they sure do make a lot of it.

...so Holsteins and Holstein-Frisians (and other "super efficient" breeds) have absolutely decimated heritage cattle. The American Milking Devon is a deep reddish brown with gorgeous horns and low maintenance; rare. Randall Linebacks are painted with lines of white speckles down the back and can be used for any purpose; critically endangered. The Niata was a pug-faced cow who could fight jaguars; extinct.

And THAT'S what makes me hate them most of all. I LOVE cows, but whenever I see a reference to one, it's a holstein. It's always boring black and white splotches with big pink udders. They're practically synonymous with "cow" when their homogeniety is actually hiding much cooler breeds from you.

Did you know cows can be tiger-striped?

And that England has its own type of longhorn?

Or that cow horns can twist upwards like an antelope?

And that they can have REALLY LONG ears?

And that they can be blue?

And that's not even getting into some of the cows that have gotten a small crumb of attention lately, such as Highlands, Ankole-Watusi, and Texas Longhorns. There's so many cool cows out there! And they're all really different from holsteins! MOST of them are also a lot healthier and produce tastier milk and meat!

TL;DR yeah i don't like holsteins and I like sniping at them. For reasons both legit and petty.

[skyscratch-wc]

Skyfall Project Masterpost

This post is for the rehauled Skyfall Rewrite, now called the Skyfall Project. I am doing an overhaul of the lore I have built in order to tackle some fundamental issues.

This is the introduction post for Skyfall, a heavy rewrite of Warrior Cats with a whole new culture and social structure, beliefs, and some significant plot deviations (especially after the first arc). The goal of this project is to take the framework and characters or Warrior Cats and make a narrative that is more consistent, less ableist/sexist/xenophobic, etc. and remove the indigenous-coding of the series. I want to write a satisfying narrative that actually delivers while making the themes more relevant and less problematic.

The core of the plot is going to move away from StarClan and their prophecies and towards more concrete, cat political issues with a smattering of the divine and magic. I want to place more of an emphasis on SkyClan, both their downfall and then eventual return. I also want the different groups to actually feel like different groups with different cultures, levels of piety, special roles, etc.

Links will be added to this post as the project progresses

The Clan -> Shire Restructure

Anything tagged #wc skyfall au or #wc skyfall rewrite is outdated. All new content will be tagged #skyfall project.

I have heavily restructured the clans to have more ranks and paths for warriors. I have also renamed roles in an homage to Old English social structure names. As such, I have renamed the clans to shires. Sheriffs (shire-reeves) were pulled from the Thegn class, and thus the leaders are now Thegns. (Can you tell I’m a history nerd yet?). The different shires will be labeled as follows:

ThunderClan -> Thundershire -> #thunderkin

ShadowClan -> Shadowshire -> #shadowkin

RiverClan -> Rivershire -> #riverkin

WindClan -> Windshire -> #windkin

SkyClan -> Skyshire -> #skykin

StarClan/Dark Forest -> The Shining Paws -> #shiningpaw

[clowder name] + kin is the way the cats refer to members of other clowders. EX: "Fireheart is a Thunderkin". This is reference to their supposed descent from the legendary founders

The different shire roles are labeled as such:

Leader -> Thegn -> #thegn

Deputy -> Reeve -> #reeve

Medicine Cat (healing) -> Physician -> #physician

Medicine Cat (spiritual) -> Priest -> #priest

*new role* -> Mortician -> #mortician

*new role* -> Scribe -> #scribe

Warrior -> Churl -> #churl

Churl Roles (cats can hold multiple roles at a time):

Hunter -> #hunter, #master hunter

Artisan -> #artisan, #master artisan

Roamer -> #roamer, #master roamer

Caregiver -> #caregiver, #master caregiver

Keeper -> #keeper, #master keeper

Trailblazer (Thundershire only) -> #trailblazer

Tanner (Shadowshire only) -> #tanner

Sentinel (Rivershire only) -> #sentinel

Tunneler (Windshire only) -> #tunneler

Mediator (Modern Skyshire only) -> #mediator

Daylight Churls (Modern Skyshire only) -> #daylight churl

Scout (Ancient Skyshire only) -> #scout

Apprentice -> #apprentice

Kitten -> #kitten

Elder -> #elder

A detailed post of the roles will be posted in the near future and then linked here.

Inside a Shire

The Shires, unlike the canonical clans, do not live in a structured camp. There is a main camp where the Thegn's Den, Physician's Den, and Priest's Den are, but all other cats sleep within family units in dens spread around the territory, some further and some closer. Most cats have their dens very close to the main camp. The cats within the camp also sleep in family groups. For instance, at the start of Arc 1, Bluestorm shares a den with Whitestorm, Willowpelt, Darkstripe, and Graypaw.

Cats meet at the camp at sunrise to get the days news, groom each other, and generally connect with one another before the day begins. Patrols, training, and other such outings are also planned within this time frame. The shire will then go their separate ways and meet again at sunset to share anything they found during the day. Once the sun has set, the cats go to their family dens and spend the rest of the night bonding with their group until they go to sleep.

The Arcs

The arcs will be renamed and some condensed into one another in order to cut out parts of the canonical plot that are filler. I am personally not a fan of StarClan-driven plots, so many plots will be changed to be moreso about cat politics and the consequences of past actions.

Arc 1 -> follows roughly The Prophecies Begin. Fireheart joins the Thundershire and is their Thegn by the end of the arc.

Arc 2 -> follows roughly The New Prophecy. Except the journey is not about finding a new home, it's learning about the existence of the Skyshire and the darker history of the clans. This involves going back to the lake, where the clan’s ancestors first lived. The cats do move to the lake by the end of the arc due to human construction, but they didn't need the ancestors to tell them to leave. The arc ends with the Windshire Conflict.

Arc 3 -> A long super arc mashes together The Power of Three, Omen of the Stars, and parts of A Vision of Shadows. The clans are recovering from the events of The New Prophecy. Each shire has a cat with powers, they bring the Skyshire to the lake, and all clans are reunited at the lake. This arc will be called Rising Skies.

Arc 4 -> A whole new thing based around the characters of The Broken Code with plot elements from both A Vision of Shadows and The Broken Code. This arc will likely be driven by an especially bad winter then causing a cascading effect around the shires and the consequences of that. This arc would also feature Darktail and his cats in some capacity, since they drove Skyshire from the gorge (as a continuation of the prior arc).

Arc 5 -> Basically A Starless Clan, but adjusted as everything else is.

As a note, the Sisters and the Tribe of Rushing Water will not exist in this rewrite. These groups tend to be where the more problematic themes are centered and as such I don't feel comfortable having them as parts of the narrative. The characters from these groups may exist, but they would be in different social structures, etc.

So, where is this set?

One of the questions of Warriors canon is where is this series set? Presumably England due to the origin of the authors, but over the series more and more names, creatures, etc. appear in the series that do not appear in Europe, let alone in England.

In order to make things consistent (because I want to make it actually somewhat realistic), I will be setting Skyfall in Southwestern Scotland/Northwestern England. This allows for the ocean, hilly terrain, etc. Character names will be adjusted to match this environment.

Some Last Notes

This rewrite will include the ClanMew conlang being developed by @troutfur and @bonefall. It will also include a dialect of ClanMew, spoken by the cats in the Gorge. This will be fleshed out more as I develop the project. I may also include elements from bonefall’s warrior cats expansions, which are amazing.

If you have any questions about Skyfall, ask away! I’m always happy to answer asks. Although FYI responses may take a while.

[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

.

[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.

[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

[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]

Unrelated to the new book blurb:

do you have any tips on processing the absolute mess that is the family tree? Like, how does one put it into smaller bites for re-doing/adjusting? How does one even begin to rework it when it's such a confusing tangle?? I'm just so overwhelmed by the tree(s), and I've read the whole series (because I would love to re-work it, but FUCK).

I will be 100% earnest with you; reworking the tree from scratch as a single person is both difficult and time consuming. I have a penchant for it, and even I'm not completely done. I make my reduxed trees totally free to use so that others at least have a jumping-off point for your own "cleaner" Clans.

So my most helpful tip would probably be Don't. PLEASE take my trees and cut them, prune them, bonsai them, clean them up even more than I did, anything you'd like. I do not wish this fate on my worst enemy.

That said-- let's say you love pain as much as I do, or you just want to see how much work I put into these trees. I'll babble about my process.

This is my WIP file for the ShadowClan Family Tree. Consider this image a content warning for self-inflicted pain and suffering 💕

Uhhh and also; an ACTUAL, serious content warning. Because of the nature of them asking how to fix trees on their own, I have to talk a little about incest. It comes with the territory.

A few things to know before you start;

You will need a FUCK OFF MASSIVE monitor for this. Mine is an ASUS a little under 2 feet long-- I've tried doing this on my smaller, secondary monitor, and these trees just get too big to work on.

FamilyEcho will not cut it. You NEED an art program. You will have to do this by hand, because there is no lineage-drawing tool that can handle families this large and tangled.

You will need to decide your "rules" beforehand. How closely related are you allowing valid couples to be? Are you allowing Queen's Rights? Can you add OCs, and if so, how often? On this point-- I have my Three Strict Rules, and do not use OCs. Because of this, I do a LOT of research beforehand and usually have the wiki open as I work on these. I'm always scouring for forgotten warriors to use for this.

There are going to be multiple drafts. You will not do this in one go. That does not mean you "failed" or you're "stuck," that's a good thing.

With all of that out of the way.

Usually, the first thing I do is pick a Clan to work on. There's over 1,000 cats in this series, so I break that up by picking one group at a time. Once I do that, I draw out the canon chart.

In this case, I've already drawn out all of the canon charts. River, Thunder, Shadow, Sky, Wind.

I call this a Diagnosis because I'm taking a look at what the problem is, so that I know what I'm fixing. In Shadow's case, it's a solid brick of inbreeding with a "missing generation" line. In ThunderClan's case, it's mostly a Robinwing x Fuzzypelt problem. Each Clan has its own unique issues.

Once you know the issue, step two, start drawing out what you want to do and keep. For example, let's say that you want to use the Ivy/Dove as Holly/Cinder kittens idea.

I generally try to start with the "modern" cats and work backwards, but it can also be helpful to just doodle out floating "branches" that you want to work in backwards.

You can see examples of those in my ShadowClan draft, up there, but I've zoomed in and circled them.

Don't be afraid to draw "notes" like this. You can just grab them and drag them around when something clicks!

Getting back to our "example" tree with Holly/Cinder Ivy/Dove, you might notice now that Lionblaze has no mate. Another thing I do when I see an immediate problem but don't have a solution in mind yet is use a little ? mark. You don't want to get hung up on deciding everything RIGHT away.

Now, this is where my 3 Strict Rules would come into play, in two ways! I'm sure you'll be able to spot them. For one, Lionblaze has waaaaay too many kids here who would go on to have kittens of their own, so I'd start breaking them up. For two, this tree makes Ivypool and Fernsong a first cousin pairing, something I don't allow.

You can fix this in any number of ways, and I'm sure there's someone out there shouting their preferred Lionblaze ships and Alt Fernsong Parents like they're the crowd on a game show, but for this demonstration I'm going to do this;

Here, I decided I didn't want to undo FernIvy, but I still want Fernsong to be Clanborn with two parents, so I have removed him from Lionblaze and given him unknown family. I've also taken Sorrelstripe and Spotfur, and moved them to a little spot on the side. I can now use them to patch up the little ? placeholders.

You'll also notice this is already becoming a mess. This is why you will need to redraw this a few times, for readability. The best tip I can give you for that is that families who only have one kit to carry on the lineage should go in a long line in the center, but otherwise, offspring who do not have kits should go between their siblings who do.

It's easier to visualize it imo, so here's what I mean;

The vast majority of the time I spend doing these is just "puzzlework." Trying to figure out a way to make line connections look good, making sure cats are far enough apart, trying to make "wishlist" stuff work.

Here's some insight to that with the big ShadowClan mess I showed at the beginning of this post;

And, mind you, this is Draft 3 of this tree. Those grayed-out parts of the first image were my first two. I wasn't satisfied enough with them, so I started from scratch several times!

I wish I could share some kind of good, simple process for this, but unfortunately I don't have one. It's just a lot of work, familiarity, creativity, and problem solving. I spend days, sometimes even weeks on these. My intention is that they can be a fandom resource that's easier to read than the website tree, less carelessly inbred with more thought given to immediate family units, AND more comprehensive.

In any case, I hope this was insightful, or these tips I share helped in some way!

[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.

[martenpounce]

Oh hi! I'm the same person from the 24 cats, now 25 as a kit joined, but it's surprisingly easy to manage, as i notice a interesting thing in the hunt system, if i made 3 cats patrol, and the healers(i have 3 healers, 1 app and 2 fully trained), i can put the rest of the cats to hunt and i'm not joking, after a whole season doing that i had more than 100 prey in the end(as no other clans wanted prey or herbs), it will be cut in half next time, but next season is summer so yeah, i'm thinking that i will put a limit to 25 cats, so i can't invite more loners and that, i'm slowly become modern Thunderclan

oof yeah the resources kinda spiral out of control with that many

maybe i should have like. a new set of generators that kick in after the clan gets to a certain size, to increase the difficulty when the population starts booming

let me know how the winter goes, whether it helps to thin out the number of cats at all

(ive also been toying with the idea of "projects" that one could invest either resources or time into, but havent actually written up some ideas for how that would work. would be a good way to get rid of excess food and have fewer hunters per day)