#this will partially depend on how i decide to handle certain… shall we say ‘side content’ for the story

[deathsquiggles]

it is decided

[fan-clan-fun]

Marshclan

Sorry everyone, I know it's been a while, and I kinda forgot to check my drafts. Here's a long overdue submission through mobile because I'm bored and away from my computer.

it's been a bit since i last submitted forestclan to u (thanks again, as always, for reviewing them it was a big help) and this time i'd like to go over the other clans. they are named marshclan and moorclan (tho i'm also considering hill or prairie as a name for moor but. here is marshclan!

Marshclan 

marshclan lives across the border from forestclan, and they live close to an estuary, and their territory is a freshwater marsh. their camp is located on a small island. Their marshland is a decent size, though not super big. marshclan are comfortable in water, and teach their kits to swim at a young age. drypaws are sometimes looked at funny, and teased playfully (since "you have to get your paws wet some time!" and they do, wading through the water if they can, though usually swimming happens anyway). 

Seems like a good start, and marshes are a great place to hunt and teeming with prey. How does the clan handle heavy periods of rain? Does the camp flood? If so do they have a secondary camp or high ground they retreat to?

marshclan cats have short fur or long fur (not which would aid better in swimming? i feel like they both have benefits so i'm trying to decide). i'm gonna sit down at some point and go through a list of breeds that might fit the aesthetic and go from there (they are primarily moggies, tho)

I've debated the question of shirt vs long as well. It partially depends on the climate of the region, do they have snow and such in winter? How cold is the water on average. Because you could have, say Norwegian Forrest looking cats with their thick double layered fur (which worked well in you know Norway) or you could have cats like Bengals or fisher cats, with shorter thicker fur in a warmer climate where the temperature rarely dropped beneath a certain threshold.

either way, pelt color wise, white spotting is common, dilutes are common as are black-based coats. ginger is rare. thinking about tossing maybe colorpoint in this gene pool but idk yet so we shall see ! 

I've seen a lot of people use cats with high white spotting for water based clans (which isn't bad it's just interesting). I would say that for cats in a Marsh they'd have to blend in well with the reeds and other water plants, because they arent just really fishing anymore, they are catching frogs, stalking birds, scooping out turtles. I would imagine they wouldn't want to stand out too much in the landscape, especially if it's open to the sky and the bigger predator birds, and white would paint kind of a target in that regard. Color points are always interesting, and are generally more common than other recessive genes, though how they would turn our color wise would also depend on climate too.

predators include: minks, opossums, raccoons, some of the bigger wader birds (herons, f.ex) and while not a predator, frogs are not to be eaten. 

I'm curious about the frogs? Why is that?

prey: insects, rats, water voles, mice, birds, some fish, snakes, lizards, and if they can get it, they enjoy eating an egg yolk every now and then.

marshclan is very family orientated, and tend to have close family relations; they enjoy joking with one another and are often viewed as vain, lazy and not taking matters seriously.

theme naming is pretty big here (water themed names and bug themed names are a favorite) and they have named kits after close family members (assuming, of course, the prefix is not already used in the clan at the time of the kitten being born). they are not afraid to get dirty and splashing in the water and such is a fun activity for them, especially in the summer time. while they do keep their pelts clean, it's not uncommon for it to be muddy and such (which earns them a side-eye from forestclan since they're very meticulous about appearances and marsh seems to just.. not care).

I love themed litters it's my favorite thing. At one point I had a clan which would rotate themes for each litter so as to help cut down on the possibility of repeating names. So no two litters within a few seasons of each other had the same theme. But anyway this seems to all fit with the setting quite well. As much as they would want to keep clean, with all the water and much around them it would be hard, probably impossible. I imagine they groom enough to get nasty tangles out during their active day and then do one thorough grooming before settling in their nest. I would at least want my sleeping place clean for sure.

i think that's enough for now, haha. don't wanna overload U with it, just some stuff to show where i'm started on as a base. c: that said, i do think i'm going to also have marsh and moor be matriarchal as well but i'll see how that goes... anyway, hope u like them! they def still need fleshing out i know, and my last clan will be moorclan. thanks again!

It's a good start for sure! I am curious to hear what direction you are going with the matriarchy, as I have several possible ideas on that myself which I have been considering discussing.