#warrior cats

[thewisestdino]

Picked up another cover for the Warrior Cat cover zine, heres a little preview : O Grey Wing and I got the Sun Trail

[carboniila]

he doesn't know that he will become this guy's deputy.

[abcwc]

first is personal interpretation, second is based loosely off his website art

[cryptid-wc-designs]

Some quick concept sketches for the sisters based on my Fire and Sand designs! Idk if this is what I will go with but I mostly like em!

[sporeclan]

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Who's gonna tell him......... The Sequel

[clanslist]

[nanistar]

let's do this one more time....

Read on tumblr | tapas | deviantArt | comicfury SBC Discord (13+) | patreon | commissions Tip Jar!

[likeadeadbattery]

@mister-fe1icide

🍁🍄‍🟫🍎

[meroaw]

moonpaw! get a free sparkly holo moonpaw sticker if you order on my store and write "moonpaw" in the notes! every sale right now is really appreciated as I can't work on commissions very effectively with my pain levels

[cryptid-wc-designs]

Hands down best Sandstorm I have drawn yet. I love her <3

I made her more tan/brown so she looks connected to Leafpool! I almost gave her orange eyes to match Leaf's too but I want to stay close to canon so she gets green!

[sorreltail]

it’s not up to me

got a lot of thoughts and or feelings about how clan society treats being a queen…

…as an inherently inferior role to a warrior, how every she-cat puts off moving to the nursery for as long as possible and continues warrior duties, how the inevitable acceptance of being too gravid to patrol and hunt comes alongside shame, anger and embarrassment. the labour that the nursery queens contribute to the clan is not acknowledged, and they are often openly mocked for being soft, lazy and weak.

daisy’s emotional turmoil regarding brightheart, a cat that she regards as the pinnacle of clan ideals, condenses this. daisy knows she will never live up to brightheart’s strength, bravery, hunting and fighting skill or survival instincts. her own talents- child rearing, perseverance, empathy, communication, management- are devalued in their society and she has found herself relying on thunderclan in a way that they consider burdensome. ohhh daisy my heart breaks

it’s interesting because brightheart also struggled immensely with the same fear of being a burden in a society that looks down on it. daisy just never saw that part of her. and both brightheart and daisy were able to flourish and find fulfilling roles, largely due to the compassion and support of firestar and cloudtail.

this isn’t a “aaargh society looks down on women who just want to be feminine and stay at home” post, it’s more “society loudly calls the role of mother and wife demeaning, weak, lesser and subservient and then forces women into those roles”

[vanitythevantropist]

I love this genre of Warriors posting pointing out that, yes, this is what they all look like and it’s hilarious

warrior cats fans will be like "oh my god i fucking hate him he makes me sick to my stomach he is so revolting and twisted i hope he dies a horrible death"

and then this is who they're talking about:

[applehopshonor]

brother of mine (remake)

[bonefall]

"How big should a Clan territory be?"

For the dozens of people who have asked this over the last couple of years!

This question comes in a lot of forms; "How big are the Clan territories?" "How much space does one Clan need?" "How much land should I give my Clans to exist in?" The answer is a bit complicated, and depends on the type of land, what you're going for exactly, the setting, so on.

But, broadly, there's TWO particular factors at play here; How anthropomorphic you're portraying your warriors, and how productive the land is.

Factor 1: The Anthro Scale

I'm starting with this one because it could you the simpler answer. The Erins write Clan cats like humans in cat bodies, with massive social units and communal living. Realistic feral cats don't act like Clan cats. They are only semi-social, due to domestication.

See, a Clan cat will "share" territory between all of its members, and some Clans have canonically hit populations of over 50 individuals. Real feral colonies consist of "overlapping circles" of somewhere between 2 - 15 cats, most of them related females.

This is relevant because, even in densely populated areas with as much food as they can eat, truly feral colonies will have about 2 cats per 5 acres, capping out at about 15 members. Queens will hang out together and raise their kittens communally, but they will hunt and patrol in their own "circle." These boundaries are violently enforced against outside cats, especially if it's too crowded.

(Toms have circles 5x as big as a queen's, overlapping several territories. They're also considerably less social.)

So, if you wanted to incorporate some cat behavior into your Clan's mindset about how big their territory should be, while still being willing to sacrifice a bit of "realism" for groups over 15-ish members, simply take Clan population and multiply it by 2.5 acres.

30 cats = 75 acres. That's a little under 57 football fields, if you're American, or 50 football fields, if you're European.

Extra reading: How realistic cat territories work. Contains the numbers I'm referencing.

It's also very important to know; feral cat density is completely tied to food availability, the big numbers numbers are for cats whose needs are met. Cats are solitary hunters, and when they feel like they have to work for their food, they become VERY territorial. The density of cats in rural areas can be as low as 1 molly per 15 acres, even lower for toms, and they will leave if hunting is not easy.

THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT FEED FERAL CATS. Please GOD they are SO invasive, please do not give colonies food, they still hunt when they're full so you just end up concentrating a ton of predators in one place. They are not warriors with a law against disrespecting food, they are just kitty cats with silly kitty instincts

I have a suspicion that most of the people who are asking the question aren't really looking for a "realistic cat" answer, though. We LOVE our big cat Clans with their complicated politics around here. You're probably wondering how much land you need to feed your population!

Factor 2: Land Productivity

The exact amount of space is going to vary a lot, because it's more about productivity of the land to sustain a prey population than it is raw size. Remember what we learned back in Warrior Bites: Dietary Needs; a 30-cat Clan will need approximately 3 pounds of meat (10,500 calories) per day, which is about 2 rabbits, or 105 mice.

Here's some visual examples of what I mean. This one (1) acre homestead...

Has 20 patches of high-value crops, plus an orchard, AND livestock pens. This territory alone could attract enough crows, mice, rats, rabbits, and sparrows to feed all those cats daily. That's not even counting the humans themselves, who may be friendly enough to the colony to toss them kibble occasionally.

(this is why cats domesticated themselves. Even without the free food from the humans, farms are extremely productive hunting grounds.)

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Mall, which is a whopping five (5) acres...

Would be utterly barren. Best food you're going to get out of this wasteland is the leftovers humans toss out, and maybe the rats and pigeons that scavenge as well. It's 5x the space, and yet, infinitely harder to feed the same amount of cats.

So, the most helpful bit of advice I'm gonna give you is this; DON'T ask yourself "how big should this territory be?" You're starting with the wrong question. Start with a real location, and think about how you'd find 3 pounds of meat a day in that area.

It will be a LOT easier to think about the logistics in those terms, and this will lead you to the waaay more productive (and fun) worldbuilding questions. Such as;

"Where would the good hunting spots be?"

"What kinds of animals would they be eating? What sorts of beasts can threaten them, here?"

"How many of these animals would my 30 cat Clan need to hunt a day to equal about 3 pounds?"

"Where would these animals be getting THEIR food?"

"Is there enough habitat in the area for the prey to breed and nest? If not, is there more land beyond the territory that the prey is coming from?"

"Where would infrastructure like dens, walls, and dirtplaces go? What would these be made of?"

"Are there any neat spots for the cats to casually hang out on?"

"What would make for a super cool arena for my climactic narrative boss fights?"

"Does this area have unique stage hazards that my cats would have to learn to deal with?"

"Which sorts of plants and herbs would they encounter?"

If your Clan is tool-using, like BB!Clans are, then you can ask even more advanced questions. Like, where you'd find kindle for fire, what objects you can use as crafting materials, and what might make for unique trade goods.

Think about other things related to your Clan's biome-- in a tundra or desert, there will be less for prey to eat, so the territory will be large to cope with the low density. If there's a major body of water, they might have a constant supply of aquatic prey from upstream. Hunting grounds might change based on the seasons.

Also remember not to underestimate how fast small animals breed, and how many of them there can be in one area. Even using low estimates, 1 female mouse has 6 pups, 7 x 6 = 42, 42 x 6 = 252, 252 x 6 = 1,452. It takes only 4 months for mouse population growth to get exponentially ridiculous.

Finally, remember that prey can vary. A well run Clan would be able to generally understand when they've been overhunting one particular species, and start shifting gears to lift the "pressure" off that population.

(In my cultural expansions series, this management task is assigned to one of the new roles-- the Head of Hunting.)

[lionpawsdiary]

sorry for the pause! have an updated lionpaw ref. she went through a bit growth spurt.