#In order of WORST to BEST is; ShadowClan ThunderClan RiverClan SkyClan WindClan | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

twilights-800-cats · 4 years

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Could we get more headcanons on the clans from you? Like if each one has their own tradition, myths, apprentice tests, or anything else?

Hmmm. I’ll try and dump some, lol - my headcanons fluctuate and change but I really do like the Clan focus headcanons I came up with yesterday so here’s some stuff to go along with that. Not every Clan has an equal amount of headcanons since… there’s five of them, lol; it’s hard at times to come up with distinct stuff.

This is very long! I am sorry!

WindClan

They chart the stars! WindClan cats have named constellations and have their own personal “zodiac”, believing cats born under certain stars will behave as those stars command.

WindClan boasts a great number of significant ancient cats - Moth Wing, Gray Wing, Windstar, etc - so they take great pride in their faith and history! They see the moor as the birthplace of the Clans, and WindClan as the first real Clan (SkyClan disagrees, lol). To them, Gray Wing was the first cat to walk Silverpelt, and may be Silverpelt itself.

WindClan cats are the closest to the Tribe in their traditions - they carry over the casting of stones and the sharing of prey, along with always having a sharp-eyed Clanmate in a patrol to keep an eye out for hawks.

They value sight! A cat’s ability to see great distances is key in WindClan, and its part of a cat’s warrior assessment to pick out and describe objects that are far away (shown in Tallstar’s Revenge).

WindClan cats sleep under the stars in all but the worst weather - their camp is very small and open. It’s said that Shattered Ice, the first tunneler, connected all the tunnels underneath WindClan’s camp in order to keep cats warm in leaf-bare - all that remains now are the very beginnings of those tunnels, which serve as the WindClan cats’ dens.

Though tunneling is outlawed, some young WindClan cats, full of elder’s stories, sometimes venture into the old tunnels, claiming to hear a voice calling to them. Sometimes they are never heard from again. This still occurs by the lake, and Jayfeather of ThunderClan suspects that it is Rock, calling for young cats to prove themselves.

I base WindClan cats off of long-legged, lean breeds - most notably Oriental Shorthairs. They have an “otherworldly” beauty to them.

RiverClan

It’s said that drowning under ice traps a spirit under the water for eternity. Queens tell kits not to wander near the river before they’re too old to swim or else one of these water-lost cats will drag them under. It’s likely just a cautionary story, but who knows?

RiverClan cats know the most about herb-lore and caring for plants. Living so close to the river makes it easy for RiverClan medicine cats to grow their own gardens, and plants grow lush in their soil. RiverClan medicine cats brought the idea of gardens to other Clans, but the method only really worked well in ThunderClan, whose soil conditions were similar to RiverClan’s.

RiverClan cats collect stones and shells and things that wash up from the river. They decorate their nests, but most importantly, RiverClan cats give these items as gifts to good friends or mates in order to help seal their bond.

RiverClan carries over the casting of stones from the Tribe, though its only used in dire straits. RiverClan has only one set of casting stones, said to have been chosen by Gray Wing and Riverstar themselves.

RiverClan cats, valuing knowledge, are always quite curious. It tends to get them into trouble - more RiverClan cats tends to get carried away by Twolegs than even ThunderClanners; but who’s to say they hadn’t wanted to go, just to see what it was like?

RiverClan apprentices usually compete in swimming competitions in newleaf and greenleaf, and the winner always gets the fattest fish on the fresh-kill pile.

Being overweight in RiverClan is not seen as a bad thing, especially in winter, when the cats don’t swim for fear of catching cold (and drowning). RiverClan cats tend to huddle around the fattest of their number in order to keep warm in the leaf-bare, and they pack their dens with snow in order to trap heat even further.

RiverClan cats are large and thick, mainly Maine Coons but there are Ragdolls and Ragamuffins in there as well. They are considered the most attractive of all the Clan cats.

ShadowClan

ShadowClan cats love to pick fights, especially young ones. They’ll often argue over borders for only the pure pleasure of the argument, much to the annoyance of the other Clans. An antsy ShadowClan cat is very easy to whip into a fighting frenzy. ShadowClan apprentices do not become warriors until they can fend off two warriors at once.

Scars are hugely honored in ShadowClan! Cats with the most scars have seen the most fights, and survived to fight on. An apprentice with a very scarred mentor is almost always looked at to be the best fighter in that generation of apprentices.

ShadowClan cats don’t have webbed paws, but they do have the widest paws of all the Clan cats - which makes it easy not to sink in their boggy territory.

Cats often fight one another over the last scraps of prey - the only exceptions are the elders, queens, kits, and medicine cats. To the winner goes the spoils! It’s not uncommon to see even the best of friends quarrel over prey, only to share it when all’s said and done.

Mates will often battle one another to keep themselves sharp. It’s a romantic sort of thing that none of the other Clans understand at all. Sometimes courtship even involves the two potential mates fighting one another - it’s always in good fun, and many ShadowClan cats know exactly which scars came from their mates.

ShadowClan cats are often considered the “ugliest” of the Clan cats, especially by WindClan and ThunderClan. Their long, protruding fangs don’t help. They are also the most isolated Clan besides SkyClan, sharing no borders with any other Clan. Their humor is crass and mean where other Clans are concerned, and their attitudes hardly endear them to others, meaning that not many other Clans have ShadowClan blood.

ShadowClan’s very nature makes it susceptible to rebellion. ShadowClan leaders have to be strong-willed in order to control their boisterous Clanmates.

WindClan legends state that Shadowstar was a brutish fighter like all other ShadowClan cats - that she was banished beyond the Thunderpath to keep the other Clans safe from ShadowClan’s brutal nature. ShadowClan cats, however, believe that Shadowstar just thought the other Clans were nosy and annoying.

Like SkyClan and RiverClan, ShadowClan does occasionally pick up outsiders from Twolegplace to bolster their ranks.

ShadowClan cats invented pawspeak - mostly as a means to silently plan ambushes or their night-hunting, but it has evolved into an aid for deaf cats of all Clans.

ShadowClan medicine cats are trained as warriors alongside their medicine cat training. They’re not trained as extensively as a warrior would be, but they keep their skills sharp.

ShadowClan cats are short, with wide paws and faces, and nearly all boast flattened muzzles - I base them off of British Shorthairs and Persian-style cats.

ThunderClan

ThunderClan apprentices don’t earn their warrior names until they prove their hunting prowess. Some notable cats back in the day earned their warrior names by hunting the adders at Snakerocks, a practice which was stopped by an old leader, as it lead to many kittens losing their lives.

ThunderClan cats value warrior blood - it was extremely taboo to take mates from outside the Clans. Cats with parents from two Clans at least had two Clanborn parents! This idea slowly faded with time, and Firestar helped eliminate it completely.

Often, when two cats go hunting alone together, it’s assumed they’re courting, or very good friends. It’s not uncommon to be teased for only asking one warrior to come hunting!

RiverClan might have the knowledge and the fertile soil, but ThunderClan boasts the widest variety of herbs on their land.

ThunderClan cats have the deepest respect for their elders, and the stories that they tell. ThunderClan elders often come up with epic Aesop stories to keep the apprentices in line! They’re one of the few Clans that speak of the Dark Forest.

ThunderClan often has the largest population of all the Clans - this is often tested in leaf-bare, however. ThunderClan always has cases of greencough that thins their numbers.

ThunderClan cats are various short-haired breeds, but Maine Coons can sneak their way in. They are considered conventionally attractive.

ThunderClan, for some reason, is proving really hard to create headcanons for? Maybe it’s because they’re so oversaturated and fleshed out in the main series, idk.

SkyClan (old and modern)

Thanks to SkyClan’s isolation in both eras, their humor is nearly indecipherable. Think boomers trying to understand millennial or gen-z humor. The other Clans have given up at this point.

Old SkyClan kept to themselves, thus a lot of their traditions were unknown - however, other Clans often reported seeing lone apprentices wandering the woods, looking hungry and tired. They’d be seen again with their warrior names at the next Gathering. SkyClan apprentices would often spend days out alone in the forest - no warrior or other member of SkyClan were allowed to interact with them.

Though ShadowClan loved battles, no Clan was more fierce in defending their borders than SkyClan - SkyClan borders were almost always fully closed to the other Clans, unless medicine cats got involved. It made SkyClan seem selfish and a nightmare to deal with, so most Clans didn’t bother asking for favors. This lead to the lack of favor that put SkyClan out of their territory when the Twolegs came.

Modern SkyClan is not so isolated - but they do have a hard time adjusting to so many cats.

Modern SkyClan’s warrior assessment is nowhere near as harsh as the old SkyClan’s - their apprentices only spend a full day and night out alone in the forest, and all apprentices of their generation can work together if they choose.

Modern SkyClan celebrates family - newborn kits are always worthy of a celebrations and feasting. Modern SkyClan leaders never fail to greet new kits.

Loners, rogues, and kittypets who join SkyClan nowadays are assigned “kin” to help them in their transitional period. These “kin” act like littermates or even parents, and ensure the new cats are acclimated. More often than not these “kin” become just as good as blood kin to these new cats.

Modern SkyClan families remain constantly close. Alongside warriors and apprentice’s dens, SkyClan has family dens - dens that families create with one another and live in. It’s not uncommon for apprentices to stay in a family den with their parents until they become warriors.

Old SkyClan’s isolation made the prone to inbreeding - to combat this, SkyClan cats would recruit kittypets, loners, or rogues from Twolegplace into their Clan. This practice made SkyClan even more alien to the other Clans and widened the gulf between them.

Both old and modern SkyClan cats cast stones to make important decisions, like whether or not to ask for help from other Clans or find the Clans by the lake.

Like ShadowClan, SkyClan medicine cats were often trained as warriors as well, in order to help better heal and defend their Clan. It was one of the few things SkyClan had in common with ShadowClan.

SkyClan cats have the distinctive trait of back legs that are longer than their front legs. This trait has lessened over time, but some modern SkyClan cats do boast slightly longer back legs. They are often always short-haired breeds. There were hardly long-haired SkyClan cats, but now they’re starting to crop up.

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leafiadream · 5 years

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10% Left AU

I saw @10leftau‘s MYO and thought it would be fun! I...did not expect to get this invested in it *stares at 10 typed pages, sweats*

I ended up continuing through AVOS because I wanted to explore that as well! If you don’t want to get into that, you can stop when you get to the subtitle “The prophecy” c:

(This is mostly unedited, so sorry if there are any inconsistencies!)

Anyway, here we go!

Numbers rolled: 30, 113, 32, 86, 7, 107, 27, 14, 110, 124, 105, 40, 60

ThunderClan Survivors: Brackenfur, Birchfall, Bumblestripe, Hollyleaf, Molepaw, Snowkit

ShadowClan Survivors: Redwillow

WindClan Survivors: Nightcloud

RiverClan Survivors: Reedwhisker, Willowshine, Icewing, Mallownose, Curlpaw

After the battle:

The survivors of each Clan spread out to make sure that no more enemies are in their territories and to locate any other Clanmates that were still alive, as well as to bring their dead Clanmates back to camp.

In ThunderClan, Brackenfur and Hollyleaf take charge, snapping others out of their grief to make sure everything is in order (besides Birchfall and Snowkit, as the former is comforting the latter). Once all of the dead have been laid out for vigil (unfortunately not too beautifully, since both medicine cats have died), they allow themselves and everyone else to give in to their grief and mourn for their lost family and friends. Once they have buried everyone, everyone but Birchfall and Snowkit goes hunting. Everyone eats and they all get some rest, waking later to start rebuilding camp under Brackenfur’s direction.

In RiverClan, Reedwhisker and Willowshine take charge in a similar manner. They fall into these roles naturally, already being important in the Clan. Once the Clan’s dead are buried, Reedwhisker and Willowshine go to the Moonpool so Reedwhisker can get his nine lives. They go through ShadowClan territory and meet Redwillow, who explains that he’s the only one left in his Clan. He says that he plans to reach out beyond the territory to rebuild the Clan. The RiverClan cats aren’t sure how to feel about this, but they have more important things to worry about. They stop in at the ThunderClan camp to check on their numbers and are relieved that they have at least enough to start rebuilding. Reedwhisker mentions ShadowClan’s plight and Birchfall’s expression darkens, revealing that Redwillow had fought on the side of the Dark Forest and considered ShadowClan weak. Reedwhisker and Willowshine are appalled and they discuss with the ThunderClan cats how to get rid of him. They plan to meet in two moonhighs. The RiverClan cats leave and Reedwhisker becomes Reedstar. He and Willowshine travel back home through WindClan and are dismayed that only Nightcloud survived.

Nightcloud has been doing her best to bury all of her Clanmates, but it’s rough for only one cat, and her emotions are running high. She finally has to take a break to eat and rest, but it’s difficult when there are still so many bodies around her. She eventually decides there’s no way she can sleep like this and works without sleep until she’s done. She’s still burying her Clanmates when Reedstar and Willowshine come up. They ask what she’s going to do, and she admits that she doesn’t know. Reedstar then asks if she will meet with everyone at an impromptu Gathering in a few days. She agrees and asks him to give more details later.

In ShadowClan, Redwillow doesn’t bother burying his dead Clanmates. One of the first things he does is cover up the wound on his throat that he got from Blackstar (it wasn’t deep enough to do much to him, and he ended up killing Blackstar and a number of other warriors before the war ended). He gets some prey for himself and starts to devise a plan to get the strongest possible cats to join his new ShadowClan.

With almost the whole of RiverClan and ThunderClan ganging up on him, Redwillow is easily killed. His body is left for the crows, and the two Clans stay to bury ShadowClan.

Reedstar asks the ThunderClan cats to join the Gathering, and they agree on a night. He sends Mallownose and Curlpaw to let Nightcloud know.

The Gathering:

The remaining three Clans meet up on the island—this time, Birchfall and Snowkit come, though the latter mostly just sticks close to the former. Reedstar starts by saying he’d originally wanted to see what the damage was, but now they just need to figure out some logistics. For example, RiverClan’s the only Clan with a leader and a medicine cat. He asks ThunderClan what they plan to do about that, and Willowshine says she’d be happy to help their future leader gain their lives and also train a new medicine cat.

Brackenfur, who’s been chosen as a temporary leader since he’s a senior warrior, steps forward and admits that they’re still trying to figure that out, but for now they’re just making sure everyone’s safe and cared for. He thanks Willowshine for her generous offer and says he’ll let her know once they’ve decided who the leader should be. (ThunderClan had already discussed this after seeing that Willowshine was alive.)

Then Reedstar fills Nightcloud in on the fact that ShadowClan is no more. This shocks her, since she’d assumed that WindClan had gotten the worst of it because of Breezepelt and others turning against the Clan and telling the Dark Forest all of their secrets. Her ears flatten angrily when she talks about her “former son”. She sighs and admits that after a lot of thought, she doesn’t think she could rebuild WindClan to its former glory. She’s not a leader, and besides going to the nearby Twolegplace, she isn’t sure where to start looking for new Clanmates. She asks if she could join one of the two remaining Clans.

ThunderClan’s pretty much fine with it, since they’ve brought in so many “outsiders” in the past and they recognise how it would benefit them. Reedstar doesn’t want to give up a potential Clanmate, especially since adding her would make the Clans even, but since ThunderClan has already offered, he says that RiverClan is open to her and that it’s her decision, not wanting to start a fight when there were so few lives left.

Nightcloud is uncertain, especially because Hollyleaf is still alive and the bad blood between their families, but Hollyleaf encourages her to embrace kin where she can. After some back-and-forth with members of both Clans, Nightcloud decides to join ThunderClan.

Nightcloud then expresses that she would hate to leave WindClan either way. That’s when Hollyleaf suggests that each remaining Clan take over the other territory—ThunderClan would take WindClan, since that’s Nightcloud’s home, and RiverClan would take ShadowClan. Brackenfur agrees. Reedstar speaks with his Clan briefly for their input and then agrees as well, saying that the borders would remain the same.

The two Clans come to an indefinite truce, with the terms essentially being “we’re not to attack each other as long as we’re rebuilding, and once we feel confident in our numbers/status, we’ll announce it at a Gathering and wait at least a half moon before officially being rivals again”. (This truce actually won’t end until after SkyClan is brought to the forest, at which point they have to discuss new terms and new territories.)

This done, the two Clans end the Gathering and return to their territories, ThunderClan leading Nightcloud to her new home.

ThunderClan relations/personalities:

Originally, the Clan looks to Brackenfur to lead as he is the most senior warrior. However, Brackenfur is starting to feel his age and has seen the loss of his mate and kits, and he doesn’t feel able to lead the Clan in this state. Instead, he offers to be the deputy for the new leader, and suggests Hollyleaf since she showed a great amount of leadership in the time since her return, and especially during the aftermath. The Clan eventually agrees and Hollyleaf soon becomes Hollystar.

Brackenfur keeps busy because otherwise he just feels too much grief. When he’s not helping Hollystar and organising patrols, he’s rebuilding and reinforcing walls and dens, as well as helping Hollystar teach Nightcloud about ThunderClan’s territory and hunting techniques. Throughout the day, he works hard so he can fall asleep easily.

Hollystar asks for Brackenfur’s guidance a lot because she has always respected him, since he was her mentor, and also because she’s honestly uncertain she can actually be a leader. She’s learned that the warrior code isn’t the end-all and that sometimes it must be broken for the good of the Clan, but she isn’t sure she’ll know when to break it and when to let it be. The first few moons are difficult since the Clan seems to respect Brackenfur more than they respect her, mostly since she was gone for so long. As she starts to establish herself, however, the Clan truly starts to see her as their leader.

The Clan is left without a medicine cat, so Hollystar uses the few memories she has of her medicine cat apprentice days to help where she can. She knows, however, that someone will need to take on that responsibility. She asks Molepaw if he would be willing to train under Willowshine, but he says that he wants to become a warrior if at all possible. He says that he will train to be a medicine cat only on the condition that no one else will, but he is opposed to it. Hollystar understands and says she’ll do what she can.

Snowkit had been listening, and he comes up to tell Hollystar that he’d like to be the medicine cat apprentice once he’s old enough. After witnessing such a violent war and seeing the loss of almost his entire family, he doesn’t want to hurt anyone, ever, and would rather work to heal them. He can’t become an apprentice for another few moons, but Hollystar sends a message to Willowshine so they can meet and talk about logistics.

During the war, Snowkit had managed to run away and hide, but not before he’d seen his mother killed. His littermates had run after him, but neither of them had made it (though he didn’t see their deaths). When he crept back to camp after the sounds of battle ended, he found that none of his relatives were alive except his older brother-in-law, Birchfall. He now clings to the warrior like a burr whenever he’s not busy; for the first day, Birchfall had had to stay off of duties just to comfort the young kit. The two are now extremely close, and Birchfall has started to get Snowkit more cheerful again, though he’s usually solemn and skittish. Snowkit gets anxious very easily and sometimes just has to stop what he’s doing and focus on breathing.

Birchfall feels a lot of guilt about the war, but as time has passed and he has spoken to various cats, he’s started to let it go. He didn’t know that the Dark Forest was planning to attack the Clans. He just wanted to get stronger, and he had fought against the Dark Forest once he learned the truth. But he still feels that guilt, that maybe if he had told someone what was going on that the war wouldn’t be as devastating. He finds a lot of comfort in helping Snowkit and slowly getting him used to teasing and other fun things. He also talks a lot to Icewing during Gatherings, since they have shared history and guilt. They become very close...

Bumblestripe is devastated after the death of his family, but even more so after the death of Dovewing. Since they were fighting side by side, he blames himself for her death, thinking that he could have done something to save her from the Dark Forest warrior that gave her the finishing blow. He wishes they could have reconciled after their fights and that he could have apologised for everything.

Bumblestripe is tasked with finishing Molepaw’s apprenticeship, which helps ground him and get his mind back on track. He had constant nightmares after the war, but they’ve decreased over time. He apologises to Dovewing constantly when he can’t sleep, and he wonders if she’s forgiven him.

Under Bumblestripe’s teaching, Molepaw eventually earns his warrior name, Molefrost, named for his mother at his request. He doesn’t want to forget those who came before, or how hard he fought to survive.

Nightcloud struggles to adjust to ThunderClan life—it’s hard to see the sky and feel the breeze in her fur with all of the cover of the forest. She spends a lot of time training with Hollystar and Brackenfur. At first, she does badly enough that she gets frustrated and goes to the former WindClan territory to bring back rabbit (which her new Clanmates start to get used to and enjoy) because she doesn’t want to come back empty-pawed. But over time, she becomes a strong hunter within the forest, mostly from Brackenfur’s patient teaching. The two end up forming a close friendship and help each other cope with their respective losses, though the situations are very different.

(Down the line, Nightcloud asks him to sire a no-strings-attached litter—part of it is to help the Clan grow, part of it is that she trusts him, and most of it is that she just misses being a mother and having kin. Brackenfur agrees and makes it clear that they will never be mates, as Sorreltail is the only cat he’s ever loved, but will happily raise the kits beside her if she’d like. They have three kits and adore them.)

Nightcloud also grows a bond with Hollystar, which surprises both of them. Hollystar was the main instigator, but she didn’t expect Nightcloud to be as open to her. Similarly, Nightcloud didn’t expect Hollystar to care even a bit about her, even after what was said at the Gathering. When Nightcloud has trouble hunting and moves to former WindClan territory, Hollystar asks if she can teach her how to hunt rabbit and other moor-based prey. They switch off teaching each other in their respective territories, and later on Hollystar makes the rest of the Clan (minus Snowkit) learn how to hunt in the moor, since it’s their territory now and they’ll have to learn. Hollystar learns that she enjoys racing over the moor (she was half-WindClan blood, after all) and she and Nightcloud race each often. They’re not exactly mother-and-daughter close, but they’re great friends, and they enjoy spending time together when they can.

RiverClan relations/personalities:

Reedstar has always been a strong, positive presence in the Clan, and this doesn’t change. Having been deputy for many moons and trained by Mistystar on how to lead the Clan has given him a great advantage and the ability to push things aside and get things done. He’d had a feeling he might need to step up after the battle—his mother was by no means a young cat—and had done what he could to prepare for that. He misses his mother and Clanmates, of course, but there are more important things; he can grieve in his own time.

He appoints Mallownose as his deputy, as he’s the best choice out of the cats remaining. Both of them know that once a more suitable cat comes along, he will be replaced, and Mallownose is fine with that. He knows that he’s not a leader by nature, and honestly, he struggles a bit figuring out who to send on what patrols and which tasks to prioritise. It’s almost a good thing there are so few cats left for him to juggle. Reedstar tends to stand by him when he gives out orders and patrols so he can gently correct Mallownose on any mistakes he made.

Mallownose gets frustrated easily, not just from his mistakes and the stress of his new position. He’s always been quick to voice his opinions and make decisions that don’t necessarily work in his or his Clan’s favor. Putting him in this position is risky, but he does his best to keep his more negative traits tamped down while he’s doing his work. But in all honesty, he’s not doing that well, in a personal sense. Being emotional and quick-tempered by nature has his mind going crazy with all of the change and death around him. He doesn’t know how to react, so sometimes he just...explodes. After a few moons, he’ll calm down enough and know his job well enough that he can go through the motions, but those first few moons are rough for everyone, with Reedstar constantly having to step in for damage control.

Icewing would have been a decent deputy due to her willingness to prove herself and her more thoughtful nature, but even with Mistystar’s forgiveness for her training in the Dark Forest, and even with her open apology to the Clan and her not knowing that the Dark Forest was going to attack the Clans, the cats are still a bit uneasy around her in the first few days. Reedstar knows that making her deputy could either show the Clan that she’s loyal and ready to help the Clan or make the Clan turn against him, and that’s a risk he can’t take right now.

Icewing instead puts all of her time into rebuilding the Clan, hunting, patrolling—anything and everything she can do to make herself feel like she’s repenting for her actions. Like Birchfall, she has a lot of guilt about what she’s done, feeling like since she went to the Dark Forest at all she had some part in their attack. She barely sleeps and is always the last to take prey for herself, working so hard that finally she collapses. Willowshine is there when she comes to, and the two talk to each other, the medicine cat acting as a therapist for her.

When she does sleep, Icewing has nightmares about training in the Dark Forest again, or being forced to kill her Clanmates, or even enjoying killing another cat. It’s a long time before they start to fade, but they never leave her as long as she lives.

Curlpaw is extremely depressed, which leaves her dragging her paws when asked to do anything and looking forward with glazed eyes. The last thing she ever said to her brother, right after he confessed that he was afraid they might not make it, was “Don’t be such a minnow-brain!” He was killed soon after, and she’s been numb since then, only reacting and never acting. She doesn’t grieve when the Clan buries their dead or speak to anyone without prompting.

When Reedstar asks if she’s okay, she breaks, and sobs against his chest while he runs his tail gently down her back. She cries that she’s been an awful sister and that she’s sorry and that she just wants her brother back. Reedstar talks softly with her and helps her through the grieving process, something that she has never experience before at such a young age. Once she’s settled down and gotten emotion back into her eyes, he asks if she would be willing to continue training. She nods, sniffing, and he takes her on as his apprentice.

Curlpaw’s still depressed for a long time, but her old spirit starts returning to her. She makes more of an effort to say only good things to others, afraid that her last words to someone will be something that she wishes she could take back, even if she was just teasing. Over time, this morphs her into a kinder and more positive person overall, in action and in mind.

Inter-Clan relations:

At first, the Clans are still a bit wary of each other. They’re not sure how much to help the other and how to check on their borders. But they naturally start to care about each other more, which is helped when Willowshine takes Snowpaw on as an apprentice. The two stay in RiverClan for the first half of his apprenticeship and move to ThunderClan for the second, with a few trips into the former WindClan and ShadowClan territories to learn the locations of different herbs (an experience for both of them).

With such huge territories and so few cats, and with the Clans preferring to stay in their original camps, it’s difficult for them to patrol their borders. Hollystar and Reedstar discuss it for a long time and decide that for the duration of the truce, ThunderClan will mark the border along the former ShadowClan territory and RiverClan will mark the border along the former WindClan territory. Members of each Clan visit the borders at their discretion to check that they have been kept. (Over time, they barely bother, sometimes sending a patrol only once a moon.)

The two Clans continue to rebuild and grow, and do what they can to help the other. This greatly diminishes any remaining hostilities they might have had. The Clans can honestly be considered friends, willing to assist the other if any rogues or predators become a threat. Because of this, their fighting skills don’t end up being used too often.

Hollystar and Reedstar decide to start doing more of the Daylight Gatherings done on the anniversary of the Clans’ arrival to the lake. At first, it’s just one, then it’s once every five or so moons, then it’s every other moon. It becomes a major event and apprentices and young warriors train specifically to compete. Rules and sports are added and adjusted with each Daylight Gathering until they become set in stone a few years in. This is also a chance for cats from different Clans to teach each other new moves and techniques, and eventually all ThunderClan cats are taught how to swim.

Another side-effect is cats falling for cats in the other Clan. It originally starts with Birchfall and Icewing, but it soon extends to other cats, usually apprentices. The two Clans have a long discussion about it when Icewing becomes pregnant and admits they’re Birchfall’s. Eventually, Hollystar and Reedstar come to the agreement that cats are allowed to mate outside of their Clans as long as their kits spend equal training time in each Clan and determine on their own which they want to be loyal to. Apprentices are not allowed to seriously pursue cross-Clan crushes for their safety, since most warriors in cross-Clan relationships tend to meet at borders, which are far from at least one camp.

When the laws are changed, there’s a lot of backlash since most cats consider the warrior code to be untouchable/unchangeable, but there have been a few times when the code has changed for one reason or another. Hearing it from Hollystar, who is generally adamant about the code, makes ThunderClan feel better about it. It takes RiverClan a bit longer to accept the change, but being more relaxed by nature, it’s not long before it becomes acceptable.

Overall, the Clans are in a time of great peace.

The prophecy:

One day, the medicine cats receive a prophecy: “Embrace what you find in the shadows, for only they can clear the sky.” They announce the prophecy at the next Gathering. The RiverClan cats wonder if it has anything to do with the old ShadowClan territory and say that they will heavily search the area. ThunderClan decides to search the old WindClan territory as well, just in case. That proves fruitless, and the Clans are at a loss.

Moons later, Snowflower gets a new apprentice. At their first Moonpool visit, Firestar shows them a vision of a warrior ceremony. They don’t recognise the cats or the area and wonder if they’re RiverClan cats, and if so, why would they be seeing them in a vision? They tell Snowflower about it, and Snowflower takes them to talk to Hollystar. Hollystar asks them to describe the cats, but doesn’t recognise them either, wondering if it’s another Clan altogether. The three of them visit with Reedstar, Willowshine, and the other RiverClan medicine cat to see if they know anything. No one knows, but they all wonder if it has anything to do with the prophecy they received before. They decide to wait for another vision to see if they can get any information, but in the meantime, they tell the leaders.

The apprentice receives another vision, this time a series of landmarks, and the Clan leaders decide to send out a small, joint patrol to try to find the cats.

They make it to the place the apprentice saw in the first vision and they meet the other Clan, led by a cat named Darktail. It doesn’t seem...right. The cats are extremely aggressive and see nothing wrong with not caring for elders and queens. Plus, the apprentice doesn’t see any of the cats from their vision. While out looking for herbs to see if they can help the Clan, they find a rogue—or, as it turns out, a warrior of SkyClan looking for his scattered Clanmates. The warrior, Mistfeather, explains that Darktail and his group kicked SkyClan out of their territory and that he’s been trying to find everyone for at least a moon.

Darktail appears and Mistfeather attacks him, but he kills Mistfeather. He then drags the apprentice back to camp and claims that the patrol has been spying against the group. The patrol, at the apprentice’s terror-filled gaze, makes a run for it, managing to get out of camp and toward their own territory. The apprentice fills them in on everything, and they realise with the name “SkyClan” that this must be the “sky” in the prophecy, and the group the “shadows”. The rest of the patrol isn’t 100% on board with that explanation, but it makes enough sense that they decide to tell the leaders once they get home that that might be the meaning.

They make it nearly home when nightfall hits. They decide to take shelter in a small cave under a huge Thunderpath. There, they find two kits, newborns, not even old enough to open their eyes. The patrol does what it can to feed the kits, but it’s obvious they need a queen, and quickly, so they continue under the Thunderpath until the emerge on the other side, then hurry toward ThunderClan, which has a nursing queen.

While the kits get settled and the patrol rests, Hollystar sends someone to get Reedstar and his deputy. The medicine cat apprentice goes to check on the kits and notices that they smell familiar... After a while, they realise that the kits smell a bit like Mistfeather, and conclude that they must be SkyClan kits.

The RiverClan cats arrive and the patrol tells everyone what happened, including thoughts about the prophecy and the kits. Reedstar agrees that the kits should remain with ThunderClan, but says that he would like to station a warrior in camp in case of any important news. Hollystar agrees on the condition that one of her warriors be stations in RiverClan camp. She chooses a warrior, who goes with the RiverClan cats (except one, who stays—he had carried one of the kits home and even in that short time gained a fatherly love for them).

At the next Gathering, the two Clans come to a decision: They’ll send out another patrol to search for the scattered SkyClan cats, starting near where the kits were found. They choose a patrol with mostly fresh cats, but with two cats who were on the journey.

As time passes, patrols return and leave and return and leave, with no luck.

The kits grow strong and learn that they were found outside of the Clan and that cats are looking for their Clanmates. They want to know more about their parents and birth Clan, but are honestly pretty happy where they are with their foster father and Clan.

The Kin:

Then, a large group of cats settles into the former WindClan territory. Hollystar sends the RiverClan warrior to his camp and he comes back later the same day with a battle patrol led by Reedstar. The leaders discuss the new group and how to deal with them, then head out. They go with the intent to tell the group’s leader that this is their land and they would like them to leave, hopefully without force.

When they arrive, one of the cats recognises Darktail. Darktail recognises them as well. He claims that he will drive them out as he drove out SkyClan, and signals for an attack. The patrol is horribly outnumbered and returns to their respective Clans to heal.

Seeing them so badly hurt lowers Clan morale. Those who were alive during the battle with the Dark Forest fear the worst; those who weren’t haven’t seen their Clanmates hurt like this before. No one is sure what’s going on or what to do. The leaders do their best to boost morale, but without a solid plan, there’s not much they can do.

Then, one of the search parties returns to RiverClan with SkyClan in tow. The ThunderClan messenger is immediately sent to share the news, and Hollystar and a few others go to RiverClan to meet SkyClan and discuss logistics.

The SkyClan cats are exhausted, but Leafstar and Hawkwing do their best to represent the Clan and contribute what they can to the discussion. They share everything they know about Darktail and his group (called The Kin) and briefly mention how they ended up finding the search party. Then, they ask if they can stay for a while, at least until they can either get back their territory or find a new one.

The lake Clans tell them that The Kin has recently settled around the lake, and that they were unable to drive them out. They say that they will need every able-bodied cat from all three Clans to get rid of them. They all acknowledge the need to rest, train, and plan beforehand, and that SkyClan can take temporary lodgings in the former ShadowClan territory. They decide to stay with RiverClan for the night and move to the marshland the next day.

Time passes. The Clans rest and train, and The Kin ravages the territory, attacking any Clan cats who get too close.

(To note, in this universe, The Kin is not as large as in the main series—it’s about the size of two pre-Darktail SkyClans. They took over SkyClan the same way they did in the series (attacking when the daylight warriors were gone). Since the two lake Clans are significantly smaller than in the main series, they and SkyClan together just barely outnumber The Kin. Also, The Kin isn’t able to sway any Clan cats to their side, as the Clan cats know what they did to SkyClan and are also generally pleased with Clan life as it is.)

The battle:

The plan is simple: Flank The Kin’s camp from above and push them back toward the lake during battle. The assumption is that The Kin dislikes water and potentially can’t swim, but RiverClan and ThunderClan can. The aggressors are mostly ThunderClan, charging in as loudly as possible in hopes of startling some of the cats into running. This works for a number of cats, who jostle around in their hurry to leave whatever this loud, harsh sound is. Those cats end up near the water’s edge, where a scattering of trees hold SkyClan warriors. The warriors leap down and attack from above, wounding any cats they can and send the rest off toward the lake, where the RiverClan warriors are waiting. There, they do their own surprise attack from the water and do their best to get water on their enemies to weigh down their fur (which doesn’t happen to the RiverClan cats because of their fur being more “waterproof” as described in the books) and make their movements clumsy.

Wherever cats from The Kin didn’t run, they are attacked by warriors. A handful of cats are killed on both sides. Darktail stayed in camp, calling those who left cowards and clawing at any cat he can reach. The Clans have the advantage throughout the fight, and Darktail begins to realise that there’s little hope for him. He tries to escape, but is cut off by a number of Clan cats, who strike him down and kill him.

With Darktail gone, The Kin falls apart. Most cats run from the territory. Some queens and kits stay behind—they hadn’t been part of the battle and had only been with The Kin for a vague sort of protection. They beg for mercy and a place to stay. The lake Clans, not the type to turn away kits, agree to let them stay for a time and prove themselves. Leafstar and most of SkyClan initially protest, since the cats were part of the group that drove them out. But then they admit that they know how it feels to be homeless, and decide to give them a chance.

SkyClan then asks if they can stay in their former-ShadowClan home. The lake Clans are open to them, especially since there was a prophecy about them, as long as SkyClan is open to and respectful of their customs. Besides, they have plenty of territory to spare. The leaders make plans to meet up and discuss new borders—both RiverClan and ThunderClan will have to shift a bit out of their original territories and share the former WindClan territory. It takes a long time for them to come to an agreement that satisfies all three Clans, but soon enough, they’re living comfortably around the lake.

SkyClan settling in:

It takes quite some time for SkyClan to get used to the other Clans’ way of life—most notably, Daylight Gatherings (and Gatherings in general), cross-Clan relationships, and swimming. The former two are mostly because they haven’t been around other Clans and don’t know much about inter-Clan politics and such, but it’s also because they just find it...weird. The latter is because they don’t see the point in it besides the Daylight Gatherings, which, again, seem weird. The older cats tend to dig in their feet on a number of things, though the apprentices and young warriors are open to the differences, not having known much about life in the old SkyClan territory.

This causes some arguments that essentially boil down to “if you don’t accept and participate in our customs, you can leave”.

The hardest thing for them to accept, though, is the fate of the two SkyClan kits. Their foster father had considered moving to ThunderClan to be with them, but with SkyClan’s arrival, the situation becomes more complicated. Hawkwing, their biological father, wants them to live with him. The kits, though finding their father cool, have grown up with their foster father and the ThunderClan cats, and aren’t keen on leaving them. Hollystar suggests they do what half-Clan kits do: Stay half their apprenticeships in ThunderClan and spend the rest in SkyClan. She offers to let them train in SkyClan first so they can spend part of their younger lives with their father. Hawkwing isn’t happy about this, saying that they should go with him right away. Leafstar agrees.

They eventually decide to let SkyClan take the kits in for their last moon or so of kithood and through the beginning of their apprenticeship. Then they would return to ThunderClan for the rest. The decision would ultimately be theirs once they reach adulthood. Hawkwing still isn’t entirely happy with it, but is glad he’ll get to spend more time with them.

The kits’ influence on SkyClan is good, since they’re used to the other Clans’ way of life and get excited about being able to do the Daylight Gatherings and learn how to swim. Seeing his kits get excited about these things makes Hawkwing more open to the new traditions and events. Leafstar and some of the other warriors are still uncertain about them, but as time passes, they are generally okay with it in a “if we have to do this, we have to do this” sort of way. Leafstar never quite gets into it, preferring her isolation and wishing to have the kits stay with SkyClan no matter what, but she does what is necessary to keep her Clan stable.

(Once Hawkwing becomes leader, the Clan as a whole is more in tune with the other Clans, since he himself is more in tune with them.)

What comes next?:

I’d like to think they stay generally peaceful and friendly regardless of what’s thrown at them, but somewhere down the line, when all of the cats have forgotten about the Great Battle, it’s possibly that they’ll drift apart again...

#warriors #warrior cats #10% left au #10% left au myo #i kinda want to write this and expand it #but we'll see #i'm kinda pleased about it where it is c:#i might do some snippets or something?#anyway this was fun!#thanks a bunch for making this generator!

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