#dark forest map

[puppyhowler]

New warriors animation out! ye :D

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

SO PARIS PALOMA JUST PUT OUT A NEW SONG AND YOU BETTER BEST BELIEVE IT IS GOING ON THE LIST OF THEME SONGS FOR DARK FOREST CATS

The "What did I do wrong?" repeating over and over again.....I think it would specifically be for the cats that weren't downright evil or did obviously bad things. Like cats that thought they were doing the right thing, or didn't even do anything evil at all but were still condemned because of StarClan's bullshitty ways.

So they're abandoned by the ancestors that they likely prayed to all their life, left to wonder why....what did they do wrong?

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

what places on the map are missing? new to the blog

Not many I don't think?

There's the Valley, which is a type of moorland right next to the Gaping Maws on the right-most side, like a transition spot from flat ground to mountain.

In one of these spots, the Valley has a 'bowl' shaped spot where Mouseshell's family live (AKA Valley Family).

This part IS on the map, but a family moved into the other mountain area (the ones by the Brumal). I also expanded on how it looks and the nature of it, but I don't think it would look too different from how it does now. Maybe a sliver of blue to show the waterfall, but since the whole Dark Forest is already massive, you just might not see it.

Then there's the forests I recently made up--Dancing Forest, Crying/Bleeding Trees, and Timeless Woods

It's always possible, likely, really, that more areas will be created in the future! It's fun! And if anyone has any ideas they want to share, they're more than welcome to!

EDIT:

forgot the Torrid Mountains where Burrowsand lives!

[the-owl-tree]

i don't like criticizing animations or fan projects (barring obvious issues of course) because they're almost always done for free and for fun, but sometimes i do see a premise, song choice, and character choice where it could've easily focused on a much less popular character or story and instead chooses the most popular characters available and just uh. crams them in to fit the song.

[hatsbattlecats]

just realized i never shared this work doodle I made of Mothwing and her brothers I made for the Brambleroot/med cat Bramble au.

she unfortunately cannot see them... yet

[bonefall]

How do you feel about "character joins bloodclan" aus? Im curious about ur thoughts since youre really in tune with the themes of the series but personally i just hate them bc its ALWAYS aimed at 'unfortunate' characters and always ALWAYS ignores the fact that bloodclan is a horrible place in-canon and that they're just reflavoring the abuse and trauma the characters qent through to be more emo or goth themed.

Ravenpaw is ALWAYS a prime target for this and its like. Great. You took the character being abused by their mentor figure and is being harmed from the violent culture the clan has generated... and giving them an EMO mentor figure who will inevitably abuse them and harm them as a result of the violent culture the emo clan has generated. Sasha is another one I've noticed- you've put the woman who lost her kit and is struggling to survive with the others while being controlled and abused by someone who sees her as an outsider (aka alone and easy to isolate), and are gonna put her in a faction who specifically separates kin from one another to easily control them and who have canonically tried murdering those who stick with their family. What was gained here.

Like i know bloodclan is revamped in ur au (thank god for it) but in canon bloodclan is HORRIBLE. People ignore that in favor of putting their favs into bloodclan bc bloodclan is cool and killed tigerstar that one time bc of revenge. Ravenpaw becomes Scourge AUS are SO SO SO much worse bc of this too- sure you manage to point out how scourge and raven has roughly similar stories in their youth but you could also do something interesting and make an au where raven and scourge are FOILS and do a firestar/scourge thing, while pointing this comparison out!! Instead you just went "Ravenpaw emo now and is sad about beating up Firestar his friend" and basically kept everything the same.

Sorry im basically venting here but i just dont like how people forget that scourge in canon does NOT look out for the 'little guy', he's a murderer and abuser who wants to keep his subjects afraid and separated so that he alone has power over them. Bloodclan is not the cool strong goth group, its the group where two cats slaughter eachother over a piece of twoleg scraps, only for the survivor to die bc the food was poisonous to cats and no one knew bc theres no cohesive group that can pass that knowledge around. its a fucking horrible place to live. Im not saying that you cant do interesting "character in bloodclan" aus (a Rusty who lives in bloodclan who STILL wants to do good but is shaped by the horrid reality of bloodclan would be fun imo) but its so often used with already traumatized characters as a 'solution' or 'fix-it with some emotional issues involved' that i just foam at the mouth and howl like a rabid animal on principle at this point.

Hmm... I think for me, it doesn't tend to read that way for me when the fandom makes AUs for it. I'm coming at BloodClan from a point of really deep critique and frustration.

BloodClan's not a REAL place, and what that means is, every speck of how horrible it was is a choice the writers made to justify its treatment. It was something they actively decided, because, BloodClan was a tool to suddenly invalidate the previous 5 books of TPB so that the series could comfortably conclude there was no need to upset the status quo.

If you haven't read it before, I recommend this post I made on how Darkest Hour Is A Personal Disappointment, but anyway;

We spend a whole series on how Fireheart challenges a broken society, because he is different. Their xenophobia, how isolationism and glory get people killed, the way that Tigerstar's greatest asset is how respected he is... these are bad things. They're things that Fireheart fights for several books.

But then, in the LAST book, in the 11th inning, they introduce BloodClan. They're just evil. They have no nuance. The narrative bends over backwards to stress that this group of evil foreigners LOVES murder, hates friendship, and doesn't believe in our good god.

Suddenly, the Clan cats have to be EXTRA xenophobic and glorious to kill these filthy, murderous foreign hordes. Clan cat belief in their good god makes them stronger than the bloodthirsty barbarians. Firestar kills Scourge and we can feel happy and triumphant about it, when Tigerstar was killed a few chapters ago and given a tragic sendoff.

So, I encourage you to step back from an emotional response to how Filthy and Murderous this group was portrayed, and look at it as a writing choice.

When Tigerstar, known cat-racist and murderer of mixed-race people, is killed by Scourge in self-defense, he is grieved by Firestar and commended for his "good qualities". (and then they retconned in that it was actually secretly revenge all along, not just self defense, so this killing is extra evil)

When Scourge is killed, Firestar just thinks about how it's cool he's not going to heaven, and how all of the previously ferocious BloodClan warriors look so inferior to the forest Clans.

And so, with all that said,

I'm 100% in favor of how the fandom widely looks at this, says, "fuck that" and just makes them the Cool Goth Group. I'd argue pretty strongly that the least nuanced idea of that is still infinitely better than canon.

There was nothing there. It was literally just Xenophobia-Is-JustifiedClan. They literally hated love and friendship and banned families so that Clan cats would look good in comparison. Banned families. You don't get this level of stupid evil from anything else but an 80s cartoon.

Maybe I just don't see the AUs you tend to see (I curate my Tumblr experience very well and generally hang out in more adult-oriented spaces, I can imagine a place like Amino being mostly kids who tend to be immature. Edgelord Angstpiddle is just a normal part of growing up), but every project I see that gives me a glimpse of BloodClan Ravenpaws and Sashas come with such tweaks already assumed.

Like, these are examples I've seen,

They'll have Raven be involved with the formation of BloodClan

Scourge will actually be a character with some pity and mercy, like how he was in Rise of Scourge when his abusive siblings begged him for food, and he fed them before sending them away.

no ban on love and friendship. Lol. Lmao, even.

More of the social structure will be based around acquiring food for people in a 'harsh' environment, leading to that battle, instead of just Evil Foreign Greed (which canon!scourge only had after being almost killed by tigerstar, because he said "actually, in light of new information that you are a murderer, i need to reconsider our deal.")

BloodClan will be overhauled completely. I've seen this a few ways. Connecting them to SkyClan, or the Oakstar raids on Chelford, or even as a positive entity; a surprise ally. (VERY common with BloodClan Ravenpaw AUs I've seen).

Anyways... (Shrug), I dunno dude, it doesn't bother me that much.

[girlvinland]

Ok was thinking more about some of my DS place HCs (these are just ones I personally like using for stories and whatnot. It is 10000% ok if you don’t like them or disagree). These are specifically places that appear in my own OC stuff, I’m not going through all three games for that at this second (maybe at some point though for fun though lol). Oh, and I’m leaving out places we see in-game for now (Lordran, Oolacile & the Royal Wood, etc.). Oh yeah, one more thing to add. A lot of these HCs are more oriented toward a time before everything started going to shit, however I imagine that in Dark Souls, there are still some cities or villages that maintain a way to either keep undead/hollows completely out or to cohabitate with undead who still have their wits about them. I like thinking that these places are still operating (for the most part) as close to normal as they can.

Carim: I always imagine it to be a very cold region that doesn’t get a ton of sunlight (I mainly based this on how in DS1, the character creator mentions people from Carim being very pale. A silly note, but dark blue hair is also specifically mentioned, so I gave that to two of my Carim chars 💙). In addition, I imagine Carim to be a mountainous, very mineral rich area, with coniferous/montane forests being the most common forest types. One may also find meadows, mountain springs, and geothermal features in the lower parts of the mountains. Titanite can be both mined and collected from monsters, and the region also has a major mineral export called Velkite (maybe this is a silly name, but I went with it anyway lol. I like imagining this material is used to make armor and weapons, and that’s it’s the same dark metal Morne’s armor is crafted from). Snowfall typically occurs from late autumn through early spring, and may transition to rain or other forms of precipitation before leading into a short few weeks of late spring or summer sunlight. These warmer periods are used in crop or flower cultivation in some areas, so predicting when (and if) they will occur has become something of an art in Carim. (No wonder though that some of our canon chars from Carim are so pissy— they’re not usually getting enough Vitamin D 😫).

Astora: Somewhat geographically diverse, with different sections of the region stretching into different biomes. Part of Astora is covered in rolling, grassy hills and meadows that bloom with wildflowers in the spring. I HC that some flat areas may be used for the growth and harvest of certain crops, as the climate is relatively temperate and receives a lot of sunshine (praise it 🌞) with enough short periods of rain to encourage growth. Vegetables (corn, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, soybeans, etc.) are a big export, and fields of sunflowers are quite commonly seen being cultivated as well. Like Carim, this is another region where weather prediction has become important, although in Astora’s case it relates more to rotating crops appropriately and planning for any potential dry spells. Other parts of Astora are more forested with mostly deciduous forests, but occasionally you will find coniferous woods. In these areas, forestry is abundant, with tree growth being managed and timber being harvested for firewood and construction purposes. Much of it is kept within the region, though a small amount is exported. Several rivers flow through Astora, creating nutrient-dense soil. Throughout the region, outcrops of limestone, sandstone, and shale can be seen.

Zena: I HC this region as being an island off the coast of the mainland. It is, therefore, a smaller region, but it is a common location for merchants and tradings. There are a couple of major ports on the island (one closer to the mainland, and one that receives ships and boats from lands elsewhere). The climate here is mostly tropical, and remains hot and humid for much of the year. Most inhabitants of Zena hail from other regions, and few of its original population remain. For those traveling further out from the mainland, it serves as a last stop for goods and preparation, and for many it also holds the allure of black market trades 🏴‍☠️.

Catarina: A large region with a big amount of geographical diversity, as one stretch is coastal with a Mediterranean-type climate, while the remainder ranges from subtropical to temperate. Like Zena, the coastal area has port cities where one can find bustling marketplaces and visitors from all over. Beyond those cities, the region is home to a couple of mountain ranges that contain and further lead into deciduous and coniferous woods as the landscape transitions towards that of Carim’s. While these more wooded areas experience a fair amount of precipitation that ranges from light rain to snow, much of Catarina enjoys a slightly dry and fair climate, with decent amounts of sunshine that encourage a well-minded populace. Certain fruits, wines, and ales are common exports from Catarina 🍻. Livestock and animal-derived products get special attention as well: milk, cheese, and chocolate from this cooler sections of the region can be sought after.

[redsea8me]

(Ignore the quality of this image I just need it for reference so you guys have a visual for what I’m taking about)

Okay so, my favourite species (bc it’s the one I conceptualized first) are the Lumyn! They are tall beings that legends say descended from the stars (though no evidence supports this) besides the Trow, they are highly adept at channeling magic. Mainly though the use of their horns! The material is lightweight, and when their horns are shed every few years many choose to donate them in order for wands to be made. Well kept horns (lustrous and healthy) are seen as signs of prosperity, strong magic conduction and are considered attractive!

Due to their highly conductive nature, the lumyn glow slightly because of the magic flowing their bodies at all times (it’s also why they always come in such pale colours)! Some theorize that that is why the lumyn have such elongated features. As they age, the lumyn never stop growing, continuing to become longer and taller, notable cases are the Wandering King (pictured below) and Grand Councilman Circinus (not pictured bc I haven’t drawn him yet)

Both have lived for an unprecedented amount of time, exceeding the species lifespan of 300 yrs by about 500 more, for reasons unknown

(On a different note, the Wandering Kings features, the very long horns, the angular face and sharp eyes, make him fit rather well within lumyn beauty standards)

the lumyn, when it comes to traditional clothing, are usually dressed in long draping fabrics, with embellishments being focused primarily on the neck and arms! When patterns are brought in, it’s mostly designed around celestial bodies, with a very common theme of quiet literally translating star charts into embroidery on an outfit (simple outfit concepts pictured below)

On another note, when two lumyn are married, intricate ties are woven between their horns. This symbolizes their bond and devotion to each other (usually done in rather eye catching colour, like red or yellow), when widowed, the connection between the ties is broken and the thread is replaced with a darker more drab colour and done more simply. When someone is lacking two horns, the intricate designs are replicated, if lacking both, the thread is worn around the neck. The four pointed stars represent the others partner, and are removed when the mourning threads are worn

okay last thing, instead of gold, silver is their decorative method of choice!

[aalien-s]

some designs i made for an upcoming warriors x tadc «Digital Hallucination” map call :]

[nettlefang]

thumbnail entry for Dastaan e Ashfur (I'M SUPER EXCITED FOR THIS MAP) hosted by @pixylmawthz

[lesbikill]

the dark forest as a place of deceptive beauty - forever a vibrant night where so many the plants shine with colour, lighting the way through lush forests and grassy hills. you can hear the sounds of birds singing, of gentle waves sent from calm waters. it’s the picture of paradise, a promise of good hunting and comfort when you sleep. but it’s all empty. no matter how hard you search, no prey can be found. the birdsong is an illusion, the taunting call of food that does not exist here. it’s landscapes, despite their appearance, provide no refuge - any attempt to rest or stay in one area will result in the land creeping up to bury you inside it, or string you up in it’s vast canopy of branches as a decoration. the calm rushing water will weigh down anyone who steps inside it, tormenting them with memories from their own lives in an attempt to overwhelm them into giving up the fight against it. there is no peace to be found here.

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Another idea for a Dark Forest map/pmv

It follows one of the background Dark Forest characters, maybe Sparrowfeather, seeing as she's one of the girls and we need more girl villain maps that's not just about Mapleshade (though I do love her).

The story is where Sparrowfeather dies and joins the Dark Forest, but doesn't believe she belongs there. The other residences (mostly OCs because that's always fun) are like "no, we're all messed up killers, and so are you."

Maybe it follows them pointing out events in her life, like watching in a puddle the things she did (which also shows the viewer her story through that lens)

Because the chorus is "just like the rest of us," maybe the other characters somehow show their stories? Like maybe they show their crime right after showing Sparrowfeather's and they're like "see? we're both killers."

Or, if it follows my D.F Eye AU, they would show that. They would point to their eye, flashback to their murder, point to Sparrowfeather's eyes (maybe show her in a reflection) and flashback to her murder--in either case, it shows part of her story.

We could go further

The song has a theme of "you can pretend to be neat and wear a suit, but we know it's a facade" to be like "everyone always wanted to be the perfect Clanmate, but here we don't care, we're all messed up and we're all free."

Song: Uh-Oh by Neoni

[sharkphobicz]

does tumblr like map parts and fanart .. anyways my part for "Bringing Us Home", a work in progress warriors halloween map!!

+ some fanart cuz the designs are cool

[hollowflight-propaganda]

spent years thinking i was the only hollowflight fan because I'd never seen anyone talk about him but after glancing at your account you win, you are definitely a bigger hollowflight fan 😭 /lh

I'm glad that my services for the Hollowflight nation of like 10 people are appreciated :)

[bonuscatart]

Here's my thumbnail entry for a Warriors MAP that's still open. This was my first time drawing one of these, and I'm pleased with how it turned out

Credits for designs/references under the cut

Designs: Carter One font, Ivypool by Ashwind The Warrior, Hawkfrost by Hellsfawn, and I think original for the Dark Forest is by Flimingow

References: poses (1 2 3), fungi (1 2 3), Spanish moss

[puppyhowler]

New animation out! woo! this is one of the two parts i need to do for this MAP :)