#dont get me wrong they’re definitely BASED on deities

[ratislatis]

just realized jesus christ probably canonically exists in one of my stories. live laugh love everybody

[fan-clan-fun]

ForestClan's Deities + Leaders

Hi! I’d like to thank you for at least glancing over this post, even if you post it or not. This is a little bit about the deities of ForestClan (there’s no StarClan) and the leadership roles in the clan that reflect the deities! Just a note, the deities don’t have proper names yet, just titles.

Delightful! I’m excited to see what you have!

The Sisters are ForestClan’s deities. Within their territory - they actually make their camp around the bases - there are three ancient, massive redwood trees. They believe that they have always been a part of the earth and will always remain a part of the earth. The Sisters have been there long before ForestClan, and will be there until they are no more.

Oh I like this a lot. It really entwines the religion with clan in such a tangible way that everyone can experience.

The biggest tree, the eldest sister, is the protector of the clan. She is motherly love, her judgement never clouded, and the ultimate authority. She is the wisest of The Sisters. Physically, she appears/is represented by a stoic, but soft-eyed she cat with clean, well-kept fur.

The second largest tree, which is also dead - is the middle sister. She is believed to commit some sort of ancient wrong, and was cursed with a dead, rotting form. The middle sister is the patron of the dead and funeral rites, as well as medicine. Physically, she is the most grotesque of the sisters, represented by a living corpse, flesh and bone barely held together by muscle and fur, with wide, empty eyes that stare into you, not at you.

Ohohoho I like this a lot, nicely macabre but also an important lesson and reverence for life and death. You may mention this later, but I am curious as to what they think she did to deserve this form.

The smallest tree is the youngest sister. While her sisters take on more serious roles, the youngest sister is representative of creativity, humor, and light-heartedness. She’s the patron deity of kits and apprentices, and encourages cats to not forget where they came from. She is represented in the form of an apprentice-aged kitten with redwood needles in her fur; spunky, clumsy, and certainly not serious.

I always appreciate deities which represent the young, learning, creativity, some of the lighter aspects of life. For the clans who experience so much intensity in their day to day lives, its nice to have a deity watching oevr them to bring them joy.

To represent each of The Sisters, ForestClan has three leaders who work together to run the clan.

The main leader of the clan is the leader who represents the eldest sister. They look over the clan and are its main protector. This leader is responsible for sending out hunting patrols, camp repairs/improvements, and generally making sure every cat has had their needs tended to. They also serve as a mediator for conflicts both inside and out of the clan. Hemlockheart is complaining about a leak in the elder’s den? It’s this leader’s job to make sure that fix is taken care of. Frogbark and Newtfoot are having an argument again? It’s this leader’s job to act as a third party and resolve the conflict peacefully.

Okay yeah this definitely gives off big sister vibes, and I like it a lot! Part of me also wonders if these cats are also known as good fighters, so that they can protect the clan, but deliberately try to choose a non-agressive way to resolve things, and keep their strength solely as a defense. 

The leader who represents the middle sister is a sort of medicine cat. Sort of. They take the role of healer and spiritual guide. This leader holds the closest relationship with the spirit world. They’re responsible for healing clanmates (including acting as a therapist), overseeing ceremonies, and conducting proper funerals. If The Sisters had any messages or omens to send to ForestClan, this leader would be the one to receive them. They are also responsible for choosing which Sister will represent a new kit (it is believed to affect the kind of cat they will become, i.e. a cat represented by the eldest sister is thought to be a more grounded, protective individual). They also oversee crafts - the creation of necklaces for new kits, accessories and outfits for ceremonies and Gatherings, etc.

Oh wow there is a lot going on with this role, which is nice as long as the cat can handle it! It is kind of nice how all three sisters seem to have the same level of authority, its more even. I am fascinated by the crafts aspect! I always like to hear about people developing technology in their clans.

The leader representative of the youngest sister ensures the protection and proper rearing of the clan’s kits and apprentices. They choose mentors for apprentices, hold apprentice/warrior naming ceremonies, and oversee training. They are responsible for making sure no apprentice or kit is left behind and keeping the more ‘iffy’ (i.e. violent, skeevy, etc.) cats in check. Because of this, unless this leader is generally just.. bad at their job, most ForestClan cats are highly respectable. They also dole out any punishments or discipline.

I like this a lot! It gives kit-rearing and education the importance and respect it deserves, as well as the supervision. I feel liek this would help make the clan much safer and more functional and avoid the major bullying and abuse issues you see in canon. 

Although still called deputies, these leader’s successors are more like adult apprentices. To be chosen as a deputy, much like in canon, one must have completed at least one successful apprenticeship. ForestClan tries to choose siblings as deputies - as the bond of siblings is especially held high - but this is not always the case. These deputies act as apprentices to the current leaders, learning exactly how their role as leader will function so they know what to do when the time comes. A deputy must be agreed on by the other two leaders, as well as the elders.

This is really good, I feel like deputies and leaders dont really get any... instruction? Support? Guidance? In canon, they are just chosen to do the job and uh, better hope they do it well. A system of basically apprenticeship to ensure the leaders actually know what they are doing is much more productive.

The three leaders or deputies may not have kits (unless they come into the position already as a parent, with a pregnant mate, or as already pregnant, of course). This is to try to prevent any 'blood successor’ issues. Although family is held in very high regard in ForestClan, having one family of leaders for generations upon generations is not preferable.

This is understandable, as leadership is a full time job. I also feel like it would encourage cats to maybe have families a bit younger and push back the age for becoming deputy and leader a bit as well, so that you dont get the issue of super young deputies/leaders.

The approval of all three leaders is required to declare war or non-emergency battle patrols.

Leaders gain three lives each, rather than nine.

These two make perfect sense, if its a triad, they all need to be in agreement, and splitting the lives evenly works out really well, although I imagine them losing their lives at different times could be quite traumatic. Do they all ascend together and gain lives as a group? If so, what happens if one of the leaders loses all their lives before the others?

Thanks for the lovely submission!

[foxcassius]

dont start discourse on this post this post isn’t for discourse. a fb friend posted a thing like “hey if y’all dont mind sharing tell me about your various religions i wanna see how diverse my friends list is” and looking through the comments i think a lot of people have different ideas on what following a religion or being religious is. like some people simply consider practice to be part of their religion. this one fuckin person was like “i’m catholic AND pagan depending on my mood lol bc i was raised catholic and can say my prayers in latin just like a nun but sometimes i like sipping tea and reading tarot cards x)” and like not to say that’s an incorrect way of being religious but the catholic church(tm) does condemn divination and witchcraft? doesn’t it? so can you be catholic and pagan all at once. and some people are more insistent on belief being the only determining factor in religion. this other person was like “if the christian god exists in a way that is good and not in the American Christian way then i’m a christian but i do no christian things like church or anything” which like is cool but if you believe the christian god exists in that good way why wouldn’t you at least pray? i get not wanting to be around american christians but if you do believe in and worship a god why not pray to them? and if you don’t worship the christian god are you actually by definition christian? or are you playing pascal’s wager? i guess my opinion that no one asked for is that religion requires conscious recognition of the thing on a spritual level. like specifically, (white) people like to go on and on about shinto and buddhist practice being everyday occurences in modern day japanese life (temple visits, butsudan care, omamori being such commonplace things) but like if you’re walking through a shrine just because you walk through it every day on your way home are you really doing a Shrine Visit(TM)? a lot of japanese people (according to anthropologists; in my personal experience i’ve had quite a few people identify themselves to me as practicing shintoists although this usually comes along with being a weird trad) will not identify themselves to you as either shinto or buddhist. they will say they have no religion. but when you ask if they do religious practices (not calling them that but listing commonplace ones), they say yes. and even in studying shinto, the question is raised of is this really a religion? or is it just a part of life for japanese people? because even viewing it from a religious standpoint some scholars make the argument that it’s so archaic and the gods are so disconnected from the modern day that it shouldn’t be considered a religion (they’re wrong of course, but whatever). anyway, that’s just an example, but it’s an example of why i think conscious acknowledgement of what you’re doing as a religious practice based in belief is important. if not you’re just doing stuff. also if you do tarot under the impression that they’re just cards and not an item absolutely BUZZING with energy, you will not connect and you will get nothing. on the same note, i think not doing practices of some kind to connect to whatever entity it is you commune with will ultimately distance you. again i only have anecdotal evidence, but when i got too busy/tired to work with the fae, it felt like they left me. it still feels that way. i don’t feel their magic and i don’t feel in tune with my own spiritual power. but my own experience aside, you hear this from people all the time. they fell out of practice with going to church and praying, and they feel god less. they fell out of rhythm with their offerings, and feel further away from their deity. idk i think you need a healthy dose of genuine belief and of practice to call anything a whole religion, on a personal level. obvious religion has many scales, and a religion on a big scale is just something lots of people “follow.” but for the individual, i think it’s skewing the meaning of the word, skewing the data even, to call yourself religious if you don’t do one or the other.