The story takes place in a little slice of West Africa known as the Hunter's Vale. Generations ago to the cats (though not nearly as long to the humans), the world was invaded by the supernatural ecosystem that ran parallel to the mortal one. Within the Hunter's Vale, creatures have begun to adapt to the intrusion of magic by developing symbiosis with the supernatural, creating an explosion of new species.
The cats of the Glaring in the prey-rich heart of the Hunter's Vale once had magic of their own, and were well on their way to their own ascension--till their magic abruptly abandoned them, leaving them terrified and frantic. The Glaring split into 4 different Glarings--Boughwalker, Stonespeaker, Riverblood and Windheart--based on how they aimed to bring magic back.
(More under the cut!)
*The Hunter's Vale, as the name implies, is full of predators. Larger predators are rather uncommon due to its proximity to human towns, but caracals, servals, ratels (honey badgers), and secretary birds are commonplace.
*The humans in the vale have mixed views on the cats. A lot of them, especially the older generation, despise cats, but lately they've had bigger problems, and societal attitudes towards cats vary by area. Most cats in the area came from the north, where they're more accepted.
*The competition between predators is fierce, with prey-stealing (kleptoparatism) being common. Most predators organize themselves into loose coalitions to help defend each other's prey and younglings, but otherwise keep to themselves. Domestic cats are the most social of the small predators by far, so despite their relatively small size they've managed to remain a dominant force in the region.
*Most domestic cats live in Clowders, nomadic groups of cats who travel wherever food is strongest. Some territorial instincts remain when it comes to other species, but clowders mingle often for exchange of food, news, and opportunities for relationships. In such a harsh world, cats can't afford to fight amongst themselves.
*Most cats, anyway. The group of cats that settled at the Vale's heart were originally called the Glaring as a way of mocking their violent xenophobia, but they embraced the term wholeheartedly.
*The Glaring, as mentioned above, splintered into different groups depending on how they chose to deal with the problem of magic. The Boughwalker Glaring, who live in the woodlands by the savannah, want to appease magic with glorious combat--and by controlling their Sangomas (spirit-communicators). The Boughwalker Glaring is the only Glaring known to force cats into the Sangoma position.
*The Stonespeakers, who live in the caves surrounding the Moonlit Cavern, fuse their Sangoma and leader roles, and venerate them to near-living-deity status. They're the most faithful Glaring by far.
*The Riverbloods, who live in the wetlands, believe that the magic that flows through the Hunter's Vale flows through the Glaring cats' veins, and is overly concerned about 'purity of blood'.
*The Windhearts, who live on the savannah, are the newest Glaring, formed from the rejects and exiles of other Glarings and as such don't really have a magical policy of their own yet.
*The driving force of the Arin Gatherer universe is the supernatural ecosystem, where the energy source is the belief of mortals rather than the sun. Supernatural beings are empowered by mortal's belief in their Power, Benevolence, Cunning, or some combination thereof. The trophic levels of the supernatural beings known to the Hunter's Vale are as follows:
Primary Producers: Believing mortals
Primary Consumers: Ancestors/ghosts
Secondary Consumers: Spirits (nature spirits, or spirits of abstract concepts like fear or love)
Tertiary Consumers: Gods
*The levels do not imply power or 'validity' of religion--a sufficiently worshiped group of ancestors will beat the shit out of an obscure deity. Rather, the higher one is on the food chain, the more connected they are to the wisdom of the world itself--at the expense of understanding mortals. A deity has a broader perspective than an ancestor, but they're more disconnected from their worshipers and will likely be more indifferent or even cruel.
*Supernatural creatures prey on each other by destroying or converting their worshipers. More rarely, they may engage in symbiosis via religious syncretism.
*Sometimes supernaturals move up tiers of the system as a result of their evolving religion. The primary faith of the Glarings worship ancestors who become nature spirits.
*Mortals can also enter symbiosis with spirits. If they act according to the spirits' domain (for example, causing fear when in symbiosis with a fear spirit) or show off the spirit's power, they gain magical abilities. This has lead to the evolution of several magical species who are perfectly adapted to gain energy from their spirits. They'll get their own posts later.
(the paws on this guy are not an anatomy error. Backwards-facing feet are a common adaptation in tricksters--makes their paths harder to track.)
setting post (including info on the area, the Glarings, the magic, and the Creatures) incoming
when? whenever my executive function starts working lmao
Calabar (formerly named Fox before i remembered there are no red foxes in West Africa), the protagonist of @aringatherer ! She's like firestar but if firestar was an autistic gay woman with a penchant for witchcraft
Here are some doodles of the young cats in the Bough Glaring at the story’s start! Mostly just rough character concepts so far, will be expanded upon later. Quick glossary of relevant terms:
Catling: A cat from 6-18 months old who’s training to become a full member of the glaring
Inyanga: A healer
Sangoma: A spirit-caller
Griot: Historian/poet/storyteller/musician, often advising the leader
(closeups under the cut for reading clarity!)
:readmore:
Hey, if you’re a warrior cats worldbuilding blog, please reblog this!
Nothing makes me happier than reading about cultures, lore, and characters people have written up for their warriors worlds, and I’m always interested in finding more blogs to read!
The Arin Gatherer project is fantasy cat xenofiction inspired heavily by Warriors, projects such as @bonefall and @cats-of-eden-valley, and various West African mythologies. Links to info shall be included on this masterpost as they’re added. Feel free to send in asks about lore, changed plotlines, etc!
In this project some focuses are:
1) Engaging worldbuilding that ties into the plot.
2) Attempting to remove the problematic material of the biggest inspiration, and adding queer and neurodivergent kitties.
3) Adding various wacky and wonderful belief systems, and magic. So much magic.
Tag Guide:
#kittylore: worldbuilding
#scribbles: art
#snippets: writing
#musings: thoughts and concepts that aren’t set in stone
#character profiles: profiles of revamped characters for easy scrolling.
Long ago, the prideful and aggressive Glarings of Bough, Marsh, Stone and Savannah at the center of the Hunter’s Vale set themselves up to fail. They thought themselves above all other cats, scorning the Wanderer’s code and violently enforcing the borders of their supernaturally blessed lands. The spirits looked favorably upon them, after all--their ancestors were eager to share their wisdom, their nature spirits easy to please, and the Spirit of Magic itself had granted them boons that ran in their blood. Surely that meant they were chosen by the stars.
But when Magic disappeared a few generations ago, their society was tilted on its axis. Desperate to cling to the illusion of superiority, they became even more aggressively xenophobic, but turned to battling each other as well. Groups of discontented cats looking to return to the Good Old Days no matter the cost are gaining increasing political power. Young cats dying in battle becomes increasingly common, and it is in this turmoil that Echo Gazer (nee. Bluestar) of the Boughs finds a lost housecat in the woods and offers her a home.
Fox (nee. Firestar) isn’t sure what to make of all this drama at first, especially not with the dire warnings of the Sangoma Moss Seer (nee. Spottedleaf). But when she discovers a piece of the Glarings’ hidden history, she decides to stick around for the ride with the help of her friends Lichen (nee. Greystripe) and Crow (nee. Ravenpaw). There’s nothing she loves more than a good mystery, after all.
