Update: I'm still here! I'm just busy with college & focusing on other parts of this story. If you want to see more Claymew, please send an ask & I'm happy to share more. Thank you!
Howdy! I’m Furbert (gnc she/they). I’m a digital artist and hobbyist author from the Great Lakes region. This is a sideblog for my project Heart Rot, focused specifically around its world-building!
The primary focus here is Claymew, a dialect of Clanmew (created by @bonefall), but I’m sure there’s more I’ll discuss as well. I don’t mind people taking inspiration from my work, but I appreciate being notified first. I love interaction - asks, reblogs, etc are all super welcome!
Claymew masterpost
ClayClan lore masterpost
A note before you explore my blog - due to the nature of Claymew, I often mention base Clanmew words and concepts. Words from base Clanmew are created by bonefall and will be marked with an asterisk (*) for clarity.
Some more plants, this time violets. Naming these guys got me thinking about how ClayClan classifies plants... I have a feeling that'll be a project I tackle soon. For now, take four new words.
Sweet white violet (Viola blanda) - Oskwen
Derived from base Clanmew osk* (white). The largest of the violets, oskwen may grow a tail-length high! It has fragrant white flowers with purple veins and distinct heart-shaped leaves. It grows in the woods and swamp and may form carpeting groundcover.
Marsh blue violet (Viola cucullata) - Luwoo
Luwoo has purplish-blue flowers borne well above its leaves. It grows throughout the territory's wetlands and is about as tall as a cat.
Lance-leaved violet (Viola lanceolata) - Kiru
The flowers of kiru strongly resemble oskwen; the plant is instead distinguished by its uniquely long leaves. It's shorter than a cat and grows in the swamp.
Northern blue violet (Viola sororia) - Erfso
Derived roughly from olurr* (pale) and mwelf (throat), for its purple flowers with a pale center. Erfso flowers look quite similar to luwoo, but erfso has longer, more tapered leaves. It grows in the upland woods.
ClayClan territory is positively lush with ferns, as I recently discovered while tuning up my species list. These words were a good time to come up with - I got to reference some really fun traits! Below are words for eight fern species.
Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) - Nanlo
Derived from base Clanmew lolol* (deep green) and nan* (fern). So named for its evergreen foliage, which stays green throughout leafbare. Nanlo grows only in the drier upland woods and attracts ruffed grouse.
Common bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) - Kaonan
Derived from kao (triangle) and base Clanmew nan*, "triangle fern", named for its triangular fronds. Kaonan is an aggressive colonizer that may form dense colonies in the woods. Another common name for this plant is brake, which makes Brakelight a perfectly acceptable name.
Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) - Kemwo
Derived from base Clanmew kemree* (orange/ginger) and morrwo* (big). Kemwo is a huge fern, growing up to 6ft tall, and produces big cinnamon-colored sporangia each spring - from these it earns its name.
Interrupted fern (Osmunda claytoniana) - Mwich
Derived from mwisk* (missing) and och (middle). Fertile leaflets develop in the middle of fronds, leading to a strange appearance and earning mwich its name. This is among the first ferns to emerge in the spring.
Royal fern (Osmunda regalis) - Naliu
Derived from paliu* and nan*, "color fern"; this name refers to its colorful fiddleheads and fall foliage. Naliu is quite large, but smaller than kemwo, and often used as shelter by small animals.
Broad beech fern (Phegopteris hexagonoptera) - Eekaon
Derived from eeb* and kaonan, "little bracken", for its broad triangular fronds that resemble kaonan. Eekaon spreads rapidly, but dies back in winter and when receiving too much sun. It's little bigger than a cat.
Rock polypody (Polypodium virginianum) - Holfe
Derived from hehhefe* (slithering) and holro* (green). Holfe is an evergreen fern that grows in creeping clumps along rocks and tree roots in the woods.
Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis) - Hossan
Derived from hossow (meander) and nan*, named for its uniquely lobed fronds. Hossan is cat-sized or taller. It does not tolerate freezing and goes black even in light frost.
Okay I said it'd be a while before I put out those lexicon posts... but I just finished all three! So they'll be out in the next few days. Hurrah for free time!
While working on my recent plant expansions (ferns and violets), I ran into some concepts that I wanted to use in species names but hadn't assigned words yet. So here they are! Below are words for middles, ends, triangles, and meanders.
Middle - Och
Half-way through a time period, event, story, object, etcetera. Note that Claymew still uses the base word yosawl* to refer to the middle of the day; the phrase "hapif-en-och", translating literally as "day-'s-middle", is used only in poetic contexts.
End - Rran
The end of a time period, event, story, object, etcetera. Can also refer to the rear of a body. This is also how a story or play is ended, by simple saying "rran".
Triangle - Kao
A shape with three points, used almost exclusively for describing objects and locations.
Meander - Hossow
'Meander' is its own shape recognized by ClayClan; it's the shape of a slow-flowing river, lobed leaf, etcetera. May also be used poetically to describe classic tabby stripes.
I'm back! Recently I've been working on a bio survey for ClayClan territory, which involved fine-tuning my species list. This led to some changes that necessitated a lexicon update. I hope to make some lexicon posts now that there's new content, but I'm also a college student now (yay!) so I don't know when they'll be up.
Added words:
Nanlo, Christmas fern
Kaonan, Common bracken
Kemwo, Cinnamon fern
Mwich, Interrupted fern
Nailu, Royal fern
Eekaon, Broach beech fern
Holfe, Rock polypody
Hossan, Sensitive fern
Oskwen, Sweet white violet
Luwoo, Marsh blue violet
Kiru, Lance-leaved violet
Erfso, Northern blue violet
Raofoo, Ruffed grouse
Kao, triangle
Och, middle
Rran, end
Hossow, meandering; the shape of a slow river, lobed leaves, etc
Removed words:
Ee'earp, Yellow-throated vireo (range conflict)
Pikchikawee, White-eyed vireo (range conflict)
Changed words:
Pail -> Pairru, Blueflag iris
Changed to reflect the fact that blueflag iris is toxic to cats, the 'rru' sound sounds similar to growling (a commonality among words for toxic things).
It was really nice to revisit this project! As always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to send an ask.
Also... we passed 200 words! Yay!!! The lexicon is now at 209.
yeah furburt i’m literally obsessed with the fact you also took inspiration from the national park system for your fanclan 🙏🙏 i’ve got some of my own warriors-inspired cat xenofictions that take place in YNP and ENP ITS AWESOME!! anyway looking forward to more all the time :3c
That's awesome!!! I looove the NPS. Yellowstone and the Everglades are such cool inspirations too! Plus - did you know NPSpecies has lists of recorded species in over 300 parks??? It's one of my favorite sites but I hardly ever hear it mentioned! And TY for the kind words, of course :]
Hiya! Recently I've been trying my hand at creating some FanClans. They're based in a setting inspired by the Taal Volcano and lake region in my native Philippines. Super super excited over developing it but also a tiny bit nervous! Could you perhaps give some insight/tips on how you developed ClayClan? I'd be really grateful if you did 🥹 I'm a tiny bit overwhelmed and don't know where to start.
P.S: here are some cool photos of Taal+some extra info below bc I'm a nerd and can't help myself lol
Where's the volcano, you may ask? The answer to that is: it's the lake you see in the photos! Basically Taal erupted so much in prehistoric times that the rock collapsed inward+downward into the empty magma chambers, forming a bowl shape (otherwise known as a caldera). It's also got like, a fuckton of vents and craters that it also erupts out of too sometimes. She's funky and I like her!
tldr volcanoes and cats r pretty neat :3
WOAH that's so cool!!! :0 This is awesome, thanks so much for sharing! I loooove seeing unique fanClans, it's such a versatile prompt. And a caldera is a GREAT setting! What a pretty one, too!
As for advice... I've been making fancontent for Warriors for a decade now, so a lot of it just comes naturally. I'll explain how I made ClayClan then give some tips I find helpful! And thank you for asking, I'm really flattered :]
(Info + tips below the cut to keep this from being a huge text wall!)
ClayClan started as a worldbuilding project to support a story I was tossing around in my head. At the time, this story was unnamed and followed Minkpaw, a new apprentice who joins the Clan and unravels a mystery.
At this point I only knew it was set in a swamp. I like taking reference from National Parks, so I started searching for Parks with swamps, and after some googling I found out Arcadia National Park has a ton of wetlands! So I started compiling a species list. As I worked I gradually switched the model region from Arcadia to a general Maine wetland, as this was more appealing to me.
Once I had that together, I started working on ClayClan's culture. This was largely a matter of tossing ideas at the wall and seeing what stuck! I wanted there to be a new rank between warriors & deputy, so I gave them captains. I like exploring religions unique from canon's StarClan, so I gave them the pantheon. I couldn't decide if I wanted their camp to be in the woods or by the lake, so I gave them two camps. Once I had down my base ideas, I just refined them until they felt complete, and since then I've been adding fun tidbits to my own liking.
As I worked, I realized that Pickerelstripe - a supporting character in the original story, as Minkpaw's mentor - was much more interesting to me than Minkpaw herself. So I decided to switch the story to her perspective, and it began developing into the Heart Rot that I love!
With this switch came a change in tone, as Heart Rot is much darker and more serious than my early plans. So I made some worldbuilding changes to fit! ClayClan's religion solidified, kepbon sculptures came into existence, that sort of thing. I'm still making tweaks here and there to tighten everything up.
Okay! Thanks for sticking with me through all of that, here's some random tips! :D
A good place to start is with location! I'm a total nerd about ecosystems, so I like to make my Clan territories as close to their real-world inspirations as possible. iNaturalist is a great reference for finding species in a specific area! Google is also your friend, and I've even used physical field guides in the past. It's a really fun process and enriches your knowledge of the real world - win-win!
Of course, not everyone's interested in this level of detail, and that's all good! I would, however, recommend having an idea of your Clan's territory and the types of animals/plants they regularly encounter. It can be a good springing-off point for worldbuilding! Take ClayClan's bobcat lore as an example, that came directly from wanting to do something cool with bobcats being in Maine.
Is this worldbuilding for a story? If so, what story are you trying to tell? Try and focus on worldbuilding that will affect the plot and see where it leads from there. For example, if your story focuses on family ties, you can explore how your fanClan views family!
Does your inspiration region have any interesting history? If so, you could try and tie it into your Clan's mythos! For example, the setting you've got makes me really curious about how your Clan views the caldera, and all its vents & craters. Do they believe the caldera has always been there? Do they have some lore about the ancient volcano? How do they rationalize the vents? There's lots to explore!
What do you want to see expanded on in Clan culture? The rank system, naming, religion, social structure, etc? Go ahead and change them to your liking, then see how that impacts the world! This is your Clan, after all, play with it how you'd like.
Focus on what's interesting to you! At the end of the day, this is your project, and you should enjoy working on it. If something doesn't interest you like it used to, you can take a break from it and find a different focus, or toss that part entirely and start over. Do what makes you happy!
I hope this is helpful! Sorry for rambling haha. Thank you so much for sharing your new Clan, I wish you the best of luck with developing it :] If you end up sharing any more on Tumblr feel free to send it to me, I'd love to see what you come up with! Have a great day/night!
Hello hello! I've been working on Heart Rot as a story lately but I have made some small changes to Claymew, so here they are. I'm also thinking more about numbers, and I think I've hit on something I like... so hopefully I'll have a number system post ready soon.
Added words:
Felssa, a dead tree that's still standing
Yosh-felssa, a snag with half its trunk remaining and minimal branches
Warl-felssa, a snag with less than half its trunk remaining and one or no branches
Changed/fixed words:
Assuassu -> asoosoo, American goldfinch
I feel that asoosoo is a more accurate representation of goldfinch calls. It also fixes the minor inconsistency of me pronouncing assuassu as "asoo-asoo", when u is always supposed to be "uh", as in under or uncle.
Chochocho -> chwee, northern waterthrush
As much as I love repetition, chochocho kept bothering me because it felt clunky to say. I feel that chwee is better!
Veerr -> weerr, veery
I don't think cats could pronounce v so now it's a w.
Oh follow up ask because I forgor to add it- could you elaborate on the accessories and costumes used for theatre if you haven't already?
Absolutely!
Theater is a new art in ClayClan (it's only been around for a few generations) and, as such, there's still a lot of experimentation. Costuming is a great example of this! Different casts will go for different things - sometimes a show will use no costumes, other times it'll be a huge thing that cats spend days putting together. It's really just restricted by their materials.
This is something I'm still researching, actually... I'm trying to figure out what exactly they can use, and how they'd harvest it. What I do know is that they'd utilize mud and natural items such as twigs, plants, and feathers. I'm still deciding if they'd skin prey animals and utilize pelts... I think they're smart enough to do it, but I don't know if it'd be too tricky without blades.
One thing that's solid is that gods are never portrayed on-stage, so that's not an issue. The most elaborate costuming instead goes to the play based off the folk hero who made a deal with Yiaow to banish bobcats from ClayClan territory, turning herself into a bobcat in the process. This involves an on-stage costume change! Once I hammer out the details and finally name this folk hero lmao I plan to write up a more detailed summary, likely with art of popular costuming choices.
Ngl I was captivated the moment I learned ClayClan has theatre lmao (<- would-be theatre kid)
Absolutely something I really really want to put into a fanwork!
Hehe well thank you! I've worked theater tech for years, it's very dear to me. It's been a lot of fun adapting it to fit ClayClan. I recommend having a go at it for your own fanworks, it's a really fun art form!
More lexicon posts, woohoo! Today I've got some flowering plants. This isn't the full list, but it's the ones I've assigned words so far, so it'll have to do until I work on more.
New york aster (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii) - Palefi
Derived from base Clanmew palifuh* (purple) and pfefi* (fluff petal). Tall, thin-stemmed plant with narrow leaves and pale purple flowers. Grows on marshland borders and may be found in nutritionally poor soil. Attractive to butterflies, moths, and bees!
Bog aster (Oclemena nemoralis) - Oskfi
Derived from palefi and osk* (white). Very similar to palefi, but a little smaller and with pale, pink-or-white flowers. Found in wetlands and on shores.
Bog goldenrod (Solidago uliginosa) - Morree
Derived from waymor* (taller than it is wide) and rreen* (golden). Very tall with a thin, reddish stem and fluffy golden flowers that bloom in late summer. Grows in wetlands and on shores. Resistant to deer and attractive to butterflies.
Water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) - Mwrai
Branched plant with clusters of tiny white flowers and deeply-toothed leaves. Grows in marshes and on shores. Mwrai is highly toxic! Consumption results in tremors, extreme pain, fever, and death. Mwrai is especially dangerous due to its resemblance to the herbs boneset and valerian.
Blueflag iris (Iris versicolor) - Pail
Derived from palifuh* (purple) and pai* (petal). Thick-leaved plant with fancy blue-to-purple flowers. Found in marshes, fields, and on shores. Though beautiful, pail is irritating when handled, and ingestion results in stomach upset.
Fragrant water-lily (Nymphea odorata) - Ssoskai
Derived from osk* (white), pai* (petal), and yasschoop* (sense of smell). Leaves are wide and float on the water; flowers are ornate, white with a yellow center, and bloom from morning til noon during warm months. Ssoskai are found exclusively on the lake. Flowers carry a sweet scent that may be detected hundreds of yards away!
Wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis) - Sikibow
Cat-sized plant with tiny white flowers in spherical clusters; these flowers develop into dark berries in mid-summer. Grows in forest understories. Browsed by deer and moose, while the berries are consumed by foxes and chipmunks.
Sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) - Besskaf
Derived from beka* (pink), peske* (clusters of flowers), and mwssaf* (poisonous). Shrub with thick, leathery leaves and circular pink flowers. Grows in wetlands, forests, and on shores. Besskaf is highly toxic to cats and also exudes chemicals that inhibit other plants, particularly conifers.
Northern St. John's-wort (Hypericum boreale) - Mwurfs
Leafy, shrubby plant with fancy yellow flowers. Found in wetlands, on shores, and in shallow lake water. Mwurfs is toxic - contact may result in boils and irritation, while consumption leads to photosensitivity, drooling, and depression.
Red clover (Trifolium pratense) - Shuf
Tiny spreading plant with little pink-or-red flowers. Grows in fields and on shores. Shuf is an herb that aids skin inflammation and (possibly) arthritis! It's also consumed by numerous animals.
Here's a bug post! I'm not sure how deep I'll go into ClayClan bugs... I do know I'd want to create a unique taxonomy system (like base Clanmew has), and that intimidates me into leaving it for later haha. Not to mention the undertaking it would be to find and name all those species. So, for now, take some notable ones!
Small flying insect found on meat - Pfsee
Pfsee is used primarily for flies, and refers specifically to small insects that produce maggots on meat. These pose a seasonal threat to the prey-pile... I'm yet to find a solution that the cats could use to prevent infestations, though. Please let me know if you have any ideas!
Small flying insect not found on meat - Ssis
Ssis is the word used for little flying bugs that don't lay eggs on meat. It's used most often for midges, gnats, and other tiny buzzing things that have a habit of annoying every cat they come across.
Blood-sucking insect - Nagnak
A nagnak is any insect that bites or sucks blood from cats. This is a general term - there's more specific ones for some of the most common nuisances, including mosquitos, flies, and ticks. If a cat receives an insect bite with no known source, they're blaming a nagnak.
Mosquito - Eek (homophone with base Clanmew eek*)
Biting fly - Gnasee (gnam* + pfsee)
Tick - Byyufwo (byyo* + ssuffss* + owo*)
Maggot - Slaw
Slaw are what pfsee create! At least, that's how Clan cats see it. Slaw infest meat and turn it inedible - cats generally detest them for this. Unlike the Clans in Better Bones, ClayClan is not medically advanced enough to practice debridement, so slaw have no medical function.
Cicada - Eekr'kf
Big annual insects that crawl aboveground every summer, molt, and scream. They're named for the sound they make when pounced on - the song halts and they start buzzing! The empty brown shell they leave behind is called a bakr'kf (babaak* + eekr'kf).
I've got some new lexicon posts in the works and we're so close to 200 words!!! I'm so happy with how far this project has come, thank you everybody for the support :]
