instead of more realistic warriors were we trim back their abilities how about we think about things that happened in canon and see what we can do with all the ridiculous things these cats seem to be capable of
like, how about cats crafting accessories, they weave brambles and stuff into dens, and they know how to cut things (tail amputation anyone? let’s put that sharp rock to better use haha) maybe they weave lil pouches for herbs or make accessories like flowercrowns, maybe they use prey bones to make things?
or maybe we can go a bit farther and maybe they skin larger prey when there’s not a famine and make stuff out of it (I think leather goods might get eaten in extreme times of starvation unless there’s a whole lot of significance to an item) maybe these tasks are assigned to specfic cats who are good at them!!
what about crowns that leaders (and maybe deputies) wear for special occasions and they are all different depending on what clan they’re from!!! there could be all sorts of cool things like that!!!
some good tags added by @dekuquake
I’m thinking of how each clan might have different ‘clothing’ customs based off of their location and prey (and in some cases how I veiw the clans overall 'feel’ in style)
so actually let’s start with RiverClan, most cats wear at least something usually a collar or necklace type thing, often decorated with fishscales, small smooth pebbles that the river rounded and made all shiny, and occasionally a pretty piece of twoleg rubbish from the river/summer camp sites, I’m thinking things like discared fishing string is used to keep stuff together I think, or stuff like that, I feel like they might have less leather b/c of the prey that has hides they hunt being smaller (you don’t hear of them catching rabbits and stuff) and I’m not 100% all the things you could do by scaling fish? I also am picturing most of their accessories are for show, I imagine ceremonial accessories like the leaders crowns might look the closest to a human one in arrangement of ornaments, maybe it has glass weathered by the river as 'gemstones’, I also see them using flowers to enhance all of their accessories
as for WindClan I assume they have the most abundance of larger amounts of leather since they mostly hunt rabbits which have bigger hides, I also think that during winter they would keep the fur on the hides and make 'coats’ for shorter furred members of the clan, and also use the white winter coats to disguise cats that have darker pelts and would usually be more noticeable in the snow , I think maybe WindClan medicine cats might make and distribute larger leather pouches to like RiverClan and other clans for herb storage and collection since they have more materials for it? as for the leaders crowns I can’t help but think of antler like things made out of sticks and tied together with leather, cause another fantasy AU makes me think of Jackalopes for WindClan, maybe it is even attached to a rabbit head/pelt that’s sorta worn like a hood?
I can help but picture that ShadowClan has the heaviest use of prey bones, it just seems like them haha, also in the old forest they’d have access to the carrion place, it’s risky to go there but obtaining non edible and durable twoleg materials is good to string together bones and stuff, at the lake maybe they use the Greenleaf place when it’s part of their territory (and ofc ThunderClan uses it too when they have it) but a lot of the older items made with more unique materials were passed down through the generations, I also picture them as piercing their ears and having lil bones for earrings, otherwise I think they have a decent amount of leather but not an abundance big hides for larger items, maybe at the lake there’s a lil bit larger ones because they have like… more squirrels in the pine forest vs the marshy land of the old forest? I also picture them having fur collars kinda for show, like you sorta would think royalty would have, that and the bones are the main fashion, though I feel like that might be more for show during ceremonies and gatherings and most of the time in everyday life they just have their lighter and less obstructive simple bone accessories, except maybe light pelted cats that, similar to WindClan, have some sort of 'coat’ that helps disguise them in their surroundings, for leader crowns I think of a thorny crown with bones, something that looks edgy ya know? and a cloak made of multiple pelts with a diff around the shoulders?
I picture Thunderclan actually having a similar style, probably with less bones and more styled leather and furred things, like ShadowClan and WindClan they use coats to disguise themselves, and probably have the same supply of leather as ShadowClan considering their prey is pretty similar, in the old forest maybe it was like, not just special to catch a snake b/c holy shit it’s a snake, but also cause the cat who caught it gets dibs to make a cool accessory out of it to show off their accomplishment, Ravenpaw has one that he keeps when he goes to the barn and thinks of his friends back in the Clans every time he looks at it, I also picture ThunderClan as using flowers to decorate their accessories like RiverClan does, maybe some feathers are also used in decoration, and I picture the crown for ThunderClan being woven Brambles with flowers and other plant life
SkyClan before they were driven out did use a lot of feathers and squirrel pelts b/c of their tendency to hunt in trees and such, the crown was woven twigs with white down feathers that looked like clouds, this was all lost when SkyClan fell apart, and the cats in the gorge weren’t taught in detail how to tan hides and all of that, other than flowers and stuff they could just tie or stick in their pelts they didn’t have much in the way of accessories, though there were a few leather pouches Sandstorm and Firestar brought with them that were left with SkyClan for Echosong to use, when they arrive at the lake however there was the chance to be taught the skills of making more complex accessories more consistently, and I think they might return to some of old SkyClan’s styles with some creative twists
ANYWAY A LOT OF THIS IS REAL ROUGH AND OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD with very little knowledge of like… using hides of prey for stuff and all of that but, if anyone more knowledgeable wants to build off these ideas I’d so very much love it if you’d share
(I also have some ideas that span all clans but I’ll… return to that some other time)
