Primarily an assorted tagless reblog space Also will occasionally reblog LIGHT nsfw *** Also sometimes (most times) doesn’t fully read things before reblogging them *** Art blogs: @spotty-is-sleepy, @spotty-is-sinning, @sleepyspots-wc-designs
whenever i see people call random edgy but not-at-all harmful artists "degens" i would like to refer them to the first sentence of wikipedia's "degenerate art" article
Reminder that this is the type of art the nazis were referring to:
(Kandinsky)
You cannot "well but I'M not referring to that kind of art, I only mean Dirty Pictures" your way out of this. You are being harmful and need to stop, not rationalise why it's okay for YOU to be doing it. You need to understand
censorship violates the universal human right of free expression and freedom of speech.
fiction is not reality. Fictional characters are not real people.
if someone SAYS a work of fiction inspired them to do bad things, that is not the work of fiction's fault. The person who did bad things is STILL at fault, because they have free will and must be assumed to understand the consequences of their actions.
discomfort is not harm. If a piece of art makes you uncomfortable, that's actually fine. That's the POINT of certain pieces of art. You need to learn to tolerate discomfort.
It is not in fact the government's job to enforce a set of morals on people. That violates people's universal human right to freedom of religion and creed.
There is no such thing as "just a little bit of" censorship.
It does not matter what kind of art it is, when you use the term degenerate to refer to art you don't like, you are using a word that is deeply rooted in bigotry. A word used to target marginalized groups.
Lots and lots of questions, my apologies! Some of them also just have musings/scenarios attached. I am just very intrigued and inspired by how dedicated you and Lynx are to the worldbuilding and intricacies of the Clans!! I'd read every word about it I could if my Tumblr didn't start breaking after scrolling a few hundred posts. x)
I assume all Queens are expected to sleep in the nursery for the full time their kits live there, but are they allowed to get back to work after their kits are able to leave the nursery? I figure some cats would be antsy to get out and hunt for themselves again, whilst others would be content just staying in the camp for the whole time.
If there is only one current Queen in the nursery, and she passes while her kits are dependent on her, what would the Clan do? In my head, I've been figuring that the Matriarch being constantly present around kittens and pregnant Queens could probably mess with her hormones and allowing kittens to suckle on her could induce lactation from her, which is useful for cases such as the above.
I'm also wondering if phantom pregnancies are something the cats have experienced before? In the real world, the visible symptoms usually lasts around three weeks, but the hormones can take longer to resolve. For humans, it could last the whole duration of a normal pregnancy. I guess it could probably be seen as reabsorption for a cat who *is* currently trying to have kits, but that'd just make it more puzzling for a cat who insists they have never mate.
Queens are allowed to have a loner as a sire, but what about kittypets? Is that looked down upon at all, since kittypets are living softer lifestyles than a feral loner? Can't blame a Queen for wanting a point baby, imo... x)
You've said before that Clan cats are *kind of* aware of recessive genes, in that all calicos/torties are mollies, so what do they think when they see intersex/chimera male calicos/torties? Would they be able to discern that a male calico/tortie is usually sterile? I'm imagining a Queen being given the go ahead to have a second litter since her last one only ended up having a male calico make it to adulthood, and everybody knows male calicos are sterile, only for him to also have his own litter. Matriarch is dumbfounded. Insists on seeing other Matriarchs to ask if any of them have ever even heard of this happening before.
You've said the Clans are welcoming to pregnant mollies, but is that with the expectation she'll join the clan afterwards? Imagining some poor, dumped former kittypet trying to find refuge to give birth, and finds herself with the Clans. She is absolutely not suited for Clan life, but values the safety of the nursery. Would they allow her to leave with her litter when they're of a certain age, or would they only let her leave?
Are there any well-known historic Matriarchs the Clans would tell stories about? It's a role for badasses as is, but I want to know if there are any stand-out badasses!
What's the biggest litter a Clan has seen? What about biggest amount of *surviving* kits? I've taken in a pregnant stray who had six before, and that was an ordeal with a human caring for all involved. Can't imagine how a poor Queen would deal.
Are non-Clan cats aware that sometimes, mollies of the Clan look for outsiders to have a litter with? If so.... I hope word doesn't get back to Onion... 😟
If a Clan ends up with a horrible gender ratio of toms to mollies, would they start to allow toms to have litters with outsiders once all options have been exhausted?
If the Leader dies while their Deputy is currently confined to the nursery, do they just find an interim Leader? Would the Deputy choose her own Deputy and have them step up to the mantle for a while?
If a Clan cat screws around and gets a molly pregnant and that molly ends up having her clearly-partially-Clan litter in a house, are her humans supposed to report that to the Chell Park scientists? Would they even do so, or just keep it on the down-low like the Mr. Wildcat/Pinestar situation? If the scientists are informed, what would they do with the kittens?
Have any of the scientists taken in one of the Clan cats that couldn't thrive in the wild? I figure, if they notice what the cats do with the disabled kin they can't take care of, there'd be some interest in taking one in should they be able to intercept them.
Sorry for the. Giant text wall. I didn't even realize how long I went on for, holy shit 😭
Hello to you and your questions! Luckily, we've answered a chunk of these before or they're simple queries, so we can go pretty rapid-fire here!
Queens working: Whatever a queen wants to do once she can leave her kits for a bit, she's allowed to - if for anything, to keep her stress low. That often involves going out to do work (though it starts off short and simple)!
Single queen dying: Answered here!
Phantom pregnancies: They have happened before, and are as much of a mystery to the Clans as they are to humans. It's assumed that StarClan took the kits back, or the queen reabsorbed them out of stress of some kind.
Kittypet fathers: If she keeps her mouth shut and it's not another Clan's blood, she can breed with whoever she wants. RiverClan has the least amount of issues with kittypet fathers, because by golly do they produce some pretty babies. Just don't go around blabbing about it.
Male torties: Stitchwort's Latin name comes from a Greek word meaning "entire bone", to reference how weak and brittle its stems are!
Guest queens: She's free to leave once she's ready, and by Clan law, she has the right to decide whether her kits stay or go for as long as they need her, but a lot of Clans have made a deal with a molly who makes it clear she wants that temporary security until she doesn't need to nurse, in which she will leave her kittens behind to become Clan warriors (and since they were born in the Clan, they're already good to go). If the kittens are old enough to have their own opinions and choose to stay, she's got less sway over them, so she'd likely be told to leave alone or stay with her babies if it's that big of a deal.
Historic matriarchs: I can think of at least one!
Largest litter: The biggest number is definitely past 9, but no one knows the Actual Largest Litter Ever, nor the Largest Litter That Survived. Most likely because litters aren't counted by number of babies, but number of babies that survived, and the larger a litter is, the more likely it is that a chunk of them will die. That will cut down on the number quite a bit.
Non-Clan toms: Of course! Some toms even prefer that, because the Clans want to breed with no emotional part and then tell the tom to fuck off. Now, you can't go back there after one pump-and-dump, but it's still a sweet one-time deal.
Tom-to-molly ratio: If the times call for it, outsider mollies will be sought out and recruited however they can be persuaded to come in and have babies (and leave later, if they want). A tom with an outsider mate will be scolded a lot more lightly if he can get her to join the Clan in that era.
Nursery deputy: Talked about this here and here! For a leader-death situation, the interim deputy will serve, if the queen can't do it from the nursery.
Colony kittens: In that event, the owner can do what they want. If they tell the park staff, it's not like they're going to snatch up the kittens and throw them into the wild. That's a house cat's litter. They'll probably ask for pictures of the babies as they grow up at most. Personally, I'd consider it a bragging point to have half-park kittens. Could probably get some scratch for that, once they're old enough to go to a new home.
Disabled rescue: Staff have been among the people to find and rescue a conspicuously-placed injured or heavily disabled park cat. They're willing to bend policy and find the cat somewhere to live that will keep them happy and alive, and that often involves someone's house. It's a rare situation, but it has happened, and management will look the other way as a wobbly little marsh cat goes to a lovely old lady who specializes in homing disabled cats.
I've been following your naming scheme for my own personal little stories since I really don't think there could be a better traditional naming system. It's also been something that really makes me *think* on individual cat's skillsets and demeanors. My favorite names for my OCs under this system have been Paledusk, Mothnose, Cricketface, and Fawnfoot.
Excellent to hear! We did take Grey's list, as a disclaimer, but we added a fuckload of prefixes and a good chunk of suffixes to make it a little more our own. I adore traditionalism myself - I don't name any other way. I'm glad you like it too and can make such fun names for your characters with it!
Thinking thoughts about Bluefur and Thistleclaw and their whole Haneossia AU dynamic of being technically poly married at first then staying married for Whitepaw's sake all the while being miserable and antagonistic when suddenly Bluefur comes home pregnant which gives him the perfect blackmail material as he can now ruin her life just by declaring himself not the sire of the kits.