So I downloaded the @warrior-cats-canongen custom ClanGen save file, which gives you ThunderClan as it was at the beginning of the second arc. In playing it, you basically create a what-if scenario as to what would have happened if twolegs had never destroyed the forest and made the Clans move. Here are some moments from the first couple moons...
MOON 1
First of all, I took a look at Firestar's nine lives ceremony, and while most of the lives were given by dead friends from arc 1, one of these things is not like the others
I--
Tigerstar, you got something to confess? 🤨
Dappletail is so pretty here omg! I didn't give much thought as to her appearance when reading the books, but I love her coloration!
Sasha, what are you up to? Do you have beef with Cinderpelt, or are you just trying to avoid all patrols?
Hypocrite.
And here we have the seeds for the main conflict in the second half of arc 2...not that that's gonna happen. If this was a LifeGen save, I could make Brambleclaw my MC and have him train in the Dark Forest under his dad for a while to mirror his arc in the books, but this save only works with ClanGen. Nowadays, I rarely play vanilla ClanGen because I like the control and options that LifeGen gives you. (If there are any custom saves for LifeGen like this, let me know!!)
MOON 2
Damn. I could never see this happening in the books, those two always seemed so devoted to each other. On the plus side...
Shrewpaw never died in this timeline, so he gets to be a warrior! Yay! Sorreltail and Spiderleg also got their warrior names like normal.
Also, Birchkit got stung by bees; this will come into play later.
Looking at the interactions, Brambleclaw's a real dick here.
All that in one moon, jeez! Then again, given the context of the arc, the Clan's discomfort could be due to that whole "fire and tiger" omen that Cinderpelt misinterpreted, and not just Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw fighting -- though I'm sure they're fighting too lol
Cloudtail has a premonition of Ashfur's future murderous intent...
But for now, Ashfur's priority is MORNING YOGA (I loved the Blixemi RedClan video lol)
Uh oh, that doesn't bode well... Not sure what Ashfur's issue with his nephew could be, but considering his nature, this is worrying. Wait, did Ashfur set up the bee sting incident??? That would be CRAZY omg
You don't say?
Being killed by Brokenstar, you mean? That must be a horrifying thing to foresee... However, since this is an alternate timeline, Ferncloud's death (if I play enough moons to see it) will be different, so she probably saw that instead.
MOON 3
This one starts with a whammy:
Alternate timeline or not, this guy will never be leader. 'Tis his curse. His StarClan history tab just says the same thing, so we'll never know what really happened. Rogues, maybe? Some BloodClan remnants? Hawkfrost, with Tigerstar's guidance, trying to get Brambleclaw the deputy spot? Or maybe he was just bitten by a snake or something, idk. Anyway, in terms of the diverging timeline, this means he'll never meet Millie, and Briarlight, Blossomfall, and Bumblestripe will never exist.
Firestar is heartbroken by his best friend's death, as you'd expect.
Yay, deputy Sandstorm sounds super cool!
Unfortunately, I have more bad news...
Yeah, his stings must've gotten infected or something. Or was he allergic? I dunno. But this is a really interesting parallel with the original timeline: there, Hollykit and Larchkit both die, while Birchkit is the only survivor of the litter, but here, Birchkit dies and his sisters live on.
Graystripe's, perhaps? Or Birchkit's?
Oh no, they've interacted for the first time! It can only go downhill from here
Brambleclaw, you dick
Haha, not so tough now that you're in cat hell, huh?
Spiderleg is a good big brother 😭😭😭
Wha--? Girl, you're his sister! Of course you can join in! Nobody would get mad at you for sitting vigil for your brother
Oh, and last but not least, a patrol found a new member on the side of the road.
She's got a broken back, and I'm not sure she'll survive it, but I made her mediator so I can play around with relationships, maybe try to make them closer to what they were in canon. I want to edit the file a bit to change her into a canon character, probably a cat from one of the other clans in TNP, but I'm not sure which. Any suggestions?
I do want to get better at file editing so I can make custom saves myself one day! One idea I had is for a custom LifeGen save based on Omen of the Stars-era ThunderClan; the StarClan vs Dark Forest faith mechanics in that mod would lend well to that arc's plot, and I could add lots of cats to both afterlives. It would be a big project, though, so not anytime soon.
Next part can be found here
