#clanbuilding

[fan-clan-fun]

So you want to build a clan? Chapter 4: History

This step and the next, plot, are often intertwined, and should probably be considered together. But if you are simply building a clan for role play or for something which plot is not yet needed or defined, you still need a grasp of the history of your clans.

Each of the following categories can be combined or bounced off of one another to create a deep and unique history for your clans.

Clan Founding conditions:

Likely the first place you should look, how your clans were formed affects their later history. Were they somehow involved with humans? If so human intervention or activity could significantly affect them. How about the next clans to form? What rivalries happened from the beginning, what areas of territory are fought over and exchanged over time? Have any of the dynamics between clans been affected by any events? The early history is just as important to the clan as the later or closer histories, and so always need to be taken into account.

One way I implemented this is how my Ashclan views fire. Although the way they started was that a group of cats hid together from a forest fire, they respected and began to revere it. When they can, they put ash in their fur for ceremonies, and an entire unit of an apprentices training involves fire safety, prevention, and extinguishing. Their founding event shaped their culture and subsequent history, which happens to also involve a lot of wildfires, both human started and lightning started.

Temperature and Weather:

Both of these are incredibly important to history, and can cause events which lead to strife or peace. For example, how about looking at the very clearly different weather and temperature patterns of summers 2016 and 2017. 2016 was a drought year for Southeastern US, which was constantly plagued by fires and the dangers which come from low water levels. But 2017 is almost the opposite. Now we have massive amounts of rain which has led to flooding around the country.

And temperature can have the same effect. How about the weirdly warm winter which then turned to a ridiculously late spring and killed many flowers with frost, causing a shortage in certain fruits. How would this affect hunting for the clans? A good example of temperature is an event in my clans on my forum. A heat wave goes through the area, and the clan which is in the city is the most adversely affected. The lack of good water sources, and the extra heat trapped inside buildings made for a deadly combination. Over half the clan was treated for heat exhaustion and blistered paw pads, and several cats died of sun poisoning and dehydration. It was devastating, and prompted them to make an agreement with the non-urban clans to be allowed access to water in exchange for certain rare herbs if the need should arise again.

Outside sources:

Primarily this involves humans. People are everywhere. Even sometimes in the middle of nowhere, like a nature reserve they will go hiking or camping. If your clans are anywhere close to a city or a major road, there will likely be human activity and movement. And humans can be horrible. If they feel like a population is too big, or a pest, they will hunt cats, they will exterminate prey animals, etc. They also pollute, cause fires, and generally just meddle with the ecosystem. Human intervention and presence will significantly affect your clans. This can be particularly interesting for city clans, because to a certain degree, the survival of the clan is based on human interaction, or the lack of it.

One example of outside interference in my clans, is the oceanside clan, Waveclan, who ends up facing a significant lack of food due to an oil spill which contaminates their ocean and some of the waterways. For a while they have to change their hunting patterns and become desperate.

Inter-clan / outside cat conflict:

These are simple, like before, what rivalries exist between clans closer to present day, what territories are disputed. Also though, what relations do the clans have with outside cats or other animals? Are they incredibly hostile, do they have any rivals outside the clans?

My urban clan ends up forcing a sort of gang to form, to dispute their rights over certain dumpsters and hunting grounds because the clan makes those areas clan specific and chases out non clan cats, which frustrates outsiders who see that as unfair. So they form their own group to challenge the clans rights to those areas.

Continuity:

One more note on history, is that it is a continuity. The consequences of previous events will lead to other events in a cause and effect line that is continuous for the most part. That means that different historical events are not isolated, and they should connect in a fluid manner which correlated with clan attitudes and culture.

For example, during a war, one treacherous deputy takes it on himself to attack another clans camp, murdering the medicine cat apprentice and a few other cats in cold blood with no provocation. The event causes the first clan, Wave clan to end the war in a truce and the next few leaders avoid war at all cost, encouraging pacifist resolutions. After a while a younger generation feels like the other clans are simply stepping all over them and taking advantage of them, so they overthrow the leader in favor of a more hardline candidate. A direct cause and effect line including consequences which move the next event.

This is an overview of the process of building the history of the clan, and this includes for the most part the bare bones and specific events which changed the course of the clan. Next, we will discuss mythos and role models, the historical stories which the clans tell their kits as cautionary tales or the tales of heroes

[fan-clan-fun]

So you want to build a clan?- Step 2: Naming

There are three most common techniques for naming a clan in the Warriors fandom today, which rely on canon and common sense to help with building new clans. Each of these highlight different aspects of the clans themselves: their origin, their home, and their culture. As i  explain each one, it is important to understand that none of them are better than any other, as each of them has their own merits.

Method One- Clan Named after First Leader

In all technicality, this is the canon naming practice for the clans in the series. Each clan was named for the first leader, or for the most prominent  of the first few generations of the clans.

Thunderclan  was named after Thunder, Riverclan after River, etc.

While this is the canon approach to naming, few on the fandom advocate for this type of clan naming. Some say that it can end in odd names for clans, which have little impact on actual clan life, such as Ravenclan or some such.

However depending on the plot or clan itself, it can be a plausible and useful naming tradition. The two ways it can be used most effectively are if clans are just being formed and created, or if the clan has a very deep respect or tradition to honor their ancestors and thus their creator.

Examples:

Cats have lived in this twolegplace for longer than any of them could possibly know, but suddenly  they are being hunted, destroyed because there are so many of them. Some of them manage to flee into the wilderness past the boundaries, but struggle to survive in the wilderness.  A shecat named  Ivy, and her gaggle of older kits take some of them in, particularly mothers with kittens. They teach the cats how to survive, and end up forming something which is more than just a clouder, but a family and a society which subsist on each other.

Another of the refugees,  a tom named Brick, who had lived in the worst part of the twolegplace all his life, gathered several cats with him. These cats were hardier, of a more desperate nature.  They struggled to unlearn their violent ways for the patience of hunting. Soon they created a martial system, similar but different to the other group.

Likely it was Ivy who first adopted the word Clan to refer to her cats, and then Brick followed. To differentiate between the clans, outside cats called them by the names of their leaders: Ivy’s Clan and Brick’s Clan.

For several years, the clans lived as such until Ivy passed away. The clan convened, trying to decide what to do. After all, they had a new leader, they could no longer be called Ivy’s clan… could they? As they conferred together the clan decided that in order to honor Ivy and their ancestors, they would be called Ivyclan. From then on they would place great honor and the prefix Ivy was excluded from their naming form, but most of all, their greatest focus would be on their ancestors,  the cats who had come before.

Thus you have Ivyclan. However, it would not be a surprise if in time a clan may come to rename themselves if they felt their identity had changed.

Method 2- Naming Clan after a defining Feature of the territory.

The most common and what is considered to be the most valid of the different clan naming methods, this relies on the importance of the territory on the clan itself. It is rather straight forward, and likely started with a clan being known as the “clan of the (something in the territory)” which would eventually be shortened to ----clan.

Example: Several clans of cats have taken up residence in an area. One clan lives in a predominantly alpine meadows region, and others live in a forest, cliff like mountain, and ravine area. To differentiate between the clans, they are referred to by their territory: clan of the meadows, clan of the forest, clan of the cliffs, and clan of the creek. Eventually the clan cats are tired of the mouthful, and shorten the names to Meadowclan, Oakclan, Cliffclan, and Creekclan.

Method 3- Naming a Clan for an important part of clan culture.

This is the most uncommon of the naming methods, but nonetheless a very interesting one if successfully applied. Many people are likely to look down on this form of naming, particularly if the worldbuilding justifying it is not complete. In some ways, it often channels either one or both of the previous methods, after all a clans culture is shaped by their environment and by their past. Unfortunately this is a bit harder to explain without an example, so hopefully this will make a bit more sense.

Example: Cloudclan seems very strange to most of the other clans. They have normal warriors true, but then they have this weird cat called the Skywatcher. He kind of just stares at the sky all the time, and it unnerves the cats from outside the clan. But what they do not understand,  is that although the medicine cat is connected to Starclan like most other clans, the Skywatcher is the one who receives the omens, even regular day to day messages, through the clouds. Not only that, but the Skywatcher knows the weather almost perfectly, and is the only protection many Cloud clan cats have against the fierce storms and winds which can rip a cat from the high moors and toss them painfully across the fields. Some of the elders still remember the odd looks they got when they announced their clan name, but clouds were the lifeline of the clan, it seemed only natural to name the clan after them.

Alright, hope these all made sense, and that they are interesting concepts to keep in mind when naming a clan!

[fan-clan-fun]

So you want to build a clan?- Step 1: Setting

A redo and extension of some earlier posts to more effectively discuss the steps in creating and building your own Warriors fanclans.

Deciding on a clan’s setting territory is vital to every aspect of the story being told, from naming conventions (regarding what prefixes would be used), to culture, to formation, to history, to conflicts that could appear in story.

Placement of territory also determines physical aspects, such as climate, flora, fauna, weather patterns (precipitation, wind, etc), human population and intervention, availability of water, and many other things.

Where to start?

Technically you could choose to put your territory in any place you want, and shape it however you like, since it is a fictional story. However to help deepen your worldbuilding, I would suggest basing it off a real world location or counterpart. In the case of the canon clans, they were supposedly based in England. With your own new clans though, they could be based wherever you choose!

First of all, of course, you should choose a country. Recentl within the fandom there has been a new push to explore vibrant new locations for clans, in countries which are not english-speaking. I have a friend who is even considering working on clans in Japan! The idea is, you have to choose a country first. Once that is done, you should choose a specific region. Most places have great diversity, particularly the US due to its immense size, but even within England you have geographical difference. In order to create an appropriate and believable map, it requires research as to real life locations and ecosystems.

Google Earth is a catch all start for imaging and looking top down to see what an area looks like.  Other useful resources are topographical maps of an area you may be interested in, or websites dedicated to mapping the area. Pinterest and other imaging sites are useful for this as well, as they give you an interesting perspective of what an area might look like photographically, and what features are most common to an area. Plus it's just fun to look at landscapes.

I have my region... what now?

Well at this point its time to start building your map. You may, if you like, use real life topography maps, even google earth, of the area. Most likely, however, you would prefer to make your own map, and then add in details like camps, training grounds, certain hunting places, border markers, and other important territory markers. This is where looking at images of the typical area is helpful. It gives you sense of what kind of places could be used as dens, how the water flows, what everything could look like. Each of these could serve a purpose, either as a hunting or training area, or somewhere which is important to each specific clan culture, not to mention that these areas can make for contested land and interesting plot points.

While many might prefer to hand draw or simply digitally construct their territory maps, a free map software I recommend is Inkarnate.com. While it is by no means comprehensive with its map markers, it does allow you to upload personal markers to add to it. Very useful and professional looking without being expensive or difficult to navigate.

I have my map, that means Im done right?

While this isnt exactly required, I would highly advise you deeply research the area you have chosen. Many of the aspects mentioned at the beginning are vital to the understanding of you clans and possible plot scenarios.

 Say for example your clan lives in an area similar to California in the US. They would often have droughts, likely there would be wars fought over water. Or then let's say a different set of clans lives on the western plains near the mountains, do they have water? Must they teach their kits how to hide from storms and tornadoes? If a clan lives in a deeply forested area of Yellowstone Park, do the clans teach their kits how to avoid bears and wolves, where it is unsafe to put their paws due to hot stone? What about wildfires?  Does the territory have mild seasonal changes, or are there set four seasons? All of these unique culture things are affected by the territory., 

 Adding the Details

Alright now for some quick examples on fleshed out territory and clan things. Gorgeclan is based roughly in Wildwood regional park in California. Thus the clan, while it does not know it, has a Mediterranean climate, with warm dry summers and cool wet winters. As a result the clan has an interesting yearly cycle. During the dry months, the clan inhabits a camp in a gorge close to the low riding creek. When the temperature cools, and the first rains come (which marks a wonderful celebration and festival in the clan to mark the end of the nearly drought months), they move up to a higher camp to avoid flooding. Most of the territory consist of rocky sandy soil, and oak and cypress trees. Birds are a nice source of prey, as well as fish during the months when water is high enough. Warriors are trained to conserve their water and energy during the summers, and not to be wasteful with the fluids of their prey, killing prey without shedding blood is the ideal, and as such insults resulting from messy killing are common. (This one I came up with on the spot, let me know if it interests you to use it as a possible story seed)

Or how about one of my personal clans, Ashclan. They inhabit the Appalachian Mountains area of North Carolina, in or nearby (havent decided which yet) Pisgah National forest or the Nantahala National Forest. The climate is mild, on a cooler side, with generally abundant rainfall and access to ground water from springs. Although it gets cool during the winters, snow rarely sticks for too long. One of the aspects which most affects Ashclan however, is the presence of controlled burns and also wildfires in their part of the forest. Since the territory is criss-crossed with hiking and camping trails, careless humans (whom Ashclanners are often taught to charm and beguile for some free food) can  leave fires burning. The clan was formed due to such a wildfire as cats found shelter together, and fire is seen as a manifestation of their deity, in the form of destruction which also leads to renewal. Ashes are used in most ceremonies and milestones in life, to mark the pelts of the cats in service to the great fire. 

Now more could be said about the clan, of course, but this should be enough for a basic example of the impact which territory and climate can play on a clan.

If anyone has any suggestions for additions, questions, or wishes to discuss ways which they could deepen their territory building, feel free to ask or submit!