#firepaw-cant-count

[redux-iterum]

It's Pride Month, be a Greystripe Hater loudly and without shame.

[strelles-universe]

I love the character profiles!!!! Really adds to the in-depth and complexity of the characters when they have their own personalities, backgrounds, and desires instead of just thunderclan cat #12 like the books lol.

Thank you :D I have a lot of fun with them. The clans are really interconnnected and I totally get why the Erins didn't make every single one unique (cause jfc ShadowClan is actually huge) but I wanna at least give them some basic stuff.

Sometimes I find some interesting stuff in side-character history and i'm like ????? and feel the need to expand upon it.

[spottyissleepy]

Do you have a certain naming system for your world? I’m curious to see how a cat could get Shimmer- and Talon- as a prefix or -whisper as a suffix! I’m personally using a traditional naming system to limit the naming choices for me as I’m so indecisive lmao. I also see that Graypaw is going to be changed to Bearpaw, have the cats seen a bear before? For my naming system I’m thinking of excluding large predators like wolf, bear, and coyote as it’s seen as sacrilege. I might include some specific northern American flowers as prefixes but I have no idea how people use flowers that are like pink or purple lol.

I do!! I’m currently in the process of writing it all out into a neat document that I plan to share as soon as I’m done :D

A lot of prefixes rely on family names, the happenstances of a cat’s birth, or just aesthetic. For Talon-, cats with that name are silver, and are given that name in hopes that they will become powerful fighters. (Thistleclaw chose that name)

The cats have seen bears before, yes! There’s actually a common folktale within the Underwood Guild about a Mindful bear, but modern patrols will commonly stumble across bears as well. Most of them are respectful of the Guild’s territory. Others are not

OFND is set in a universe where human meddling is eons in the past, and the world itself is laced with magic. I’m super indecisive as well, so I did this in hopes of allowing myself more creative liberties in terms of where certain plants/animals/etc are located within this new world. So on very rare occasions, a crew of monkeys might stumble across the guilds, or a parrot will be caught, etc etc, but nothing so outlandish that seems just like. Entirely out of left field, if that makes sense :O

[the-erins-forgot]

Meowdy! For your rewrite, (if its not spoilers) what are your plans for Bluestar? I have very mixed feelings about her, and I'm not sure exactly how to handle her in my own rewrite. I'm thinking that I'll have her be a good ruler in times of peace, but she doesn't handle times of death very well, and hence her future instability so Tigerstar can take over. Absolutely love the character personalities, art, and worldbuilding btw!!!! Can't say how awesome it all is

In the rewrite, Bluestar has a lot going on with her. She's had a lot of pressure and expectations put on her for most of her life, always feeling that if she was ever not good enough, she might as well be completely useless. As such, she takes her role as leader very seriously.

When she's at her best, she's confident and sharp, knowing what to do to keep her Clan safe. She believes that the best way for the other clans to respect Thunderclan is to make them know just how strong they are, which can lead to rather aggressive border politics, but the results have been generally positive so far.

However, she's not great at handling failures, especially repeated ones. Something not going according to her calculations can easily set her on edge, at which point she becomes very sensitive to even just the slightest mistakes. This mixed with her natural impulsivity can lead to some severe spirals as anxiety over failure causes her to make more mistakes herself.

[sunspot-illustrations]

Favorite villain? I have to go with the OG Tigerstar, he reminds me so much of Shere Khan from the Jungle Book, and I’ve always imagined him with the voice of Tony Jay, or second choice of George Sanders. The way Tigerstar died was a shocker too. Also, what character do you think should be in the Dark Forest? It’s Rainflower, Sandgorse, Raggedstar and Clear Sky for me. Rainflower abused Crookedstar just for this looks, Sandgorse abused Tallstar just because he didn’t want to be a tunneler, and Raggedstar was abusive to Yellowfang. I haven’t read that much of Clear Sky, I’ve only just read Moth Flight’s Vision, but in that book he ordered another cat to go after Micah who was killed because of it, and then literally did nothing afterwards. I’ve heard he’s done other bad stuff too! Thoughts ?

Some of my favorite villains are Scourge, Sol, Mapleshade and Dark Tail!

Scourge is just,,,such an interesting yet very simple villain? Like, he just wants revenge and just like Tigerclaw, his greed is ultimately what gets him killed. The first of many who have fact relieved about them after the fact and kts never addressed in canon (him and Firestar being half brothers, honestly I kind Scourge and Tigerclaw being half brothers would've been more interesting)

Sol is just pretty and dumb and i like that in a villain. He is also simultaneously the smartest cause he survived tricking Blackstar (he lived only cause of his looks...and probably cause he literally just d i p p e d) and he survived both of his encounters with the clans in general. Hope he's fat and happy wherever he is.

Mapleshade is a horrible, terrible woman and i love her. Like, awful person, cool character as far as warrior villains go. She's also the only character i like that ive goten anon hate over so...yeah. Feel like if the erins wanted her to come off as more sympathetic in her backstory they should've leaned into her actually naively thinking her kits could stop thunderclan and riverclan from fighting or making her a toxic positive kind of person instead (like, she cant or wont recognize Appledusk as a not great person or her giving excuses for everyone else so when she finally acknowledges all the bad stuff it hits harder or something) or maybe if we saw more of her life before Appledusk and her kits. Either way, deserves to be in the dark forest, BRUTAL lady, dont know why she wants revenge agaisnt all the clans when she's so obviously has a blood feud that ends with Stormfur and Reedwhisker.

Dark Tail is actually scary. Like, Tigerclaw was sneakily scary, you never knew when he was gonna strike next but with Dark Tail he just felt unstoppable. Stupid backstory, like, I hate it so much, but Dark Tail in general was really cool and the fact he tore shadowclan in two (again...leave my favorite clan alone erins come on) was cool (despite the fact we've seen this before e r i n s). He should've killed Mistystar, he also should've been in the second half of Avos instead of first. Him following Skyclan wouldve made the conflict better and feel like the otber clans distrust and weird hate for skyclan a little founded in logic then just them being dumb cause the plot died with the villain.

Cats who should've gone to the DF -

ASHFUR WE ALL KNOW WHY

Rainflower, ABSOLUTELY should've been in the Dark Forest. We should've seen Rainflower crawling up to Crookedstar begging for forgiveness, playing up an act like she changed but Crookedstar just turns away from her cause he knows she hasn't changed at all.

Sandgorse is...iffy for me? I haven't finished reading Tallstar's revenge but he never came off as abusive to me? I could be wrong cause I have also been under the false impression that Shrewclaw wasn't abusive either so if I am wrong I apologize. He just feels like he more...frustrated than angry at Tallkit/paw and he didn't handle it well. (Which still isnt great, you're allowed to be frustrated but you should never take it out on your kids regardless of the circumstances) So I'll get back to you on this one.

Raggedstar defiantly deserves it, I think Oakstar (TC) should also be in the Dark Forest for kitten endangerment and starting an ultimately pointless war with kittypets. Like. Seriously man.

I haven't finished nor do i think I ever will finish DoTc. But from what i hear Clear Sky sucks so yeah ill agree with that one. If Gray Wing is silverpelt than Clear Sky can be the stubborn bitch keeping everyone in the DF. He is the swampy ground, the grabing, pulling foliage, he is the clear, empty sky above you and he is the reason that you are a l o n e...cause if he had to be alone, then so do you. Also Clear Sky just...sucks so yeah throw him in the naughty kitty pit with the rest of 'em.

[redux-iterum]

Speaking of kittens and apprentices, how does their age correlate to human ages? Like a kitten a few weeks old/opening their eyes and ears they would have the mentality and capabilities of an infant, when they can run around and see their clanmates they’d be a toddler, ect. I like going with a more realistic approach cause canon went crazy with Bluestar opening her eyes and having the capability of a young child when she was first born 🗿

BP had some crazy-ass aging. That was bizarre.

We correlate cat ages to about their real-world versions! A three month old cat is close to a four or five year old kid, six months is just starting the double digits, a year is late teenager, etc. Apprentices become warriors at somewhere between a year and a year and a half old, which is when they'd be considered legal adults. Real-world cats are closer to 15 than 18 when they hit a year old, but we edged up that number a little for the sake of the story.

[redux-iterum]

Can a molly have kittens when she’s a deputy or leader? With queens being the leaders of colonies you would think it’d be accepted unlike in canon where Bluestar couldn’t be deputy and be a queen at the same time. But if it was totally acceptable, would they just have a temporary replacement until the kittens are weaned and then have the molly get to work while the queens and matriarch look after the kittens?

Also, what are the Iterum’s requirements to be an elder? I know rewrites tend to handle elders differently, but it just seems that in canon elders are just forced to be in camp and that’s it. So are iterum elders literally too old to walk around anymore? Like do they retire at a certain age or retire when they are too weak to do any physical activity? What’s stopping them from having a little stroll or hunting trip outside of camp? I feel like canon completely abandoned the poor elders :( they could have been centers for clan life and educators for everyone but instead they just sit in an den for months, forgotten by the protagonist until they kick the bucket when the allegiances needs to be trimmed

For the first question: no queen is forbidden from rising up the ranks to deputy or leader, and neither is a leader or deputy forbidden from having kits while in her position. The usual method that comes up when a person of authority is in the nursery is to have a friend or someone competent take over the majority of their work for about a month and a half to two months - however long it takes for the kits to be able to be left alone for a while so the queen can do her job. It's considered important for the mother to be in her babies' lives, even more than serving the Clan in some circles, so she still needs to divide her time and take care of them when she can. There are always volunteers to temporarily take her place for that reason; no one wants kits to be neglected or hurt by their blood-mother.

For the second volley: cats are automatically made elders at nine years old, though there have been cases of warriors outright refusing the position and staying active long past when they should have retired. Aging hits hard in the wild, so by that point in time most cats are ready to rest and lounge around telling stories because they've worn themselves down to permanent exhaustion. There are cats who retire early, like you said, due to their bodies breaking down or their mental state degrading to the point where they can't function outside, but it's usually age that gets them.

Elders have a lot of freedom to do as they like, including taking walks and maybe even hunting for fun, but they tend to like the opportunity to hang out in camp with kits and queens and whoever's inside and wants to hear them talk, or just talk among themselves about the good old days. You work pretty much every day of your life as a warrior - even on your off-days, you're expected to be ready to jump to your feet at any moment and rush outside on the deputy's order. Being able to sleep all day and night, having prey brought to you, and telling kits all about your time when you were their age, that's pretty luxurious. Remember that cats do usually sleep quite a lot. It's just Clan life that has you active for an entire night and up early in the evening.

Besides that, elders do have a purpose, which is to remember history they've been told about or experienced themselves, as well as keep culture alive by sharing as many stories, epics and fables as they can cram in their heads. They also offer advice and wisdom to leaders when one comes to them. So, in a way, they do technically still have jobs. They just get to sleep as long as they want before doing them.

[redux-iterum]

Iterum fic spoilers without any context

I wish I could offer funny commentary, but even I don't know what any of these mean.