hello hi i cooked on that curlfeather ascending to leadership au more. here's what i've got to show for it so far
first and foremost i'm very much not a fan of the idea that her desire to lead riverclan without starclan's guidance was borne from conservatism. i think that's such a boring way to go about an au like this frankly!! however i'm still taking this down the path of her straying from starclan.
curlfeather has grown incredibly frustrated with how it seems like the clans have to be spoonfed concepts like Being Nice To Eachother by starclan. she finds the overbearing presence of their warrior ancestors in their lives to be oppressing any kind of free thought. the inciting incident that pushed her into staging a coup was the recent code changes— how could her clanmates be so oblivious to the fact that love and kinship have no bounds, that they needed dead cats to beam the idea right into their minds? if curlfeather were to take over leadership of riverclan, without starclan's stamp of approval via nine lives, then she could prove that the clans would be just fine—and perhaps even better off—without the constant, looming presence of starclan.
frostpaw never having real visions wouldn't be an issue in the future, since curlfeather would have no need for her medicine cat to be a proxy with starclan. splashtail, although not quite sharing her viewpoints, was young and inexperienced, and would be easily manipulated by the promise of power. podlight was a puss who'd do whatever curlfeather asked of him, because what do kin do but support each other?
curlfeather had no intent to gain lives at the moonpool. she'll let frostpaw think she has, the young cat not knowing any better, and be able to return without any issues. she can take the mantle of curlstar and run riverclan, her clan believing she's gained nine lives. curlstar is prepared for a longcon, waiting for riverclan to trust in her abilities before revealing the truth and her motive.
mothwing would become a confidant to curlstar at a certain point, her lack of starclan connection and tenuous relationship with them something curlstar can use as leverage to get mothwing on her side and to agree with her ideals— mothwing would already likely side with curlstar's opinion on starclan, though she'd never go so far as to challenge clan society itself.
i need to contemplate more... i need to go into more specifics because i'm Sure riverclan would take some issues with curlstar's reveal at least in part.... but for now this is just my groundwork :~P