A very low-key, casual Clangen playthrough with lore + doodles + whatever I feel like doing. I wanted to start a smaller project that's fun and low-impact where I can just write and vibe. I'm writing moons as I play but I do have a little backlog already stocked up, so I'm hoping to make this a daily update for at least the next month or so!
Expect detailed summaries for each moon, complete with quick character interaction scenes, patrols, and all important moon events. There will be intermittent screenshots of the game and some commentary, as I'm playing on the dev branch for the first time in over a year and am still encountering new patrols, events, and features! There will likely be some doodles and character art scattered throughout the moons too when I feel the itch~
Clan details, starting cast, bordering Clans and territory all below the cut! This will serve as the info masterpost as well as the starting point for the playthrough!!
I used the quick Clan button to generate the Clan and ended up with a lot of elders and only one warrior, which gives the Clan a very unique dynamic!
Piperstar is a small, cinnamon tom with emerald eyes. He's only 32 moons and by far the youngest cat in the Clan besides Hycanithpaw. I wonder how he was the choice for leader? He is very charismatic, a good storyteller, and an incredible runner despite his small size. He is easily annoyed by Shatterfur and tries to ignore her.
Our deputy is the gloomy Rowandapple. She is a beautiful chocolate/red tortoiseshell molly with silver eyes. Very clever, but has depression and struggles to motivate herself without a bunch of tasks. Being deputy is very stressful to her, but the routine is slowly helping her mental state as she grows more comfortable with the responsibilities. She is 89 moons old. She enjoys being around Freezebubble and has high hopes for the Clan's apprentice, Hyacinthpaw.
Shatterfur is our healer. A grumpy and old cat at 119 moons, she was about to retire when our younger healer, Fluttertrot, was killed. She's not very happy to be forced into being a healer for longer. She is a long-furred black smoke molly with grey eyes. Despite her grumpy nature, she feels a lot of loyalty and love for her Clanmates, though she doesn't respect many of them. She has a soft spot for Hyacinthpaw and spoils the young cat when no one else is around to see her do it.
Freezebubble is the Clan's only warrior at the moment, and she's honestly pretty happy about that. She never liked large patrols anyways and has always been a bit of a social outcast. Her fur is a gorgeous color: white with dapples of pale grey (with hidden rosetted tabby markings) and a stripe of dark russet over her shoulders. Her eyes are a fiery copper. She has glossy, medium length fur with a tufted tail and a thick mane. She is extremely fast. She is 88 moons old and is mentoring Hyacinthpaw. She is close friends with Rowandapple.
Our Clan's apprentice, Hyacinthpaw, is 7 moons old. She's rebellious and is shaping up to be a good hunter. A long-legged molly with medium fur; her chocolate bengal markings only show at her tail-tip, rump, and ears with a small patch over her nose. Her eyes are a murky yellow-green. She is in awe of Piperstar and only really listens to him; she loves Shatterfur but knows exactly how to twist Shatterfur's paw to get what she wants from the healer.
We have tons of elders, starting with Flameblink, 144 moons, a medium-furred cream ticked tabby tom whose markings are only barely visible as a mask-and-mantle on his white fur. He has amber eyes and very fluffy paws and cheeks with drooping whiskers. He has a scar across his left shoulder. He's a good fighter and was a former kittypet; he's childish, complains a lot and can be very petty. He doesn't think Piperstar was a good choice for leader and thinks Freezebubble would have done better.
Pumpkintrot, 135 moons, is a beautiful long-furred blue bengal tabby molly. She has lost a lot of her sight but still gets around well enough without it, relying on her exceptionally sharp hearing and sense of smell. She tends to sneak out to hunt when she can get away with it, and enjoys subverting expectations. She does not feel strongly about most her Clanmates and finds Auburnshell creepy.
Auburnshell is 124 moons, a long-furred russet smoke tom with cyan eyes. He doesn't talk much and spends a lot of his time in the oak tree near camp... though struggles to get down from them, often requiring rescue from his perches. He is snappish when pushed and prefers to be ignored. He likes to settle beside Pumpkintrot, and appreciates that she doesn't force conversations with him (he doesn't know that's because she thinks he's a bit of a creep).
Hailtail at 122 moons is our youngest elder; a medium-furred blue sokoke tabby with pale yellow eyes. She's nearly as charming as Piperstar and as clever as Rowandapple, serving as the Clan's primary advisor to the two cats. Hailtail's tail is only 3/4's length and her hind left leg is heavily scarred and weak; it's hard for her to get around much anymore. She likes and respects all of her Clanmates, though she can be annoyed when Piperstar doesn't take her advice.
TERRITORY + CAMP
+ CLAN TRAITS
SwarmClan lives in a pine/oak barren. Large swaths of prairie separates small stands or even individual trees, casting pools of shade like islands amid the sea of grass. The oaks are mostly burr oaks where the ground is higher and swamp white oak where the elevation is lower and more flood-prone. The pines are either pitch pine (with their quite hideous, stunted growth and black bark) or red pine (taller and narrower, with thick chipped red bark) and tend to be more clustered in groves than the oaks.
The southern prairie floods during the winter and spring, mostly only a paw or two deep, but some pools can be large enough to make small ponds. This area is populated with sedges, rushes, and skunk cabbage, with other flood-tolerant plants like irises, scrub willow, and dogbanes providing color. The standing water dissipates by mid-summer, though the soil remains marshy.
In the north, where the ground is higher, are more typical prairie environments: grasses, goldenrods, prairie dock, and bergamot are the most common, with coneflower, clovers, and roses giving extra color at different times of year. Fire is an important part of all of the barrens. Small fires cleanse parts of the territory every years, and a larger fire comes through every generation or so. The cats know how to avoid the flames and smoke, and the fires are typically quick to burn. The cats simply migrate to the river and associated floodplains beside RippleClan in the south for a moon or so until it's safe to return to their hunting grounds.
SwarmClan's camp is currently hidden within a thick snarl of hazel bushes. Dens are dug underground or made from willow swatches and dried grasses, though sleeping in the open is preferred when the weather is suitable. Due to the nature of the frequent fires, den positions and even the camp itself are moved every few years, though there are a few spots SwarmClan keeps returning to.
SwarmClan are known for their steadfast loyalty to one another and their quick aggression if one of their Clanmates are attacked; the other Clans know not to poke the hornet's nest. Or they should, but CinderClan must think that SwarmClan's lack of warriors makes them a target, and has rather publicly murdered our younger healer when she was visiting a secret lover. They claim it was in self-defense, but really? a healer? Piperstar doesn't really want war, but CinderClan has given him little choice.
SwarmClan are also known for their basket weaving and their honey collecting tactics. Open flames are far too dangerous to wield in their territory, so they don't cook like MorelClan and RippleClan do, but they can collect the resin in their pitch pines, which gives off huge amounts of smoke when burned, coating a makeshift torch that they can use to smoke honeybee hives and access their precious honey, which SwarmClan can then trade for other goods. They have a well-established tradition of beekeeping and have a few hives they tend to near their camp.
RippleClan lives along the riverbanks and marshes to the south. They are known for their fishing, crafting, and cooking and are by far the most technologically advanced Clan in the area, having a tool for practically anything. They are shrewd, trading with both the Clans and local loners; they aren't afraid to socialize with outsiders and some even take mates among them, but have a very strict rule that no outsiders can ever truly join their Clan. They grudgingly allow SwarmClan to occupy some of their territory when we have bad fires.
MorelClan lives in the more forested south eastern land. They are known for their mastery of herblore and all things healing. They keep detailed records of all plants and their uses and are expert forgers. They are equally skilled with poisons, and are rumored to poison their claws during wars... though no Clan has gone to war with them in a very, very long time. Perhaps because they are nearly impossible to find when they want to hide, elusive in their shadowy forests; perhaps its because they centralize the herb trade for all six Clans and no one wants to be on their bad side.
MidnightClan is a very small Clan on the far western edge of the territories. They don't even border any Clan directly, existing in a small bubble beside the human village. They intermingle with humans, loners, and housecats, having "daylight warriors" much like canon SkyClan, where some of their members only spend some time with the Clan and most of their time away. They are looked down on by the other Clans, but are an important resource when things really go sideways, as they are much more in-tune with the humans and give early warnings of human activity, access to the veterinary clinic for desperate Clan cats, and news and technology from the broader world. They only interact with the Clans during gatherings, typically.
BurnClan lives north of MorelClan, in an area that is not quite barrens, but not quite forest either. Sparse pine trees and grass with hardly any undergrowth is evidence that the fires claim this land too, though it's far slower to bounce back after the flames rage through. The soil is very rich, however, which allows BurnClan to farm in open bits of land--they are very close with MorelClan and provide much of what MorelClan can't gather or trade for. BurnClan is known for hunting large prey using group tactics and traps: deer and boar are on the menu here, and they have plenty of ways to preserve the extra meat by salting, smoking, or making jerky from the remains of their feasts.
CinderClan is the last Clan and live directly north of SwarmClan, where the barrens give way to savannah. Their territory is even dryer than SwarmClan's, and fires tend to be more common and destructive, leaving CinderClan constantly scrambling to keep up with the changing landscape. They rely heavily on rabbits and birds and tend to swing wildly from good years (where they might have the easiest hunting in the territories) to bad ones (where they're forced to steal prey and territory from their neighbors to stave off starvation). They tend to be proud cats that scorn technology and value personal strength. They put a strong emphasis on being battle-ready and dueling; their younger cats are apt to start skirmishes to prove their prowess and honor against other Clan opponents. They currently have a very hot-headed leader which turns their honor-seeking fights into pure aggression.
Our story starts with the recent death of Flickerstar to old age. He'd hoped to hold on a little longer to give Pipertuft some time to mature, but StarClan had different plans and a harsh winter was hard on the elderly tomcat. He dies in the depths of winter, and the young Piperstar takes his name.
Two moons later, Fluttertrot's body is found on the CinderClan border. She was very obvious her murderer toyed with her before she died of blood loss; a lack of fur between her own claws indicates the healer likely didn't even hit a single strike on her assailant during the unfair "fight".
The investigation doesn't last long, because CinderClan doesn't hide what they did. A cat named Reedfang claims he killed her to defend his sister, whom he found with Fluttertrot well within CinderClan's borders, clearly trespassing on CinderClan land and so clearly there for nefarious reasons. Shatterfur knows her former apprentice was engaging in some sort of secret relationship, but didn't pry. Of all the Clans to pick, CinderClan!
SwarmClan buzzes, enraged by the murder of one of their own. They want war, revenge, but with only three cats able to fight and four elders to feed, war might spell their doom. But they can't just sit back and leave Fluttertrot unavenged...
And so the quiet conflict begins.
