bc it won’t fit into a nice neat post yet
Oathsworn cats believe in nominative determinism.
This is largely just because the Latin “nomen est omen” (the name is a sign) caught my eye and it fit in with the way I was already thinking about most of my names. Of course no culture is a monolith, so the degree to which cats truly believe in it (including “not at all”) varies, but it does shape their naming culture.
This gives rise to a lot of taboo names. Some things are outright banned, like being named after poisons or parasites, things that are only bad (of course many things have multiple uses to cats, such as leeches having medicinal use). It is also usually not allowed to name a kit after another cat, living or (recently) dead, who caused the community harm. A good rule of thumb for this is that if cats are still alive to remember the original cat, it’s a no-go. This means that Warriors’ Tigerheartstar, for example, would most likely have not been allowed no matter how good the intentions. Other legacy names are highly encouraged, though! Cats are also not usually allowed to be named anything related to a disability or body difference, so Hopkit/Deadfoot would not have been a thing. Littlecloud is on thin ice.
Naming a cat after another aspect of their physical appearance, such as color or pattern, is usually mostly done by those who want to give the kit room to determine their own future. It falls in and out of fashion, and is sometimes done spitefully by nonbelievers or believers who want to stunt their kits’ chances, for some reason. Ultimately leaders always have the final say on names; there is no formal approval process, but they can absolutely force a name change if they think it is derogatory or limiting to the cat, regardless of if it falls into one of the above banned categories.
This isn’t just limited to the prefix either! Cats are quite young when they get their full names, so it’s very very common for a suffix to build on the prefix as additional hopes for the cat’s future, rather than strictly responding to what they have already accomplished in their short life.
I’m still thinking over how this affects name changes—I think they have to be at least somewhat open to letting cats change it up. Being saddled with expectations you failed to live up to as your literal name is kind of miserable lol. And as far as the “all religions are true” rule, the line between superstition and religion (if it even exists) needs to be considered.
Oath cats do not all den together by rank.
Two of the three Oaths are built on the bones of ancient towns and this community structure is still very visible. (Riparian is the one that isn’t built on a town, by the way. Hailheart loved his town of Claw Creek and didn’t want to see it ruined by war or force townsfolk into the conflict, so he established camp farther away).
Anyway, the central “camp” tends to have dens for the leader (and optionally their family), the seers, the regent, the elderly, disabled, and new parents who want extra community support, and anyone else who wants to be at the heart of things. There are also dens to store written records and crafting or building materials, which may or may not also be sleeping places. Further dens will be scattered around the area, sometimes close to a half-mile away. Cats can walk a half-mile in 10 minutes or so, sprint it in 1-2 minutes, and can hear each other yowling from about 2200 feet, so that is about the upper limit of being able to conveniently reach camp. Cat math!
Some cats den alone, some with their primary mate, some with several generations of their family, some with friends, or pretty much any other combination you can think of. Moving, expanding, and rebuilding are very common as well.
The seers den, additionally, is not necessarily where the seers live. It’s like a church or a hospital; they go there to work, and might sleep there if they like it, are too tired, or a patient/ritual needs close monitoring, but it’s very common for seers to have their own separate dens elsewhere. Other cats can have multiple dens like this, too, and move based on their mood or the season or whatnot.
The Oaths do not have permanent dedicated armies, nor are all cats considered fighters by default (anymore).
i tried to write a longer explanation of this one like three times and i'm not satisfied with any of them, i just. gestures. this is a thing! it informs other things! yeah!!
The concept of a “chosen family” that is not necessarily romantic is very important.
While having biological kits is absolutely paramount in Oathsworn culture, monogamy is rare and romantic relationships are common, but not considered vital. To go with the root and branch metaphor of blood family, one’s chosen family is often called their shoot or stem—new growth. Whether or not cats can change their root or branch name to reflect their stem relationships varies by era and Oath.
There's a common saying among the Oathsworn, that "your root is where you come from, your stem is where you're going." Coupled with the nominative determinism, this does lead to some parents, mentors, or leaders giving cats matching or opposite names in the hopes of influencing their relationships.
I think I will make this one it's own post later, because I definitely have a vision of the cats having lots and lots and lots of terms for all their various stem-relationships, much like the polyam and aro/ace communities have, but i feel like even making that list in english will take a while, lol. open to suggestions there!
