Oh no, Para is procrastinating on cascadeclan with… cascadeclan.
The four clans of this land are Blazeclan, Iceclan, Cascadeclan, and Whisperclan.
The Camp - Cascadeclan’s camp is located in a cave system behind a waterfall, accessible through a path that leads up the steppes to it. Clan meetings are hosted in a side cave with a skylight, mini waterfall, and a small pool of water. All the nests are together in one cave, aside from those in the medicine den for the sick and injured. The medicine cats only sleep there when they have ill clanmates to look after.
6. The Upper Steppes - much of Cascadeclan’s land is significantly lower than the other clans. Instead of dropping down in a single cliff or being a steady slope, there are tiered sections marking past flood levels and eroding of the ground.
7. The Islands - at the base of the steppes, the various waterfalls all flow into a basin with many small islands. The land is somewhat swampy from the seasonal flooding, but also rich and fertile for plant life. They also provide good locations for fishing.
8. The Lower Grove - Marking a portion of the boundary between Blazeclan and Cascadeclan is a grove of aspen trees. While not Cascadeclan’s main source of food, the forest is vital when the island basin freezes over, and again later when the snowmelt floods much of their territory. A thunderpath runs between the edge of the trees and Blazeclan, before looping further into the trees and back out of clan territory.
The Camp - Blazeclan nests in a clearing in a field of heather and brambles. The prickly plants act as a natural defense, with the entrance hidden behind a winding maze. Blazeclan’s dens have loosely woven walls to let in breezes for the intense heats of greenleaf, but thick roofs to keep out snow and rain during the colder moons.
1. The Heather Field - Hiding the camp away, the heather field is a dense weave of its namesake flower, and other prickly foliage. The naturally formed animal trails make for a difficult to traverse terrain, but once one learns the layout, they are perfect for hunting rabbits and smaller rodents.
2. The rest of Blazeclan’s land is pretty homogenous, rolling grassy hills that turn scorching and dry during greenleaf. Wildfires aren’t uncommon to see, during which Blazeclan often takes shelter in the gathering hollow, or with Cascadeclan in extreme situations.
The Camp - Iceclan’s camp is carved directly into the ice and rock that makes up the face of the glacier their name comes from. All of the floor of the camp has been packed with leaf litter, dried prey pelts, and moss to insulate against the ice’s inherent chill. The prey pit is left untouched however, as the Iceclan cats learned it lasted longer in direct contact with the ice. Like Cascadeclan, all of Iceclan sleep communally to stave off the freeze of their camp.
3. The Snow Fields - the surface of the glacier. Snow, ice, and rock stretch out into the mountains, with deadly crevasses gouged into it’s surface. Unsuspecting cats could fall down into these, in which it is almost always a death sentence.
4. The Glacial Face & The Runoff Plains - The face of the glacier is riddled with caves and tunnels that snowmelt pours out from every season but leafbare. The brittle ice that much of it is made of can crumble off, a danger to anyone walking below. The runoff plains are a field of nutrient rich soil and grasses, fed by the minerals that the glacier has picked up over time. Herbs grow thickly here, vital to Iceclan when so much of their territory is inhospitable to plant life.
Whisperclan Camp - Whisperclan set up on a plateau in their woodland, with the only entrance being a hollowed tree with a soil ramp inside. Thorn bushes grow up the edges of the plateau and form a natural barrier, with less thorny bushes forming the dens. Careful weaving of the branches has made the dens completely waterproofed over many seasons, and cats tend to decorate their living spaces with pretty rocks, plants, and feathers.
10. The High Aspens - The entirety of Whisperclan’s claimed land is an aspen forest, a much larger, older forest than the lower grove. Fog pools between the trees every night, and even lingering through the colder days of leafbare. Whisperclan’s foliage is filled with a diverse array of prey, though they have the second lowest access to medicinal herbs in comparison to Iceclan’s runoff flats and Cascadeclan’s mini marshlands.
11. The Foothills - The aspens stretch right up to the mountains, where the trees grow sparser and the ground rockier. Whisperclan tends not to head this way as often, not suited to the mountain environment in the ways Iceclan is.
5. The Gathering Hollow & Star Spire - The clans hold gatherings in a hollow just above the steppes, and set into the runoff flats of Iceclan. A tunnel leads down from the hollow, connecting to a cave system that leads to the Star Spire. With such close proximity to Cascadeclan’s cave systems, it is theorized they connect, however the unstable nature of these peripheral tunnels discourages exploration.
9. The Mountains - Past Iceclan and Cascadeclan, the mountains rise up into a jagged skyline. A group of cats is claimed to live in the mountains, but they haven’t been sought out. According to stories passed down by elders, the founder of the clans came from the mountains. An apprentice who fell during a journey, washed out of the mountains and into what became Cascadeclan.
