Dragonkin Family Tree
[ID: A tall family tree on a minty green background. It starts with Whitefang and Dragonclaw, and goes down for 6 generations. Mates of the family are marked with blue backgrounds.]
It's a total wasted opportunity that the other Clans very rarely struggle with the idea of legacy, a major recurring theme of WC. ThunderClan shouldn't be the only Clan who has anything interesting going on.
SO here's a noteworthy tree for RiverClan! If you want to see the entire RiverClan Family Tree, it's over here. I've also hit several of them with the gib beam-- I will refer to Duckfur with They/Xe exclusively, and Rainstorm and Rushfish are He/They/Xey.
The Dragonkin is a family plagued equally by strength and scandal. In Lake RiverClan, they've produced several of the strongest and most respected warriors, but are also known for producing headstrong codebreakers.
Whitefang and Dragonclaw
In the Broken Era, Dragonclaw was the largest warrior in RiverClan, and among the strongest.
But as an apprentice, Dragonpaw was terrified of water. There was doubt that she would be able to stay in the Clan, after all, she was the child of a prey-stealing rogue who had been found drowned.
She didn't have RiverClan blood, and what use did they have for a roguekit who couldn't swim?
Whitepaw spent all his time with her, helping her overcome that fear, despite only being an apprentice himself. That was how they came to fall in love with each other.
Later, when his niece Leopardkit revealed herself to be afraid of water, Whitefang was put on the case to build her into the ferocious warrior she could be.
Whitefang died while his kits were still apprentices, and Dragonclaw died while trying to drive out WindClan a second time.
Duckfur and Greenflower
Greenflower was hotheaded and passionate, jumping to conclusions and ferociously sticking to them.
Duckfur was more practical... and opportunist. More interested in how swaying power could benefit them.
Sedgecreek was attracted to Greenflower for her passion and confidence. It would also be the reason they fell apart.
When TigerClan rose to power, Greenflower was an immediate supporter. She voided the Queen's Rights, revealing that Duckfur had honor sired the kittens Sedgecreek had given birth to.
Sedgecreek at first believed this was an effort to keep the family safe. She slowly realized that, no, Greenflower really did believe it.
Terrified and worried for her children, Sedgecreek kept quiet through most of TigerClan, not involving herself in the rebellious activities. After it had passed, the arguments started up.
She learned quickly that it was a sore topic for Greenflower, most conversations ending in fights, though she would grudgingly admit TigerClan went too far.
Duckfur was more open to discussion. Sedge valued their friendship, but sometimes became frustrated by how they didn't seem to have much of an opinion of their own.
During the destruction of the Forest in the Journey Era, Swallowtail grew close to a ThunderClan warrior, Rainwhisker. VERY close.
Sedgecreek had tolerated Greenflower's beliefs in the hopes of things returning to how they were, trying to fix their relationship, but now with their baby on the line...
When Greenflower snapped and disowned Swallowtail for claiming Queen's Rights, she was Reverse Uno Carded by Sedgecreek. That was the LAST straw.
On becoming leader, after the sudden death of Leopardstar to a rogue, Mistystar chose Sedgecreek as her deputy for this reason.
Seeing the tide of power pull in a new direction, Duckfur decided it was best to follow their friendship with Sedge over 'having Green's back.'
Beechfur and Swallowtail
It's ironic that Greenflower would complain that Swallowtail wasn't like her brother... both of them were actually in HalfClan relationships.
Beechfur was just quieter about it... aaaaand eventually ghosted Gorsetail when they settled at the lake.
Much like Duckfur, Beechfur is a bit of an opportunist. He isn't heartless or incapable of compassion, but he will often do things just because he wants to. And he loves his parents too much to want to change Clans.
The relationship between him and his sister Swallowtail became strained after Greenflower disowned her. There was a permanent rift in his family that he wasn't sure how to bridge.
He ended up staying on Greenflower's side, feeling she was alone without him, keeping his hypocrisy secret.
Eventually he found a mate in Graymist, siring many tragic children. The only who went on to have their own kits was Sneezecloud.
Meanwhile, Swallowtail mourns Rainwhisker nearly every day. She adored him, she would have left RiverClan for him, if he had not died in the WindClan Civil War.
Beechfur still being close to their other mother feels like a kind of betrayal, honestly. She feels hurt that Beechfur saw Greenflower treat her so badly, and yet still has a good relationship with her.
But she has her children, and her Mi.
In summary of personality;
Beechfur is passive and a bit selfish, but does care for his family in spite of the rift that formed.
Swallowtail is forlorn and bitter, but very loyal to the family that stuck by her side.
Sneezecloud, Rippletail, Rainstorm
Sneezecloud identifies much more strongly with his cousins on his mother's side, especially Mallowtail who is his best friend, probably because of the fact both families have a lot of tragedy.
For Ripple and Rain, growing up wasn't always easy. It was known that their father was from another Clan, but no one would ever tell them anything. That's the downside of Queen's Rights.
Not to mention antagonism from Greenflower, in spite of the various people trying to protect them.
Rainstorm learned to march to the beat of their own drum. It bothered them, but they found no happiness in trying to please people who treated them poorly for no good reason.
Acting overaggressive only ever landed them in trouble.
Meanwhile, Rippletail was always desperate to prove himself, be the best warrior he could be and serve RiverClan well. Quickly, he became one of their best warriors.
There were times where cats would predict that one day, him and Hollypaw would be opposing leaders of their Clans.
But, his life was cut short on a mission to bring back the water to the lake.
WIP material; Either Rainstorm claims Queen's Rights and their children are born around this time, or Rainstorm adopted them from Rippletail because of his death.`
In terms of personality:
Sneezecloud is confident and rough, in spite of having a moss allergy that gives him a permanently drippy nose.
Rippletail is ambitious and focused, but still knows how to cut loose, especially for his sib
Raincloud is relaxed and goofy, chronically unable to be intimidating.
Hallowflight, Rushfish
Into this came Lizardkit and Rushkit.
They were lucky to be born in a time better than the one their parent was born into. The two of them didn't struggle nearly as much as Rippletail and Rainstorm did.
But struggle, they still did. Lizardtail got it especially bad from Mossyfoot and Troutstream
For more on Lizardtail and how he gets his Honor Title, Hallowflight has a summary!
Rushfish has a very restless personality. They cycle through all sorts of interests, know a little bit about a lot of things, and think boredom is a form of torture.
Harelight, Dappletuft, Softpelt
When the Impostor rose to power, many of the cats in their family were suddenly coming under scrutiny in a way not seen in years.
Softpelt accepted this, but Harefur and Dappletuft did not. The two brothers immediately began plotting with the rebellion, as soon as they learned there was one.
Hare watched as Dappletuft died fighting against the Impostor, and Softpelt died defending him.
He was not even allowed to bury his brother, or sit vigil for his sister, Mistystar sent him back into exile.
When the impostor was revealed and it was shown that Hare had been correct all along, the only way she could apologize to him was allow him to go into the Dark Forest for the final confrontation.
Along with her, Mistystar and Harefur became known as Lights in the Mist. For this, Harefur became Harelight as an Honor Title.
He wanted to be able to accept how proud Hallowflight was of him, and his mother Lakeheart too... but... it's hard.
It's hard that they just accepted their punishments, and let Mistystar put Dappletuft in a shallow grave.
The generational strain upon the family continues.
