#hickoryrambles

Like, I'm pretty certain it's mentioned in the first arc that Shadowclan lurks in the shadows and isn't seen much during the day, I KNOW theres mention of Shadowclan cats wearing the shade like a second pelt. I'm also like. 90% sure it's fully canon that Shadowclan were night hunters, and the tail motions leaders use to communicate before entering to attend a gathering WAS developed by Shadowclan for night hunting tactics. That and I wish the fact that they lived on a marsh was used more. I want Shadowclan cats to have remnants of webbing between their toes, for their paws to be broad so they don't sink as much, and their legs shorter, but stocky. Their faces big and round and their ears small and wide set, their eyes wide and almost always dilated because they hunt at night. They look scary to other clans, and turn into spooky stories that Thunderclan and Windclan apprentices whisper about at night, and sometimes if they're unlucky and sneak out in the night, they catch a glimpse of big eyes shining in the darkness at them.

On one hand it could be said that when Tigerstar took over, he imposed Thunderclan sleep habits upon Shadowclan cats, being a Thunderclan born cat and all. He would've likely forced Shadowclan to work during the day and reform their sleep schedules around HIS desires, erasing that part of their clan life and identity, and to some extent perhaps even their culture as a whole.

Windclan, of course, lost the two unique roles they had in clan of moor runners and tunnelers, and while it's for good reason of the tunnels collapsing too often and killing/injuring cats, I wish they'd stayed. Or that Tallstar had reimposed them, with no stigma or habit for bloodlines to ONLY be a tunneler or moor runner, so no cat would be pulled in two directions, or be expected to do one thing and one thing alone.

Skyclan is.. Yknow. Skyclan. I wish they kept daylight warriors as a role, I wish they'd used more TREE hunting than anything else. I think it'd be interesting if Skyclan primarily hunted birds and squirrels in trees, that their territories have always been those thick forests where the branches twine together and there's no crown shyness to be seen, where touching the ground is almost unheard of except to get water, herbs or to go to the bathroom. I think it'd be interesting to have cats come to Skyclan, and have to scale a tree just to see a skyclan cat.

I’ve been doing Firestar’s family tree &...... boy.

It’s going better than I thought & i’m enjoying it a lot tbh. Thus far I haven’t finished Jake, Nutmeg and Quince and such, I was working in order of who I wanted to go for first

I’m going to add in Sandstorm’s parents and I’ll go with Redtail and Brindleface for it tbh. mostly bc i wanna draw Brindleface :)

in birth of an echo, two apprentices(Mushroom and Cobweb) are together. both nonbinary, Mushroom is masc leaning and uses it/they and Cobweb is fem leaning and uses he/they, he/him primarily.

Neither of them would inherently get in trouble for dating, neither of them want nor can have kits, Cobweb is content to be a warrior someday, Mushroom is an herbalist apprentice. cobweb’s outlook on it is ‘its not a big deal if we’re gay’ and Mushrooms in a nice closet paradox, it’s scared that if their relationship is more public, it might be forced to step down and become a warrior.

Cobweb is certain it won’t happen because Bug Pollen is Mushroom’s older brother and wouldn’t do that to it.

they eventually do make their relationship more public, and the entire apprentice group theyre from (Larch, Muddy, and Sweet) are very unsurprised because after the fifteenth time that they woke up to Mushroom, who’s supposed to sleep in the herbalist den with Fidgetspeckles, in Cobweb’s nest, it was kiiinda obvious.

anyways this is Literally All i have to offer rn & its an oc lmao

This is Marigold, from my own cat groups. They’re nonbinary, and also possessed by their dead siblings :)

Who hears their mom announce a major, groundbreaking, life changing secret in a life or death situation and go “yeah, thats the truth!” and then hates her for like. 4 months

Scourge and Cinderpelt both similarly ache during cold nights, leafbare and really in general when the weather gets colder. Rain makes Cinderpelt’s joints ache, and Scourge’s paws as well.

Scourge’s voice is still higher pitched & similar to the description in canon, but he speaks much quieter on average. He rarely raises his voice, and now it hurts to try.

Snowkit is afraid of open spaces, they stick to the edges of camp and thus far, other cats bring them their meals. Firestar plans on moving the freshkill pile to make it more comfortable for them, though. They can only handle open spaces when another cat is with them, which is good because Ashpaw, Fernpaw and Bramblepaw rarely leave their side, unless the trio have to go training. Similarly, the trio of apprentices come back and show Snowkit what all theyve learned. Snowkit isn’t officially an apprentice, not yet. But they’ll be apprenticed to Brackenfur when the time comes. Firestar intends to wait until they’re more comfortable, and the clan is able to efficiently communicate with them.

Snowkit also has severe scars along their back and sides from the hawk, their fur is too short to cover them. Speckletail often spends time staring at the scars, knowing full well a cat their age shouldn’t have them. Speckletail retired shortly after Snowkit was taken, and before they were returned.

Snowkit’s still deaf, they have no hearing at all. When they’re apprenticed, they’ll likely stay apprenticed for a while longer while Brackenfur adapts the usual methods and moves he was taught, so it’s easier for Snowkit to do.

Orchardclan’s main heads!

Pikestar is the leader of Orchardclan - hard-headed and intense, she’s usually the main aggregator at gatherings. She’s pretty loud and out there, and has her fair share of scars from scuffles during her warrior days. Fernpatch is her deputy(and one of the two -patch deputies lol) He’s much more level-headed than she is, and more often than not, is the only one between her and a potential war, really. He’s pretty laid back, but is fiercely loyal to his clanmates, and leader, and won’t hesitate to use his claws if someone insinuates she’s a poor leader. Orchardclan hasn’t been stronger than her leadership, in his opinion.

And Duskflower! The herbalist of the clan, she’s one of the taller cats in Orchardclan and... Often times scares her clanmates. She has a bad habit of lurking in the shadows and scaring them when she moves. She’s quiet, if only because she spends much of her days restocking her supplies, Fernpatch is a close friend to her though! It's tradition in all clans for herbalists to be close with their leaders and deputies, in a close bond of three friends(a few stories say more, but no one can agree whether it's ethical to force three cats to be in a relationship. Most cats say it’s not ethical.) to ensure that the clans are portrayed by a united front! As a result, the herbalists aren’t separate from their leaders and deputies during gatherings. While deputies must stay at the base of the stump, herbalists stay on the ground near them, most herbalists only stay when the clans are called for the reporting, and wander off during the actual speaking.

There are some older elders that get affronted when the clan heads aren’t mates, and their kits and grandkits tend to try to talk to them about it and insist that its REALLY not ethical.

Gatherings function differently, too. The leaders, deputies and herbalists all sit in different positions along the tree stump, with leaders traditionally being on top, where it was felled, deputies taking the assigned root gnarls below them, and herbalists on the ground in front of the tree. The gathering is in three sections - the initial meeting, when the clans first enter the gathering place and mingle until the final clan joins. After that, the heads of the clans go to their assigned spots, and the second portion begins, the reporting portion. This time is for full attention for warriors, older apprentices and any elders that attend, and is where the leaders will announce births, deaths, new apprentices, warriors, deputies, and assignment changes within their clans, as well as news of hunting, and predators sighted or scented. The final half is generally the longest portion of the gathering and when all the clans mingle, friends share personal news, apprentices meet others from different clans, and most of it is shared while grooming.

i got Slammed w/ an Idea for stuff oc-wise so Here bc i havent. actually spent time drawing canon cats and instead mainly designed 5 ocs

Flintpaw (left) and Dodgepaw (right). they’re sisters in two different clans and just. Dont realize it bc they dont look similar at All.

I initially was going to go with canon clan names for it all but ended up feeling more comfortable using oc clans instead

Flintpaw belongs to Orchardclan, which resides in the most forested area of the territories. Most cats tend to be smaller and more athletic there, as hunting and navigating the underbrush and old growth roots is tedious and hard on them. Their fur is thicker to protect their skin from scraping along roots and bushes they have to navigate under, and through.

Orchardclan’s camp is settled around the roots of an old, old growth tree with thick roots that most of the dens are settled under using ferns to cover what isnt shielded by the roots. 

Dodgepaw belongs to Bayouclan, which shares a border with Orchardclan. They tend to be comprised of taller cats with longer legs. They dont hunt on the strip of territory that borders Orchardclan, because its still that thick forest. Most of their hunting is fish, frogs and aquatic or semiaquatic animals, water fowl and other creatures that live on the water or near it. Most of the territory is marsh, or water, and the majority of it is sparsely covered in trees.

 Bayouclan’s camp is on one of the few dry patches of land, though its prone to flooding. They function similarly to Riverclan in that most of their dens and nests float on water, though the herbalist den is technically out of camp, high in a tree that’s sturdy and on dry land, though it’s location moved a few times, they keep their herbs in the tree along the limbs and in knots, and below at the base is where the sick cats will rest in a den.