#mernatha

First two character designs I pumped out in months and it’s due to Warriors fanfic-

Anyways. Love how you guys make folklore for the funny little cats. An offering of Thlainra and Mernatha’s potential character designs has been made.

Some notes for each:

- On reading Thlainra’s description, there’s a mention with how her body may have yellow eyes that blinked between storytellers- while her actual eyes are said to be pitch-black. I liked interpreting that as the most “Crow-like” parts of her- especially her tail having those eyes, where they are always looking around for more info, more knowledge, more things to learn. Thlainra’s cat eyes are mainly used to direct communication to someone whenever she shows up.

- On that note, the sharpest and most corvid parts of her body are the ones used to gather information (Feather-like lower lashes for her eyes and rigid feathers instead of tufts of her for her ears). Additional blackened parts of her include the markings on her forehead that are connected to a crow, and her front paws are always leaking shadow that forms another crow.

- All cats are bastards. We know that. So I needed to make Mernatha look like an even bigger bastard (affectionate) to drive the point that she’s a trickster. The calico spotting on her face conveniently gives her two sets of eyebrows for twice the judgement and eyebrow waggling. For the rest of her body, her entry mentions that her orange and black spots are what mainly transforms into petals, so I try to place them on the edges of her form, especially on the tufts of fur that are shaped like petals themselves.

- Designing Merantha knowing that she’s a folklore hero is a bit of a challenge- she can’t look too out there or else she loses that part of her meant to inspire kits and apprentices, and she can’t look too normal when popular folklore does state she’s transcended to spirithood. To that sense, I’ve given her body a bit more symmetry that can pass for coincidence- all her legs have her markings but one side is primarily orange and the other black, with exceptions made towards the tufts of her fur that are the opposite color. Her tail counts for this too: All three of her colors are furled at the base but orange primarily features there, followed by white, then black.

hey guess who’s been into animation recently? me

ha im not going to colour this 

Quick question before the chapter release, what does Thlainra and Merthana think of Firestar, they were both there for his ceremony?

Unfortunately not. The first reason is that there are simply too many colors in a potential petal to give a consistent idea of what the cat will look like. Just as there are quite a lot of colors on Petalfall's coat! You'd be better off naming for the flower the petals come from.

The other reason is that her name refers to an action, not an object or color. The most literal translation of her name is "laughing petals on foot", essentially meaning a merry dance of petals on the wind. She herself is not a petal, she is a spirit moving like petals (and happening to be able to turn into them temporarily). It'd be like naming a kitten Running- or Purr-. Doesn't really work.

So Mernantha was already a spirit(?) while a part of the Clans? Or I took it she was still a regular member of the Clan, but Suriin I think mentioned something of her turning into petals. What an interesting Clanmate to have nonetheless.

Also!!! Who was Brightpaw and Snowpaw blessed by? I figure at least one of them was Rohkar since he was mentioned by Brightpaw. I’m torn on Bright being Rohkar or maybe Suriin tbh. Rohkar since that was also who blessed Swiftpaw and wel… y’know. But Snowpaw also seems like he’d get Rohkar tbh.

And one error I think I noticed- Ashkit is referred to as Ashpaw when Ravenwing is telling them about how Mernantha mocked Horoa and Suriin.

AND LAST THING- some dark humor from One-eye there, is she alright?

Firstly, thank you for noticing that error and alerting me. Just fixed it on the chapter both here and on AO3!

As for the rest:

Mernatha, like most folklore characters in the Clans, has a shaky origin that the Clans just gloss over for convenience in storytelling. She is simultaneously originally just a normal warrior and has always been a magical spirit. Both are accepted and alter between stories, even told by the same orator. Whether she was once a regular mortal whose feats and personality eventually evolved into legend or she's much older than that, who knows. She's Mernatha now! That's all we need to know. The important part is to keep her cunning and merriment in the story.

Brightpaw was blessed by Suriin, and Snowpaw by Rokhar!

Mernatha/Mernaþa. See here for direct translation.

A whirl of blossom petals in the breeze; a trill of amusement caught drifting through the trees that makes their leaves tremble; a merry sense of adventure and playfulness that sets the body alight and causes paws to knead at the ground in excitement for something one can’t quite define - all of these are signs that the trickster Mernatha is nearby, and that all is well. 

And by “all is well”, it’s meant that someone is about to get a joke played on them.

looking forward to the rest of the mythology and stuff anyway heres the Gods and also clearsky and maybe my girl petalfall even though she doesnt have a post yet shhh

I just love petalfall