#not technically but

King Bee: OK time out I need to go check something!

Akuma: What!?

Lord Bug: Yeah um, what!?

King Bee: It won't take long (Already disappeared into a bathroom)

....

King Bee: Haha, YES!

King Bee (Returns looking incredibly smug) OK we may continue.

The bodies of the elves who died there are preserved in the ice indefinitely. This is especially unsettling when those fallen there are re embodied. The knowledge that their mummified bodies, theirselves, are still potentially trapped in the ice until it is washed away into the sea.

There are creatures upon the Helcaraxë that are monstrous to the elves who crossed it. Looming shadows or attacks on the unwary and vulnerable. Few of the exhausted, desperate elves who did see them were in a position to document in detail and so later writings become a combination of fact and myth, like old bestiaries.

The cold itself also becomes a monster. Biting, covering, choking…I think about the different ways the cold, snow, ice or winter are personified in Noldorin art and lore in the years after.

i am going to sit down tonight/tomorrow and make proper intro posts for these, but i’m very excited and i want to put out the info i have so far, bear with me.

The Oaths are three groups of cats who formed about 300 years before what I am currently calling “The Modern Era.” They are descended from the ancient Kingdom of the Carved Mountain, a massive society that functioned much like our medieval kingdoms, if said medieval kingdoms did not have currency or opposable thumbs. Or horses. Look, it’s close enough, okay?

Following a conflict known as The Silent War, a plague, and a manufactured succession crisis, the Kingdom split into three factions following each of the three cats who had claims to the throne: Flightfoot, Hailheart, and Stripesong. Flightfoot was head of the Kingdom’s army, a powerful and much-beloved warrior who knew she was actually the true heir. Hailheart was the guardian of a small town fed up with being forgotten, who also had connections to the Kingdom’s Seers, their healers and spiritual leaders. Stripesong was a crafty noble with control of a vast spy network and allies in the Kingdom’s enemy, the Silence. Their vying for the throne sparked the Three Heirs’ War, a conflict that was never resolved, leaving us with three modern factions shaped by the leaders and their values.

However, the Oaths do still retain some attitudes of their kingdom heritage; great emphasis is placed on family lineage and social status. Leadership and Seership are hereditary positions, and while the King title has been lost, heirs to the throne are still called princes and princesses. Some technology, skillsets, and trades have been lost due to no longer being needed/feasible in a smaller community, but the cats are advanced enough for some cooking, crafting, and farming, as well as a writing system, though these days most history is passed down orally.

Winged Oath

Formerly known as FloatClan, this is the group started by Flightfoot, which makes its home in a large meadow that was once the Kingdom town of Dawnfield. Their territory also extends into the forests further south. Like their warrior founder, these cats place great importance on strength and skill in battle. If there’s a war on, the Wingsworn are probably involved.

I’m also working on developing a religion—I want it to remain ancestor-based like StarClan, but I’m toying with the idea of adding proper deities as well. I know that, borrowing from the wildcats, I want the elements of earth/air/water to be important—and you may be able to tell by the Oath names that I sort of intended them to have fractured along those lines as well, but I’m not sure what to do with that yet. Anyway, Winged Oath is closely connected to the element of air, which is seen as the way the ancestors/gods primarily interact with the world via the wind and weather. To the Wingsworn, it is an element of violence and power.

In the modern era, Winged Oath teeters on the brink of disaster. Having kidnapped Seers from their closed-down, highly-secretive neighbors, war is now inevitable. To make things worse, their leader Fogmask is dying, and an exiled princess is watching from the outside for the right moment to return and claim her throne.

Riparian Oath

Formerly known as StreamClan, this is Hailheart’s group, originally comprised mostly of commoners and damn near every Seer in the Kingdom. They live in the forests at the base of the mountain, on an island in the middle of a meeting of three rivers. Due to their lack of physical advantage or battle experience, Riversworn cats have primarily survived via careful deals and negotiations, as well as heavily guarded innovations in medicine and building.

Riparian Oath is the most spiritual by a decent margin. They are connected primarily to the water, which is the primary method of communicating with ancestors and often viewed as a healing force.

In the modern era, Riparian Oath is a dark place. Several generations ago, a leader, fed up with being the weak faction, closed the group’s borders and most communication with the outside world, starting a breeding (read: eugenics) project to produce stronger, braver cats to “protect” them. Few living cats remember a time when this wasn’t the norm. Despite their poor understanding of genetics and inheritance, the project is now seeing some success, and any “failures” are attributed to curses placed on the Oath by their enemy ancestors.

???? Oath

….Yeah I’ve been trying to come up with a name for this one for a while and I got nothin. Currently known as CliffClan, this is Stripesong’s group, who live higher up in the mountain, close to the Silence. Much like their founders, they maintain a small spy network and oscillate between being just as war-hungry as Winged Oath and peacefully going about their lives. They are the most friendly to outsiders due to their long history of allying with other groups.

This group are connected to the earth, but more specifically the mountain itself, which all Oathsworn cats call the Motherpeak. The earth is home, a stable and nurturing force that connects all living things. I want to bring that into their name, something about connection and collaboration….but I’m not sure that’s possible, lol. I’m also considering making them have changed their name over time. Cliff Gang is definitely a fun group, I like playing with the idea that they present this nice wholesome ideal, and it is certainly true in some ways, they can also be EEeeevil :3.