#prairieclan

Prairie Dogs in Prairie Dog Town (1974) written by Irmengarde Eberle, illustrated by John Hamberger

Bonus °o°

Cats of the golden, grassy prairie, members of this clan are faster than the wind and have fantastic eyesight. Proud, fiery, traditional, and quick to anger, these cats are resilient and known to speak their minds. Dishonesty is considered an absolute taboo - as is bending the truth. Sneaking around is hardly this clan’s style, preferring to make all problems and grievances known. They are loud, bold, and fiercely devoted to both their own and to their allies, making alliances valuable and grudges deadly. They are incredibly devoted and dedicated to caring for their families, whether biological or chosen.

(Pictured above: Scorchstar, Leader of PrairieClan, played by @juniperstar)

PrairieClan prides themselves on tradition and history - this Clan loves their way of life and are incredibly community oriented. This even shows in the Clan's unique camp - located in an abandoned groundhog burrow, most ranks all share one den together, called the Clan Den. This Clan's loyalties run deep, as no Clan loves their own more than PrairieClan. If you pick a fight with one of them, you pick a fight with all of them - and they won't go down easily.

Snakegrass!

So, quick lore about PrairieClan-- the deputy doesn't de facto become new leader on the old leader's death; instead all eligible warriors go and sleep under the stars and make their choice. Even so, it's pretty common that the deputy is chosen, and even if they don't they usually remain deputy.

Therefore, it was a surprise when Snakegrass was not only passed up in favor of Goldenstar, but not returned to the deputyhood.

He's a brown tabby tom, he's the protagonist's (Elkheart) ex-mentor from before she switched to being a healer, he's a bit intense.

Oh, also cats are winding up dead and he's got a very shifty alibi.

The thing is, though? He's doing nothing wrong. He's a 100% loyal warrior. He's spending his time trying to solve the murders, but he doesn't want the killer to think he's onto them.

Aliases / Nicknames: Witch Doctor, Doctor of Death 

Gender: she-cat 

Sexuality: asexual, homoromantic 

Family: Lakefur (mother), unnamed father, Cloudykit, Adderkit, Emberkit (brothers) 

Other Relations: Shimmerthroat (mentor), Plumshadow (apprentice) 

Clan: Prairieclan 

Rank: medicine cat 

Characteristics: judgemental, had a neglectful upbringing, believes she's doing the right thing 

Number of Victims: 7+ 

Number of Murders: 2+ 

Murder Method: feeding tainted herbs to expectant parents 

Known Victims: Dustyrose, Slatefreckle, Beeflower, Grassburr, Batfall, Leopardtail, Blackstream, several unborn kits 

Victim Profile: pregnant queens she believed would not make good parents

Cause of Death: poisoned, killed by Plumshadow 

Cautionary Tale: a lesson to medicine cats to not misuse their talents

Story: 

Morningkit had never been wanted.

The Clan had no clue who her father could possibly be. And her mother, Lakefur, would have preferred not to be a mother at all, but if she did have to have kits, she much preferred toms over she-cats. Sadly, all three of Lakefur's sons, Morningkit's brothers, were born sickly, and all of them died before their fifth day of life. 

Lakefur took out her rage and fury on little Morningkit, barely even giving her the time of day. Needless to say, Morningkit's first six moons of life were miserable. Things began looking up for Morningkit when she became Morningpaw and was apprenticed to Shimmerthroat, the Clan's medicine cat. 

Shimmerthroat was everything Lakefur should have been to Morningpaw and more. She taught her so many valuable life lessons, but the one that was most influential to Morningpaw was that, as a medicine cat, she had the power to make things right for her Clanmates.

It stuck with Morningpaw, and she made a vow--she would use her abilities to make sure no other kit would have to go through what she went through.

Morningsky's crusade started with good intentions. Poor, sweet, playful Dustyrose, who had only been made a warrior just a week before, had become pregnant with kits. And Morningsky was pretty sure she knew who the father was too: Dustyrose's mentor had always been a little too creepy for her tastes. She couldn't let kits grow up in that environment. 

So she snuck rotten herbs into Dustyrose's herb bundle. It worked like a charm. She had lost the kits before the week had ended, and she was back to warrior duties, as happy as a clam. Seeing how happy Dustyrose was to not be pregnant anymore made Morningsky feel great. And those good feelings went to her head. 

Her next targets were a trio of sisters, Slatefreckle, Beeflower, and Grassburr, who had moved into the nursery at the same time. Granted, this one was a little more petty, as the sisters had bullied Morningsky when they were all kits. But in Morningsky's defense, she also thought that Slatefreckle, Beeflower, and Grassburr's bond was too strong, and would reflect unhealthily on their litters.

Morningsky made her only mistake here, and added a little too many tainted herbs into Slatefreckle and Beeflower's herb bundles. It caused the bleeding from the spontaneous kit-loss to be too strong, and Slatefreckle and Beeflower both passed away. Seeing Grassburr wail with grief over her sisters' bodies, her own body still weak from her kit-loss, did twist Morningsky's stomach a little, but she reasoned that Grassburr would become a better cat now that her sisters weren't holding her back. 

Morningsky was much more careful from then on, partly because she didn't want to have more blood on her paws, but also because she had an apprentice of her own now, Plumpaw, whom she doted on like a son. She wanted him to make his own path, just like Shimmerthroat had allowed Morningsky to do. 

That didn't mean she was done with her crusades, though. There was Batfall, a blind and partially deaf she-cat, Leopardtail, a tom who used to be a she-cat, and was now pregnant with kits, and Blackstream, who reminded Morningsky a little too much of her own mother, power-hungry and completely disinterested in being a mother. 

None of them would be good parents, and one after the other, they lost their kits, though thankfully, they didn't meet Slatefreckle and Beeflower's fate. Soon after Blackstream had lost her kits, it was time for Morningsky to give Plumpaw his medicine cat name. She smiled with delight as she named him Plumshadow, knowing fully well that she had taught him to be the best medicine cat that he could possibly be. 

After they had returned from the Moontree, Plumshadow came to Morningsky with a gift, a fat, juicy, nutria, her favorite prey. He said it was thanks for being such a good mentor to him. Morningsky thanked Plumshadow profusely and dug into the nutria. However, as she ate, she could sense a strong bitter undercurrent under the fatty and delicious flavours of the meat. 

She looked down to see the telltale dark greenish-brown bits of tainted herbs delicately woven into the fibers of the nutria's meat. Morningsky had simply looked up at Plumshadow with pride. She really had taught him well, hadn't she? Plumshadow simply nodded grimly and directed Morningsky to her nest, staying by her side as the herbs ravaged her body, and her breathing slowly came to a silent end.

Additional Information:

--Submission by @starfalcon555​

--Morningsky's surviving victims figured out what she was doing and went to Plumshadow to ask him to kill her. He did genuinely like her, but he also had a strong sense of justice, so he went through with it reluctantly.

--Plumshadow probably told the Clan that the nutria must have been rotten, so he got away with it.

hello friends! i will make a more detailed post about what a 'pfurr' is in prairieclan, but for now all you need to understand is that a pfurr is a cat's closest companions, essentially their partners. polyamory is totally normalized in prairieclan, and actually expected. a cat in a pfurr is assumed to be in a relationship with all the cats they aren't directly related to, and the units act as their own small families within the clan! maara is another term used in prairieclan, and it is a cat's closest friends, typically those they grew up with. important to note: cats in a pfurr are maara, but cats that are maara are not automatically in a pfurr together. all the cats listed are from my prairieclan clangen playthrough!!