Does this mean we can have silk “scarf” or “shawls” in BB
bc that would make every scene so much better imagine Mistystar making a speech with silk accessories
I've been on-and-off looking at the possibility of the Clans making accessories out of silk for a few months now, but because of a lack of good historical examples to draw from, I've sadly had to rule it out for now.
Eastern silk production, which produces enough strong material to actually get used as a textile, is completely dependent on the fabulous, beautiful animal known as Bombyx Mori, the Domestic Silk Moth. What's amazing about this moth is that it's been domesticated for 5,000 years, and is so genetically distinct from its ancestors that they can't always produce offspring with their direct progenitor, Bombyx Mandarina!
In the west, we don't have any species (that I know of) which are capable of producing enough fiber. So far I've explored three kinds of animals, but hit snags with each one.
First one I started looking at was just some sort of alternative to bombyx mori, another silk-producing moth. While "wild silks" have been collected and used in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and even the Mediterranean and Middle East, it seems like central and northern Europe are like the one place on the planet where there's no appropriate wild silk moths.
At some point I encountered the Caddisfly and went down a small rabbithole for them. Caddis silk is VERY similar to that of a silkworm chemically, but also water resistant. Unfortunately, caddisflies cover their sticky cocoons in rocks and sticks, like bagworms. That would probably make the silk less useful.
The most promising was spider silk. Used as wound dressings since ancient times, briefly used to create paintings, plus several "proof of concepts" of modern humans applying silkworm techniques to create small amounts of textiles, several factors made me back off.
Spiders produce several kinds of silk, unlike insects which typically only make one per species. This means that you can't just apply "one technique" to turn all their silk from Bug Butt String to Useable Material-- you have to develop a technique for egg casing silk, dragline silk, capture silk, etc.
This means that I'd need to separately research every documented instance of spider silk weaving to understand what type of spider silk they were using, PLUS what species it came from, and if that species has any relatives in the modeled region, and if those relatives produce the right sort of silk, etc.
AND if these processes require too many advanced tools, all of that work would go out the window since Clan cats are working with sticks and rocks.
So, unless somehow unlimited money falls on me tomorrow and I get to hire a fleet of entomologists to conduct Silly Cat Experiments in tandem with, I can't find a path to silk textiles yet.
.....YET.
Because I can feel it in my bones that somehow, intelligent cats would be MILES ahead of human cultures in this technology. I think it would be just like humans and cheese. We didn't domesticate cows for their milk-- we domesticated them for MEAT, and THEN accidentally figured out how to make cheese by keeping milk in early "leather" (stomach) bags.
Likewise, cat cultures would be domesticating insects for food first. Silk would be a byproduct.
So someday I'd like to sit down and just explore what sorts of insects they would logically prioritize as food, which of those do well in captive conditions, and then work from there. Not only would it generally give me a good place to start with, but most importantly, it would feel more organic. As much as possible, I try to avoid working "backwards" culturally by starting with a tech and then figuring out how they got it.
Anyway! Mistystar can still have accessories
The primary textiles that Clan cats have is leather, linen, and yarn. Linen is the highest quality and most labor intensive material they have, worn by leaders, clerics, and other high-ranking cats as a sign of their status.
The shawl is actually canon lmao, a supporting character in Darkstar's Commandment is actually going to be wearing one. Xeir name is Smallstar, and they get to NOT die in BB because of the fact that Mapleshade's kittens are the ones who died to create Commandment 14. Runningstorm and Wolfheart also have very small cameos.
