You know I have to ask about splintered lightning 😉 - @foxstride
so!! i JUST came up with the idea for it with @heathfall
long and short of it is. "man it was cool when windclan had a civil war over deputy choice. hey wait a minute why the fuck didn't thunderclan do that that would have been badass"
so it's basically that! fireheart doesn't get named deputy before moonhigh like he should and the clan is now torn between who to follow and, as the title suggests, splinters off into two factions.
i figure it's more thematically resonant as a parallel with tigerstar uniting shadowclan and riverclan into tigerclan, it creates more cohesion around the themes of uniting together against a common enemy (as with the fire, the dogs, and later bloodclan, and is resonant of the message passed down in The First Battle in dotc, "unite or die")
plus it's just interesting to think about the political alignment of thunderclan after the betrayal of tigerclaw and bluestar's seemingly-inability to lead in the wake of it, and thunderclan as a whole not trusting fireheart enough to lead them yet.
it's not super fleshed out yet and probably warrants a reread of the end of forest of secrets as well as the last three books in tpb, but it's a very fun concept to be playing with rn!
