decided it would be fun to draw the prior leaders before the current leaders in-story for each clan, just to see how they’d contrast!
i should add these guys didn’t all lead at the same time- i’d estimate tatteredstar has been leading for about 11 years, shalestar about 8 years, tulipstar about 6 years, pigeonstar 3 years, and currantstar 1 year.
wheatstar of skyclan was a good deputy, at the least. quiet, passive, deferential to his leader; organizing patrols was one of his greatest skills. he cared for his clan deeply. however, as a leader he was... subpar. he was quite a bit of a doormat to the others, avoiding battle at any cost. eventually, he was mocked for being a coward by all clans, and his own clan- for the most part- detested him. ‘pulling a wheatstar’ became slang for being a doormat. eventually, he decided to pick a scrappy young cat named pigeonfang as his deputy, hoping pigeonfang’s fearless-to-the-point-of-danger personality would balance him out and make up for his past mistakes. on his last life, he disappeared, his pawprints leading out of camp into the forests beyond. only he knew where he was going. the shame skyclan experienced because of him is partly why they rally around pigeonstar so much.
marigoldstar of windclan was a spitfire of a deputy. energetic, wily, and something of a showoff, she initially was made deputy to balance out the previous leader, a pragmatic and often cold sort. however, with unnecessary battles, she began to lose her spark, and when she had half-clan kits due to a fling with a shadowclan tom, the spark went away altogether. to avoid controversy, she gave them to another molly in windclan to raise, and while all went well and her children never knew of their biological mother, she always wondered about what might have been. as a leader she was deeply logical and became one of the most level headed of the group of leaders. however, she always tried to choose deputies who she felt were wise from the start and wouldn’t have to learn it like she did. this led her choosing shaleshadow as her deputy- and the rest, as they say, is history.
boarstar of riverclan was too young to be leader, in many cats’ opinion, and they had a good point. the young tom was only made deputy practically the day he got his first apprentice because the previous riverclan leader had ‘favors’ to return to his father. boarstar became leader at only about 2 years of age, and he soon spent these lives with needless battles that jeopardized the safety of his own clan. what happened, you might ask, that resulted in a molly named tuliptail- now tulipstar, who, in comparison, is far more gentle- to become leader? well- you’ll have to see, it’ll be covered soon. :)
indigostar of thunderclan was very much like tatteredstar is now, if a bit less... intimidating. they tended to take a far more administrative position to battle- commanding cats into battle and not so much being on the battlefield themself. this had both its pros and cons- it was one of the few things tatteredstar, often at the forefront of her troop, disagreed with them about- but otherwise, the two held very similar opinions. after all, it was indigostar who mentored tatteredstar. while tatteredstar employs different methods than her predecessor, and does seem ambivalent on her thoughts about having been elected as leader in the first place, tatteredstar deeply respects them and holds them in high esteem.
specklestar of shadowclan was, for the most part, the typical shadowclanner- scrappy, sly, and an opportunist. she carried deep pride for her clan, and for the most part was a staunch isolationist, priding in how shadowclan tended to repel the other clans just by looks and demeanor alone. but when shadowclan had a big rogue problem and no other clan dared to help, resulting in the loss of quite a few warriors, specklestar had an epiphany, and worked to ‘reform’ shadowclan’s image into something ‘palatable’- even keeping cats she deemed as ugly from attending gatherings. this is also why she elected currantstrike as deputy- the tom was handsome, charismatic, and smooth as silk. she is quite resented in the clan now after her death due to repressing shadowclan culture and enforcing other beauty ideals onto the clan, and- although currantstar tries to avoid it- that feeling is beginning to bubble over onto him, too...
