Hello everyone! It’s been a lovely August on Warrior Cats of the Forest as we welcomed in a whole bunch of new members and extended the war between the clans with a SunClan-MoonClan battle and Fencestar’s release of Glasswind, EarthClan’s deputy. As well, we are experimentally changing how plot planning works, for more information about that see the Survey Response blog entry.
September’s community building tip of the month is to reach out to new members in-game and get them involved in scenes that are already happening. This helps new members feel more integrated into the website and, who knows, you could have a new favorite roleplay partner!
This month’s Monthly Meow was a submitted by Alienfish, who gave us an interesting new perspective on a few broad categories that leaders often fit into. If you’d like to submit a Monthly Meow of your own, check out the Member-Submitted Monthly Meow blog entry and pitch me your idea. Without further ado, I’ll hand it over to Alienfish:
It’s tough to deny that the most important characters in the history of Warrior Cats of the Forest are the leaders of the clans. With few exceptions, such as Hawkeye, Bloodpath, Lichenstone, and Kingfish, the leaders have been the most influential characters in the site’s plot. This has been especially true in my own time on the site, where most of the plot has been driven by plot planning which focused on large, political movements and ideas. Because of how influential leaders can be, and because so many people aspire to make their characters into leaders, I think it’s worthwhile to take a look at these most influential of characters, and the different types of leaders which we often see on WCF.
The labels I’ve used to sort leaders into broad categories are obviously not very specific. Any one leader likely fits into more than one category, while few if any of them would ever fit solely into one. It’s not so much a categorization as it is an establishment of several distinct archetypes whose traits we can try to apply to the many leaders in this site’s history.
The Crusader
A leader with a singular cause, or vendetta, which drives most or all of their leadership. Some leaders come into the leadership with a cause like this, and cause chaos in their first few months before burning out in glorious, spectacular fashion. Leaders often tend to develop such a vendetta towards the tail end of their leadership, but this late-life cause-finding typically does not produce a crusade so much as it serves as a path towards resolution and finality for their leadership. Crusaders will inevitably drive the plot forward, since their vendettas give them a motive and their position as leaders give them the power to do so.
Prominent examples of crusader-type leaders include Crimsonstar, whose goal to wipe out SunClan drove him to near insanity, and Poppystar, whose desire to enforce NightClan’s survival-of-the-fittest mentality encouraged her own death when she grew weak. More recently, Buckstar’s emphasis on strength and prosperity for MoonClan seems to be the driving force behind his own leadership - a force which may have serious effects on both his own clan, and the balance of power between the four. Crusader-type leaders tend to be some of the most memorable characters in the site’s long-term history.
The Guardian
Leaders who genuinely care about their clans, and whose sole purpose tends to be putting out the sparks before they can become fires, or dealing with the fires before they burn down the forest, fit into this archetype. These leaders often lament about being overwhelmed by the many problems their clans face - from personal disputes to rebellious apprentices to lackadaisical patrols, they will deal with every single issue personally because they can’t help but care. Guardian-types are often described as ‘father figures’ or ‘mother figures’ to their clans due to their personal involvement with everyone’s issues, like a parent with their children. These leaders typically respond to the plot rather than pushing the plot forward, but they are especially important for maintaining activity within a clan and for facilitating the roleplaying of other members.
One of the best examples of a guardian-type leader is Epochstar, whose relentless problem solving was forced to go into overdrive during the flood, where the combination of four clans in one barn made for a plot ripe with interpersonal issues and plenty of fires to be put out. While guardian-type leaders have been more sparse recently, Risingstar could be considered a ‘boundary-pusher’ for this archetype, since, while dealing with many personal problems, he also had a very large effect on the plot and, to be fair, was not so much caught up with his clan’s problems as with the multitude of problems he continually created for himself (we’ll come back to him later). Many leaders end up having traits of this archetype, but if a leader has a lack of time in general or too many other plots to deal with, this is the most likely aspect of a leadership to be sacrificed.
The Reformer
The one defining traits of reformers is that they almost always come into their leadership under unusual circumstances, such as rebellion, disappearance, or a leader forced into resignation by an unhappy clan. They build their leadership on the promise to change things - often to ‘go back to the clan’s roots/traditions’ or ‘return to the good old days.’ They typically have a very strong vision of what the clan should be, and more often than not they have supporters willing to back them up; these supporters are usually deeply unhappy with a previous leadership or with the ‘status quo’ of the clan. Reformers, if effective, can drastically shape how a clan is interpreted for generations to come; if ineffective, they usually lead to yet another reformer.
It’s impossible to discuss reformers without discussing one of the most significant plot events from the past few years: the Fall of DawnClan. This plot, lasting more than a year, began with the end of the Medicine Cat Uprising. In response to Dawnswallow’s atrocities as leader, Locuststrike was brought in as Locuststar. Over the course of his leadership, he fostered a new movement within DawnClan, which eventually came to be known as the Nationalists; they advocated for a more aggressive attitude, so that DawnClan could not be ‘taken advantage of’ by the other clans for their traditionally peaceful nature. They were opposed by the Traditionalists, who wanted to maintain DawnClan’s long-standing reputation for kindness and peace. Locuststar is a clear example of a highly effective reformer, as he and his followers changed DawnClan’s political atmosphere forever. After he was forced out, Echostar was elected, beginning a long line of Traditionalist leaders who were themselves forced out of the position by the violence of the Nationalists. Echostar resigned amidst fears for her family; Oriolestar was murdered; and Flamestar was killed in a battle when the tensions between the two sides finally boiled over. Lightningstar was the last reformer in this line, but while Locuststar had promised reform for the Nationalists and his three successors promised reform for the Traditionalists, Lightningstar promised a reform that would simply return peace and end the political schism which had led DawnClan to civil war. These five reformers, and the differences between them, exemplify the archetype.
The Instigator
A character who, simply by existing, creates drama and conflict which the clans get drawn into. This type of leader is notable less for their leadership and more for the sheer force of roleplaying which members put into ensuring that their life is never boring. The key to differentiating an instigator is to look at how connected their plots are to the overall plot. A leader with side-plots which end up affecting the overall plot is very different from a leader whose motivations and machinations are in support of or in parallel with the main plot, and only the former of those two would be an instigator-type.
Risingstar. While others have traits of an instigator-type, Risingstar’s abundance of side-plots - and the drastic effects they had on EarthClan and, to an extent, EclipseClan - are the epitome of an instigator, and it’s unlikely that there will be one as effective as Risingstar for a long time yet. Historically, characters like Sunkenstar have created plenty of drama to drive the plot, and in doing so, they fuel interest in and activity on the site.
The Overseer
Easily confused with guardian-types, overseer-types are less involved in the day-to-day minutiae of clan-life in favour of running the wider-scale politics of a clan. This may be a personal preference of the roleplayer, or it may be worked into a leader’s personality and inclinations. Overseer-types are instrumental in enforcing plot planning decisions and in pushing the site-wide plot forward. Due to this, they are often very flexible to plot planning decisions, though they may have very strong personalities at the same time.
Good examples of overseer-types include Aspenstar, who initiated both the isolation plot and the use of spies during that period, and Boundstar, who guided the NightClan-DawnClan merger and the leadership of EarthClan in its original form. Any leader that functions significantly in facilitating the site-wide plot could easily be categorized here - meaning that leaders whose clans were never the focus of the site-wide plot during their tenure would have difficulty being seen as overseer-types simply because they were never given the circumstances necessary to fill this role.
The Established Character
Many leaders are made specifically to be leaders, but occasionally, a member will use a pre-existing character to fulfill the leadership position. These characters carry over the history, motivations, and plots which they had as a warrior, but now must fit those into the framework of leadership and their newfound importance in clan politics. This often makes these characters diverse, and allows them to fit into many of the other archetypes simultaneously.
Excellent examples of this archetype include Sneakstar, who was well established as the highly respected warrior Sneak (one of my personal favourite characters for a multitude of reasons), and Fencestar, who had previously been involved in such well-renowned side plots as Fence Club.
To wrap things up, I’d just like to mention one other trait which many leaders from plenty of these archetypes might possess: a desire to protect clan identity. There are some leaders who redefine clans and there are some who upset their clans enough to be ousted with force, but it is probably even more vital that we have the leaders who do their best to adamantly maintain a clan’s identity and carry forward the traditions and systems to the next generation. A good execution of this type of leader can create an incredibly strong clan identity, which helps to fuel the site-wide plot, and to make roleplay more fun and engaging. Sometimes sticking with a vengeance to the traditions which have always worked is the best way to make a leader effective and well-liked.
So what archetypes have I missed? What archetypes do you see in our current cast of leaders, or in your favourite leader from the site’s history? There are plenty of good ones to go out and analyze, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Discussion fosters innovation, and innovation fosters progress. What types of leaders do you want to see as this site progresses into the future?