Original Post: Ember, December 28, 2013
Hey guys! I hope y’all had lovely holidays and have a great year ahead! It’s been a great month on the site, the drought came to a close and in the past week there was a massive shift in power in Moon Clan and Night Clan as Emberstar and Phantomstar died. Good luck to the new leaders and deputies! I have a few small things to talk about before I start the main topic, first off is the advertisement box. I plan on adding buttons to other roleplay sites beside it, if you want your site to have one there it must belong to you, be an active Warriors roleplay and have a link or button to this side on the homepage, links page or advertisement page. Private message me with the address of the site, I will be checking every once in a while to make sure they’re still active and have a link/button to this site. Second, stop making giant group messages. If you want to make any sort of announcement to everyone, post it in the off topic chat on the home page. Anything that you want to put in a group message can probably be put there. Personal things that you don't want on the front page of the site probably shouldn't be handled in a group message, if you must you should individually message those who it is relevant to. Try to keep your messages to four people or less and make sure there is a real reason you are inviting each of them, for planning a plot or something of that sort. This month we also need to return to looking for new members, please advertise (non-annoyingly!) and tell your friends about the site.
Blizzard asked that I talk about all of the leaders for this Monthly Meow. Before I start I just want to say that these are just my opinions and you guys are free to disagree –in fact, I’d be really nice if we had a discussion about it in the comments instead of all of them being corrections for the to-do list (though, if you see a mistake on there please correct me.). I mean no offence by any of this; remember that I am talking about a character and not about the owner of the character. Plus, having a less than ideal leader is the best thing for the clan and the plot. We will never have a perfect leader in any of the clans, as leaders must match the clan they belong to. Moon Clan leaders should be arrogant and tradition bound, Night Clan should be leaders are harsh or cruel with no regard for the code or tradition, Dawn Clan leaders should be too nice and pushed around, Sun Clan leaders should be too cautious . A brave, honorable, kind, merciful, patient, just, authoritative, wise, thoughtful and all around perfect leader would never be named, as every clan honors different things and it would be a bad character to start with.
Moon Clan was founded by Moonstar, an old wise tom that was more of a father than a leader. His vision was of a peaceful forest, which lead him to found the clans. He had only one life remaining when the website opened and didn’t last long. Silverstar, his deputy who he treated like his daughter, succeeded him. She was blind, but the best fighter in the clan. Silverstar was very good at reading and manipulating cats, she was extremely ambitious and planned to take over all of the forest and city. I can’t really talk about her without mentioning Hawkeye, who was her deputy until she was banished. Hawkeye was in many ways her opposite, while Silverstar was cool and collected Hawkeye was extremely impulsive and often violently so. Hawkeye was aware Silverstar was manipulating her and believed herself to be smarter than Silverstar, which, of course, she wasn’t. In the end they killed each other, I have the battle (written by Silverwing) posted on my page. Silverwing (the person) commented to me the other day, “stuff was so much simpler between silverwing and hawkeye, then there was just murder romance was cast aside”. Spottedstar was the next leader of Moon Clan, a bit of a spaz given the difficult task of rebuilding a clan decimated in the war. Her mate died following shortly after the birth of her blind and crippled son, Warpath. She stuck rigidly to the code, in the end stress from her useless deputy and the actions of her best friend, Fallenstar, got to her and she went mad. Waterstar was next, she stuck to the code only when it was convenient and went out of her way to prove to her clan how much she cared, though often only proved how foolish she was. She refused to let her wounds be treated after battle until everyone else’s were treated first, no matter how minor theirs were and how sever hers were. Her daughter, Dawnstar, followed her as leader. Dawnstar was very similar to her mother and neglected to give the clan a deputy until only moons before her death, shortly following Snakestar naming Sunkenskull as his deputy. Emberstar was the next leader of Moon Clan, she was a very competent cat but her arrogance and immediate dismissal of the ideas of others prevented her clan from taking several chances to end the war that they had been in since Spottedstar’s rule, often making a bad situation much worse and costing the clan many lives. Emberstar thought very highly of herself and always believed what she was doing was right, though in many cases there was a better option. Mirestar is the current leader of Moon Clan, I can’t say much about him because he has only been in power for a very short time. He has no experience and was deputy for only a day and a half before Emberstar died. It is quite possible that he will be a horrible ruler, caring too much for his kin, but he could do well. He and Crimsonstar seem to get along a lot better than Emberstar and Phantomstar had.
Founded not long after Moon Clan was River Clan, started by Reedstar. He was a close friend of Moonstar, but much younger and more eager to prove himself. He did what he thought was best for his clans and was a very kind, caring cat, but his lack of experience caused him to make many foolish decisions. He was overthrown by Sharkstar, who renamed the clan Bone Clan. Sharkstar was the first villain on the site, though he was an idiot and played off for laughs more than as a truly threatening character. He was killed by Hawkeye, Wolfstar chased out the rest of his henchmen. She had been Reedstar’s apprentice and had barely been named a warrior by Moonstar when she rebuilt the broken River Clan- now called Storm Clan. She was extremely young and lacked experience; while she was an admirable warrior she failed her clan as a leader due to her excessive pride and tendency towards self-serving decisions. Swiftstar followed her, continuing the unfortunate chain of River Clan leaders. She was absentminded and neglected her clan in favor of her mate and kits. After her death what few Storm Clan cats remained –only8 or 9, if I remember correctly- joined Moon Clan. Storm Clan was never strong and never given the support of a strong leader they needed.
Fallenstar was the first leader of Night Clan. She founded the clan after Hawkeye and Silverstar died, urged by her close friend Spottedstar. She had always been a sweet, shy cat and emerged an unexpected hero from the war. She was never very bright and was far too trusting for the city. Despite the warnings of her clan, she broke the code by taking a Storm Clan medicine cat as a mate and went to war when Spottedstar attempted to banish both of them. This was what started the war between Moon Clan and Night Clan that is still going on. It could have been ended by the next leader, but instead she named her son, Snakefang, as deputy. Snakestar was similar to Silverstar, cunning and manipulative. Also like her he did not get his own paws dirty and used an assortment of tricks to get others to do his bidding. He encouraged the war by provoking Dawnstar and Waterstar on many occasions but kept the support of his clan my insisting he wanted peace. His lies caught up to him and he lost the support of his clan as he grew old, eventually naming a deputy shortly before he was killed by Dawnstar. Under him Night Clan became much weaker, even though they grew in size they were constantly fighting amongst themselves. Sunkenstar ruled her clan with an iron fist, unifying them and encouraging gang-like behavior that enraged the more traditional Moon Clan. Oh Sunkenstar, now that was a cat! I’m pretty sure most of you would agree when I say she was one of the, if not the, most memorable character on this website. She’s one of the few insane characters I have seen that was pulled off well; she deserves a Disney-style villain song or something. Sunkenstar was Night Clan to the core: cruel, unforgiving, and fierce. Phantomstar followed her honestly difficult to follow act. He was softer on his clan and it grew into the largest and possibly strongest under his rule. He had many mates, similar to Snakestar, and lots of kits. He also shares Snakestar’s outwardly gentlemanly character, but unlike Snakestar he has shown himself to be far softer on his family and mates than he is to cats he has no personal relationship with and does not keep his clan under his control very well. Crimsonstar, who was just named the other day and who I can’t say much on yet, promises to have a firmer hand with the clan. He will probably not fool around with she-cats and be overall more focused on ruling than Phantomstar ever was. Crimsonstar in many ways seems like he will be a saner Sunkenstar, it’ll be interesting to see how he actually turns out.
Dawn Clan is still a relatively new clan, founded by Amberstar. Amberstar was a warrior of Moon Clan who founded the clan for cats who wanted a peaceful place to live. While his intentions were good he was a paranoid cat and allowed him and his clan to be bullied by the larger and stronger Moon Clan. His mate ruled the clan through him, had she been less capable it is possible Dawn Clan would have been destroyed. Star Clan did not give him his lives, he committed suicide and left his inept deputy, Greysky as leader. Greystar was stable. That is the best that can be said for her, she ruled for a short time and was not particularly memorable. She managed to hold the clan together and had the good judgment name Hawkfeather as her deputy. Hawkstar is a gentle and understanding cat with a level head. He has a deep respect for his clan mates and takes their advice, making him closer to his clan than any leaders since Moonstar. In many ways he is all that Dawn Clan could have hoped for. However, his fatherly behavior towards his clan can make him too soft on them. He is perhaps too compassionate towards the other clans and can be manipulated by their leaders. This was especially true when he was a less experienced leader more closely following Greystar and Amberstar’s pawsteps.
Sun Clan is the newest clan, it was founded just over this summer by Mothstar. Mothstar did not rule for very long, but proved himself to be accepting of all cats. He had no experience and in many ways did not rule his clan so much as advise them and hope they didn’t do anything too bad. He was easily pushed around by the other leaders, making one of the more memorable of his moments when he threatened suicide over bickering leaders during a gathering, all the more surprising. He had the good sense to listen to the leaders of the other clans, making Star Clan accept him much more easily than they had Dawn Clan, who sought to distance themselves from the other clans. In many ways Mothstar was similar to Fallenstar, however his rule does not appear to have left much of a mark on Sun Clan. Rainstar was next and has given her clan more dignity than her predecessor, more firmly ruling her clan and establishing them as a less air-headed and eccentric and more thoughtfully cautious. On the other hand, Rainstar perhaps does not take her position as leader seriously enough. She took a mate and bore kits during a devastating drought and war and occasionally neglects ceremonies. While she has improved on her clan’s reputation since Mothstar’s rule, they continue to be pushed around by Moon Clan. Sun Clan will need a more firm leader in the future, a tom or she-cat who isn’t afraid to refuse other clans support.
For all the clans there are certain things I look for in leaders and their owners. The most important thing for an owner to be is active. There have been a few leaders we’ve had to awkwardly write out of the plot after their owners stopped coming online. In the first few years of the site it was so common that when a person became leader we’d just pray they wouldn’t leave. If you’ve heard us oldies mention “leader syndrome” that’s what we’re talking about, when someone becomes a leader and leaves the site right after. I try to keep a mix of people who have had leaders before and those who haven’t, as well as making sure that I don’t put two aggressive not-technically-powerplaying-but-kind-of-nearing-it-at-times or two very laid back go with the flow people together. I try to put people in clans they seem to enjoy roleplaying the most in. Due to all of this I sometimes end up giving people a position long after I feel like they deserve one.
I cannot stress enough how important it is that a leader matches the clan rather than being a perfect leader. Apart from not making any sense in their clan, a “perfect” leader would be extremely bland at best, the most horrific of Mary-Sues at worst. The owner should feel strongly about their character or they may not play it much, it may become a very bland character. If after I name you as deputy you start to dislike your character and don’t think you can fix it, come talk to me. We can probably work it out so you can switch out which character you have in the position before they become a leader and it becomes a lot harder to make the switch. In some clan its acceptable for a leader to have a mate, in others it’s not. In Moon Clan it is greatly frowned upon, even more so for a leader to have kits. Spottedstar was the first MC leader to have a mate and kits, you can read more about it in the history page but long story short it ended terribly. Waterstar named her kit as the next deputy, which went poorly as well. The first conflict in Moon Clan was over mates (Rabbitfur/Fallenleaves) and the war they have been locked in since Spottedstar was over a leader and her mate. In Night Clan leaders have a tendency to be flirts but not have a serious mate, if they do have a more serious mate it doesn’t dominate their lives. Dawn Clan encourages their leaders to have mates, it may have something to do with their clan being more like a large family than in the other clans. It is frowned upon in Sun Clan, as they are the clan that is (at least, are supposed to be) the least swayed by emotion and a mate would be seen as a distraction. As for other values and such, I have clan descriptions on the information page you can use to help- not just with leaders, but with all your characters it’s a good place to start. When you have a leader you should try to start losing lives immediately, most of our leaders have lost them all at once because their owners didn’t plan ahead.
As for deputies, don’t be a bad deputy. Play your deputy, your leader/deputy should be your most played character. There have been so many deputies that don’t do anything. Organize patrols, lead your clan, plan with the leader. The clan is under the control of the leader, but you still have a very important rule. This is even more true if the leader has kits or is inactive, you may even need to do ceremonies. The owner of the deputy and leader should be working together as well, I would suggest getting to know eachother at least a bit (off-topic PMs and such help) as it’ll make roleplaying with them more fun.
Ceremonies and Such:
Moon Clan:
Apprentices: Burningkit, Applekit, Skykit: Early January Honeykit, Ferretkit: Late January
Warriors: Sandpaw, Finchpaw, Goldenpaw: Early January Oak-kit: Mid January Hiddenpaw, Rowanpaw, Ivypaw: Late January Elders: Rainflower
Night Clan:
Apprentices: Reedkit, Deathkit: Early January Ripplekit, Heatherkit, Spookykit: Mid January Emeraldkit: Late January
Warriors: Windpaw, Duskpaw, Lightpaw, Ivorypaw, Gentlepaw, Callie: Early January Dewpaw, Berrypaw, Adderpaw, Oakpaw: Mid January Fallenpaw, Masquerade, Alamo, Wicked: Late January
Dawn Clan:
Apprentices: Swankit: Early January Flamekit , Silverkit, Shardkit, Bluekit, Spottedkit, Birchkit, Briarkit, Stormkit, Flightkit, Otterkit, Winterkit: Late January
Warriors: Duckpaw: Early January
Sun Clan:
Apprentices: Redkit, Swiftkit, Swoopkit: Mid January Dark-kit, Mothkit, Miserykit, Ivykit, Shiningkit, Shadowkit, Cardinalkit: Late January
Warriors: Diamondpaw, Ashenpaw, Mistypaw, Creampaw, Flightpaw: Early January Arrowpaw, Rustpaw: Mid January Lightningpaw, Flashpaw, Flickerpaw: Late January
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