Monthly Meow XLI

Original Post: Ember, October 27, 2015

Hey guys! This past month the roleplay has seen the medicine cats’ rule step onto its last legs. Over the last few weeks, DawnClan executed Dawnswallow and returned to a traditional structure by electing new leaders and Weepingstar’s attempts to hold his clan together were impeded by Geckospots’ sudden disappearance. Over the past week the arc came to a head with the MoonClan rebellion and an all-out battle to determine who would control the clan. MoonClan zealots were bested by a force of all three other clans alongside Geckospot’s rebels and a new era of peace between the clans seems to be on the way. There are some broad idea of what the next arc will be on the plot planning page, I’d love to hear what all of you think we should do next. As well, we’re taking volunteers for which characters will be sent into MoonClan to help rebuild the clan. NightClan, DawnClan, and SunClan are sending four cats each (apprentices and warriors), while MoonClan will be sending a cat to each of the other clans. They will be there only temporarily, you can find all of the other details on the plot planning page.

Outside of the roleplay, we have welcomed in a number of new members as pending accounts were accepted. I hope that all of you are settling into the roleplay! Pending accounts will be accepted again this coming weekend, so if you have any friends meaning to join the website, make sure they’ve signed up by then.

For this Monthly Meow I’ll be answering the questions that y’all submitted in September. Thank you Halo for suggesting this Monthly Meow’s topic and to everyone who sent in questions!

1. What made you want run the site? The website was actually started largely on a whim. My friend Silverwind and I had been on a warriors roleplay that had an inactive owner. We were frustrated by how unorganized it had become and decided to start our own.

2. How much time in your day do you spend on the site? This varies depending on which day it is. I tend to spend about an hour on the site on weekdays split between the morning and evening, Friday updates take four to six hours, Saturdays and Sundays vary the most with one to four hours spent on the site depending on how many other things I do or don’t have going on.

3. How have you managed to stay dedicated to the site? While I started the website just to participate in the roleplaying, I’ve become more interested in maintaining and improving the website itself. I take a lot of pride in keeping the roleplay organized and running. As well as that, I’m constantly amazed by the community that has grown here and its always a rewarding process to watch members’ roleplaying and art improve over the months or even years they spend roleplaying here.

4. Has the site turned out how you imagined it when you first made it? No. Not at all. I could not have imagined that the website would grow this big or continue six, now nearly seven, years, let alone the community of talented roleplayers choosing to spend their time here. When the website started I expected it to last maybe a few months until the group of friends I started it with and I got bored and moved to something else. Interestingly, MoonClan was intended to be the only clan and the plot was supposed to function solely around them being affected by two-legs and natural disasters, there weren’t supposed to be any wars between groups of cats.

5. How long did it take to gain 10 members? If you count ten members total, including those who registered and never post, maybe a few weeks from when the website was founded. However, if you count ten active members total this would be a few months. If you count ten active members on the website at one time, this didn’t happen until the website had been running for about three or four years and I began advertising through other roleplay sites.

6. What is the most members we have had registered on the site at a time? Probably around 65, however many of those members were inactive. The most active members we have had at a time is around 50.

7. How many Monthly Meows have you written? When did you start writing them? This is the 41st Monthly Meow. I started writing them at some point in 2011 and despite the name, they weren’t published consistently every month. At the time they also served a function closer to a history page (which we didn’t have at the time) than a newsletter. The Monthly Meows began to include ceremony lists and be more like a newsletter around 2013, around the time we made dedicated history and information pages.

8. How many of the warrior cats books have you read? How did you first come to reading them? I read the first two arcs and started the third, as well as reading a handful of super editions and the Scourge comics. Silverwing, the person who I started this site with, shoved the books into my face enough that despite the fact that I didn’t find the concept very interesting, I read the first six books just to get her to shut up. I can only thank her now for being pigheaded, I enjoyed the books more than I originally thought I would, and became involved in the fandom shortly afterward.

9. Who is your favorite past character and why? There have been so many fantastic characters, I’m going to have to choose my top ten listed chronologically. Sharkstar was the website’s first big villain, he’ll always have a special place in my heart for just being such a drama queen while remaining an intimidating bad guy. During Raven’s War I loved watching Silverstar’s exterior as a pragmatic but not entirely heart-less cat slowly crumble to reveal her true colors. In a similar vein, around the time of the Fallenstar’s War, Warpath made the transition from being Hawkeye’s right hand man, to an honorable hero for ending Cove and Vidia’s plot and attempting to warn NightClan of MoonClan’s first attack, to later turning on his allies. Each of these transitions were amazingly believable and made him one of the most three dimensional characters that had been on the website up to that point. Of course, it would be a crime for me not to mention Sunkenstar in this list. She was one of the most explosive villain characters this roleplay has ever had, but was anything but a mere threatening caricature. Her intricate backstory was considered every step of the way in progressing her character. While she was externally volatile and loud, her personality extended far beyond that into an introverted, self-conscious interior. In a very different vein, Mothstar of SunClan has always been a favorite of mine for just how sincere he was. He tried so hard to make the clans a better place, but things always worked against him in the end. As Fallenstar’s War came to an end, Hawkstar became DawnClan’s defining leader. He was immensely complex without losing his position as a father to the whole clan. In more recent arcs, I love how consistent Toxicstar’s personality was. He could be warm and compassionate, but throughout his life maintained the faults of being arrogant and uncompromising. Frozenstar was a major character in the same arc and was an amazingly consistent and three dimensional character throughout her nearly eight month rule: authoritative and cunning, but deeply and personally involved in the clan’s struggles. In our most recent arc, I have really enjoyed Ryestep and Weepingtiger. Ryestep is one of my characters, I am very happy with how her personal arc progressed from her being a pragmatic young she-cat, to being so ambitious that she cast aside all personal relationships, to at the end of her life realizing her own lack of compassion. Weepingtiger, the central character of our recently completed arc, has been among best villains this website has ever had. He had a vision and he had the drive, charisma, and courage to achieve it. He is above all else, terrifyingly realistic.

10. What’s your favorite couple of the site? Of the current couples, I’m part of the “Phold” bandwagon. What a cute leader/deputy pair, their interactions are always fun to read.

11. Your favorite clan? I think that all of the clans have their own strengths and weaknesses and tend to rotate between which clans I spend the most time on, but as a general rule I am consistently the most active in SunClan and sporadically active in NightClan. MoonClan and DawnClan switch off in the middle depending on what’s going on in the plot.

12. Did you consider any other names for the clans while making the site? What were they?MoonClan, NightClan, and DawnClan were all named fairly easily, but when Sunknen and I brainstormed names for SunClan, it took a while to settle on one. The second runner up was DuskClan. I decided against this as this new clan was on a plain and would see the so much sunlight without trees or buildings in the way, so the name SunClan seemed natural.

13. What was the average amount of characters in MoonClan just after the creation of SunClan? Sadly I don’t have records that go back that far, but my best guess would be around 40.

14. Your personal favorite arc from the site? I have been a big fan of the most recent Medicine Cat overthrow arc. It’s been very different from earlier arcs and much wider in scale. I feel that way we transitioned into the arc was very realistic and the amazing leaders and other prominent cats we have had throughout the arc have done an amazing job in supporting it alongside their clan’s involvement.

15. A memorable roleplay moment? The first scene that comes to mind is Mirestar being run out by MoonClan. I still have it saved on my computer. The situation was unplanned, from Mirestar’s conversation with Moonstar at the Moonstone, to Mirestar’s confrontation with Lichenstone and the clan overthrowing him. More recently, Amberstrike’s, Geckospots’, and Weepingstar’s speeches in the recent overthrow were all spectacular.

16. Did Moonstar have kits? If so, do you own a character that is related to him? If not, when did his bloodline die out? Moonstar did have a daughter named Rabbitfur with an unknown she-cat. You can trace this line as far as Lilystar’s and Granitepelt’s kits in DawnClan, where it sadly died out.

Now, I’ve got some questions for all of you: How did you find out about the website? What is your favorite clan? Favorite arc? Do you any ideas for guides or other features for the website?

Ceremonies

MoonClan

Apprentices

Dyingkit, Timberkit, Lunarkit, Cloudedkit, Infernokit, Sweetkit, Risingkit, Truthkit, Chilledkit, Littlekit, Lightkit, Dark-kit, Astralkit, Umbralkit, Scorchedkit, Winterkit, Wolfkit: Early November

Wildkit, Pumakit, Enchantingkit, Wolfkit, Ravenkit, Mintkit, Seikatsu, Mushroom, Kaiya, Yoshiko, Orangekit, Khan, Twilightkit: Mid November

Solsticekit, Shinku, Aka, Bramblekit: Late November

Warriors/Medicine Cat

Melodypaw, Dango, Riverpaw: Early November

Patchpaw, Dragonpaw, Batpaw, Firepaw, Lostpaw: Mid November

Witheredpaw, Breezepaw, Timepaw: Late November

Deaths: Drowningmoon, Dovemask

NightClan

Apprentices

Deepkit, Changingkit, Scarletkit, Warmkit, Silk-kit, Strongkit, Quietkit, Evilkit, Brick-kit: Early November

Mallowkit, Moonkit, Pumpkinkit, Poppykit, Riverkit, Nocturnalkit, Bonekit, Sunkit, Mintkit, Iriskit, Nightkit, Sacredkit, Drippingkit, Stormkit, Cryingkit, Callingkit, Hollowkit: Mid November

Dawnkit, Sigrid, Sjojn, Hel: Late November

Warriors

Nettlepaw, Eclipsepaw, Ivorypaw: Early November

Speckledpaw, Ebonypaw, Willowpaw, Honorpaw, Tranquilpaw: Mid November

Lightpaw, Darkpaw, Duskpaw, Owlpaw, Viperpaw, Alderpaw, Softpaw, Aerialpaw, Seapaw, Midnightpaw, Havenpaw, Nightpaw, Murkypaw, Runepaw, Snakepaw: Late November

Elders: Blazingtiger

Deaths: Bleedingrivers, Crow

DawnClan

Apprentices

Forgottenkit, Skeleteonkit, Molasseskit: Early November

Lanternkit: Mid November

Warriors

Cougarpaw, Porcupinepaw, Hopepaw, Luckypaw, Lightningpaw, Electricpaw: Early November

Dirtpaw, Currentpaw, Dragonpaw, Dewpaw: Late November

Elders: Killua, Charredpelt, Blazingrose, Opalfreeze

Deaths: Alessia, Raifall, Ragingwar, Shreddednight, Whitejade

SunClan

Apprentices

Serpentinekit, Bluekit, Moosekit, Kudos: Early November

Tornadokit, Mudkit, Gingerkit, Scootkit: Mid November

Eonkit, Voidkit, Desolatekit, Creepingkit, Dusk-kit: Late November

Warriors/Medicine Cat:

Grasspaw, Tawnypaw, Milkpaw, Tinderpaw, Whitepaw, Boulderpaw, Badgerpaw, Runningpaw, Maplepaw, Yuccapaw, Swiftpaw, Amaranthpaw, Beetlepaw, Dartingpaw: Mid November

Sourpaw, Sorrelpaw, Havenpaw, Solarpaw, Mintpaw, Icepaw, Gravelpaw: Late November

Elders: Tragicdeath, Bearheart, Hollyfrost