Original Post Date: Ember, February 27, 2016
Hey guys! It's been a very exciting month on the roleplay as the flooding arc has come to a head in the battle currently raging on in the territory. Out of character, registrations were opened and many new members were welcomed into the site. Thank you to Angel for suggesting this Monthly Meow topic! As promised, I'll be going over several scenes that I feel the summaries on the History Page don't do justice. Hopefully y'all enjoy the scene descriptions, I'd love to do another one of these with scene requests if you guys are interested in it.
Sharkstar and the Battle of BoneClan
The Battle of BoneClan was the first large-scale battle ever held on the roleplay and it would be difficult to overstate exactly how excited everyone was. And the fight did not disappoint. The battle began with a reckless gamble by Hawkeye, who would later go one to be one of the great villains of the site, single-handedly trying to assassinate Bonestar. This, as you might imagine, went poorly. Sharkstar himself was largely a comic relief, but unfortunately for Hawkeye, he was a comic relief with quite the knowledge of killing and was able to control a hoard of gang cats. The only reason Hawkeye survived was because Sharkstar had chosen to make a show of her death rather than killing her straight away, which he was easily capable of.
As that fight raged on, Robinwing’s prophetic dream shook MoonClan. Cats argued whether or not to believe in the vision, and whether they should risk themselves to save Hawkeye, who went in secret without their support, or wait until MoonClan was better prepared to defeat BoneClan. Ultimately, the clan decided to attack now, before BoneClan could grow stronger. Just as Hawkeye was nearing death, they burst into BoneClan’s camp. The battle itself was quick and bloody, many MoonClan warriors were slaughtered before Sharkstar was killed and his goons fled. This event also sparked the creation of StormClan, composed of RiverClan survivors and a handful of MoonClanners.
Silverstar and Hawkeye’s Duel
While large-scale battles tend to determine the outcomes of large arcs, the final show-down between Hawkeye and Silverstar (more commonly referred to as simply Hawk and Silver) ended the greatest threat the clans have ever faced: the complete destruction of their way of life.
Raven’s massive army was eager to take over the forest for the rich supply of prey it held, but their great weakness was organization. City cats were used to independence, or being loosely connected in small, short-lived gangs. While Raven had a small group of dedicated supporters, most were in her army only so long as they were certain it would provide them more safety than any other alternative. However, toward the end of the war Raven was gaining a reputation of being paranoid and weak. The city cats, having no viable alternative, clung to the army but threw their support under Hawkeye, who, despite being increasingly impulsive and violent, was able to capture enough fear in the cats to prevent any large gangs from rising up to challenge Raven’s army.
When Hawkeye and Silverstar turned on each other and died by each other’s claws, the structure of the city collapsed. The power vacuum left behind allowed the clans to create NightClan, which stopped the city from being quite as volatile as it had been entirely under large, competing gangs before Raven’s rule. As well, this scene revealed the true circumstances of the murders originally attributed to BoneClan. Hawkeye and Silverstar had slowly been picking off the cats who discovered their plot to take over the forest and city or stood in the way of their path to power. Thank you to Silverstar who spent an hour on a very busy Saturday digging through years old emails to find this scene! You can read the fight itself HERE.
Supporting SunClan’s Foundation
SunClan’s foundation was unlike RiverClan/StormClan, NightClan, and DawnClan in that they were not an offshoot of an already existing clan. Instead, a group of loners and former gang members envied the relative safety that the clans’ structure had granted them and banded together to imitate what they had observed the clans doing. Unlike DawnClan, who were initially denied official clanhood by StarClan on grounds of the clan being founded by MoonClan deserters, SunClan was readily accepted as a full clan at the time of their foundation even though they had little specific knowledge of how the clans operated.
The clans took note of the suspicious behavior on the loners’ plains but decided not to investigate, as there seemed to be few cats marking the borders. When SunClan showed up at the gathering, the clans were actually welcoming to them, despite the tense interactions and competition for resources that took place between different clans. In fact, several cats were volunteered for each clan to live with SunClan for a time and teach them about the ways of a clan.
However, the motivations behind this apparent charity may be questionable, as with the fighting between MoonClan and NightClan at its peak, all of the clans were vying for power and may have seen even the small, disorganized SunClan as a potentially helpful ally.
Mirestar’s Banishment
Emberstar had been through a series of deputies, her most recent having proven himself incapable of leading the clan. Only a day after naming her most recent deputy, Mirepath, her shoulder was bitten by Phantomstar during a border skirmish. Emberstar died of infection several days later and Mirestar was suddenly given charge of the clan.
His leadership proved disastrous from the beginning. His deputy was a known kiss-up, while Mirestar himself was young, having barely earned his warrior name, and while no one would doubt his bravery, he lacked wisdom and grew paranoid that MoonClan’s medicine cat, Lichenstone, was making plans to usurp him.
While seeking guidance from StarClan, Mirestar questioned Lichenstone’s loyalty to Moonstar, who gave only a vague answer. Seeing this as proof of his suspicions, Mirestar attempted to have Lichenstone removed from the position as soon as he returned to the camp. Hostilities flared on both sides: Lichenstone’s supporters insisted that Mirestar was paranoid and power-hungry, pointing to Mirestar’s murder of his own mate, his generally irresponsible behavior, and that StarClan alone had authority over Medicine Cats, while Mirestar’s supporters stressed the importance of loyalty to the clan, reminded the others of the cats Lichenstone had failed to heal, and brought up Lichenstone’s mistreatment of his former apprentices. To add to the chaos of the scene, Mirestar’s very flesh to tear and bleed before the clan’s eyes, while interpreted this as a sign from StarClan, others it as a simple sickness, possibly another failure of Lichenstone’s that may be causing Mirestar’s erratic behavior. Violence broke out and several cats were killed before Mirestar was run from the camp.
This scene was important for more than just being exciting, as all of it was entirely spontaneous and unplanned: this was the first time that any of the clans had run out their leader. As well, from this point onward Lichenstone’s influence over the clan only grew. Even after he had retired from the position of medicine cat he served as an unofficial deputy under Mirestar. From this angle, his rise to power can be read as foreshadowing Weepingstar’s later overthrow of the traditional clan hierarchy.
This is another scene that has been saved, it can be read HERE.
MoonClan
Apprentices:
Ghostkit, Actaekit, Vervainkit, Lobeliakit, Arumkit, Trilliumkit, Sennakit, Gentiankit, Ruekit, Leechkit, Tallowkit, Mochakit: Early March
Drykit, Mousekit, Sapkit, Creamkit, Northernkit, Icekit, Leo, Aquarius, Capricorn, Rainkit, Pisces, Scorpio, Gemini, Sagittarius, Cancer, Virgo, Taurus, Aries, Libra, Starkit, Forestkit: Mid March
Hemlock-kit, Callowkit: Late March
Warriors:
Snowpaw: Early March
Fatefulpaw, Goldenpaw: Mid March
Elders: Alex
Deaths: Grain-nose, Stonepelt
NightClan
Apprentices:
Woodkit, Mirekit, Bearkit, Winterkit, Sinfulkit, Wolfkit, Breezekit: Early March
Cardinalkit, Nectarkit, Duck-kit, Ghostkit, Roscia, Sabina: Mid March
Warriors:
Frostedpaw, Venompaw: Late March
Elders: Coldstar
Deaths: Woofy, Philosphymirror, Whotella
DawnClan
Apprentices:
Glowingkit, Dazzlekit, Ducklingkit, Goldenkit, Riverkit, Zaffrekit: Early March
Cobaltkit, Knightkit: Mid March
Warriors:
Ivypaw, Frostpaw, Hawkpaw, Stormpaw, Snowpaw, Oceanpaw, Dappledpaw: Early March
Hedgepaw, Eightpaw, Victorypaw, Lynxpaw, Seraphpaw, Hookedpaw: Mid March
Snowypaw, Dawnpaw, Riverpaw, Waterpaw, Fenpaw, Newtpaw: Late March
Medicine Cat:
Dandelionpaw: Mid March
Deaths: Wolfbreeze, Darkwing, Asher, Blitzclaw, Fawnleap, Scarletheart
SunClan
Apprentices:
Bronzekit, Bluekit, Falconkit, Peregrinekit, Jinxkit: Early March
Shadekit, Streamkit, Coyotekit, Longkit: Mid March
Willowkit: Late March
Warriors:
Cavepaw, Rabbitpaw, Ephemeralpaw, Lightningpaw, Dustypaw, Fireflypaw, Prairiepaw, Glowingpaw, Phantompaw, Arcticpaw: Early March
Spiritpaw, Orcapaw, Ravenpaw, Sandypaw, Justicepaw, Silentpaw: Mid March
Elders: Ancient Echoes, Endlesshorizon
Deaths: Shortstep, Bombay
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