Hello everyone!
October's Gathering is scheduled to take place this coming weekend, Friday the 12th through Sunday the 14th. As usual, the clans will arrive on Friday and the Gathering will officially commence on Saturday, then be drawn to a close Sunday afternoon or evening. Unlike past gatherings and by member request, the attendees will not be assigned by the leaders this month. Instead, members can choose one of their eligible characters from each clan to attend.
This Gathering will be stormy on several fronts. MoonClan and EclipseClan will be reeling from a border skirmish, which will leave MoonClan suspicious that EclipseClan had something to do with Buckstar's death and make EclipseClan feel unjustly targeted. EclipseClan, in a show of strength, will declare their new alliance to SunClan, who may feel betrayed that they didn't know the full extent of EclipseClan's troubles with MoonClan and SunClan. EarthClan, who have had several border skirmishes with SunClan and whose trust in EclipseClan was entirely shattered by Glass-star's kidnapping and Risingstar's death, will feel very vulnerable and will have more reason to side with MoonClan, who will also be eager for more support in the face of the new SunClan-EclipseClan alliance.
This should all have the general result of further solidifying the SunClan-EclipseClan alliance and the budding MoonClan-EarthClan alliance, but exactly how we get from that set up to this end-point isn't set. However, I think it would be best if everyone brought some more hot-headed characters to the Gathering, as they could facilitate the plot, whereas a more level-headed group might leave the Gathering as a pointless plot cul-de-sac that we'll have some trouble building up momentum after.
The Medicine Cat Meeting will take place the following weekend (October 19-21st) and will ideally also serve these goals. A handful of medicine cat positions are open right now or will be opened in the near future after I remove inactive members, so if you are eligible for a medicine cat position, don't have one already, and want one, please go ahead and make one.
If you'd like to weigh in on what we should do with this Gathering and for the plot in general, please share your thoughts on the Discord Plot Planning Channel. The more the merrier there and I'd love to more members becoming engaged in the plot!