MudClan Archive

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1 - Introduction

2 - Territory

3 - Culture

4 - Cats

5 - History

6 - Notes

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𝑫𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒔

Camp ⫸ MudClan makes their home in a small abandoned barn. The medicine cat, leader, and deputy have dens upstairs, as the dry, hotter air is best for storing herbs and as to have a high vantage point over the territory, respectively. The nursery is hidden under the barn. Elders and apprentices sleep on the ground level for quicker evacuation in case of emergency, along with warriors, so they can stand guard.
Farms ⫸
Urban ⫸
Mixed Forest ⫸ The natural ecology of the territory, along with marsh and mudflat, this takes up a very small amount of their territory, but some vestiges remain, and with larger woods nearby their territory, prey and predators still roam in often.
Salt marsh ⫸ The western quarter of the territory is mainly salt marsh, with snaking rivers of tidal mudflat interspersed. This habitat is extremely productive and fertile, bursting with life and prey, but difficult to traverse. Dykes were built to take advantage of this fertility by extending the area available for fields, conveniently serving the Clan as pathways of easy terrain to patrol and survey the territory from.
Mudflat ⫸ Low tide exposes huge expanses of bay mud with buried treasures of algae, detritus, gastropods, amphipods, and polychaetes that crabs and birds love to feed on.

𝑩𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔

West ⫸
North ⫸
East ⫸
South ⫸ [open]

𝑴𝒂𝒑

𝑪𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆

Leaf-bare ⫸ The basin freezes for a few moons of leaf-bare, and when the ice starts to melt and crack floes are carried onto the marsh by the snowmelt-inflated tide, settling there and leaving tidepools when they melt. It snows moderately often, sometimes hails or rains, and there are usually a few bad storms. Windy by the bay, less so in the forest. Average temperatures -10°C - 0°C.
Newleaf ⫸ Coming early and boldly, Newleaf is a decided relief from the severity of Leaf-bare. Rains moderately often, snows sometimes. Windy by the bay. Average temperatures 0°C - 16°C.
Greenleaf ⫸ Mostly pleasant with some days too hot to go out in the heat, MudClan enjoys a summer more moderate than inland clans, but hotter and earlier than that of those by the open ocean. Usually rains fairly often, but sometimes droughts ravage the fields and parch the forest. Storms are very rare, and it is windy only by the bay. Average temperatures 12°C - 24°C.
Leaf-fall ⫸ The leaves of deciduous trees in the mixed forest change spectaculary and once fallen provide excellent hiding and foraging for prey animals. Windy and rainy, with a few storms. Average temperatures 2°C - 17°C.

𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒚

Mice, rats, pigeons ⫸ Extremely plentiful in fields, barns, and the overlooked corners of twolegplace, mice and rats are common year-round, but extremely important for the Clan in Leaf-bare. Pigeons are more difficult to catch, but are also invaluable when other prey is scarce.
Forest animals ⫸ Some squirrels, small birds, and rarely wood mice, shrews, and voles explore the forested and rural areas of the territory, providing a fairly reliable food source in Newleaf and Leaf-fall.
Ocean's bounty ⫸ Cats on their own cannot crack a crab's shell, and those hungry enough to try earn a sharp punishment - but they can be stolen from gulls (which MudClan mocks as dumb, distractable, greedy creatures), easily enough by speedy cats.
Shorebirds ⫸

𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔
𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔

Fields ⫸ common crops (alfalfa, sorghum, corn, barley, carrots, broccoli, apples), clover, aster, hawkweed, dandelion, sumac
Mixed forest ⫸ spruces, balsam fir, pines, larch, maples, birches, mountain ash, beech, aspen, ferns (bracken, ostrich, cinnamon, interrupted, maidenhair, sword, shield, ...), sorrel, sheep's laurel, blackberry, wildflowers, mainly moss and bunchberry groundcover
Salt marsh ⫸ cord grass, pickleweed, samphire, sea lavender, rushes

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Ancestry

MudClan cats are descended from a mix of clan cats, kittypets/strays, and loners and farm cats.

Kittypets, barn cats, strays

Having territory in twolegplace, it would be impossible to drive out all other cats from MudClan territory - aside from their sheer numbers, twolegs would certainly come after any cats attacking their pets and barn cats. For this reason, MudClan coexists with many cats within their borders. Care is needed to maintain both peace and respect from these cats, though this is made easier by the familial and cultural ties the Clan has to many of them. Of course, sometimes fighting is the only way to protect the Clan.

Warrior code

Many cats are devout followers of StarClan and the warrior code, but some come from a non-Clan background and never quite embraced the code. The Clan's use of twolegplace for prey and shelter could be seen as a violation by other Clans, and their tolerance of sharing territory with kittypets, strays, and barn cats certainly goes against the spirit of the code. The Clan views this as a necessary adaptation to land increasingly inhabited by twolegs and their pets - traditions need to adapt to changing times, or face obsolescence and extinction. Scorn of the Clan based on the code has unfortunately bittered some members to it and other Clans.

Isolationism

Compared to their close relationships with the cats in their territory, MudClan is very shy of other Clans. Knowing many Clans' disdain or even contempt for MudClan, the Clan avoids contact with them. To minimize border skirmishes, MudClan has an inner and outer set of borders, between which is an unclaimed area that they seldom patrol and do not claim exclusive rights to hunt and patrol, but protect from claim by other Clans.

Hunting

Techniques for stalking mudflat and marsh without sinking, hunting mice and rats of barns and twolegplace, stalking shorebirds on the mudflats, stealing dropped crabs from gulls, and fishing tide pools of the salt marsh, all while avoiding twoleg attention are largely unique to the Clan, passed down from the local non-Clan side of their roots.

Medicine
Dens
Traditions
Beliefs

Black mud A few inches below the surface, the familiar beautiful red mud teeming with life turns black, tarry, and seemingly lifeless. Only anaerobic bacteria and archae survive in this anaerobic mud, and its extremely thick and sticky grasp can horribly ensnare a cat who treads too deep. It is said that the souls of cats chased away by StarClan are trapped here, dragging down living cats whenever given the opportunity.

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Leader

Cicadashore Cicadastar
tom | b. -26 moons | awkward, conscientious, caring, devout
Born, alongside a brother and two sisters, to a mother exiled from her Clan with her mother as a kit, Cicadastar grew up longing for the feelings of meaning and belonging from her stories - perhaps exaggerated in her sour longing for a life she felt had been ripped from her paws. He roamed, looking for a Clan to call his own, and instead found a place and a powerful will to start one. Never a very confident or socially adept cat, he initially had trouble believing StarClan, who he had always feared a lack of but desperately longed for a connection with, had honored him with this responsibility. Dealing with cats, particularly with decisiveness and authority, does not come naturally to him, but he is becoming more sure of himself as he learns to deal with his new role.
More than anything, Cicadastar wants to do what is right by his Clanmates and by StarClan. He cares deeply for others, despite his awkwardness in showing it, and doesn't care for macho shows of toughness or "strength" in aggression. However, he doesn't always think through how others might react to his actions and often finds himself putting his foot in his mouth or accidentally saying or doing the exact wrong thing.
Despite often giving the impression of uptightness due to his social inelegance and his religiousness, Cicadastar has a strong wry sense of humor. He prefers to cope with difficult situations through humor and likes to subtly poke fun at himself and others.

Deputy

Gwendolyn Tidy Stillmarsh
she-cat | b. -29 moons | exacting, perceptive, direct, tactiturn

Medicine cat

Goldeneye
tom | b. - moons | eerie, morbid, compassionate

Medicine cat apprentice

Pebblepaw
she-cat | b. -13 moons | loyal, intellectual, competitive, proud

Elders
Warriors and queens

Little Grey Shellshard
she-cat | b. -10 moons | loud-mouth, wild, rude, ambitious
Duststar Dustfrost
tom | b. -35 moons | sarcastic, salty, embittered, independent

Apprentices
Kits

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Intro
Moon 0
Moon 1
Moon 2
Moon 3

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rockfern pebblesalt pebblealgae pebbletide