Tides of Stars - World-Building, Info, and Q&A

World Building - The Territories and Clans

Let's start off strong with an introduction to the territories! I do not currently have a drawn up map, so hopefully a worded description will help until I find the time to make a map. I'd also like to mention that this is subject to change as there are still a few things I still need to finalize. Let's start off with the territory itself.

The Territories:
The Clans all live near a beachside cliff. There isn't a geographical location, so I can't really describe it through photos on Google. A stream runs down the cliff and into the ocean. If you follow that stream enough from that cliff, you'll have a birch forest to your left, and beautiful moorlands filled with flowers. If you continue to follow the stream through the moors for a couple of miles, you'll stumble across the foothills which is usually shrouded in fog during the rainy seasons. Quite a distance from the foothills to the right is a dark forest full of mysteries. Usually only the healers or leaders are allowed to go inside, but there have been occasions where warriors have gotten a glance at what's inside. Many of them describe a beautiful, crystal like tree they claim is half oak, half maple, and has bits and pieces of moonstone surrounding it, shedding light on the surrounding area. If you come away from the territory for about a two-four day walk for cats, you'll find a small Twoleg village of sorts. It's not very big, much like a lot of the small towns scattered across the world, but the people certainly have monsters, thunderpaths, and their dens. Many kittypets, rogues, and loners reside there. And if you reach the end of the village, you'll find an abandon part of the town, crawling with rats, some of the dangerous loners, and even an entirely different Clan from the ones you'll be familiar with in the first and second sagas.

BirchClan Territory:
BirchClan is one of the first Clans that you'll be introduced to in the first saga. They're the cats who live in the birch forest, with their camp residing in a hollow hole that was said to be created when a fallen star, or Guide, was sent to create a place for the Clans to have a safe place to live. Overtime, bushes and gorse have grown around and some into the camp to create both a barrier, and dens for the cats to sleep in. They don't have a gorse tunnel, but they do exit through a reinforced tunnel that was dug by a badger that tried to break into the hollow.
Following the territory, it is fully surrounded by birch trees. One way leads out to the stream, while the other leads to a large clearing with an oak tree in the middle. This is Sacred Oak, which the Clan uses the area around it to train the apprentices in sparring. They can also teach the older kits how to climb so they're ready to climb the birch tress when they're apprentices. If you continue out, the forest will become much more dense before it thins out into a large wheat field, and just across those fields is where there's a few Twoleg farms spread throughout. Most barn cats live here. Another notable landmark going back towards the stream is an even smaller one with a little pond leading to it. Most of the queens will take their kits to teach them how to swim, seeing as they will need to learn to cross the stream to go to the gatherings when the new moon happens. It'll also give them strength to help fend off intruders if there were ever to be an attack the camp. Going away from both the direction of the stream and the farms, there's a whole area where rabbits make their burrows, and it's the perfect place for hunting when bird, mice, or voles are scarce during the colder months.

OleanderClan Territory
OleanderClan is located in the flowery moors, with their camp being an inspiration to WindClan camp, but they stay in old badger sets and very rarely stay out under the stars. There's not too much to OleanderClan territory. They have access to the path down to the beach, and can be around the stream, but that's neutral territory. The stream cuts off the territory between BirchClan and OleanderClan. OleanderClan does have their own type of training hollow, but it isn't as big. It's mostly used to learn how to tunnel, but is also a good area for sparring if they're careful enough. Unfortunately, the territory isn't without flaws. Many, many Twolegs enjoy camping in the moorlands during greenleaf, which drive away most rabbits and keeps the cats mostly stuck in camp. When leaf-fall rolls around, there's enough for leafbare, and they have to seek help from the other Clans, more often than not, ShellClan. Other than that, it is very plentiful when it comes to herbs and fresh flowers to decorate their nests with.

ShellClan Territory
ShellClan live in the small crevices and caves along the cliffs, using the steep slopes to get up and down from the shores. Most of their territory is on the beach, and stretches for quite a couple miles until they come across the jagged rocks that become too dense to get through. It's also like a haunted graveyard, seeing as many cats have been impaled by the stones if they fall off the cliff from above. Their main hunting and fighting grounds is basically the ocean, and I'll get more into fighting and hunting techniques whenever I go over each Clan and their stats individually. The biggest part of their territory is the area where the Gathering of the Tides take place. It's this area surrounding large, smooth rocks that reach a little ways above the ground, but not by much. They also deal with quite a bit of Twolegs, but only during the day. The night fishers are often out late into the early morning gathering food for the upcoming day they're stuck in their caves. They also like to collect seashells for their dens and nests, to show off their skills in decorating.
Disaster always strikes during the Stormy Season (their version of hurricane season). The tide is pulled all the out just to be brought back in with storm surge. The camp evacuates in advance and stays with OleanderClan when this happens. While camp repair doesn't take too much, there still is quite a lot to do after the fact, with the dens needing to be fully dry before they put down fresh sea algae and seaweed for their nests.

DriftClan Territory
Most of what is said about DriftClan is unknown. The few who have been through the camp have been taken prisoner have said the camp reeks of fox, and that's because they hunt them down for food. You see, not many smaller creatures roam the area due to the amount of fox and badger sets that reside within the foothills, and the fog makes it worse for hunting. So the DriftClan cats, due to horrible leadership, hunt down foxes as a food source, with the rare occasion of a rabbit, and sleep in the dens that were made by said foxes. There isn't too much fresh water running through the camp due to the amount of leftover fox that was left to rot away. The stench of death and blood follows the cats wherever they go. They just spar in camp whenever they can, and are like the old ways of ShadowClan when Brokenstar led it, using claws and many injuries and infections causing stress to the healer.

DeathClan
This was made by a friend of mine, so credits to them. DeathClan is a group of exiled Clan cats and aggressive loners that live in the abandoned part of the neighborhood. Not much is known about them and I'm not going to give much information out until book 3, but let's just say the Clans are going to need more help than they realize.

Barn Cats
The barn cats are their own little group that live across the barns near the birch forest. They act like a little community, helping each other raise kits, and even have their own meetings every half moon to discuss portion sharing for the more run-down barns during the cold season. They are on good terms with BirchClan for the most part, but are still weary from getting to close and being attacked. It's happened more than once with rowdy apprentices and overly-protective warriors. Other than that, they're just chilling and enjoying their best life. :3

And that about wraps everything up! Next chapter will be Clan history and more information on the Clans and current leaders. So hopefully you're looking forward to that.