ReflectiveClan: The Stealthy and Opulent
This page follows Amity & Rowan's Worldbuilding Challenge on Clangen's Discord strongly as a guide, as this is a page made for me to follow the challenge within it in a more readable way.
"Moon 0: The World"
The Clans:
Reflectiveclan
Our focus; they live on the northern side of the continent. Their territory is made up of Forests of Crystalline Plants and the void-black clearings within them and bordering them. Below the ground is a tunnel system which stretches deep beneath the ground. The clan's camp is found within, near the surface. The plants within the forest will often magnify any light from above, making them extremely hot and dangerous to traverse in daylight hours, but at night, the forest is well lit and pleasant. As a result, this clan is nocturnal, spending its time within the tunnels by day and hunting and mingling in the forests by night.
Heraldingclan
They live on the southern side of the continent. They don't value the forests much, as the navigation within them is risky, but are interested in the clearings bordering them.
Abyssalclan
They live off the continent's borders, deep within the sea. They generally don't leave the depths, but will sometimes do so for collection of certain supplies. They claim every inch of water outside the continent as their territory, being unable to claim water sources inland due to not wanting to stray too far from their borders.
Toweringclan
They live off the continent, high in the sky, at around the height where you'd expect to see clouds. They sometimes come down to trade for supplies, and think of themselves as better than those below.
"Year 1: The Basics"
This link leads to the allegiances for Reflectiveclan. I will draw cats as they become apprentices (I use a base that I made for kits), and update their sprites as events happen. If I take a while to update, it may be because I am adding or modifying the designs within these.
If I tend to skip over moons, this is likely because nothing of note happened to the cat on that moon. I will not be skipping moons 6 or 12, as Free Moons will always be focused on the cats within the clan.
Moon 2: Camp and Territory
Camp
The Camp is situated within the shallow parts of a cave, and despite its environment, remains dimly lit through the use of materials gained from the forests and plains. The mouth of the cave opens to a small set of plains, allowing materials from them to be collected for easier creation of paint. The surrounding tunnels, paths, and openings are the most documented and marked areas of the caves. The dens are for the most part within their own crevices, with the exception of the Medic's Den, which is built out of materials gathered mostly from the forests.
Territory
The Crystalline Forests are the least valuable of Reflectiveclan's territories, as well as the most common surface terrritory. Many of the animals found here are small and are of use as prey, along with their grounded bones and carapaces being used as pigments for the paints within the darker parts of the caves. Despite this, use of the plants growing here is often preferred, as the defenses put up by the animals here often involve blinding amounts of light.
The Shadowed Plains are notable for being traversable in the daytime, though a bit chilly at night. The plants which grow here can be crushed up and mixed with the pigments from the Crystalline Forests for luminescent painting materials which are used for marking and mapping out the vast cave systems. This type of environment is much more common within the northern parts of Heraldingclan, though it can be found within clearings scattered within the forests here.
The Cave Systems are a feature unique to Reflectiveclan, since the openings to them are only available on the northern half of their territory. They feature a wide array of territory types within themselves, and will vary wildly depending on their area. Despite the safety from invaders within them, there are large, hungry beasts lurking at the depths of them.
This link leads to Reflectiveclan's afterlife.
Information about it and its mechanics are found there.
Moon 4: Main Threats
Reflectiveclan faces most of its challenges as a consequence of its territory. Mainly, these would be risks in traversing it, with the specifics of that depending on
the specific area. On the surface, the Crystalline Forests hold a threat in their interactions with the sunlight, so it's important to check when you're planning to stay there. In the Cave Systems, the biggest dangers vary depending on the specific area, but the biggest threats within are generally whatever organisms hide within. The danger of sharp changes in height within the caverns are less of a threat, but should still be handled carefully.
Moon 5: Food Sources
Much of Reflectiveclan's food is sourced from within the caverns, oftentimes through traps set up in close quarters or through hunting.
Cooking and drying food through heat for preservation and taste is common, with chunks of meat being hung upon branches and placed over rocks within the Crystalline Forests at dawn and left for varying times, sometimes totaling to many days. As a consequence, Reflectiveclan's tastes seem comparitively refined and even somewhat spoiled to the other clans, which find that these practices will oftentimes make the food unpalatable for their own tastes and overcomplicate food consumption for no real reason.