Everybody Look At My Sad Weak Word Count In Fake Amazement Please :] I Succeeded In Finishing It

Enough of the trope where memory loss undoes the damage or the corruption or whatever. More content where removing memories just removes the context.

The tragedy of needing to grieve and not knowing what or who you lost or why. The angst of having trauma and being denied the awareness that it's trauma. The suspense of being different somehow and left to wonder how and when. The tension of knowing that something is off and you can't find where it hurts. The Adventure Zone gets it. Kingdom Hearts gets it.

There is an aching inside you and you don't know how it got there.

MAY I INTRODUCE YOU TO HER

this is from memory the version of Night that existed first and i never drew her before her appearance and character changed again lol SO IM DOING THIS FOR MY 12-13(?? holy shit?)-YEAR-OLD SELF

funniest thing about this is I'm pretty sure she was power-hungry. lmfao.

Yah, that was about night, sorry about how esoteric I decided to be, but I saw your posts about her and I just got to thinking about the... logistical problems with trying to fight a bunch of dead people, let alone the fact it's a religion.

HI. HIII. THANK YOU. I TOOK THIS AND I RAN. I warned about me spewing a really lengthy response and I did oops

(so StarClan isn't really a religious aspect of the colonies at all. in-universe this is because when Alpine was founded, it was made out of cats who either already had established religious beliefs (gods, basically, it’s not very fleshed out because it’s not important), or weren't religious at all (for example, Night). Personally, I just don't find interest in exploring religion lmao. A lot of wc oc stories have already done it, and probably done it better than I ever could.)

So, StarClan's very much a more government-ish figure for the colonies BUT YEAH obviously there’s gonna be weird stuff going on with it even if it’s not a religion, they’re dead cats in an afterlife lol.

Silverpelt refers to the afterlife here basically, and StarClan/dark forest are only one part of silverpelt. It’s only specific to the colonies. Also present everywhere in the Clans’ territories is silverstone - a green coloured mineral that is believed to give the Clans a greater connection to silverpelt, and subsequently StarClan

I love the eldritch takes on StarClan, but in my story that stuff’s more rooted in silverstone. StarClan is just a bunch of normal dudes lmao

StarClan might have power in influence, but in terms of physical, real, tangible power they can’t do much. They have no control over silverpelt, no control even over the dark forest, and the only control they have, really, is of the colonies through the codes and stuff

In terms of experience, Night's as old as the oldest StarClan cat, as established above, so she's at the very least equal in combat and strategic experience to Ashcloud, who I would say is in charge of the cat equivalent of '''''military''''' activities in StarClan (not much, they don't have a need to fight).

I can make the argument that she has more experience, considering she was the second-highest-ranking authoritative figure in Alpine's early civil war, and the clans haven't had anything close to that extent of fighting since. Their modern training probably isn't cutting it anymore.

(Like, if most of StarClan is a) made of cats who haven't ever experienced active conflict, and b) commanded by cats who think the dark forest will never be a problem, how would they really fare against a dark forest army that Night's essentially been training for war for literally over 400 years, when the barrier between them and the dark forest inevitably fails? Spoiler™: they don't fare well lol)

The key is that StarClan's arrogant. They don't think the dark forest will ever be a real problem for them, so they don't prepare for it or try to prevent it. Of course Night's going to win (initially)

Night later 'loses everything' as Silver implies, it’s not because StarClan had all the time in the world and had more experience than her. It is technically because of StarClan returning, but it's tied much closer with Rainpaw's involvement (not relevant rn) and a rooting in Night's internal struggles at this point (becoming what you hate). 

a lot of Night's character after she destroys starclan (into part 3 of SL)  is very much involved with like. a character caught between what's defined her existence for a long time to the point she cant remember who she was before, and the certainty that she can’t get back to that person even though she needs to, and she needs to because becoming something equal to or worse than her enemy is an unbearable thought..? if that makes sense

It's complicated, but this essentially culminates in a fall out between her and Finch. Then enter: the destructive cycle metaphors that this whole story is built on.

StarClan ‘working so great as an enemy because fighting them is something that is only ever going to hurt you more than them' is SO TRUE AND YOU WORDED IT BEAUTIFULLY.

exactly what happens with Night. After everything, they didn't really change, while she lost a lot. But it’s one of those situations where it can’t have gone any other way. She can't get what she had back until starclan's defeated, but defeating starclan renders it impossible for her to get. Either way she loses. 

Your point about StarClan being eternal and therefore the colonies being eternal also is also very true and very fun.

I might even say, in this instance, that StarClan and the colonies are eternal through silverstone, and by extension so is their destruction.. :]

Sorry for word vomiting so many words in a tumblr post. I doubt anyone will read this all but. I had fun.

when making a character remember! are they a FAG?

Fucked up beyond belief

Actually would suck in real life (and ideally in the story too)

Gay

crackship hours

Is Night sun-bleached?

Well I intended the design to have her chest as just her natural fur colour, but I guess you could interpret it as bleached! (I don’t really strive for realism with my designs lol)

properly sun bleached night would be super cool though. love cool fire motif it’s why she has orange eyes and the markings in the first place lmao

tradgedy enjoyers when you look into the eyes of your worst enemy and can only see yourself

oc guy moodboard

some really quick and messy guides I made for myself for the appearances of my three clans :] obviously individual appearances would still differ in certain traits

characters cleaning blood off their partner's face is just PEAK romance actually. bonus points if it's someone else's blood