Author's Note: This ClanGen Challenge was originally posted to the ClanGen discord server. It was a 'Dark' challenge I came up with involving death matches and audience voting. I don't currently have access to the save file anymore (on my broken computer), but may continue the story if inspiration strikes! I also think I would tweak the rules of the 'challenge' since ClanGen has changed quite a bit with the new updates (and it was a bit convoluted to begin with lol).
The introduction is a bit tongue-in cheek, but the story takes on a more narrative style to describe each moon. There will be several moons before I run out of chapters.
CW: Character/Animal death, child endangerment, violence, murder, death match/fighting ring, drowning, car accident, suicidal ideation (later chapters), light swearing.
The idea of cat challenges with voting and eliminations is really fun to me so I decided to try and make a new one with some twists on existing ones. I'm not super versed in these challenges so I may tweak the rules if it ends up proving too difficult?
Thrash or Prance Rules:
- Starting leaders should have bloodthirsty, fierce, or vengeful if possible; Troublesome is also acceptable.
- All cats are sent on patrol each day. Cats with scars go on solo patrols. Other cats use the buddy system and should have at least one other cat with them if possible.
- First cat to get a scar 'kickstarts' the challenge; when they are of leader age they'll challenge the leader to a fight.
- If they are the leader themselves or a medicine cat, they'll instead be hosting 'tournaments' whenever its Leaf-Bare (snowy), and days when a new cat gets a scar. Do these fights after patrols.
- Manually or randomly decide pairs of fighters. Cats who have a scar, excellent fighter, the vengeful trait, or bloodthirsty trait will be added to the pool. The leader and deputy are automatically added but don't face each other unless one has a scar and the other doesn't.
- Use audience vote or RNG to determine the winners of each match. Flip a coin for each match, heads they're dead, tails they're spared. (Addendum rule: Apprentice aged cats instead roll 1d3; 1- normal death, 2 - become medicine cat, 3 - spared.)
- If the leader loses, the winner gets to fight the deputy as well. If a cat wins both matches, they replace the deputy and the leader is killed, making them the new leader.
- Win conditions: (basic) StarClan reaches 13 pages with a scarred cat as leader. (advanced) StarClan reaches 13 pages with a scarred cat as leader, deputy, and medicine cat.
- Lose conditions: (basic) StarClan reaches 13 pages and the leader is not scarred. (advanced) You also lose if you go thirteen moons in a row without a scarred cat in the clan after your clan gets its first one. (extra hard) You lose if you go 13 moons in a row without a scarred leader after the first one.
- Mating rules - personal preference
I will be attempting this challenge with the advanced/hard rules to start but I'll keep going towards the basic goals if I fail.
ThrashClan -
ThrashClan is a scrappy, junkyard band of trash cats who love to fight. Scars are a badge of honor in their eyes and show that you've been up against a powerful foe. Their love of battle has formed a culture of thrash performances where two cats duke it out and really show how vicious they can be. They didn't intend these fights to get so lethal initially, but well.. when the whole crowd is cheering you on, it can be easy to get carried away.
However there are quiet dissenters in the clan who believe for one reason or another that a non-scarred cat should win these fights. Perhaps to avenge an old fighter or because they think scars are a mark of reckless fighters that lack the finesse to get out of a fight unscathed. These cats are known as 'prancers' and are disliked by 'thrashers', cats with scars who battle recklessly.
When we get to our first matches, it will be up to the audience to cheer on which cat you want to WIN the fight. This generation of ThrashClan is new, so lets meet our potential thrashers!
Our leader of this scrappy bunch, Ashstar!
Ashstar's In-Game Sprite!
Our right hand man, Harefur!
Harefur's Sprite!
and our thankless medicine cat, Cloverblink!
Cloverblink's Sprite!
Our starting roster doesn't have any bloodthirsty or vengeful cats at the moment, I'll skip ahead some until we get a scar!
I will be pairing up the couples Turtlehaze/Badgersky and Hickorylight/Harefur since they are of the most similar age.
Moon 0 Roster Sprites
Oh wow lol day one fox attack Hickorylight got the first scar
Hickorylight's First Scar
Moon 1
Something changed in Hickorylight's heart the day Badgersky first caught wind of foxes at ThrashClan's border. It was a seed of doubt in their leader Ashstar.
If she had to pinpoint a moment, it was more when the three of them set out to chase after the foxes. Badgersky took point, a waddle in his step as he catches his footing after slipping on some stray plastic wrapper.
"Thank goodness they left tracks, I'd hate to have them run into us back at our place!" He exclaims.
"Foxes ain't no thing," Ashstar shrugs nonchalantly. The young gray cat smirks and darts ahead of him, hopping over some old boxes for emphasis rather than any need to climb it, "If you screech on up in their face, they'll turn tail and run the other way without even needing to lay a paw on 'em."
Most days cats wrestling and showboating brought a smile to the speckle queen's face. After all, ThrashClan came from scrappy, tough as nails sorts who'd take blows and grin, ready to dish it right back no matter how many teeth they were missing. But something bugged her about how Ashstar had this smug air of knowing what she was talking about when she knew for a fact neither of them had faced off against foxes before.
"I'd like to tear in their pelt a bit first myself," Hickorylight murmurs, "Bring home something nice to line our nests."
"Sure, sure, but all I'm saying is they're chickenshit- we'd be lucky if they put up any fight at all!"
"Well hush on now until we get in their faces then, I think we're almost near their den." Badgersky mews.
Ashstar snorts and shoves him a bit, rolling her eyes. "Not your apprentice man." She does go quiet the closer they approach.
"I think I smell.. two of em..?" Badgersky murmurs.
Ashstar inches closer and ducks her head in weaseling her body closer and shimmying back out in a hurry. "Yeah twoish- one big one and two cubs that are sleeping."
"What are we waiting for then?" Hickorylight asked, "Let's get in there an-"
"Shhsh- not so loud, let's uhh find a way to get them out of the hole." Ashstar puts her paw to Hickorylight's muzzle and swishes her tail. Badgersky shakes his head. The gray warrior spins about and finds an old can, batting it towards the den with a swift kick.
With a bark and a yelp, rustling comes from the den, then a growl as the parent fox comes out. Ashstar circles around the fox, feinting for its paws and ducking back when it snaps at her. Seems she was playing around before putting her war cry plan into motion, so Hickorylight rolls her eyes and rushes in, clawing at the vulpine's face.
A whirl of claws and motion makes it difficult to place what order everything happened next, but one thing is for sure, when she got thrown against some sharp metal and it sliced a fine scar down her shoulders and back it bloody hurt.
Still something about the fox's swift reaction to her getting anywhere near her cubs struck a cord with her. It was a true ferocity she hadn't seen in a long time, and definitely never in Ashstar. She'd seen it in cats before her time thought, ones who weren't so young and inexperienced. They chased away the foxes well enough sure, but she couldn't help but feel that they were chasing away something else too.
Maybe someone needed to teach Ashstar a thing or two about how a real thrasher would run the clan. Maybe she needed to teach herself too. Things were different now, they were losing the old ways- cats didn't even get into real fights half the time anymore. The kits in the clan would never be safe from a warrior who hesitated before acting to protect them. Prancing around, letting someone else do the hard parts.
As soon as her wound was healed, and Badgersky stopped fretting over her, Hickorylight knew what she had to do.
"I challenge you to a thrash, Ashstar." She snarls.
"Huh, what's this about?"
"About nothing, its a thrash, fight me."
"You're off it old spots," Ashstar huffs, "Fine, I'll fight you, come on, let's make a show of it!"
With a yowl and a pounce our first thrash kicks off! Reply with Dagger Emoji to cheer for Ashstar, and reply with Fox Emoji to cheer for Hickorylight!
Ashstar VS Hickorylight
At first Ashstar is in her element, yowling and batting Hickorylight's ears, darting back and biting her tail, she was a quick cat so she'd been hard for the foxes to catch her after all.
Hickorylight growls a bit, annoyed with the younger cat prancing about. The next time she bites her tail, she pulls the gray cat toward her and batters her head with both paws.
At first the crowd is silent, maybe a bit surprised Hickorylight was actually doing this. But then the kits watching begin to cheer. Turtlehaze grins and cheers out for Hickorylight too.
Ashstar sputters, shaken by the fact there seemed to be more cats cheering for her than their own leader. Hickorylight batters her again to the sound of more cheers.
"Get her get, get her!" Bloomkit squeaks.
"Go Hickorylight!" Badgersky joins in, and Alderkit mimics Hickorylight's move, hopping on to Bloomkit.
Ashstar snarls in frustration and writhes away, "Oh shut up!" She twists and bites the spotted queen's leg severely.
"Now this is a REAL thrash," Mumbleleaf grins with interest, and Cloverblink howls with excitement. There hasn't been a serious one in a long time for the elder cats.
Hickorylight turns her body with her leg, wincing as she slams their leader down to the ground again. Ashstar yelps in pain, almost drowned out by the cheering now. She manages to roll with momentum to wrestle the older she cat on the ground a few times but ultimately her greater weight was too much of a struggle to push back off.
Bristling and bleeding, both cats had a flurry of scratches and were looking worse for wear, but there was a fire in Hickorylight's eyes. Only fear in Ashstar's.
"Hickorylight! Hickorylight! Woo!" The crowd cheers. Hickorylight light's ear flicks, smiling that the kits and elders were on her side. She was glad she got to show them something like this before next Leafbare.
But there was one notable voice missing... Her own mate's.
"H..harefur... Help..." Ashstar pants weakly. It'd be too late for her no matter what he did.
"You're going to let me do this..?" Hickorylight tilts her ears, glancing back, looking at the brown and white tom and realizing he'd been silent the whole time.
With a long sigh, Harefur stalks forward, claws unsheathing. "...You know it's not the way."
"Ooooh!" Alderkit gasps, wrestling out from under Bloomkit. Those two were just playing. But with a slight twinge of dread Hickorylight realized she and Harefur wouldn't be. She didn't *have* to kill him but she knew the risks that came with Thrashing.
Turning and kicking some gravel into Ashstar's face Hickorylight face squares up against her steely faced mate.
"Then so be it." She snarls.
Harefur faintly cracks a small, sad smile.
The crowd goes silent and the second round of the thrash begins.
On mobile I'll grab their pics in a bit, for now vote ? Fox Emoji to Cheer for Hickorylight OR vote ? Bunny Emoji to Cheer for Harefur.
This fight has 50/50 odds for death and will decide who becomes leader!
(belated Harefur VS Hickorylight picture)
(Small rule adjustment since I realized an issue: Deputy roles / Medicine roles are also up to RNG or vote.
DEPUTY ELECTIONS - For deputies, can be any cat who is old enough. If a deputy dies they are replaced. If a deputy loses their fight and is spared, they are also replaced BUT they are included as and option the RNG /vote for the new deputy.
MEDICINE CAT ELECTIONS - The clan can at most have 5 elected medicine cats. You do not have to kill extra medicine cats if you get a kittypet/loner medicine cat, but you can't add more if you have over 5. If you have under 4 medicine cats then any time a kit or apprentice gets a scar, flip a coin. Heads they stay a warrior, tails they become a medicine cat. This rule applies if they happen to get multiple scars, so they could switch back and forth before graduation! The only other way to elect a medicine cat is if you have 0 medicine cats and 0 scarred kits/apprentices. Then hold a vote or RNG with all current apprentices similar to deputy elections.)
so no matter who dies here yall will be voting on the new deputy hehe
Harefur and Hickorylight burst into a flurry of blows. The crowd becomes a little more unsure who to root for between two cats who care for eachother so much. Eventually Crowblink picks a side, in respect for the scarred warrior's decisiveness.
"Hickorylight! Hickorylight!" The old medicine cat cheers. Nobody else joins in this time, but there is a gleam of nervous excitement in the eyes of the crowd, so privately most cats must have agreed.
Caught in a headlock, Harefur is flipped over and flung into Ashstar in a heap. She cries out in pain and struggles to form her dying words.
"T..this isn't h..how..." A gurgling cough and then a desperate whine, "I'm supposed to go..."
Harefur dizzily staggers back to his paws to face his mate. Ashstar weakly holds onto his back foot with her claws, grasping for some sort of comfort before she died.
Harefur takes a deep breath knowing he wouldn't last much longer against the determined queen. Mate or not, now was his moment of truth.
Coinflip Result
The two cats launched themselves at each other once more and Hickorylight caught him by the throat, slamming him to the ground. Harefur gasps in shock, before limply sinking to the ground with an exhausted grin.
"Good job.. you got me, Hickory..star." Hickorylight smiles back at him, panting from the effort, before her smile vanishes seeing how deep his wound really was.
"G..go ahead and decide your deputy. Q..quick if you want me to see it." He laughs weakly.
She felt a terrible ache in her heart that he wouldn't be one of her choices anymore, but she didn't have time to dwell if she wanted to honor his dying request. Her head snaps up to appraise her to possible choices for deputy.
There was Badgersky, who'd always been quite the soft and sweet cat. If she was to bring thrashes back to the Clan, she doubted he'd be much of a challenge for anyone. Though he'd cheered for her against Ashstar his round eyes had a mix of uncertainty now, and he looks down at Harefur sadly.
Don't look down at him, he chose this. Hickorylight thinks in frustration.
He suddenly perks up a bit and smiles with forced encouragement, as if somehow sensing her irritation. Hickorylight couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy that his mate was alive and well while hers lay dying...
Speaking of, Turtlehaze in contrast didn't look like she was faking her excitement at all. Claws flexed and eyes gleaming, she exchanges a glance with Badgersky, who's pitiful smile does manage to look more genuine now. She could tell the ginger and white tabby had been looking forward to something like this just as much as she had. Perhaps she'd even challenge her when came time for the leafbare tournament.
But she held a private wave of resentment for Turtlehaze as well, if she was really so enthused why hadn't she challenged Ashstar before her?
She hadn't thought it would feel this way to be the first one, choosing between two second in commands that she didn't have a great level of respect for. But she respected Harefur, so she had to.
First Deputy Election
Vote Badger Emoji to make Badgersky ThrashClan deputy OR Vote Turtle Emoji to make Turtlehaze ThrashClan deputy!
MOON 1 ALLEGIANCES
THRASHCLAN
LEADER
HICKORYSTAR - Large gray furred molly with white speckles, green eyes, and a sizable scar across her back. Lonesome, smart.
DEPUTY
TURTLEHAZE - White she cat with bright blue eyes and ginger tabby patches. Empathetic, excellent fighter.
MEDICINE CAT
CLOVERBLINK - Eldery tom with dark gray, almost black fur, furless patches on his face and paws, and green eyes. Fierce, excellent hunter.
WARRIORS
BADGERSKY - Plump, longhair tom with cream colored fur and golden eyes. Compassionate, very smart.
KITS
ALDERKIT - Amber eyed tortishell molly. Altruistic.
BLOOMKIT - Black molly with furless patches on her muzzle and paws, golden eyes. Strange.
ELDERS
FLOWERPATCH - Plump calico molly with green eyes and a brown tail. Compassionate, great storyteller.
MUMBLELEAF - Light brown tabby with green eyes and white chest and paws.
STARCLAN
STARCLAN GUIDE
IVYGORSE - (I never made note of their appearance unfortunately.)
DIED IN MOON 1
ASHSTAR - Lean, pale gray molly with furless patches on her snout and paws. Golden eyes. Bloodthirsty, fantastic teacher.
HAREFUR - Shorthair white tom with a red nose, a brown patch on one ear, and dark blue eyes. Troublesome, strong connection to StarClan.
Original Vote Tallies-
Hickorylight VS Ashstar
7 Fox Emoji : 0 Dagger Emoji
Harestar VS Hickorylight
7 Fox Emoji : 0 Rabbit Emoji
Deputy Election
3 Turtle Emoji : 0 Badger Emoji
(I did not write a deputy ceremony for some reason lol not important I guess)