Starclan & Dark Forest lore - first draft

Hello! I bring a bit of a different post but as promised I will give you some lore in the works! It’s a first draft and quite long but I do hope those that enjoy reading or wish to find out more about Crowsong’s world-building will enjoy! :)

I’ll be making a toyhou.se page specifically for this kind of lore in the future when time allows it with visuals, better grammar and wording! Things might change and adapt!

Starclan:

Little is known about the place, the few that have been blessed with the chance to visit in their dreams can only explain it as such: like a dream, gone the moment you wake up, a fleeting memory you can’t capture.

Only the remaining fragments of feeling comforted and at peace lingers together with the melodic whispers and foretellings given by the spirits.

The legends still tell of forests, fields and rivers that know no bounds; basking in pleasantly warm sun rays that dance through air so pure it envelops the landscapes in an opalescent cascade of colors. It is not bound to the rules of the living world and time ceases to exist.

Instead the hearts and desires of starclan cats shapes their existence in ways that may seem nonsensical to the living. Their mental and physical age adapts to their deepest wills, which most often is driven by those they care for. If a starclan kit awaits their parent, who’ve lived a full life into an elder, their heart may reverse them back to a young adult as they arrive to rejoin with their kit. Cats around them with a strong relation might do the same and they can together rebuild new memories and experiences.

Without time nor needs for any life fulfilling purposes and with abilities beyond comprehension starclan cats can relive and reshape their lives countless times depending on their heart’s desires.

If a cat, now rejoined with a new member of starclan, has aged back down, their old memories from that point onwards will lay to rest, forgotten but only gone temporarily. Depending on their emotional needs and influences of others in close relation their lives memories may be rebuilt to now include starclan cats.

Lost lovers or parents and their kits can rebuild new lives together as new memory timelines branch off, ranging from smaller alterations or completely new paths as longer lasting bonds reshape the course of their “lives”. These branches are all accessible but completely subconsciously. A starclan cat can only live and recall one timeline at a time, but as new influences occur such as other dead members arriving in starclan new branches take shape. A cat who’s lived a whole life until adulthood might have their memories of their life stored away if they regress in age as they arrive in starclan. But the memories always remain there until needed again. A cat who loses their live at a young age may age mentally as they visit the living world as a spirit, growing up beside their family or lovers. Their “physical”, corporeal state alters to match their age as well if so desired.

For example, Velvetquince, who died soon after becoming a healer at a young age continued to visit Omensky as she grew. Both age on different planes of existence that still interacts with each other, despite time not affecting Velvetquince her connection to the living world allows her to live on a consistent timeline.

As Omensky grows old and eventually passes on, she joins Velvetquince in starclan. Both regress back to the age they were when Velvetquince passed due to a deep desire to spend their lives together again. With all of their memories from older days stored away they live together in starclan until they “grow old”. With no existing time this can occur for all eternity or just mere days in relation to the living world. When Weepingwind then passes on and arrive in starclan as well, both Omensky and Velvetquince’s desire changes to care for her, and Weepingwind desires to spend her days with Omensky as her mother once more. Weepingwind arrives as a kit, with all her memories too stored away but not gone. And Omensky together with Velvetquince regress to a young adult age as they can live an ideal world of parenting Weepingwind together. In a better timeline Crowsong for example may had joined too once she passed; regressed as a kit and the others adapting their age to conform to each others desires.

Starclan cats visiting the living world take a corporeal form that appears translucent and glowing, with stars twinkling around them. They can also summon wings if desired and it gives them the ability to fly freely in the air. Gravity still affects them differently and they are light as feathers; jumping and momentarily floating around gracefully.

Spirit cats can also watch from starclan through the eyes of birds; Corvidclan’s of course being through various corvids such as crows or ravens. The birds exist in the living world and are temporarily taken over by the spirits. It’s a more time and energy efficient way for ancestors and passed cats to watch over their clan or loved ones without interfering too much with the living. They are distinguished from other birds by their cat eyes and pupils and sometimes take on traits based on the cat who’s watching through them (e.g. Omensky’s scar or eye patterns).

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Guardian angels

A cat’s soul are divided into 9 so called “lives” once arriving in starclan. When starclan cats are watching over, guiding and protecting loves ones in the living world they have the ability to give up a “life” each time someone they care for are in great danger. The phenomenon is also known as a “near death experience“ by the living; where a spirit can choose to save a cat’s life if they see it necessary. It’s a common occurrence at least regarding cats with strong emotional bonds such as parents/kits, lovers or relatives.

A cat can also be resurrected if a starclan cats gives up all of their 9 lives. If all 9 lives are “depleted” the spirit will give up their existence and thus their memories and experiences and let their soul be reborn into a new cat in the living world. Because of the potential negative or strong consequences by resurrection it is an extremely rare occurrence and has usually only happened if starclan or a spirit believes it’ll heavily and positively impact or even save the clan. Due to the more common ”near death experience“ many starclan cats exists with less than 9 lives and thus lacks the ability to resurrect someone.

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Omensky & Weepingpaw

- But mother, if starclan can bring us messages why don’t they always do it? Why can’t they always help us?

- Well you see Weepingpaw; if starclan always foretells what dangers and joys awaits us we would lose our fates. We would forever follow paths determined not by our own hearts but our ancestors’. The future branches like roots from the seed and brooks from the rivers with endless new outcomes everyday. If we are told what lies ahead we will become bound to our own expectations.

- Then what about the times they do reach out to us?

- Sometimes a possible future holds consequences of such dire importance or influence that starclan see them required to avoid or confront. When we become aware of the danger or rewards waiting ahead we are bound to seek a way to avoid or reach it, but we risk losing ourselves to fear and desperation. If we forever run towards- or away from what lies ahead we leave behind the present, all whilst the consequences might still occur.

- How…do you know that our futures are undecided and not already bound to come true? If we’re warned about a danger, is our knowledge enough to change what lies ahead?

- There is truth to that; a cat aware of the fire might still be swallowed by the flames and a warrior aspiring leadership might still acquire it without starclan’s foretelling. But when eyes are opened to the path ahead our actions must determine the consequences and change the course of our lives one way or another, those watching us from above are what proves it.

- Oh, that makes sense. If our lives were already decided; starclan wouldn’t ever need to tell us about what might lie ahead in the first place!

- That's right my little one.

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Wandering spirits, also referred to as will-o-wisps are the ghosts of cats residing in the living world and do not abide by Starclan's code; although most spirits still share the same morals and don’t generally break the code either. Roaming spirits seldom stay by choice and are usually held bound by an improper- or lack of a burial, a sense of abandonment or a deep desire to aid a living cat in need.

Similarly a wandering spirit staying by choice may feel burdened by unresolved conflicts or a lack of closure with a living cat they once shared a close connection to; unable to pass on until it has been rectified. They are differentiated from visiting starclan cats by their lack of “stars”, no summonable wings as well as having completely glowing eyes instead of visible irises and pupils; symbolizing their “blindness” to what holds them back.

Will-o-wisps most commonly take the shape of flickering flames hovering in the air and only take a distinguishable form for those they wish to be seen by. Their flame-form are a common tale told by cats who’ve crossed their paths; expressing unusual visions and tricks played, luring them in with hazy memories, sounds and feelings.

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The dark forest is where the remnants of hopeless souls wander with no peace. Cats who pass on, carrying unforgivable sin on their shoulders are condemned to this place; damned to suffer for their crimes. It is also known as “The place of no stars” because of the endless, dark sky bearing no glimmers of light, only the moon rests above; spreading dull light to the vast and lifeless land beneath.

The land itself is a warped and haunted mirage of reality. It’s environment is fragmented and incomplete with no possible sense of location. At times; places of a soul’s memories will take shape and appear as a close replica of it. Although instead of life flourishing in a cycle of day and night, all fauna and flora is dead, rotten or completely gone as the night is everlasting. The trait of mirroring the landscapes where each cat lived is the one coherent part of the dark forest.

Due to the fragmented division of the place, cats who did not interact nor exist at the same time in life will not cross paths, only rare occurrences of a strong evil soul breaching the living world through nightmares or visions may be able to tie a connection to said cat in the dark forest. Due to the place often taking form of places with emotionally loaded memories, a cat with a stronger soul or emotions will end up subconsciously shaping the environment around them. If more than one cat share spaces or interact it may take distorted forms of places they both share in their memories, prioritize the cat with stronger emotions or in rare cases become a warped and contorted of multiple places.

Another primary aspect of the Dark forest are the small glowing particles floating around aimlessly near the ground. Their origin and even what they are is completely unknown. It’s said that they’re  remnants of forgotten souls. Damned cats with no living nor unliving cats remembering them have faded into nothingness as only star-like fragments are left remaining haunting the forest.

Another aspect of these particles are that they’re seemingly fragments consisting of memories from the victims of dark forest cats whom they have killed or harmed. It is said that if you listen carefully to these lights you’ll hear the screams and crying or worse: laughter from the ones you have loved, haunting you for all eternity.

The darkness within the forest is said to host an evil energy, when a resident eventually fades away without becoming reborn only their hatred, sorrow and regret remains. In a tragic and wicked cycle this evil energy feeds of other residing cats, slowly corrupting manifesting more negative energy. It’s what darkens the waters, hides the stars and keep its residents alive.

In rare cases the most evil, corrupt and immoral cats could become “lost souls”. Once a cat in the dark forest has lost themselves in their corrupted and broken selves they are beyond saving as they become consumed by the darkness: losing all of who they once were. The fraction of light that’s left inside dims, their eye whites become blacker than the sky above, their body starts to seep out dark energy, coming off their backs like black smoke. Only pure instinct and a need to fix something forever broken blindly drives the host forward, often seeking out other residents with the intent to kill and absorb their final life essence. Cats most often still live in the dark forest without ever getting to this stage; Crowsong would have met this fate had Ashkit not been there as her mental anchor to reality.