Soot's being a creeper

How dare you spy on your poor, lonely, shut-in of a leader like that? *shakes fist*

Another slow blog update, sorry about that. I keep forgetting. D:

@MansonNoob: Minnow & co. will definitely be in this story. Bramblethorn didn't kill himself; he had Bluekit and Redkit to live for, after all, since he semi-adopted them. I don't think I have to answer that third question anymore, ha, since Sootpaw's dream. :D Don't be sorry, I enjoy questions. ^^

@Insane: Don't you quack at me! *shakes fist* But thank you. You're prolly right about Silverstar, but she just doesn't feel up to it, sadly.

@Silverblossom: Maybe Spider and Jag will be besties, who knows? Leopard's a fireball compared to Chilly, but they've got their similarities.

@Madame Wolfe: I've heard of Vocaloid before, but I don't get what it...is. xD It's not Soot that really has to watch out for Leopard...but we'll see more of that.

@Autumn Sunsets: Oh, sorry to hear that. Soot is a goody-goody (besides following her leader into the forest and spying on her) but she'll be doing some more rule-breaking soon. And....*cracks open a storybook* Once upon a time, when Eaglestrike & co. were very young, Eagle decided that it was up to him and his gal pals to take care of FrozenClan, who was trespassing into the forest. They nearly got killed, but were saved by valiant ShellClan warriors. Eagle was given apprentice duties much like Soot and Spider are now, but he was much younger at the time. The end. *closes book*

Firepaw's like that because...well, even when we saw him as a kit, he was planning on killing Nightshade (he probably couldn't have actually done it, but...) for revenge for Swansong. He's always been sort of a hot-head, but being raised as a rogue means that he's more accustomed to violence; also, rogues use their brawn and skills to move up and down the hierarchy of their "bands" (there's a reason Tremor was the biggest and strongest in his group) so Firepaw still reflects that mentality. Sootkit got to eat mainly because she was there before her brother; Ravenwing would have offered Spiderkit some food too, after he reported to his father and all, but he just /had/ to get into trouble...he probably ate afterwards anyway. Ah-ha! I knew it had something to do with milk! And wasn't there a Courage the Cowardly Dog episode about flan...?

@Crowstorm: Don't worry dear, it's okay. You're right, we need some nice elders. Petalcloud will be as sweet as syrup when she's an elder, but unfortunately that won't be for awhile, I s'pose. Thanks! Leopard's pretty cool, I agree, and Fire's a total butt-munch. We'll see how he progresses. c:

*pointedly ignores backstory nudging* ;)

@Artemis: Eh, maybe he will. I might just make them yellow and amber, since Yellowfang's eyes always flip-flopped between the two. The Clan does seem to be going a bit downhill (which scares the crap out of Silverstar, but she feels basically powerless). Hopefully the apprentices will mature with time. ^^

@TheVioletGleek: Hey! I remember you. And might I say that was a long and lovely review. ^^

I totally use squee too, so don't feel bad about that. I'm super-glad you found me again, ha. Thank you very much for the Shattered-related compliments. Most of the plot strings from Shattered (and I say most because I'll prolly forget something), promise. Shimmerfrost was, ah, not happy. With anyone. Especially not StarClan. Which is kinda bad, for meddies. Carmelo will show up eventually, we'll see. He's been busy. We'll see bits and pieces of the PeakClanners, no worries about that. And I don't mind the chatter; really, I enjoy it. :D

@QueenOfThePens: *whistles* You know how I hate giving away pairings~

@Sunspirit: He's a moody bundle of fur, yep. Maybe with a bit of training he'll work that out. We'll hear about PeakClan now and again; some characters *cough Northy cough* will be quite important~

Spider again

'Nother chapter, yadda yadda, you know the drill. ^^

If this post ends abruptly it's because I had to leave (we're going out to eat soon) but I'll finish it later. xD

Several of you guys asked if Moonkit was Sootkit's stillborn sister. She's not; she's about 90% Sootkit's imaginary friend and about 10% something else we'll see later. I will admit, though, that her being Soot's sister hadn't even crossed my mine, and I'm impressed you guys thought of it! Sometimes, however, a dream is just a dream and a friend is just a friend.

@Ninjakitty: I don't read many fics, so I'm not sure if kits exploring is a common thing, but it had to happen for a variety of reasons, which we'll see later. Almost everything that happens in these first few chapters will have overarching consequence for later.

@Shimmertail: As completely awesome as Leopardpaw being Carmelo's daughter would be, it sadly wouldn't fit. Bella/Night's kits are the same age as Ravenwing's, and they're only 5.5 moons. Bella/Night had to become preggers that first night after she accepted her new name; by that time, Toxin and Carmelo hadn't even met, and Leopard is a moon /older/ than Bella/Night's kits or Raven's. Bluepaw's a little harsh, but she's young and obviously has a lot to learn. And that is adorable for Spiderkit, I actually laughed while reading (I don't think he heard me). I'm curious, though, what did I do to Bramblethorn? I don't remember doing anything (besides killing him, of course). xD

@Hersheys: That would be a cute pairing, ha. Unfortunately, they won't see each other for most of the story....

@Autumn Sunsets: Jeez, that makes me sound like a terrible person! Which, I guess that was a terrible thing to do to poor Frostflight, hmm. We'll find out most of your questions, I can't spoil anything! And no, I've never heard of it. Is it French? It sounds French. Or Spanish? Leche is "milk" in Spanish....

@Silverblossom: Aside from the age difference and pelt color and eye color, you can believe that. We'll see. :D

@CrystalSakura: They'll be apprenticed soon. As for Silver, well....I suppose they have Yellow/Cinder tones to their relationship, but they aren't all that much alike. Maybe Cinder/Blue are pretty alike, but Yellow/Shimmer are from two different ends of the grumpy spectrum.

@Lynxeye: We'll see (I say that a lot, it seems) where Leopardpaw came from eventually.

@Mlaia: I think Rumble (since he's the one that named her, of course) was thinking more along the lines of Whitefrost than Chillpaw, but perhaps Shimmerfrost herself associates them with her brother, I dunno.

I think that's all, sorry that took awhile. xD

Soot 2.0

Soot's second chapter, kinda. She's a very different lil gal than her brother is, obviously. xD

Not a lot to say about this chappy yet, but that's okay...we'll get there.

@Shimmertail: There's definitely some of Tigerstar's snappiness in Spiderkit, I'd say. Unfortunately, he has none of Northy's occasional brutality, but he does have some of Northy's occasional finesse, and he'll be a bit of a schemer too. Yup, Moonkit's a total MS version of Soot, ha; I tried really hard. She's a bit of a dreamer, I'm afraid. And as we've seen, Soot doesn't always dream about him; as she mentions in the Prologue, it's not every night, or even every other night, but still fairly often.

@Nightkill: I didn't have any when I was little, but I think everyone /should/, ha. Glad you like Spider, I like him too. Not that I won't hesitate to kill him if necessary, of course, you know me. xD

@Autumn Sunsets: Eee, I still can't believe you joined! So awesome. Luckily I made an allegiances thingy, so two of those questions can be easily answered there, but for the third I enjoy cake and brownies and ice cream and pudding. :P

@Silverblossom: Semi-mates...what a weird status to be in, eh? Ah well, Darky's happy with that. And yep, Spider is a little more than ya bargained for; just think about poor Ravenwing!

@QueenOfThePens: I don't even like role-playing medicine cats, really (their lives are sort of boring...except for Snowhawk's, I guess, but he had a bit more on his plate than the average meddy!) so neither I nor Soot have that in mind for the future, no worries. C:

@Madame Wolfe: Ah, I was kind of concerned about their similarity in personality, but (un)fortunately Spider doesn't even have blindness as an excuse for being as big a jerk as he is. But he really does love Soot, underneath the tongue-lashings. <3

@Smokefrost: Glad you like her! Spider and Soot play off of each other nicely, I'm excited for developing their relationship. ^^

@Lynxeye: If sweeties like Belladonna can devolve into crazy killers, then Spider's in for quite a ride, wouldn't you say? He's definitely a problem child, tho. Glad you like the imaginary friend thing; I've always wanted to use one, and I finally get to! Plus, dear Moonkit is more than she appears....

Glad you noticed the Volewhisker thing; the problem is that originally Smallfire was his father, but somehow I got it mixed up in my head (probably because Small and Sand were gingers). I think I fixed it. I'm excited for the apprentices too, I missed their silly apprentice drama, and we've got plenty this time around!

@Mlaia: Hopefully she will! We'll see. :)

@Artemis: Well, like I said, there's a lot more going on with her than just Chilly, although that did kind of trash her inside. Forestheart's looking after her, of course, as much as he can, but...well. We'll see. I feel like Chilled is very different from Shattered too, although their different in good ways.

@CrystalSakura: Wow, you actually tried that? I'm impressed. I'm so much of a scatterbrain that I mix 'em up myself. Thanks for pointing that out, though! I knew I was missing someone, but I couldn't think of who; I kept thinking of Blazingfoot, but he's dead. I added them both on there (and gave them some kits to boot, cuz I can spontaneously produce a litter of kittens whenever I want. xD)

@Crowstorm: She hasn't attended any since Chilly's thing; when I say Eaglestrike took over her duties, I mean /all/ of them. We'll see how Jag turns out, of course. And thank you for the birthday greeting, that perked me up with surprise when I saw it! How did you find out, though, out of curiosity? Are ya stalking me? :D

@warriorcrazy: Thanks. Betrayal is always super-fun. ^^

That's all, I think.Stay tuned, yadda yadda!

CHILLED BIOS

Three posts in one day, jeez. Anyway, this is where the bios will be posted for Chilled.We've got some to start off with, and then I might add some later, if requested or something.
If the pictures are too small, click on them to enlarge them!
I use several different cat-makers to get these images. Recently I found a new one that I really like that I use for cats with more complex patterns, like Swift or Swanpaw, or cats that are very energetic and bright, like Reedrush. If they're more gentle/quiet, I use the one like I did for Sootpaw. Toms all have the same one (with one exception).

JOURNEYING CATS

    

This here is our dear, dear little Sootkit. She's pretty large for one her age, and it's obvious to all that she'll be well-muscled and strong when she becomes a warrior. She's generally smiling and upbeat, always ready to joke or play, but she's extremely sensitive about her size. She is usually gentle, but has a bit of a temper if provoked. Around her brother, she is meek and subservient because of his commanding attitude. She loves her brother and her family with all her heart, and she looks up to her father, Eaglestrike, with immense pride. It's her life-long dream to someday become her father's deputy, and carry on his legacy, eventually becoming the strong and powerful leader that he has become while Silverstar has been ill. She has a strange connection with the afterlife, one that she isn't even sure that StarClan quite understands. She's plagued with dreams that terrify her, the scene of Chillpaw's betrayal. However, recently the dreams have started to change....

Reedrush, despite having a son, is a rather young cat. She's only a little older than two. Despite this, she's very mature and calm most of the time; raising Blizzardpaw has tempered her once-adventurous spirit. However, she is still ready to take on challenges, as is shown when she joins the journeying cats. She also has her own motives for joining the group, although these are unclear. She's very close to Silverstar, but she is perhaps closest to Jaggedclaw. She loves him, and although he seems to reflect the same feelings he refuses to admit it for an unknown reason. This makes her unhappy, but she tries not to burden others with this. She is usually very kind, especially to Sootpaw, and Sootpaw has sort of become her apprentice on their journey.

Thistlethorn is another hot-headed young warrior, although perhaps not as much as Fireblaze. He was the first apprentice of the Clan, and the first to become a warrior. Because of this, he's very well respected by the younger generation of cats; many of the toms look up to him, wanting to become a warrior too. He seems unaware of this, however, for he is consumed by an overwhelming desire to prove himself; this is why he joined the journeying cats. He also has self-doubts, mainly stemming from the fact that his mother has almost completely forgotten about him; he has hazy memories of her accident that caused her amnesia, but feels an overwhelming sensation of guilt, especially after his father, Bullet, left them. Unlike most other cats, he isn't quite sure where his name came from; his mother doesn't remember and he cannot ask his father. He personally thinks it comes from his rather messy fur, which always seems to be sticking up, since he rarely grooms it. This is something else that bothers him; he sees names as being part of what makes up a cat, and not knowing the origin of his is deeply troubling to him.

Bluepaw is pretty much a complete airhead. She's nice to everyone, and almost always seems happy; she treats everyone equally and like a friend. She's hyperactive and chipper, always smiling and saying odd things as she bounces around the camp erratically. This definitely grates on her mentor's nerves, but Shimmerfrost usually says very little to her, mostly because Shimmerfrost is not fond of her. Bluepaw's interests vary wildly, and thus she is not really consistant with her training. Still, she was chosen to go on the journey because only AshClan received the prophecy, and Shimmerfrost could not be spared/did not want to go because of her strange visions. Bluepaw is friends with all of the apprentices, but is closest to Spiderpaw; she "likes" him a great deal, and misses him now that she is gone.

 

Jaypaw is usually fairly calm, but can become tense when his sister is threatened; like Fireblaze, he will stand up on her behalf even when she doesn't want him to. Normally he is not a grudge-holder, but he dislikes Spiderpaw because he specifically told him to be quiet and not hurt Robinpaw's feelings; Spiderpaw disobeyed and did not apologize. Jaypaw is very polite, and likes it when other cats are as well, so Spiderpaw's rudeness gravely irks him. Jaypaw wanted to join the journeying cats to help protect his sister; unfortunately he has fallen victim to the chilling disease and must now return home to her.

Rainwind is the older of the two PeakClan warriors on the journey. In his youth he was a bit wilder, but as a warrior he settled down, becoming much more soft-spoken and relaxed. He's a natural peace-maker who always has a kind word and works hard to sooth the nerves of others. He's also a good mentor, helping unlock Mousestep's potential; he hopes to do the same for his new apprentice, Brackenpaw. He is aware that being entrusted with the deputy's son is no light matter, and he hopes to train him accordingly.

Rabbitleap is a happy little puffball; she's small for a warrior, and her stubby tail only adds to the cute effect. She doesn't really seem to mind this, since she's not an overly ambitious cat. Bright and eager to please, she treats everyone like a friend, even the more prickly cats (*coughNorthstarcough*) despite others' advice to the contrary. She's a bit scatterbrained and rash, but underneath it all she's a good-hearted warrior who loves her mate, Hawktalon, very much. She hopes to have a family with him one day, which is partially why she joined the journeying party.

 

Brackenpaw is the older of the two PeakClan apprentices, as well as Northstar's adopted son. He practically worships his father and wants to be exactly like him. He wants to live up to the cat he was named for, Brackenheart. He tries to be kind and thoughtful and hard-working, but sometimes his temper or shortsightedness gets the better of him. This usually makes him feel very guilty, and he worries that he isn't living up to his father's expectations.

Swanpaw's a bit of a spoiled brat. She's rude, thoughtless, and icy, often critiquing or making fun of the other apprentices and warriors. She seems especially keen of making fun of Thistlethorn, and is amused when he becomes angry. She's very hostile towards Ashclan. She has a fierce independent streak, relying on no one but herself. She mourns the loss of her sister and is afraid she will lose her mother, which is why she joined the group. Haughty and full of pride, she's a dangerous ally to have because she is often shortsighted or foolish.

Rook is an ex-kittypet; he's a Norwegian Forest Cat, a (fairly expensive) show-cat. His owner perished in a fire that almost destroyed their entire house. Rook came back and found Nightingale; together they struggled to survive on the streets. They managed to hang around the streets for a few moons, but it proved too tough for them to handle. Hoping for greener pastures, they headed west, only to run into Adder and his gang. They were forced to work for him, scaring trespassers away. Rook is very good at this; he has a knack for ambushing and tree-climbing, and is very fast (partially because underneath all of his fluffy fur, he really isn't all that big). Rook has a growly, coarse way of speaking, but sometimes under stress/duress a more polished tone comes out.
((Again, because he's brown I had to use the creator I usually reserve for she-cats. IDK why he has a scarf in this picture, he definitely doesn't need one with all his fur...red is just so pretty against brown. In reality he, of course, doesn't have an awesome scarf.
His appearances was based on a photograph of a beautiful NFC.))

Nightingale is a Rag Doll, another showing breed. She was a recent addition to her owner's collection; she was a gift from another cat-breeder. As such, Nightingale was kept away from the other cats, near the back, to be slowly introduced to them so that they would not reject her. Most of the time she was kept in a back room in her cage. During the fire, the door to her room was closed; her owner couldn't get all the way back to save her, and was forced to leave her and help her other cats. Nightingale was saved by the thick door which blocked the fire until help arrived; however, she inhaled an immense amount of smoke, which permanently scarred her throat, nearly killing her. Firefighters managed to get her out of the building, but her cage was left on the street as they tried to combat the flames that were heading towards the forest (and would later consume AshClan's territory...you guys remember that, surely?). Rook returned and helped her, and together they fled. Because Nightingale cannot speak, there isn't much known about her; she's slightly shy, but strong enough to help Rook in his ambushing tactics. She can also be brave when she needs to be, such as when she came to Rook's aid when he was pinned by Sage and Thistlethorn. She seems to exert a calming influence on him, and is more rational than he is despite her muteness. 
((Unlike Rook, she actually does have a bow, although it's dirty and tattered now. It was a gift from her old owner and she hasn't wanted to take it off. Her appearance is also based on a photo.))
ASHCLAN CATS

Spiderkit is lightly built, with long, slender legs and a lanky frame. His fur is sleek, and his eyes are his mother's bright, bright green. He's very sensitive about his size, much like his larger sister. Because of his, he is widely known for his barbed tongue; he has a hair-trigger temper when his size is mentioned, and he's always quick to use his claws. He seems to lack a certain sort of filter; whatever he is thinking tumbles out of his mouth, and generally gets him into trouble. However, in battle, it's another story. He descends into an icy sort of cool, and his nimble, analytical mind can survey the situation, pick out his enemies' weaknesses, and create a battle plan to beat them. However, he is crippled in battle by his desire for strength; he will often throw away his careful plans and his speed-advantage to attempt to win by pure power, which he lacks.

Leopardpaw is somewhat of a mystery. She was a rogue lurking in the forest for almost a moon; AshClan scented her, but was unable to capture her or find out where she was living. She only showed herself to save Sootkit, who was drowning in the river. With that act, she won Sootkit's loyalty and trust, as well as the grudging trust of the rest of the Clan...all except for Spiderkit, who blames himself for Sootkit's near-drowning. On the surface, she seems uninterested in Clan affairs, even uninterested in training as a warrior, except in battle; in battle she is a fiery tornado, ripping over the battlefield, using moves cats have never seen before. She was obviously trained before, but she only says that she lived in the Twolegplace and was trained there; it's widely assumed that Amber trained her to help fight against Carmelo, but they don't know for sure. Leopardpaw seems to always be watching her Clanmates, even though she looks bored while doing it.

Blackpaw is a simple, sweet lil gal. She's currently the oldest apprentice in the Clan because she is not yet ready to become a warrior; she's not a strong enough fighter to pass her assessment. This sort of hurts her pride, but she admits that she isn't yet ready. She's a gentle, quiet cat who likes to stay out of conflict; she's usually very soft-spoken, as well as a good listener. She was good friends with Bluepaw, and is also good friends with Robinpaw (and Blizzardpaw/Jaypaw by proxy). Family is very important to her, and she loves her mother Petalcloud and brother Fireblaze a great deal, even though she does feel uncomfortable about how Fireblaze pressures everyone to be nice to her. She does wish she could be more independent, but it's difficult for her to voice such thoughts, especially since she is afraid to hurt her brother's feelings. She doesn't usually have a temper, but insulting her family is a good way to incite one. Despite her kind appearance, she can be a bit sneaky to help her friends and family, such as when she told Robinpaw that Spiderpaw had apologized.

Fireblaze is easily one of the most hot-tempered cats in the Clan. He's extremely quick to anger, and VERY protective of his family, to the point where he has no problem threatening/injuring those that dare speak badly about his kin. He's known for getting into scraps, and even as an apprentice he suffered some bad wounds because he refuses to ever give up or give in. He has a habit of shouting at his enemies as he fights them to anger them, although it's not clear whether it's a ploy on his part (to cloud their decision-making) or simply his way to get an exciting battle. He's known for holding grudges, especially when his family is involved. However, Fireblaze is really not a bad cat. He's very loyal to his friends and family, and will try wholeheartedly to help them with any problems they might have. He works tirelessly to provide for his Clan.

Fireblaze's lackey, he idolizes the older warrior. As such, he acts quite a bit like him; he's very protective of his kin and also has a quick temper. He's a bit bulkier than Fireblaze (not to imply that Fireblaze is small, because he is certainly well-muscled) and thus less refined in his battle techniques. He's a little thick-skulled, not really all that bright or ambitious; he just wants to be Fireblaze's right paw. He also has an odd fascination with she-cats, and tends to try to bond with them (especially Robinpaw and Leopardpaw). However, he's a bit of a blunderer in conversation, and thus is not very impressive to anyone.

Blizzardpaw is notable in that he is probably one of the most peaceful cats. Unlike the others, he doesn't have any siblings to watch out for or defend. Because of this, he doesn't generally hold grudges or even take sides in arguments. He prefers to be carefully neutral, to keep on the good side of both parties; this can be seen in his complex relationship with Spiderpaw and Fireblaze. On the one paw, he is good friends with Fireblaze and hangs out with him; on the other, he tries to deter Fireblaze from harassing/injuring Spiderpaw. Blizzardpaw is most loyal to Robinpaw, although he usually will not be angry on her behalf (when Spiderpaw insulted her, Blizzardpaw was pretty chill about it; Robinpaw wasn't angry, so neither was he). If, however, Robinpaw is actually angry about something, it's likely that he would follow suit out of loyalty. Robinpaw is his best friend in the world. He's very close to his mother as well, and misses her terribly now that she's gone, although he usually keeps this to himself. Truly, he's a bit of an invisible cat, despite his friendly nature. This can be seen by his pelt; unlike most apprentices he has very few scars, because his spars rarely become overly aggressive or violent.

Robinpaw is a fairly easy-going cat. Despite the injury she sustained as a kit, she is very upbeat and bright. She tries very hard to train to the best of her ability, in order to live up to the legacy of her parents. She tries to be friends with everyone, and in this she mainly succeeds, since she is generally a positive cat. She does have a more forlorn side; sometimes she frets about her becoming a warrior because of her leg. Generally only Jaypaw and Blizzardpaw see this, as she tries to hide her fears from the rest of the cats. She hates being pitied above all else; this is partially why she tries so hard. She wants very much to become closer to Darkstorm, but he seems wary of her and does not like being with her because of the guilt he feels over her accident. Still, she maintains a positive attitude, hoping to change this. She's not really much of a grudge-holder, but she does demand that the other cat apologize to her if she thinks that he or she has done something wrong. Because of this she wouldn't speak to Spiderpaw, even though she wasn't really mad about what he said, until he indirectly apologized.

DEAD CATS

By request, our dear, dear Chillpaw. I think we all know how he is; emotionless, relentless, guiltless. Or, at least, so he was in Shattered...we might find ourselves in a whole different ball park now, who knows? Even if he's changed since death, there are always some constants; he's obsessed with balance, with the imaginary "scales" of the universe; perhaps he even has some OCD tendencies. His personal belief, although he doesn't admit it, is that if the scales are in balance then everything will work out for him in the end; every cat will get what they deserved. He took one of Silverstar's lives to protect this balance, to avenge Lion, even while knowing that he would most likely die. In that case, the scales were balanced, and he died feeling peace, while also knowing that he had completely shattered the Clan's feelings of safety. Now he walks the Dark Forest, but of course our dear Chilly isn't finished plotting....

(His appearance is rather bland; no snazzy markings for him, really. The marks on his throat is from the bite that killed him; the marking on his butt area is from the badger that killed his mother; it got in a blow while he scampered up the tree.)

 Blight is, for the moment, Chilly's right-paw dude. He's cunning, manipulative, and sinister; he takes great pleasure in forcing others to do what he wants and he is very violent/hostile towards she-cats underneath his charming exterior. He's adept at sensing the motivations and emotions of others, and very good at exploiting them. This, coupled by his bloodthirst and violent temper are what helped push him to the top of FrozenClan's ranks and made him a hero of the battle against ShellClan. He's a bad dude, guys, but we already know that.

The former leader of WindClan, many years ago. Her crimes are not yet known, but she did hold a war against the other Clans (as shown in one-shot 12. Skeleton). which eventually led to her downfall. She's haughty, cold, and a little vain (okay, plenty vain). 

Dapplefern is one of my more hated characters. She was once good friends with Rosedapple, but they split apart after Rosedapple and Lightstar fell in love. Dapplefern was jealous of Rosedapple's rank in the Clan and plotted her downfall. When Lightstar broke it off with Rosey, Dapplefern thought her own rank would improve by default, but when it did not she became enraged. This feeling of being unappreciated, coupled with Northstar's rejection of her, eventually led to her betrayal of the Clans. In death she is much like she was in life, still full of pride and demanding others do everything for her and give her more attention.

Nettlefrost is mostly unknown at this point; she was once deputy of ThunderClan, but that was many years ago. She seems to have little to say, and her suffix suggests that she is a bit cold and rational, level-headed. She seems disdainful of Sootpaw, but other than that she's basically a mystery.

 Swiftshade is another mysterious cat. He was once a warrior of RiverClan, but that's all that's really known about him. He's quiet and seems to have little to say.

Shrew seems an odd candidate for the Dark Forest. He's a well-meaning little guy, very shy and nervous around the more sinister Dark Forest cats. How he got to the DF is a mystery, since he seems fairly harmless and quails before the likes of Blight and Chill. 

((I gave him the girly bio because browns are really ugly in the form I use for most toms...also he has a little cape because when he was little he dreamed of being a hero. Obviously that didn't work out.))

ALLEGIANCES

Someone suggested these, and I considered putting them in the actual story before I posted the Prologue, but it would have thrown the chapter number off and confused me. So it's here now instead. Enjoy, hope this helps~!

ASHCLAN
 Leader
Silverstar: Pretty silver tabby, blue eyes; currently without duties as she is still recovering from the emotional and mental shattering of Chillpaw's betrayal. Mate of Forestheart.
Deputy
Eaglestrike: Gray tabby, yellow eyes. All-around swell guy, currently acting as temporary leader. Father of Sootkit and Spiderkit, mate of Ravenwing.
Medicine Cat
Shimmerfrost: Silver tabby, icy blue eyes. Nasty piece of work, as likely to claw you as to heal you, but loyal to the Clan. Named Shimmerfrost when Rumble died.
Medicine Cat Apprentice
Bluepaw: Blue-gray she-cat, blue eyes. Little cutie, always happy, but slightly scarred from witnessing Bramblethorn's death.
Warriors
Forestheart: Handsome brown tabby tom, bright green eyes; used to always be smiling/joking, but somewhat more somber now. Extremely protective of Silverstar. Silverstar's mate. Mentor to Redpaw.
Reedrush: Pretty, slim silver tabby, green eyes. Usually cheerful, cares for Jaggedclaw. Mother of Blizzardpaw. Mentor to Blackpaw
Darkstorm: Black tom, yellow eyes, powerfully built but somewhat lean. Still a bit lazy, but Frostfeather's pushing him to be stronger. He and Frostfeather aren't exactly mates, but they're romantically involved. It's complicated. Mentor to Firepaw.
 Frostfeather: White she-cat, green eyes, extremely protective of her kits and rather all-around fierce. Mother of Robinpaw and Jaypaw, sort-of mate of Darkstorm, foster mother of Redpaw and Bluepaw.
Petalcloud: Fluffy calico she-cat, formerly a kittypet and a rogue. Known as Primrose before she earned her warrior name. Easy-going, gentle, soft. Foster mother of Firepaw and Blackpaw.
Stormshadow: Dark gray tabby tom. Very aggressive because of his life as a rogue; formerly known as Shredder. Extremely loyal to the Clan, vigorously protective of Petalcloud, Firepaw, and Blackpaw. Mentor to Jaypaw.
Birchpool: Somewhat spacey white she-cat, blue eyes. Had amnesia; still doesn't remember her past, despite talking with Reedrush often, but her hunting and fighting skills have come back to her. Formerly known as Brightflash, requested a new warrior name since she couldn't remember her old life. Mentor to Robinpaw.
Thistlethorn: Blue-gray tom, bright yellow eyes. Fierce, eager to prove himself, hostile towards PeakClan cats. Currently the youngest warrior, which means he has a lot to live up to.
Apprentices
Firepaw: Brilliant ginger coat, fiery amber eyes. Extremely passionate and loud; often brags about warrior life. Short temper that flares up quickly; protective of Petalcloud and Blackpaw. Hates even the mention of Chillpaw.
Blackpaw: Sleek black she-cat, yellow eyes. Very timid, shy, quiet. Strong spiritual side, but she's often afraid to voice her thoughts.
Blizzardpaw: White tom, blue eyes. Boisterous, playful, generally happy.
Jaypaw: Gray tabby tom, amber eyes. Soft-spoken, sensitive, gentle.
Robinpaw: Ginger she-cat, green eyes. Sensitive about her twisted leg; started training half a moon after her brother, but works much harder so they can be made warriors together.
Redpaw: Ginger tabby tom, amber eyes; much like a little Firepaw. Actually idolizes the older apprentice.
Queens & Kits
Ravenwing: Gentle sleek black she-cat, green eyes. Quiet, but thoughtful. Mate of Eaglestrike, mother of Sootkit and Spiderkit.
Sootkit: Large dappled gray she-cat, yellow eyes. Somewhat ashamed of her size; follows her brother obediently, but when not around him she has a strong, fiery spirit and quite a temper. Around her brother she's generally meek and quiet; she looks up to him, despite having quite an advantage height-wise.
Spiderkit: Sleek black tom, green eyes, long, lanky body. Idolizes strong toms like his father; has an extremely sharp tongue and an analytical mind. His body is built for speed, but he doesn't utilize it well. Often gets into scraps because he speaks before he thinks.
Elders
Jaggedclaw: Badly scarred silver-gray tabby tom. Lost one ear and the sight in one eye from an accident on the Thunderpath. Speaks to no one but Reedrush; generally bad-tempered and bitter.

PEAKCLAN
Leader
Stonestar: gray tabby tom, yellow eyes
Deputy
Northstar: White tom with black paws, yellow eyes (need I say more?). Foster father of Brackenpaw, Birdpaw, and Streampaw.
Medicine Cat
Blackmoon: Black tom with a white blaze on his chest, blue eyes.
Medicine Cat Apprentice
Birdpaw: Golden-brown tabby she-cat
Warriors
Rosedapple: Dappled silver she-cat, mate to Northstar, mother of Brackenpaw and Birdpaw, foster mother of Streampaw and Puddlekit.
Fawncloud: Golden she-cat, mate of Foxclaw, mother of Rabbitleap and Mousestep
Foxclaw: Bad-tempered ginger tom, mate of Fawncloud
Smallfire: Small ginger tom, father of Volewhisker; will retire soon
Sparrowfeather: Tabby she-cat
Sleekfoot: Sleek blue-gray she-cat, sister to Stonestar
Volewhisker: Ginger tabby tom, son of Smallfire (deceased) mate of Iceblossom, father of Swankit, Snowkit, and Shrewkit
Hawktalon: Brown tabby tom, brother of Iceblossom, mate of Rabbitleap
Rabbitleap: Gray she-cat with white markings, blue-green eyes, a short tail from an accident when she was a kit. Daughter of Fawncloud and Stonestar, sister to Mousestep, mate of Hawktalon
Mousestep: Golden-brown tom, brother of Rabbitleap, has a stuttering problem
Rainwind: Gray tabby tom
Twigstripe: Thin brown tabby tom, mate of Emberflight, father of Maplekit, Poppykit, and Tigerkit.
Apprentices
Brackenpaw: Golden tabby tom, son of Rosedapple and Lightstar, brother of Birdpaw
Streampaw: Silver she-cat, daughter of Graywing and Lightstar, half-sister of Brackenpaw and Birdpaw
Queens & Kits
Iceblossom: Pretty white she-cat, mate to Volewhisker
Swankit: Ginger-and-white she-cat
Snowkit: White she-cat
Shrewkit: Ginger tom 
Emberflight: Tortoiseshell she-cat, mate to Twigstripe 
Maplekit: Pretty brown tabby she-cat
Poppykit: Tortoiseshell she-cat
Tigerkit: Dark brown tabby 
THE ANCIENT JOURNEY
Only known cats are listed
ThunderClan
Fogheart - gray tabby tom.
Foxpaw - ginger apprentice, apprentice of Fogheart
Birchpaw - pale gray she-cat,
RiverClan
Amberfur - Tortie
Nightpaw - black she-cat, apprentice of Amberfur, died by drowning
Graystorm - gray tom
WindClan
Whitecloud - white she-cat

ShadowClan  
Oakclaw - brown tabby tom
Toadpaw - small brown tabby, Oakclaw's nephew, first death on the journey (exact details unknown)


A bit more in depth than regular allegiances, but eh. Rumble and Bramblethorn died between stories; Rumble was sick, as mentioned in Shattered's epilogue. We'll get more of Bramblethorn's death later. Hopefully this was a good refresher.

A few notes:

• Redpaw was given to Forestheart while he was still mentoring Thistlepaw, because Thistlepaw's training was only half a moon from being completed, and he was able to juggle both apprentices.
• Blackpaw was given to Bramblethorn originally, because the two had bonded while Bramblethorn visited Redkit and Bluekit; Bramblethorn sort of adopted the two kits, and was kind to Blackpaw as well. After Bramblethorn's death, Blackpaw was given to Reedrush even though she was still a queen, because Blizzardkit was close to being apprenticed and Blackpaw was close to Reedrush as well.
• Firepaw and Blackpaw were already pretty old when they joined the Clan, and very adult in their way of thinking because of their rough rogue lives, so Darkstorm wasn't as intimidated by them as he was with most kits; he still didn't like them, but once they were six moons old they were bearable. This was probably the only time he could have been chosen as a mentor (ever), so Silverstar decided to let him mentor Firepaw to perk up his self-esteem.
• Puddlekit (Graywing and Lightstar's kit) died in between books as well, from a kit disease.
• There are more PeakClan cats than just the ones I've listed; PeakClan's numbers will be flexible, probably, just as they were in Shattered. 
• Dapplefern died during Shattered, sort of, it just completely slipped my mind. During the big battle, she ran to the Peak, thinking that she could kill Rosedapple while everyone was busy; Rosedapple was her most hated enemy. They used to be close friends, but Dapplefern was jealous of how popular Rosedapple was with the Clan. After Rosedapple was betrayed by Lightstar, Dapplefern expected to rise in popularity, but it didn't happen. Then, Dapplefern went after Northstar, but he spurned her for Rosedapple. She was even angrier when Northstar stole her apprentice. Feeling betrayed by the Clan, she turned on them and helped Lion, feeding him information. Anyway, her body was later found on the river bed, having washed up there. Blackmoon and Rosedapple were the ones guarding the Clan while Ravenwing gave birth; they made the apprentices stay in the medicine den. Both Blackmoon and Rosedapple said that Dapplefern suffered an "accident" and fell into the waterfall, which then threw her into the river. According to them, it was the fall that killed her, and it was never proved otherwise, although some cats wonder....

Chappy 1, schweet.

Okies, the actual first chappy is up, yayness! Sorry it took so long, I was working 16+ hours just on the weekend doing my pinata...and working on it throughout the week, so yeah. Last week and this week are both going to be kinda crazy, but after that hopefully I'll be in the clear.

Bwahaha. I'll admit, throwing you guys for a loop in the prologue is amusing. And then I kind of giggle at how in Shattered most of the reviews said they disliked Chill, but as soon as he's dead, he becomes slightly more liked. I'll make a note of that. ;)

Anyway, to questions and such:

@Nightfrost: While it's true that kittens don't have to look exactly like their parents, their parents are the most important factor in how a kit looks. I'm not sure if you've had genetics in class or not, but if so then you probably know all about Punnet Squares and all that, to determine genes and stuff. It's true that kits can inherit traits from way back in their lineage, but ONLY if that gene has been passed through the generations. Also, if the trait doesn't show up, then it's probably recessive, and could only appear if the other parent carried it too. For example, take Silverstar's family. Her father, Fadedstar, had blue eyes. Her mother, Whitefrost, had green eyes. Blue is recessive to green, so for Silverstar to have blue eyes, her mother had to carry the trait for both green eyes AND blue eyes. By chance, she passed her blue eyes trait to Silverstar, and Fadedstar did the same, giving Silverstar blue eyes. On the other hand, Silverstar's sister has green eyes, because Whitefrost gave her the trait for green eyes, which was dominant over the trait for blue eyes from Fadedstar. Theoretically, it would be possible for a cat to have a rarer pelt color too, even from far back in their lineage, but ONLY if it was present on both sides. Like with your ginger pelt; assuming that ginger is submissive to blue-gray (I have no idea if it is, just an example) then a ginger kitten could be born to parents that are both blue-gray, if BOTH of them had a ginger cat somewhere in their lineage and the trait for a ginger pelt was passed down to them. Because of how complex that becomes, I try to stick with first generation genetics. Sometimes I'll go a bit farther back (for example, Whitefrost's father was white, but neither of her daughters are completely white, although they have some white markings. Cinderstream carried Whitefrost's white-fur trait and gave it to Chill; for this to happen, Ashstir also had to have a white cat in his lineage) but generally it's easier for everyone to stick with the parents. Is that any clearer? Did that help? ^^;

@Crowstorm: Maybe he managed to get a bit of perspective while training with Silverstar, who knows? It didn't seem to matter, but maybe it will later. I've no idea. @.@

@Shimmertail: Maybe Spider being nice was blatant lies...but he's sort of semi-nice on the inside. Beneath all the cockiness and spitting, that is. And, yeah, I still shudder when I think of Sparklewish. Good charrie, but her /name/....And I'm still waiting on that e-mail, hmmm. :D

@Dawnshine: A dream, yes, but of a real event, as we see in Ch 1. All that really happened. Sootkit never saw it herself (that's why Chill's pelt tends to change in her dream, she doesn't know what he really looked like) but she dreams of the same scene a lot, for some reason....

@AutumnSunsets: There's only one question of yours that wasn't answered in that AN. To the answer the unanswered question, I am not a fan of pie unless it is chocolate pie made by my mom, or sometimes a banana creme pie.

@QueenofthePens: Soot's always been a girl, Spider's the dude.

@Madame Wolfe: Chilly died because Stormshadow killed him, as in Soot's dream. Soot is Ravenwing/Eaglestrike's kit.

@Lynxeye: Silverstar's lost three lives by now, poor girl. I don't think anyone could beat Tigerstar's record, ha. We'll see where Chilly is soon enough. His balance-thingy was more for others protecting him and losing their lives than for someone killing him; sort of a give-receive type deal.Allegiances would be a very good idea, actually, I think I might do that in my next post. The AshClan cats are set in stone, but PeakClan's might change, I haven't quite decided. I really want to try first person again, and I think I have an idea for a perfect story just for that.

@Fae: Hey! I've seen you on the boards (love the way you structure your posts, as weird as that sounds; I couldn't summon up the energy to keep bolding and spacing stuff, ha). Your sister sounds familiar, was she one of my older reviewers? I'm horrible with names, so maybe not...I try to review most of the stories that I read, personally, but I don't read very many stories myself; I have trouble reading stuff on the computer. I actually printed out my 110+ driver's manual for my permit test, rather than read it on the computer. Took a lot of ink, sigh. Don't worry, we'll see more of Chilly; it isn't called Chilled for nothing. C:

@Smokefrost: Possessed? That sounds terrifying, poor kit. Something like that happened in TR, tho, and I hate using the same old stuff, so prolly not. :)

@Fred: Prologues are kinda meant to be short, in my opinion, but that's just me. This Prologue was actually longer than Shattered's, though.

@CrystalSakura: *smacks forehead* I saw those when I read through it like the fourth time, but I don't want to go re-upload the Doc and fuss with it (I can't use Ctrl+F, so finding the lapses is really hard). And yessir, that was Chilly at the end, even though Soot doesn't necessarily know it.

@Ninjakitty: Now I really want to see this picture, ha! You must make a dA. I demands it! Well, I can't really demand it, but I would...appreciate it, I s'pose. Stormshadow is Shredder, I'll clear that up in the allegiances.

Next post will be the allegiances; I think attached to it will be some more charry-bio goodness. Yay!

Chilled up!

Chilled up, so it's epilogue-question time! Yaay!

@Shimmertail: Yeah, he's kind of Jag in my mind too. And ha, yes, CarmeloxToxin was for rizzle. I already kind of was on the fence about it, but your deciding that it was a crack pairing sealed the deal. I think Death and Northy are definitely some of my favorites in this fic, although I'm sort of sad Shimmer didn't get more screentime, so to speak. I like Ratwhisker for Blight, it's perfect; Snakestrike is pretty close to Snake's old name, Snakebite. Dawnfrost kind of strikes me as weird (I use Dawn for creams) but -frost definitely fits her. My first three were Honeyblossom, Fogwing, and Streamfur (which aren't bad) but then I started getting into the weirdness....Wow, your first was JtR? I think it's actually my least favorite, to be honest, but I'm glad you chose to stick around! <3 And when do I get to read that one-shot, mm? You could e-mail it to me, maybe? (princessleopard@gmail.com).

@MansonNoob: I'm not a fan of sandwiches, actually, but thanks. Good luck on the Challenge! :D

@Lynxeye: You actually went and did your review cat by cat? ILY! Slaughter's a big ball of nothing, you're right (in original role-play he was really important, but he was just the cat to get the ball rolling here, I guess). And yes (!!) about Mother's new kit! It was Ravenwing/Eaglestrike's little daughter. I'm surprised anyone got that, nice! About Lion, I really have no idea. The craziness/bitterness was from her death, so in her presence (assuming rogues have an afterlife, which I have no idea about) so in her presence he'd probably mellow out...but he could never be exactly the same again, I guess. And didn't I answer the Bullet thing? I thought I did, eh. Yeah, he's Thistlepaw's father, but that's not what is important about him, as we'll see. Reed doesn't want to go by herself, but she will if she has to. Death will prolly never get over his phobia entirely, but with work (and Frosty will make him work!) he can kind of make it manageable. Knowing him, I doubt it'll stick, but they'll try. How'd you know I was going to name her Icedragon? I considered it, but I didn't think you guys would go for that. And I kind of feel the same way about Northy; he's sort of a more engaging charrie than Silver, so it would have been cool if he was the main character...maybe next time.(I was kidding about Icedragon, in case you couldn't tell. xD).

@Insane Certifiably: I've always wondered about those lil kits, cuz some of them prolly have rogue parents, or something, like Splash in JtR. If they make it to StarClan, what do they do? Again, not taking a stand (for the moment) on the whole rogue-afterlife thing. Clover's scent could have been him hallucinating as he was dying, for all I know. xD Slaughter cared about dying, but Toxin sure didn't, in the end. I like the way Forest changed too, while still maintaining his weird lil grin. I love you too (in a completely creepy way)!

@CrystalSakura: Arg, I totally head-desk'd when I realized that. It's all fixed now, I think; Scorpion died, Shredder lived, yadda yadda. Fixed fixed fixed. Thanks for letting me know. ^^

@Ninjakitty: Ooh, a picture could be cool; one of my friends had someone draw the cover of her fic, and I was jealous. The kit that Mother found was actually Raven/Eagles; all of her own kits are alive.

@JayEyedWolf: Oh dear, you have a point. I didn't realize it had been so long since I touched Singe and Sapphire! The parody is kind of something to do when I've got ideas (which are floating around in my brain for the moment, they haven't really solidified) but I'll try to work on TS: ATOL real soon.

@Moonsong: I like RabbitxHawk too (I like Vole, in that he's a good cat, but he wasn't quite meant for Rabbit). I named Forest Forestheart because of his compassion and generally good nature; remember, he even helped save Foxclaw's life, even though he hated him, among other things. He's just a well-respected, loyal, loving, compassionate cat, so -heart seemed right.

Compare/Contrasaganza!

That title didn't make any sense, I apologize.

Anyway, as promised, a quick comparing/contrasting of what is new/old between the original role-play and Shattered. Divided for your convenience. :)

Plot

• Pretty much the whole thing in Shattered is new. I can see you staring at me right now, going 'wat?' Yes, it's true, almost the entire plot of Shattered is original/new. You see, in original role-play, I began playing with my new Clan (ForestClan, incidentally) with Silverstar already having her nine lives and Frostfeather already preggers (she was giving birth when role-play began, actually, I think that was my first post). So /everything/ (and I do mean everything) before AshClan was established is almost completely original. Surprised?
• TalonClan DID exist originally. They were even ran by a kitty named Slaughter who overthrew Northstar. That's all true. Even the forest Clans/FrozenClan's relationship was all true, but it really wasn't dealt with very much. FrozenClan was just an excuse to use Northstar/kill the forest Clans, and the forest Clans were just so I could use Silverstar as a new leader of a new Clan. Her parents/past were hardly touched at all during original role-play; same goes for Northy, although the basic bare-bones story (had a mentor who he really loved but died, killed his father for power, was overthrown by Slaughter) is the same. 
• TalonClan was known by another name, which I'll get to in the Names section. However, it wasn't the TalonClan we know today. You see, instead of existing for like only one season like it did in Shattered (barely even that, really) TalonClan (and the rest about Silverstar creating a new Clan which was never technically role-played but just sort of hand-waved as having already happened) took years to build. The end result was that it was an incredibly large Clan, much bigger than the TalonClan we know and hate. It was also created/ran entirely by Slaughter; Lion didn't kill him, or anything. Slaughter never actually officially died, because we never actually got to that point.
• Also, TalonClan was full of cannibals. Yeah, you read that right. Cannibals. Snake was a cannibal. Slaughter was a cannibal. Toxin was a cannibal. Now, FrozenClan/the forest Clans weren't cannibal Clans, but somehow when they came together to make TalonClan, they all turned into cannibals, or something. That was never really made clear, pretty much because TalonClan was just for some evilly delicious tension in role-play. They were just...evil cannibals. Yeah.
• Other Clans existed in original role-play, but they were all incredibly small compared to AshClan. My Clan was actually the most popular by far (over 100 cats compared to 30-40 in the others; we didn't have a character limit). The other Clans were SecretClan (which had wolves as well as cats in it...don't ask, I don't even know), FireClan, SunsetClan, LakeClan, PhantomClan, FrostClan...we kinda had a lot of Clans, yeah. Unlike PeakClan, however, they didn't have a problem with AshClan charging in and taking over. They didn't care so much, so there were few battles (boooring, right?).
• Silverstar's mate wasn't named Forest. He wasn't anything even close to being Forest. Her mate (for all of like three moons before his role-player disappeared) was named Tornadofang, and he was kind of just a big ol' grump. Forest's opposite, really. Silverstar even had four adorable, badly named kits: Timberkit (brown tabby, kind of the inspiration for Timber and, by proxy, Forest himself), Cottonkit (white she-cat...how do the cats know what cotton is, I dunno), Lifekit (silver tabby...Life? I don't know, man)Wolfkit (wolves don't live in GB, but whatever, right?) and...Sproutkit (a calico. I have no idea how a silver cat plus a gray-blue cat created a calico, white, and brown tabby, but whatever). Yeah. You might just now be realizing how bad my old role-play stuff was.
• Frostfeather had kits with a rogue who was never really named/revealed, it just sort of happened because she was just pregnant when I started rping her. She later popped out Ospreykit, Falconkit, and Sparrowkit. Sparrowkit went on to become one of AshClan's FOUR medicine cats (yeah, four...in case the other three die, or something, I guess) and Ospreykit became one of the strongest warriors in the Clan/TalonClan's prisoner...Falconkit never did anything. Ospreykit eventually had a bunch of kits himself, but none of those were used in Shattered, or anything.
• Ravenwing mothered two different litters, by two different cats. One was by Duskheart (mentioned in JtR, if you've read that you'll remember him), but after Duskheart's original mate re-appeared, I created a new mate for her, Eaglestrike. He was the deppy of the old forest Clan, just like in Shattered, and they eventually had kits together. The kits from Duskheart's litter were Pumpkinkit, Spicekit, and Spacekit. Eaglestrike's were Purekit, Passionkit, Spiderkit, and Wispkit. Spiderkit's the only one of Ravenwing's kits that I used for Shattered at all.
• Shimmer...oh, where to being? Shimmer has always been (and will be) one of my most iconic characters, as well as one of my favorites. You know the weird way she spoke when she was younger in Shattered? She was always like that in role-play, throughout her entire life. She also had a weird habit of referencing human movies/slang (once she was watching a pair of cats falling in love and referenced like seven Disney movies, including The Lady and the Tramp). She was extremely weird, but I adored her. She was also sort of evil-ish, in that she had no regard for her Clanmates whatsoever. She pretty much hated everyone, and gave them a tongue-lashing whenever she could, including Silverstar. She had no loyalties to anyone or anything, and her favorite thing to do was to get everyone into trouble. Once, she actually dug a pit and threw some kits inside of it just to watch them sit there and suffer. Yeah, she was not so good...but /so/ fun to role-play! She never had a mate or anything like that (could you imagine?) but she eventually found an apprentice that melted her a bit (Olivepaw, not rped by me, but he warmed up to her really quickly). Besides Olivepaw, the only other cat in the world she cared about was her mother. Shimmer and Silverstar met the same way as they did in Shattered, with Shimmer kind of chilling and grooming herself. However, in role-play, Shimmer and her mother were separated by wolves (wat?), not creepy ghost thingies that only they could see. She also did not have a brother. She did, however, have two sisters....
• ...which brings me to this. That whole tangled family thing in Shattered DID exist in role-play. However, Reedrush wasn't a part of it. Most of it was the same - Whitefrost gave her kit away to FrozenClan, that kit mated with Slaughter, had  kits, and ran off with one of them - however, Cinderstream had /three/ kits in original role-play: Shimmer, Toxin, and a cat you guys don't know named Mercury. That's right; Shimmer and Toxin were sisters! Mercury was pretty much a clone of Toxin, except she liked playing with her prey; i.e., other cats, before she devoured them. Sadistic little gal. I think I eventually killed her off, but I can't remember...also, Northy and Silver weren't originally related.
• Now, with Reedrush, almost everything was the same; she was born in  a strange society (not called the Kalan, but something like it), her father died (he was named Ashheart, though, which technically should have been Ash-heart, except I had a tendency to accidentally type it as Assheart) and she escaped from a Twoleg Pound. However, she was not pregnant; there was no cat named Blitz. Jag found her starving to death and taught her how to hunt; then they went their seperate ways. Reedrush did follow the scent of ash, left by her father, just as in Shattered. When Reedrush and Jag separated, Reedrush scented ash, and ran back to find Jag, only to see that he had been hit by a Twoleg monster. That's obviously the scenario that played out at the end of Shattered, just relocated to a different place in the plot. Anyway, Reedrush and Jag  were totally in love and such; however, Toxin was following them. You see, in role-play Toxin was actually decently aged, and she was looking for a mate. Jag was strong and junk, so she picked him, but nearly killed Reedrush. Jag obviously didn't want her and chased her off, but she followed them all the way to the Clans. Reedrush and Jag joined SecretClan, instead of Silverstar's Clan. Toxin discovered Silverstar there, and raced off to tell her dear daddy about the kitty that got away, which got them into a whole mess of trouble.
• That kind of brings me back to Toxin; again, she was older, and much more sadistic (although just as calculating as in Shattered). She was Slaugther's right-hand gal, and as such she was later assigned to take over a band of rogues. These rogues were led by Tremor, and all of the rogues in his band in Shattered were in original role-play. Blight was with Toxin, however (in this story he totally loved her, although she didn't really care about him) and eventually knocked her up. Toxin gave birth to several kits; Screech, Slit, Sulfur, Ax, and Pulse. Toxin and Blight were eventually chased out by Tremor and co., along with the kits, although Pulse stayed behind because she was a total softy and Toxin didn't like that.
• Rumble wasn't blind. He did, however, have extremely poor eyesight. He had a weird connection with the ground, in that he could sense the voices/movements of cats far away from the tremors in the earth. I obviously kind of twisted that into being part of his weird senses in Shattered, and I made him blind for the fun of it.
• Northstar's story is basically the same. He fled his Clan, stumbled on to SunsetClan (which is closest to PeakClan in this story) and saved a she-cat with kits from killing herself. The leader of SunsetClan (Sunstar) had knocked her up and then carelessly left her for the medicine cat, just like in Shattered. The queen and Northy fell in love, blah blah blah. He also gained an apprentice, little Rabbitpaw, although she didn't have a fluffy tail and wasn't as ditzy. She was more spiritual, but either way she helped Northy defrost. He still hated Silverstar, tho.
• Brightflash was inspired by Whitelight (had to change her name, obviously), a strange she-cat with amnesia who just sort of appeared. Brightflash is kind of spacey and distant just like her, although Whitelight didn't have a kit.
• Thistlepaw is completely original.
• As one of my reviewers mentioned, Buck was originally kind of a hick/redneck cat. I'd prefer not to talk about it. xD
• Flameheart (was that his name? I'm not sure anymore), the cat that Silverstar and co. found at the very beginning of Shattered (that dying warrior with the other warrior who gave him water? Remember?) was based off a background character named Sunbyrn, who was Frostfeather's mentor. I don't know why I spelled burn weird. I don't know why I thought that sounded like a good name. I just...don't know.
• Brightfire was originally a prisoner of TalonClan (he helped Osprey-whatever escape in role-play). His character was pretty much the same, all noble and jazz, except that he was also an excellent orator. I needed a sort of revolutionary for Shattered, so I decided to dig him up and rename him.
• Brightfire's original character had a sister, who did indeed take out Snake's eye in role-play.
• Wanna talk about Death? Let's talk about Death. Death was, in role-play, much cooler than in Shattered. He was big and muscular and strong and no body told him what to do. He was, however, still deathly afraid of kits, just as in Shattered. And, like in Death's chapter, kits were strangely attracted to him, which led to all sorts of shenanigans. Deathy was also really really REALLY lazy, to the point where he just slept/sunbathed all the time and yelled at anyone who wanted to make him do stuff. He and Frostfeather never really knew each other. SOMEHOW he managed to find himself a mate (Starlingfeather), and they had a bunch of kits (two were mine, Dazzlekit and Goldenkit. Dazzlekit's name was later Dazzleflash, which kind of inspired Brightflash's name, a bit). Death is probably one of my other top five cats to rp, and he's appeared in a few other rps in various forms since then.
• Northstar did name a kit after his mentor. However, the kit he named was actually his real son, not the kit of the leader.
• Blight was a more sympathetic character, originally. He totally loved Toxin (although she didn't love him back) and was in general kind of a failure. He was still a cannibal, though. 
• Snake existed as he does in Shattered, but he was more sympathetic too (I spent a lot of time playing with TalonClan in role-play). He still had his lust for silver she-cats (and lost an eye because of it) but he might have been kind of bisexual because he had a weird, extremely close relationship with a tom named Marshfoot. Snake and Toxin didn't interact too much, and Snake was never interested in Cinderstream.
• Marshfoot didn't appear in Shattered, although he was a pretty  interesting dude. He was a rogue (with a Clan name, for some reason) who nearly murdered his own kits because they were hard to take care of. His mate, Clearwater, fled with them and gave them to LakeClan. She eventually fell in love with a rogue named Arrow (an incredibly disturbed but amazing character). None of them were in Shattered.
• Tremor's band didn't change much, except that Phoenix never died (and eventually mated with Shredder. I couldn't remember if it was Scorpion or Shredder while I was writing Shattered, so I guessed, and apparently I was wrong). She actually had two kits (Harpy and Golem, continuing with the weird naming tradition). Swansong didn't die either; she mated with Scorpion. Primrose was the only one to die, in battle. Swansong and Primrose were both still kittypets who adopted Pyro/Merla. Swansong was also completely silent, and a bit of a prude (there was a story I read about how swans don't sing until they die, and their death song is referred to as a 'swansong', which inspired her name, so she didn't tell Scorpion she loved him until she nearly died; it was very dramatic and lovely xD).
• Sprig lived with the band just like in Shattered, although she was actually kind of important. She was FrozenClan's medicine cat, just like she was in Shattered. She trained Rumble and stuff.
• Belladonna was never in any role-play, or involved in any way. She was actually born when I noticed that deadly nightshade had a prettier name, belladonna. And thus, in my terrible, awful brain, her fate rose. Her life/death was decided at the very beginning of the story. The only thing that changed for her was popping out kits; Toxin was supposed to do it originally, but the timeline didn't really allow it. Ah well.
• Redkit and Bluekit are sort of new; back in role-play, Mitch and Natasha did find a couple of cats named Axel and Starsky (pronounced star-ski), but they kept 'em. 
• Blizzardkit/Robinkit/Jaykit are all new. Sootkit's new too.
• Forest is completely new, except for his appearance, which can kind of be credited to Timberkit. His crooked smile kind of came from the Aristocats, which I liked when I was little. xD
• Cane and Amber are also completely new. Carmelo is too.
• As mentioned before, Lion and his friends are based off of a group I used before; I used them first in Snatched, but that was the more idealistic version. In the Shattered version (true to role-play) everyone died and Lion went crazy. In role-play (keep in mind this is a different place than the one where I role-played with Silverstar) he went crazy, gathered some followers, and attempted to kill the leader. 
• Chill is a character I've used twice before; the first time, he met the same end as we see in Chilled's Prologue (and there was more planned for him after he died, I just didn't get around to it; Chilled will use that). The second time (still on-going) he's actually kind of a decent fellow, after a /lot/ of character development.
• Blackmoon has no basis in role-play; he's my brother's character, and I sort of twisted him to suit my own needs. 

I think that's all for the basic plot.

Names

•  Silverstreak/star's name actually remained the same; it's one of the few I liked, so I kept it.
• Silverstar's Clan was originally called ForestClan. I was planning for that name to be used in this story as well, which is why Forest exists; he was supposed to die and it was going to be awful and heart-wrenching and she'd name the Clan after him. But you guys loved him tons, and I realized I always kill of the leads, and if you're too used to that, where's the suspense? So I kept him alive, which is actually kind of cruel because now you guys don't know whether the romantic partner will live/die anymore. Yay me!
• Frostfeather was originally named Opalstorm. Ravenwing was Jadeleaf.

• Eaglestrike was named Nebulastar (Nebulapelt as a warrior).
• Northstar had no warrior name, I just never needed one.
• Rabbitpaw's name was Arrowpaw (she wasn't mine)
• Rosedapple's name was Palmribbon (not mine either, thank goodness)
• Lightstar was Sunstar, I don't remember Graywing's old name. Neither of them were mine either.
• Death's name actually was Deathstorm. That's partially why I call him Death in this story, a little private joke for myself. Horrible names, I know. He had a hater named Sparklewish, if that helps.
• Brightfire's name was Firebrand, and Rainsplash's was Dewdrop (I had a thing for compound names).
• Buck's name was Buckheart. Jag's was Jaggedheart. With Forest becoming Forestheart...yeah, I think you see the problem there.
• Reedrush's name actually stayed the same, since she wasn't from the Clans anyway.
• Cinderstream's name was Quicksilver, which makes no sense since it's a human term for mercury. I just thought it was pretty (if you haven't already guessed, I didn't put a lot of thought into these old names). Also, incidentally, Quicksilver wasn't as crazy/needy as Cinderstream was after she ran off. Ah well.
• As mentioned before, Ashstir was Ash-heart. -stir fits more with the Kalan's theme, though.
• Again, Brightflash was Whitelight.
• Natasha and Mitch were Sasha and Mitch (written before the real Sasha appeared and gave birth to her messed-up kits).
• As mentioned before, Flameheart was Sunbyrn (shudder again).
• Brackenheart was originally known as Strongheart. What the dump is that, I don't know. Thus, Northstar's son was named Strongkit.
• Silverstar (senior, the one Silverstreak was named for) went by Tarnish after he fled his Clan.
• BirchClan was ForestClan, ShellClan was AquaClan, and MarshClan was MarshClan. FrozenClan was...AuroraClan (shudder) which didn't make any sense since they didn't have auroras. 
• TalonClan was...oh man...I'm ashamed to even say it. ReaperClan, there. Yeah. ReaperClan. Like the Grim Reaper. Which cats don't know about. Which cats wouldn't care about anyway. That's what they named themselves after. Yeah.

I think that's all the horrible revelations from my past. If not, I'll update it or something...hopefully you guys don't think I'm an idiot now, ha. Looking back, I was pleased at how much I've changed (especially with names...dear God, my names!). So...yeah. xD

T-the end? B-but....;^;

Yeppers, it's the end; we finally finished this marathon. Shattered was close (so close) to being a year old, but I managed to pull through, ha. And we're currently the longest; no other story has 300k, and there's only one over 200k, so I think I'm safely on top for the time being. :D

Anywho, question time...it'll be awhile before I get to do this again (sob) because I'm going to be realllly busy. Ah, well, here we goooo:

@Crowstorm: Leopardpaw is one of the characters in Chilled; one of the main characters, to be exact, although we don't see from her POV.

@AutumnSunsets: I'm not a big Naruto fan, but my little brother is, so I know who you're talking about. All he ever watches is Shippueden, or however you spell, it though, so we don't see Sasuke much. xD Also, Chill was never around Clover at all; he was brought into the camp after a patrol found him wandering the territory. Lion just clung to the hope that Chill was his son...because Lion was craaazy. We'll see Minnow in the sequel, and the kits too, no worries about that.

@InsaneCertifiably: We'll have Chilly's intentions for Silver in the sequel. Can't spill no beans just yet, sorry!

@Shimmertail: Aww, I appreciate your rambling, it makes the reviews more fun to read!

@Lynxeye: Ha. I was going to kill off Forest, there for awhile, but I changed my mind about mid-way through the story, partially because you guys were so attached to him...and partly because if I killed off all my main lovers, what would the surprise be at the end, mm? I'm actually being crueler this way, because now that a story has ended semi-happily, you guys will never know how I'm planning for the others to end. I'm laughing evilly right now, you just can't hear me.

Also, a few people have asked where I RP/where my old RP was. I role-play on Neopets (don't laugh at me!). That's where I got my start (I wasn't looking for a guild, it just sort of...happened) and, incidentally, role-playing is what got me into writing fics in the first place. Where I first started out no longer exists, but I'm currently in a really lovely guild called The Den of Warriors. You guys can find the webbie at http://neopets.com/~tdowexplore. You're welcome to join (it'd be cool if you did) but I'll warn you that we're pretty literate (not crazy literate, though) and you've got to fill out an application to join.

The funny thing was, the guild leader was actually reading Shattered when I first joined, so she kind of thinks of me as a celebrity, which is awesome for me! If you guys want to look me up on Neo, my username is princessleopard (old name, ugh, but the inspiration for my pen name). Shoot me a neomail any time.

If you're not interested in role-play but would like a good laugh, go to http://neopets.com/~_Mistyfoot__. There are all of my old old OLD characters from when I first started out. Many of them have ridiculous names (which I'll address in the comparison thingy) but until I get that up, feel free to guess who was who long ago, and stuff. And remember, if I can go from being that bad to half way decent (I'm decent, right?) then anyone can!

Oh, and also...did I mention that Chilled will be written from FIRST POV? Fun times! I need some practice with it, and I figured...heck, why not?

Anywho, I've got big girl stuff to do now; I'll get the prologue and everything else up when I can, but we'll see when that actually is. Until then....<3

Last POV chapter ;^;

Sorry I didn't update this yesterday, I uploaded the chappy right before I had to go to bed so you guys would have something to read and so I wouldn't be so guilty for continuing to be late. Eh. xD

So, that was our last POV chapter and stuffs. BUT we still have the epilogue (I always title them as being epilogues, so you don't have to freak out that the story is over until you see that, for future reference), which will both tie up some loose ends and untie some other knots for the sequel to deal with. Sweet, rite?

Also, I think the before-and-after list is a definite yes; I'll put it here on the blog, in a separate post so you don't have to read it if you don't want to.

ALSO (tambien en espanol) this blog will continue to be updated and such, as I'll need it still for the sequel. After I post the epilogue, I'll answer questions about Chill's chapter, and after I post the prologue for the new story (when that will be, I'm not sure yet), I'll answer questions from the epilogue, and everything should be normal from there on out.

Tiempo de preguntas (time of questions, literally, but I think it's safe to say we would just say Question Time)!

 @Shimmertail: It gladdens me that you're a fellow Troper. Maybe you'll be the one to start a trope page for my stories? Ha. We'll see what happens to Toxin in the epilogue, and Lion too; however, Lion did not believe in StarClan. He didn't believe they were evil, or anything, that was more Slaughter/Blight's agenda; Lion believed that the Clans were a corrupt system that had to be destroyed in order for him to get over his friends' deaths. He didn't care about StarClan one way or another, really. And yes, I'm fond of how Silverstar killed him too; growth on her part, since she's finally willing to take things to that final level, but there were kinder motives behind it too. And yes, Arrowpaw (she wasn't my character...but my own names were horrible too, so). Rabbitpaw is mostly based on Arrowpaw (except for a few things, like her tail; Arrowpaw had no tail problems or anything), who was role-played by a old friend of mine.

Ninjakitty: Yep, Belladonna is what we call a dilute calico, a white cat dappled with cream and blue. I think they're extremely pretty, but rare, so that's why she was a kittypet. Rosedapple is silver, splashed with darker gray/silver.

QueenofthePens: Paragliding sounds fun, but I'm terrified of heights, ha (especially bridges. I HATE bridges). Northy starting his own Clan would be the coolest thing since the wheel (i.e. it would trump even sliced bread!). And of course Chilled will be spaced like that; all the cool kids do it! And, you know, it's kinda an eye-catcher, which has worked well for me so far. I sort of agree about Forest, though, him having a warrior name feels really...weird. But he's no Daisy or Millie or Purdy, so he's gotta have one.

JayEyedWolf: You're right, I should have included sharp objects. PLEASE don't hit me with objects of any kind. D:

Crowstorm: Mmm, I honestly kind of liked the italic/normal transition; it probably looked weird on the site, though, because the dashes didn't translate right, but I felt that it communicated the quick pace and confusion of battle...but maybe that's just me. Also, no, the place where I role-played (a guild on Neopets) doesn't exist anymore, I don't think, and all I have saved are my old characters.

Everthorn: Hey, buddy! To answer your questions, in my experience the chapters are about 5k, although some have been as low as 3k (and the prologue was 1k, but that doesn't count since prologues are never too long). The longest chapter (Reedrush's first one) was a whopping 19k! As for the pages, I can't give an estimate on that because while I write I often change the fonts and sizes to accommodate my mood/the character (for example, Northstar and Lion were both written in sort of old-fashioned fonts, like Century, whereas Nightshade's were written in a couple really messed up fonts that were all jagged and junk; most of Silverstar's were written in Century Gothic, etc.) so the page numbers varied wildly according to all that.

I think that's all the questions, but I have one more tidbit for you guys. As I just mentioned, the original role-play has all been long deleted BUT I have some of my old characters. They can be viewed here:

http://www.neopets.com/~_Mistyfoot__

Be warned, many of my names are HORRIBLE. Most of the characters from Shattered are there; some are missing or have been changed, but all that will be addressed at the end with the before-and-after thing. A lot of stuff in story is like inside jokes for me based on bad stuff that happened in role-play (for example, if you look on that page you'll see a cat named Deathstorm. Yes, for real. Deathstorm, if you think really hard, probably reminds you of Darkstorm/Death. The reason he's called Death for most of the story was a sort of reminder for me of who he used to be...a way to cringe at my poorly conceived names. Also, as I mentioned previously in the story, Death is MUCH more pathetic than Deathstorm...but they were both paedophobic and lazy, so it all works out.).

I think that's all for now; hopefully the epilogue will be up soon. See ya then!

IT'S THE EYE OF THE TIGER, IT'S THE THRILL OF THE FIGHT

Stupid title is stupid.

Anywho, the battle's over and we're gathering the wounded and dead. Yay for that. Yay for Forest being alive.

A lot of people felt bad for Blight (gasp!). So we'll get this out here right now. Yes, Blight was a horrible disgusting monster of a cat. But he did love Nightshade in the end, even if it was in the most twisted of ways. Because, honestly, I think that if you can convince someone that they love you as strongly as he did with Nightshade, you can't help but lose a bit of yourself to them too. I'm not saying that redeemed him in any way or made him any less completely despicable, but y'know. Fun stuff to think about.

AND now that Nightshade/Belladonna is over and done with, we can talk about brainwashing! Believe it or not, I did a bit of research, and the methods that Blight used were very similar to the methods that the Koreans used on American soldiers during the war. AND,some of those soldiers actually did switch side, becoming commies and all. HOWEVER, the effects of said brainwashing didn't always work (cases in point: Robin & Minnow) and when they did work, the condition was extremely unstable (hence Nightshade's craziness and confused questioning of whether or not she should follow Blight) and required constant affirming. That's why Blight had to spend so much time with her, and when she was with others the cracks began to show. And when she saw Buck - the physical representation of the memories she was repressing - everything started going bad. And then the Master died at Buck's claws, which caused the clash of both of her personalities. In the end, only one could remain dominant.

@Dawnshine: The question mark wasn't because /I/ didn't know whether to put Nightshade or Belladonna. It was because Nightshade/Belladonna herself didn't know who she was.

@artemis: Yes, Buck could tell pretty easily that Nightshade was preggers, but remember this is the first time he's seen her in a long time, so her giant belly would be obvious. Blight's been with her every day for moons, so the changes are too small for him to really see. Kinda like how you don't really notice your puppy is growing up, but when your friends come over they comment on how big he is.

@CrystalSakura: They're in the same universe as SnowClan (Fear/Brownfur, remember) but SnowClan won't exist for a long time in this timeline. Too bad Blight doesn't know about the other four Clans, though. xD

I think that's all for now, my brain's kind of in the toilet (AP tests this week and next week! Oh God!). We're close to the end, blah blah blah. c: