Warrior Cats Legacy Challenge
Hello, everyone! I figured I'd bring my take on the Warrior Cats Legacy challenge to the Sims forums, and I think it'd be fun to update my current challenge story here, too! Feel free to post your own...
Forum Discussion
???Clan ~ Chapter 1.1
(Reposted from my original WCL thread in Mod the Sims)
CW: DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGES OF CARTOON (ISH?) BLOOD AND ANIMAL VIOLENCE WITHIN THE SPOILER. Unsure if it counts as inappropriate-- if it does, please let me know and I will remove the segment from this post.
--
"No... this can't be... Ripplestep, what have you done?!"
"I-- It's not my fault! It's not like I meant to scratch that deep!"
Around her, figures whispered and muttered amongst themselves. Before her laid a brown tabby tom, unmoving and just barely breathing.
"I thought even you were better than this. Where is your honor and sense of duty to the Clan?"
"Oh, she'll never be deputy now..."
"Not that she had the chance before. Who would want her next in line for leader?"
"Envy and too much ambition can do scary things to a cat, can't they?"
"And she wonders why Galestar chose to promote him instead."
Hissing, she whipped around and lashed her tail even as her body continued to quake, as if it would silence any of the voices. "Shut up! SHUT UP! This would never have happened if I'd just been chosen! He lost because he was weaker than me, you got that?! He was weaker!"
She argued and swiped savagely at the shadowy silhouettes, desperate to quiet them. They dissipated between her claws, all of them fading away until only one still stood to step out of the shadows.
In an instant, the gall she'd worked up to shout back dissolved like cobweb in the rain, her figure instinctively shrinking back when she realized who she was facing.
"... Ripplestep. It pains me to have to do this-- you were one of our most skilled warriors in your time here."
"Galestar... wait-- I-- "
"However. As it stands now, you have proven to me time and time again that you are unable to put the wellbeing of the Clan before your own sense of stubbornness and pride."
"You can't do this. Look, I'm sorry I fought with-- "
"I cannot allow you to stay any longer."
"Father, please!"
"... Leave. Now. If you have any respect at all for yourself or for me, you will walk out of our territory with humility and you will not come back."
". . ."
"You have until sunrise to leave this territory. I will be sending patrols to look for you, and if they find you, they will deal with you the way we deal with any intruder. Do you understand?"
The she-cat could only stand there for a moment, eyes wide and breath trapped in her chest. The sorrow that gleamed in her eyes turned quickly into rage, and she scoffed and whipped around, stalking out of the camp with her head hung low. The eyes of all who used to be her Clanmates burned into her pelt every step of the way, until she disappeared into the undergrowth.
. . .
. .
.
Mismatched blue eyes cracked open, blinking blearily in the weak rays of the barely-risen sun. The lone she-cat lifted her head, taking in her still so unfamiliar surroundings. The absence of her old home's lively clamor didn't go unnoticed to her ears-- the early morning quiet, with the birds chirping in the trees and the breeze gently stirring the grass, was almost eerie to her.
Huffing, she sat up, ears folding back in displeasure.
... great. As if dealing with it once in real life was bad enough, I had to relive that fox dung all over again in my sleep.
Stretching her front paws out and parting her jaws in a large yawn, she trudged out of her makeshift den to go about her new, painfully dull daily routine.
Stalking prey, growing impatient, scaring them off and leaving herself with an empty belly... taking her frustration out on the saplings that speckled the patch of woodland and the balls of moss she'd earlier scraped up out of pure boredom...
...trying - and failing - to keep her mind off of the fresh emotional wounds currently embedded in her heart.
"Stupid Falconclaw... stupid Galestar... stupid RockClan...!" she hissed under her breath. "What do they know, anyways?"
Unsheathing her claws, she struck the moss ball with the full force of her frustration, breaking it into a plethora of crumbly pieces and deeply scoring the dirt beneath it.
"I could've been a great deputy-- a great leader! The greatest ever known, in fact!" she continued, tail lashing furiously. She immediately pounced for the next moss ball, subjecting it to the same violent fate. "None of them know what they're talking about! Did any of those mousebrains have even half my skill in fighting or hunting? Not even the faintest chance. I'll bet not even Galestar could've beat me in a fair fight! They all should've known that, and yet..."
She let out a shuddering huff, digging her claws into the already thoroughly-abused ground and glaring at it as if it had personally offended her.
"... stubbornness and pride, huh? What respectable warrior - or leader, in fact - doesn't have either of those things?"
The she-cat would have resumed in her angered ramblings, had she not heard the rustling of foliage up at the edge of the cliff. She turned to face the potential threat, completely ready to launch herself at whatever it may be.
"Um..." A white-mitted paw emerged from the brush, and following it was a thick-furred gray she-cat, eyes wide and bewildered. "I thought I heard a voice nearby. Have I... walked in on something I shouldn't have?"
The exile relaxed her posture with a scoff. So it was just some wandering rogue-- and obviously a passive one, too. Had she still been a Clan cat, she would've been more than glad to shred the other she-cat's ears off, but she had no obligation to waste her energy on that now. Besides, this was the first cat she'd seen in days... even if she did very unpleasantly reek of Twolegplace.
"Shouldn't a cat like you be hanging around with the Twolegs and the dogs or something?" she remarked, snidely.
The stormy gray cat blinked, the insult seeming to have flown right over her head. "Oh, me? No, the pellets they try to feed us are too bland. I usually like to go here to hunt, even if the others call me crazy for it. You're the only other cat I've seen venture out this far-- in fact, I think this is the first time I've seen you at all."
Before the larger she-cat could respond, the rogue was already trotting down the sloped entrance to the makeshift camp. It was greatly baffling, how easily it seemed to come to her-- it was almost as if she wasn't dealing with a cat twice as muscled as she was. At any given moment, she could be flat on the ground in seconds, and it wouldn't even be difficult to achieve.
The black and white cat watched her make her way down, bewildered.
"...are you stupid?"
The rogue stopped in front of her. "No, I'm Dawn. It's nice to meet you."
Dawn flicked her tail, a gesture of relaxation and mirth. Her turquoise eyes met the Clan cat's unabashedly, without a hint of hesitance. Whatever misguided confidence or ignorance she was presenting right now... it wasn't being faked for the sake of self-preservation. "... and your name is?"
The jaded she-cat scowled at her. What was she playing at? "... Ripplest-- "
She stopped.
Did she really want to use the name given to her by the very Clan that cast her out? That failed to see the good she could do?
Did she want to use the name that symbolized her allegiance to a group of weaklings and disgraces?
...no. I refuse.
She was better than them. She could do better on her own than all of them combined. If she'd been leader, they could've been prosperous. They could've thrived.
It was their loss. Not hers.
Trying to take her mind off of it once more, she eyed the she-cat in front of her. Absolutely too soft for the usual Clan cat. But as far as Twoleg-dependent rogues and loners went... she was something that could be worked on.
And she hunts, doesn't she? Hmph. What a shame for it to be wasted on the life of a rogue.
It was a passive thought in that moment, but right then and there-- it hit her.
So she was denied the position of deputy. So she was exiled from her Clan.
Since when did that mean she should give up? Why couldn't she take this opportunity to create something of her own? Something greater than they could ever be?
Yeah... yeah! I don't need them to lead a Clan. If they're so insistent on staying weak, why don't I just build up a group of my own? Of strong cats, who won't settle for the lesser option?
She knew right then and there what her new name would be.
"Uh... Ripplest? You've been staring at me for an uncomfortably-- "
"My name is Ripplestar."
"What?"
"I said my name is Ripplestar. So-- I have a question for you. How would you like to live here, too?"
--
good gosh it's been a while since i wrote that much.
And so, we've been introduced to our latest founder, Ripplestar. I used the personality generator as the baseline for her character-- and it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be to make the founder kind of a jerk for a change! Will she end up having character development, for better or worse? Who knows? I definitely don't. The next update will most likely be a sub-chapter.
Anyways, here are some unused screenshots.
(Reposted from my original WCL thread in Mod the Sims)
CW: DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGES OF CARTOON (ISH?) BLOOD AND ANIMAL VIOLENCE WITHIN THE SPOILER. Unsure if it counts as inappropriate-- if it does, please let me know and I will remove the segment from this post.
--
"No... this can't be... Ripplestep, what have you done?!"
"I-- It's not my fault! It's not like I meant to scratch that deep!"
Spoiler
The black and white she-cat stared at the figures that surrounded her with wide, shocked blue eyes, spine arched and fur standing on end. Although the red didn't show through the black of her legs, she could feel the sickening ooze of blood between her claws, a metallic stench burning in the back of her throat. Her stomach lurched, skin crawling and frame quivering.
Around her, figures whispered and muttered amongst themselves. Before her laid a brown tabby tom, unmoving and just barely breathing.
"I thought even you were better than this. Where is your honor and sense of duty to the Clan?"
"Oh, she'll never be deputy now..."
"Not that she had the chance before. Who would want her next in line for leader?"
"Envy and too much ambition can do scary things to a cat, can't they?"
"And she wonders why Galestar chose to promote him instead."
Hissing, she whipped around and lashed her tail even as her body continued to quake, as if it would silence any of the voices. "Shut up! SHUT UP! This would never have happened if I'd just been chosen! He lost because he was weaker than me, you got that?! He was weaker!"
She argued and swiped savagely at the shadowy silhouettes, desperate to quiet them. They dissipated between her claws, all of them fading away until only one still stood to step out of the shadows.
In an instant, the gall she'd worked up to shout back dissolved like cobweb in the rain, her figure instinctively shrinking back when she realized who she was facing.
"... Ripplestep. It pains me to have to do this-- you were one of our most skilled warriors in your time here."
"Galestar... wait-- I-- "
"However. As it stands now, you have proven to me time and time again that you are unable to put the wellbeing of the Clan before your own sense of stubbornness and pride."
"You can't do this. Look, I'm sorry I fought with-- "
"I cannot allow you to stay any longer."
"Father, please!"
"... Leave. Now. If you have any respect at all for yourself or for me, you will walk out of our territory with humility and you will not come back."
". . ."
"You have until sunrise to leave this territory. I will be sending patrols to look for you, and if they find you, they will deal with you the way we deal with any intruder. Do you understand?"
The she-cat could only stand there for a moment, eyes wide and breath trapped in her chest. The sorrow that gleamed in her eyes turned quickly into rage, and she scoffed and whipped around, stalking out of the camp with her head hung low. The eyes of all who used to be her Clanmates burned into her pelt every step of the way, until she disappeared into the undergrowth.
. . .
. .
.
Mismatched blue eyes cracked open, blinking blearily in the weak rays of the barely-risen sun. The lone she-cat lifted her head, taking in her still so unfamiliar surroundings. The absence of her old home's lively clamor didn't go unnoticed to her ears-- the early morning quiet, with the birds chirping in the trees and the breeze gently stirring the grass, was almost eerie to her.
Huffing, she sat up, ears folding back in displeasure.
... great. As if dealing with it once in real life was bad enough, I had to relive that fox dung all over again in my sleep.
Stretching her front paws out and parting her jaws in a large yawn, she trudged out of her makeshift den to go about her new, painfully dull daily routine.
Stalking prey, growing impatient, scaring them off and leaving herself with an empty belly... taking her frustration out on the saplings that speckled the patch of woodland and the balls of moss she'd earlier scraped up out of pure boredom...
...trying - and failing - to keep her mind off of the fresh emotional wounds currently embedded in her heart.
"Stupid Falconclaw... stupid Galestar... stupid RockClan...!" she hissed under her breath. "What do they know, anyways?"
Unsheathing her claws, she struck the moss ball with the full force of her frustration, breaking it into a plethora of crumbly pieces and deeply scoring the dirt beneath it.
"I could've been a great deputy-- a great leader! The greatest ever known, in fact!" she continued, tail lashing furiously. She immediately pounced for the next moss ball, subjecting it to the same violent fate. "None of them know what they're talking about! Did any of those mousebrains have even half my skill in fighting or hunting? Not even the faintest chance. I'll bet not even Galestar could've beat me in a fair fight! They all should've known that, and yet..."
She let out a shuddering huff, digging her claws into the already thoroughly-abused ground and glaring at it as if it had personally offended her.
"... stubbornness and pride, huh? What respectable warrior - or leader, in fact - doesn't have either of those things?"
The she-cat would have resumed in her angered ramblings, had she not heard the rustling of foliage up at the edge of the cliff. She turned to face the potential threat, completely ready to launch herself at whatever it may be.
"Um..." A white-mitted paw emerged from the brush, and following it was a thick-furred gray she-cat, eyes wide and bewildered. "I thought I heard a voice nearby. Have I... walked in on something I shouldn't have?"
The exile relaxed her posture with a scoff. So it was just some wandering rogue-- and obviously a passive one, too. Had she still been a Clan cat, she would've been more than glad to shred the other she-cat's ears off, but she had no obligation to waste her energy on that now. Besides, this was the first cat she'd seen in days... even if she did very unpleasantly reek of Twolegplace.
"Shouldn't a cat like you be hanging around with the Twolegs and the dogs or something?" she remarked, snidely.
The stormy gray cat blinked, the insult seeming to have flown right over her head. "Oh, me? No, the pellets they try to feed us are too bland. I usually like to go here to hunt, even if the others call me crazy for it. You're the only other cat I've seen venture out this far-- in fact, I think this is the first time I've seen you at all."
Before the larger she-cat could respond, the rogue was already trotting down the sloped entrance to the makeshift camp. It was greatly baffling, how easily it seemed to come to her-- it was almost as if she wasn't dealing with a cat twice as muscled as she was. At any given moment, she could be flat on the ground in seconds, and it wouldn't even be difficult to achieve.
The black and white cat watched her make her way down, bewildered.
"...are you stupid?"
The rogue stopped in front of her. "No, I'm Dawn. It's nice to meet you."
Dawn flicked her tail, a gesture of relaxation and mirth. Her turquoise eyes met the Clan cat's unabashedly, without a hint of hesitance. Whatever misguided confidence or ignorance she was presenting right now... it wasn't being faked for the sake of self-preservation. "... and your name is?"
The jaded she-cat scowled at her. What was she playing at? "... Ripplest-- "
She stopped.
Did she really want to use the name given to her by the very Clan that cast her out? That failed to see the good she could do?
Did she want to use the name that symbolized her allegiance to a group of weaklings and disgraces?
...no. I refuse.
She was better than them. She could do better on her own than all of them combined. If she'd been leader, they could've been prosperous. They could've thrived.
It was their loss. Not hers.
Trying to take her mind off of it once more, she eyed the she-cat in front of her. Absolutely too soft for the usual Clan cat. But as far as Twoleg-dependent rogues and loners went... she was something that could be worked on.
And she hunts, doesn't she? Hmph. What a shame for it to be wasted on the life of a rogue.
It was a passive thought in that moment, but right then and there-- it hit her.
So she was denied the position of deputy. So she was exiled from her Clan.
Since when did that mean she should give up? Why couldn't she take this opportunity to create something of her own? Something greater than they could ever be?
Yeah... yeah! I don't need them to lead a Clan. If they're so insistent on staying weak, why don't I just build up a group of my own? Of strong cats, who won't settle for the lesser option?
She knew right then and there what her new name would be.
"Uh... Ripplest? You've been staring at me for an uncomfortably-- "
"My name is Ripplestar."
"What?"
"I said my name is Ripplestar. So-- I have a question for you. How would you like to live here, too?"
--
good gosh it's been a while since i wrote that much.
And so, we've been introduced to our latest founder, Ripplestar. I used the personality generator as the baseline for her character-- and it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be to make the founder kind of a jerk for a change! Will she end up having character development, for better or worse? Who knows? I definitely don't. The next update will most likely be a sub-chapter.
Anyways, here are some unused screenshots.
