Lore | Lasthaven

THE CELESTIAL

In this RP, the StarClan faith is built on a much older regional belief: The Celestial, fate itself, embodied by the wax and wane of the moon, the ebb and flow of fortune. She has a will of Her own, known to visit tragedy and give blessings alike.

All magic in the Riverlands comes from the whims of the Celestial, sometimes in answer to prayers, but usually completely spontaneously.

Gatherings are a tradition of the lost Clans of the Riverlands; cats would gather in other Clans' camps for full-moon festivals celebrating their good fortunes and mourning the bad together. They were noisy, happy affairs, times to share food, culture, news, and plans for the future. No such gathering has been held since the Plague Years.

Eternal rest and reincarnation happen through the Celestial, who is believed to be the final arbiter of all souls. Who is reborn and who isn't is usually unpredictable and illogical, and reborn souls aren't recognizable, but there are very rare exceptions. Open a ticket if you want to plan a reincarnated cat!

Communion at the Moon Shrine used to be a direct communion with the Celestial, offering a parade of strange, symbolic visions about the past and future. Today, StarClan usually (but not always!) intercedes to give these abstract encounters more logic and structure. In both cases, cats can also be randomly pulled into communion, especially those with blessings or a StarClan spirit's favor. Open a ticket if you want to plan a communion!

The Celestial's anger is usually a vague thing, a timely flood, storm, or predator attack, but on very rare occasions, the message is clear and direct: Cats struck by lightning or crushed by falling trees at uncanny moments. Open a ticket if you want to smite one of your characters!

Traits: Dualistic, vast, unfathomable, almighty
Themes: Chaos, equilibrium, fortune, transience
Symbols: The moon, the night sky, autumn, black and white

STARCLAN

StarClan was born during the Plague Years: As cats died in the dozens from the Blightwater Plague, those who survived sought reassurance and guidance from those who had died. Many prayed their pain to the Celestial, and in time, She answered with the creation of StarClan.

Any cat may be called to StarClan, regardless of residence or history: If a StarClan spirit chooses to call you, you will have a place there, no matter who you are.

StarClan spirits are not purely good or evil. They're just as complicated as their living counterparts, and no less capable of making harmful choices -- but with their limited powers, all they can do is manipulate and harass the living.

StarClan spirits don't fade. Instead, they choose for themselves when they're ready to pass on to the Celestial, sometimes individually, and sometimes in groups.

Leader blessings, dreamwalking, omen creation, and Celestial communion are the only powers the Celestial has given to StarClan. Through their connection to Her, they're able to more closely interpret Her will and send messages and warnings to the living, but they're usually cryptic and abstract, like the Celestial Herself.

StarClan's hunting grounds are mostly like they are in the books, a paradise in a timeless dreamscape forever under one unified season of abundance, light, and frost. Living cats can visit it in their dreams, either when a spirit calls them there or, on rare occasions, by accident. Players can plan their own StarClan visits with help from staff!

Traits: Multifarious, familiar, prescient, imperfect
Themes: Memory, community, diversity, perseverance
Symbols: The stars, the spring thaw, winter, silver and blue

LOCATIONS
inkarnate map

THE AMBERWOOD

Located in the northeast corner of the Riverlands, the Amberwood is a living memorial to the region's extinct wildcats, a forest of golden-leafed aspen overlooking the shores of the vast and cold Lake of Reflection. Since the end of the Plague Years, Lasthaven Clan has claimed the whole of the Amberwood as their home and hunting grounds, but others are free to visit and reside here alongside them, as long as there's enough resources to share and their neighbors stay peaceful.

Lasthaven aka the Haven
Home of Lasthaven Clan. Built from woven branches, reeds, and bracken, adorned over recent generations with cultivated wildflower beds and hanging mosses. Residents live in dens separated by chosen family, and building a new den is a special, private affair. There are dedicated, enforced shelters built for various purposes:

The Forum is where food is stored and where cats can rest, eat, and mingle; this is also where announcements are made
The Garden is where kits and apprentices play and attend their classes
The Clinic is where the ailing can rest and receive care in private
The Court is where Clan leadership holds private meetings
The Briar is a place for dangerous cats to be kept under watch
The Dawn Shrine is an old ritual site where major Clan ceremonies are held

Stargarden aka the Garden of Sleeping Stars
Lasthaven Clan's primary memorial ground. After the Blightwater Plague, Lasthaven traditionally burns their dead, but they are remembered here with woven memorials carefully tended by the gravekeepers of the Clan.

Havenpath
The main route in and out of the Haven, already worn by what few generations of paws have walked it. Lasthaven rangers make a practice of scattering nuts and seeds in the surrounding woods to entice plentiful prey to the area.

Southwalk
A less-used path to Lasthaven, mainly used by cats traveling south to the Moon Shrine. Prey and herbs are plentiful here, but this is also the best place to find foxes and martens.

Lost Cat's Rest
If a traveling cat misses the turn from Southwalk to Tanglenest, they end up here, in a place where many, most famously Gullstar, have died under mysterious circumstances. Some say it's haunted.

Lake of Reflection aka Mirrorlake
An enormous cold-water lake that stretches so far the other bank is only a hazy silhouette. Seals thrive here and often rest on the shore. In winter, the coastline develops a thick sheet of ice that extends many seal-lengths out over the water.

Sealsleep
Seals often gather in groups here to rest and socialize; cats are warned away from disturbing these large and sometimes dangerous predators.

Whispertrees
An eerily quiet part of the Amberwood where some cats say they feel watched. A popular roost for owls, dangerous to explore alone, especially at night.

THE PLAGUELANDS

These areas have their own histories, but at least for now, few in Lasthaven are interested in revisiting them. Players can expand on them through Clan, character, and lore submissions!

The Promenade aka Deadwalk camp
Home of the recently returned Deadwalk Clan. A large an expansive camp with many communal dens and gathering areas, concealed and protected by briars and brambles gathered from Tanglenest in the north. Residents live in shared rank-specific underground dens. The different areas of this camp serve a variety of purposes:

Aboveground:

The Dais is where Clan meetings, feasts, and performances are staged; there are no dens here.
The Workshop is where the Clan's communal ovens and kilns are, and where tools are kept; there are no dens here.
The Lodge is where elders and cats in need of privacy sleep; nests are separated in private alcoves.
The Clubhouse is where cats gather to snack together, play games, fish for minnows, and share their creations; nests here are for napping only.
The Circuit is a track that circles the edge of camp, where cats can race, play, and hunt baited prey.

Underground:

The Infirmary is where ailing cats receive treatment and where medicine is stored; the Guides' den is an offshoot of this den.
The Storeroom is where various communal supplies are kept; there are no dens here.
The Nursery is where kits and their parents live until the kits are 6 moons old. There's a minnow pool here.
The Junior Den is where apprentices sleep; it's connected to the senior den, and nests are not assigned.
The Senior Den is where Seekers, providers, and creators sleep; nests are assigned to individual cats.

The Ring of Thorns
Just outside the Promenade, a constructed extension of Tanglenest fraught with dangerous traps. Deadwalk cats are rigorously trained to navigate it and must always pass through in pairs for their safety. Kits can easily sidestep the traps and hide among the thorns.

Deadwalk
A long stretch of open meadows. Lots of mice, lots of hawks. Trap-laden in the north; Deadwalk hosts Gatherings in the south.

Tanglenest
A dense thicket overgrown with briars. Hard to navigate. Patrolled and heavily trapped by Deadwalk Clan, who inhabits the camp to the south.

The Hydra's Nest aka Serpentrest camp
The sanctuary of the tight-knit Serpentrest Clan. A network of small camps south of Bluelake Cove, connected by various tunnels and mostly hidden among reeds and bracken. Cats sleep together in large common areas underground. The different sub-camps each serve a different role:

The Bower is the main gathering area for the Clan, and where kits and sprouts train, grow, and play in safety under the watch of their families and Clanmates. Deputies and Voices make announcements from the center of this shaded, verdant hollow.
The Altar is the pond at the center of the Clan's religious activities, also used as a private meeting space. Disturbing the quiet here is said to be an invitation for bad luck.
The studio is a briar where the crafters' guild creates new tools and devices for the rest of the Clan, using an elaborate network of tree-tied pulleys and cords.
The outpost guards the underground entrance to Serpent's Rest, and is where the delvers' guild prepares for expeditions.
The pharmacy is a grotto where the healers' guild makes the Clan's mineral medicines through aquatic chemistry, and where they treat the ailing.
The pier is a jetty from which the divers' guild casts nets and lays traps for fish, and where the Clan's lake rafts are kept.
The scrying pools are a swamp where the diviners' guild meets and trains, using the still waters to peer into dark waters to see the future and the past.

Serpent's Rest
A sprawling cave system that snakes far and deep across the southern Plaguelands. Some areas are submerged by water. Serpentrest delvers explore these caves for useful minerals and precious gems for trading. Known to be infested with venomous snakes.

Bluelake Cove
A shallower section of Bluelake replete with fish. The water and the fish in it are safe for feline consumption, and swimming and diving here is feasible for cats across much of its expanse. Like the rest of the lake, its waters reflect a deep and lovely sapphire blue.

Moon Shrine
The best-kept shrine to the most popular faith in the Riverlands. An assemblage of various offerings rests on the roots of this enormous aspen tree, while even more hang from its branches. This tree is said to glow under the full moon. Cats still visit to commune with StarClan and the Celestial.

Sun Shrine
Some Clans worshiped a solar counterpart to the Celestial: the Astral. This facet of Riverlands faith was mostly wiped out by the Blightwater Plague, but some wonder if this place still holds some kind of power.

Twilight Shrine
Stories about the Twilight Shrine and its purpose vary wildly, but it's believed to be somewhere at the bottom of Bluelake, completely inaccessible to cats. Brokenstone Clan once protected both the lake and the shrine.

Brokenstone Camp
Once home to the Brokenstone Clan, overlooking Bluelake and the Twilight Shrine. This guarded and unsocial Clan mostly kept to themselves, and zealously worshiped the Celestial in every facet of their lives, to the point many thought of them as a cult. The painstakingly-balanced stone dens they lived in still stand, barely weathered by time. They were one of the last affected by the plague, but because of their closeness, it ripped through their ranks with gut-wrenching speed.

Cloudview Camp
Cloudview Clan didn't exactly have a dedicated camp, migrating between the Skyreach Flats and the Stormwatch Glen, but those unable to travel lived here, using an appropriated badger sett to escape the weather when they needed, but otherwise living comfortably under the open sky. They were the second Riverlands Clan impacted by the Blightwater Plague, but left before it could spread throughout their Clan. Their downfall was instead caused by transmission from other Clans.

Undertree Camp
Most in the Riverlands didn't even know that Undertree Clan existed; most assumed the pines to mark the edge of the Riverlands. When the plague-stricken Brightwater Clan sought answers in the pines, they found Undertree Clan hiding below ground...who wanted nothing to do with them. They erected the Evergreen Blockade soon after and attacked any Brightwater cats who trespassed, but the blood they spilled infected them all the same.

Brightwater Camp
The Blightwater Plague started in the Brightwater River for which this Clan was named and on which they depended, and it utterly ravaged them, eventually wiping them out. Their haven among the branches of the riverside's trees is falling apart now, branchwalks and hammocks unraveling and tumbling to the forest floor. Nearly all who remember the plague stay far away from this silent, rotting place.

Goldleaf Strand
A thin stretch of golden aspen trees. A good place to forage.

Coldwater Pond
A small, spring-fed pond of clear, ice-cold water. Safe to drink.

Stormwatch Glen
A glen with tall grasses, open to the south. Lots of ticks and fleas.

Skyreach Flats
The swampy Blightwater flood plain. Scarred by lightning.

Yellowthicket
A tiny, isolated aspen stand, a curiosity. Sort of romantic.

Waning Woods
The forest surrounding the Moon Shrine. Sacred, said to hold grudges.

Clawmoon Crossing
The safest point for crossing the river to the Moon Shrine.

Brightwater Falls
Beautiful, lazy waterfalls the feed the Blightwater. Topside is clean.

Riot Fields
A place where rare red deer come to rut. Dangerous from autumn through spring.

Evergreen Blockade
A rotting wall of pine branches, stained with Brightwater blood.

Empty camps were built and inhabited by lost Clans. Open a staff ticket to discuss establishing a lost Clan and how that Clan's past will impact the RP!

New Clans can be founded at any of the general landmarks listed above (so not Clan camps or shrines).

HISTORY

This is not a complete or restrictive list of events, but rather what the RP started with -- other details have been added by players, and will continue to expand over time!

1st Era

The last wildcat of the Riverlands dies, marking the end of their reign. The Riverlands mourn, but their legacy lives on in the myriad Clans thriving throughout their ancestral home. Today, the eras before this event are generalized as the Elde, the age of wildcats.

A massive wildfire devastates the southern Riverlands. Several Clans scatter in the chaos, some joining with northern Clans to evade extinction. Much of their history is lost, destroyed by grief and flames.

On the scorched ruins of what once was, several Clans come together to inagurate the Moon Shrine, where the tallest surviving tree stands. Prayers to the Celestial become common practice, though where Her name came from is unknown.

The Riverlands manage to exit this era in relative peace, motivated by a common desire to protect the shared culture of the Riverlands and rebuild what was lost in the fire. The last 1st-Era Clan leader dies sleeping in their nest. Many are hopeful for kinder days.

2nd Era

New Clans emerge in the slowly-recovering southern Riverlands. Conflict sparks over birthright and abdication of territory. Portions of the southern fire-ravaged landscape, still recovering from the burn, become war-torn.

The southern pines are believed to have started to spread into the Riverlands early in this Era. These invasive, unfamiliar trees disturb and fascinate many Riverlanders. When they're discovered to be poisonous, cats are warned to keep away from these new, encroaching woods.

Apprehensive about traveling through battlefields, one Clan creates the Sun Shrine, a counterpart to the Moon Shrine in the south. Stories about its purpose conflict; was it built for the Celestial, or was this the beginning of Astral worship?

Disputes over the new Sun Shrine lead to stories of the Dawn Shrine and Twilight Shrine, two ancient monuments whose original purposes were lost to time. With the Dawn Shrine in the protected living monument of the Amberwood and the Twilight Shrine allegedly at the bottom of Bluelake, neither shrine can be used, and most dismiss stories about them as pot-stirring nonsense.

Brokenstone Clan assembles around cultish beliefs about the Twilight Shrine.

Wartime gradually wanes in the south. Clans settle into their homes, territory lines are marked, and pilgrims return to the Moon Shrine.

The last 2nd Era leader, Bloomhollow of Brightwater, dies after suffering for many days from an unfamiliar illness. Its death is publicly announced, but the nature of the disease is kept secret.

3rd Era

More Brightwater cats take ill with the same sickness that killed Bloomhollow. The Clan's healers scramble for a cause, a solution. If anyone realizes it's coming from the fish they eat, it doesn't become shared knowledge. Neighboring Clans suspect Brightwater Clan is fighting an outbreak; Cloudview Clan offers herbs, while others withdraw contact, hoping for quarantine.

A desperate Brightwater patrol searches the southern pines for herbs; they're ambushed by unfamiliar cats who identify themselves as members of the previously-undiscovered Undertree Clan. News spreads quickly through the Riverlands, and some wonder if the Clan has a connection to the recent violent wars in the lands near the pines.

Brightwater Clan continues to clash with Untertree Clan. The Evergreen Blockade is built; disease spreads into Undertree. Clans upriver begin to take ill.

After a major southern festival, multiple Clans encounter the strange new disease. In the south, contact is lost with Brightwater Clan and breaking down with other riverside Clans. Multiple Clans conclude that the Brightwater River is the source of the illness; many stop eating fish.

Brokenstone Clan sees a surge in new members joining from other Clans, cats desperate for help, guidance, and sanctuary. The cult welcomes them openly and soon takes ill.

As illness continues to spread despite efforts made to contain it, many cats begin to suffer the same fate as Bloomhollow. The name "Brightwater Disease" is coined, in honor of what appears to be the extinction of Brightwater Clan. Some half-Clan cats with Brightwater ancestry try to find and network with their kin in other Clans in the hopes of keeping some part of Brightwater alive.

Winter comes, and starvation crushes the Clans of the Riverlands. Plague runs rampant, cross-Clan communication completely breaks down, and much of the events of this Era are lost to the haze of widespread chaos and trauma.

Lowyowl, leader of the Brokenstone cult, is the last Clan leader of this era to die, frozen to death after wandering out to the lakeshore in the dead of night.

4th Era

Sunsong of Undertree, following first contact with StarClan, rallies a selection of survivors on a moons-long journey through the Plaguelands, and leads them to build the Haven in the Amberwood. She and seven others, two each from Undertree, Cloudview, Brokenstone, and the lost, travel to the Moon Shrine, where StarClan names Sunsong the Star of Protection and Gullspeckle the Star of Faith, granting them blessings of longevity and celestial guidance respectively. Lasthaven Clan is created.

A string of murders and deaths challenges the new Clan early on. Cats are tense, scared, and angry; fighting is common, even as champions and mediators step up to keep the peace. Floatbreeze, the first Champion of the Clan, is among the murder victims, and after her death, Sunstar declares the Clan will have a Council of Champions, hopefully to never again be stripped of their stability by the acts of a single cat.

Gullstar is slain by an unknown predator, and StarClan calls Fademist to serve as the Star of Sorrow. They are a reclusive and secretive leader, dying only two moons later while working to contain a greencough outbreak. Their success at saving others' lives left some to wonder if Fadestar knew the future. Their mate Icestar takes their place.

Lasthaven is further tested by a camp fire, but they manage to persevere, in part thanks to the Council of Champions -- Champion Mosscurl may have perished, but Owlglide was able to help his Clan's leaders keep the survivors calm and organized.

Sunstar, at an extremely old age, succumbs to pneumonia in her nest, marking the end of the 4th Era.

5th Era

Owlstar becomes the first leader of the 5th Era. Under his and Icestar's leadership, Lasthaven Clan grows and thrives, seeing surprisingly little in the way of disturbance, sickness, and bloodshed. As new generations are born and the Clan's identity begins to take shape, thoughts gradually shift toward what Lasthaven will stand for.

Owlstar dies in his sleep; Otterstar succeeds him after triumphing in a battle of wits. The Clan takes the opportunity to celebrate the Star of Histories' legacy and the peace the Clan has been blessed with.

Icestar dies as the oldest leader in Lasthaven's short history, from age-related complications while receiving treatment in the privacy of the clinic. The 6th Era dawns on a Clan united and strong.

The RP started at the end of the 5th Era, leading into the 6th Era.

CALENDAR

Each moon of the year has a different name, associated with a different environmental phenomenon or cultural belief. Some terms, such as Blood Moon and Harvest Moon, are reserved to ascribe retroactively to moons in which major events happen -- Blood Moons for tragedies and Harvest Moons for blessings.

Likewise, the ranges of the seasons might be different here than they are where you live in real life:

Winter / Leaf-bare

The first snows of the year fall in the Snow Moon (November), and by the Slumber Moon (December), the rivers freeze and the land is blanketed white: Prey hibernates as cats huddle close in their camps and some may warm themselves beside winter fires or heat-retaining nesting stones.

Cats of the Riverlands don't mark the beginning of the new year at the Ghost Moon (January), as it's barely different from the previous, save for a prevalence of ghost stories, weird encounters, and strange dreams, but at the thaw heralded by the first flowers of the dangerous Eagle Moon (February) and the bursting colors of the Blossom Moon (March). Snows in the forest usually don't melt until the last moon of the season.

Spring / Newleaf

Spring is the shortest season in the Riverlands, marked by rain and new life: The Fawn Moon (April) is when many newborn animals come into the world hungry and frail, to grow up under the fluttering colors of the Moth Moon (May).

Summer / Greenleaf

Summer in the Riverlands is a time of chaotic weather and lively competition; the Dragon Moon (June) is replete with bugs of all kinds, but most notably low-flying lucky dragonflies. Singing Moons (July) are alive with the sounds of crickets and grasshoppers, but a prime season for teaching and schooling as well, ahead of the peaking chaos of the Thunder Moon (August), when violent storms and sunny days seem to come and go at the turn of an osprey's wing.

Autumn / Leaf-fall

In autumn, colors change and hunting is good -- but it starts on a dangerous note with the Stag Moon (September), the start of the rut for red deer in the south and roe deer in the north. The Salmon Moon (October) was once a time for many Clans to gather and watch and catch enormous migrating fish at Brightwater Falls...but today, it's a moon for remembrance of the Plague Years, sometimes with other feasts, and sometimes with vigils and prayer.

Each moon update will include some information about what's typical for that part of the year, as well as notes on unique developments for that year, including both weather and plot events!