guidelines

general guidelines

1. Treat others with respect, regardless of whether they're a high rank or staff member. Treating players of any rank poorly is never acceptable.
2. Discrimination and real-world bigotry of any variety will not be tolerated, either out of character or in roleplay. This includes racism, ableism, religious intolerance, queerphobia, misogyny, saneism, etc.
3. No explicit content is permitted in the main channels; keep it teen-safe. This includes any explicit discussion or depiction of drugs and sexuality, as well as extremely heavy subjects. ERP, explicit sexual content, and heavy/explicit gore are never allowed in any channel.
4. Proxy bots can only be used for roleplay in designated RP channels. Anyone can use them for self-identification in OOC channels. If you use proxy bots, please have a text and/or emoji tag in your nickname and proxy names.
5. No spam (including emojis), misuse of markdown formatting, or overuse of bold/capslock text. If your message or messages make it difficult or impossible to follow a conversation, it is likely considered spam.
6. Use content warnings for heavy subjects both in and out of roleplay. Proper CW format is "CW [Warning] ||triggering content||"; for example, "CW cat sounds / Today I heard a cat ||saying meow meow meow||."

roleplay rules

1. Have your cat confirmed/added to the allegiances before roleplaying them. If your character isn't approved within 24 hours, feel free to ping staff.
2. Major events that could significantly impact the plot of Clan should be run by the involved Clan leaders before they happen. This includes births, deaths, promotions/ceremonies, name changes, battles, murders, exiles, or disappearances.
3. Disabled/neurodivergent characters must be run by staff to ensure they are portrayed respectfully. There is an exception for missing/damaged tails, loss of one eye, loss of one ear, and cats coded as having depression, anxiety, PTSD, Autism, or ADHD. You may name specific conditions/neurodivergencies in character descriptions, but cats do not have words for most of them.
4. Discuss things that may significantly impact someone's character out of character before they happen. This includes making romantic advances, scarring, maiming, and/or killing others' characters.
5. Graphic, sexual, or adult roleplay is never allowed. This includes ERP, graphic details on kitting/birth, topics like suicide and self-harm, and recreational drug use. Detailed death and injury must have a content warning provided, and extreme/graphic depictions are still not allowed.
6. Keep things about as realistic as the books do. Names should be words cats could reasonably know, cats should be patterned and colored semi-realistically, and items like prosthetic limbs are not allowed.
7. Backstories, plots, etc. must align with the main plot and history of the roleplay. Suggestions and requests on the plot & history are welcome.
8. Characters and events from the books are not allowed in roleplays, histories, memories, StarClan, etc. and have functionally never existed in this universe.

rank-specific rules

1. Kits...
   1. Must have names ending in -kit if they live in a Clan.
   2. Cannot, under any circumstances, have romantic interests or relationships.
   3. Can't seriously injure or kill cats or prey larger than a mouse.
2. Apprentices...
   1. Must have names ending in -paw.
   2. Should be nearly their adult size.
   3. May have romantic attraction towards other apprentices or warriors within 2 moons of their age.
   4. Cannot, under any circumstances, have a mate, and must be 10 moons to have a serious courtship (ie being in love, serious romantic intimacy).
   5. Can't seriously injure or kill adult cats except with training and in accidents or stacked conditions (ie a ShoreClan apprentice vs. a BoltClan warrior in the water).
3. Warriors...
   1. May have romantic attraction towards other warriors, apprentices within 2 moons of their age, and elders within 60 moons of their age.
   2. May have mates or serious courtships, but cannot be pregnant until 16 moons of age.
4. Queens...
   1. Must be pregnant for 6-12 weeks (1.5-3 months) IRP before kitting. (This translates to 3-6 weeks IRL.)
   2. Can have a litter of up to 8 kits three times a year, and a maximum of 12 kits per year.

naming rules

1. Names should be words a cat living on a barrier island could reasonably know. Things named after twoleg objects (ie horseshoe crabs) are not valid names.
2. Warrior names that make compound words are allowed as long as they aren't joke names and don't make any twoleg words/names. For example, Sandstorm and Bayberry are valid, but Garfield and Smokeweed are not.
3. Names based on disability must be run by staff and are usually not allowed. This includes names like Halftail, One-eye, or Lostface.
4. The words canopy, bolt, shore, haze, gale, kit, paw, and star may not appear anyone in any cat's name unless they hold the relevant rank. This includes the names of non-Clan cats.
5. Only one living cat may have any one prefix. If there's an Acornfur, then no-one can make another character named Acorn-. Suffixes are not limited!
6. A prefix can be reserved for up to one week. Each player can reserve one prefix at a time. Once a reservation expires, players must wait another week to reserve a prefix again.
7. A prefix can be reserved for up to one week Exceptions may be made for very generic names or those of later series characters (ie Nightheart).