* * Lists major details for 'Warriors: A Reign of Thunder and Lightning'.

.

.

.

.

.

.

2/2017

It was clearly not a fanfiction that mimicked the source material, but I am overall happy with how A Reign of Thunder and Lightning turned out. It came out with minimal spelling/grammar errors as well as being edited and completed offline, so there is no need to rewrite it. I would have preferred to focus a bit less on the plot and more on the mind of Littlestar. That being said, there are quite a few things here that differentiate themselves from the canon. Not all of this information was listed in the story, and that's because I wrote it in a way that allowed people who were unfamiliar with Warriors to still be able to read and understand this, even as a fanfiction.

So here are a few things that changed from the Warriors universe to make the story, in my opinion, more interesting than it could have been just sticking to source material:

- The overall universe has changed to real life. This allowed the story to take place in worlds that would otherwise make no sense in the canon universe.

This technically classifies A Reign of Thunder and Lightning as alternate universe (AU). I find the setting in Warriors to be overall cut and dry. It is one of the weaker aspects of the series, as there is never anything forcing the clan's paw at anything other than setting up camp at a different location. It never really presented a challenge like some environments do (deep space in Star Trek, Tamriel in Elder Scrolls, etc). The challenge can help characters grow or have events change in a meaningful way, forcing decisions that would otherwise seem like an ass-pull. This particular setting was Hamburg, Nazi Germany, 1943, the midst of World War II. The time was also matched to the Allied 'Operation Gomorrah' (United States, Great Britain), which saw several key areas of Hamburg bombed due to it being a center of advanced naval research, the site of a massive submarine dry-dock, a shipping point for nearby concentration camps, the center for Blohm & Voss, a major manufacturer of weapons, and one of the major cities in Germany.

The bombing in Chapter 13 was based on the real July 27/28 attack. It produced a firestorm strong enough to sweep a grown man off their feet and into it from two blocks away, and tall enough to tower over every building in the city. Afterward, 2/3 of the city's population up and left, leaving 40,000+ dead. The book only goes far enough after that night to see one more large raid in the Epilogue, when Fleetheart's group is leaving the city. During Operation Gomorrah the city was bombed to cinders over the course of a year, leaving so little inhabitants, structures, and defenders that the British almost considered their own operation a war crime.

It didn't have to take place in real life, but to do what I wanted to do with the setting and make it a warzone, it made sense to use a preexisting one.

- The clans are less weary about where others come from, and are more accepting of outside cats (except LeafClan, who are xenophobes).

This one was carried over from real life. When a country grows, it doesn't really matter where you come from; so long as you're willing to be productive in a nation, they historically haven't cared where one of their citizens came from. This was especially true in the Roman Empire during its decline. Most of its citizens weren't even native-born Romans. To me, it made no sense that the clans would be so careful about their numbers but hesitant to accept outsiders into their clans, in addition to having to keep up a power struggle with three other clans. Historically, all three of those things can't happen at once. I decided the same with the clans (it also let me use more pet names and avoid duplicates in other fanfictions).

- The clans are about 5 - 10x larger than in canon, taking territory as far as 2 square miles.

It seemed ridiculous that canon clans might only have as much as 30 members at their largest. Cats usually have two litters a year, and at about 4 - 6 kits per litter population can get out of control quickly. For comparison (all at the start of the book) StoneClan had about 120 cats, BreezeClan about 30, and LeafClan about 250. Former StoneClan ended with 7, former BreezeClan 4, and LeafClan around 180. The larger numbers made the clans seem more dangerous, as well as less like a closely-knit classroom and more like an actual clan where cats don't know every member's name. It was also the primary driver of the plot, since LeafClan's overpopulation in an active warzone led to their famine and subsequent actions.

- Cats act a bit more like cats. They are more active at night, have no hard sleep schedule, and place little to no importance on family matters. Many parents are unknown, simply because cats don't find that important.

The canon cats act more like humans than cats. Here, they act as much like cats as a story about talking cats will allow. Only she-cats were allowed in the medicine den (which is why all the medicine cats are female with one exception). The main characters never said their parents names, either because they never knew them or didn't care. Also, with clans being perpetually in conflict with each other, a sleep schedule that leaves almost everyone asleep at one time is dangerous.

Now, to post some small facts not explicitly mentioned in A Reign of Thunder and Lightning:

- If A Reign of Thunder and Lightning had an opening and closing song, it would open with Survive - Lacuna Coil and end with Alone - The Gathering.

- Littlestar's "scentless" pelt was brought about by a rare birth defect in some cats that prevents them from sweating through their paw pads, combined with a naturally dry mouth that kept her from grooming herself (the primary source of a cat's scent to other cats is their own saliva on their fur).
Whether it is a gift from StarClan or not is never stated...

- Littlescent had four littermates, but only she inherited the 'scentless' birth defect. Two remain unknown...

- A Reign of Thunder and Lightning is 137,578 words, give or take a few from small edits.

- The area of Hamburg the story took place in was the Hamm District; during the war it was bombed to hollow shells and completely devoid of everything but scavengers, including many abandoned pets.

- StoneClan's names were based on physical appearance & actions (Littlescent, Fleetheart), LeafClan's on nature (Horsepelt, Flyfoot) and BreezeClan's on color (Yellowstar, Whitetail).

- Despite the huge age difference, Wolfgang and Shortfang were mates by the end of the story.

- The average age was 35 moons: Littlestar was 28 moons, Horsepelt was 32.

- As a kittypet (and vaccinated), Panzer could have lived beyond 170 moons. She was just over 150 when she died.

- Panzer and Blueclaw are both Russian Blues that hail from the Soviet Union, explaining Panzer's great knowledge of the twoleg world. Both have traveled quite a bit, being pets to a very wealthy Russian woman.

- Blueclaw was born from a different litter, but from the same mother and father as Panzer, making her much younger than Panzer but still her littermate.

- Numbers beyond ten are never expressed by characters; cats can only count how many claws they have on their front paws (exactly like in Watership Down).

- The Warrior Code was never observed by StoneClan, being founded by kittypets. BreezeClan and LeafClan followed it.

- Bonbon gave a choice to pets entering StoneClan at any rank to keep their twoleg names or adopt clan names; the practice continued under Longstar.

- Littlescent's mentor was Longstar. Horsepelt's was Wolfstar.

- One of Littlestar's secrets was that she loved Longstar in addition to admiring his politics. She held him on a very high pedestal.

- Bonbon died from internal damage from older battle injuries right after Littlekit was brought into the clan; retrieving her was the last order she ever gave.

- Smoke inhalation killed more cats throughout the story than anything else.

- Littlestar died before coming to a definitive conclusion as to why StarClan went silent...

Overall, I hope youenjoyed A Reign of Thunder and Lightning, because I enjoyed writingit. Feel free to tell me what you thought of it, I'd love to hear anything youhave to say about it.