Post by Hollow, Sky, Laurel, Jay, Rye on Nov 27, 2014 16:28:25 GMT
About the only notable difference between cats at birth is their pelt colour. Thus, this should be the focus of the prefix.
There is an exception to this, though - when a particular body part of the cat (such as its tail) is a strikingly different and unexpected colour to the rest of it. Blackfoot, Shadowclan deputy, first seen in ‘Into the Wild’, is a prime candidate for this. He is described as a large white tom with huge jet-black paws. Likewise Redtail, Thunderclan’s deputy in the same book, is described as a small tortoiseshell tom with a distinctive ginger tail.
The question is, how does one decide what is “distinctive” enough to be referenced by the prefix? This is how I see it:
There is a litter of three kits, a black-and-white kitten, a black kitten with white paws and a white kitten with black paws.
The first kitten should be named for its patched nature, as that in itself is unusual enough to warrant attention. To name it for the individual colours (such as black- or white-) is not accurate since the cat has both colours in approximately equal amounts.
The second kitten, on the other hand, could be named for its dark colour, as black is the overwhelmingly dominant colour of its pelt. White feet are a considerably common trait among cats, and so, it is not significant enough to be in the prefix. When picking a prefix, the most obvious and predominant colour (or pattern) of the pelt should always be chosen.
The third kitten, however, is the exception. It is pure white all over, except for its paws, which are black. This is highly unusual (actually, I am yet to find evidence of this existing outside of Warriors, so I plan to dedicate a later post to address choices of appearance), so it is worthwhile referencing in the prefix. For this example, the kitten will be called Blackkit. The catch to naming a kit for such a specific feature, rather than their general appearance, means that the suffix is already chosen for them - in this instance, the kitten is destined to be Blackfoot, no questions asked. If the white kitten’s tail was black, the kitten would be Blacktail, and so on. This will be explained further in the suffix section.
There is an exception to this, though - when a particular body part of the cat (such as its tail) is a strikingly different and unexpected colour to the rest of it. Blackfoot, Shadowclan deputy, first seen in ‘Into the Wild’, is a prime candidate for this. He is described as a large white tom with huge jet-black paws. Likewise Redtail, Thunderclan’s deputy in the same book, is described as a small tortoiseshell tom with a distinctive ginger tail.
The question is, how does one decide what is “distinctive” enough to be referenced by the prefix? This is how I see it:
There is a litter of three kits, a black-and-white kitten, a black kitten with white paws and a white kitten with black paws.
The first kitten should be named for its patched nature, as that in itself is unusual enough to warrant attention. To name it for the individual colours (such as black- or white-) is not accurate since the cat has both colours in approximately equal amounts.
The second kitten, on the other hand, could be named for its dark colour, as black is the overwhelmingly dominant colour of its pelt. White feet are a considerably common trait among cats, and so, it is not significant enough to be in the prefix. When picking a prefix, the most obvious and predominant colour (or pattern) of the pelt should always be chosen.
The third kitten, however, is the exception. It is pure white all over, except for its paws, which are black. This is highly unusual (actually, I am yet to find evidence of this existing outside of Warriors, so I plan to dedicate a later post to address choices of appearance), so it is worthwhile referencing in the prefix. For this example, the kitten will be called Blackkit. The catch to naming a kit for such a specific feature, rather than their general appearance, means that the suffix is already chosen for them - in this instance, the kitten is destined to be Blackfoot, no questions asked. If the white kitten’s tail was black, the kitten would be Blacktail, and so on. This will be explained further in the suffix section.