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1CLAN CULTURE IDEAS
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31. Determine what level of anthropomorphism you like. Do you prefer the cats being able to ‘weave’ nests and the link? Do you prefers cats functioning with highly realistic instincts? Do you prefer them to know healing herbs, or just rely on trying to keep the wound clean and soothing injured/sick clanmates? Do you want them to be able to compose epic ballads or songs? 
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5I would say weaving and singing are on the higher end of anthropomorphism, healing herbs is in the middle, and strict realism is of course on the low end. None of these are a bad place to be, it is all what you yourself prefer, and once you decide that, then just be sure to stick with it, across all the clans you make. It can help to write down what traits you feel your cats should and should not do.
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7What I did, was I decided I wasn’t interested in writing weaving/singing level cats, at least not for this world, but I was interested in them having some healing. At the same time, I was enamored with developing more instincts, especially those of queens. So I would say I am between the low end and healing herbs.
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9- My queens are highly protective and even aggressive; they give birth in a special birthing den and spend two moons in there to calm down, and get past the danger zone of them perhaps getting overstressed and harming their kits.
10- Toms stay away from the queens, because they do have instincts to kill kits that aren’t their own– however, being in clans for so long has made them have greater control over these instincts.
11- Outside the clans, rogues are clowders of mollies (related or not) who stake out a small territory and raise their kits together and share some duties. Loners are lone toms who wander expansive areas seeking rogues to mate with. Barn cats are toms and mollies who live together in small family groups in barns. Ferals are somewhat between loners and barn cats in their behavior and composition, but they live right by human habitation, like cities and suburbs and such.
12- My cats can’t weave. They don’t sing (though they do have long oral myths and historical tales).
13- Healing is very basic– clean wound, stop bleeding, keep cat hydrated, and the like.
14Just a few things.
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162. Decide if there is a specific place you’re really drawn to setting a clan in. Have you always wanted a desert clan? Felt a Caribbean Island clan would be just awesome? Want a clan in a Middle Eastern city? Australia? Once you’ve decided the location, do some research about the specific place. Then you can decide whether you want to plonk your clan in the real place, or maybe take the habitat of the real place and set it in an alternate world (i.e., you really like that desert, but you don’t want it to edge a city, so you can put the general lay of things in your own world and erase the city). Also, maybe create a visual map of the clan’s territory and camp. This post has some great suggestions for making your camp truly unique to your clan!
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18For the purposes of this example, my clan is Marshclan, because for some reason I am enamored with the idea of a marsh/wetlands clan. I really love water-based clans, and I also seem to have connotations of ‘Marshclan/Bogclan/Swampclan’ being this rugged, ragged, big, tough cats. Probably erroneous, but still, it draws me in.
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20The key things to note are 1, what’s the weather/climate like? 
212. What sort of animals and plants are there? (this will give you some prefixes to use!) 
223. What sort of dangers might be there? and so on.
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24I also noted specific places– ‘The Lightning-Struck Tree’, the ‘Burial Grounds’, the ‘Frog Pond’, sites of any battles or significant incidents. And I mapped out the camp; it’s on a solid island in the center of the marshes, well sheltered by plants, rocks,and  reeds. The leader sleeps in the center of the Senior Warriors den alongside the deputy; the new warriors, young warriors, and seasoned warriors all have dens spread across the camp to ensure maximum defenses. The queens sleep in a bush in the center of camp– that’s the nursery, but there’s a series of rocky crevices and very dense bushes that serve as the medicine den with some birthing dens nearby. The apprentices sleep in a den on one side of the nursery, the elders sleep on the other, and prey is stowed under another bush in the camp, near the large dead tree leaning against another dead stump is– this serves as the Speech Stump.
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263. Why does this clan exist? There’s a why behind everything, and definitely a why behind a clan even existing. Did it grow from a pre-existing family group? Did it move to this location from somewhere else? Did a bunch of cats escape a cat hoarder? Did random wandering cats band together under a charismatic leader? Did a deity create the clan? And how has this affected the clan?
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28With Marshclan, three things came together:
291. The founder, Duckflower, left Mountainclan after having serious disagreements over religion, and also feeling the desire to strike out and explore ‘uncharted territory’. A few other Mountainclan cats followed her, mostly close kin. Therefore she established her own clowder in the marshes, primarly because Mountainclan never went there, and she saw it as a place filled with possible prey and swampy enough that Mountainclan wouldn’t want to try and claim it. 
302. A bunch of hoarded cats (most of Maine coon/Norwegian forest cat type ancestry) had recently escaped a remote human house that had caught fire. They wandered and ended up crashing into Duckflower’s clowder. Seeing this as an ample opprotunity, she let them join and started configuring her own real clan.
313. Marshclan absorbed some more nearby clowders and a few loners and over time all these cats developed into the standard, big, longhaired, fierce and tough Marshclan cat that exists today.
32Because of their strongly self-made development, Marshclan has come to be a very independent group, placing great value on adaptability, strength, and wits. They don’t see themselves as guided by ancestors, but rather guiding themselves through right actions, and the remembrance of history and learning from that.
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344. Does your clan follow a particular naming style? 
35I will say absolutely it will make your world-building more consistent if you follow a naming style. prefixes, they should always describe pelt color. But, there’s more you can do with that. Perhaps your clan uses ‘wet’ names (mud, duck, frog, rain, cloud, etc.). Perhaps they use ‘dry’ names. (dust, oak, fire, sand, deer). Perhaps only plants (willow, birch, holly, cedar, mistletoe, juniper, daisy). Perhaps only animals (mosquito, fox, toad, snake, trout, eagle). Their choices of styles will be influenced by their beliefs and attitudes.
36For Marshclan, they believe in strength. They see animals as being the strongest things because they adapt and grow and visibly eat and fight and all that. So they use only animal names for prefixes– insects, mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds.
37For suffixes, they follow what I like to call the ‘body-part style’. It has traditional meanings, but every suffix is a body part.
38These specific details they use for two reasons: 1, to distance themselves from Mountainclan culturally. 2, they feel that a body-part based system is stronger and simpler than the -er based system of Mountainclan.
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405. Decide what ranks your clan will have. Will they follow the leader/deputy/medicine cat/warriors/apprentices/queens+kits/elders pattern? Or will they have new ranks like seer or codekeeper? How will each rank function?
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42For Marshclan, I have:
43The leader: makes most of the decisions and has final say of everything but takes input and advice from the deputy, medicine cat, senior warriors and elders. Stays in camp predominantly and runs things and deals with laws and the like.
44The deputy: Is the physically active leader, organizing and leading patrols, leading the clan into battle, advising the leader, getting advice from the elders and medicine cat, scouting things out and reporting to the leader, and at gatherings is in charge of signing what the leader says to the clan.
45The medicine cat: does basic healing, serves as an adviser, keeps an eye on the clan and intervenes in any skeezy stuff. Serves as a confidant/sympathetic shoulder for cats and will council them freely. All medicine cats have to have completed full warrior training before training as a medicine cat. The medicine cat also serves as a ‘codekeeper’, remembering rules/laws, interpreting them, advising about them, etc. They also keep record of clan history along with the elders, leader, and deputy. They are allowed to have kits so long as they have a fully-trained apprentice who can take over for them temporarily.
46The warriors: hunt, fight, train apprentices, guard the camp, advise the leader, clean the dens, help out the medicine cat at times, patrol, entertain the oldest kits, have kits themselves, etc.
47The apprentices: are trained by the warriors.
48The queens: are fierce and highly respected, have their kits in birthing dens which they stay in for two moons before moving to the nursery proper; are the teachers and guards of the kits and sought by the leader for advice on mentor-apprentice pairings.
49The elders: teach clan history and culture, entertain the kits, give the leader/deputy/medicine cat advice, help to vote on some things, present deputy candidates to the leader who has the final say in picking, guard the camp, etc. Are highly esteemed and only when a cat reaches a certain age and experience do they have the chance of deciding they want to rank up to an elder.
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516. Decide how many cats, and therefore calculate how large their territory potentially is.
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537. Decide what their Starclan/higher powers are like. 
54Do they believe in a diety? Ancestors? Ancient spirits? Both? All three? What powers do the Powers that Be actually have? How does this compare/contrast to what clans think they have? Be very, very sure to keep things consistent here, because one of the biggest messes in canon was StarClan and their inconsistent wishy-washy, whatever-the-current-plot-requires-ness. That doesn’t fly in consistent world-building. Searching ‘starclan’ on the Feline Helix should turn up plenty of posts with examples of what others have done.
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56For Marshclan, I decided they don’t believe in Starclan. They believe in Moonclan. They believe the One, a great cat deity, created cats, and then placed them on the sun. But an evil force set the sun on fire out of jealousy. The deity quickly moved the cats to the Living World, where they would be safe, and put a barrier of fierce Star Warriors around the Living World to protect the cats. During the Day, the One watches over the clans in the sky, using the flaming sun to frighten away the evil force, the Void. During the night, the Star Warriors guard. 
57Dead cats go to live in a rich forest on the Moon, and are called Moonclan. Marshclan and Mountainclan leaders take the suffix -moon to indicate their status.
58Now, because of the dangers of the Void, ancestors on the Moon can’t came down to talk to the clans. The deity also remains distant, letting the clans work out their own problems and be self-sufficient.
59So Marshclan doesn’t believe in signs or prophecies.
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619. Consider some traditions. Just start out thinking of things– naming ceremonies, picking mates, talking to the Powers that Be, etc. Think of something and work it out. There doesn’t have to be a special order
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65The key with groups, is that it’s going to play on /why is it beneficial to live in a group/? 
66For wild cats, that’s a pretty simple answer: more working together means more food, more protection, someone to pick up the slack if you get sick or injured, etc. And, you know, less threats want to come jump on a group of cats. So, better survival all around, and who doesn’t like that?
67However, I can’t see a clan or a large group just springing up, even with this benefit. It’s going to develop over time, probably after a lot of other smaller groups.
68For example, among one of my own worlds, there are these phases:
691. Cats aren’t really in anything more than small family groups, and most are solitary wanderers.
702. Some clowders form (groups of mollies who share kit-raising and chores together).
713. Some tribes (small groups of unrelated cats that live together similar to a clan but don’t have a blanket set of rules or rely on the existence of other tribes) form, more clowders form.
724. In order to increase competitive edge and gain more territory, some clowders band together into glarings.
735. Eventually, the four biggest glarings turn into clans due to developing a bit of a shared culture and continuing to evolve over time.
74So, altogether, a good start is to make it clearly beneficial to be in a group, and then have some phases go on as groups develop, evolve, get larger, maybe add more rules, etc. and then you can take them whatever direction you feel is plausible.
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78When it comes to religious beliefs among clans, the only ‘wrong’ way to do it is to make things implausible to contradictory. You can have a giant beaver with dragonfly wings be your clan’s guardian deity if you keep its powers and interactions consistent and can build up some believable myths and reasons for why the clans worship a giant beaver with dragonfly wings.
79A good basis is to track how the beliefs have evolved over time. Clans come from /somewhere/, be it clowders, tribes, housecats, etc. Those prior groups are going to carry beliefs with them that will absolutely shape the evolution of the clan’s religious beliefs. And it’s also quite possible that, over time, the clan adopts in the beliefs of other clans or clowders and the like that they encounter and twist those beliefs to fit their worldview.
80I see StarClan as having two potential basis: ancestral and deity. 
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82If you want to go the ancestral route, then I imagine StarClan would have less power (maybe not even ‘really’ exist at all!) and is entirely comprised of the ancestors of the current living cats. They may watch over the living, they might be able to walk among them at certain times of the year (like the Celtic festival of Samhain), they may be able to send ‘signs’ through manipulating environmental things but can’t actually meet living cats, or perhaps they do meet with living cats through dreams and the like but give straightforward advice rather than prophecies. Perhaps there are no ‘nine lives’ but rather ‘nine wisdoms’ or ‘nine chosen advisors’ or nine may merely hold a sort of imagined significance, indicating that the leader is an especially blessed and politically powerful cat.
83The key here is to always, always establish set parameters and stick with them. Determine what you do not want your StarClan to be able to do, or what you do not feel is plausible, and stick with avoiding that. Set rules and follow them. Consistency is key, because it helps uphold suspension of disbelief.
84If you want to go the deity route, perhaps ‘StarClan’ is a pantheon of deities who contributed to the making of the clans and they advise them. Or it could be a heap of ancestors ruled over by the founders of the clans who are considered deities. And they, again, could have similar powers to the ones I suggested for the ancestral route.
85Again, there is a huge swathe of ways you could take this and run with it; the key is consistency, and figuring out what is most believable for your world. In a setting with many other groups of cats besides clans, it would make sense that the clans would absorb some outside beliefs and tailor them. In a very isolated setting, they may have very rigid and unchanging religious beliefs. The more religious a clan is, the more complex their beliefs may grow. Or your clans, like mine, may go through a ‘timeline’ of deities and important figures, with older ones ‘dying’ to make way for the latest group’s beliefs. (I do plan to post on this on my other blog because I feel it’s a good example of evolution over time and tying into to really building different cultures for each successive group).
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87 If a clan were to have a system of gods, is there any trait/set of traits they'd value over the others, or does it depend on the culture? I can see a common theme being survival, strategy (supernaturally, future-vision?), redemption (or something like resurrection/coming back from the brink of death), and luck just because they're predators and live in a dangerous world that they're Small in. ((also, should the worldbuilding questions be strictly Clan-related or is cats in general fine??)
88I would say that this is definitely a subjective decision and the religious world-building is totally dependent on what the writer wants to write (and can validate within the setting). What kinds of gods exist, what they represent, how the belief system formed, and how the clans feel about them is in your hands, Ruddles. 
89Pantheons of gods are birthed from the culture they belong to. They’re like monsters like that. They typically reflect the anxieties and needs of the people they belong to. So my advice, if anyone else is thinking of god things, is that maybe the best way to decide on a pantheon of gods is to look at the world and culture around the cats you’re focusing on, and ask yourself, “What is valuable to them? What are they afraid of? Who would they pray to?” and I think that will provide you with the core components of who, or what, the gods would be.
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931. So How Big is a Clan?
94I’m going to start by saying that the ‘average’ size of a clan is probably around 30 cats. Consider how the allegiances typically run: (this is a rough ‘average’)
951 leader.
961 deputy.
972 medicine cats.
9810-12 warriors.
994-6 apprentices.
1001-3 queens + kits.
1013-5 elders.
102So around 25-35 cats is probably a fair range, with 25 being on the ‘small’ side, and 35 reaching large. Because cats are dying and breeding at a steady rate, the average population of a clan will probably jiggle up and down but hover around the same area, barring some event that allows for a population explosion or decimation.
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104The thing is, things get sticky when climates and settings change. Some rules I would go by however are:
1051. The fewer resources, the bigger the territories and the smaller and fewer the clans. Competition is going to be fierce and weakness isn’t going to last.
1062. The more resources, the smaller the territories and the larger and more numerous the clans. Greater abundance means less area needed for hunting. Do note that as clan size increases, territory will need to increase as well. But because prey is denser per area for each cat, the ratio of territory to clan size will be closer.
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1082. Mathematics. 
109If you’re looking for square mileage, I can try to give you some ideas. This site gives a bit of info you might find useful (1 hectare = 0.00386102 sq. miles). It also says the average female farm cat has a range of about 6 hectares. Males purportedly have a territory range about 10 times that, so 60 hectares.
110For the purposes of this, let’s say 6 hectares is standard for a molly and 60 hectares is standard for a tom.
111Disregarding the terrain and climate, let’s say you have an ‘average-sized’ clan of 30 cats, excluding kits. 15 are male, 15 are female. If we take the number of males and multiply it by the suggested hectares (15 x 60) and the number of females and multiply it by the suggested hectares (15 x 6) and add the resulting areas together you’re going to get a little under 4 miles. 
112Now, this is not at all an exact science, but I feel it does help give some idea how much area  cat might need. I would suggest as a starting point for figuring this out, always try to calculate an area, and then you can tweak it larger or smaller based on other factors.
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1143. Contributing Factors to Territory and Clan Size:
115These are just a few major points that can help you tweak your territory calculation, and your clan population.
1161. Some ranks are going to need more or less prey than others. Lactating and pregnant queens are going to need a higher calorie intake (more food), so more prey is needed. Elders will be eating less, and so will require less prey. So if your clan has a lot of elders, the food consumption will be lower. If they have a lot of kits or young, growing apprentices and warriors, they’re going to be hunting a lot.
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1182. How far can cats walk in a day? They’re going to be patrolling this territory every day, several times a day (or night, depending on whether your clans are more diurnal or nocturnal). They’re going to need to walk around their sector and return with time left over for other things as well. Think of ancient Roman; if the territory gets too big, guarding it all will be very hard. So for very large areas, it might be better to go with more clans with a variety of territory sizes than a couple clans with very big territories; or go with a few clans and a great deal of ‘no-cat land’ where loners and rogues live.
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1203.  The scale of the full ‘world’. The larger the area you’re working with, the more clans or larger territories you can have. The smaller the area, the more restricted you are. I will say that small urban areas can support a lot of cats.
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1224. How much prey is there? If it’s a city, there will be a lot more food and shelter available as compared to a desert. The more prey-rich an area is, the less territory a clan will need to survive, and the less competition there will be. The more prey-poor an area is, the more likely there will be fewer, smaller clans with larger territories– because they’re going to have to have more areas for hunting.
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1245. How’s the climate? If it’s a desert or very cold, clans are probably going to be smaller, fewer, and have larger territories because of the reduced resources. The fewer the resources, the less cats the land can support and therefore the more land needed.
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1266.  Are there frequent natural disasters? If so, the clans might have very large territories so they can move camps and hunting grounds should one area be damaged.
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1287. Are there other predators to compete with? Foxes, badgers, coyotes, wolves, bears, etc… These are all going to make life harder for the clans either because they share prey, or because they will/might prey on clan cats. The more of these creatures in an area, the fewer clans there will be. Everything is going to be a mess of overlapping territories and places to avoid larger predators.
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133 I’ve always been behind the idea that every clan needs a location in their territory that the cats can come “home” to so to say. This encourages unity, and provides protection for all members, particularly the young, the old and the sick. Camp is where you go to sleep among friends and family, knowing that somebody is watching the entrance and is ready and willing to sound the alarm at any threat, you don’t need to worry about finding a safe -and preferably comfortable- place to sleep. Camp is where you stay whenever you’re injured or feel unwell, knowing that you’ll be cared for in your time of vulnerability and visited by concerned clanmates, you don’t need to worry about feeding or protecting yourself when you aren’t at you’re best. Camp is where the days (Or nights) catch is deposited, you’ll still get fed even if you didn’t have much luck hunting today, or are simply a poor hunter. Camp is where the clan socializes with one another- kits play together or with their mothers, the apprentices, the warriors and perhaps even the leaders and deputies, apprentices play-fight and get into mischief, warriors discuss the day to day happenings, elders gossip and impart wisdom, leaders and deputies plan for the clans future and make announcements, and the medicine cat/s keep watch over the clans physical, emotional and spiritual health. 
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135 And so on and so forth, a clans camp is the heart of the clan. But yet, in many stories, the camp is just there, it’s just a place to be confined to if you break the rules (Or a leg). It’s not treated with any real sort of importance unless the plot calls for it, and in my experience, the “plot” usually calls for it to be attacked for the sake of drama. This shows a blatant lack of respect for what camp should mean to a clan, and an overall lack of world-building too. I mean come on, this is a sacred spot in your clans territory! Everyone lives there, everyone spends a fair amount of time there daily, this is a great location to build personal relationships at, it’s a convenient place to show off your clans specific culture and traditions at. 
136It’s just so much more then a place where you can keep your character confined to for drama, or a place where you can “store” characters that you don’t know what to do with, it’s just a massive missed opportunity in general. I feel this mostly stems from Canon always being eager to get the current protagonist or set of protagonist out of camp and into the territory… and other clans territories, and even farther abroad because I swear every single arc includes some sort of journey.
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138It really is a shame how underused clan camps are. I think it reflects the common trend of how the protagonist’s ‘hometown’ is just a backdrop filler until they go somewhere more ‘interesting’. The thing is, the reason those hometowns aren’t interesting is no one bothers to make them so! Possibly, it’s just because they don’t know where to start. And indeed, canon isn’t very inspiring or a good example here (isn’t is always? So sad.).
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140Anyway, the point I’m trying to get across in my ramble-y way is that camps are rarely developed beyond what the plot “needs” them to be, and that’s usually a copy and paste of what Canon does with them. Yet their are ways to make ones camp/s unique. Lets start with the dens. Canon follows the exact same layout- Nursery, Apprentice den, Warriors den, Elders den, Medicine cat den, and a Leader’s den. This is all well and good, it gets the job done. Everyone sleeps in a den according to their current rank. But, just thinking off of the top of my head I can come up with ways to make these dens a bit more unique.
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142Perhaps instead of a nursery where all kits and their mothers live together, theirs a traditional nursery and a den where the mothers give birth in and live with their kits until their eyes and ears have opened and they’re relatively mobile. It’s always struck me as a bit… risky to have newborns and essentially kitty pre-teens and every developmental milestone in between them in the same den together. Having a sort of newborn den would allow the most vulnerable kittens and their mothers some peace away from the chaos of the traditional nursery until the littlest ones are more able to deal with rambunctious playmates.
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144Oh this is a very good idea! I had often though, looking at comparisons of kitten sizes and activity levels, and how rough and careless kits are usually shown to be, that it might be dangerous for newborns. Especially, another thing to consider, for those who are inclined to a more realistic approach to queen behavior, is any stress on queens can prove dangerous for their kits and others. So having a very sheltered, safe, and probably ‘quarantined’ area for them to give birth and get past the initial danger stage in would be an excellent idea. This would also help prevent overcrowding in the nursery.
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146The same idea could apply to the apprentice den. A bit for different reasons, I’ve heard people voice concerns about the often large age gap and maturity gap between new apprentices and their oldest counterparts before. And maybe fanclans could also be concerned about it! So splitting the apprentice den in half almost could be a way of countering it. So one den would be for the younger apprentices and the other den could be for the older apprentices. Presumably it would be left up to the apprentices mentor to assess whether or not their apprentice is ready move up to the older apprentice den, taking into account not just age, but maturity both physical and emotional too. 
147I have seen many people concerned over the age-gap with apprentices, especially when it comes to romantic things, and I do agree with that, because maturity varies hugely among that ageset. I imagine some clans could indeed find this a problem, or simply might have every rank in life broken into multiple stages of ‘new’, ‘average’, and ‘senior’ and so divide ‘large’ ranks like apprentices and warriors up likewise. It’s also possible that if there were two apprentices’ dens they could be on either side of the warriors’ den, to prevent sneaking back and forth, and also so if apprentices’ had a problem, they could quickly get to their mentors for advice or protection.
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149I’d also advocate splitting up the Warriors Den, but not for the same reason. More so due to space requirements. Everyone knows that cats like to have their own personal space, I personally can only see mates, siblings and very close friends wanting to share nests together. So I’ve always had trouble believing that well over a dozen or more adult cats can manage to fit under one bush and have enough space between dens for everyone to be happy. Plus in larger clans, this idea only gets sillier. So maybe their can could be several Warrior dens instead of one! This not only allows everyone more nest-space, but also have the added benefit of spreading the Warriors out around the camp, meaning that if the camp does get attacked, not every experienced fighter is stuck in one part of the camp.
150There could be a ‘senior’ warrior den and a ‘younger’ warrior den, and that you’d ‘earn’ your way to the second den once you’d proved your maturity and experience. Or indeed there could be three or four ‘pockets’ of warriors scattered around the camp, at strategic places (by the nursery, by the apprentices, by the camp entrance, etc.) for better coverage of protection. Or maybe if there’s some sort of bush barrier around the camp, warriors sleep in dens all along it, while other dens are grouped in the center. For one of my own clans, Tunnelclan, the camp is in a ravine/hollow with small caves for the elders, apprentices, queens, and medicine cats, and the warriors sleep all around the hollow in nests they remake daily. 
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152I know the Deputy doesn’t have a den of their own traditionally, but maybe they should! After all, this is an important position, perhaps it could come with the added perk of a private den. Or maybe the Deputy could share the Leader’s den with them, they are also preparing to take the leaders place one day. Perhaps the deputy could share with the Elder’s instead, in the hopes that their wisdom helps prepare them for assuming leadership one day. I feel this would depend highly on how the clan viewed their deputies. Perhaps they could be in a special ‘add-on’ to the warriors den, or they might share the leader’s den. I think it could be less likely they’d bunk with the elders, because I personally see elders as being revered above all, and even the deputy not having earned the right to be considered their denmate, but it is an interesting notion.
153I do like this idea; a lot of the time it seems deputies are treated as a ‘special’ warrior than a leader-apprentice-in-training and an entirely separate thing.
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155I will admit that the Elder’s den is pretty solid in Canon, older cats more then anybody else will want and need a place to themselves. But as I mentioned above, maybe the Deputy bunking with them could be interesting to explore. Or perhaps the Elder’s in some fanclans don’t want their own den, preferring to stay in the Warriors den/s due to familiarity. Or their is a traditional Elder’s Den, but it’s left up to the individual Elder whether or not they desire to move into it or stay in the Warriors den/s. 
156I absolutely agree the elders would have their own den, no matter what, but I do think that when a cat who is eligible to be an elder retires to that den is entirely up to the individual. It may be some cats who are technically elders still serve as warriors, because though they have earned the rank, they want to stay active for their clan rather than moving on to more supervising/advising/in-camp duties.
157Definitely a thing to consider from a realistic standpoint is that elderly cats are very attached to the familiar, and changes of routine can really upset them, especially if they are dealing with physical and mental conditions due to advancing age. So it could be that elders sleep in the very center of a ‘senior’ warriors’ den, because they would have been there for a time before becoming elders, and would still be honored (and more sheltered) by scooching into the center more.
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159The Leader’s den is another one that’s use is pretty solid Canonically, the leader needs their own private place where they can retreat to in order to get some peace and quiet. Being leader is a huge responsibility and a tough job regardless of how good you are at it, so being able to get away from the pressures of their job for just a short while is probably necessary for the maintenance of sanity. But it also must get quite lonely and perhaps even isolating, so maybe could share with the Deputy as I suggested earlier, after all, the Deputy of all cats would understand the pressures of the job. Or maybe the leader could prefer to sleep with the Warriors, but could have their own private place within the camp itself to get away to on occasions when they need it. 
160It is possible the deputy and leader could bunk together. I certainly feel if the leader had a mate, they would share the leader’s den. It might indeed be that the leader’s den is more of a formal place to meet with others and retreat there for contemplation (an inner sanctum if you will) as opposed to a sleeping place. It might even be sacred.
161I do find the idea of the leader sleeping with the warriors to be interesting. I feel that might be more likely in a clan where the leader is considered very close to the warriors; my own clan Tunnelclan has the leader sleeping on a large, flat rock in the center of camp, and all the warriors sleeping spread around.
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163The Medicine cat pretty much undebatedly needs their own den. Their work is unusually sensitive, and they and their patients need the privacy. Maybe the herb store could be moved out of the den to prevent kits from getting into it? Or maybe in times of sickness (or after a large battle) their could be a separate area for the patients, some ways away from the other dens in camp in order to prevent things from spreading from the sick cats to the healthy ones.
164I do think that the medicine cat den would need to be a little bigger than it’s usually represented as. I almost see it as a mini camp, with a main area for speaking with others, a place for the medicine cat(s) to sleep, a place for sick patients, a place for non-contagious patients, a place for herbs, maybe a place to talk to Starclan…
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166Other ways to spice up the Canon dens could be to combine them instead of split them up. The Nursery would probably remain much the same as it is in Canon, but maybe the Apprentices and their Mentors could share dens instead of having separate ones. (Ignoring how creepy most people would probably find that idea.) Or the Warriors, Deputy and Leader could all share one massive den if theirs a big enough bush or cave or whatever to put one. Maybe mates could have their own dens, maybe some Queens would prefer to raise their kits in this den instead of in a traditional nursery…
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168Non-Canonically you could also add dens to the camp. Perhaps in times of war a den for prisioners could be set up, this is rather risky, but if this den was set in an isolated area of camp and under constant guard, then maybe the benefits could out-weight the risks. After all, enough bargaining chips on the table could allow the war to go in one clans favor.
169Depending on how ones fanclan treats outsiders, maybe a guest den could be set up. It would probably follow the same basic principal as the prisioner den- set up in an isolated spot in camp, under surviliance, etc. But if ones fanclan is usually hostile to outsiders and suddenly theirs one or more trying to join them… then until these guests have proven their worth and trustworthyness beyond doubt, then maintaining a separate den for them is probably worthwhile.
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171Or maybe a fanclan doesn’t believe in having dens except for the young, old or vulnerable. (Or in case of bad weather.) And that’s just the dens, theirs other things in the camp too! Vantage points/announcement areas, the fresh-kill pile, water sources, dirtplaces, burial grounds and even just areas to sun and socialize…
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173Definitely there are so many, many ways to add to camps. I think it’s a great way to diversify clans, because everyone will have a different amount of space, terrain, etc., and their culture will be heavily influential as well.
174Dirtplace: I’ve never liked the idea of the dirtplace, at least how it exists in canon. It seems to be just some ‘secret passage’ to sneak out of. I think it might be better to have a place a short distance from camp that cats use, while kits and those who are infirm just do their thing and those who tend them keep everything clean (I mean, for a while kits can only eliminate when the mother stimulates them!).
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176Speaking place: I’ve seen High Rocks, High Ledges, High Branches, Speaking Stones, Speech Stones, etc. I think it’s great to have different names and objects used for when leaders and others address the clans. I think the important thing is it’s placed well so that the speaker has a view of all the camp and the listeners don’t have to break their necks looking at it. It might even be just a circle that everyone sits in, and the speaker stands in the center! It certainly doesn’t have to be tied to the leader’s den, like it always seems to be in canon.
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178Burial grounds: I love the idea of a clan burial ground. It’s another opportunity for a sacred place and possible superstitions with the afterlife. Apparently in canon they just randomly bury dead cats wherever, but I imagine some clans might have heavily ritualized scenarios for that, and a special place to lay their dead clanmate to rest.
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180Fresh-kill pile: I feel, like with a speaking place, different clans are going to have different names for this.
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182Sunning and socializing places: are going to be highly individual to the clan and so a great way to diversify. Maybe that speaking place is also where everyone gathers to share tongues because it’s sunny and elevated. Maybe the area around the elders’ den is full of soft moss and everyone flocks there to rest and listen to the stories and wisdom of the elders.
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187how do think the average clan would deal with the mollies going into heat?
188I think it will highly depend on how realistic you want your cats to be. The more realistic you lean, the more likely that toms are going to become innately more territorial/aggressive during this time, sex is going to happen for sure, and this is going to be when most/possibly all kits are conceived. If you lean towards a less realistic side, a big deal mightn’t be made of it, and the cats may just be extra lovey.
189Personally, I see leaning realistic as having a lot of interesting potential. Because, the way I see it, the clans are going to find some way to channel natural instincts into something productive and beneficial to the clan, rather than destructive. So they aren’t going to tolerate fighting between toms, because that’s just counterproductive to survival if the clanmates you’re relying on are injuring each other. So, perhaps instead the toms turn more towards being extra-defensive about borders and the like, seeking to protect their own chances of getting to mate with the clan mollies by growing even more vigilant towards outsiders.
190Additionally, if any other mollies already have kits, in this time they are sure to be extremely protective of them, because if you’re leaning towards the more realistic side, toms may have the instinct to kill kits that aren’t theirs in order to father their own.
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