The Setting

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History

These Clans had their origin among the cats that we all know in love. Across a vast ocean, in the thriving ranks of ThunderClan, a young warrior by the name of Stonewhisker fought and hunted for his Clan. He was a fierce and loyal, but cheerful soul, who depended quite deeply on the care and presence of his Clan-mates. He never dreamed of what life would be like without a Clan to protect him.

Unfortunately, Stonewhisker would soon have to learn to survive on his own. He was still a young warrior when, on a hunting patrol near Twoleg Place, a Twoleg kit snatched him up. No matter how hard he scratched or how loud he yowled the kit would not let him go, and by the time the rest of his patrol came to his aid he was already gone, vanished into the Twoleg nest.

The Twoelgs called him Stormy. There were four of them, in all - the kit who had grabbed him, her elder brother (who took little notice of Stonewhisker), and her parents. Though they treated him in a way that they must have considered very good - feeding him wet mush with little crunchy balls on top, pulling him into their laps and patting him, tempting him with a dancing, oddly colored feather - Stonewhisker wanted desperately to get out of their house and back to the Clan. He waited and waited, but they never let him outside. He was even expected to make dirt indoors, in a box of fake sand.

Stonewhisker's chance to escape back to ThunderClan would never come. Not long after he was taken, the Twoleg family moved, and they took Stonewhisker with them. He was shoved in a dark box and from there he saw nothing. The next thing he knew he was being pulled out of the darkness and into an entirely strange, new place. There was nothing familiar here. The Twolegs had a home at the edge of a large meadow, criss-crossed by walls of tumbling stones. None of the plants were familiar. The scent of his Clan was gone. Stonewhisker did not understand that he had been shipped away overseas. He only knew he wanted his old life back.

The Twolegs were generally very careful not to let him escape their little house. He was not even permitted out in their fenced garden, because they knew he would be able to jump that fence and disappear. Still, Twolegs make mistkaes, and Stonewhisker had only to bide his time. One night in late the peak of Greenleaf, the Twoleg kits were too excited about going down to the beach to swim. They forgot to secure the door. Half an instant later, "Stormy" was bolting to freedom.

He had no idea what he was going to encounter out in this strange new Twoleg place. Stonewhisker was not a loner by nature, and he barely was by skill. Though he could hunt just fine, he did not have the skill to fight large crowds of loner cats alone. There were so many in this place he could not secure his own territory without killing, something he would not bring himself to do. As such, Stonewhisker became a nomad, wandering from one side of Twoleg place to the next for several long moons.

Stonewhisker made no friends until the dead of Leafbare. He was thin and weak and barely alive when Echo came across him. She was a slim she-cat, white and just barely spotted in silver, with eyes the color of the sky. As beautiful as she was, Echo was equally tough. She had grown up on the streets and knew how to live there. With her there to protect him, feed him, Stonewhisker was able to survive his first Leafbare as a loner. He had no way of knowing it would be his last.

While he lay sick and weak under Echo's care, Stonewhisker told her stories of the Clans in which he had been born. It was Echo who, fascinated, suggested that he found Clans here. She believed it would be a benefit for all the loners and kittypets of the area. Why survive alone when they could all survive together?

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The Clans

WaveClan

WaveClan was the first of the four new Clans founded by Stonewhisker and his newly named mate, Riversong. They thrived in a sheltered cove on the beaches near a tossing, moaning sea. Caves carved centuries ago into the sea-cliff gave them shelter, and the tidepools at the top of a tumble of rocks gave them food. They preyed on gull's eggs and chicks from the cliffs, on sea turtles just clambering out of their nests one night a year. Though their territory seemed small, consisting of only the beach at the bottom of the cliff and the dunes at the top, there was more than enough prey to support a very large Clan. More than enough to allow Stonewhisker and Riversong to tolerate occasional flooding when the tide went a little too high.

RainClan

Secondborn of the four Clans, RainClan made its home in the quiet and pale light of a forest of oaks and maples. The cats of RainClan were always sheltered from weather, from predators, and from twolegs, with their heads covered by thick leaves and branches, and by a heavy growth of ferns along the forest floor. The prey runs thick here. Mice, voles, squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs, and a menagerie of songbirds survive among the undergrowth. This is, perhaps, the safest and most fortunate of the Clans, except that other Clans always seem to covet their lush, predictable territory.

StoneClan

The cats of this, the third Clan, are always in some degree of danger. With a territory made up almost entirely of open meadows and criss-crossed by old stone walls left by twolegs long gone, there are few trees and not much cover for StoneClan cats. They make their home in a large, perfectly square ditch at the center of a rare copse of trees. Many cats believe that this single sheltered spot on their territory was left behind by twolegs, like the stone walls. Still, for those cats who can stay hidden in the waving grasses, prey is plentiful. The stone walls make perfect homes for small rodents, and the grasses supply plenty of seeds for all sorts of prey.

MarshClan

Marshclan, the fourth Clan, has it the hardest of all its neighbors. Their land is partially submerged, either wet or frozen depending upon the season. Their camp is made on one of the few dry hillocks large enough to hold the Clan, and when the rain falls too hard even that hillock can become remarkably small. There is plenty of prey here, but it is not the pleasant kind, as few mice or squirrels or chimpunks will scamper from dry spot to dry spot when they have RainClan's territory so close. More often, MarshClan must prey on frogs and snakes and, if they can crack the shell, small turtles to survive.

Treenest

A tumbled-down Twoleg nest perched in the sprawling branches of an old apple tree, only the bottom panel of the Treenest remains firmly among the leaves. The Clans gather here each full moon to share news, the leaders perched upon the platform over the heads of their Clans, where all cats can see. The Treenest is a pleasant, often fragrant place. In spring the apple tree blooms and fills Treenest with the scent of flowers, in summer the apples grow crisp and ripe, in autumn they fall and the clearing brims with the scent of hot, overripe fruit that often attracts a variety of prey.

Moonspring

A clear pool, once part of RainClan territory but declared a common neutral ground, and fed by an underground spring. It is surrounded on all sides by ferns and moss. The medicine cats gather here to share tongues with StarClan, and the leaders come to gain their nine lives.