A/N: As ideas for what was once a one-shot grew, a culture developed with it. Here is all about ShadeClan, which makes its debut in my (expanding) story, One of a Kind.
Current ShadeClan Allegiances:
Leader: Darkstar (jet black tom with chilling yellow eyes)
Deputy: Rowanshade (deep coal colored tom with dark amber almost brown eyes)
Medicine Cat: Ebonystep (sleek black she-cat with green eyes)
Warriors:
Pebbledusk (dark grey she-cat with pale amber eyes)
Reedshadow (coal colored tom with amber eyes)
Flintstrike (deep grey tom with sleek pelt and cold blue eyes)
Littlelight (charcoal colored she-cat with pale golden eyes)
Nightfrost (black she-cat with deep blue eyes)
Halfsnake (dark grey tom with yellow-green eyes and half of his tail missing, which has patchy fur)
Stormpool (black she-cat with blue eyes)
Hawktail (black tom with thick, spiky fur and yellow eyes)
Cloudfern (deep grey she-cat with blue eyes)
Apprentices:
Coalpaw (black tom with yellow eyes) Flintstrike's apprentice
Ravenpaw (sleek black she-cat with yellow eyes) Hawktail's apprentice
Hollypaw (black she-cat with blue eyes) Littlelight's apprentice
Queens:
Cloverspots (deep grey tabby with darker rosettes on her legs and belly with piercing yellow eyes, expecting Halfsnake's kits)
Elders:
Thunderfoot (charcoal grey tom with captivating amber eyes)
Dapplebreeze (black she-cat with a white paw and calm amber eyes)
About ShadeClan:
ShadeClan has traditions which have been around for generations, after the Era of Light. They still hold true today and are an important part of everyday life.
1. Those born with light colored pelts, lighter than those of Telling Rock, will not be allowed to live in the Clan.
The exact parameters of their exile at eight moons were not decided until much later, but here is how this rule came to be.
Even in the beginning, cats of lighter coloration were more rare than those with dark pelts. Even in the beginning, whispers of scorn and looks of disdain made their way to those with the light pelts. "They can't hunt like us...they're too easy to see, no good in battle..." they said.
Their home, adorned with draping willows and rocky overhangs, dense forest of which hardly saw sunlight. Close to a dark marsh. The light-pelts just didn't fit in. Of all of the moons of his successful and steady reign, Ratstar took notice of this. He made an announcement, and with a nod waited for his medicine cat to take her post by her den.
"ShadeClan! We are ShadeClan."
A silence fell among them like the dead of night.
"ShadeClan. Dark, silent, swift, cunning, the pinnacle of Clans. Becoming one with our home, our protector, our solace. Night. We live in shade. And look at us. Who sticks out? Who seems unfit for ShadeClan?"
Eyes shifted to the scattering of light pelted warriors, who gulped and shrunk.
"We cannot let them stay. From now on, any kit born with the pelt lighter than Telling Rock, which our medicine cat will determine, will be banished."
2. Dawn patrols are silent.
In reverence to the night, which they considered a sacred realm, dawn patrols are silent to hold respect to what is considered their solace. And so, I present a story to go along with it.
It was the morning after a full moon, which during everyone was in a good mood. A gathering always lifted the spirits of even ShadeClan. The next morning, Pricklestar tried to assign the dawn patrol. The sun had just barley risen, and clouds littered the sky. Everyone was loud and chattering, as if the importance of last night had meant nothing to them. As if it was sunhigh already. With a growl, Pricklestar, the leader to succeed Ratstar, leapt from the Sky Rock as a clap of thunder commanded silence from his assembled Clanmates.
"From now on," he told them,
"mornings until sunhigh are silent. We must respect the night of which StarClan gave us, the darkness and serenity of our home."
3. If a cat is born with green eyes, they are said to be destined by StarClan to be medicine cats.
This is due to the rarity in green eyes among these (mostly) black cats.
4. Daytime border patrols are seldom needed.
Rumors spread to and among neighboring Clans that if anyone decided to threaten or cross ShadeClan's borders with ill intent, a battle patrol would ambush and ravage the perpetrating Clan's camp and warriors in the dead of night, a silent and tragic death.
No one knows the source of this rumor, but most assume it is due to ShadeClan's more reserved and dark nature. And of course, tales are prone to be blown out of proportion and circulated everywhere. Just ask excited apprentices and impressionable kits and kittypets in the nearby Twolegplace, who have probably met a warrior proud to boast when threatening anyone who strayed too close to their border.
5. Keeping with the tradition to reverence toward nightttime, it goes unsaid that any and all ceremonies are to be held at moonhigh, never during the day.
That's all I have for now, but who knows! I may add on later.
Feel free to review, everyone's thoughts are greatly appreciated!