How StarClan Came to Be
Back when there were no Clans, all of the cats lived in unorganized groups and fought over land. Amidst these bloodthirsty cats, there was a small black she-cat who dreamed of nothing but organized peace between the cats.
Her name was Star. She was a tiny black she-cat with a bright golden spot on her forehead and warm amber eyes. She was devoted to bringing these warring cats to peace, no matter what the cost was. In order to remain an impartial peace-maker, Star had refused to join any particular side and thus kept to herself.
Within the mass of unorganized chaos, there were five groups of cats. Although they were considered "groups", they were really just one mass of cats attacking another. The only thing that separated each group from the others was that there was a different cat in charge.
The cats who were in charge were Thunder, a huge and dark cat, who stalked through the bramble-infested forests attacking; Shadow, a she cat with a pelt as black as night and eyes as cold as ice, who attacked her enemies from the shadows, an unseen assassin; Sky, a huge tom with fur as white and fluffy as the clouds that drifted in the heavens, who could jump more than twice as far as any other cat in the vicinity; River, a handsome tom with long fur that somehow never seemed to grow unruly, who swam through the rivers and hunted in the watery realm that no cat had tread before; and Wind, a wiry she-cat, who loved to run across the plains and could outrun any other cat.
These five cats were pitted against each other in a battle that had lasted for many seasons during which they fought over which territory was theirs, as there were no boundaries.
On a dark and moonless night, the beautiful and deadly she-cat, Shadow, decided to stir up trouble within the other groups. She sent four cats out into the dark and cold night, each cat on a mission to go to one of the four groups. Once each cat arrived at their targeted group, they were to go to the clan leader and claim to have seen one of the other groups cross over into their territory.
Soon, there was a raging war between the four groups in the very middle of the five territories – a small grove with five trees within it. Happy with her success, Shadow sent her unseen warriors into the chaos. This only heightened the fighting.
From her nest just outside of the group territory, Star heard the cries of cats as they were brutally slaughtered by each other. Horrified by the massive battle that was taking place, Star ran as quickly as she could to the war-torn area. When she finally approached it, she stared in shock and disgust at the ground beneath her paws, which was stained a bright scarlet with the blood of the dead.
Knowing that the battle had to stop, Star quickly climbed one of the trees and called out to the cats below her.
"My fellow brethren! Listen to me! You must stop fighting! You are destroying yourselves! Soon there will be no one left!" She had to yell as loudly as she could to be heard over the yowls, screeches, and cries of pain. Not a single cat heard her.
Suddenly, she heard long and deadly claws scrape against the tree. She glanced down and saw Shadow climbing the tree, her icy eyes colder than they had ever been. Fear gripped her heart and she climbed as high as she could, to the very highest branch on the tree.
Soon, Shadow had reached the top of the tree as well. Star shrunk back to the very edge of the branch, which wobbled unsteadily beneath her weight and the weight of Shadow, as she crept slowly towards her.
"You should learn to stay out of other cat's business," Shadow hissed at Star, whose eyes were full of fear, pain, and sadness. Shadow lashed out with her claws and it was over. Star was gone as soon as her body hit the ground.
Suddenly, one of the cats screeched in terror. "Look! A ghost! A ghost!" The cat cried, pointing its tail towards the sky, where there was a ghostly figure. All of the fighting ceased as the cats watched in fear and amazement as the figure gently glided down to the ground, coming to rest in front of the tree that Star had climbed.
Shadow was overwhelmed with shock and fright as she noticed the familiar dark pelt of the she-cat standing on the ground. The ghostly entity was none other than Star. But something had changed. Now, Star's black pelt seemed to shimmer and glow with the pattern of the stars in the night sky. For a single instant, she looked in the eyes of Shadow, and Shadow could tell that she had somehow been forgiven.
Star turned from her murderer, and looked at the gathering of cats before her. "Fear not, cats!" She said, her voice as loud and clear as the stars above. "I am not here to frighten you. I am simply here to tell you that it is time for the endless warring to cease. You must come together, not as five chaotic groups fighting each other, but five organized clans who respect each other, and each other's territory. It is time to realize that this fighting will only lead to your ruin."
With that said, Star named each leader the leader of a new Clan: Thunderstar of ThunderClan, Shadowstar of ShadowClan, Skystar of SkyClan, Riverstar of RiverClan, and Windstar of WindClan, and gifted each with eight additional lives. Each new Clan was assigned to a territory that best fit their abilities. ThunderClan was given the thick forest; RiverClan, the boggy waterlands; ShadowClan, the darkest corner of the territory where there was nothing but carnage and death, the two things Shadowstar reveled in; SkyClan, the part of the forest where the trees reached heights that only Skystar and his clan could survive in; and WindClan was given the grassy plains that they loved to run in.
Over the course of one night, Star created five clans, as well as a hierarchy within them, gave each one territory, and set in stone what would eventually evolve into the Warrior Code.
The last thing she introduced to the newborn Clans was that the dead did not die, but they lived on in an ancestral Clan known as StarClan. When a cat died, they would be admitted into the ranks of the starry cats and would live in the eternal forests of the heavens.
Later, up in StarClan, Star was unhappy. Why am I unhappy? She asked herself. I finally got to bring peace to the Clans, but why am I still unhappy? Then it hit her.
Maybe it is because my own sister killed me.