List of Warriors Characters - The Tribe of Rushing Water

The Tribe of Rushing Water is a group of smaller cats living in the northern caves of the mountain range that divides much of the land between the old forest territories and the lake territories. Tribe cats do not believe in StarClan; instead, they have their own spiritual equivalent, the Tribe of Endless Hunting. In the Tribe, there is no medicine cat or deputy: the leader, always known as Teller of the Pointed Stones, or Healer, serves both duties in addition to leader. Upon birth, Tribe cats are named by their mother for the first thing they see (which, incidentally, is usually not Floor/Roof/Wall of Cave or somesuch, as described by Rock in "Cats of the Clans"). Eventually, a Tribe cat trains as a to-be (apprentice). They can be either a cave-guard or a prey-hunter, based on their physical appearance, and this future role is determined at birth. Strong, sturdy cats are chosen to be cave-guards, whose job is to defend the Tribe's camp against intruders as well as provide cover for the prey-hunters while hunting. Prey-hunters, chosen for their slender, agile bodies, are adept at hunting in the rocky mountain terrain and can leap high enough to catch large birds. Kit-mothers take care of kits. Tribe cats often cover themselves in mud in order to better blend in with their surroundings, allowing them to catch larger, more exotic prey such as hawks and eagles. It also protects them from the cold mountain wind.

The Tribe typically have no enemies, which leaves them unprepared for attacks by other large predators (List of cats in the Tribe of Rushing Water and Ancient cats (Warriors) an example vein sharp tooth believed to be a lynx another example is the other groups of cats attempting to take their territory. They have a firmly rooted tradition, and as such do not welcome the beliefs of other cats, a theme which incorporates the use of people from different cultural and traditional ways of thinking working together to solve a common goal. It is revealed in Outcast of the Power of Three series that the Tribe is among the descendants of the ancient clan of cats who originally lived in the lake territories, of which Rock and Fallen Leaves are members.

Throughout the series, the Clan cats commonly call the Tribe cats by the first word in their name, rather than the whole name (e.g., Lark, Pine, and Brook).