Setting and Characters
In the Warriors universe, there are four Clans of feral cats that live in a forest: ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan. SkyClan is the fifth Clan; the Clan is driven out by the other Clans when its territory is destroyed by humans building a town, and scatters shortly after arriving at a new home in a gorge. SkyClan is later rebuilt in Firestar's Quest and is given a new leader. Cats in each Clan live in their own territory, which they defend from other cats and in which they hunt. Each Clan is adapted to its own prey and members usually possess (or are taught) special skills which suit the territory's terrain. BloodClan is a group of stray city cats introduced in The Darkest Hour (Book 6 in the original Warriors series). However, they are not considered to be a true Clan because they do not believe in StarClan or the warrior code as they are basically a group of rouges (rough loners).
StarClan is a group of the Clans' deceased ancestors who give guidance to the Clans. After death, most of the Clan cats join StarClan. StarClan is said to be represented by Silverpelt (the Milky Way), and each individual star represents the spirit of a single dead warrior. Upon joining StarClan, the cats' spirits take the form in which they were most happy while living (i.e. blindness and deafness can be cured, and wounds can be healed). StarClan warriors keep watch over the Clans, usually watching the Clan they lived in while alive. They provide guidance to the Clans, often through dreams and other signs or omens. Often, this occurs when medicine cats go to the Moonstone, which is used in the forest territory to communicate with the medicine cats' ancestors from their respective Clan every half-moon. When the Clans live by the lake, the medicine cats gather at the Moonpool, the replacement for the Moonstone. In an author chat, Hunter said that StarClan can "just get glimpses of" the future, which they occasionally pass on.
In addition to StarClan, there also exists the Dark Forest, also known as The Place of No Stars. The spirits of cats who cause great pain and suffering to others during their lives reside there instead of in StarClan. Cats known to walk the Dark Forest include Tigerstar, Thistleclaw, Hawkfrost, Brokenstar, Darkstripe, Hawkheart, Shredtail, Snowtuft, Mapleshade, Sparrowfeather, Redwillow, Clawface, and Antpelt. Dark Forest cats gain the ability to walk in dreams like StarClan but project more sinister images.
Beyond the Clans' territories lies a mountain range, inhabited by the Tribe of Rushing Water. The Tribe is shown to be similar to the Clans, yet follows a different set of ancestors: the Tribe of Endless Hunting. The Tribe has a Healer, cave-guards, and prey-hunters, who each serve a different function in the Tribe. The Healer leads the Tribe, heals the ill and wounded, and communicates with the Tribe of Endless Hunting, while the cave-guards defend the Tribe and the prey-hunters hunt. In the books, the cave-guards protect the cats from an unknown menace (a lion...), which leads to a heartbreaking death.
Read more about this topic: Warriors (novel Series)
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