Clan Hierarchy
The Clans have a hierarchical system, with different cats having different positions within the Clan. The leader receives his or her nine lives and leader name ending with the suffix -star from StarClan after he or she goes to the Moonstone/pool. The leader conducts important ceremonies, such as promoting warriors and making kits into apprentices. The deputy is second-in-command and succeeds the leader when the leader loses his or her last life. The deputy's job is mainly to organise patrols and other everyday tasks. In order to be appointed deputy by the leader, a cat must already be a warrior and have mentored at least one apprentice. An exception to this rule occurs if the medicine cat receives a prophecy indicating that a cat not normally eligible ought to be chosen; the only known cat appointed in this way is Brambleclaw. There is also a medicine cat in each Clan, who receives messages from StarClan and uses herbs to heal sick or injured cats. Medicine cats are not allowed to have kits or mates, as it would distract them from their duties. This rule has been broken twice, once by the ShadowClan medicine cat Yellowfang, and once by the ThunderClan cat Leafpool. At each half-moon, the medicine cats from each Clan meet at the Moonpool to talk with StarClan. In a Clan, there is never more than one medicine cat apprentice at any one time: a medicine cat apprentice helps gather herbs and learns medicinal knowledge, but is considered an apprentice until the current medicine cat dies or retires, even if he or she has already received a full medicine cat name. There are also warrior apprentices (usually referred to simply as apprentices) who train to hunt for and defend their Clan, the duties of a warrior. These apprentices are mentored by warriors who pass down knowledge and skills they have learned from their own mentors. Apprenticeships usually last approximately six months. Apprentices occasionally undergo assessments, and become warriors when their mentors deem them ready. Warrior name suffixes (e.g. -claw, -heart, -pelt) are selected by the leader during the warrior ceremony. When a cat becomes old or injured severely and permanently, he or she retires to become an elder. Elders share their knowledge with the Clan and are cared for by the apprentices. The only task they carry out is burying dead Clanmates. Clans also have queens, who are she-cats expecting or caring for their kits, but return to warrior duties when no longer expecting or nursing kits. A queen is not obligated to reveal the identity of her mate. The name of a kit is decided by the mother, occasionally the father, and has something to do with its appearance, or in some cases, something special to the namer of the cat (e.g. Brokenkit broke Yellowfang's heart). A kit's name always ends with the suffix -kit. Kits become apprentices after they are six months old. All apprentices' names end with the suffix -paw.
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