5. Current State of the Forest

[Fia]

[Work in Progress]

Overview

Since DeathClan’s successful capture of Moonphase Pond, deep in the heart of MoonClan territory, both MoonClan and NightClan have lived in a state of perpetual fear and distress. The uneasy alliance between the two, formed on the day of DeathClan’s attack on the Pond, has long since crumbled as old hostilities flare once more under the stress of living under enemy occupation. Both Clans remain restricted almost entirely to their respective camps, struggling to provide food and relative security for their elders and kits. DayClan, still untouched but aware of the danger, has begun an urgent program to prepare itself against what it fears might be a double attack from DeathClan and NightClan (for reasons explained below). Meanwhile, SunClan has been rendered totally isolated, cut off from the other Clans by daunting the walls of snow deposited in its territory by recent blizzards (details explained below); this Clan alone remains unaware of the disaster that has befallen the forest cats and now threatens the field-dwellers.

UPDATE: Newleaf has come to the forest after a long, terrible leafbare of pain and suffering. War has ravaged the Clans for moons, and MoonClan and NightClan in particular, and both are still deeply scarred by their many losses. SunClan and DayClan have been largely spared, though not entirely unscathed. Most significantly, DeathClan has been driven from the forest, and the four true Clans’ connection with their ancestors through Moonphase Pond restored. Though weakened and demoralized, the forest cats are slowly recovering, and the Clans are, for the moment, at peace.

MoonClan

MoonClan is still recovering, physically and psychologically, from its crushing defeat at the paws of DeathClan. Dragonstar is a badly shaken shadow of the mighty leader he has always been, still wrestling with the betrayal and disappearance of his mate, the crippling attack on his tiny son, and the near loss of his daughter, who still lies slowly recovering in the now-empty nursery. Flamefur does his best to keep up morale and hold MoonClan together, while Stonefang has stepped up as a senior warrior to exert some firm but welcome control to keep utter chaos at bay. Snowfur is up to his ears in injuries to treat, and young Lightningheart remains missing, another blow to the badly demoralized Clan. Tensions with NightClan remain dangerously high, as much of MoonClan has not forgotten how Eclipsedstar deceived his clanmates into turning on MoonClan and aiding DeathClan. Even now that Eclipsedstar has disappeared and Raylight has stepped up to lead NightClan, MoonClan remains suspicious in spite of Raylight’s assistance in winning NightClan back from DeathClan’s influence.

UPDATE: With DeathClan’s defeat Lightningheart’s return, and Doveflight’s recovery, MoonClan has finally begun to move forward from its nightmarish ordeal. Dragonstar is a strong, steady leader once more, and a newly made grandfather. Flamefur survives as MoonClan’s deputy, and though Eaglepaw’s foreleg amputation will never allow him to become a warrior, Snowfur has agreed to train him as MoonClan’s medicine cat apprentice. The Clan has a new addition in Slatekit, Lightningheart’s son, and Woodpelt and Doveflight’s three kits, Angelkit, Skykit, and Sandkit.


NightClan

NightClan has been hit hardest by recent events. Having been deceived into supporting DeathClan, taking MoonClanners prisoner, and fighting tooth and claw to keep them only to discover the truth of Eclipsedstar’s treachery, they have been reduced to a confused, bitter, guilt-wracked group of cats. Raylight struggles each day to bring some sense of normalcy to NightClan, working constantly alongside Silverheart to hold their clanmates together as best they can. Silkstream, now known by all as Dragonstar’s daughter, has nevertheless returned home and now struggles to carry on with life as she knew it. Meanwhile, rumors that DayClan has not forgotten recent border clashes have reached the ears of the NightClanners, who are still utterly unprepared for another battle just days after driving DeathClan from their camp. The lack of support and general suspicion from MoonClan only serve to heighten NightClan’s sense of isolation and collective shame – and collective resentment stemming from a growing sense of defensiveness.

UPDATE: NightClan was, to put it simply, devastated by the war. Eclipsedstar is gone – no cat knows where. Raylight very nearly made it through the war, but was finally killed in the last moon of the war. Out of the chaos that followed their acting leader’s death, Shadowstep, a senior warrior and Raylight’s acting deputy, took over as de facto leader of NightClan, and upon StarClan’s restoration to power, was granted nine lives and the name Shadowstar. In his few moons as leader, Shadowstar has done his best to build upon the groundwork laid by Raylight and repair NightClan’s strained relations with DayClan – and relations between NightClanners still suspicious of each other after the Clan’s brief internal war.


DayClan

DayClan survived the war almost entirely unharmed, except for the few cats killed or wounded in the final campaign to drive out DeathClan. They have, cautiously, begun to mend fences with NightClan after coming to the brink of war in early leafbare. Nonetheless, the Clan remains as suspicious as ever of both their neighbors. They are also deeply resentful of SunClan, the much-admired last minute heroes of the forest; having joined MoonClan and NightClan much earlier in the war, DayClan cannot help but feel snubbed by the overwhelming gratitude that the forest-dwelling Clans have continuously expressed for SunClan. Still, tensions between the erstwhile rivals are at an all-time low, simply because the Clans are all so sick of war.


SunClan

SunClan’s leafbare differed rather drastically from the rest of the Clans’, and their newleaf is progressing accordingly. Having been cut off from the other Clans for moons and struggling to survive with extremely limited resources, SunClan found itself abruptly faced with a forest at war and cut off from StarClan. With NightClan in chaos, MoonClan all but broken, and DayClan overwhelmed, SunClan threw itself into the war effort despite having endured its harshest leafbare in living memory. Their help proved to just enough to tip the scales against DeathClan, and the forest has been at peace since.

Shortly thereafter, however, SunClan’s leader, Soundstar, shocked the Clan by announcing that he would be temporarily leaving the Clan in his deputy’s care while he took care of a personal mission. Confiding in the deputy, Amberflame, and the medicine cat that he was in fact going in search of his missing brother, Mouseclaw, the SunClan leader left, and hasn’t been seen in over a moon. Amberflame has been managing the Clan ever since with the help of the senior warriors and an acting deputy, and SunClan, despite its leader’s absence, is arguably the strongest Clan of the four at present.


DeathClan

[work in progress]