Skyfall: The Early Skykin
This is a snippet of lore that I wrote a while back. I corrected it to fit the new lore of Skyfall. This will be expanded on/continued in future lore posts. This takes place right after the Skyclaws (SkyClan) are driven from the forest when their territory is made uninhabitable.
Cloudstorm and Birdflight were a leading power within the forest. Cloudstorm was brave and powerful, albeit an impulsive, leader and Birdflight was one of the best ambush fighters in the forest. A kind face with fierce claws and fiercer teeth. However, when Cloudstorm and the Skyclaws were sent away from the forest, Birdflight had to stay behind. Their newly born kittens were not strong enough nor big enough to travel. Molepelt, the Shadoweye priest, invited the queen and her kits to live in his shire. Dawnheart, thegn of the Shadoweyes, was reluctant to drive the Skyclaws away. As such, she welcomed Birdflight and her kittens with honor. Not only did she feel like she was doing a service for the soon to be dying Skyclaws, but she had also gained one of the forest's best warriors. Surely, the kittens would be a chip off the block of their parents. Fortunately for Dawnheart, she would be correct.
Birdflight was never quite the same after the Skyclaws left, but she served her adopted clan loyally and raised her kits, Orchidblaze and Lichenshade, to be strong Shadoweye warriors. Orchidblaze would take a Shadoweye mate, Chicoryclaw, and they would have two kits: Sedgecloud and Frostwhisker. Sedgecloud would be a priest and Frostwhisker would become the thegn of Shadoweye Shire.
Lichenshade, on the other hand, would take a mate outside his shire. Lichenshade briefly became mates with Burnetheart, a Thunderheart huntress. Burnetheart wanted to have kits, but did not find a suitable sire within her own shire. She turned to Lichenshade, the son of a once powerful thegn and strong warrior. He agreed to sire their kittens, and they remained mates for a brief period there after. Lichenshade was killed in a battle right before Burnetheart gave birth to their single kit: Silver. Redclaw, thegn of the Thunderhearts, welcomed his new grand-neice warmly, and while he did ask Burnetheart who the sire was, he did not press when she refused to answer.
Silver would grow up with Burnetheart as a mother and Redclaw as a grandfather figure of sorts. However, unlike many half-shire kits, she would not grow up ignorant of her heritage. Burnetheart made it clear to Silver that she was the daughter of Lichenshade, son of Cloudstorm. A powerful warrior family from a shire that no longer lived in the forest. Burnetheart was determined that her daughter become a strong warrior, and was pleased when Redclaw apprenticed her to Amberclaw, the head protector of the clan. Silver would thrive and become Silverblaze in honor of her prowess and tenacity. She would rise to reeve of Thunderheart Shire under Snakefang and then after time, thegn herself.
Silverblaze and Frostwhisker would serve as thegns at the same time, Frostwhisker ignorant that her biggest rival was also her cousin. Their rivalry gave birth to a competition between the two shires that would continue for generations after their reigns. They also gave birth to a legacy among the Shadoweyes and Thunderhearts: the Skykin. The immediate descendants of Cloudstorm and Birdflight, the last link the forest shires had to the cats they had driven away.
