Chaos' Warriors Rewrite

In my rewrite, Mapleshade is a concept more than a person. The clans- Riverclan in particular- treat her memory as a mythos, a tall tale to tell kits, something that didn't truly happen.

However, Mapleshade did exist. The truth of her story is that she was the mate of a horrible tom who refused responsbility when his actions caught up to him. This resulted in the deaths of their kits. And, yes, Mapleshade killed, she killed at least three cats in her vengence. She was not, at any point, psychotic, or hallucinating. She was a grieving, betrayed cat who saw her kits' deaths as a message from Starclan; that they had turned away from her. In the belief that the ancestors themselves had betrayed her, too, she took fate and karma into her own paws and enacted her vengence.

She was not right for this, but I personally understand her actions. In my opinion, she was not wrong for the murder of Appledusk. He had that coming. what she was wrong for was the murder of two other, less involved cats.

However, Starclan is a biased god, they prosecute based on rules they decided, and do not prosecute those they like or those that are close with them. This is why Appledusk ended up in Starclan, despite his cheating, cross-clan relationship, and the death of innocent kits. Starclan liked him, so he got to stay.

Mapleshade was prosecuted for all three murders and the death of her kits. Starclan refused to accept that Thunderclan and Riverclan's leaders caused the entire situation, that their own rules caused it to happen, so she was prosecuted for it.

She was caught in a situation we see later in the arcs; Bluestar and Oakheart, Leafpool and Crowfeather, even Jayfeather and Kestrelflight. Cross-clan relationships that result in kits and use another cat as a parentage claim. Mapleshade wasn't even the first, and she certainly wasn't the last.

Since her death, however, her memory has been twisted. She is not viewed as a greiving mother, angry at the stars themselves for taking her kits. Nor as a cat who commited murder for revenge. She is seen as a boogeyman, but in very different ways depending on the clan.

Windclan and Shadowclan have little opinion on her, she doesn't belong to their history. Riverclan and Thunderclan, however, remember her, or they think they do. To Riverclan, Mapleshade is told to kits to scare them, to make them behave and stay within camp walls. Mapleshade kills kits by drowning them, so don't go too far from the reeds. To them, she was a mad outsider, a thunderclan cat who killed riverclan cats, and especially kits. the three kits in her story are not seen as hers, but entirely as Appledusk's. They have twisted the story to make their clan look better.

To Thunderclan, Mapleshade is just another code breaker who was exiled. She had a half clan relationship, killed those that found out, and left. She was killed by the brave and faithful warriors of the clan. Her spirit is said to roam the forest when the moon is empty. But, in Thunderclan's tale, the riverclan mate is to blame, but is not named. He is known as her accomplice to the murders, an unnamed, unknown figure who followed her orders. It is known that she had kits with this tom, but it said they were left with a clan queen when she disappeared, later coming back to kill the kits to dispose of her sins.

Neither of these are true. For Riverclan, it is to make themselves look better. To push the blame onto a mad outsider and not one of their own, to not have to consider the damage they caused. For Thunderclan, it is to reinforce why half clan relationships simply cannot and should not occur. It is dangerous, look what happened when this cat tried it! It is a twisting of history that the clans often do, primarily before arc 1. They use genuine tragedy and twist it to ensure their warriors behave.

However, Mapleshade is still affectd by this. You see, the dark forest is a dangerous thing, all on its own. You have to be remembered, by at least one person, in some way, to exist in the spirit world. That is why stories are passed down so extensively by the clans, they can't let the stars die out. But it applies to the Dark Forest, too. The more you remember a 'villain', the more they exist and the less they fade. But, if you twist the memory of a dead cat, their spirit will corrupt. Mapleshade, as a spirit, is significantly different than she was when she was alive. She is cruel, manipulative, and ancient compared to the remembered villains around her. She cannot clearly recall her own past, because she has been so heavily distorted, she cannot tell what is her true past and what is the clans' memory of it. Even her physical- or, more accurately, spiritual- body shows evidence of this distortion; her tortie markings have corrupted into the shape of a maple leaf, her fur drips with bloody water, and her claws are always out, the fur of her kits trapped between them.

And yes, she targets Appledusk's lineage as a spirit, but that is due to the corruption. In a cruel combonation of the era she was raised in, and the twisting of her memory, she belives in the sins of the parent passes to the child. Appledusk's sin of causing her kits deaths- in whatever way she thinks he caused it- makes his entire bloodline guilty of it, too. She only appeared to some of them, the ones who looked or reminded her of Appledusk the most. Crookedstar, most noteably. But others, too.

Interestingly, she does not target Mossheart. she knows, inherently, that they are of his lineage, and she is angry at Thunderclan, but for reasons she herself cannot understand, she cannot bring herself to target the half-clan cat who almost died as a kit because their leader wouldn't have allowed their existence. She took mercy on them, but she did not take mercy on Silverstream. She did not cause her death, but she certainly had an influence over it, even if she didn't directly appear to the molly. She intended for the kits to die with her, a twisted, distorted sense of mercy. Silverstream can't be punished if there's no evidence it happened. It is the same concept that Thunderclan distorted into her, the idea that she killed her own kits to wipe her sins.

And, of course, neither leader at the time of her tragedy were punished. Both ended up in Starclan, and faded by the time the clans realised Starclan's problems. Unfortunately, Mapleshade herself was killd in the War Of Stars (Arc 4), so she didn't get any sort of apology or second chance, either. A spirit killed outside of the spirit realm is gone forever, no coming back. no amount of remembering will bring her back. But by the end of Arc 7, Mapleshades story is acknowledged. Some still think her to be blindingly evil, but others understand her position. Roseleaf, my thunderclan protagonist for Arc 7, makes sure her kits are named and remembered, and that the leaders that caused their deaths are known for their actions, even if their spirits are not around to recieve just punishment. Her story in thunderclan post arc 7 is told not as a tall tale, but as a lesson on how leaders are not inherently correct, and that unjust actions must be challenged by their clan. How Starclan is not correct simply for being their ancestors. Roseleaf, personally, believes that if someone in Thunderclan had defended her from the leader, made him let her stay until the rivers were calmer, that she and her kits would have survived, even if Appledusk rejected them.

The Ocean Journey

The journey to the Ocean, on the other hand, was a desperate, tiring experience. They had even less choice with where they were going this time, not having the time to send a group ahead to scout for a proper territory. They initially went back to the Forest- but that was completely destroyed, and only made the older warriors and elders more upset about losing yet another home. Sorrowful, quiet stories were shared about the forest, before they had to continue onwards, pick a direction, and keep walking.

Starclan had left them by that point, too injured by the battle with the Dark Forest to contact them. Jayfeather and Hollyleaf were the ones to lead the journey, the rest of them too tired or injured to lead. Brackenstar couldn't risk his health, as with no starclan, he never got the other 8 lives, and he hadn't picked a deputy in moons. It's not as if the stars could approve.

Grief was a heavy thing during this journey, dozens of cats had died during and in the moon after the fight. litters of kits were born stillborn, the first cases of such in Jayfeather's lifetime, and a barrage of predator attacks and water poisonings had killed off some of their best warriors. Most of the clans were injured, in one way or another, but they couldn't afford to stay at the Lake for any longer, so they walked, or were carried, or were dragged on sleds. There was bonding, in a way, but not the light hearted bonding that came with the Lake Journey, this was a bonding over trauma, over the horror they had witnessed. They had only been at the Lake for 4 generations, maybe less, it was a jarring experience to still have living cats who remembered being apprenticed in the Forest.

Except for Firestar, of course. He had been one of the casulaties of the initial fight, he hadn't lived to see the aftermath. Thunderclan missed him deeply, but none of them wanted him to bear witness to such a tragedy. But he wasn't gone, not entirely, as Sandstorm was carrying his kits. She only found out after he was gone.

Settling into the ocean territory was far more of an adjustment, Shadowclan was now back in a marshland, but those that remembered living in the Forest knew they'd starve far before anything else could kill them, so they went inwards, they claimed a cave system as most of their territory, the marshland only a mouth to it. a true Shadow now.

Riverclan went from grassland and rivers to a beach with rockpools, a jarring and completely new habitat that had animals the clans had never witnessed before. They had to completely change their hunting techniques, as ocean hunting was nothing like the rivers they were used to.

Thunderclan went from mostly oak to mostly birch, not a huge difference, but it was just similar enough to the Forest camp that the senior warriors were unable to settle for a long while. the remaining Frostthree kept swearing they could see their sister relearning how to walk in the clearing, Sandstorm couldn't shake the image of her father's body at the entrance, and Greystripe held back tears as he told stories of training alongside Firepaw and Ravenpaw. Dovewing left for Shadowclan, causing yet another reminder of the Forest.

Windclan was now in a human-planted flower field, compared to their dry heath and moorland. It was certainly a brighter enviroment, but they too adjusted to an underground camp, in the weaving tunnels under their territory. There were no cats left who remembered the days of Heatherstar and the original Tunnelers, though Onestar had tried valiantly to bring them back, as per Tallstar's last wish. Harestar had to work even harder to prove herself as a trustworthy cat, after her training in the Dark Forest.

Although the clans found a spot where the moon was well reflected in the puddles of a small cave, Starclan was unresponsive, and so nobody really went to it. Only Hollyleaf did.

But then, things got worse, as the Six lost their powers, at the same time, on the same day, with no warning. Dovewing was listening in on an apprentice ceremony in Windclan when everything went silent, and she realised she couldn't hear anything. Breezepelt was in the middle of a rant to Heathertail when his throat closed up. Lionblaze was helping with some heavy items when he suddenly collapsed to the ground, barely able to pick himself up. Raven and Bracken were finishing their nests in the abandoned twolegplace when they both fell severely ill, in opposite ways. Bracken ran burning hot, as Raven froze to the bone. It was only because Hollyleaf was on her way to check on them that they survived.

Hollyleaf herself didn't notice it, initially, as her powers are based on being around people, so travelling to the abandoned twolegplace on her own hid the loss of her powers until she found Raven and Bracken. And when she realised her powers were not responding, and neither were theirs, thats when she found out. Jayfeather also struggled to notice, until Lionblaze tried to tell him that he was okay after his collapse, and Jayfeather's lie detection didn't go off. It was only then did he realise he could only feel his own emotions, nobody else's were smothering him like normal. He hated that he didn't feel relieved.

Now, i havent decided if Ivypool gets powers too, or from the same place, but if she does, she is sleeping when it happens. When she is woken up in a panic by her clanmates- because of Jay and Lion's powers vanishing- she does not recognise them. she does not remember them. her power was a perfect memory, so without it, she develops some version of amnesia. Perhaps not permenant, but long-lasting enough that it seriously alters her life. She also exhausts far easier, her enhanced speed completely gone, replaced with bone-deep exhaustion most of the time.

The clans found this to be the worst part of it. Their star-given heroes, the prophecy cats that just saved the clans, were powerless. To say the clans panicked would be an understatement. They knew the stars were gone, but to revoke the powers of a prophecy already fufilled? the stars were not just gone, they had abandoned them. Night fell on that fateful day, and the sky was pitch black. the stars were gone.

In their mythos, Lionclan was a proud, strong clan of massive, mane-bearing cats that hunted in groups and had a singular leader, with a roar capable of being heard by every other clan, no matter where they were. They hunted large prey, like deer and boar, on their own, something that a modern cat thunderclan cat can only take down with the help of an entire patrol.

It's an understatement to say Thunderclan is still a proud clan, and they take much, much pride in occasionally still looking like the Lions that they came from. Lionheart, Sunstar, Cricketsun, and Lionblaze are the best examples of this.

According to their stories, however, Lionclan eventually grew smaller in size, as twolegs moved in more heavily than before, and the large prey they hunted became more and more scarce, being hunted by twolegs instead. This is what they consider to be the beginning of 'Thunderclan' and the Modern Cats.

(Dawn Of The Clans as an arc did not happen. I refuse to acknowledge it as a canonical part of this story, so im making up my own.)

They called the founder of Thunderclan 'Thunderstar' not because it was his name, but because of the lightning-shaped scar across his face, a mark of his survival against a massive beast. He was said to be cat-sized but distinctly Lion in appearance, and led his clan well, despite a series of tragedies that led to his early leadership.

When he died sacrificing his life for his clan, they created the Thunderclan Sigil- the cat outline with the lightning bolt- in honor of him. He still exists in Starclan, as his clan remembers him fondly. It is rumored that Sunstar was the last descendant of Thunderstar, though of course nobody can confirm that.

The True History

Now, we get to the truth of the matter. Lionclan, very simply, did not exist. The most truth to it is likely a group of zoo or perhaps circus lions escaped a long time ago, and oral tale of the nearby housecats became fantastical after so long.

The Prophecy Begins is set somewhere around 2009, i'd say. The clans were founded probably at the turn of the century, in 1900 or just before. Long enough that it seems ancient to clan cats, but not nearly old compared to literally any human civilization.

Thunderstar was not a 'small lion', but instead a Maine Coon. The Clans were not, in fact, descended from big cats at all, but instead the result of kittypets escaping their owners and becoming feral.

In fact, Thunderstar was not his name whatsoever. His scar was true, though, he did have a lightning-shaped scar across his face, but it was caused by a fox, not some mysterious beast. His true name has been lost to time, but he was not, at any point, called the suffix '-star', as the use of 'star' to designate the leader didn't happen until about 2 leaders later.

He was Thunder's Rule, King of Thunderclan. A King who's bloodline continued ruling until his grandson stepped down and put in the deputy and -star concepts.

It is true that Sunstar is a very distant descendant of him, but his bloodline survived, through Featherwhisker. The medicine cat who got away with breaking code, by having a daughter. Willowpelt and her lineage are the last line of Thunderstar, though i haven't decided wether that gets lost to time or Jayfeather manages to figure it out during his ghost walks. Either way, as of Arc 7, the most recent Thunderkin are Greykit, Bristlekit, and Stemkit.

Thunderstar is still very much alive and well in Starclan, though he keeps to the edges of the territory because he's still salty he lost his bloodline's "right" to the leadership of thunderclan. If he could contact his relatives, he'd be hounding them to get the title back. And it might even work, but the rest of the leaders since his reign stop him from trying.

Unfortunately, his kits and grandson have been forgotten and faded out of starclan, as the 'rulers to star' distinction was never made in their mythos.

Relation Changes: -Breezepelt is part of Lion, Jay, and Holly's litter, alongside his no-longer-dead littermates, Raven and Bracken. -Dovewing and Ivypool are now Hollyleaf's kits, as Cloudtail's side of the family do not count as Firekin in Starclan's eyes (Fireheart gave up family rights to Brindleface) -Dewnose now has Myrtlebloom and Bayshine without a recognised mother, for bloodline's sake -Dustpelt and Sandstorm are now siblings, and Redtail & Runningwind are their dads -Cloudspeckle is now the adoptive mother of Redtail and Spottedcloud -Rainstorm and Mintfur are actually Rainwhisker's, but are raised by Reedwhisker -Spiderleg and Shrewfeather are Ferncloud's only kits, who she had without a disclosed father

Name Changes: -Crowfeather is now Crowstorm, as Stormfur was the prophecy cat and not Feathertail -Feather Of Flying Hawk is now Storm (That Hawk Flies Through), in memory of Stormfur -Nightheart is now Nightshade, and was born Nightkit -Sparkpelt is now Sparkfire -Spottedleaf's name has been changed to Spottedcloud, as she does not become a medicine cat -Crookedstar has been changed to Stormstar -Halftail and One-eye have been changed to Sparrowpelt and Whitespark -Tommy and Filou have the warrior names of Sparrowstalk and Paleflame -Shrewpaw survives, and takes the name of Shrewfeather in honor of the quail he tried to catch -Scourge has the warrior name of Icefang, and had a litter with Mossheart, who survives -Ivypool becomes Ivystar at the end of A Broken Code

New Characters: -Lionheart's litter has been fused together into Sorrelsong, Snapwhisker, and Hollyspot. -Jayfeather now has a litter with Briarlight, and took in a litter of two from Kestrelflight -Alderheart has a litter with Puddleshine and Fidgetflake -Firestar and Sandstorm have a litter shortly after Firestar's death -Shrew and Squirrel had another litter -Harper is added into Jake's litter, and has two litters of his own -Stripe is added into Crystal's litter