Post by Owl on Oct 24, 2018 16:28:49 GMT -5
.. CREATION LORE ..
Chapter One: Sand and Stone
Many, many seasons ago, there lived a group of cats in the mountains. All their names have been lost to time, except for two. These cat's names, everyone remembers. Well, most everyone. One year there was a particularly harsh leafbare, during which snow cloaked the mountains for moons and moons. The harsh weather trapped the cats inside their camp and ended the lives of many. Cold and starvation was not a battle they could win, not when they had to fight it for so long. Newleaf eventually came, and with it warmth and prey, but cats were not convinced that the snow wouldn't come back.
Two cats stepped forth and offered a solution.
Moonwater said that she could feel the call of the water, and if you wanted to always be warm should follow her down to the desert, where days were bright and hot and nights were dark and serene. She said that the reason that the snow came was so they could be tested. And they had to prepare themselves for the next time things got harsh. They needed a fresh start, and a new territory would bring that.
Frostgem could hear the stories of the stones beneath her paws, telling her to stay. She said that cats who wished to remain in the mountains could stay with her, and she would lead them into the tunnels that would offer them protection from the elements. She said that this had just been a chance hard leafbare. They had no reason not to stay. It was the home of their ancestors, how could they leave those who came before them all alone?
The group was split evenly in two, half the cats siding with Moonwater while the others with Frostgem. Their numbers were low after such a desolate leafbare, neither group seemed big enough to form a clan on their own. Though Moonwater and Frostgem had started out their campaigns peacefully, it turned sour when families and friends were split apart by their beliefs. Things were bad enough when Moonwater finally turned her followers away and led them out of the mountain range, vowing that they would never speak of Frostgem or their old home ever again. Frostgem's cats bitterly promised the same.
Moonwater's group became DuneClan, they settled by a desert oasis and celebrated the water that never seemed to dry up inside it. Some cats explored the vast landscape, others hunted, while others tended to the plants they relied on for healing. They held the water highest above all, and learned that your soul was in a never ending cycle just like how the water fell from the clouds and dissipated into the air on hot days. Souls went from one body to the next when you died, and you must do good in your life or else all those after you will suffer. That cold leafbare had been punishing them for their sins, and they had to make things right.
Frostgem's group became ChasmClan, and the cats followed her down into the heart of the mountain. Deep beneath tree lengths of stone they would be safe, and they wouldn't have to gamble on things as fickle as the weather to survive. They would stay down in the tunnels, hunting the few creatures that made their homes there. It didn't take Frostgem long to find that the voices she heard were coming from smaller stones, ones that glowed like the insides of stars in colors that the cats had never seen. These stones held the spirits of their ancestors, they said, and they were worth more than anything in the world.
As time passed, the story of how DuneClan was formed faded like water drying in the sun. Parents never told their kittens where they had come from, remembering the promise they made to Frostgem and her cats. Moonwater decreed that any cat who spoke of their old home would be punished. DuneClan had always lived in the desert, for moons and moons and moons. There was no talk of mountains, and soon enough no cats who made the journey remained alive. In the time since, one or two elders have told stories about the old territory in the mountains but no one ever believed them. They were crazy, DuneClan had always lived in the desert. There was no one who came before them and no one would come after them.
In DuneClan's eyes Frostgem was morphed into a monster, the only story cats were allowed to tell was about her and how bad she was. With a coat of pure glimmering white, she revolted against the gods and the fair, gracious leaders of her time. She was made out to be a terrible creature, and the stories about her grew only more and more horrible as the moons passed on. Kits and apprentices were told that if they were bad, Frostgem would come and take them away. If cats were too slow hunting, Frostgem would blow a wind so the prey smells their scent and escapes. Though Frostgem's name has been forgotten by the warriors of DuneClan, her legacy still continues as "The White Cat."
Frostgem herself was much more sympathetic than Moonwater. There was bad blood between her group and Moonwater's, but she still hoped for their good fortune. They had been clanmates, denmates once and though they would never be that again she could never wish them ill. Some of her followers felt the same, but others were more begrudging. A silence would settle upon the cavern when someone from Moonwater's group was mentioned, and eventually cats learned to hold their tongues. Amidst the silence, they all forgot.
The story of these cats doesn't end here. They have many more things to do before they become the clans they are today...
Chapter Two: The Incomers
locked.