wait are half clan relationships a Bad Thing ™️ in these clans im curious also im scared for them
oh good i've been looking forward to talking about this
so Fallenclan has a different stance on Outsider relationships than the clans do in the books. they are, Technically, against the rules, but it's a rule that goes generally unpunished if broken, and almost always just has a blind eye turned to it. the clan recognizes that without the integration of outsider blood, there would be some. issues. so nobody ever reports on it if they know their clanmate has a one-off or even ongoing relationship with outsiders, like how Toro remained mates with Jattelik even after she joined the clan. of course, it's generally encouraged to get your outsider mate to Join the clan, rather than remain outside of it, but it'll go unpunished either way. even Ravenstar, as bitchy as he is, won't do much more than a figurative slap on the wrist for someone who broke this rule.
that being said. half-clan relationships are definitely against the rules.
the reason this differs from outsider relationships is essentially just because of inter-clan politics. if you're in cricketclan, and you have a mate in archclan, what happens if those two clans get into a war? what happens if you and the one you love are on opposite sides of the battlefield? there's really no winning in that situation. and what if you're in fallenclan, and your mate is in gooseclan? what happens when prey starts to dwindle in the territories? will you take food from your own clan to bring to your mate? there's a lot of ways that half-clan relationships can end badly. they are against the rules, and they will be punished if broken, usually by having another, more trusted cat act as a shadow to the cat that took a mate from another clan, to make sure they don't make any attempts to reconnect.
still, some cats have managed. usually with one-offs, like Quailcall, but some have managed to keep their relationships going in secret--like with Lightningtail, for instance. The only other cat who knows about her relationship with Lilystem is Crowflame, who has been instructed to keep silent until Lightningtail is dead.
A fun fact for you! Lightningtail is the mother of Mossfrog. Mossfrog is the Adopted mother of Cloudtuft. Here are Lilystem (Lightningtail's mate in Archclan) and Cloudtuft's sprites next to each other.
He looks like his grandpa and he doesn't even know it. Makes you wonder if he was always meant to be a part of the family :)
