the leaders! a little synopsis for each of them below.
reedheart was a shoo-in. he was brave, charming, loyal, and most importantly, his clan adored him. so when the position opened up due to an unfortunate incident at sunningrocks, not a soul was surprised when hopstar chose him as deputy. and what a deputy he was! reedheart was playful with the kits, patient with the apprentices, and reverent towards the elders. he bantered with his fellow warriors, yet when battle called, he lead them without flinching.
reedheart was young. only 30 moons or so when he was chosen deputy, and still training his third apprentice. it was part of his charm, to be sure. but he simply could not have had the experience and wisdom of more senior warriors. this was a nonissue as deputy— all he really needed to do was designate patrols, train the apprentices, and serve his clan as he always had.
but hopstar was not long for this world when reedheart became deputy. she passed away a few short moons later, leaving reedheart— now reedstar— to pick up the mantle. reedstar felt almost blindsided. he always knew he might be leader, but it seemed so soon. under his confident façade, reedstar constantly doubts himself. his decision-making, his diplomacy, and most of all, his connection with starclan. reedstar’s life-giving ceremony was curt, and he seldom senses his ancestors’ approval in daily life. sometimes he wonders if they outright disapprove of his leadership.
luckily, reedstar’s mate and deputy frostwing is always by his side. frostwing’s cool head and analytical ability help reedstar where his intuition fails. the two spend hours patrolling thunderclan’s territory alone, talking of plans for the future. some critics of reedstar’s regime refer to her as froststar.
reedstar is determined to maintain thunderclan’s allegiance with shadowclan, despite beetlestar’s seeming disdain towards him. he also wants to strengthen relations with windclan, considering they’ve entered a period of relative prosperity.
reedstar is still young, his leadership short. only time will tell if he can lead thunderclan to greatness or fail when it relied most upon him.
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beetlestar is as stoic as her predecessor, crowstar. but where crowstar was gracious and diplomatic, beetlestar always puts shadowclan first. during thunderclan’s disease epidemic, she was one of the warriors who protested crowstar’s decision to allow thunderclan cats to study under fogflight, fearing disease transmission and thunderclan espionage.
beetlestar never took a mate or kits; all her attention is focused on her clan. if she were ever one to joke (though some doubt she ever would), she’d say that shadowclan was her one true love.
in the winter moons, beetlestar rations food very tightly, making absolute certain elders and nursing queens eat first (and warriors sometimes not at all). she seldom starts fights, but always finishes them. though many shadowclan cats have their own opinions on beetlestar’s leadership, the only cat she really listens to is fogflight, the medicine cat. the two have always been close— beetlestar holds the molly in tremendously high regard.
as for the other clans, beetlestar varies in begrudging respect for the scrupulous toestar to contempt for the young and inexperienced reedstar. she fears riverclan’s newfound ambition under dewstar and is glad the two clans don’t share a border.
beetlestar only ever wants the best for shadowclan. she will pursue it by any means necessary.
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dewstar is larger than life. literally. his parents were big and powerful, his siblings are big and powerful, and dewstar himself is a force to be reckoned with. but dewstar’s true gift isn’t his brawn. it’s his silver tongue. the tom has always promised his clanmates the world. even when he was a kit, he told them he’d one day be leader and elevate riverclan to a place of hegemony over the forest. “we’ll all be fat and happy,” he’d promise his clanmates. “you just wait and see.”
it doesn’t hurt that he came from a long line of outstanding warriors. his father would have been deputy, maybe even leader, had he not been so committed to his family. it was never in question that dewkit would be great; it was only a matter of how great he would be.
as riverclan’s elderly deputy ailed, dewfang’s twin sister and medicine cat coldsky recieved an omen in the form of a dewy leaf, despite it being the middle of a hot summer’s day. riverclan’s leader took it to mean that dewfang was indeed fit to be deputy.
the rest is history.
dewstar tends to regard the other clans as a homogenous mass of inferiors. they could never have what riverclan has. the traditions, the aspirations of riverclan simply dwarfs whatever the others may put forth. it is for this reason that the normally peaceful riverclan has began to encroach on both thunderclan and windclan territory. reedstar and toestar both quietly fear dewstar, and worry that his big talk may someday become actionable.
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toestar (synopsis taken from here!) trained as a tunneler before becoming warrior, deputy and then leader. during her tenure, she’s reformed windclan traditions so that every apprentice had some background in tunneling and tunneling safety whether they were tunnelers or moor-runners. she also instituted more robust rules for tunneling, like making sure no cat ever went solo and never went into the tunnels when there was a chance of flooding.
toestar loves the tunnels. she treats it as an art form and something that made windclan special, but she also knows how dangerous they could be. some believe toestar is too careful, maybe even cowardly, but windclan hasn’t lost a soul to the tunnels since she instituted reforms.
toestar has also spent her life trying to bridge the gap between tunnelers and moor-runners. she sees both practices as two sides of the same coin, and believes windclan needs both skillsets in order to thrive. as an older warrior, she trained in moor-running so that she could eventually teach both specialties.
toestar has seen young warriors grow into fine leaders. she hopes reedstar will live up to expectations, and regards him with kindness and respect. though windclan is not so friendly with shadowclan or riverclan, toestar isn’t one to start fights. still, she fears that border disputes with riverclan may soon come to a head.
