Destruction of the SkyClan forest territory

The destruction of the SkyClan forest territory was an event in Cloudstar's Journey in which SkyClan fled the forest after Twolegs destroyed their territory.
==Summary==
===Premise===
:Early into Clan history, SkyClan cats feared the possibility of losing their territory due to its proximity to the Twolegplace. This culminated in Quick Water, an ancient SkyClan warrior, sabotaging ShadowClan by causing the deaths of their deputy, Sun Shadow and leader, Shadowstar, so that SkyClan might claim ShadowClan's territory. In StarClan, Shadowstar and Quick Water received a vision of SkyClan's territory being destroyed and their warriors fleeing the forest. This knowledge was passed down by SkyClan's medicine cats, who thought that if they did not tell their Clanmates, the prophecy would not come true. Nonetheless, the destruction began during the leadership of Cloudstar.
===Overview===
:Twolegs begin shifting dirt just beyond SkyClan's territory, scaring some of SkyClan's prey, though Cloudstar pays little attention to it. However, the Twolegs begin actively destroying the forest, and Cloudstar resolves to move the border, though the Twolegs continue to destroy their land and scare their prey. After failing to secure more land from ThunderClan in battle, Cloudstar attempts to ask the other Clans to give up territory for his Clan. However, the other Clans refused, resulting in SkyClan leaving the forest.
==Description==
===Construction begins===
:Twoleg activity was first noticed when it caused prey scarcity along the Twolegplace border. StarClan reassures Cloudstar that SkyClan will fear nothing from the Twoleg activity, though Fawnstep worries. Soon after, Twoleg monsters tore down trees within the territory itself, putting SkyClan cats in direct danger. After organizing a patrol to assess the damage, Cloudstar resolved to move the border back, but the Twolegs moved deeper into the forest, catching the attention of ThunderClan. Soon after, Cloudstar implemented a rule limiting cats to one meal per day, and forbade cats from venturing to the dangerous Twolegplace border.
===Battle against ThunderClan===
:Several years before Twoleg construction began, SkyClan's leader, Darkstar, gave away nearly a quarter of SkyClan's territory to ThunderClan so that their neighbors may better feed their kits. His decision remained controversial at the time, and into the near future, as Cloudstar, conscious that SkyClan was losing its territory, launched an attack on ThunderClan in order to regain Darkstar's gift. However, they were unsuccessful, with Redstar's forces claiming a decisive victory.
===Appeal at the Gathering===
:Following the complete destruction of SkyClan's territory, Cloudstar brought his weakened Clan to the Gathering and pleaded with the other leaders to give SkyClan some of their land. Several cats sympathized with the battered Clan, and WindClan's medicine cat, Larkwing, assured that StarClan would be angry if the Clans refused to help. However, no leader stepped forward to offer SkyClan sanctuary, forcing them to leave the forest.
==Cats who left the forest==
:A kit, an apprentice, and an elder are reported to have died before SkyClan reached the gorge, though none are identified by name.
==Aftermath==
:After being turned away by the other Clans, Cloudstar renounced his allegiance to StarClan, though his medicine cat, Fawnstep, still walked with them in dreams, and SkyClan warriors continued to follow the warrior code. SkyClan settled in Deepsands Gorge and persisted for several years, but ultimately disbanded after the Clan was ravaged by rat attacks and starvation. It would not be revived until Cloudstar's spirit sought the assistance of Firestar, who journeyed with his mate, Sandstorm, on a mission to rebuild the forgotten Clan twenty-nine years after their exile.Vicky revealed that SkyClan left the forest around 20 years before Bluestar was born. Modern SkyClan remained in the gorge for approximately eight years until being driven out by Darktail and finally rejoining the other Clans in the lake territories. SkyClan's ancestors also rejoined StarClan, having formerly walked in separate skies.
==Major characters==
===Cloudstar===
: 
:Cloudstar had been leader of SkyClan for many seasons before Twoleg construction began at the Clan's border. He initially dismissed the increasing Twoleg activity, believing that they would not further encroach into SkyClan territory and that the prey their monsters had startled would soon return. However, as time progressed Cloudstar was unable to deny the threat the Twolegs posed to SkyClan's wellbeing, though his faith in StarClan assured him that he could lead his Clan through any turmoil. 
:Forced to go back on the word of his ancestors in his attack to reclaim ThunderClan's territory, Cloudstar suffered another blow to his faith, defeated and unable to feed his starving Clan. Dreaming of StarClan's territory, Cloudstar called out a challenge to his ancestors, demanding to know why they had abandoned him and pleading for a sign. With no response, Cloudstar's crumbling faith caved in, and he formally renounced his allegiance to StarClan as he led SkyClan away from the forest, with no aid offered by the other Clans.
===Redstar===
:
:The leader of ThunderClan and Cloudstar's greatest rival, Redstar played a pivotal role in SkyClan's departure from the forest. Sharing a border, ThunderClan and SkyClan were consistently at odds, particularly over the strip of contested territory which was gifted to ThunderClan by a previous SkyClan leader, Darkstar. Redstar was among the first of the cats outside of SkyClan to learn of the Twoleg activity in their territory, for which he taunted Cloudstar. He led his Clan to victory against SkyClan when Cloudstar attempted to reclaim their former territory, forcing the Clan to abandon the forest. However, Redstar was not disturbed, interpreting the clear night sky as a sign of StarClan's approval. 
:When Cloudstar brought all of SkyClan to the Gathering to plead for territory, Redstar was the first to demand they leave. Yet while he showed no sympathy for the fleeing Clan, Redstar allowed Cloudstar's mate, Birdflight, sanctuary in ThunderClan so she could raise her newborn kits. After his death, Redstar appeared alongside the other Clan leaders of his time at the leadership ceremony of Leafstar, the first SkyClan leader after the Clan's resurrection, apologizing to Cloudstar and giving Leafstar a life for wisdom.
===Dawnstar, Swiftstar, and Birchstar===
:The leaders of the other three Clans were hesitant about assisting SkyClan. Though prey should have been plentiful in greenleaf, Dawnstar, leader of ShadowClan, believed her Clan, as the largest, had no land to spare. Swiftstar, leader of WindClan, declared that his Clan could barely feed themselves with their territory. Birchstar, leader of RiverClan, was the most sympathetic of the leaders, but she again refused Cloudstar, arguing that RiverClan was also experiencing a prey shortage — despite what her plump appearance suggested. Furthermore, Swiftstar and Birchstar doubted that SkyClan could survive in another Clan's territory. After their deaths, Dawnstar, Swiftstar, and Birchstar appeared alongside Redstar to apologize for their refusal to help SkyClan. Each gave a life in Leafstar's leadership ceremony; Dawnstar gave a life for determination, Swiftstar for selflessness, and Birchstar for sympathy.
===Fawnstep===
:As SkyClan's medicine cat, Fawnstep interpreted an omen of dismembered prey, warning Cloudstar that SkyClan was in imminent danger. As the destruction continued, she suffered nightmares, reporting to Cloudstar that the other medicine cats had similar dreams. Her final vision was of SkyClan fleeing the forest after a Gathering, and the medicine cat claimed that ThunderClan's victory left them no choice but to leave.
===Birdflight===
:Birdflight was a pregnant queen during the destruction of SkyClan's territory, and the mate of Cloudstar. Her kits being newborns at the finality of the destruction, Birdflight was unable to join the rest of her Clan in leaving the forest, but she was offered sanctuary by the ThunderClan medicine cat, Kestrelwing. She spent the rest of her life as a ThunderClan cat, alongside her kits, Gorseclaw and Spottedpelt. It was many seasons after her death that she and her kits were reunited with Cloudstar, after SkyClan was revived by Firestar.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
===Author statements===
*Victoria Holmes imagines that SkyClan was driven from the forest roughly twenty years after the Clans were founded; "slightly less than half the entire time the Clans have been in the forest."
==See also==
*Cloudstar's Journey
*Cloudstar's Journey Cliffnotes
*Journey to rebuild SkyClan
==Notes and references==
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Category:Events
Category:Conflicts
Category:Cloudstar's Journey
Category:Firestar's Quest
Category:Battles