Group of the Morning Sun

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"We have as much to fear from ourselves as from the outside world."

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- Ner'Zhuel

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The Group of the Morning Sun is the main group of cats who band together after memories of something terrible destroying their home struck. They live together because of the Orb of Klhre'Grun, and the Group of the Star-Speckled Sky.

Their names consist of two words in their language combined, and each has a meaning. The Group of the Morning Sun is divided into ranks, of whom the Group considers equally important.

## Leader

A leader is just what it says. The cat who takes command of struggling times, who helps the Group without question, and who keeps the relationship with the Group of the Star-Speckled Sky well. They are to listen when the healer is worried of the Group's well-being. The leader is to throw aside personal worries for the sake of the greater good, and to make sure that all of his or her cats are safe and secure. They also have to eat last, after every other rank or prisoner has eaten. This is supposed to teach them empathy for starving cats in the rest of the Forest, and to enforce the belief that the Group comes before any individual.

### *Significant Leaders*

War - War was a cat who first took control of the Group of the Morning Sun, as well as one of the Spirits of Before . She helped guide the ragtag band of cats, refusing to let her powers and abilities show until the end. She helped make the majority of the rules in the Group Code . She was the first leader.

Re'Ashl - Re'Ashl was a cat who didn't like battle, and was often picked on for size. He made up for the size with his mind, and his skill at enemy strategies was what got the Group to be prepared when Savage and the Shaded. He was the cat who made the rule that kittens had to stay within the boundaries of the camp's safety until they were eighteen weeks old, upon which they would be promoted to trainees of the skill they best fit. He was the fourth leader.

Ner'Eave - Ner'Eave was the cat who could come up with strategies on the spot, and was often compared to War. She was remembered for the fact that she documented the strangeness of the Forest Solstice and how it couldn't be predicted. She was also the cat who made the rule that when a healer came back with a prophecy, only the leader and second chosen could know. This rule irritated some cats, but all agreed that it kept panic from spreading. She was the seventh leader.

Ner'Zhuel - Ner'Zhuel was the cat who died to defend the den with the kit-mothers and kittens in it, and he died fighting Dar'Khan. Before that, however, Ner'Zhuel was who, indirectly, got to find out where Savage's hideout was. Afterwards, the remaining group of Shaded and Shaded descendants were chased out at his order. He was the ninth leader.

Dar'Khan - \*SPOILER ALERT\* While not necessarily a good leader, nor chosen by the healer, Dar'Khan broke the Orb of Khlre'Grun so that the Group had no reason to have faith in them or the healer's choice, and he seized control while the cat's minds still suffered injury from the Orb's breaking. Dar'Khan turned the forest against the land, and who struck the Group with cold frost at all times. He died with Nor'Themar, after a half year of his terrible leadership. He was the tenth leader. \*END OF SPOILER ALERT\*

Lor'Thera - Nor'Themar's sister and good friend, Lor'Thera was \*SPOILER ALERT\* who took control after Dar'Khan and Nor'Themar were killed. She was also the one to not spend time grieving for Nor'Themar, and instead starting to lead the cats when the new threat of Blackjack arose. She was the eleventh leader. \*END OF SPOILER ALERT\*

## Second Chosen

The second chosen is the cat who the leader feels will be best for guiding the Group when he or she isn't around to do so. The second chosen is in charge of making sure that all of the cats are behaving towards one another, and that they are following the orders of the leader, and answering their questions if they don't feel the orders are right. The second chosen is also the most likely to become leader after the old one dies, as the healer chooses, but the second chosen has proven their skill at leading by then.

### *Significant Second Chosen*

Empathy - It was said that cats who can feel for their enemies were the best leaders. Empathy swore by this saying, and was overruled by War's teeth. However, he did get the rank of second chosen. Empathy was the one who helped stop War from overreacting, and he was also the one to make the majorities of the more peaceful rules of the Group Code. He was the first second chosen.

Triu'Vhix - He was a cat who was born a pyrokinetic, but Triu'Vhix was still loyal. He couldn't be around kittens because of his poorly controlled abilities. However, he was the one who killed the treacherous healer, Ve'Yuil. He brought back the connection with the Group of the Star-Speckled Sky, and healed the Orb centuries ago. He was the fourth second chosen.

## Healer

The healer is the cat who's orders will be listened to as well as the second chosen and the leader. He/she is considered the prophet and the priest, and is in charge of helping cats recover from wounds with various healing spells and plants. They are trained to have a connection with the Orb of Khlre'Grun at an early age when they first become trainees of the current healer. They are in charge of prophecies and the watching of the details in the Group.

### *Significant Healers*

Memory - Memory was a cat who always knew what had passed, even if she hadn't seen it for herself. She was the one who truly created the Group of the Star-Speckled Sky, as she was the one who gave the cats a memory for their ancestry and dead. Unfortunately, she also created the Group of Twining Shadows . She also created the rule in the Group Code that no healer appentice was to go down to the Orb of Khlre'Grun without permission, as sometimes cats from the Group of Twining Shadows could be waiting for them. She was the first healer.

Zren'Khil - He was a healer who first discovered that the Group of the Star-Speckled Sky and Group of Twining Shadows could dreamstep, and the first to find that you could avoid that. He was the eighth healer.

Cja'Nhor - She was the healer who never told her leader, Ner'Zhuel, about the prophecy with Dar'Khan and Nor'Themar, and ultimately lead to the almost destroyed Group of the Morning Sun. She was the eleventh healer.

Lo'Drak - \*SPOILER ALERT\* Lo'Drak was Dar'Khan's brother, and became the healer after Dar'Khan was killed. He couldn't bring himself to hurt anyone after watching how Dar'Khan and Nor'Themar died, or how his child almost died, so he became a healer to make his chances of having to fight less likely.

## Soldiers

Soldiers are the guards and fighters, who are in charge of the protection of the Group. They are trained in battle skills instead of hunting. They are to fight to make aggressors leave their territory, and to protect the younger, older, and sickly if the Group is attacked. Their next focus is the Orb of Khlre'Grun, which they are sworn to defend at all costs.

### *Significant Soldiers*

Hope - \*SPOILER ALERT\* A kitten of appearance, but a dragon of heart. She was a Spirit of Before, and forever in the shape of a kitten(much like Envy). She was also the cat who bound the Spirits of Before to the Orb of Khlre'Grun, and arranged it so that the Forest had a chance each half century in which they could remember why they were working for the Group. \*END OF SPOILER\*

Nor'Themar - \*SPOILER ALERT\* One of the two Embodiments of The Forest of century 6 A. He mended the Orb of Khlre'Grun after Dar'Khan destroyed it. He was also the one who killed Dar'Khan, although he died in the process. \*END OF SPOILER\*

Dra'Aldre - \*SPOILER ALERT\* Dra'Aldre, Lo'Drak's daughter, was the cat who brought sense to a corrupt memory of Despair, and accidentally brought the Spirits of Before back into the present. \*END OF SPOILER\*

## Hunters

Hunters are the cats in charge of finding food for their Group, and keeping them from starvation in winter. These cats' main focus is the elderly, sick, and young, or expecting, much like soldiers. Hunters always eat after the soldiers, and after the old, young, and weak have been fed.

### *Significant Hunters*

Veht'Aldre - She is the cat who followed a fighting patrol out into uncharted territory. After being caught, she was in charge of finding the escapist, a cat by the name of Barbarian, for them, as the scent had been lost to the soldiers in the snow. Veht'Aldre shocked everyone by searching and leading them day and night for two days, and when each were starving and weary, she had indeed let them catch up with Barbarian. Unfortunately, she died at the claws of Barbarian, as the entire group of cats had been weakened by the journey.

Triu'Drak + Zyin'Nerh - These two were twins, and the two hunters in century 4 A, year 37 in the century, during a summer - autumn that was particularly devastating, and had left little with energy to do anything. These twins hunted as much they could, using the energy that had often been complained about to catch as much prey as they could manage. The hunting, however, hindered them and made them too tired for the rest of their lives, when they died in year 41 of century 4 A.

## Trainees

Trainees are cats who are eighteen weeks old until the point which they've proven that they can become their chosen occupation. When trainees reach eighteen weeks, unless an injury or disease has caused it so that they must have the ceremony delayed, then the leader consults with the healer and second in command to decide if they are best trained in the way of a hunter or soldier. Sometimes, there is a select one who the healer says best fits the healing ways. The trainees' future compatriots in the occupation alert the leader for when they are ready to become a full soldier, hunter, or, sometimes, healer.

### *Significant Trainees*

Jha'Mul +Yeel'Lren - Brother and sister. They never did become what they were training to be (soldier and hunter) but did serve their Group well. After being taken prisoner by Heng'Dalth, kept alive until they reached an older age, they began to explore. When down in tunnels he had found, they adventured that direction. It didn't go out anywhere, and instead stopped dead-end in a small cavern. In this cavern was an eye, preserved with wild magik. This was the eye that Heng'Dalth had lost and now kept his living spirit in so he could live forever. That forever was shortened, however, when the trainees destroyed the eye, killing Heng'Dalth where he stood. Doing this, Jha'Mul and Yeel'Lren lost their own lives in the blast of magik that seal their spirits in the very walls of that cavern, keeping them from ever entering an afterlife, but will forever be remembered.

## Nurse-Mothers

The nurse-mothers are often female cats who are pregnant or have kittens, where their job is to simply raise them in the best environment, but not to keep them from learning things on their own. If they aren't pregnant or already have kittens born, they are simply she-cats, and sometimes he-cats, who wish to help the kittens who don't have parents, or mothers who are struggling. Then those cats will raise the kits and help take care of them together.

### *Significant Nurse-Mothers*

Lren'Veit - \*SPOILER ALERT\* She was a helper in the den for a long time. Each time young cats were send out into battle at the orders of War when Empathy still hadn't joined the then ruthless Group, she would feel guilty if they died, although War was careful not to get too many killed. Lren'Veit proposed the rule that was backed up by many that kittens couldn't become trainees until they were of eighteen weeks in age, or perhaps older if sickness or injury too bad to let them grow properly struck.

## Kittens

The kittens are cats that are younger than eighteen weeks of age, where they still have fluff behind their ears and blue eyes. These kittens are told to avoid leaving the camp for their own safety, and to not try battle until sixteen weeks. They are taught of everything they must about their Group, and about BW(before The War).

## Old Ones

The old ones are cats who are too weak and old to care for themselves on the battlefield, or if they have suffered an injury or disease that leaves them with a permanent and deadly effect. The old ones are never removed from the ranks of nurse-mother, soldier, second-chosen, hunter, or anything else without their own consent. Once they are, the healer will make a brief announcement to the cats and leader, and the old ones are excused from hunting. The old ones earn their keep by telling trainees and kittens about the tales of Before, and the other stories about their world and the Forest.

### *Significant Old Ones*

Brahs'Zhuel + Huar'Djin - These two were cats who lived before the cats were given any choice as to when they joined the old ones. After being told they were no longer fit, they continued to take part in patrols and sneak into battles. The leader was furious, but they merely said that if they were old enough to fight, they didn't deserve to be old ones. The leader didn't agree, but they continued on their ways. Huar'Djin was killed in a fight after the leader refused that the healer could help his earlier wounds. After that, when Brahs'Zhuel killed one of the Shaded in a fight, but ruined the otherwise stealthy attack, she was chased out by the leader. Her whereabouts were unknown forever after, but the cats of her time started a revolt against the leader until he agreed to make it so that the cats and healer had the say in if they themselves became old ones. The leader was murdered shortly after. Some say it was Brahs'Zhuel, others the ghost of Huar'Djin. It is said as a whole that the leader and the brother and sister had a grudge against each other.

## Outside of the Group of the Morning Sun

There are cats outside of the Group of the Morning Sun, commonly referred to as "wanderers." These cats are typically left alone, so long as they leave the Group alone. No further knowledge is known of them to the Group.