Swiftstar

**Swiftstar** is a ginger and white tom with green eyes.

## History

Swiftkit is born to Cloverwhisker and Hawktail with his siblings Tawnykit and Petalkit. The kits are rambunctious, leaving Cloverwhisker to struggle raising them. Their father, Hawktail, is noticeably absent from their life, often tending to his own duties as a warrior. Swiftkit becomes Swiftpaw and his siblings earn their apprentice names, and he is apprenticed to Tinybird, the Clan deputy. Tinybird is strict but fair and teaches him how to be a warrior and how to be a leader.
Swiftpaw becomes Swiftheart, and his siblings become Tawnycloud and Petalspring. Swiftheart works hard as a warrior and rallies the cats to his side. He gains Owlpaw as an apprentice, and he is proud when she gains her warrior name, Owlfeather. The Clan deputy, Tinybird, passes away, and Swiftheart is made deputy in his stead. He becomes mates with Sunleaf and they have two kits, Scorchkit and Russetkit. Swiftheart promises the two that they will be the best Clan warriors, but takes a special interest in Scorchkit as his only son. The two kits become Scorchpaw and Russetpaw.
Fernstar passes away, and Swiftheart becomes leader. He goes to the Moonpool and receives his nine lives from his ancestors. As leader, Swiftstar is not afraid to pursue whatever means he deems necessary to solve an issue, and often finds the more aggressive ways to be better and more effective. He appoints Berrysplash to be his deputy, knowing that her gentle personality will reason with him when he finds himself too far out of line. A little later, he names Scorchpaw and Russetpaw as Scorchclaw and Russetstripe. He is proud of his kits and dotes on Scorchclaw. Russetstripe is jealous, feeling as if her father does not appreciate her simply because she is a she-cat and not a tom. Cloverwhisker tries to assure her daughter, but Swiftstar simply tells Cloverfeather to let her complain all she wants. This leads him and Russetstripe to have a strained relationship.
Taking note of the border dispute situation on ThunderClan and WindClan land, Swiftstar orders his patrols to keep a look out. When he receives news that a ThunderClan apprentice was found on their territory, he immediately orders him to be taken hostage. Berrysplash objects to this, but Swiftstar ignores her. Swiftstar finds out that it is Rootstar's son, and he believes by keeping his son in his camp, he can lure Rootstar to his camp and attack him. However, Rootstar does not come. Swiftstar refuses to send Emberpaw back, instead keeping him in his camp while undergoing the cruel treatment of his warriors. When Swiftstar finally has had enough of ThunderClan and takes a battle patrol to their camp, the apprentice escapes.
At ThunderClan's camp, Swiftstar sends his patrol to fight. His target is Rootstar, and the two toms fight ruthlessly until Swiftstar sees that some cats are dead. He sees one of ThunderClan's warriors attack his own Clanmate after Hollyfrost drops dead. Swiftstar kicks Rootstar off of him and demands to know what happened. When Hailstep tells him that he fell in love with the WindClan warrior, Swiftstar eyes him and says that both he and Hollyfrost broke the warrior code. Swiftstar brings Hollyfrost to camp and holds a vigil for her, but is keenly aware that she must be sent to StarClan with judgement. He notices that the apprentice is gone but dismisses it flippantly, saying that ThunderClan can have him.
Berrysplash had been killed in the fighting alongside Hollyfrost. Swiftstar mourns her, and before moonhigh, names his son Scorchclaw as the deputy, much to the dismay of fellow warriors. They believe that Scorchclaw is inexperienced and that it was favoritism on Swiftstar's part. Swiftstar confesses to himself that although he did believe Scorchclaw was a good warrior, he knows some of it was because Scorchclaw is his son and he sees himself in him.
When rogue cats threaten his territories, he organizes a battle patrol to wipe them out. Gorseflight protests to this and tries to get Scorchclaw, his deputy, to reason with him, but Swiftstar ignores Scorchclaw's pleas, reminding him that he is his deputy and cannot disobey orders from his father and leader. Swiftstar orders the patrol to leave no survivors, and takes them to wipe out the rogue patrol. Gorseflight battles against his own Clan, striking Owlfeather down. Swiftstar is horrified and is moments away from killing Gorseflight, but Russetstripe pleads with her father to spare his life. Swiftstar concedes and exiles Gorseflight, telling him that if he is ever seen on WindClan territory again, he will not be granted the mercy he had been that time.
Russetstripe comes to his den the night of and asks him why he ordered the cats to be killed. Swiftstar snaps at her that she should not ask such a foolish question, as they were on their territory. Russetstripe tells him that they were on no cat's land. Swiftstar reprimands her harshly, saying that she is a she-cat and knows nothing of how the Clan works. The father and daughter get into a heated argument, and Russetstripe hisses that he is no longer her father. Swiftstar screeches at her that he is, and he always will be. Russetstripe runs away from camp, and Swiftstar watches coldly, ordering no one to retrieve her and that she can come back when she is ready to act like an adult.
Swiftstar gets into a dispute with the RiverClan deputy, Rainbreeze, on his territory, and ends up killing the she-cat. Swiftstar steps back and hides her body, and she is never found. Swiftstar races away to WindClan land and never tells anyone what he had done. RiverClan has kindling suspicions, and Otterstar demands to speak to Swiftstar. Swiftstar denies it, but Otterstar tells him that he can always know when a cat is lying. Otterstar attacks Swiftstar, but Swiftstar takes one of his lives and orders him to never come on WindClan soil again unless he wants all his lives taken.
Eventually, Swiftstar gains the name "The Viper of WindClan" by the other Clans.
Swiftstar passes away, and although he is grieved by his Clanmates, they are split on the idea of his leadership. They acknowledge that, even though Swiftstar had willingly spilled blood in his leadership, he had still led his Clan with pride and glory, and was an excellent Clan leader. However, there were many cats who died as a result of Swiftstar's mishaps, which leads some of them to have their grievances. Scorchclaw vows that he will not make the mistakes Swiftstar did when some of his Clanmates tell him how they felt.