History

Written up on this page is the history of the two major Clans and any other major groups seen on this site.

# General

## The Beginning (The late 1780s – Mid 1800s)

As humans begun establishing their territories across the red earth, so did their stowaways. A colony of stray cats arrived with the initial Fleet. Within them was a tom known as Ambrose, who rose as a figurehead. But he wasn’t the only one. Other cats soon established themselves as leaders as well. This ended with the original colony splitting into different clowders. Each one claiming an area of the early town of Botany. Ambrose, alongside the three other notable leaders – Theophila, Mordecai, and Joseve, were all locked in a war for the rights to the entire territory.
Each of the four leaders saw different qualities in the land and held different morals and ideals to taking it for themselves. Within the fights that followed many arguments many cats were lost. Including Joseve, who was killed in cold blood by Theophila. Due to this a deep hatred grew between the two groups as they fought for the Bay Area. Theophila grew to be the most powerful of the remaining three. Her group known as the Masons eventually became the ruling clowder of the Bay Area. But the journey there was masked in blood from the beginning.
This squall continued for many years, even long after the death of the original leaders. Their kin continued the fight – having been raised on this and taught what to do by their elders. One of Ambrose’s descendants, however, made his group flee the area. This young tom known as Ezekiel took the mass of cats further inland to escape the unneeded violence of the Masons and the other groups.
Ezekiel took his group as far as they could walk. The clowder of roughly 20 cats ended up in a drier territory, where a large river cut the land into two. Not wanting to lose any more cats, he decided they would claim a piece near the banks. The young tom was the leader for next couple of years before passing on leadership to his daughter, Damaris. She established laws on what her father had taught her. As she feared the cats from his tales (these being the cats in the Bay Area). Damaris’ laws were taken on quickly by the elder cats of the River clowder – as they too knew the tales.
Eventually, Damaris passed away, and her son Bartholomew took over. With him came a new era for the River clowder.
## The Clans (The late 1890s)

Bartholomew also began building on what his mother had done. He used her laws as the clowder’s code to live by. The tom also implemented punishments for disobeying or breaking these codes. As he wanted order throughout the group. This group in its early days numbered in the high 20s. He began assigning cats certain roles. He appointed his mate Katrina as his second in command and had some cats hunt in the river, while some stayed behind to tend to camp. Katrina only stayed as his deputy until she bore him kits. Two daughters – Azalea and Lake. The sisters grew up and eventually, Lake was picked to succeed her father. This caused an argument between the family and Azalea was sent away – exiled from the clowder now known as StreamClan.
In Azalea’s departure, a couple cats followed her. With them, she created the beginnings of her own group. Finding some other cats – known as Strangers, she began building her Clan. Which she named CaveClan, after the caves that provided shelter to her cats. Near the end of her life, she met up with her sister, bringing with her some of her Clan. It was then that the two Clans became known and begun forming a stronghold over the land for many generations to come.
Both of these two had litters, where their first born was picked as leader. This tradition continued for years to come. But amongst this rose other customs – most only seen in one Clan.
## The Masons (Mid-late 1800s - 1990s)

After murdering one of her rivals in cold blood, Theophila gained fearful respect from the clowders. Within months of her deed, her own clowder grew to twice the size. This was due to the other cats deciding it would be better to be aligned with her rather than against her. These acts fuelled her ambition to take over the entire Bay Area. As more cats arrived from the waters, she sent her aides to recruit them. By her death, Theophila had managed to succeed in taking over the Bay Area and she had created the first organised Clowder the ‘world’ had known.
By the early 1890s, Theophila’s name lived on. Her kin still held onto the streets with an iron grip, and it continued like this for next 100 years. However, as time wore on, Theophila's kin eventually became less common due to selective breeding within the Masons and soon the group disappeared altogether. The last known ancestor of Theophila supposedly passed away during the 1990s.
## Clan Traditions & Customs

### Shared Traditions & Customs

Over the years, the Clans have shared traditions with each other making some standards between the two groups.
* In the early generations of the Clans, when Lake and Azalea's blood still were the only leaders it was said that if a cat not of their blood was picked as leader they wouldn't be able to receive the sacred name of a leader (-star). This was originally in place when that bloodline was stronger as it was merely a 'just in case option' if something happened to a queen's litter, but, nearing the end of the last of that family this tradition became quite redundant. It was only changed after Duckpelt, and Darterflight, officially agreed that leaders after them would be allowed to take on the -star prefix no matter their blood relation.

* The Clans are generally quite open to the idea of loners and rogues joining (there have been exceptions to this idea). These outsiders, as they are sometimes called, allow fresh and unrelated bloodlines into the Clan which sometimes become interbred and muddy over the years. At certain times, normally during the wet season, patrols will be sent out to see if any local loners and or rogues are interested in the prospect of joining the Clans for the above reasons.

* A queen usually only has one litter. Maybe two if the first litter dies (or if only one kitten survives). After that, a repeat queen is seen as lazy and looking for attention. She is only perceived as lazy due to the notion that she may just be wanting to lay around and nurse cats all day instead of helping the Clan more directly. Even those more maternal cats know that they are expected to have one or maybe two litters in their lifetimes. Having too many children can again result in muddy blood for the Clan (which can happen quite quickly in these smaller Clans).

* It’s considered poor taste to name a kitten after someone. The main reason is that, as said above, a prefix is meant to give a cat their own identity as well as describe their colour. To name your kitten Snake- after your mother, for example, is seen as putting unfair expectations on them and bogging them down with someone else’s memories before they even have a chance to make some of their own.

* Tradition has it that during the dry season, border markers between the Clans are to be weaker. This is a time where overall survival for both Clans is in everybody's interest as having two creates unity in the Wasteland. This removal of the border encourages the Clans to share and help each other through the tough season as both prey and water sources become severely depleted. However, the weakening of the borders only applies to the one between the two Clans. If anything, those bordering open land are strengthened to ward off any outsiders from stealing food and or water.