The forest map: ShadowClan

BY THE EDITOR

To a wide-eyed young kittypet like Rusty taking his first steps beyond the safety and comfort of his home, the forest seemed vast, wild, and untamed. But for all of its wilderness and freedom, there is a remarkable amount of structure and familiarity to the forest after countless seasons of the Clans living their lives there. If you’re still trying to figure out the lay of the land, don’t fret! We’ve written up a handy guide to show you the ins and outs of the forest territories!

This time, we’ll be focusing on the sparse pines and barren marshes that serve as ShadowClan’s territory. Keep an eye out for future articles covering the territories of their neighboring Clans―and perhaps even the lands beyond! In the meantime, check out the forest map articles for ThunderClan, WindClan, and RiverClan.

1. The Camp

ShadowClan’s camp is much like ShadowClan itself―prickly on the outside and hostile to intruders, but full of warmth and love for those sheltered within. It lies within the heart of the dense, marshy pine forest the Clan calls home.

A bramble-and-thorn tunnel opens into a well-trod clearing, sheltered from above by pine trees, and encircled by a protective wall of brambles. The hard brown earth of the camp floor goes muddy and cool when softened by the rain, which helps to keep fresh-kill fresh. Pine needles that fall from the overhanging pines help keep the ground soft underpaw, and fallen pine cones make for excellent toys for the kits.

The nursery is a hollow sheltered by a thornbush, while the warriors’ den is a shallow dip in the ground beneath a thick bramble bush and softened by nests of moss and pine needles. The apprentices’ den is another shallow dip, sheltered by tightly woven thorns. The elders make their den within the hollow of a tree stump, with branches at its entrance. Nearby, another broken tree stump with new branches sprouting from it creates a shady cave beneath them. Under the roots of a large oak tree is where the leader makes their den, with soft leaves littering the ground. A large, smooth, lichen-covered boulder sits at the opposite end of camp from the entrance and is known as the Clanrock. This is where the leader makes their announcements and holds Clan meetings.

Another boulder leans against the Clanrock, forming a narrow entrance that leads to a tiny, sheltered clearing edged by thick clumps of ferns. This serves as ShadowClan’s medicine den. There is a pool of clear water at the far side of the clearing that patients can drink from, thick fern nests where they can rest, and the herbs used to treat them are stored in small holes dug into the ground on one side of the clearing, covered by fern fronds. A shallow scoop in the earth just outside of the camp serves as a training area for the Clan’s apprentices and, during the days of Brokenstar’s terrible reign, for the Clan’s kits. Mosspaw died there during a training session, his neck broken by a mismanaged strike from the kits during their training.

Did you know that ShadowClan’s camp was chosen by a WindClan cat, not one of ShadowClan’s own? It was Slate, one of Wind Runner’s cats and later a warrior of WindClan, who suggested this prime location for Tall Shadow’s new camp after they left the moorland behind. ShadowClan and WindClan would come to have far more hostile relations over the seasons, especially during Brokenstar’s reign when ShadowClan drove WindClan from their home, but a bond would always exist between them from generations past, far stronger than any hostilities of the moment.

Like WindClan, ShadowClan’s camp was ultimately destroyed by Twolegs. Warriors of all four Clans worked together to ensure that every ShadowClan cat made it out of camp alive before they could be crushed by the same monsters that destroyed their home. Firestar even gave a life to protect some of ShadowClan’s kits during this destruction. While Blackstar had initially planned to move his Clan to Twolegplace where BloodClan had once dwelled, this destructive show of force from the Twolegs, and the way all of the Clans had worked together to protect his Clan, finally convinced him that ShadowClan belonged with the other Clans and would leave the forest with them.

2. Carrionplace

Known to Twolegs as the Northallerton Amenity Tip, this deadly, rat-infested spot is a dangerous place to find yourself. If cats work together and keep their wits about them, however, it can be a prime spot for catching rats, so long as the rats don’t catch them first! A shiny metal fence encircles the area, though even a larger cat can squeeze under it in spots where the ground beneath the fence has been dug away. Great mounds of stinking Twoleg rubbish stretch out as far as the eye can see, filling the surrounding forest with the stench. Rats love to scavenge among the rubbish in dangerous numbers, and sometimes they carry deadly diseases, so ShadowClan only hunts them when times are especially lean.

A successful hunting raid was carried out against the rats during Yellowfang’s warrior apprenticeship, but a second, more disastrous raid after she started her medicine cat training cost Cedarstar a life and injured Stonetooth badly enough to make him retire, allowing Raggedpelt to rise as the new deputy in his place. A third attack, planned by then-warrior Brokentail, resulted in the death of Foxheart, prompting Cloudpelt to take her place as deputy. During Brokenstar’s reign, apprentices were brought to Carrionplace and forced to fight rats as part of their training. One apprentice, Volepaw, had his leg permanently injured during a fight with rats at Carrionplace, and Runningnose and Clawface had to fake his death to get him safely to the elders’ den, where he could get the medical treatment he needed.

Death in battle isn’t the only threat Carrionplace harbors. Even a successful hunt can still bring death to the Clan through disease passed on from the rats to the warriors who eat them as fresh-kill. A terrible outbreak of this illness, caused by a Carrionplace rat being eaten by ShadowClan cats, devastated ShadowClan during Nightstar’s reign, ending the leader’s only life and causing countless other deaths, nearly taking the entire Clan out with the force of it. Two young ShadowClan warriors, Littlecloud and Whitethroat, went to ThunderClan to beg for aid, but Bluestar turned them away at Yellowfang’s suggestion. It was only due to Cinderpelt’s courage to hide the young toms from her Clan and treat them in secret that they survived. She managed to find a cure for the illness after experimenting with different combinations of herbs and taught the cure to Littlecloud and Whitethroat so they could take it back to their Clan. Not only did this medical intervention help save ShadowClan from the deadly illness, but it also inspired Littlecloud to take up a medicine cat’s life himself, giving ShadowClan a skilled and dedicated new healer who would serve his Clan for many moons to come.

3. Thunderpath

This vast stretch of black Twoleg-made stone where monsters travel serves as the border dividing ShadowClan from ThunderClan on one side and WindClan on the other, and it is a harrowingly dangerous place for cats to roam. For the Twolegs that built it, however, it’s just a convenient mode of transportation. The thunderpath, or road as Twolegs call it, dividing ShadowClan territory from ThunderClan is known to Twolegs as Windover Road, while the road dividing them from the moorland is called Northallerton Road. The massive, terrifying monsters that whizz across the thunderpath faster than any creature can run are cars, and their deadly black paws have claimed the lives of more than one cat who was trying to cross the stretch of black stone. Cinderpelt was lucky to walk away with only a broken leg when she was hit by a monster on this path as an apprentice. Snowfur before her, and Whitethroat and Shrewpaw after, were not so lucky. Even Shadowstar, the founding leader of ShadowClan, lost one of her nine lives to the paws of a monster on this path.

4. Thunderpath tunnel

This tunnel runs under the Thunderpath where it divides ShadowClan and ThunderClan territory, but there are other tunnels scattered around the Thunderpath, including one that leads into WindClan territory. These paths that lead under the Thunderpath, lined with pale cream stone, serve as useful and much safer ways to pass between territories than the path above, where the paws of a monster can snap a cat’s spine in an instant. ShadowClan holds these passes between Clans as a closely guarded secret, though the one between ThunderClan and ShadowClan is discovered by Fireheart and Sandstorm after they see Littlecloud and Whitethroat using one to return to their own territory.

5. Burnt Sycamore

This ancient, withered stump was once a tall tree, but was destroyed by lightning many moons ago. It is now a popular spot for training apprentices at night in hunting and silent stalking.

6. Elders’ camp

During Brokenstar’s reign, in an unprecedented move, the cruel leader cast the Clan’s elders out from the camp. He did not want cats who couldn’t contribute prey or endure battle training take up valuable resources. While they were cast from camp, the elders were allowed to remain on ShadowClan’s territory and hunt its prey, so they settled among a copse of spindly trees not too far from the main camp, in a spot where rock had fallen away and left a hollow in a bank beneath clumps of ferns. Yellowfang and Runningnose escorted the elders to their new camp and helped dig out the hollow to make it large enough to accommodate every cat. They used branches to prop up the entrance and make it narrow enough for a single cat to pass, then placed rocks at the base to keep the branches in place. A log was rolled to one side of camp, and on the other side a circle of stones was used to enclose the fresh-kill pile.

The initial exiled elders were Nightpelt, Hollyflower, Crowtail, Poolcloud, and Archeye. Featherstorm came to join them after the death of her son Mosspaw, when Brokenstar forced her into retirement so she couldn’t protest the early training of her other kits. After that, Brokenstar started using the den as a way to “retire,” or quietly shuffle out of view of camp, any cats who dared stand up to him. ShadowClan warriors Ashfur and Dawncloud were included among these exiles. Featherstorm’s other son Volepaw came to join them after Clawface and Runningnose faked his death for the rest of the Clan, then Brightflower followed after the deaths of her kits, Mintkit and Marigoldkit. The elders passed a leafbare and a newleaf in their new home, until they were finally able to win back their place in the main camp by overthrowing Brokenstar. After that, the den that had seen them through that hard time was abandoned though never forgotten by those who were once sheltered by it.