The Tribe

Lore & Background

In Moonrise the Tribe takes in the travelling Clan cats and gives them food and shelter. It has a prophecy that a silver cat will save it from Sharptooth, a mountain lion that has been killing its members, and at first takes Stormfur for that cat; it is his sister Feathertail who brings a stalactite down on Sharptooth and dies with him. In Dawn all four Clans cross the mountains and shelter with the Tribe, and Stormfur stays behind with Brook Where Small Fish Swim.

In Outcast, Stormfur and Brook have been banished after a lost battle against rogues who steal the Tribe's prey; a patrol of Clan cats travels to the mountains, teaches the Tribe to fight, and the rogues are driven off. In Sign of the Moon the old Stoneteller dies without naming a successor, and Jayfeather appoints Crag Where Eagles Nest. A Tribe cat's name is said to be the first memorable thing its mother sees after giving birth, such as Brook Where Small Fish Swim, and usually only the first word is used.

Reader's Guide

Home: a cave in the mountains. Ancestors: the Tribe of Endless Hunting, reached in the Cave of Pointed Stones. Ranks: Healer (Stoneteller), cave-guards, prey-hunters. Known members: the old Stoneteller, Crag Where Eagles Nest, Brook Where Small Fish Swim, Stormfur. First leader of the cats who became the Tribe: Half Moon. Books: Moonrise, Dawn, Outcast, Sign of the Moon, Hidden Moon.