SkyClan Lore, Traditions, & Taboo

• Leafclaw & Fernclaw Hunting Grounds
  There’s multiple groves of territory designated for leafclaws to hunt in and then multiple for fernclaws. Sometimes warriors get a bit antsy when a leafclaw enters what’s considered fernclaw hunting ground and vice versa.
• Walking the Fence
  What your mentors can’t see won’t hurt them, right? Some of SkyClan’s more dauntless apprentices take to the fence on the edge of the Seaside Twolegplace to watch the old Twolegs and their little dogs meander in their flowery yards and homes. Sometimes the yards will have pens of oversized rabbits, and it’s common for the bolder apprentices to steal down and try to snag one as a test of courage.
• The Sandfern Arena
  Doubling as the official training arena for the fernclaw apprentices, the Sandfern Arena is also considered the Clan’s official sparring arena. With soft soil and sand and many obstacles to climb on to use to your advantage, it makes for the perfect place to spar for the sky-faring, jumping Clan.
  
  SkyClan does friendly rounds of sparring to boost morale among themselves.
  
  Some cats may challenge another cat to a duel if angry or upset with them, and in rare cases, they challenge the Clan’s high ranks when they disagree with one of their decisions. Fighting with claws in the arena is strictly forbidden. SkyClan equates “winning a duel” to winning a case in a court of law. All quarrels can be settled by dueling against your rival in an arena.
• Festival of the Longest Sun
  Every Greenleaf, there is a day that stretches longer than any other. SkyClan gathers at the edge of the seaside cliffs at sundown, sharing tongues, feasting, and sharing gifts with one another. It's a time to remember that leafclaws and fernclaws are still the one SkyClan.
  
  The Clan stays and watches the sun rise together, with one cat elected by the Clan deputy to wish for a generous remainder of the year - until next time.

• The Taking Wing Commencement
  Leafclaw kits, when they reach six moons of age, will be taken up upon the small alder tree at the edge of camp to be tested on their ability to land on all fours when vaulting from the lowest branch into the grass below. Given that it’s only like, five feet above the ground. They are often supervised by the entire clan, anticipating a ceremony to be held upon their success.
  
  If they land successfully, regardless of how graceless or inexperienced the landing is, the kit will graduate into a leafclaw apprentice of SkyClan and be given a mentor. If a kit is hesitant to leap or refuses to, it is a sign they are not ready to be leafclaw trainees.
  
• The First Skyway Leap
  When a leafclaw apprentice is finally decreed ready to begin using the renowned Skyway trail, after practicing with their mentor for weeks in the Skyway practice arena (which is a circle of low-lying trees around the Sandfern Arena), they are taken by their mentor to the enormous Skyway Oak outside the entrance of camp.
  
  When a leafclaw apprentice is finally decreed ready to begin using the renowned Skyway trail, after practicing with their mentor for weeks in the Skyway practice arena (which is a circle of low-lying trees around the Sandfern Arena), they are taken by their mentor to the enormous Skyway Oak outside the entrance of camp.
• The Seasonal Skyway Races
  Every season SkyClan hosts The Running of the Skyway, where the leafclaws of SkyClan join together to race specific routes across the forest. It runs by process of tournament, where teams compete against one another in a test of endurance, strength, and technique until there are two final teams remaining.
  
  The winning team is the team who reaches the designated destination first, and as a sign of good sport, the winning team will hunt for the opposing team and share their spoils.
  
  The Clan favors good sportsmanship among all competing teams; to be cocky and boastful after a win or bitter after a loss is frowned upon. SkyClan celebrates a successful day of racing, going home to camp and sharing tongues until the moon is well into the sky.
  
  Fernclaws are allowed to participate in the races, as they receive the basics foundation of climbing, but it’s an unorthodox event when a team of fernclaws competes.
• Skyway Patrols
  Since the forest only covers half of SkyClan's total territory, leafclaws are partial to patrolling this specific area. Led by skilled climbers, Skyway patrols hunt, mark, and scout as any ground-walking patrol would-- just ten feet above the ground. A Skyway patrol may be disembarked to spy if SkyClan wishes to remain widely unseen.
  
• Skyway Tag
  Leafclaws love to show off their branching abilities, especially in chase. You can probably catch leafclaws, young and old alike, playing tag with each other up in the treetops.
  
• Leafclaw Marriage Ceremonies: Sappy Love
  When two leafclaws come together, the Clan gathers at the foot of a tall, sappy maple tree by Thornbush Yew. The couple is sent off to hunt a bird together, and return with the bird and stick its feathers to the top of the tree with maple sap to signify their new union, and how their connection furthers the generations of SkyClan.
  
  If the feathers do not stick readily (or not at all) to the trunk, it's considered a bad omen for the relationship.

• The Bush Crawl Commencement
  Fernclaw kits, when they reach six moons of age, are taken to the cove of thick undergrowth at the edge of camp between the medicine den and the warriors’ den. They must successfully crawl inside, grab a pinecone at the end of the “tunnel,” and return with the pinecone without making a sound. The Clan gathers to watch.
  
  If the kit manages to soundlessly grab the pinecone and take it back out, the kit will graduate into a fernclaw apprentice of SkyClan and be given a mentor. If the kit is too clumsy or noisy, it is a sign they are not ready to be fernclaw apprentices.
• The Running of Rabbit's Glide
  Fernclaws are the warriors who take to the most southern part of SkyClan territory: the moor they call Rabbit's Glide, for it's absolutely teeming over with rabbits in every season except Leaf-bare! They have rabbit-hunting competitions with one another, bemusing the leafclaws when they come home to the gully with mouthfuls of fat rabbit for the Clan to feast on.
• The Sandfern Brawl
  Fernclaws are warriors of brawn as much as they are stealth. Their apprentices train in the Sandfern Arena, and every season (or maybe every 2 seasons, depends on how busy y’all wanna be lmao) the fernclaws pitch together and host the Sandfern Brawl for SkyClan. There are three sessions of the Sandfern Brawl:
  

  - The Free-For-All, where everyone is against everyone else. You are disqualified when you get thrown off your feet.
  - Escape the Fern-whisker, where warriors team up with a clanmate and try to be the last team standing against all the fernclaw apprentices who are all holding long ferns and eliminate warriors by touching them with it
  - The Sunset Brawl - where teams compete against one another at the end of the brawl-- usually at sunset-- and spar until one team stands triumphant; teams can be composed of one to three cats. They are considered the Sandfern Champions until the next tournament, and are expected to host it.

  
  
• Fernclaw Marriage Ceremonies:
  When two fernclaws come together, the Clan all travels to the Sun Birches. The fernclaw couple are sent off individually to hunt prey, then hide the fresh-kill under the soil.
  
  The pair rendezvous back at the Sun Birches where the Clan waits for them, and then are sent by the overseer to track down, find, and unearth each other's prey to bring back and share together. The quicker they find the prey items, the better an omen for the couple's future!

☀ Warriors can challenge authority figures or rivals to a duel in the Sandfern Arena (otherwise known as the fernclaw training grounds) to settle quarrels.

☀ SkyClan leaders have always been leafclaw, aside from the late Sandsky, who was not only fernclaw but a half-loner who led for seven long years after Hawthornsky.

☀ The leader has a close 'circle' of confidants, typically with the clan's senior warriors and deputy. But who is included varies from leader to leader and who they wish to engage with.

☀ SkyClan still follows the Warrior Code - albeit, a less-developed and thorough one. SkyClan leaders, should they so choose, can approve codes suggested by their warriors or hold a vote. SkyClan leaders can enforce a new code if they see fit. You can find the SkyClan-specific code in the lore threads.

☀ Queens and elders often spin stories of the Great Journey to children, of how they were heartlessly purged from a forest of Clans like themselves, and of the original Fernclaw and Leafclaw. Each subrank is partial to their respective avatar.

☀ family matters! If your parents are fernclaw, you're expected to be a fernclaw - but no code mandates that you have to be, but you may get a few funny looks if you want to become a leafclaw apprentice.

☀ There's an inherent stigma of a fernclaw and fernclaw becoming mates and having kits as SkyClan believes mixing the bloods of the subranks will turn out shaky or otherwise inept kits with troubling futures ahead of them, physical deformities especially (like short tails, bad eyes, etc.) are thought to come from a fernclaw and leafclaw having kits.

☀ Kits born out of "wedlock" (or without a marriage ceremony) are considered taboo, or unlucky.

☀ Cats with certain deformities are bad omens, especially those with stunted limbs and shorter tails. Leafclaws, especially, fear smaller tails as they rely heavily on their tails to be their source of balance and speed in the treetops.

☀ SkyClan does not believe in StarClan or any similar afterlife. It's all on the individual what they believe in, if they think cats go someplace or simply die. However, some cats are partial to reading natural omens in the land around them - a fallen bird, an owl's hooting, a rock formation - it is all up to the individual's interpretation of current events.