TIMELINE

From a scattered few to a strong three, Aspenclan, Ravenclan, and Bogclan have overcome numerous trials to stand where they are now. Once united under the light of the stars, now broken in the ashes, the story continues to a new day.

120 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Aspenclan's previous leader, Sootstar, opens her clan to kittypets and loners after moons of violently detesting them, using them as tools to bolster Aspenclan. This great boost in numbers strengthens her clan immensely. Sootstar quietly decides that Aspenclan deserved access to Ravenclan's bountiful forests and Bogclan's fish filled waters due to their importance to Starclan, as their territories where were their ancestors chose to reside.

110 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Sootstar's conquest begins after a period of rigorous training in preparation for true war. Their cause is righteous, and their troops ready. Sootstar sieges multiple vicious attacks on the other two clans, the element of surprise and their huge numbers overwhelming Bogclan and Ravenclan badly.

109 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Mudmoon, Bogclan's previous leader, and Larksky, Ravenclan's previous leader, both realize the significance of Sootstar's claims after moons of writing off her boasting that Aspenclan had doubled in size and strength as falsehoods. They regroup and meet in secret, agreeing to work together against Sootstar. Ravenclan and Bogclan move as one, defending themselves from Aspenclan's advances as close allies. Their friendship stands for moons after this moment.

100 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Sootstar's troops invade and successfully claim one of Ravenclan's outer camps as Aspenclan territory. Aspenclan doesn't walk away from the conquest unscathed, and neither does Ravenclan. Sootstar loses a life, and Larksky's daughter dies in the frenzy.

90 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Sootstar's war ends and leaves Bogclan and Ravenclan standing victorious, but there are major losses of life on all sides. Sootstar and her son Ashtail, one of Aspenclan's deputies, die. Mudmoon and Larksky lose many lives. Bogclan loses their champion, Mossflame, and Ravenclan loses two healers, Leafsong and Garpelt. Rabbitstar rises to leadership in Sootstar's place. Rabbitstar still led the largest clan, but promised to never allow kittypets and loners back into Aspenclan unless they truly needed a home. Aspenclan sends their warriors to Bogclan and Ravenclan as peaceful ambassadors, to assist in their recoveries from the war.

89 MOONS PRE-OPEN, An extremely hot, dry greenleaf starves the territories of water and prey. While neither clan is confident enough to test Aspenclan due to their still-huge numbers, Bogclan and Ravenclan begin to squabble over their borders. Multiple skirmishes break Raven and Bog's previous truce, as Aspenclan continues to lick their wounds and do their best to make up for Sootstar's mistakes in the background. Aspenclan does not participate in the conflict directly, managing to survive the hard times on their own.

80 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Mudmoon passes peacefully away in the leader's den from starvation after refusing to eat before their clan could, surrounded by family. Ashenmoon, a strong, unyielding presence, rises to power in Bogclan.

70 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Larksky dies fighting in a skirmish against Bogclan. Cardinalsky, a popular hotshot, is chosen by the Council as leader in Ravenclan.

69 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Changes of leadership in Ravenclan and Bogclan break their ties even further, as neither new leaders have nostalgic memories of old friendships clouding their eyes. Ashenmoon especially pushes this change, making Bogclan become more focused on maintaining inner ties, shrinking back from outer-clan friendships. Ravenclan's mistrustful, secretive side heightens and leads to the creation of multiple terrifying rumors about their territory. Since this initial break, tensions have remained relatively high between the two clans. Small violent encounters between them were not uncommon, but never escalated into all out war.

24 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Rabbitstar retires and retakes his old name, Rabbitheart. The old tom settles into the elders den at the astonishing age of 150 moons. He is remembered even today as a fair, excellent leader who guided Aspenclan through a wonderful period of peace. Spiderfang is chosen by Aspenclan as the next leader, becoming Spiderstar.

7 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Another greenleaf drought drives every clan to desperation. Aspenclan struggles to cope this time around, unable to find any fresh water at all in their territory. They request that Bogclan allows them to visit their lands every now and then in order to drink, but Bogclan refuses. Aspenclan attempts to get their water forcefully by invading their territory in droves, and Bogclan makes every effort to fight them off of their borders. Ravenclan watches impassively, refusing to reveal if they are struggling or not, and refusing to offer help or intervene for either's sake.

6 MOONS PRE-OPEN, Spiderstar realizes that because the Zephyr Caverns are within Aspenclan's territory, they have a huge amount of leverage against the other two clans. They inform Bogclan and Ravenclan that until they give in to their demands, no cat of any foreign clan will be allowed in Aspenclan's territory, not even for the purposes of visiting Star Breathing Creek. While Aspenclan has always been protective of the Zephyr Caverns, there had never been such strict measures put in place. This created an unbalanced power dynamic that created a good deal of tension between all three clans, their very ancestors being held hostage forcing Ravenclan and Bogclan to surrender near instantly. In order to be allowed legal rights to enter the caverns, any harsh actions against Aspenclan were to be stopped immediately, and any mistreatment or disrespect of any Aspenclan cat could lead to great punishment. There was even talk of expanding Aspenclan's borders far into Ravenclan and Bogclan territory.

3 MOONS PRE-OPEN, A massive fire sparks near the mouth of the Zephyr Caverns and tears its way across the territories, easily sparking across the drought-dried brush. Aspenclan is hit the hardest, losing a massive chunk of their territory to the flames as well as a number of their clanmates, both of their healers included. Ravenclan is the second to be hit, though because of the way their territory is made up, the fire has a lesser effect, and they are spared from grievous harm. Bogclan finds themselves in the most advantageous position, being hit the least and not losing any of their clanmates at all.

The fire had been hot enough to crack stone, hot enough to evaporate snow, hot enough to burn someone to the bone. The heat causes the entrance to the Zephyr Caverns to collapse into nothing but a pile of cracked black rock and broken quartz, almost resembling a broken night sky. This has blocked leaders, medicine cats, and regular warriors alike from reaching Starclan, and communication from the sky to the ground has halted completely.

In order to save their clan, Aspenclan flees to where the fire had not scorched the land and where they would not be at the mercy of the other clans. The twolegplace is the only place safe enough, and soon the ragged clan finds safe haven within a barn on the outskirts of town that belonged to the barn cat, Baphomet. A deal was struck, and Aspenclan finally found a temporary home while their territory recovered from the fire that took everything from them.