Secrets of the Clans

Warriors Field Guide: Secrets of the Clans is a special edition book in the Warriors fantasy novel series. It was officially released on May 29, 2007, however, some Borders locations accidentally shelved and sold copies before the release date.

Plot summary
The book explains how Clans came to the forest, and a cat from each Clan gives a tour of their respective camp. Other cats speak about how StarClan gave them a new Gathering place, becoming a warrior, and explain episodes such as the time when Bluestar brought her kits to RiverClan in deep snow. Also, cats from StarClan tell about their life with the starry warriors. Secrets of the Clans also contains medicinal herbs, the warrior code, ceremonies, and events, as well as two large fold-out maps and a few black and white drawing of cats, based on their descriptions from the books.

Clans
The first section included the story of how the Clans came to be. The Clans came into being as several small groups of cats were united into the four Clans by four leaders: Shadowstar (founder of ShadowClan), Riverstar (founder of RiverClan), Windstar (founder of WindClan), and Thunderstar (founder of ThunderClan). The warrior code was included in this section, as well as tours of the Forest and Lake camps of all four Clans, a tour of StarClan given by Lionheart. Stories of how Swiftpaw died (told by Brightheart), how ShadowClan drove out WindClan from their home, the flood which threatened RiverClan (told from Silverstream's and Crookedstar's point of view), Leopardstar's alliance with Tigerstar, how Yellowfang gave birth to her three kits and how she later gave up the only surviving kit, Brokenkit, and how Mosskit died while Bluestar was taking him to RiverClan and joined StarClan (told from Snowfur's point of view) were told.

Places
Fourtrees, Highstones, the Moonpool, the Island, and the Sun-Drown-Place were described in more detail and given a picture and a story in this section. Bluestar told about going to her first Gathering for Fourtrees' story. For Highstones, the story of how the Moonstone was found was told by its finder, Mothflight. For the Moonpool, an ancient Tribe Healer named Rock told how he once visited the Moonpool. Dustpelt described the Island, and Tawnypelt described the Sun-Drown-Place.

Ceremonies
The major ceremonies were explained in more detail, and all but the Leader and Deputy ceremonies had stories. For the apprentice ceremony, Birchfall explained about being an apprentice. For the warrior ceremony, Brackenfur spoke about the events surrounding his becoming a warrior and he also spoke about later gaining Whitewing as an apprentice. Also, a page on fighting techniques was included. The elders' ceremony was explained by Goldenflower.

Breaking the Warrior Code
This small section only had two stories, one on how Cloudtail became a kittypet for a short time, and the other on how Crowfeather secretly loved Leafpool when he shouldn't have.

Prophecies and omens
This section explained the several prophecies and omens which appeared in the Warrior series. Bluestar explained the "Fire will save our Clan" prophecy. Firestar explained the "Four will become two, Lion and Tiger will meet in battle, and Blood will rule the Forest" prophecy. Brambleclaw explained the "Darkness, Air, Water, and Sky will come together and shake the Forest to its roots" prophecy, and Leafpool spoke about the, "Before there is peace, Blood will spill blood, and the Lake will run red" prophecy. Omens such as Barkface seeing blood in the clouds and Firestar seeing himself wear the mane of a LionClan cat were mentioned.

Medicine
One section explained about medicine cats and the herbs they use. A list of herbs (as well as a warning about deathberries) and the words for the medicine cat ceremony were included. This part is told by Leafpool and she explains everything.

Cats outside the clans
This section explained in detail about BloodClan, with Barley's story of his escape from BloodClan, the Tribe of Rushing Water, with Stoneteller speaking about the arrival of the silver cat that would save his Tribe. It also includes information on rogues and loners, with the story of Daisy leaving the horseplace to live with ThunderClan, and kittypets.

Other animals
One small section describes badgers, foxes, birds of prey, dogs, horses, sheep, cows, rats, and Twolegs.

Mythology
The mythology of the cats is shown in three stories of the three great Clans, LeopardClan, LionClan, and TigerClan. The first story is how LeopardClan won the River. The second is how snakes came to the forest, and the third is how TigerClan got its stripes.
 
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