Mapletail

Mapletail was born to a rogue. Her mother's family had a history with the four great clans, inspiring Mapletail to learn about the clans. One day, she decided to create her own clans, founding MapleClan and recruiting rogues and kittypets to join her clan.

Mapletail eventually found a mate, Ashcloud, with whom she had three kits: Tigerkit, Leopardkit, and Lionkit. Unfortunately, Tigerpaw was killed by a DawnClan cat during a border dispute, leaving Mapletail devastated. When her mate was also later killed, her mental health began to diminish. While mentoring Acornwhisker, Mapletail started seeing Shadowheart of FieldClan in a moment of poor judgement. Acornwhisker, feeling neglected, exposed their relationship and brought Mapletail back to her senses, for which she was thankful rather than upset.

Eventually, Mapletail retired to the elder's den, having served her clan for many moons and having been the founder of the four clans.

Early Life
Mapletail's mother was the result of a forbidden romance between a WindClan and RiverClan cat. The queen who birthed her hid the pregnancy from her clan mates, and abandoned her kits on the outskirts of clan territory. Mapletail's mother, who came to be known as Berry, was found by a stray who lived nearby, though all her littermates had not survived. The stray cared for Berry and raised her as his own. When Berry became older, she found a mate of her own and eventually gave birth to Mapletail. At some point during Mapletail's kit hood, Berry had returned to the clans and demanded an explanation, receiving an apology from the mother who had abandoned her and an offer to join WindClan. Berry turned up the offer, but remained fixated on the idea of clan life. She told imagined stories of clan life to her daughter, who became fascinated by clan life in turn. When Mapletail was older, and her mother was beginning to age, she decided to head off in search of a greater community of cats, and departed with her mother on good terms.

After many moons of wandering, variably resting in abandoned twoleg barns and homes, or staying with stray cats, Mapletail came across the town Meadowglen. At first, she was overwhelmed by the busyness of the small country town, but across the town's main bridge, she found ample open territory, rich with prey. Being a country town, there were many abandoned farms, and many strays and rogues in a close vicinity. Mapletail even noted a barn filled with a large group of rogues who had come together to help each other survive. Mapletail decided that this would be the site of her clan, and set up camp atop a hill in an area sheltered by a cliff-face.

Having heard stories of StarClan from her mother, Mapletail went in search of a spot where she could make contact with StarClan. She eventually came across the Starpool, and made contact with StarClan cats who told her that they were proud to see her initiative to start a new clan. They informed her that they approved of her mission, and that her clan blood would carry her far. Encouraged, Mapletail headed to the barn of rogues to recruit cats for her clan. She came across Firefur, Snowblossom, Thistlebrook, Sootstone, Ashcloud, Harewhisker, Spottedfur, and Ivydust. She brought them back to her territory, and named her new clan MapleClan.

MapleClan
After founding her clan, Mapletail quickly came to the conclusion that she had no desire to lead the clan. Fights broke out between Harewhisker and Firefur, two ambitious toms, about who would be leader. Mapletail mediated the fights, and suggested that whoever could prove himself first should be the leader of the clan. Firefur eventually set himself apart as the leader, and rose to leadership of MapleClan as Firestar. Harewhisker left the clan shortly after, along with Spottedfur, upsetting Mapletail, though she accepted their decision. She was also privately happy to hear that they had started their own clan, increasing the number of clans in her territory, which she suspected would please StarClan.

Not long after Firestar arose as leader, Mapletail became quickly close with Ashcloud. Mapletail and Ashcloud had much to share with each other: Mapletail her hunting tips, and Ashcloud his fighting tips, and with so much time spent together, the two cats became mates. Not long after Snowblossom gave birth to Firestar's kits, Mapletail announced that she was expecting kits, and soon after gave birth to Tigerkit, Lionkit, and Leopardkit. Mapletail was very protective of her kits, but as more cats started to join the clan, she felt more protected and started to ease up. Upon the apprenticeship of her kits, Mapletail left the nursery and returned to the duties of a warrior. After the untimely death of Sootstone, Mapletail was rewarded her first apprentice in Flamepaw.

Upon the death of her son, Tigerpaw, Mapletail was devastated. Torn apart by grief, she would not eat or drink, and would have starved herself if Lionpaw and Ivydust had not convinced her to eat. Mapletail fiercely mourned her son's death and bore resentment towards DawnClan for many moons for allowing a full-grown warrior to fight her son one-on-one. At the first gathering of the two clans, Mapletail and Ashcloud both nearly broke the truce to attack Slateclaw, but Mapletail eventually calmed herself and her mate down. Though she resolved to let go of her resentment towards DawnClan, she never forgave Slateclaw, and relished in his death at her mate's paws.

A couple of season's after Ashcloud killed Slateclaw, Ashcloud himself was killed by a wild wolf which he bravely attacked during a border patrol. He had fought fiercely, but when his paw was broken by the wolf, he could no longer defend himself and was killed. Mapletail was truly devastated by the death of her mate, the grief of her son still raw. Mapletail's faith in the goodness of StarClan began to waver, and her mind slowly began to descend as she tried to cope with her grief. Firestar gave her Acornpaw as an apprentice, having noticed her depression and attempting to take her mind off things.

In a moment of weakness and poor judgement, Mapletail began a forbidden, short-lived relationship with the FieldClan deputy Shadowheart. Acornpaw, fed up with her neglect of him, revealed Mapletail's relationship at a gathering. Firestar, recognising Mapletail's diminished mental state, did not punish her harshly, but ordered that she always be accompanied by another warrior when leaving camp. Mapletail and Shadowheart immediately ended their relationship, and Mapletail was guilty to hear that Shadowheart had been removed from his position as deputy. Acornpaw eventually came to feel guilty about his public revelation, and apologised to Mapletail, who assured him that she was not angry, instead thanking him for bringing her back to her senses. Even after Acornwhisker earned his warrior name, the two remained close.

While Mapletail still remained one of the clan's most astute hunters, her age began to show as she was more frail in small border skirmishes and often had trouble keeping up during patrols. Still desperate to remain a warrior, however, Mapletail requested that she be given Birchpaw as an apprentice after the death of Dovefrost. Firestar accepted her request, and Mapletail became a mentor once more. Birchpaw, who had been close with his mentor, was still shaken with grief, and as such, Mapletail was the mentor he needed. She taught him how to live with and process his grief without letting it consume him, and the two became close. After earning his warrior name and having kits of his own, Birchfrost became concerned by Mapletail's growing fragility, and had a firm talk with her in which the two came to the conclusion that Mapletail had reached the end of her warrior days. Mapletail went to Firestar and requested to become the clan's first elder, and though he was sad to lose the warrior who had started it all, he accepted.

Mapletail now lives out her time in the elder den. Although she is the only elder in the clan, she is one of the most popular cats in the clan, and has frequent visitors. She is especially popular among the kits, with a large repertoire of stories to share with them, and enjoys spending her days lying on stone warmed by the sun. She also enjoyed caring for the kits of her daughter, Leopardclaw, in particular Tigerkit and Ashkit, named after her fallen family members.

Elder Ceremony
Firestar: Mapletail, is it your wish to give up the name of a warrior and go to join the elders?

Mapletail: It is.

Firestar: Your Clan honours you and all the service you have given us. I call upon StarClan to give you many moons of rest.