July 15, 2019
This section talks about the main religion in Warriors, StarClan. It goes over what the canon has allowed us to do with them, as well as some unique use cases for them that expand on the religion. Everything here carries over to all the names for StarClan mentioned in canon as well as its counterpart, the Place of No Stars.
StarClan in general is treated as the heavenly body of Warriors. In canon, it had some pretty limited uses up until The Power of Three arc started, then their power and reach extended greatly into the mortal realm of the clans. While this caused some major continuity errors with The Prophecies Begin arc, it really allowed fanfiction writers to do whatever they pleased with it. There are many ways to use StarClan better than the Erins, though.
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DIVINE OVER-INTERVENTION
StarClan is the Warriors universe equivalent to your general god pantheon and afterlife. Cats go there (or to its underworld counterpart the Place of No Stars, aka the Dark Forest) when they die, not forming or following a pantheon of god cats; StarClan is simply everyone who has been lost. They live out the rest of their 'existence' in Silverpelt and watch the living below. They fade out of existence when forgotten by the living in full, which usually takes many, many generations. They have exerted their influence on every single arc in the series, and in most auxiliary books. They give out prophecies and omens, speak to medicine cats, oversee important ceremonies, and guide cats in times of trial. Many see StarClan in the form of their deceased friends and family. Unlike StarClan the Place of No Stars is easier to reach, for one just has to seek its influence to be corrupted by it. A cat does not have to be evil to be in this underworld; they just needed to ignore the two rules for getting into StarClan: believe in them, and follow their rules. All seems normal as far as this literary trope is concerned.
There is just one issue with StarClan, and that is their power. They are simply too influential to the story at large. Nothing, literally nothing, happened in the first four arcs unless StarClan knew about it or had even the smallest amount of paw in it. There is absolutely zero doubt they exist, no matter how many deniers and nonbelievers the Erins try to throw at us. Both StarClan and the Place of No Stars are able to field themselves on mortal battlefields and fight for and against the living. They can give extra lives to cats they deem most worthy, and reincarnate those they feel still have work to do. They can even give cats powers, giving them a huge power spike compared to their other mortal companions. Worst of all is that they shattered the limits and restrictions that were implied in The Prophecies Begin arc. This power spike was done for the sake of breaking the limits the Erins had unintentionally placed on themselves in the first arc, as well as to expand what the young and hungry fanfic community wanted to do with them. In the end we are left with a heavenly body that has a not-so-consistent power level.
Other than that, StarClan is a standard god pantheon and afterlife. So what does that do for us? Not much. That can be good or bad depending on what kind of story we want to tell, or what kind of rules we are binding ourselves to.
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STARCLAN IN FANFICTION
The mysticism set up in the first arc quickly evaporates, unfortunately. It prevents StarClan from being as strong a narrative tool as the deities of other fictional works. The only bit of it that remains is that StarClan has no god pantheon. It is a congregation of the deceased, just like the Place of No Stars. No one controls or directs them. And they do not seem to have influence over humans (this is great; the last thing we need is cats destroying bulldozers and summer camps or whatever). Regardless of these restrictions, the tighter restrictions in storytelling methods ensure that StarClan remains inconsistent and demystified. This is copied over in your fanfics.
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