StarClan are the deceased warrior ancestors of the Clans who live on in spirit form after dying, and watch over the living Clan cats.

There is no specific leader for StarClan, since there are many cats from all four Clans that work together. They are responsible for sending signs and omens to the living cats.

StarClan are the deceased ancestors, descendants, and Clanmates of the Clan cats. Cats are only allowed to join StarClan when they die if they have lived an honorable life and followed the warrior code.

If a cat doesn't live an honorable life, then that cat will end up in the Dark Forest, also known as the Place of No Stars.

StarClan cats don't have to be in a Clan at the time of their death to be welcomed to StarClan, shown in Bluestar's Prophecy, when Pinestar was in StarClan, despite him being a kittypet at the time of his death.

When a Clan cat dies, they will be guided to StarClan by a deceased cat who played an important part in their life, such as a mentor or a cherished family member.

When a cat dies and goes to join StarClan, they merely close their eyes and reopen them.

When a leader loses a life, that life appears in StarClan as a very faint copy of the leader, but they are unable to communicate in any way to other StarClan cats until the leader loses their final life.

StarClan cats leave starry paw prints, their eyes shine like stars, and their pelts glow with a strange light, which makes them look like they have stars in their fur.

Frost sparkles at their paws and glitters in their eyes. Their pelts shine like ice and carry all the scents of the seasons: the tang of leaf-bare, the green scent of greenleaf, the musk of leafall, and the sweet blossom of newleaf.

The cats' spirits remain in StarClan until they are forgotten by all living and dead cats over a long time and earned their own peace, causing them to fade away to little more than ghost-like images of themselves.

It is possible for a StarClan cat to be killed again, but they vanish forever; going to a different place.

StarClan act somewhat like guardians to the living Clan cats, often warning them of dangers ahead, or to guide them in times of need.

Ancestors usually watch over the living cats of their former Clan, and especially over cats who were close to them in their lifetime; for example, Spottedleaf generally gives advice to ThunderClan cats, but most often to Firestar.

Living cats visit StarClan in their dreams, although StarClan cats are able to appear even in the waking world, but such appearances are rare.

Medicine cats are specially bonded with StarClan, and they are the cats who are usually contacted by the ancestors.

At every half-moon, the medicine cats and medicine cat apprentices of each Clan go to their sacred place, the Moonstone or Moonpool, to speak with their ancestors, to seek advice or to learn of things awaiting in their futures.

To receive the signs of StarClan, medicine cats either touch their nose to the cold surface of the Moonstone, or drink the cool water of the Moonpool to initiate their dreams.

Besides medicine cats, StarClan cats sometimes send messages to leaders.

Firestar is known to have received several warnings and prophecies, warriors, though it is uncommon, are known to have received prophetic dreams, such as when Brambleclaw is invited to undertake a quest, or even non-Clan cats such as Smudge, when Cloudstar wanted Firestar to rebuild SkyClan.

Other creatures, such as Midnight the badger, may also be given a warning or prophecy for the Clans.

All Clan cats give thanks to StarClan after catching prey for the life the prey has given to feed the Clan.

All Clan ceremonies are believed to be supervised by StarClan. The Clan leader performing a ceremony calls upon the warrior ancestors, and promotes a cat to their new rank by the powers of StarClan.

The leader asks that StarClan welcome them by a new name, such as when a kit is named an apprentice.

StarClan has the greatest role during leadership ceremonies, giving the new leader their nine lives, gifts and new name.

Each of the lives are granted by a single ancestor, usually a cat the new leader had cherished when the cat was alive, such as a loved family member or mentor.

When a life is granted to a leader, they are given a special gift or attribute to make them a good leader, such as endurance, courage or strength.

There is contradiction in the books about how much influence does StarClan have over the living world:

- Lionheart and Bluestar state that StarClan has no control over what happens to cats in the living world; the most they can do is to warn cats in dreams.

- In Firestar's Quest, Spottedleaf appears in the waking world and offers a bundle of burdock root to Sandstorm, and also in Firestar's Quest, Silverstream gives Firestar a fish.

- If cats fight during a Gathering, StarClan covers the moon with clouds and lightning, even if the sky was clear before, implying that they have some power over nature.

- In Sunset, StarClan allows Cinderpelt to reincarnate as Cinderkit, Brackenfur and Sorreltail's daughter, instead of accepting her spirit among them, implying that they have power over life and death. Also Jayfeather, Lionblaze and Dovewing had been reincarnated from Jay's Wing, Lion's Roar and Dove's Wing although it is unknown whether StarClan did this. However, once reaching StarClan, a cat cannot be reincarnated.

Once a cat reaches StarClan, they learn all about the territories, including the story of SkyClan.

Cats in StarClan are restored to the age in which they were happiest, for example, Yellowfang is old, because she was happiest at the end of her life, when she was in ThunderClan and Bluestar is young, because she was happiest at the peak of her youth.

They also do not age in StarClan. Cats who die keep their name at the highest rank they had or would have achieved; Smallkit, for example, becomes Smallstar, as had he survived longer he would have become leader.

There is always plenty of prey, so hunting is easy, and cats have no defined tasks (such as hunting and training).

They are free to do as they please, they are allowed to, so they are mostly content, except when seeing living cats suffer.

StarClan has no hierarchy, and there is no defined leader or deputy and cats respect each other in StarClan, although cats respect those who were their leaders or mentors in the living world.

Once a StarClan cat ceases to be remembered by any living or dead cats, they will slowly seem to appear as the faintest star and will live their life in StarClan peacefully and alone.

Usually, they do not send dreams to any living cats except on special occasions.

The opposite of StarClan is the Place of No Stars, or Dark Forest, which is where cats who had committed the worst possible crimes when they had lived go when they die.

It has a sort of border with StarClan's hunting grounds, appearing as a wall of mist.

StarClan cats can enter the Place of No Stars, but when they do, they risk being unable to escape, and will be trapped forever in the dark, eerily lit forest.

Cats who make up the Place of No Stars, such as Tigerstar and his son, Hawkfrost, on the other hand, have no choice but to stay where they are.

The Tribe of Rushing Water have their own spirit ancestors, the Tribe of Endless Hunting.

The Tribe of Endless Hunting do not send dreams to the Tribe cats, but instead send prophecies through moonlight patterns and and the shape of rocks in The Cave of Rushing Water.

These signs are sent to the Tribe's Healer, Teller of the Pointed Stones, or Stoneteller.

Feathertail, the RiverClan cat who dies protecting the Tribe, is able to walk with both StarClan and the Tribe of Endless Hunting.

Formerly part of StarClan, SkyClan's ancestors left, along with SkyClan, and are now separate.

However, some StarClan cats were present at Leafdapple's leader ceremony, showing that StarClan cats can still communicate with SkyClan's ancestors.

StarClan's hunting grounds are described as a moonlit night landscape in greenleaf, a land of mist and shadows.

It resembles the landscape of The Forest, and several locations exist in both the waking world and in StarClan.

For the living cats, StarClan's territory appears as a large, cloudy-looking swath of stars, which has been confirmed to be the Milky Way.

Clan cats believe that, upon dying and joining StarClan, a new star appears in Silverpelt.

On the other hand, the stars are sometimes regarded as representing the living cats instead of the dead ones.

When the Clans travel to a new territory, StarClan follows them in the sky so they can continue watching over them.

When SkyClan moved to a new territory, their ancestors separated from StarClan and left with them.

When the remaining four Clans left the forest and went to live by the lake, StarClan traveled along with them through unknown sky paths.

The sacred places of the Clans exist in both the waking world and StarClan's hunting grounds.

Fourtrees is one of these locations. Fourtrees is the most commonly seen landmark in the cats dreams when visiting StarClan (such as a cat during his or her leadership ceremony).

Even though it was destroyed by Twolegs, Fourtrees still exists in StarClan, as it will always be remembered by the cats.

Warm-Rocks is a place in StarClan territory that was mentioned in Fading Echoes, when Silverstream was looking for her daughter, Feathertail.

It is not described in detail, however, the name suggests that it is a relaxing spot, similar to Sunningrocks in the old forest.