Kittenhood

Marshstream was born the only tom in a litter of three. Due to a parasite ravaging through the forest, destroying the vegetation and contaminating or scaring off animals, herbs and food was scarce and cats of both classes were struggling. As a result of this ressource shortage affecting their mother, both Marshstream and his sisters were born rather weak. It took moons for the situation to become stable, but unfortunately just as things began to look up, his lastborn sister, Deerkit, seemed to fall ill. She grew tired, her limbs too weak to support her weight, only drawing shallow breaths between short periods of sleep.
The cause of this desease could have been many things, but with the chaos of the situation the correct treatment was undeterminable. However, since the litter happened to not only be part of the upper class, but also born to the current leader’s sister, leaving her to die was not an option. As such, many ressources like herbs and food, but also time and helping bodies went into trying to cure Deerkit, ressources that had just recently been treasures to all of MossClan. Marshkit was of course just as adamant about his sister’s life as the cats around him - after all, they would know best, being much older and wiser than him or anyone else!

Eventually all of their combined effort paid off and to the delight of the whole upper class, Deerkit recovered. And with little time to spare, as the siblings’ apprentice ceremonie was coming closer. Naturally, it would have been a shame for a member of the royal family to reach this important milestone late!

Apprenticeship

Due to the recent crisis, their litter actually made up almost all of MossClan’s apprentices with the exception of a single tom-cat nearing the end of his training. Despite this, they rarely interacted with him as he was born into the lower class. Marshpaw paid little mind to this until one morning, a lone warrior rushed into camp with terrible news:
The tom and his mentor, who had left by themselves at dusk for a training session about navigating and hunting in the dark, had been found not a long way from camp, both deceased. According to the medicine cat at the time, their wounds suggested the pair had been surprised by a owl while concentrating on their hunting. The older cat seemed to initially have fought off the large bird and tried to carry his apprentice back to camp so he could receive medical attention, though evidently his attempt was unsuccessful and the exhaustion combined with his own injuries led to neither of them making it back in time.
Despite the tragedy of the situation, Marshpaw was kept busy with thoughts of what happened. It was quite a risk to hunt at night for any group of cats with their territory being so cluttered, with trees and shrubbery making it neigh impossible to notice approaching danger until it was too late. But to wander into a place with that many thick, high trees, at night and during Newleaf of all seasons, without another warrior for protection?

But his questions wouldn’t remain unanswered forever. Though he surely wished it were under different circumstances, as an attack near the river shared with StormClan lead to Deerpaw fleeing towards the nearby cliff. But as she tried to climb up and hide in one of the caves, the dry terrain broke away and left the she-cat to sustain a lethal injury due to landing hard on the sharp rocks below.
It was just after the family had finished grieving next to her body that Marshpaw noticed a nearby she-cat mumbling bitter words under her breath, causing him to confront her in his anger - though he wasn’t ready for the reaction he received.
As it turned out, the patrol checking the border had been too small, despite many cats in MossClan being aware of the current tension between them and the riled up StormClan cats, who were suffering from the harsh Greenleaf sun much more severely than the rest of the clans. The plague during his childhood had gone much deeper than he remembered, with many cats ending up sick, going hungry or even dying as a result of their forest’s fragile state. So much so that, even as the worst seemed to be over and Deerkit was being treated, a litter of four was struggling just a short way from his own nursery. But since these kits were lower class, the leader’s family was made a priority and while Marshpaw’s sister survived, none of the other four made it.
Because of how the situation was handled, MossClan ended up with too few cats to send out and sustain the clan, since the primary victims had of course been part of the lower class, who were expected to risk being exposed to carriers of the parasite much more often than their clanmates. The she-cat exclaimed that their shortsightedness and arrogance had thus not only cost the lives of the “expendables”, but also cats like Deerpaw - and her own son, who turned out to be the apprentice who died on a night hunt with his mentor, since no warrior was able to accompany them.

Marshpaw was greatly impacted by what he learned and later confirmed to be the truth and the already quiet and thoughtful tom became focused on always making the “correct” decision, weighing all possible consequences of each option against each other. His drive and hunger for information and control brought him further into the scope of the talons, who had already been keeping an eye on him because of his skills in stealth and patient evaluation. One of them ended up taking a special interest in him, a strict, no-nonsense type tom named Branchfang, who had just recently come to lead the talons after making a name for himself as one of the most dedicated and respected cats MossClan had ever seen.

Life as a Warrior

As the leaves changed color time and time again, Marshstream spent his life as a warrior less on the open battlefield and more in the background, establishing connections with other cats, crawling through the shadows or carrying out classified missions, all the while spinning his web of information throughout MossClan and beyond. Eventually the passing of Branchfang would lead to him being appointed his successor as head of the talons, a position he has since been carrying out with a lot of caution and foresight.

His personal closeness to Lazulistar had lead to him becoming Rootpaw's mentor before the latter inherited his father’s position just days after the ceremony. As it is, Marshstream remains one of the few cats to honestly care for the young tom, even though his feelings mostly stem from his relationship with the late leader.