Cats in the City

A Clangen blog for cats trying to survive in a world not made for them

[astray-clangen]

Welcome to my clangen side blog!

Astray is a comic based on my clangen file, where I'll be playing 1 full year (12 moons) ahead and then drawing out the events that happen to my little kitties. I'll change around the order of events and adding bits and lore as we go, and I do meddle with game files as I want 'cos I want to tell a satisfying and fun story.

This is based on the vanilla clangen game with the mechanics, set roles and naming conventions within the game, but Astray will not be a typical warriors setting.

General Content warnings include:

Death, Animal death, Violence, Injury, Blood, Torture, Abuse, Drama, Swearing/Language, Car accidents etc. Let me know If I missed anything!

Allegiances: [ Here ]

First Page: [ Here ]

Chronological View: [ Here ]

I'm Clovey, any pronouns are fine though she/her is my default, based in the Uk and 25+, and have been trying to start a clangen comic for a while and this is the first to get past moon 1 so I'm committing now :)

Pages will drop weekly probably. I'm working full time so if I run out of pages, bear with me and let me know you're interested in more! <3

Asks are open for anything and any time!!

[daisyclan]

MOON 43 Part Three FIRST LAST NEXT

Sometimes bad things happen, and it's not fair.

[nimbusclan]

Which NimbusClan Character Are You?

Find out by taking this quiz!

Have you always wanted to know which of the NimbusClan cats you share a personality with? Well, now you can find out!

Feel free to share your results in a reblog or in the tags, I'd love to see who you get!

[astray-clangen]

ITS BACKKKK YESS LETS GO WELCOME BACK I MISSED YOU

Awh thank you so much Anon!! I missed posting and interacting with people on this blog, thank you so much to everyone who sent an ask in the past year asking about the comic and myself and its return, I appreciated them all even if I was too busy or overwhelmed to respond back 🥹❤️

Yes!! To a degree I am back, I am still as slow as ever as an artist and haven't built up a backlog of pages, I figured it's better to put out pages as I make them then feel I can't at all until I hit some invisible quota of prepared pages.

I still have a job and other artistic endeavors and things that need my attention, but this comic is like the only consistent thing that I still get myself to draw when nothing else works so it will not be abandoned.

I won't be returning to weekly posting, I'll just be working on pages and putting them out when they're ready, probably one at a time (the interlude was all in one go as a treat and apology for being gone so long ❤️) but I hope to keep this story going!!

I have, infact, got the records of this clangen file all the way to moon 120, with a loose story for it in mind. That said in the short term I just want to see if I can hit the end of moon 12! Get to that One Year mark with this little clan and comic.

We'll see, Moon 8 is actually 9 pages so far in my sketches, its a biggie buuut the warm wonderful welcome back people have given me today has meant a lot to keep up the work 🥰❤️Thank you!!

[astray-clangen]

[ Moon 7.5 ] [ Cold Rains ] [ Interlude 1 ] ⊲[ First ] | [ Previous ] | [ Next] ⊳

[ Surprise! Astray-clangen actually posted something. I've been working on the interlude pages on and off for months and this is the redraw because the previous ones didn't feel good enough. As you can see the style has changed from before, it will change again probably. But I'm inspired to keep going, though no deadline for when I'll start posting Moon 8, its in the works! Here's all of the interlude in one go, this is just a scene I felt was needed before Moon 8 but it's been nice figuring out my style again for this comic.

Thanks for sticking with me ❤️]

[tidalclan]

TidalClan 1000 Follower Character Design Contest Results!

Hello everyone!

First off, I want to thank everyone who participated in this contest! I absolutely adored the designs that were submitted and I loved reading all about the little details you put into your work! From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

But without further ado, the winners of the Character Design Contest are...

@astray-clangen for their beautiful design for Puddlesand! AND @dustdevilclan-clangen for their fierce design of Condorstar! (respective works posted below)

Incredible works all around!

Please either comment on this post OR dm me (whichever you find easier and comfiest) so we can discuss which character of yours you'd like drawn!

Thank you all again so much for participating! Look for TidalClan news coming soon!

[nimbusclan]

Moon 13 Part 3

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WE'RE BACK!!

This update stole my lunch money and then kicked me down a flight of stairs, but I prevailed.

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[nimbusclan]

Moon 13 Part 2

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The scent of fear spiked sharply in Alpinepaw's nostrils, the cats around him tense with terror and unease. Harekit was the exception – he seemed to have all the courageousness of LionClan coursing through him at the idea of standing up to the dogs Moonstar was screeching about.

"I'll fight a dog!" He crowed as Fogfreckle shuffled the orange kit forward, pushing at his flank to get him to walk. "I'll fight ten hundred dogs!"

Continue Reading

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[astray-clangen]

Congratulations @tidalclan for 1000 followers!!! You deserve every single one and I can't wait for the comic to return!!! 🥰

I love this comic and its characters so much and it was one of my early inspirations for starting my own comic with Astray! So I couldn't NOT join the design contest, especially if I get to design a sweet old lady :3c

I went with a real soft round design for that sweet Puddlesand vibe, but if she's a real old loner then she's been adventuring!! She's got stories to tell, she's seen the world, and lost an eye in exchange for her roaming.

I mostly colour dropped the sprite with some tweaks to make the cool greys work with the warmer greys, but I liked the warm tint against the blue white of her fur, gave it that good puddle sand mix in my mind.

I also picture with age she's pretty insecure on her feet, has a wide stance to deal with a lack of balance, got arthritic joints/bones and matted fur all around her back legs and tummy that she can't reach to groom like she used to. (My own cat is old so I know what an old cat can look and feel like, age shows so much in their posture)

Congrats again to Tidalclan!!

[tidalclan]

It's been a long time comin'!

With Moon 25 FINALLY on the horizon, and with things settling back into a normal pace, I can finally celebrate this blog reaching 1000 Followers! I know it's been very up and down lately, but I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for keeping up with TidalClan. I promise there is more to come as I get more and more satisfied with the style I want the comic to be in! I want to deliver something you all can enjoy and get attached to!

In celebration, two upcoming cats (one that will be seen right away in Moon 25) have the chance to be designed by YOU! But if you're not interested, please reblog this post so it can interest other artists out there! Guidelines and Contest Rules Below!

For this contest, you will be able to design TWO cats in TidalClan's world! You do not have to do both of course, all up to you! The information provided to you will be their names, their in-game sprite and some very basic personality. If you would like to add anything extra that's in line with their provided personality, go right ahead! I love seeing other's ideas! First up is: Condorstar! Yes! A leader! Condorstar is a long-furred, white tom with brown rosette markings splotched on his flank, and a spot of brown on his right cheek, and yellow eyes. Secondly we have: Puddlesand! Puddlesand is an elderly gray point calico tabby she-cat with deep blue eyes. (She's actually described as "gray/ginger point calico tabby", though her sprite has no ginger! Buuuuuuuuuut if you want to add ginger to her design, go for it!).

Rules: - Submissions must be your own original works. Any suspicion of AI usage will result in an immediate disqualification. No base recolors, no sources outside drawing software. - By submitting, you agree that the design, if chosen, belongs to me and will be used in the comic. - As such, anything that happens to the character is a result of the ClanGen RNG or plot relevance. If they die, they are gone with no questions. - Colored, Fullbody sketches are the most preferred. - You do not need to be a follower to enter! Everyone will have equal chance of winning, as every submission will be placed into a wheel. - That said, ONLY ONE SUBMISSION PER PERSON. While you may draw both, I will not be choosing both designs for Condor and Puddle from the same person. There *should* be two winners, unless the wheel decides otherwise. - Please use the tag #TidalClanContest and @ me in your submission :3

The winning designs will be chosen on July 21th at 8pm EST. The winning designers will receive a huge shoutout PLUS a shaded fully-body character of their choice drawn by yours truly ^^ If there's no submissions, well, uh... ok then.

[cccdiscord]

Happy Pride Month!!!

We had 48 people submit quilt blocks for our pride quilt for this month's event and we've created an awesome spread representing the clangen creator community's pride. As usual if you have a question about who drew a particular square we can probably identify them for ya :3

No texture version under the cut!

[juniper-clan]

StarClan split the velvet curtain of the sky, and the ensuing light shattered the world. 

Fire burned despite the downpour of water from the heavens. The Two-Legs vessel was cast in all directions to be shredded by the gnashing teeth of the ocean. Into the hungry foam, Heronpaw fell.

Lavenderstar had told her that StarClan would return for everyone one day, be it in their dreams or through the hooked claw of another cat. It was a good thing, to be reunited with your loved ones. Heronpaw was so young, she could not imagine this happening to her quite yet.

Striking the churning water, she thought of Lavenderstar, she thought of her brother and sister in Starclan.

Were they scared, too?

Heronpaw was not allowed the luxury of fear for more than a breath. Adrenaline jolted through her and her paws scrambled for purchase in the murky darkness. She was suspended in the void of the sea, weightless and sinking all at once. Above her, the sickly pallor of the full moon, and beneath her, glimmering StarClan.

She felt their paws grazing hers. She could hear her name, spoken so far away and so warbled that it could have been a dream.

Heronpaw wanted it to be a dream. Yet, dreams did not involve drowning kits, and there was one entering the tide but a whiskers distance away from her.

Longkit.

She knew little of him, as he was less than a moon old and far too young to ever interact with, yet he was sinking like a leaden weight. The sunny orange of his fur was the only thing she had noticed, so jarring a sight against the void. Heronpaw cycled her paws in a frenzy, breaching the water’s surface.

She sucked in frigid air that stung her lungs, but did not linger. Heronpaw descended back into the depths, snatching Longkit in her jaws. He did not fight back. Distantly, Heronpaw thought that he was so small and warm compared to the ocean.

Heronpaw resurfaced a second time, sputtering pathetically for air through her nose as she gripped Longkit by his scruff. Only when Heronpaw dug her claws into the safety of driftwood did the kit react, mewling pathetically. Heronpaw collapsed beside him on their makeshift raft, fur flattened with salt water.

“It’s okay,” She repeated as a desperate litany, to either herself or the kit. “It’s okay, we’re okay, we’re okay.”

Heronpaw pulled Longkit ever closer to her, shutting her eyes to drown out the sound of Starclan’s claws tracing along the underside of the driftwood.

[astray-clangen]

Still getting used to the new tablet and what better way then a little designing? :3 and how could I resist making an entry to @our-clangen 's design contest!!

I adore this comic and admire this creator so much!! They've made such an enthralling story and cast, the number of pages (and backlog) they've produced makes me want to kick my butt into gear haha

More on Jasmineflame's powers under the readmore!!

I chose to design Jasmineflame, since they were really pretty and the other two designs seemed to have an impressive pool of gorgeous designs already. I tried to keep her design as simple as the other Our-clan cats with a basic pastel gradient.

Jasmineflame's power is the ability to heat up her fur, or 'fire fur' for short! It's relatively simple and no apparent change in appearance which I figured worked well for a background character, but allows for a lot of cunning use to fit her personality.

Heating up her fur can do lots of things

Most obviously cause burns to opponents in battle or prey, or burn and scorch her environment to leave marks for others to follow or drawing pictures for her storytelling

Create light for when in dark environments, at night, or to dazzle prey and opponents with a rapid and bright burn of her fur

Be a warm campfire when it gets cold! Her clanmates will love to cuddle up to her in winter, or she can melt away snow and ice.

Jasmine flowers apparently symbolise love, platonic and romantically, so I thought it'd be cute if she subconsciously began to burn when flustered or blushing, making her cheeks glow white.

The opportunities for fun little quicks are endless but can be picked and chosen depending on what fits the story and what would be too strong for the plot. I figured there's already a fire-breather in the clan, so making someone who can create heat but only with her fur (not eyes, claws, etc) would make a fun limit, while focusing more on other aspects of flames like their ability to light up a room.

[astray-clangen]

Hey friends! Just a small update, but since the beginning of december my Tablet was super super dead so I couldn't get much progress done even when I had time to work on pages.

But that's finally changed!! I now have my new tablet set up and I'm so excited to get drawing again 🥰

I still want to build up a small backlog before I start posting pages again, and I do intend to respond to any asks I've recieved in the meantime, but this is just an excited lil update from me! Hopefully with my new set up I'll find working on pages easier, I'll need to experiment a bit. especially since its been a while 😅

[astray-clangen]

A Tag game!!

Tagged by @nimbusclan @tidalclan

a tag game huh?? and I got hit by two of the coolest clangen blogs 👀 guess I can't ignore this!!

Last Song: Preybirds by Rabbitology I love this song, it's one of my favourite songs to match to my current DnD campaign I'm DMing. I love the beat and their voices, it gives folksy fantasy big time. It's that hunted and travelling on the road vibe, cursed by the world and haunted by your past, chased by death and with many dangerous roads ahead with no right path to take.

Last Book: Reckoning by Michael R. Miller, 4th book in the Songs of Chaos series. I haven't finished this book since I only pick it up every other lunch time at work, but I love this world the book series is set in. It's a dragon rider book where Dragon riders fight a plague-army threat that rises yearly, set in a fantasy kingdom with all the oppressive systems that are upheld in that sort of power structure. The main character is a cook's apprentice who couldn't stomach how brutal Dragons and Dragon riders are, so he saves a 'defective' egg that hatches into an albino blind dragon. I love Holt Cook's bond to his dragon, it scratches that itch I enjoyed with how to train your dragon, and I love the magic, powers, cool swords and lore this world has. Big reccommend if you love action fantasy stories.

Last Movie: Last new movie I saw was Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. What a masterpiece. It was gorgeously crafted, the colours and set pieces are beautiful alone, but the cinematography, the acting and language. I loved watching it with my friends, it hurt so badly because its such a tragedy and you can feel it coming with every scene, but I couldn't look away. Incredible looking Frankenstein, the medical science is so cool, the costume department popped off, and my friend says its very accurate to the book too!

Last TV Show: New show? I just finished Stranger things season 5 and, well. I was there when Sherlock season 4 was supposed to have a secret final episode too lol, kinda funny how bad something has to be to make fans be in denial that badly. It was the safest most boring finale they could've done, like it wasn't objectively bad or confusing, just boring.

A Tv show worth watching though is The Mighty Nein by the Critical role crew, if you want something new that's incredibly animated, voice acted, paced and more, watch that show inspired by one of the best DnD campaigns you can watch online.

Favorite Color: I have many favourites and combinations, but to choose a single one? A colour I will always pick out to represent me is Mint Green, I love green in all variations, its the softest easiest colour to pair with most others but mint green itself is so many of my favourite things. It's springy and bright, its foody and a delicious flavour, its light and whimsical and fits pastels and fairy colours, while pairing so nicely as an accent to dark browns and moodier palettes.

Spicy, sweet, or savory: Unfortunately a sweet fiend to the end. Trying to get better this year though, I'm cutting down soda, drinking more water, and going to look after my teeth better. But I'll never resist a sweet little treat, I need to do more baking this year.

Current obsession: My DnD campaign is what holds my brain in a vice grip when I'm not working or gaming. I'm the DM of a 5e DnD campaign set in my own world known as Frefaldin, and the campaign is called the Six Chains. My party is an ecletic group of adventurers who ended up in the same prison cart (think skyrim opening hehe) before it gets attacked on the road and falls underground. From there, I've guided them on a series of fun little adventures, fighting possessed scarecrows, pulling off a heist at a fancy Gala, and recently freeing a town from an fungal zombie infection caused by a group of necromancers. I've got many ideas and over arching stories for this world, but most of the time I'm laying the train tracks down in front of the group as quick as they're moving on them, since it's just for fun with my friends and I love getting to be their first DnD campaign for many of them.

Last Search: HMmm honestly just looking at nearby restaurant menus. I had a day off from work so my Dad suggested going to eat somewhere nearby - which turned out to be a bad pick because it took half an hour and they never even came to our table to get our drink order, so my Dad said "I'm not waiting hours for food" and we left to the next door pub. Least the food and service was good there!

Looking Forward To: Oh man I am desperate to get my new drawing tablet. I've been radio silent on this account because my screen tablet's been broken and I can't work on pages without it. I placed an order in December with Wacom though and it's been suuuuch a nightmare. They messed up the Customs and it's taken over two weeks for them to get it processed from it being 'returned' to them, and they still haven't sent another out to me. Jokes on me for trying to spend a little more in the hopes of getting a professional service and tablet. Ah well, it'll get here eventually and hopefully work great!

Thanks for tagging me Froggie and Moth!!! I'll always happily ramble and give a few life updates 🥰❤️

In terms of who I tag next…. I TAG YOU who's reading this. Yes you. Unless you've already done this… or you know, you're busy teehee.

[nimbusclan]

Interlude 12-13

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You're like a devil in disguise You're gonna get me with those Night eyes

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[fourandtwentyblackbirds-clangen]

@astray-clangen HAPPY HOLIDAYS, here's to a wonderful new year!!