Hi everyone! I go by Couch and I use she/he/they pronouns (no preference btw). GulfClan is the playthrough that I'm currently running in Clangen, and this blog is meant to keep track of everything I make for the artlocke challenge.
What is Clangen's artlocke challenge?
Clangen's artlocke challenge was created by Artemis-Moon on discord (at least I think? feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). The rules are fairly simple; each time a cat joins the clan, dies, gets a scar, or has some other major event happen you draw it! In my run, I'm also going to be creating artwork for each new moon in game.
Who are GulfClan?
GulfClan is a small group of displaced loners and former rogues who come together to restore a lost clan. The territory they are in is called 'The Shield' and is heavily inspired by Acadia National Park. As their name would suggest, they live along the coast. Unfortunately, they face a lot of social pressure from the other clans in the area due to them absorbing a lot of their territory after the original GulfClan was essentially wiped out by a redcough outbreak.
More info on the cats of GulfClan can be found in the links below!
Links
Will be updated as more posts are made.
Year 1 Lineup
Updates in Order
Tags:
#gulfclan updates [main updates/mini comic posts]
#gulfclan [all posts about gulfclan]
#other clans [posts involving the other three clans]
Hopechase leaves on patrol by herself, not thinking properly and forgetting that the woods haven't been fed. She sees a Woodcrawler. And IT sees HER. Hopechase runs. Fast. DONT LEAVE ME
(Hopechase, warrior, female, 86 moons)
(Woodcrawler, a mockery of life, ageless)
(Rootgrove, ?????, Lightfoot, can you see me. i have become something else)
---
Hopechase couldn't breathe.
Her ears were ringing as blood coursed through her entire body.
She could see, but it was all a shaking blur. All she could sense was the familiar smell of ForestClan's camp, and the tall rock she had seen her leaders stand on. Birchstar. Lakestar. Redstar. Apprentices. New warriors. The focal point of their society.
Camp? Camp. Yes. She was in camp. Her senses started to return to her. The muffled voices of fear and concern around her faded into existence as everyone's pelts suddenly melded into shape.
"Hopechase? What's wrong?"
"Are you alright?"
"Dad - what's wrong with her?"
"Warblerkit, listen to whatever Windfur and Redstar tell you right now. OK?"
"Are you being followed?"
That last one was Windfur. She hated that question. Hated it, hated it. He always asked that. What she hated the most was that she didn't know. She didn't dare look back. The second the leaves in the bushes rustled, the world fell into all-engulfing silence. Long, spindling legs crawled into sight, like weavers threading the air - slowly, gently, with the precision of an owl's talons.
It had no eyes.
But it still saw her.
"Hopechase?"
Hopechase's hackles flattened as a clear, cutting voice pierced through the haze of her mind. Her eyes focused on a bright, white pelt that radiated through the green and brown forest.
"Hopechase, you're alright. You're in camp. You're with clanmates. You're safe."
Iciclepool. It was Iciclepool.
She was wearing a brave mask as she stepped closer towards Hopechase. Iciclepool couldn't hide her fear.
"Hopechase. What happened?"
The adrenaline in Hopechase's veins started to slow. For a brief moment, terror's claws released the molly's heart, and Hopechase seized that moment to fight back. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She took in every scent of comfort and safety in that breath - her clanmates, the sap on the pine trees, the mud and stones, the small cooking fire, the water boiling in a clay pot. She flexed her claws. The grass uprooted itself beneath them. She was alive.
"Woodcrawler," she finally spoke. "I...saw a Woodcrawler. I ran."
Many voices chimed in at once, but Redstar's quickly boomed above the rest as she took her place beside Iciclepool. "Where, and did it follow you?"
"I didn't check," Hopechase said. Her body and voice found their footing as she remembered how to act in an emergency. "Close the gates, now."
"Is anyone out on patrol?" Redstar hissed.
"No. I didn't even know Hopechase was - "
People's voices started overlapping again as the blend of chaos began.
"I'm declaring a lockdown. Iciclepool, Talonpaw, Morningpaw - you three go help Windfur carry Olive to my den right now."
"Barleywave, get your tail up here and pull the other gate rope!" Cloudthunder hissed.
"Yeah yeah, keep your fur on, I'm - WARBLERKIT! What did Redstar just say about lockdown?!"
"Come on Warblerkit, we..."
"NO! Not fair! Dad comes too!"
Hopechase jumped up one of the tall pine trees that the clan's sliding gate was tied to, climbing past Barleywave and telling him curtly, "Go, attend to your kit. I'll do it."
Barleywave's tail flicked with annoyance before he crawled back down, and Cloudthunder looked at the dark grey molly with gratitude.
"Thanks, Hope," Cloudthunder uttered between her teeth as she pulled the bulrush rope off of its handle. Hopechase did the same, slowly bringing the gate of sturdy logs and long branches to a thud. Their camp entrance was now blocked, and their walls were securely surrounded by barricades pine logs, stone and sharpened sticks stolen by Twolegs in their greenleaf place. These walls are what allowed them to survive for countless seasons.
Everyone moved up into Redstar's den, retreating until their backs were as far back against the walls as they could. Iciclepool stood at the den's entrance, looking over the clearing, while Redstar alone stood on top of ForestClan's gate, her ears twitching and her eyes darting. No cat spoke a single word. Even Warblerkit sensed the gravity of the situation, and resigned to hiding under Barleywave's chest fur.
Time crawled as cats waited with held breaths and focused stares. Olive, the newest member of the Clan, glanced at them expectantly. The sheer air of fear prevented her from asking any questions, but they still sat on her tongue.
Hopechase watched Iciclepool wordlessly communicate with Redstar across the clearing as the two kept their vigil. A swaying of the tail every five minutes. A high-pitched chirrup every ten.
By the thirty minute mark, Redstar made a low-pitched, rumbling meow. ForestClan released a collective breath of relief. They were not safe yet. But it seemed the Woodcrawler did not follow Hopechase.
By the time the hour had passed, Redstar announced that the lockdown was over, and that cats could return to their regular duties - but to stay alert and to avoid the paths taken by Hopechase for the next quarter moon. Life breathed into camp once more. Olive finally asked her lingering questions, with a patient Cloudthunder answering her. Windfur received help to escort Olive back to the nursery, and Warblerkit and Shiverkit bombarded Barleywave and Iciclepool with questions, their furs still standing on end.
Hopechase, meanwhile, felt wrong.
She sat in the middle of camp, staring at the fresh kill pile. She ought to grab food and start cooking meals. She...she was supposed to be on kitchen duty with Morningpaw. She was supposed to show her how to remove pelts from their prey. She promised Barleywave she'd do it, because he playfully said he was always no good at it. She even laughed and agreed with him. But she couldn't bring her paws to just pick something from the pile.
She wasn't normally this shaken by Woodcrawler sightings. She was old. She'd seen worse. But she'd also had faith, her entire life, that the world had to be inherently good. Redstar gave her the honor title 'Hopechase' when Lakestar was finally dethroned. For her constant optimism, and faith in her Clan. Even when many cats left ForestClan when Lakestar finally died, even when despair was the only thing in sight, she believed that even in death, things would be okay.
So why now?
"Hopechase."
The dark grey molly turned her head and saw Iciclepool staring at her. The deputy tilted her head and gave her a look of gentle concern. She sat next to her, her fur brushing gently against hers. Iciclepool placed her tail on Hopechase's shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
"Aw, are you worried about little old me?" Hopechase said with a forced purr. Clearly, Iciclepool saw through her on that one.
"Hopechase, it's okay if you're shaken."
"Shaken? No, silly. I'm going to teach Morningpaw how to skin pelts. I'm trying to pick out something," Hopechase insisted.
"Ah yes, because you take more than five minutes staring at the fresh-kill pile as a part of that process. Hope, come on, please be honest with me," Iciclepool meowed, her tail brushing against her clanmate's back gently.
Hopechase still kept a forced smile on her face. "Alright, alright. Maybe the adrenaline wasn't good on my bones. You're right that I'm tired - but I do have a promise to keep."
"Then let me take over."
"I thought you were going to spend time with Shiverkit tonight?"
"She can watch Morningpaw and I. She enjoys staring at cats when they do something new," Iciclepool said with a purr. "Those bright blue eyes of hers are always inquisitive. You should see the amount of questions Windfur is plagued with. The poor boy is inundated."
Hopechase felt her heart beat warmly as she spoke about her kit. Iciclepool was so much more like how she remembered her when they were younger - attentive and loving. Iciclepool remembered every little thing she liked about you, and always let others know. It was her greatest ambition in life to be a mother. If fates were different, maybe Iciclepool would've made a great queen and teacher. She knew Iciclepool always had eyes for Cliffstep alone, and she couldn't blame her - he was a thoughtful, empathetic tom, with similar ambitions to Iciclepool's. His death had destroyed her, and permanently changed her for moons. Hopechase was always worried that she'd never get to see her old self again - but she started to see cracks of it more recently, and her heart swelled every time she saw them. The more she thought about Iciclepool, the better she felt. But she knew the deputy wouldn't allow her to rest on that distraction.
"Hopechase, please. Let me take over the lesson today. I don't want to make it an order, but I will if you don't go to your nest," Iciclepool insisted. By the look in her eyes, Hopechase knew that she wasn't going to be swayed by anything else. The older molly sighed, and got to her feet.
"Alright, alright. I can't say no to our lovely deputy."
Iciclepool's whiskers twitched in amused affection. "Get some good rest."
As Hopechase padded away and slinked into the warriors' den, the light comfort that Iciclepool gave her faded. She felt the weight in her heart sink as the world around her loomed. As she curled up in her nest and stared at the wall, her thoughts swarmed like gnats.
Someone hadn't fed the woods in five moons.
The Clan knew that Redstar was trying. She kept leaving at night and returning in the morning. Her eyes were getting more and more sunken, and her fur was getting kinks. Her silence upon entering camp every morning spoke every word that was needed.
Hopechase buried her face in her bedding. Her lips curled and she suppressed the hiss in her throat.
Olive was pregnant. Everyone knew that now, and no one spoke their fears. The woods were not fair. They were opportunistic. If someone doesn’t sacrifice themselves, it’ll be Olive’s kits, or Warblerkit, or Shiverkit. It will take whichever clanmate is deemed the easiest to catch. It was always the greatest tragedy of ForestClan - that kits were extremely vulnerable to the woods. The only time kits were safe, is if the woods were fed recently.
She should’ve fed the woods.
She was the eldest cat in the clan. Every other cat in the clan was young and lively, with their entire futures ahead of them. And kits - it wasn't fair that so many of them didn't get the chance to truly live. She lived a good life, didn't she? Dying wasn't so bad, right? StarClan was waiting to save her soul. Her family was waiting for her. She could finally see her mother and father again. She could listen to her uncle Rootgrove's stories again, and her brother Icypaw - oh, Icypaw - she missed her littermate. She couldn't remember his face anymore. That hurt her.
She didn't...she didn't have any regrets, right? So why? Why did she just doom the children of her clan?
Hopechase quivered like a kit in leafbare, failing to suppress the sorrow in her chest. She buried her face in moss and pelts, and muzzled her wails, desperately pleading that no cat would walk in. They couldn't - they just couldn't see her like this. She was Hopechase now, and had been for months. Not Lightfoot. Hopechase. The pursuer of hope. She brought her clan hope.
Today, she just went out to bring them food. She brought them back suffering instead.
Here's all of the clan founders! Kind of amazed that I managed to crank these guys out in like, a day and a half.
More info on them and GulfClan below vvv
GulfClan was, originally, one of four clans that lived in a territory called 'The Shield'. I say was because most of the clan was wiped out in a massive redcough outbreak many, many moons ago. Any remaining members either became loners or were absorbed into the other three clans.
GulfClan would fade into obscurity until one day, a small group of loners would resettle the territory.
Chickorystar is modern GulfClan's reluctant leader. She, Nightsage, and Cedarkit used to live in a colony on a twoleg farm, until a catastrophic barnfire destroyed their home and killed most of its members. This included Chickory's mother, who served as something of a matriarch for the colony. After her death, Chickory felt that it was her responsibility to guide what remained of her family to a new home.
Soon after the fire, Chickory started having strange dreams about a faraway territory - wild and untouched by the twolegs she had grown so accustomed to. Eventually, she began to receive dream visits from Owlstar, the last leader of old GulfClan. Owlstar explained that she was destined to rebuild the clan in the new territory. Desperate to provide for her remaining family and friends, she agreed and was granted the nine lives of a leader.
Sunglint was originally a kittypet named Sunny. While not a part of Chickorystar and Nightsage's colony, him and Chickory were childhood friends and basically grew up together. When Chickory told him that she, Night, and Cedar were leaving, he immediately agreed to join them.
Sunglint has always been the more outgoing one of the pair and Chickorystar defers a lot of the responsibilities related to the other clans to him.
Nightsage is Chickorystar's...I dunno, aunt I guess?? She was very close with her mother and was closely involved in Chickory's childhood. Night has always had a knack for herbalism, so the role of healer came naturally to her. She used to be just as outgoing and friendly as Sunglint, but losing so many of her friends and family at once have caused her to be more subdued.
Stonepaw is the newest member of GulfClan founders. Originally a rogue, she was caught stealing prey from the group by Sunglint while they were traveling to the Shield. Chickory took pity on her and allowed her to join. She's developed a lot of teenage angst after living on her own for so long.
Cedarkit was orphaned in the fire that destroyed the farm colony. She remembers very little of her family, and considers Night and Chickory to be her surrogate mamas. Also I may have forgotten what her kit skill was shhhhh.
I needed a break from finals so I drew one of my Lifegen cats' family trees as a treat today! There is so much drama with this guy... I have some how made a sad orange leader who's loved ones keep dying AGAIN
People this man (Honeystar/swarm) has lost so far: two of his littermates, his mentor and best friend, his mom, his mate, all of his kits except for one (bonus! surviving kit doesn't like to talk to his dad!), annnd one of his apprentices!
He also became leader because his leader confessed to murdering her grandson and proceeded to step down from her position. In her defense... her grandson was also a murderer and is in the DF sooo
