This is a slice-of-life comic sharing the lives of the cats of KestrelClan. While the majority of the comic will have no main, connecting plotline, there will occasionally be sections of connected story. Think more in the style of FallenClan or RanchClan rather than RippleClan or LoudClan (all of whom are inspirations for this blog that you should check out!). Further info on the setting (and game settings) can be found under the cut.
I work 7 days a week and have no update schedule because of that. I draw and update when I can, but my free time is not solely dedicated to this blog. This is also a side blog; I follow a lot of other clangen blogs but you won't see "kestrelclan" as the name of the blog.
Start here on tumblr, or read on ComicFury!
Allegiances (Text) | Comic tag | Toyhouse | Reblogs tag
Please don't repost my art without my permission.
KestrelClan is played in the LifeGen + Full Genetics combo mod for extra interaction chances and interesting/more realistic genetic traits. This also means that instead of choosing the members of my clan at the start of the game, I only got to choose the size and age of the clan.
KestrelClan is an old, large Clan in the Grotto camp in the Forest territory, with 20 living members as of Moon 0. Specifically, they live in an undisclosed section of the northern Blue Ridge Mountains, with a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief given that feral cat colonies would be a problem for the national parks.
The game is played with the following settings and stipulations:
Mass extinction events are on as of Moon 0.
Pregnancy does not ignore biology.
Affairs are on.
"Proceed" is selected on every patrol, regardless of potential danger.
The clan's focus, as well as which other clan the leader interacts with and how, are decided with dice rolls every 5 moons. Most of the time this won't be relevant/shared.
My game file is currently sitting at Moon 83. I don't plan on playing it further until the comic is caught up to at least Moon 50 (the conclusion of arc 1, for what counts as an "arc" here)
The current "main characters" are the five kits in the FlowerVine litter, introduced on Moon 1. I swap between all of them each moon to talk to other cats and go on a LifeGen patrol, but not all of the litter will be featured in each moon entry.
My art style may also be inconsistent - I'm trying to experiment and be messier and learn more as I go! I'm also trying to find a style that is faster for me to draw in. I also haven't drawn non-anthro cats in many years, save for like 5 ArtFight attacks a few years ago. This comic is largely a place for me to practice things I struggle with such as expressions, dialogue, and general storytelling.
Also, I ramble/leave notes both under readmores and in the tags if you're interested in those. Readmores include things such as sprites of newly-met cats, events that I didn't draw for that moon, things I FORGOT to draw, and sometimes lore/things I decide to expand upon the events RNG provides. Also funny comments, but those are mostly in the tags. I'm a chronic yapper and that will be consistent here.
Why the name KestrelClan's Threnody? Don't worry about it :)
hello, all! welcome to the clangen comment exchange, which is an event that aims to bring more engagement and discussion to the amazing comics, stories, and projects within the tumblr clangen community.
so, how does this work?
a comment exchange is an event where you submit your project to a masterlist; from that list, people can leave a nice, thoughtful comment about your work in exchange for a comment on their own work! while this comment doesn't have to come from you, the event requires you to leave a comment on at least three other projects within the masterlist.
for this specific event, there will be three phases:
1. sign-ups (march 31–april 8, 2026)
submit your project to the askbox using this form. no commenting is required until sign-ups close.
2. comment period (april 9–23)
once sign-ups close, i'll post:
a masterlist of every submitted project
an individual post for each submitted project (which is where your comment goes!)
all participants will be asked to leave at least three meaningful comments on other projects.
3. event end + highlights (april 24–30)
at the end of the event, i'll feature:
the "most valuable commenter," aka the person who commented on the most projects.
five standout comments from the event.
the work(s) that received the least amount of comments and should be showered with some more love!
how do i join?
to sign up, first head over to the event guidelines and give them a read.
once you've done that, submit this form to our askbox. make sure to fill out everything that's listed!
any other questions?
feel free to comment below or send in an ask, and i'll get back to your question as soon as i can!
reblogs of this post are very much appreciated in order to spread the word. thank you!
KestrelClan has a ComicFury backup. I welcome suggestions for other sites I could also start uploading to. I want to keep KCT as accessible as I can for people and make it available wherever people prefer to read.
Ones that allow for both visual and text entries in comics/stories in an easy to read/navigate format would be a big plus - ComicFury isn't quite suited for that, and there will be more text passages in future parts of the story (including Moon 11 part 2) so a site that can accommodate both needs would be great.
so as long as tumblr keeps this, here's the tumblr version of etiquette that was maintained when twitter's quote-retweets affected artist visibility/notes:
for art that someone has added reblog commentary to (or removed the caption from), reblog from the source
otherwise, avoid adding reblog comments to art (as this will affect the artist's notes/visibility)—utilize tags and replies to provide commentary (which artists will absolutely appreciate)
reblog comments are comments added to the body of a post, not the tags and not replies.
Since some of you don't seem to understand how this 'new notes' thing works, I'll break it down:
I'm the OP. I'm making this post. If you like, comment, reblog (without comment) on this post, then I'm the one who will see all those notes in my activity page.
However...
If you reblog (with comment), I will get a notification that you did that, but any likes/comments/reblogs (without comment) you get on that reblog will only be shown to you. As OP I won't see them.
If someone adds a reblog (with comment) to your reblog...as OP I won't see that. I won't see any of those notes in my activity page.
Basically, if someone with a large following makes a comment, then they will get all the notes and OP will see nothing. If OP has said something silly because they're, y'know, 21 and it happens, and then someone reblogs it onto the dash of someone with a large following who then dunks on them for fun? OP doesn't see it, doesn't get notes for it, but they're gonna get the harrassment for it in their inbox.
If I, someone with a 5 digit follower count, reblog something to correct misinformation on Ancient Egypt, then OP will never see it unless it was on the original post, but I will continue to get notes on that post even though it's not my post. If I reblog fanart, or just art in general, with a comment like 'Oh this is so lovely!' then OP will not see any of the notes from people reblogging it from me. They'll only see my reblog. So it's possible for an art post by someone else to have 200 notes for them, but 9000 for someone who reblogs it with a comment, and the OP artist will have no idea it's been seen by that many people.
It's killing blow to the community we've built here, by someone higher up who doesn't understand that being able to see all the comments and reblogs is what makes this site the place I keep coming back to.
That's what sucks.
I encourage people to go to tumblr's support page, select contact support, and then in the dropdown menu select 'Feedback' and leave polite and constructive feedback (for those of you who enjoy 'emails worded politely but are a strong 'are you an idiot?', try that way of wording it). They're more likely to listen to you if you're not an asshole about it. I've already gone and done this, and I hope others will too.
The rest of this moon is under a cut. Please mind the warning tags - blood, animal injury (cat), and eye trauma. None of it is graphic (blood only, no detailed gore), but I know some people are more sensitive to eye injury depictions and I want to give you the chance to avoid it.
The events in this part of the moon will be mentioned (but not shown) in Part 2, so you can skip reading the next three pages below if you are too uncomfortable with depictions of eye injury.
[First] | [Previous] | Skip to Part 2 (not yet available)
The rest of this moon is under a cut. Please mind the warning tags - blood, animal injury (cat), and eye trauma. None of it is graphic (blood only, no detailed gore), but I know some people are more sensitive to eye injury depictions and I want to give you the chance to avoid it.
The events in this part of the moon will be mentioned (but not shown) in Part 2, so you can skip reading the next three pages below if you are too uncomfortable with depictions of eye injury.
[First] | [Previous] | Skip to Part 2 (not yet available)
On this day last year, I posted Moon 0 of KestrelClan! Granted, Moon 0 no longer is considered part of the story because it was a setup for a plot that I decided not to go with after all, but hey. It's still been one year of KestrelClan as of today.
I would have drawn something special for today, but I got caught up in drawing Moon 11 (first half is done! still dunno if I'm posting it soon or waiting and posting both halves back to back) and finally setting up a reference sheet base I can use for all cats current and future. I kind of didn't realize the anniversary was today until, oh, two days ago? And with how I draw there was no guarantee I'd even finish an anniversary drawing in that time anyway, haha.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who follows this blog. Everyone who reads, everyone who's ever reblogged or left a comment or spoken to me in the CCC Discord. I never, ever thought I could draw a comic, or that I would meet such wonderful people through a shared love of creating and reading them. This community is absolutely fantastic and I'm so, so glad to be here and be part of it.
Here's to many more years of KestrelClan<3
which. given that arc 1 is roughly 80 moons long, means that we've got at least 6 or 7 more years ahead of us at the rate I draw, hehe.
I mean you can’t be fighting the evil roots every time someone pops out kids. There’s gotta be a safe place they can give birth at..
I'm sorry while you 100% have a point and I was going to give a complicated answer my brain just decided to have the funnies today so you get this dumb graph instead
ANYWAY TLDR: technically yes, but the only "plausible safe place" is in a tree, and. Well. You end up with significantly different problems if you give birth in a tree, in a forest of mostly evergreens. Not even Twoleg nests or cars are a guaranteed safe spot, because hell, humans are the Woodcrawlers' preferred food. Of course they know how to get into Twoleg nests.
If the cats could've figured out a safe spot to care for their queens and kits in, they certainly would've figured it out by now...for now, the best they may be able to do is fortify defenses and convince the Tendrils that it's just not worth the calories to spend trying to steal their young. Which is certainly possible! Many predators are wary of hunting certain animal species because of this. Only time will tell!
Uhhhhhhh well. you see. um. I pulled this picture from the CCC Discord that aptly explains where the eff this Clan is
Which is to say. IDK. Gemini says Minnesota. But Mountains Exist There, so it might Not Be. I'm writing an ecology that's a temperate boreal forest that has Lake Huron/Eerie/Ontario vibes while technically eyeballing to be near the Appalachian trail. Do not ask me to tell you where exactly ForestClan is located, this is like asking where in the UK the canon warriors series takes place. Vaguely App Trail/Great Lakes area is the best I can give you
Barleywave decides to take out Airpaw for hunting, since Iciclepool has been confined to the nursery. Barleywave asks if Airpaw wants a friendly competition, and try to bring back the most prey items back to camp. Barleywave is happy to see a healthy amount of boasting from the young tom, given his usual quietness.
Cottonpaw and Perchwatcher do their best to include Owlpaw. Owlpaw wants to just hide, but Morningspot said something dumb about effort, or trying, or whatever...
Owlpaw is shocked when Morningspot isn't mad with her. Morningspot does, however, ask that she walk away entirely and tell her instead next time it happens. She also asks that she say sorry to Perchwatcher for yelling, when she's feeling less angry.
Riftgorse, Branchsnarl and Perchwatcher go on a hunting patrol together. The two toms comfort Perchwatcher for what happened in camp...but they do put something tactfully that Perchwatcher needed to hear.
It worked. They succeeded. They rebuilt their wall, prepared their torches, and circled the den. The tendrils ducked and weaved like stubborn scavengers desperate to pull meat from a mountain lion's catch, but the flames challenged their resolve. Still, they were desperate. Hungering.
Deerpaw and Riftgorse were bruised by the Living Tendrils swiping at their feet and wrapping around their legs. Morningspot and Cloudthunder had the torches knocked from their grasps, and both mollies resorted to biting into them and pulling away with all their strength. Airpaw drove a torch through the one his mother had grasped. Daffodilpaw joined her sister as she witnessed her stabbing the torches at the holes the tendrils emerged from, both cats trembling with adrenaline.
Two tendrils weaved through into the den. Before any cat could act, a wrathful caterwaul emerged from the nursery. There was thrashing and contorting, until one of the tendrils retreated like a terrified dog. The other let out an alien screech as it was pulled taut. It writhed and writhed, until the black, vengeful shadow that was Hopechase was practically dragged to the entrance. She dove her claws into it one last time, her single white paw painting itself black with their blood. Only when it hissed and pulled back with more ferocity did she finally let go.
It took a few more minutes for all the stragglers to finally determine their prey would not die easily, cutting their losses and retreating into the woods. Cats yowled with triumph.
By all accounts, they won. They succeeded.
So why, as they gathered around a small funeral pyre, did this still feel like a failure?
*******
Iciclepool had a bad feeling. Perhaps it was that gut feeling, that deeply-seeded fear that caused her to hesitate in stopping her duties and telling the clan about her pregnancy. It was so unlike her. When she was younger, she failed to stifle her joy at her past pregnancies. Cats gently warned her to lower her expectations - to no avail. Every single one of her kits were so loved and wanted. When Cliffstep was still by her side - oh, stars, she wished he was still here - she purred and spoke gently to them as she felt her kits shifting and kicking on occasion. She could count the sets of feet after a time, and know how many she would have. And Cliffstep was so loving, so attentive - curling around her and his future family with warmth and care.
None of them ever survived past six moons.
Shiverstep was all of her hope, all of her love she could never give to her children. She cherished every second the little kit curled by her side at night and padded after her in camp. She cried with relief as it hit her that finally, finally, nothing would take away her baby. Redstar wouldn't send her on a cruel trial. No tendrils would come. She could watch her child grow, and become such a beautiful molly. And oh, she did. Shiverstep was such a kind, beautiful, wonderful soul. Was it so wrong for her to have hope? To see another kit of hers grow up again?
She should've listened to Hopechase. Oh, stars, why didn't she listen? Hopechase voiced her concerns when Iciclepool told her what she felt. The look in her eyes made her feel so ashamed. She didn't want to tell the medicine cats. She didn't want them to confirm her worst fears. Hadn't she suffered enough? Was she wrong to hope and pray they would all survive this time?
Three. In the time she carried her babies, she felt at least three kick. But in total, in nights where she would press her paw around her stomach, thinking of names, she felt the round bundles curled against her. Four. One never stirred.
Hopechase and Shiverstep had been her only solace in the past few days.
"Everything will be alright, love. StarClan is watching over you. Cliffstep. Rapidpaw. Valleypaw. Your sister, and all of our lost friends and family. They want us to succeed. I know they must." Hopechase had looked at her with those bright blue eyes, with an intensity that mirrored a cloudless sky. "And I will defend our family with everything I have."
Separately, Shiverstep spoke with determined intensity. Bags formed under her eyes, but a glint of hope shone within them. "I promise, mom. I promise that nothing will happen to you. To them. I have help. From…from StarClan. Clanmates." It sounded like Shiverstep stopped her list short, a name on her tongue that she refused to speak. "We're going to be okay. If something bad happens, I'll find a way."
Only Windfur seemed to pierce through her soul, returning the dread Iciclepool felt.
"...I…I don't want to fail you," Windfur meowed, his voice tight. The implication weighed heavily on their shoulders.
"...It won't be your fault. Please…please don't blame yourself if it happens." Iciclepool's voice cracked. She felt like a wounded doe, desperate to hide her injury. She inhaled, froze her pain beneath a sheet of ice in her body, and straightened. "I've lost kits before. This is nothing new to me. I will survive."
"...I don't want you to have to."
"But I will."
And she did.
As she heard the yowling, burning and thrashing outside, as she felt her mate looming over the nursery entrance, as she met her contractions with familiarity and listened to Windfur and Shiverstep's guidance, she prepared. She heard Windfur call for Brackenfreckle to be on standby. The distant sounds of roots tearing through the earth and cats hissing echoed.
The first cried out. A grey molly.
The second did not. A brown molly. The noise outside accompanied her dread. Shiverstep was removing the liquid, drying the fur, her blue eyes intense as she rubbed it between her paws.
In the tension, she was forced to deliver the third. Windfur quickly removed debris near its face, and it screeched in protest. Iciclepool released a laugh of dismay. A black tom.
Shiverstep still worked. She gritted her teeth as her rubbing intensified.
"Shiver," Windfur began sharply.
"I'm fine," Shiverstep retorted, failing to hide her fear. She pried open its mouth to search for debris. "Come on. Come on. Please."
Iciclepool's heart was rotting. Burning. Falling off its tendons.
She barely registered her beloved mate screeching and throwing herself at tendrils that dared to approach.
Iciclepool bit down as a final wave of pain came to her. She whimpered. Windfur refocused his attention and quickly helped deliver the last. It let out a continuous set of mews, refusing to quiet until it felt its mother. A brown tom.
Windfur pressed around rapidly. "That's…that's it."
Iciclepool nodded. She curled around her newborn kits. She stared as she watched Shiverstep - her eldest kit - still trying to stifle life back into the newborn. The world around her spun and blurred. Cats yowled in triumph. Iciclepool saw her mate pad up to her with a shine in her eyes, only for them to dim immediately as she saw Shiverstep trying to resuscitate a newborn. Windfur didn't step in to stop her. He just stared with an unreadable expression.
Time passed cruelly. Shiverstep's ears folded further back. Her eyes were wide with fear. Her breath quickened. She started mouthing something inaudibly.
Brackenfreckle finally entered boldly, looking at Iciclepool and her three healthy kits. Her expression fell as she looked at Shiverstep.
"...Is it…?" she started hesitantly. She wisely decided not to finish her thought.
Shiverstep choked back a sob. She breathed air through its nose. She began small, rhythmic compressions on its ribs. Her mouthing became desperate whispers.
"Please. I call to you. I call to you. Please. Please."
"Shiverstep," Iciclepool whimpered, unable to bear her daughter's despair.
"Please," she repeated. She blew air into the kit's nose again, turning it over and rubbing its back rigorously. Her lips curled back and her teeth gritted. "Help. Help. I need…" She choked back a sob as her fleeting hope turned to despair. "What do I do?" she mouthed, the end of her sentence was muffled as she broke and pressed her head against the newborn kitten.
Iciclepool couldn't bear it. She stumbled to her weakened feet, despite Brackenfreckle's brief protest and her kits' whining. Shiverstep looked away as her mother approached her, and reluctantly fell apart as Iciclepool sadly dug her teeth into the cleric's scruff, pulling her towards the nest like one of her newborns. The young cleric sobbed, and Windfur reluctantly took the newborn away from Shiverstep. The marbled molly forced herself to her feet, following Iciclepool back to her nest - lest she were dragged.
Windfur's dark blue eyes were unreadable as he stared at the newborn. He started doing light compressions with his paw.
Iciclepool allowed her remaining kits to suckle, and she forced herself to purr with comfort as Shiverstep buried her head into her shoulder.
Her heart still withered.
Eventually, cats peered in, asking questions. Brackenfreckle uneasily tried to shoo them away. Redstar herself was getting agitated at being denied entry.
"Redstar, just…give us a moment. Please," Hopechase called back. The emptiness in her tone must've silenced the leader.
Iciclepool watched Windfur continue trying to revive her stillborn kit. His expression was like stone, but she knew that desperation roiled within him. She glanced at her mate. Hopechase held her breath. Refused to look at her. Shiverstep trembled, repeating strained and near-silent, "I call, I call, please, please answer," muffled against her mother's shoulder.
Iciclepool's copper eyes stilled. She bit back a wail as the memory of her past flashed before her. Every kit stolen by a tendril. Every apprentice trial Lakestar commanded on her children. Every baby she never got to see grow.
StarClan...Please...please let this be the very last one. No more. My heart can't do it again. I just can't.
Softly, she whispered, "Hopechase...let her go, love."
Hopechase objected meekly. "No."
"Hope."
"I can't." Hopechase stared at the stillborn kit in desperation.
"Honey. It's okay." She strained to place her paw on her mate's. It felt wet like mud. "Let her go."
After a time that felt like a thousand seasons, Hopechase's ears flattened, she closed her eyes, and dipped her head. Her voice trembled.
"...Sparrowkit?" The request was earnest and pleading, and Iciclepool failed to swallow the knot in her throat.
"Yes."
Hopechase lifted her head back up. "...It's okay, Windfur. Let her go."
Windfur seemingly ignored her, his pupils dilating.
Hopechase slowly rose to her feet, padding up to him with a lowered tail. "Windfur."
Nothing.
"Stop." The warrior placed her paw on his shoulder. Only then did the cleric slow his pace, before finally stopping. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, before gently putting her down.
Hopechase picked up Sparrowkit by the scruff, bringing her over to Iciclepool.
"...I can tell the Clan what happened, if it helps." Brackenfreckle offered. "...I'm sorry for your loss."
Hopechase breathed deeply. "Yes. Thank you."
As Brackenfreckle padded out, and Hopechase curled herself behind her mate, Iciclepool silently groomed her children - Shiverstep included, who still lay defeatedly by her side.
The mother felt conflicted as she stared down at her five children - one gone, one grown, three born. Her sorrow was like purifying rain over a burning forest; emollient. She gave a few, tender licks on Sparrowkit's head, her voice still trembling.
"Look after your sister for me, won't you, Rapidpaw, Valleypaw?" She inhaled sharply. "I love you. So much."
---
After a somber funeral, Hopechase and Iciclepool sleep in the same nest with their new babies, cherishing them and making silent vows to protect them forever. They give them names - Mulberrykit, Ghostkit and Hazelkit.
I want everyone to know that page 1 is saved as this in my files:
[First] | [Previous] | [Next]
Trait recap for everyone under the cut.
Fun fact before we do the traits - Stoneshiver mentored Slateswarm! She's also his adoptive mom (with his blood parents being her mates Vervaincloud and Velvetdapple). No, she is not happy with him right now.
In order of appearance from left to right:
Shellkit (daughter of Robinpoppy): 2 moons old, female, polite, ghost sense.
Stoneshiver: 112 moons in life, 8 in death (died on Moon 2), female, grumpy, great storyteller, good hunter
Velvetdapple: 104 moons old, female, insecure, good climber, interested in herbs
Crocuspaw: 9 moons old, female, ???, splashes in puddles
Raccoonnettle: 20 moons old, female, reserved, creator of solutions, natural intuition
Slateswarm: 17 moons old, male, patient, visionary thinker (patient? PATIENT? YOU SCREAMED AT A KITTEN SIR YOU DO NOT SEEM VERY PATIENT TO ME)
Orangekit (son of Robinpoppy): 2 moons old, male, confident, picky nest builder
Brownstar: 126 moons old, female, strict, fish catcher
Daisydrift: 69 moons old (nice), female, confident, polymath, good kitsitter
Emberpaw: 9 moons old, female, troublesome, looks for trinkets item stasher, always learning
Wetrush... girl... the man lost his son last month (and is also aroace) I don't think now's a good time for flirting.
Sapstripe's kits are biologically his, making them Weedquill's younger siblings. If only she had lived to meet them...
Also, that cute little cookie-flavored tail will be seen again! That is Melona, our first loner aside from Nuggets. His sprite and extra details are below the cut.
... also pretend I didn't forget to color one of Emberpaw's paws. I'll fix that later.
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Meet Melona! He's a longhaired white and chocolate ticked tabby sepia tom with raw umber eyes. He likes songbirds, long walks in Clan territory, and taunting Brokenpaw specifically.
He's 89 moons, with traits Fierce and Great Decorator.
