* Restricted: Cat Cultists only
Cats are represented amongst the Animal and Monster
Orders, as well as amongst Higher Powers. They can be playful, fickle, cunning,
predatory, tolerant, territorial, lazy, fierce, in
short they are multifaceted and inscrutable creatures. There are many versions
of the Cat Cults, which have much common ground, but have sponsors ranging
across the alignments. Thus to most people’s perceptions, the different Cat
Cults have seemingly very different aims and purposes. However, Cats are
inscrutable, and who can say for sure what their true motives and ambitions may
be?
"I
have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely
superior." - Hippolyte Taine
The Cat Cults are local, usually secretive,
and often esoteric. Wherever there are people, perhaps a Cat Cult may be found,
or perhaps may not. For Cats, Great and Small, grace
the reaches of Anarea, influencing the world and its inhabitants with varying
levels of subtlety. From the Snow Leopard and the White Tigers of the Ice Lands
to the North; to the Panthers, Forest Lions and Tigers of the Jungle to the
East; encompassing Lions, Cheetahs, Lynx, Jaguar and Cougar of the Southern and
Grassland reaches; to exotic more domesticated Cats prevalent in the Far East
which have entwined their feline presence so deeply into peoples’ acceptance
that they have spread in various guises throughout human and elven civilizations, appearing as the “tabby-cat”, the
“alley-cat”, the “black cat”, the “familiar cat”, and so on. However, the true
home of the Cat is said to be the mythical Jewelled
City of Bhakanandra, where it is said that men roam
only at the whim of the Ruling Cats, who are their Masters and
Mistresses.
The Sponsors of Cat
Cults include TIPRE, Herself often depicted as a graceful feline beauty, Whose entourage may sometimes include a family of Giant
Panthers. She sponsors Panther Cults, whose Cultists
are said to have Nine Lives. Panthers live anywhere warm with trees or cliffs,
where their climbing skills are matched only be their stealth and desire for
seemingly precarious sleeping perches.
At the other end of the Alignment spectrum are the Tiger and Lion Cults, sponsored by SIMBA, Who is whispered to be in close alliance with WAGREN (formerly LOFIR). Indeed, some say that SIMBA and WAGREN are one and the same Deity, the Tiger God/Goddess, whom simple People sometimes worship in His/Her simpler Guise as the God of Destruction (E/L). The goals and purposes of the SIMBA cults are difficult to fathom. The Tiger Cults (including the White Tiger Cult of the Ice Lands) are clearly more overtly Evil. Much as the Tiger enjoys patiently stalking his ever more fearful quarry, so the Tiger Cultists like to make their special enemies know how inevitable their destruction will be at the hands of the Tiger Cult.
In between, a cross between panthers and
tigers both in appearance and in behaviour, are the Forest Lions of the Jungle,
whose Cults tend more to Neutral Alignment but in
common with all Cats can exhibit a darker or more playful nature. Forest Lion
Cults cleave to their own SIMBA but His/Her Aspect varies from that of the Lion
and Tiger Cults, even to the averred Alignment of the Divine Sponsor (which may
depend on the alignment of the Cultist). Some Cultists claim to their SIMBA to
be in the Host of TIPRE (G/C), others in the Host of WAGREN (E/L), and some say
the Host of JAPAL (N/N), demonstrating once again the unfathomability of Feline ambitions and
purposes.
A review of the Sponsors of other regional
Cat Cults would reveal similar complex allegiances.
Lycanthropy is rife amongst the Jungle Beastmasters
of the Cat Cults. To be a Were of the totem animal is
considered holy, and worshippers are often ritually infected, either from a wild
Were, or from a Were-Cultist, or by Spell or Demon Summoning, depending on the
circumstances and the potential of the new Host. The Jungle Cat Cultists who
have been infected in this way have the ability to adopt a humanoid-cat hybrid
were-form, as well as Feline Were-Forms, each with their own distinct features.
Wild Were-cats do not have a humanoid form.
Other regional Cat Cults embrace the Were with lesser or greater enthusiasm, depending on the
local tradition and social response to lycanthropy.
In accordance with their Feline
counterparts, Cat Cults are home to powerful Dreamers, and to those with
abilities to walk the Otherworlds. Sleeping is an important part of Cult
Behaviour. It is said that Cats exert much of their influence on the world
through the dreams of others, and this is why they sleep so much. Much about
Cats remains mysterious, and non-Dreamers who spend time in Cat form do not seem
to recall or speak of their Feline sleep experiences. Initiation into Cat Cults
also involves special training in Climbing, Hiding, and Observation skills,
giving LoM bonuses to Thievish abilities in those
activity classes (even to non-thievish Cat Cultists).
Clerical Cultists of TIPRE and SIMBA have
Feline Spells from Their respective Standard List such as
Charm
Cat and Conjure
Cats.
Cat Cultist Druids are
Beastmasters,
with a Cult-specific Spell list. Local species of Catnip (Catmint) are
used as Media uniquely for their Cat Cycle of Spells. For maximum bonus it
should be harvested on the MidSummer Caeriad (26
Oscow).
Cat Cultist Binders are known for Summoning
Demons notorious for offering cats as Familiars.
Cat Cultists have a traditional enmity with Spider Cults, Rat Cults, and Dog (eg Wolf, Hyaena, & Fox) Cults, and also have a predatory relationship with Bird Cults. There is mutual respect between Cats and Reptiles, both cats and serpents being found in abundance in Jewelled City of Bhakanandra according to rumours and tales.
© A.R.Magnay / P.R. Wild, 1 February 2006
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