Sure! This is for my series "The Game".
Excerpt stuff:
Gifted/later Paranormals: The Gifted are cats that went through a ceremony (performed by Rattlesnake or another in his group) that altered their chemical make-up, changing them into something close to what Rattlesnake is. The only way for a Gifted cat to ‘reproduce’ is through this ceremony, as when they are changed, they become barren or unable to have off-spring.
This is done through the transfer of ‘power’, where a fragment of one individual’s abilities is transformed into the non-Gifted cat, changing their make-up into that of a Gifted. There are exceptions to the ‘one’ individual statement. See Powered Cats or Mixed Blood.
Gifted cats do not need to eat as often as non-Gifted, they are stronger, faster, and harder to kill by physical attack. They become frozen at the age that they were Gifted. However, they are not immune to sickness. As they grow older, they become stronger and more resistant to all the above, until they reach the stage where they can only be killed by some great force, like a landslide falling on top of them, or having their body completely destroyed.
Apart from being resistant to physical attacks, there are no other perks to this ability. That is, unless you were a Powered Cat or became a Mixed Blood one.
Not Gifted/ Later Normals: Your classic normal cat.
‘Born’ Gifted/Mixed Blood: Two interchangeable terms until it was found out that Mixed Blood was more common than ‘Born’ Gifted. Born Gifted used to only apply to the few cats (like Will C. Morgen) who were actually born to a Gifted cat (see ‘Gifted’ to understand why this shouldn’t happen). Born Gifted cats only turn up when the female is pregnant (must be several moons into the pregnancy) when she is turned into a Gifted, thus the Gift is also given to the unborn kits.
The functions, however, are as follows. The cat who changed the female gives a fragment of their power to the female and the kits, but by growing within the female, they also receive a fragment of her new power. This means they become exactly the same as a Mixed Blood cat, only they were like that since birth. Born Gifted cats grow up until they are into adult-hood, before they become frozen at that age. If they live that long.
Mixed Blood cats (and with the same effect, Born Gifted) are cats who had two fragments of power shoved into them by two or more Gifted cats. Power fragments are as unique as a thumbprint, and when given to a new cat, shifts and changes a little. When two fragments are given, they overlay and react to each other. In a sense, that power is constantly at war and fighting, keeping a precarious balance between the two. If one power fragment becomes dominant over the other, the Mixed Blood cat will become both mentally and physically unstable and become unpredictable. This is an incurable ‘disease’ that only effects the Gifted. Side effects include one or more mutations in either the bodies mental or physical being. Cats may manifest powers or some sort of physical mutation, like wings or flippers. See Powered Cats for further explanation.
Powered Cats/Later the distinction between them and Mixed Blood became nonexistent: Cats with powers are common within Rattlesnake’s group. There are no common factors between them other than they have some sort of ability out of the ordinary. However, when changed into a Gifted, their powers will slowly function as a power fragment, changing them into a Mixed Blood cat. Their power will fight with the power fragment before it mutates and gives the Gifted Powered Cat an additional mutation (either another power or some physical anomaly).
Winged Cats/ Later the distinction between them and Mixed Blood became nonexistent, as the original ‘Winged Cats’ disappeared around the time of the Feline War: Cats with wings. If changed into a Gifted, they are perfectly normal, and will not get Mixed Blood. These, however, were rare in Rattlesnake’s group as they would not be easy to pass off as a normal cat.
Immortal Cat: Only Rattlesnake falls into this category. He is the original Gifted cat, but is not within the same group as them. He can shapeshift into anything that is close to his size, create small orbs of light (low light, hardly useful), and knows the words to change some cat into a Gifted. He cannot be killed, under any situation, as his body heals almost at once after damage is dealt and sickness doesn’t affect him at all.
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wcrpforums.com/thread/11448/aranormal-orld-eadquarters-8-1?page=2#ixzz4u2VwnFcuNew info:
The story of the Game takes place across over sixty years. Within the first 20 or so, we see the stories from the eyes of two budding groups. One is the clans we all know and love, and the other is a group of rogues, made up much like a clan is (though twice as large). The whole story, from beginning to end, it told in the style of 'there are not bad guys in this, merely cats making bad choices'. So, in one story ('chapter') me might have the cats of one group demonized in the other groups eyes, but when we switch points of view, we learn the motives of that other group.
Within the first series, or set of stories, our prominent characters are Rattlesnake, leader of the rogues, who later becomes this 'big, evil cat. As worse as Tigerstar' type character in the eyes of the clans, but we get to watch and grow as a character in his own group.
When I was originally adapting the series, I
wanted a character that was as evil as Tigerstar. But when I was writing the stories from Rattlesnake's group POV, I needed more cats (and my muse was dead), so I started RPing Rattlesnake in kit adoption centers to get more characters for the stories. He stopped being a 2D character from there. From there, he was a leader, trying to do what was best for his family and in the process, he made great and terrible mistakes that plunged the clans and his group into a war.
Another cat that is featured are the cats in WindClan, most notably Greenfern, as well as her ThunderClan mate, Adderfang.
The next ten years, or the second series, takes place in the Feline War. A war between Rattlesnake's group and the clans. Where Rattlesnake's characters are more powerful when pitted one-on-one with a normal clan cat (cause they have supernatural powers) they are small in numbers compared to the clan. And the biggest thing going against Rattlesnake's cats? They can't reproduce. Where the war starts off with Rattlesnake's group winning, it soon turns into a slaughter. The characters that are most prominent here are the newly renamed Greenfern (Becoming Clarisa), Claire, and Adderfang.
Once the war ends, were left in a new territory (I'll explain it below), where the clan cats are left. To be noted, ten years have past, with them fighting here. Many of them don't want to return, as they've settled here. So, thus, begins Seaside.
Forty years later, the Paranormals of Rattlesnake's are thought to be extinct. Until some of them start to come out of hiding.
Much of this story features Will C. Morgen, Rattlesnake's adopted daughter, Oliva, Marick, Jo Pree, Greenfern, and the reast of the Council of Twelve. Will C. Morgen not only is the first Paranormal to return to a group of cats who only remember that long ago war in kit stories, she's also the one to break the peace. She uses the old ritual to turn a normal cat into a Paranormal on almost the entire adult population of Seaside. Thus, they pretty much all hate her. Tension between cats who stand beside Will and those who don't grow, until Will 'dies'.
Fast forward three years.
Cats, both normal and paranormal, are living side by side. Then Will returns, along with a sickness, nicknamed 'the Poison'. It only effects Paranormals. Jo Pree, apprentice to Seaside's leader, becomes our little detective, trying to unravel 60 years of buried secrets. Because the cure lies in one of the most base Paranormal codes. It lies in the ritual that turns a normal to paranormal. 'What happens to one, happens to all.'
Seaside is in a post-apocalyptic town. Twolegs are distant memories and the cats live in the crumbling dens they've left behind. The town stretches from an old twoleg road to the cliff-side. The old road runs from deep in the forest, then onto the grass covered lands beyond, and on into the distance. The forests are simple ones. Oaks, aspens, the rare pine. The only thing interesting that ever happened in them is that there is at least one entrance to an underground tunnel system, Will used to meet with Oliva and Marick there, and one very stormy, rain drenched night, she went completely mad at the edge of the trees and changed a bunch of complete strangers into almost immortal beings. A river runs through it, out into the outskirts of the town, before dipping around and heading out to run into the sea. The river is the main source of water. It runs into the tunnels only once, and this end of the tunnels is completely inaccessible.
Seaside is a collection of about 40 buildings. A long time ago, it was a quiet town, hardly visited. This was mostly because it isn't good for seaside visitors. The cliffs are too dangerous.
All these buildings are pretty warn down. All in all, a group of two or more cats will claim a room as their den. They share it with their denmate (or sometimes mate and family). There's one three story building in the whole town that hadn't completely collapsed, and that would be where the Council of Twelve meet (they're the twelve leaders of Seaside. Each are in charge of a certain job or office. For example, of member is in charge of Hunting and Information. i.e, if the Council needs to make an announcement, he makes sure everyone knows and he also makes sure that cats get food in leafbare). Every normal cat is given a denmate, unless they personally requested another normal one. There are still more Paranormal cats than normal, so it isn't uncommon for Paranormals to be denmates.
Cats either hunt on the grass hillsides, or in the forest. The rare cats who want to fish, hunt in the bay, picking there way down a skinny path when the water is far away from the cliff-side. From there, you can't see it, but up on the cliffs, there is an entrance to the tunnel systems. This was one that was warn into it, long ago, by the waves. During the war, it was hollowed out further, as the Paranormals used it as there base. They'd try to attack through the tunnels.
They are very complicated pathways. One leads into the forest, where, it collapsed inward. It was very wide and large, several dozen feet downwards. Over the years, it was invaded by trailing moss and even a couple of trees took root and started to grow, until their branches covered the opening, making it look like a group of bushes. Marick, years later, would use this to store her herbs and other materials, as it became quiet the underground paradise.
That's basically the geography of the place.
I actually have a field-guide of sorts for the topic.
Folklore:
No folklore was developed before the feline war, but after that, we start to get stories of the demonized paranormals. They are the shadows that will eat you in the night. It's said that the dark forest gave their leader evil power (uh, which is mildly true, I guess?) and that he will steal your soul. He can take any shape (true, as long as it's the same size as him), break any bond (not true, and Island Prison can't be used against me. He really can be imprisoned just fine, thank you), and that he can convince you of anything (his pity story is impressive...).
Rattlesnake became a sort of living evil to the clans, after so few of the warriors that left in the war never returned. It was all placed on Rattlesnake's shoulders and he became the story in nightmares.
So much so, that his name stopped referring to a cat, and instead, a giant snake.
As for folklore during the Feline war (which was actually proven true), was that cats of Mixed Blood were cursed. Rumors that slowly were confirmed as facts started that, when under stress, 'those paranormals with the odd powers' would become demons and turn on both friend and enemy alike.
Which was perfectly true, sadly.
The age of Rattlesnake's characters were based on when they were adopted in the kit centers or when they were generated by kit slotmachines. I think Dreadmoon was one of the oldest, since she (she was a she then. I changed it up a little as I started to think up plot. They are actually Rattlesnake's third or so in command, once again, thanks to age, and they are genderfluid) was created before the story was. I simply searched up all my old kit, and then gave them warrior names.
Thanks to June's Pride Month challenge of drawing all of the LGBTQ+ characters in Rattlesnake's group (the ones that fit in the space given. Give me some leeway.) I became very attached to Dreadmoon and Saltfeather. Which was why they got a little screentime (Saltfeather did, Dreadmoon will get their time) in one of the short stories.
Rattlesnake, who's old powers included shape-shifting into things larger than he was, once spent a couple dozen years as a human. When he was forced back into cat shape, he liked the idea of accepting cats into his group that others had 'thrown out'. It's like this: Dreadmoon's a grumpy pants, who's always pessimistic. Cats can't stand them usually. Newsong can control other cats blood and he was once told to kill a cat, and was thrown out when he wouldn't. Saltfeather was always the calm and collected one, but got tossed from cat to cat, being manipulated because of his kindness. Dream with his missing eye(though that never bothered him.) Inkeyes with his constant headaches, shivering, muttering, and everyone thinking he's insane. Batpelt and her odd..quirks... All in all, they are a rag-tag band, but Rattlesnake really does think of every last one of them as his family.
