III. The Lore

[gods and goddesses]

THE LORE

the beginning
the first human
the first chosen one
helite & milarea

[gods and goddesses]

THE BEGINNING

Before the land that is no inhabited by the cats was created, there was nothing but the five major gods; Helsia, Rashia, Rumelt, Soltaire, and Vulcanrin. The gods and goddesses wanted nothing more than to have a land where they could reign over, a place where the had power, and something to give them true meaning in their never ending life. It was because of this, that Soltaire approached his cautious mate, Helsia, and asked her about his plan. His plan consisting of a group of cats, The Tribe, that all the gods and goddesses would watch over and govern pieces of their lives. Helsia, being the cautious she-cat that she was, was unsure about the plan. "What if they don't want to follow us once they are alive or worse, what if they refuse to acknowledge our laws and our existance?"

Soltaire, pondering this question, decided that there would have to be another realm for the unfaithful to go to, a place where it would be a threat not to take place in the god's plans and laws. The Father of the gods then approached his brother, older than him, who held no current reason in the god realms. Vulcanrin's bloody red eyes glared with hatred and jealousy at his younger brother, knowing their parents had always favored the younger male, wondering what his brother wanted from him now. Soltaire, returned his brother look of malice with his own and spoke, "Rashia shall be the goddess of Nature and Rumelt the god of Time; both are essential to a world that would be created below us. You need a place as well and I think I know of just the one."

Vulcanrin was given the underworld and the dead. When a cat dies, Vulcanrin would be the one to decide whether or not the cat was true to the ways of the gods or not. If he decides they were, then he would send the cat's soul up to heaven where they would live a life of endless peace. If he decided hey were wrong on their beliefs, he'd take their soul down to the pits of the underworld where they would never live in harmony and would forever feel the pain of their betrayal. With that decided, Soltaire once again, approached his beloved mate and asked her if everything was settled and if she would allow this to happewn. Once again, the goddess had her doubts. "What if a cat is pure in the heart, but they just do not want to be in the tribe; what if they do not feel the pleasure in the tribe as we wish they would? I do not want to have Vulcanrin punish those who know what is right, but they can't act upon it."

Getting frustrated by now, Soltaire nodded to his mate, and looked deep within his mind for a solution to her doubts. They were reasonable doubts he knew, especially if they were really going to give their follows free-wil. Finally, he looked at Helsia and replied, "We will give those who do not like out tribe the option to be loners. We will still watch over them and help the in their times of needs, but if they keep ignoring us, if they choose not to take out existence into consideration, their souls will be lost at death and they won't even go to Vulcanrin. Only those who were in the tribe, broke our laws, and were banished, will find their place in Vulcanrin's ranks when death takes them over." Helsia, finding this a reasonable silution, nodded.

Soltaire asked her once more if there were any other doubts in her mind about the world they were to crate and once more, she thought about it. After long moments, the goddess smiled and shook hr head. She could think of nothing else wrong with the idea of followers and together, the five gods stood together and created the world below them. Rashia was the first to land on the rocky surface once it was created and cast her power over the ground, creating the rivers, trees, grass, and other plants Next came Rumelt who created time. Vulcanrin followed after that, heading down below the surface of the land to the core to create his realm. Still, there were things missing and that's when Soltaire and Helsia came together and had their sons and daughters, the lesser gods and goddesses, creating the moon sun, as well as feelings to plague the land and soon after, The Tribe appeared and our way of life, began.

[gods and goddesses]

THE FIRST HUMAN

Humans, long ago, they did not exist. The cats were the first creatures on this world with any sense of the mind and everything else was made, to fit their needs. Humans came later, when the gods decided that they needed a creature that would serve the cats in another way. It all started with the third leader of The Tribe, a male by the name of Wallowstray. The leader was of the selfish type, the kind of male that did as he pleased without even consulting others. He was the first leader of The Tribe to ignore the authority that the Elders had, thinking that his placement meant more than their wise words. He liked to challenge those of lower ranks to a battle against him, just to warm up his muscles and to keep in shape and worse of all, he was not afraid to kill those that he challenged if they did not easily let him win at times.

Many cats questioned the gods when this leader made his true nature. Since Wallowstray came into power on trickery and deception, they started to wonder if the gods had started to turn their backs on the cats loyal to them so soon after founding The Tribe. The gods, sensing that the cats of The Tribe were on their way of rebelling against them because of the topic of Wallowstray, came together. All of the gods, even the children of Soltaire and Helsia were there to discuss the actions they must take to ensure they don't loose their follower's faith. The only god among the group that felt that this was a waste of time, was Vulcanrin. As Wallowstray's patron god, he had helped the god to arise to the rank of the leader and obviously, he was not at all pleased that the others were planning to punish Wallowstray for a personality that made him stand out in Vulcanrin's eyes.

"This is nonsense!" the underworld god yowled at the beginning. "So what they think Wallowstray is a little...direct? It doesn't mean that he won't make a good leader." Soltaire, one that had always had a short temper for his older brother glared at the god and shook his head. "It's not just their loyalty that is the problem here," Soltaire calmly stated, "but also the fact that Wallowstray is ignoring us as well. We created the rank for Elders to give the leader advice and knowledge they gained through their long lives and Wallowstray is ignoring that wisdom. That alone, is enough to punish him for." Soltaire was one of the few gods that dared to look into Vulcanrin's bloody red stare straight on, but Vulcanrin would never flinch away from the male's gaze.

"Besides," Rashia put in, her calm, melodic voice interrupting the two of htem, "it's about time we showed The Tribe exactly what happens if the threat of joining you in the underworld is not strong enough, Vulcanrin. After all, you are this male's patron god, surely he is not afraid to join you and surely you would not doom him into a death he deserves for his selfishness and ignorance of our laws." The goddess's twin brother and the god of time, was the next one to speak. "We have two options on what we could do. Stop you from having the privilege to have cats to guide so you do not gain an attachment to cats like Wallowstray or we could choose something worse than death for them to suffer through and then once they do die, their soul rots away like they never existed."

Vulcanrin at this challenge on his pride, snarled at the male, but looked away. He knew he would never allow them to take away his right to be a patron god; it was the one thing he held onto to become stronger than the brother that stole his ranking. Even if they do punish Wallowstray, there will be others you can nuture. He will not be the end. Sighing in an act of surrender, he nodded. "Fine, punish him then. But what do you suppose is worse than death?" At this, the most unusual of the god children of Helsia and Soltaire stepped forward. "I have an idea," Wiltran, the god of trickery spoke. All the eyes of the other gods turned to look at him and he grinned slightly, knowing not all of them enjoyed his ideas, but he saw a gleam of respect in Vulcanrin's eyes.

When Soltaire nodded for him to continue, he sighed and recited the words that would be given as a warning to The Tribe, "To those who betray the gods above, a curse shall be lain. When the knowledge of a death with the god of the underworld is not even to scare, then be scared into loosing your soul in more ways than one. The cure shall make a cat loose his front legs, walk on only his hind. He shall be shed of his fur till only fur on his head grows long and a small layer among his body. Pink and vulnerable his flesh shall be and darkness shall continue to rule your heart. His memory shall be erased and he shall forget the love, family, and dreams he once possessed. This new creature, shall be called Human and he will forever take care of the cats, feeding and pampering them when they need his call, but only for thosew who do not live within The Tribe. Then when he dies, his soul will disappear, forgotten in the minds of all cats and it'll be as if he never existed."

Soltaire grinned, liking the words that he spoke. "Human" he muttered, tasting the power the word seemed to have on his mouth and he nodded. Together, all the gods decided on the Curse and even Vulcanrin, seemed to like it. With that, the gods from above sent Vulcanrin down to lay the Curse on Wallowstray. Wallowstray struggled against the effect, saying the Curse was stupid and slurring insults at the god who had given him this power to begin with. Vulcanrin, angered by the betrayal of his pawn, made the Curse go into affect right in front of all member of The Tribe. The cats of The Tribe all hated what their leader had turned into and drove him out of their camp once and for all. Wallowstray within the course of a day forgot his past life, and lived alone.

Time passed and other joined him. Centuries passed and a population of both females and male grew into existence. Eventually they even grew smarter and learned to build with the hands given to them, but those hands were given to them to attend to the cats and as they built their homes and neighborhoods, loner cats drew attracted to the warm homes and the humans took them in; feeding and pampering them as their once gods said they would.

[gods and goddesses]

THE FIRST CHOSEN ONE

One night as the sun set behind the horizon and the moon rise into the sky, the five original gods approached each other, a meeting had been called. The last time all five of these gods had been around each other was back when they had condemned Wallowstray to become a human and Vulcanrin was still sour about the situation. Rumelt, who had been the one o call this meeting in the first place, stepped in front of the others, gaining their tattention. Taking a breath for effect rather than nessessity, h spoke, "My brothers and sisters. I have called you away from your duties as our burdens sleep for a reason you all need to ponder. The other day, Rashia and I were talking, and we realized something that could in our own disaster, and could end in The Tribe being torn away from our grasp.

"We have given the cats below us warning after warning, threatening them that if they do not wish to follow us, they shall go to Vulcanrin's realm and live in pain and torture there forever and if that threat does not work, well...we all remember what happened to Wallowstray." He saw a look of malice and hatred enter Vulcanrin's eyes, but the god of time ignored the look. He continued, "Well, what happens when they realize that we are only giving them threats? We're suppose to be loving gods, gods that will look out for them as long as we have their faith...but or tactics up to this point seem to only hit their fear, not their love. We need to change this, we need to give them a reason to love us past our threats. We need to show them, we aren't bad and we aren't to be feared."

"Not you four, you mean. I'm obviously meant to be feared," Vulcanrin mumbled and it gained him a sharp glare from Soltaire, but he rolled his eyes. Rumelt smiled at his older brother's words and looked at the other three gods, wondering what they had to say about the idea. Looking at Rashia, he knew he already had his twin's support, but Soltaire and Helsia's support is what he needed for this to be put in place. Soltaire looked at Helsia for a moment and his mate nodded and he smiled, looking back to his brother. "You're right. We all remember how hard it had been to convince Helsia of this from the start. She had been worried our followers would loose their love for us and I guess we should have headed the warning a bit more effectively."

Rumelt let out a sigh of relief and noddef. Rashia spoke now from her spot in the circle they had formed, "Anyone have any ideas? What will be so mighty that it will counter our threats of turning human?" Now it was Helsia's turn to step forward with her thoughts. She cleared her throat to gain the eyes of all of those before he and smiled warmly. She had been thinking of this very thought since the Wallowstray incident and now thought she had gotten everything worked out to bring hr idea forth. "I've been thinking, what if we changed their shift forms of those who dedicate their lives to following us and show it time and time again? And no, Vulcanrin, I don't mean making their forms of a higher rank so stop looking at me like I'm stupid."

Soltaire glared at his brother, not liking the look his brother had given the goddess he loved, but Helsia just rested her tail on his shoulder, shaking her head. "What I do mean is give them a form of something they'll never see in their normal lives. Huge reptiles that fly and breathe fire which would be called dragons, for example. Or even divinely beautiful - or handsome - horses with a single horn in their forehead? Vulcanrin's favorite would probably be a huge bird consisting of only fire called a phoenix. These would not be the only forms given, but also many, many others, but they would only be awarded to those worthy of such a powerful gift. Only those who we are sure would never take advantage of the gift."

All five gods and goddesses looked at each other, intrigued by the idea that Helsia had brought forth. Surely such a wonderful shift form would be a gift any soul would love to have! "Who shall be the first? Surely we need an example to show others we mean business with this," Vulcanrin said in a dry voice. Soltaire grinned and spoke now, "I have the perfect cat. You all know Luratian? He is a great father to many litters, and a great mate to the she-cat he loves. Best of all, he's loyual, deadly loyal. He'd fall into a cliff for us if we asked him." The other gods, nbodded. They all knew of what the tom Soltaire had spoken has done for them and they knew there could be no better cat to be destined to live on forever as the first one to liver with their blessing.

With that decided, the gods headed off, found the tom asleep in the night, and approached his dream along with his patron god Erosate. In that very dream they told Luratian about what his shift would become when he awoke that mnorning; they had chosen the phoenix form that Helsia had spoken of to be the first. When Luratian awoke the following day, he went out into the clearing, told his leader he needed to show The Tribe something directly from the gods. Once The Tribe was assembled, he shifted, becoming the large, fiery bird and he shot into the sky, showing the power of his new for and from there, cats worked hard to shoe their loyalty to their gods, trying to gain the same form, but also knowing that it would never come easily.

[gods and goddesses]

HELITE & MILAREA

The cats on the ground all know Helite and Milarea best for the images that they hold and the large effect the hold. Being the only twin gods beside Rashia and Rumelt, they are very powerful, but they also have little to do with one another. Unlike Rashia and Rumelt, Helite and Milarea are as different as you can get in a family. Where Helite is tempermental, and sensitive, Milarea is calm and willing to flow along with everything that goes around her. The one thing that she will not stand for, is when her brother tends to think he is much more powerful then her, but he only realizes this because he is envious of his sister's beauty in the eyes of the cats below, while most of them avoid his image of the sun otherwise they might just go blind.

One day, Helite had enough though. He was tired of his sister getting the attention even though it was clear his power was far stronger than hers. He radiated with strenth, the cats below could feel his strength in the summer and even in the winter at times. He was the powerful one and he would get everyone to see that. It was always an unspoken pact that he and his sister were to share the sky, one for the day and one for the night with equal amounts of time. When it was Milarea's time to shine though and when she knew he was suppose to start heading down down to relinquish the sky to her and her only, she realized he was not moving. He stayed high in the sky in the position that would mark the highlight of the day, far longer than he was suppose to and she went forward to meet him.

As she approached her brother, what the cats below saw was something extraordinary. The sun was blocked out by the moon. Th sun became nothing more than a black shape with a small red and orange outline. She stared at her brother and snarled, "Brother, what are you doing? It is my time to govern the skies, it is my time for my followers to see me moving across the sky. Step aside now." Her brother shook his head though and a grin appeared on his face as he forced his power on her by leaping forward, pinning her to the ground. "Dear sister, I am the stronger of us and as long as I say so, the sun will rule while the moon is a forgotten memory." Milarea hissed and threw her brother off of her.

Below as the cats turned their gaze up at the sun and the moon, they realized that something was not right between the god and goddess. Flares flew from the black shape in the sky now and all the cats from the inner parts of their bones, could feel a battle raging. Some cats turned on one anothre, especially those who had Milarea or Helite as their patron god or godsdess. They were fighting for the honor of their patron and they hoped that if they helped to shed some blood from the others followers, then the god might weaken and their patron would win the battle. Milarea, seeing the battle that inflamed on the land below, hissed at her brother, "Helite! Look at what you do. You send the cats below against one another, even among the Tribe! You must go back down and I will force you to!"

That was all that was needed from the goddess. With the knowledge that cats were bleeding, dying, and joining Vulcanrin for judgment infuriated her. No cat deserved to die in this moment because of her brother's stupidity. She grabbed Helite by the throat, ignoring any attacks he held against her and she snarled. Although she may not be as strong as her brother, it was her right as a goddess to win that fight and she could feel the other gods and goddesses giving her their strength to put her brother back in line. With one final hiss, she threw the tom away, out past the horizon in the cat's eyes and down, out of their view. The sun glowed in the sky and night quickly took shape. She shook head at her brother and took her spot in the sky, watching the cats below as the fighting wrapped up just as quickly.

From then on, Soltaire gave hr special permission to throw Helite out of the sky without the need of the others strength. In fact, it was after this first occurrence of the sun being blocked by the moon, that the cats started to see the moon appear in the daylight. Helite was not pleased when he saw that she could be seen by the mortals in the day just like he, but now she was there to watch him and make sure that he obeyed. She was his leader in a way and he felt no bigger shame after that. After the battle, Helite continues to find ways to get back at his sister, but knows the most effective way to do so, would be going through the cats below. From then on, he started to pit his followers against Milarea's to get revenge.