V. Tribal Hierarchy

[gods and goddesses]

TRIBAL HIERARCHY

[style=text-transform:uppercase;]THE SPECIALS

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LEADER

The leader is the image of the tribe. Even though he cannot make any huge decisions without the Elders say in the decision, they do have independent powers when it comes to the punishments of those who betrays the leader's orders, though not much else. He cannot punish for the broken religious rules, seeing as the cats are not expected to follow the gods laws as some might expect. Cats figured that no-one can punish the non-loyal other than the gods themselves and to stay away from the god's powers, they just don't do any of that punishing. In general, the leader will be a male because of the prejudice against females in the society. There is usually never any fighting for the leader position. When the leader dies, the Elders choose the most fitting to succeed the leader.

ELDERS

Elders are cats that gather around the leader for the biggest decisions - the decisions that affect the whole tribe. The Elders are usually cats who are well over seventy moons old and have had a lot of experience in their lives...and a stereotype to the Elders is that they usually hold a rare shift form. Common shifters among the Elders is a rare event, but uncommon shifters are intermediate. There are generally six Elders, three of them being rare shifters, two being uncommon, and one being common. Obviously, the stereotype is not as strong as some might think, but that's because the rare shifter Elders usually do more public speaking than the others and to be more confident in their decision. The uncommon and common shifters are only included as a way to have the say of the large group of the population. Females can become Elders if they manage to get to old age, but it's not very common as seeing most tend to die before getting to this rank or the positions are filled. Any male or female that reach Elder age and want to retire, must wait for one of the current Elders to die before they can retire to this position.

PRIESTS

The Priests are cats who are among the cats for religious purposes. They have no power in the tribe as the Elders and the Leader do, but they do hold a high status among most of the cats. When cats are unsure about anything that has to do with their religion, they come to the Priests for guidance. Whether it has to do with a sin, or with a thought that they are unsure about holiness to, these are the cats that they confide in. The Elders do sometimes come to the Priests when they are unsure about a successor to the leader's position and want to see what the gods will it to be. The Priests claim to have been chosen by the gods, but not all cats believe this. Those who are doubtful of the Priests and their loyalty to the holy ways of the gods, tend to be more uneasy around these cats and tend to stay away from them. Murder of a priest, is not uncommon.

Males and females share this rank unlike many of the other ranks in the Tribe. Males usually become the Priests to all the gods except for Erosate and they do tend to be chosen by Astrophia as well, since she is usually more respected and prayed to be the males of the land below. Females tend to become Priestesses to all the goddesses except for Astrophia and they also tend to be chosen by Erosate seeing as he is usually respected and usually the patron god of females more than males. Although females gain this rank, they are still looked at as having an 'invisible' lower rank than male Priests. Priestesses and Priests alike are also restrained from having kits, simply because usually if the gods choose them for this rank, then they are not meant to have kits. No-one is quite sure what the god's punishment is for a Priest or Priestess having kits, but none dare to try the gods and many believe they'll be different every time just to keep this cats in line and unwilling to try them.

They usually are chosen at a young age, maybe not as kits, but at some time before they reach their male or female ranking by the Priest or Priestess of their god or goddess before them. That Priest or Priestess will usually be in their later stages of life when the new one is chosen and they will teach the new one about the god or goddess they are meant to represent, the way the god or goddess may touch them, and about what their ranking does in the Tribe. The new one will not reach full status until the old one dies chooses - and has word from the god or goddess to do so - to retire to become an Elder; retiring from this rank is rare, seeing as not many of them wish to be an Elder.

THE MALES

NOTE

All the male ranks take care of the basic needs of the Tribe such as hunting, patrolling, taking care of queens and kits, camp renovations, etc. It depends on rank with what they actually do. Usually the rare and uncommon will take care more of hunting and patrolling while they leave the real work to the common shifters.

RARE SHIFTERS

Males who are have shift forms that are rare, are seen with a high status among the tribe.

UNCOMMON SHIFTERS

Males who are able to shift into uncommon forms are not seen as highly as those who can shift into rare forms, but they get better attention than the commoners.

COMMON SHIFTERS

Male who shift into common forms are the lowest of the line and are seen as normal. They are given little respect by those of higher shifting. They are the ones that give the respect and they do a lot of the work that those of higher ranks do not wish to do. Also in all reality, they get the last say on she-cats as well.

THE FEMALES

QUEENS

Females who are expecting kits are put in the category of a queen, but they do not tend to stay there for long seeing as soon as the kits are born, they are made nannies again. Females do not milk-feed their own kits, even if the kits are with their formal mate. Another nanny who has just had kits will feed the kits instead.

NANNIES

Nannies consist of a large chunk of the female population seeing as they are the ones that are not expecting kits. The leader will often choose a she-cat that is currently not in the process of feeding kits from this rank to have the kits of a tom that comes to him.

OUTSIDERS

PETS

Since there are humans in this world, there are also their pet cats. Cats who live with humans often know the Tribal Lore about the way that humans came to be. Some show their masters with more ferociousness that they agree that humans are there for their enjoyment, not the other way around, while other pets just want to be friends with their owners. Some come and go easily into the outside lands of their homes, while others stay rooted in their neighborhood.

PREY SHIFTERS

Prey shifters are cats that are thrown from the Clan when the are seen with a shift form that would make them prey. They are put into the Hidden Water Cave to await the Winter in case the Tribe runs out of food. They are usually in lower health condition and don't get to roam too far from the cave in case they arouse the god's wrath to keep them there.

THE FORGOTTEN

As you may have noticed from the beliefs if you've already read them, the whole reason the tribe cats think females are around, are to mate and produce offspring. They have little to no other meaning in the tribe and there is no place for a she-cat that can't reproduce. Therefore, those she-cats who are found sterile, are driven from the tribe. They are not outcasts, but they are merely forgotten. The easiest she-cats to see that are sterile are chimeras, but normal she-cats can be driven out as well if they do not have a litter after enough attempts. Toms, even if they are sterile, will never be put in this category though, seeing as there are other uses for toms and toms don't need to have kits.

OUTCASTS

Cats that do something to go against the very basis of what makes the tribe the tribe, are forced from the tribe and are forbidden to ever return. Most will never be able to return seeing as these cats are not likely to forgive and forget any crimes committed that would get one kicked out. They are often labeled with an "X" of furless skin on their right flank.

LONERS

Loners are those who are born outside the tribe or cats that leave the pack peacefully thinking that the tribe is not where they were meant to be. These cats are often calmer and easier to talk with and will often not want to hurt another cat, especially not a cat of the tribe.

AGGRESSORS

Like loners, aggressors are born outside the tribe. However, unlike loners, they are very aggressive towards the tribe and usually hates the way attitude of the tribe as well as just the founding principles. They will often mess with the minds of the tribe cats and try their best to cause disarray in the tribe.[/style][/center]