Nekosani

[Seira Shiryu]

I think that I've made all of the changes you asked for. I also updated it to include the fast facts and such.

[Pig Boy]

Nekosani

Developed by Seira Shiryu

Price: N/A As intelligent beings, they choose who they wish to live with and if they wish to live with a person at all. The only reason one might be sold is if the person selling them believes them to a normal cat; a Nekosani may or may not reveal their intelligence to the people they live with.
Habitat: If bonded or are chosing to live with a person, they live wherever their chosen person lives. When living in the wild, Nekosani can be found in forests throughout Rharne, in the Stormlands, and around Lake Lovalus. Basically anywhere where a house cat sized predator can thrive.
Forum Location: Rharne
Lifespan and Development: In the wild, Nekosani can live 40-50 arcs. Their intelligence helps them to avoid a lot of the dangers that kill off other predators. If they choose to live with people, and live easier lives as a result, they can live up to 70 arcs. Bonded Nekosani will live as long, or as short a time as their bondmate. The bond can lengthen their lifespan to match that of whatever race the person they are bonded to is, but the shock of losing that bond will either kill them instantly, or cause them to pine themselves to death out of grief.

Female Nekosani have a gestation period of 90 trials, and give birth to litters of 1-7 kits with 5 being average. Kits are born with their eyes closed, and are completely helpless for the first 30 trials of life. They start to develop more quickly after that, and by the time they are 2 arcs old, they are fully grown, and are considered to be adolescents. It is at this time that they gain the ability to shift into their larger forms. At this point they still remain with their mother, but they start to become more and more self sufficient. By the time they are 3 arcs old, they are full adults, and are capable of breeding themselves. They may continue to live with their birth colony after that, or they may set off and seek either another colony, or a bondmate.

Kits who are raised around people can bond as early as at 2 arcs of age. But it is more likely that they won't bond until they are adults - if they do at all.

The effects of age don't start setting in until the final 2-3 arcs of life. But once they do, they usually accelerate quickly. Elderly Nekosani are prone to stiff joints, and they tire quickly from any physical exertion. Their vision, hearing, and sense of smell become weaker, and they may lose them entirely. Finally their minds begin to go, and they may spend most of their time lost in memories of the past, or become forgetful.

Diet: Meat and fish, but like house cats, they will eat grass on occasion to aid with their digestion.
Temperament: In the wild, colonies of Nekosani are friendly to members of their own colony, and are cautious, but still friendly to other colonies. They are very territorial, and while they do not mind other small felines in their territory, all other creatures are deemed either prey, or a threat. The exception to this are the bondmates of Nekosani who used to live with the colony. If they come to visit the colony with their Nekosani bondmate, they are treated with caution, but will not be attacked or driven out.

Bonded Nekosani show a distinct preference to their bondmates. With them, Nekosani are cuddly, playful, and very affectionate. People and animals alike who are perceived to be a threat to their bondmate will be strongly disliked or even hated and might be attacked if they get too close (within their bondmte's personal space) or acts too aggressively in speech or movement. People who are neither bondmate or potential threat will be treated with indifference, mild affection, or anything in between. Nekosani who are not bonded but who choose to live with people tend to be incredibly protective of "their" people just as they would be of their territory in the wild. Threats to their people will not be tolerated, but non threats may be loved, hated, or anything in between. It is entirely possible that a Nekosani that chooses to live with people will adopt "their" person's family as their own.

The Bond: Nekosani are able to bond to any race, and it is possible for more than one to bond to the same person. The bond itself becomes possible if a Nekosani and a person with similar natures come into contact with each other. When this happens they feel an instant and incredibly intense connection form between them. It is akin to love at first sight or falling in love instantly when looking for a pet to adopt.

There is a second way a bond can be formed. If a Nekosani and a person who have similar natures meet in circumstances that force them to rely on each other for survival, or if one saves the other in some way and the other feels indebited to them, or if a person comes across an injured or ill Nekosani and nurses them back to health, a bond may form between them. This bond forms more gradually than the first way (during the time they must rely on each other, etc.), but is just as strong.

The bond is a very deep emotional connection between a Nekosani and a person; one that will allow the bonded Nekosani to find their person almost anywhere. It will not work if their person is held somewhere where diri or familiars would be unable to find the person they are attacked to. In this case, the Nekosani would be able to sense that their person is alive, but not where they were. One side effect of the bond is that a bonded Nekosani will live as long as their bondmate does, even if that is far longer than their usual lifespan. But their is a downside as well. That same tie ensures that the Nekosani will not survive the shock of their bondmate's death. Losing their bondmate causes a shock so intense that it can kill the Nekosani instantly - stopping their heart trills after it happens. It can also leave them greatly weakened, and grieving so badly that they essentially pine themselves to death after their bondmate dies. Either way, they will not survive the loss.

The one exception to this is that some abilities granted by an Immortal's mark can cause a death like state, or bring someone back from the brink of death. Should a Nekosani's bondmate have a blessing and the ability that allows something like that to occur, and their bondmate is brought back before the Nekosani dies, the bond will be restored, and the Nekosani will survive.
RPG Abilities:
Ability 1 Intelligence; a Nekosani is equal to an average person in intelligence. While they can understand speech and learn multiple languages this does not mean that they can communicate in any way other than a normal cat would. Nor does this make them anymore inclined to obey a request or order. They will do as asked if and when they feel like it.
Fast Facts Skill Levels Required~ please fill this in using this page for reference.

Fast Facts

Knowing It
-- Rharne: Novice
-- Idalos: Competent to have heard rumors of intelligent cats or expert to know that the rumors are true
Wealth Tier
-- Rharne: NA
-- Idalos: NA
Sell/Buy It
-- Rharne: NA
Rarity
-- Rharne: Common
-- Idalos: Rare
Finding It
-- Rharne: Novice if they choose to show you that they are more than a normal cat, Master otherwise
-- Idalos: Novice if they choose to show you that they are more than a normal cat, Master otherwise
Collecting It
-- Rharne: NA
-- Idalos: NA
Using It
-- as a pet/companion
-- as a ratter if thought to be a normal house cat
Killing It
-- Expert; they can defend themselves and are as intelligent as people, but they are the size of a house cat (any kind from Main Coon to smaller breeds) and have no special attributes except for their intelligence
Capturing It
-- NA
Danger
-- none unless you attack them, their young, the people they care about, or their bondmate if they have one, moderate to extreme if you do due to their intelligence and their natural weapons
Tending It
-- Novice

Thank you. But I do need to limit the amount they can breed. Having intelligent cats that can pop out 7 at a time is a bit op.

Also they're too intelligent. I know I made the suggestion that they're human-like intelligence but we can't have that. So maybe be more vague about their intelligence, saying they have superior problem solving and high emotional intelligence for a cat?

[Pegasus]

Hello!

So, Pigs spoke to me about this and we discussed it. The following points are what we've agreed - he asked me to post it in order to show that we're both involved here.

1. This dev is very out of date and has been problematic in terms of getting the balance right. I'm aware - and we have discussed as staff - that there are actual examples of these creatures in play but that should not have happened and doesn't mean that we're able to / going to approve something that is unbalanced.

2. There are a number of issues here, still. We are not going to approve human-intelligence cats (or dogs, or mice, etc). We have Cadouri, we have fantasy races, we have Diri in the shape of small furry creatures. There being "mundane" human-intelligence level cats / domenstic pets simply dilutes the fantastical nature of the existing lore.

3. The whole "bonding" thing is - again - mirroring what happens with a Diri and diluting it as, currently, those are earned via mark or PSF etc.

What you're suggesting is a very Diri-like creature without any of the expectations for a Diri and with the ability to breed. If you want your PC to have a cat, please have one. If you want Nekosani to be particularly fond of one person, that's fine. But a diluted Diri / pseudo Diri isn't going to work for the reasons above.

The way forward here, I think, is to close this dev off and lock it up. If Elisabeth comes back, we'll deal with what Storm is (I can work that into a plot for her return) and I suggest that you start again or actually work on getting yourself a Diri if that's what you want.

Locking this up.