I've had a few people ask me about playing a
Forge Cat, if it was alright with me, what they were all about, and that sort of thing. And given i can be kind of crap when it comes to replying to these things in a nice timely manner, I thought I'd go ahead and post this up here so there's a resource about this custom race. This thread will go into their history, abilities, disabilities, and the avatars you can use to play them. For the record, as long as people try and adhere to this, I've got no problem with them playing one! hell i look forwards to seeing more of these dedicated and lovable kitties around.
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music while you read, hopefully imbedded that right. likely failed.
https://youtu.be/zJqLH8EA2rMForgecats are a relitively ancient dwarven creation. Long long ago in a distant land, The dwarves made a pact with a demon clan in an effort to create the perfect slave, the perfect worker, and the perfect miner. Adhearing to the demon's teachings and perverting thier methods, The dwarves created a new feline race, The Forge cat. The Dwarves groomed the cats to fit with their desires to create the perfect worker, miner, and slave. The Forge cats went through countless generations of directed and guided breeding, with foul and arcane magic forcefully drawing out cirtian trates, enhancing others, and completly removing some. The Dwarves played god with the forge cats, Breeding them and perfecting them untill they became nothing more than disposeable tools to the Dwarves.
The Dwarves Enhanced the cat's eyes throughout the generations, Giving the forge cat's near perfect dark vision. However this came at a cost. While they could see in the dark perfectly, Seeing in daylight was another story. What most people would concider tolerable light levels, normal light levels, Is downright blinding to the Forge cats. But the Dwarves saw this defect as an added bonus. Taking this downside to an extreme, Either as a way to punish the cats, or prevent them from running away. When exposed to light without protective eyeware, A forge cat looses all sense of direction. They can not tell up from left, or down from right, or forwards from backwards. Direction in it's entirety looses all meaning as they become completly disoriented and practicaly paralized. The Dwarves didn't stop there with the cat's eyes. They also made them bioluminecant, causing them to glow with the power of a single candle, meaning a lazy dwarf, or a cheep one, could use the cat's eyes as a reading light.
But the dwarves are nothing if not effecient. Knowing that a blind and flailing cat who can't tell what direction is what, is relitively ustless to them, They also implanted the knowledge of how to make special eyeware into the cat's in a form of genetic memory. Every forge cat knows on an instinctual level how to create special goggles that will allow them to see in daylight. Anyone else who tries to put these on however will effectively be blind unless it's a rather absurdely bright day outside.
The Goggles are generaly made out of leather, steel, and other meterials the Forge cat can gather without upsetting thier owner. The lenses are made of a specialy crafted glass derived from volcanic ash and volcanic glass. With the goggles on, The cat can see in daylight just fine, and their glowing eyes illuminate the goggles from the inside, allowing other people to see their bright glowing eyes.
The Dwarves didn't stop with the forge cat's eyes, far from it. Knowing they would be working in the mines or forges, The forge cats have specialy adapted ears, allowing them to work in deafening enviorments with no problems. Their ears can handle the constant banging of pick axes, hammers and anvils, and other sharp, sudden, and loud noises thanks to rather selective hearing. The unintentional side effect of this, was that sonic attacks don't really effect the forge cat all that much.
One of the prized features of the forge cat however, aside from their dedication and tenacity to pleasing their owner, Is their sense of smell. A Forge Cat is like a living metal detector. They can smell metal even through solid stone. The range at which they can do this varries depending on the batch, But Regardless of how far they can smell, A forge cat is never wrong when it comes to detecting metal and can track it through the ground to find richer and richer veins of ore. This is a trait that caused the forge cat's to excel at their given task of mining. What's more is any effort to counterfeit an ore, is immediately detected, making them valued checkers at banks, bars, or generally wherever large amount of metal coin is being used, as they can detect counterfeit gold coins rather easily. just hold it below their nose or let them sniff it, and they can tell you if it's fake or not. The only known thing to fool a forge cat is magic that dedicates itself to not only mimicking the appearance of the ore, but the scent as well.
Forge cat's also have a rather uniuqe ability, Their purring. When Dwarves discovered how harmonic frequencies could effect the forging process, They became obsessed with embuing that ability into the Forge cats. Through countless generations, Forge Cats gained a rather potent purring ability. A forge cat can tune themselves to any metal they touch, eventually reaching it's harmonic frequency and allowing them to work with that meterial much better. Forge cat's can sharpen, Polish, de-rust, and carve intricate designs without the use of any tools, only using their paws, and claws while they purr. What would take a lot of sweat and hard work on a grind stone, can be done in mere moments with a purring forge cat tuned to the metal. Their purring isn't infinite however, As purrinig wares them out. The Dwarves focused so hard on acheaving this, That everything else just fell to the wayside, including the cat's personal health. A forge cat uses a lot of energy purring when they are working with metal, and they can even surcome to extreme exhaustion, leaving them in a weakend and starving state as their body burns through all of thier energy reserves without holding anything back. Anything that could have limited this in them, or held it back, was bread out of them long ago.
The Dwarves went onto remove things they felt could get in the way of the forge cat's work. Things like a self preservation instinct, The desire to reproduce, and many things that may resemble free will were entirely removed from the forge cats through generations of breeding and enhancements. Forge cats have no predatory instincts what so ever. The very concept of attacking someone themselves, harming someone, or rebelling is completly alien to them. Countless mental blocks instilled into the forgecats on an instinctual level keep them well in line and make them wholy dependant on their owner for everything. A forge cat will not eat, sleep, rest, or stop working unless specificaly ordered to. A forge cat is actualy capable of litearlay working themselves to death. They do not stop if they are hungry, tired, or injured. They contenue working untill they are told to stop. If they complete their task, they will find another, and another, and another, untill they are told to stop. In the mines this means they will contenue to mine and dig. At the forge this means they will contenue making whatever they were told to make, and if left alone, that item will slowly become more and more ornate. A forge cat's every motion, Every waking moment, And every thaught is on how to bring happyness and joy to their owner, how to please them. They Obsess over this. For a forgecat, Failure in anything is a death scentence. If they do not craft a blade to their owner's liking, If they do not mine enough ore, quickly enough, If they do not refine the ore quickly enough, pure enough, if they fail in anything, A forge cat expects to die. They expect their owner to kill them and purchase another forge cat. When a forge cat injures itself, It will instinctually report to it's owner, and advize them if they are still capable of working. If the Cat is able to contenue working, They are sent on thier way, If not, The cat is normaly killed by the dwarf. Dwarves are known to have injured forge cat's work untill they die, as it can be cheeper to replace a forge cat for a newer moddel, than it would be to heal the cat of it's injury. In lismore this hasn't ever happend.
Dwarves also instilled another genetic defficiency in the Forge cats. Their feet are overly fluffy and soft, to the point that without footware, such as heavy boots, They have no traction what so ever. A forge cat without footware is incapable of standing on their own two legs and will promptly fall over as they slip and slide about.
Forge Cats are a slave race, and it is frankly the only way they are capable of living. They are wholy incapable of even remotely comprehending the notion or idea of being free themselves. If a forge cat is ever "Freed" from it's owner, and told "You are free, You are a Free Man" The Forge cat will litearaly stand right there, and wait untill someone actually named "Free Man" comes to collect them, as they take this as the name of their new owner.
Forge Cats Are experts in their field. Their very reason for existance being Mining, Refining, and crafting. As such they put so much effort into their work, that one would be hard pressed to find another smith as skilled.
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It used to be you could find the Avatar for Forge cats over at Blue Galaxy. It was made by Ash (Ash Soyinka) and called Lulinae kitty. There were so many varieties and colors. Now however, Not so much.
I recomend contacting her to see if you could still pick up the Avatar series, as she may be willing to sell one to you.
Alternitively there are some other avitars that could work.
WARNING: MESH AVITAR
The Blue Galaxian Feline over at blue galaxy feels like a successor to the Lulinae kitty. And while it may be mesh, it has many diffrent patterns and options available. If you're ok with Mesh avitars and can clothe them, Go for it.
WARNING: MESH AVITAR
The Solarin Feline over in Blue Galaxy is also another great substitute for the Luniae kitty. If you can cloth and dress Mesh avitars, this would be another great option.
The Raawr Kitty can also be used as an impromptu Forge cat with a few texture mods, like those found at Ferine for example.
All in all if the Two mesh avitars wern't mesh, I'd recommend those first, But mesh avis can be kind of hard to cloth.
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So, You still want to play one. Well first of all thank you. Second, You're going to need an owner. Given Forge cats are a slave race, Need to find someone who is willing to own your character that you enjoy playing with. But if you're here in the first place, Chances are you've already got someone who's ok with that.
Now then, Onto the Forge Cat's Owner's Manual.
This bit can be considered cannon and easily found in the lismore library.
The Forge cat's owner's manual is a thick Dwarven tome with bits of runic writing on it. The Owner's manual doubles as a catalog in case a Forge Cat owner needs to "replace" a broken forge cat.
This Manual is custom Written For the people of Lismore.
Forge Cats should be considered an Exotic Slave for General care and health issues. There are many different breeds of Forge cats as well. Each breed having a different coloration and pattern. A forge cat has a Primary name that it associates with itself, and a Secondary name that it associates with it's Batch. This Batch name indicates the Forge Cat's Breed.
There are a few do's and don'ts for Forge cat owners.
For Example, Do give your forge cat clear instructions. Do not give them an impossible instruction, for example, Do not tell them to "stand in the corner" in a round room. This will cause your forge cat to have a mental break down as it tries to find the corner in the room. A forge cat will not turn to it's owner and say there are no corners, As it's owner's orders must be followed.
Do tell your cat to maintain your equipment. The forge cat will maintain, Polish, Repair, and hone all of your equipment for you.
Do Not Forget to tell your cat to take a break from honing your equipment if you suddenly hear it's purring turn into a wheasing sound. If your Forge cat starts Wheasing Immediately order your cat to stop what it's doing. When a Forge cat's purring turns to a Whease, This signals that the forge cat is in a weakened and starving state as they have used up all of their energy reserves in the task you have ordered them to do.
Do Occasionally have your Forge cat test it's strength to make sure they are keeping reasonably fit.
DO NOT under any circumstance instruct a forge cat to strike an object, no matter what it is, as hard as they can. A forge cat has no self preservation instinct that would otherwise prevent them from exerting themselves to the point they injure themselves. Forge Cats are known to work themselves to death. A forge cat ordered to strike an object as hard as they can, will strike that object with enough force to break every bone in their arm or whatever limb you have ordered them to strike the object with. This can quickly and easily be turned into a death sentence for a forge cat if the order is given to the cat by a careless owner.
Do provide clear instructions and limits to your Forge cat. Give them long standing orders that the cat will routinely follow and use as guidelines.
Do Not Take common sense for granted. A Forge cat will not eat when it is hungry, or sleep when it is tired, or drink when it is thirsty. A forge cat must be told to do so.
Do take your Forge Cat out and about for walks. Forge cats are Prized possessions in lismore and an exotic species. Taking your Forge Cat out and about gets others to see them, which could drive business to your business and therefore bring you extra coin as they come to you to pay for it's services.
DO Not expose your Forge Cat to Dangerous or Hostile people. A forge cat again lacks self preservation instincts, and is incapable of comprehending hostile intent. A forge cat will not hold any ill will towards someone even if they break the forge cat. They are incapable of such.
Do show affection towards your Forge cat for a job well done. A simple pat on the head, petting, or Scritch will translate to the owner being happy. This will instill this behavior in the forgecat as desirable and they will do their best to repeat it.
Do Not come onto your forgecat Sexually. A forge cat has no reproductive instinct and has mental blocks to prevent them from breeding. Removing these blocks and informing the Forge Cat that they are now a "Breeder" is normally a Very Dangerous thing to do as it is not normally able to be reversed. Once a forge cat is told it is a breeder, it's soul purpose in life goes from being a smith, to that of a creature that's only reason for existing is to pass on it's genes to a new batch. Normally Forge cat Breeders are injected with various chemicals, and inscribed with potent tattoos in order to forcefully drag out and enhance specific traits and remove undesirable ones.
Many Forge Cats also carry Dwarven Scrolls, Inscribed with an assortment of information about ore, smelting, refining, and crafting as well as ancient Dwarven Techniques. A forge Cat will Always ask permission to consult the scrolls and will never look at them of their own accord. If you want a Forge cat to innovate, or come up with something new, It is a good idea to order them, or allow them to consult the scrolls.
Forge Cat's are warm weather Felines Dispite their thick fur coat. They do not do well in the cold and normally require warm environments to remain at peek performance. It is advised the owner dress them in heavy clothing to keep them warm.
Forge Cat's are prone to Exhaustion and working themselves to death unless monitored or given specific orders. Forge Cat's are Also known to sustane injuries from intense work loads. It is recommended to have a doctor look them over at least once every three months.
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