Who We Are

Cat Elves are a semi-nomadic, isolated tribe living in the vast jungle in the southernmost region of Two Moons. Cat Elves are "pure-blooded" elves: that is, they are descended from the original High Ones that landed on Abode so many thousands of turns ago. Our ancestors broke away from the group that would became the Gliders that settled Blue Mountain. After centuries apart, the Cat Elf chieftain Kaer went north and met with Lord Winnowill of Blue Mountain. The two clasped hands in friendship, forming a bond between the two tribes that endures to this day. There exists a treaty that every Cat Elf and Glider is expected to honor, an agreement of mutual non-interference with the affairs of each other.

Unlike wolfriders, Cat Elves do not have mixed blood and they prefer to eat cooked meat although they can eat raw if necessary. Cat Elves bond with large panthers that roam through the jungle (see panthers for information on the cats). They seem to share an uncommon bond with the great cats, living and hunting with them to survive. The tribe is led by a chieftain or chieftess, along with one or more chief seconds from the senior hunters. The Cat Elves live scattered about the jungles rather than clustered in one central location for the protection of the tribe in case of detection. To view the current PC members of the tribe, see the tribe.

The primary interest of the Cat Elf is the health and survival of his/her tribe even as they often live apart from each other. Memory of their ragged flight from the humans living along the northern savannah keeps them together as a tribal family. Cat Elves will often regard strangers to the Forevergreen with some faint measure of distrust and suspicion that comes from a natural territorial instinct. True xenophobia is rare although a few older elves may actually shun outsiders and refuse to interact with. Regardless of their private feelings, visitors to the jungles receive a decent measure of hospitality and protection from the elements and humans. Some Cat Elves may hold themselves to be better than any other, such arrogance coming from their general unfamiliarity with northerners.

Appearance

The climate in this part of the world is considered tropical or sub-tropical—hot, sticky, and full of bugs. Elves from the Sun Village would not find the heat overly arduous, but the humidity can be somewhat overwhelming. Normal attire for Cat Elves would be much less than for others: breeches, shorts, or loincloths for males, two-piece outfits for females, and so on. You don't have to be sexy—be what you will—but anyone wearing furry boots and a tunic would quickly pass out from the heat. Cat Elves prefer colors that would blend in with their surroundings, such as greens and browns. There will be a tribal tanner for leather making and such, even if only NPC. Kitlings generally go barefoot around their homes, but most Cat Elves will wear some kind of light boots or shoes to protect their feet from snakes and stingbugs on the ground.

• Cat Elves do not have brightly colored hair. It would surely welcome a quick death in the jungles. No red hair, white or silver is to be seen... anything close to that would need approval by the review staff. As Cat Elves are pure blooded, no "face fur" will be seen.
• Typical eye colors range from blues and greens, browns and a few purples. Unless you have wolfrider blood, you will not have yellow eyes.
• Skin color varies amongst Cat Elves, depending upon how much sunlight the individual gets. The sun rarely pierces the canopy in most places, but Cat Elves do spend out on the savannah hunting, so there will be some variation in how dark one gets. Typically, Cat Elves tend to dusky skin tones... consult with the chief and/or chief's Second if you have any questions.
• Males will range in height from 3'6" to 4'6" on average, females will range from 3'2" to 4'. Given the relative closeness to gliders and lack of wolf blood, taller heights may be possible in future upon approval by the chief and chief's Second. Expect that taller elves will either be a sport (very rarely approved) or have appropriate genetic background (a glider parent, etc.)

Skills

Cat Elves are very skilled in fighting, hunting, and tracking, living in one of the most inhospitable areas on Abode. They use a variety of weapons well-suited to the jungles and savannah areas, including bone knives, arrows, spears, blowguns, and cat claws (a vicious hand weapon indigenous to the southern regions). Every Cat Elf is trained to survive as a kit, learning the skills of hunting, tracking, and use of these weapons before becoming an adult. Even those who forsake hunting and fighting for such occupations as tanning, herbalism, songshaping, etc. will know how to hunt for themselves and will carry some type of weapon. Every generation will have one or more tribal weaponsmakers to construct these for each member of the tribe. Kits are instructed by senior hunters and their parents... once in a while, an actual weaponsmaster will handle the responsibility of preparing kits. There are general rules for hunting, tracking, and combat:

• There will be no "powerposing". Powerposing is a term used for situations where one player will pose his or her opponent's reactive poses as well as their own. On this MUSH, you will pose launching your attack, your general attitude, remarks your character might make, etc. You do not pose how your weapon hits another elf, how they might block the attack, body language, etc. That is the province of the other player and is considered rude or twinkish. The only exception to this rule is the posing of reactions from an animal you control (a puppet or emitted animal that you control during a hunt). If you wish to add another character's reaction to your pose, you must page them OOCly and ask permission.
• Oftentimes, other players will play along with your perception of the scene or be willing to "take a hit" during the course of RP. Be nice and ask first. After you pose your attack, your opponent or prey will pose their response. Although events can happen very quickly ICly, RL problems (such as lag or key players not logging in) can and frequently do happen. Be patient and wait for everyone to have a chance to pose before you continue with a scene.
• Frequently, a pose order is agreed upon before starting a scene with a large number of participants, but it is not required.
• Please take a moment to read the MUSH's policy on consent. Death here is as permanent as it is in the real world. Elves can die just as easily as trolls and humans and frequently do. Unless your opponent specifically states that he or she wishes to lose a fight in a very final way, you may not kill them against their wishes. Similarly, do not make plans to have your character severely injured or put into a situation where they might die unless you are prepared for that consequence. While many TPs are run under very rigid conditions with a very specific outcome, it is the random element inherent in life that makes RPing so interesting. Feel free to check out the MUSH list of consent exceptions as well for further information. NOTE: In extreme circumstances, the staff and/or the tribal leadership can approve retconning the RP to avoid an unintended catastrophe or death. This should be a last resort, however, and will entail the loss of the RP in entirety.

Names

Cat Elves do not name their kits in the descriptive Wolfrider style (i.e. Moonriver, Clearwood, Nightlight, etc.) Cat Elf names, rather, are more lyrical in composition and sound and are typically not more than three syllables in length (more similar to Gliders than to the lengthy names found in the Underworld, for example) Picking a name can sometimes be tricky, so we've compiled a list of examples of what they might look like. Online, +lhelp names/f will display will display a list of female names and +lhelp names/m will display examples of male Cat Elf names. Take a look at the tribal roster, either online with the +roster catelf command or here to see who is in the tribe currently. Do not copy any names or make any close relationships based upon name without permission of the chief, chief's Second, and the character in question.

Cat Elves do have soulnames and Recognize. Your character will need a soulname as well if you intend to open him or her up for Recognition during RP. These are typically one-syllable names such as Lree, Tam, Twen, Fahr, etc. Refer to the MUSH guidelines on soulnames and Recognition for more information.

Magic

Cat Elves are amongst the most skilled in fighting on Abode. Due to the intense emphasis on survival in the harsh southern environment, Cat Elves consequently have not developed magics over the turns since they arrived in the jungles. What does this mean to you as a Cat Elf?

Read the MUSH news files on magic. When you are approved to join a tribe, you will pass through the Magic Setting room where appropriate levels of certain abilities inherent to many elves will be fixed on you. Cat Elves have lower levels of the more common abilities such as Sending or Healing and hardly ever expect to gain the more unusual abilities such as the different kinds of Shaping. Once magic levels are set upon your character, you can only RP at that level or below (type +ms to view your magical abilities)

Sending

In the books, Cutter's tribe did not communicate primarily via sending unless they were actively stalking, hunting, escaping dangerous situations, or communicating images and emotions that could not be conveyed by speech alone. Only Strongbow, who has one of the more powerful Sending abilities on Abode, will communicate through Sending exclusively. Cat Elves do not Send all the time, either, unless hunting or wishing to be concealed from those who cannot receive sends. A typical Cat Elf has only sufficient ability to use Sending for communication purposes... in our entire history, only the rogue Cat Elf Tash has ever possessed sufficient strength to blacksend. Do not apply for blacksending or other such offensive mental powers in your application... such will not be approved at this time.

Positions

There are many positions a Cat Elf can hold within the tribe. During the application process, you should be thinking of that part of your elf concept—what do you want your Cat Elf to do? If you're not sure, then think about who your Cat Elf is... what is his or her personality, what interests or dismays him/her? Occupations within the tribe can flow with the particular bent of a character... for example, hunters can tend to be more aggressive and healers more passive. While many might join the Cat Elves to become a southern hunter or tracker, we also have herbalists, tanners, songshapers, etc. And there are those who make weapons rather than use them. The one common thread that all Cat Elves share is survival and concern for the tribe. Extreme isolationism will only be approved in the rarest of cases. Applications for elves who are likewise extreme pacifists (i.e. "my Cat Elf grew up hating hunting, fighting, all types of violence, etc. and rather spent his or her time picking dandelions and smoking leafweed...") will not be accepted as such would not last very long in the jungles.

Conclusion

There are many other news files available on elves in general, including theme, timespeed, Recognition, etc. Have fun and good luck!

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