May 17, 2022 1:07 am
Let's start with the big picture. Some of the following text is paraphrased from the Cats of Cathulhu books by Joel Sparks.
BACKGROUND
Humans are unique in the animal kingdom. Their brains are amazingly good at complex reasoning but strangely blind to the spiritual forces that other animals see easily. Humans are also frighteningly susceptible to psychic manipulation.
From the first time that a human allowed a cat to share shelter from the rain, all the way to the creation of air conditioning, canned food, and a bewildering variety of cushions, humanity’s ability to change the world has been put to uses pleasing to cats. This is no coincidence. It is a deliberate, holy cause known as the Great Idea, a 10,000-year campaign of psychic pressure by which felis cattus has encouraged homo sapiens to do everything possible to make the world a more comfortable place. The Great Idea has been so successful, that most cats aren't even aware of it anymore. Cats just want what they want, and people tend to give it to them. It's great. The only thing wrong with it is that it depends on humans.
You see, there are dangers that lurk just beyond human senses. Animals know that the multiverse contains countless dimensions of space and time. Animals know that in the dark corners of these places lie dread spirits, chaotic energies, and ancient gods. At certain locations of sympathetic correspondence, these dimensions can intersect. Animal cults and their human servants work in the shadows of the material world, seeking to bring about the return of these elder beings. And human society is blind to it. So it falls to the cats to hold back the darkness and keep their comfortable world from falling into ruin.
In this game, you players will take on the roles of ordinary cats who must contend with sinister plots and supernatural conspiracies that threaten the reality of dull-witted humankind. You must face these challenges with only quick wits, clever ideas, sharp claws, and fast feet. And, of course, the supreme confidence that cats are superior to all living things.
That is not dead which can indefinite sleep,
And in dream-shadows, lively spirits leap.
BACKGROUND
Humans are unique in the animal kingdom. Their brains are amazingly good at complex reasoning but strangely blind to the spiritual forces that other animals see easily. Humans are also frighteningly susceptible to psychic manipulation.
From the first time that a human allowed a cat to share shelter from the rain, all the way to the creation of air conditioning, canned food, and a bewildering variety of cushions, humanity’s ability to change the world has been put to uses pleasing to cats. This is no coincidence. It is a deliberate, holy cause known as the Great Idea, a 10,000-year campaign of psychic pressure by which felis cattus has encouraged homo sapiens to do everything possible to make the world a more comfortable place. The Great Idea has been so successful, that most cats aren't even aware of it anymore. Cats just want what they want, and people tend to give it to them. It's great. The only thing wrong with it is that it depends on humans.
You see, there are dangers that lurk just beyond human senses. Animals know that the multiverse contains countless dimensions of space and time. Animals know that in the dark corners of these places lie dread spirits, chaotic energies, and ancient gods. At certain locations of sympathetic correspondence, these dimensions can intersect. Animal cults and their human servants work in the shadows of the material world, seeking to bring about the return of these elder beings. And human society is blind to it. So it falls to the cats to hold back the darkness and keep their comfortable world from falling into ruin.
In this game, you players will take on the roles of ordinary cats who must contend with sinister plots and supernatural conspiracies that threaten the reality of dull-witted humankind. You must face these challenges with only quick wits, clever ideas, sharp claws, and fast feet. And, of course, the supreme confidence that cats are superior to all living things.
That is not dead which can indefinite sleep,
And in dream-shadows, lively spirits leap.