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My beautiful black cat, "Kat"

Hi, I couldn't resist the temptation to post this screenie of my fighter-thief, "Kat". The screenies were just made in my current IWD:EE run. Notice the number of kills at the bottom right. ;) So, she's my "devil cat", my black cat familiar, and, her name spelled with a "K" is also inspired by the new "Gotham" series, as the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, aka "Kat" is fast becoming a favorite theme of mine. ;)

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I am pretending that she is my cat familiar, since I am playing a sorcerer in this run. I am now kind of enjoying the idea of having my familiar be a magical being who can shapeshift to human form and be an actual party member, while her "true form" stays secreted away in my pack. I think she's pretty awesome.

I got the idea because of how closely bonded I was to a beloved black cat, now sadly deceased, who was my beloved cat daughter for 13 years of my life. (Wait - it was 13 years. Talk about black cat related superstitions!)

I was crushed beyond what I can express when she passed. I absolutely, definitely had to make a saving throw against dying myself, and I absolutely, definitely lost a permanent point of constitution, or maybe even two or three points. I still miss her.

I had named her "Ariel", actually intended as a variant on the name of the archangel Uriel or Auriel, though I found out later that the Hebrew root "Ariel" also means "Lioness of God". Here are two pictures of her:

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I wish her eyes could be seen in all their green-yellow intensity in the photos, but unfortunately the camera flash kept reflecting in the depths of those uncannily intelligent eyes of hers that could then not be photographed well. :(

Anyhoo, my "cat familiar" fighter-thief has the "lion's share" of kills in my four-member party now, thanks to her being a "beast" with the Bow of Sseth, and her use of sneak attacks. Here are a few more screenies, if anyone's interested.

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DregothofTyrelminsterjackjackJarrakulShikaolunarNonnahswriterronaldoCrevsDaakJuliusBorisovFinneousPJRavenslightMusignyCalmarStarflower2525

Comments

  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    @DregothofTyr‌ , Kat's portrait and the "Green Lantern" one I am using in those screenies came from NWN. I can't remember at the moment where I got Jason's and Thorik's. Thorik is loosely based on Rupert from the Survivor series, and also the fact that I have always gotten along famously with dwarves in D&D rpg games, such as Yeslick and Khelgar.

    If you like them, then allow me to provide copy-paste versions of them here:

    imageimageimageimage
    JuliusBorisov
  • JarrakulJarrakul Member Posts: 2,029
    KITTY! :D

    Okay, now that's out of the way, I really like your character concept, here. It's pretty awesome. Reminds me a little of some webcomics I've read (and *may* have blatently stolen from for my D&D games...).

    Also, I'm sorry for the loss of your real-life kitty. I've had cats most of my life, and I know how hard it is to lose them. You have my sympathy.
    BelgarathMTHJuliusBorisov
  • 314314 Member Posts: 20
    edited December 2014
    man #2 use dwemer heavy armor, awesome )
    ShikaoBelgarathMTH
  • ameliabogginsameliaboggins Member Posts: 287
    as a dog person i find this thread creepy and disturbing, but then i realised years ago that all cat owners are psychlogically disturbed; probably dropped on their heads as babies!
    jackjackJuliusBorisov
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    In my current party I have a shadowdancer which I plan to dual to a mage. She's CN so she'll get a cat familiar. This is her portrait:
    lunarBelgarathMTHkcwiseJuliusBorisov
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    edited December 2014
    @Redrake, that portrait is a very nice interpretation of my "Kat" in a portrait. She's a little too angular and severe-looking, especially in the brow and forehead, to be my fictional "Kat", who is kind of an avatar of Sharess and an embodiment of all female cats I've ever loved (sigh, Samantha the Siamese, Ariel the black-and-white from this thread, Leia the tortoise-shell, and my still-living and partially feral Halfeara), because I always want to see a bit more roundness and softness to the face for my female familiar cat shapeshifter avatars-of-Sharess in their human forms.

    I have had the privilege of living with three beloved male cats, (Kaos, Michael, and the still-living Blue), and, as any cat-lover knows, male cats and the kind of bond you can have with them is totally different than the relationship with female cats, be they fixed or not.

    (Most of mine have been fixed, with some complicated exceptions. Samantha was Kaos' mother, for example, but was later fixed, while Kaos was allowed to roam outside unfixed and spawn who knows how many other cats. Samantha and Kaos were cats from my teen years, though, so my mother was actually in control of what was done with them. I don't think she ever bonded with them like I did, though - she was a "dog" person to the core. I was the one who loved our household cats. As an adult cat owner, I have always had them fixed for obvious responsibility and suffering-in-the-world-reducing reasons. It changes their base personalities surprisingly little.)

    Male cats are much more babies and needy than female cats. Female cats are strong and independent to a fault, and insist on mutual respect, but they can give you an awful lot of reinforcement and love if you understand them and respect their insisted-upon rights in the household. An unfixed male Tom however, can be a frustrating study in the worst of testosterone and male posturing. He'll urinate all over your house to mark territory, and he may fight like a warrior to ensure his dominance. I am smell-blind, but I'm told that Tomcat "spray" is worse-smelling than skunk spray. So, almost any Tom needs to be fixed in order to be a suitable pet. But, once that's done, he'll insist that you treat him as your infant baby.

    It's interesting that my outer persona is very devoted to the divine "trinity", expressed in Forgotten Realms lore as either "Tyr the Father, Ilmater the Son, and Torm the Holy Ghost", or as my own self-made divine trinity of "Oghma the Father, Deneir the Son, and Milil the Holy Ghost", cough, cough, Christianity infuencing D&D, cough, cough. ;)

    But my inner persona is so very cat-like and devoted to Sharess. I love to party, I love my creature comforts, sometimes completely overriding my outer devotion to being a lawful good or lawful neutral follower of some made-up lawful good deity, and, when I was young, I was into fitness and looking model-perfect, and I think I would have made Sharess proud, especially with my patronage of cats. Usually my inner cleric/mage-of-Sharess only comes out when I am very, very, crap-faced, falling-down drunk. ;)

    @Nonnahswriter‌ , thank you so much for "getting me" with this thread. When my first adult-owned male black-and-white, Michael, died around 2009 or so, I was so emotionally devastated that I didn't know how I was going to put myself back together. I cried for at least 24 hours, and I thought I was going to crack up.

    I consoled myself by starting a Baldur's Gate game playing a totemic druid who kept a constantly (or as constantly as possible) summoned spirit cat, which I pretended was the spirit of my departing and then departed loved one, still with me. I started that BG-run during his last two days of life, with him in my lap as I played. I know it's irrational and crazy, but I felt like saying to him, if only he could understand, that, "Here, my beloved companion, we will be together forever here in this little cartoon of a game world. My spirit is there, and now yours can be too."

    I doubt it made *him* feel any better, since he was weakened to the point of not being able to walk, and probably extremely nauseated and in some pain, but it certainly made *me* feel better. I'd like to think that at least he drew some comfort in his final days by being in my lap, in his and my familiar-smelling and feeling blanket.

    This ability to keep my beloved late cats "alive" in D&D games is especially satisfying in Neverwinter Nights, where I can have a powerful black cat ("panther") with me for the whole game experience. For that reason, I almost always play a mage, sorcerer, or druid in NWN1, or a druid or cleric with animal domain in NWN2.

    Shoot, now I'm thinking that after I finish my current IWD run, I may start NWN1 and NWN2 runs as one of the appropriate classes, just so I can get the beloved "black cat familiar" or "black cat animal companion" throughout the gaming time and thus memorialize my loved and lost cats, not to mention as a tribute to my two still-living ones. :)

    Yes, I know, this is all totally cray-cray to anyone who has never bonded with a cat. It's a bond that I think is the closest thing in real life to the imagined "mage-familiar" bond in D&D.
    Post edited by BelgarathMTH on
    kcwiseNonnahswriterJuliusBorisov
  • kcwisekcwise Member Posts: 2,287
    I'm sorry to hear about your cat and I definitely sympathize. My cat friend Tyco died shortly after Thanksgiving. He was around 16 years old. We were never sure of his exact age as he was a rescue cat. He was an orange fellow with a crooked tale and a love for sitting in sunbeams or in laps. I shall miss him.

    I've always been a cat person, but honestly I think I'm an animal person in general. I probably should be a druid since I've had dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, etc. Pretty much any creature which is lost seems to find its way to my house, or friends bring them along in hopes I'll have a spot for them. I've never been able to make a bond with any sort of reptile however, since from what I can tell such creatures aren't capable of bonding (although I've read turtles and komodo dragons can act a bit like dogs), and "bug" creatures leave me cold (spiders! eek!). But, yes, creatures are spiffy.

    I think it's neat that you work your animals into your gaming sessions. Kat sounds like a cool character.
    BelgarathMTHjackjackJuliusBorisov
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    edited December 2014
    "Kat kites for a kitkat!"




    I feel you, @BelgarathMTH‌ , having lost 1 CON too one day. Nonnaswriter is right, they'll always stay in our heart.



    P.S. A fighter/thief is a fun class for a character, especially with sneak attacks.
    kcwisejackjackBelgarathMTH
  • dunbardunbar Member Posts: 1,603
    I sympathise with anyone who's lost a companion (I can't bring myself to refer to them as 'pets') and will freely admit that I 'cheat' and like to have two animals roaming around the place. This way, when one dies, the sadness felt can be re-directed into care for a new (replacement) companion - this way you're never left alone.
    (P.S. Do NOT apply this theory to girlfriends!)
    kcwiseBelgarathMTHElrandir
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