Appearances & Genetics

**Please Note:** This article refers strictly to cat genetics as they are represented in *From the Ground Up.* Although *FtGU* takes inspiration from reality and this article may explain such inspiration where prudent, this article is **not** meant to be a guide about *real* genetics.

## Physical Traits

In *From the Ground Up*, a cat's appearance is comprised of many components, most of which are genetic in nature. These components include:

* Shape & Texture
* Base Coat Color
* Dilution, Caramel, & WBI
* Pattern
* Colorpoint
* White Patterns
* Eye Color
* Scars & Deformities

Cats have an assortment models, or poses, that may be chosen from when they are generated. These models determine the individual look of their body shape and coat texture combinations. There are three body shapes and four coat textures present in *From the Ground Up.* Together, body shape and coat texture form a cat's full bodytype.

For body shapes, there are the **Standard**, **Exotic**, and **Oriental** body shapes.

For coat textures, there is **Shorthair**, **Longhair**, **Rex (Short)**, and **Rex (Long)**. Occasionally, kittypets may be encountered that are **Hairless**, however these cats would never survive in the wild and cannot be recruited nor pass on their hairlessness to wild kittens.

There are seven base colors a cat can be in *From the Ground Up.*

* Black
* Brown
* Russet
* Orange
* Black Tortoiseshell
* Brown Tortoiseshell
* Russet Tortoiseshell

   Black, orange, and black tortoiseshell cats are the most common, while russet and russet torties are the most rare. Each and every cat has unique hues and tones of their coats; for example, one NPC may appear more red while another will be closer to yellow, but they are both genetically Orange.

Tortoiseshells are all primarily female. Male tortoiseshells, though not impossible, are not common, occurring about once in every 3,000 cats. Just like their real counterparts, they are genetically sterile and unable to produce kits.

Black coloration is dominant over both other black-based coat types (brown & russet), brown is dominant over russet, and russet is completely recessive, requiring two copies of the russet gene to show in the cat's coat. This means that two black cats, if they both carry genes for either brown or russet, could produce brown or russet kits. Every cat has genetic hue values, even for the colors that are not visually present. These genetic hue values will contribute to their offspring's hue values, making for interesting outcomes when recessive genes are at play.

Each coat color may be further altered by a cat's dilution, caramel, and wide-band / inhibitor genes. The dilution gene turns a black cat into a gray, a brown cat into a tawny, a russet cat into a fawn, and an orange cat into a cream.

The caramel gene only affects diluted coats, and if active will give a slightly brownish tint - this is only obvious in gray cats, which become "dusty", but further add uniqueness to a cat's coat hues and genetics.

Wide-band and inhibitor, if active, will turn a cat either golden or silver. Only black-based fur is affected by the WBI genes. Only tabby cats will express gold or fully silver color; solid cats with silvering become smokes. Orange cats with silvering become "cameo" (though there is no word for this in-game) and will appear slightly washed out. Silver, if present, is dominant over gold coloration, however a silver cat could potentially produce gold offspring.

In *From the Ground Up*, pattern refers to what brand of tabby a cat is. There are seven tabby patterns: **Ticked**, **Spotted**, **Rosette**, **Mackerel**, **Braided**, **Classic**, and **Marbled**. All cats have a pattern, but it is only visible in cats with the pattern trait switched on in their genetic makeup. In solid cats, their pattern is very faint, if discernable at all, no matter their genetic contrast. A cat's pattern may be of varying contrast, from very bold, to very subtle. This trait is independent from the pattern itself.

Ticked tabbies are dominant over any other kind of tabby. Only one ticked gene is required for a cat to be a ticked tabby, and all other pattern genes will be ignored. If a cat is not ticked, dominance defers to the rest of the pattern genes, which interact with each other to produce different patterns. Mackerel patterning is dominant over classic, and only requires one dominant allele to produce mackerel patterning. The spotted and rosette genes modify the mackerel and classic patterns. A mackerel patterned cat with at least one dominant Spotted allele will be a spotted tabby instead. A mackerel tabby with no Spotted alleles but at least one Rosette allele will be a braided tabby. A spotted tabby with at least one dominant Rosette allele will be rosetted. A classic tabby with at least one dominant Rosette allele will be a marbled tabby.

This gene determines the amount of colorpoint dilution in a cat's coat, which is responsible for what makes Siamese cats look the way they do. This pattern masks everything else underneath, and does not affect a cat's base or stripe pattern. A cat may be a sharp colorpoint, a softer colorpoint, or a very faint colorpoint as seen in Siamese, Tonkinese, and Burmese cats respectively. Although in real life, a cat's colorpoint expression is determined by temperature, this has not been reflected in game.

All colorpoint expressions are recessive to non-colorpoint coloration. Any cat with a dominant allele for colorpoint will be a normal-colored cat. The recessive alleles are codominant with one another. Full colorpoint expression (siamese) requires two copies of the same allele for a solid white body with starkly colored points. The least amount of colorpoint expression (burmese / "sepia") also requires two copies of its variant for a slightly washed out body with darker points. Having one copy of each produces "mink", a mostly white cat with colored points and wispy clouds of color along its trunk.

White in cats acts as a masking component; this means that, genetically, they still possess color. It is merely hidden by the white coverage. A solid white cat will *appear* solid white, but they will be able to pass on their original genetic makeup to their kits, should they choose to have any. There are six potential presentations of white patterns, excluding 0% white expression. These six are meant to represent the spectrum between 0% and 100%, with varying degrees of white coverage that can be selected. Each model and bodytype has unique white markings among the options available.

White, like colorpoint, is a co-dominant gene. Having two recessive alleles of this gene produces a cat with no white spotting at all. Having a dominant and recessive copy each produces cats with between 0% and 50% white coverage on their bodies. Having two dominant copies produces cats with between 50% and 100% white coverage. Most all-white cats will have homozygous dominant alleles (/**Ws.Ws**/) for white spotting. However, all-white cats also have a chance to be caused by the Dominant White (/**Wd**/) gene, which is what causes deafness in blue-eyed white cats. It only requires one copy of Dominant White to express it. Cats that are Dominant White and have blue eyes may be deaf on the side of the blue eye. This will present significant challenges for that cat's survival.

White patterning will also alter a tortoiseshell's black/red color distribution. The more white a tortoiseshell has, the more distinct their black and red patches will be from one another.
Although there is a wide range of eye colors in cats, *From the Ground Up* condenses these colors into six categories: **Orange**, **Amber**, **Yellow**, and **Green**. If a cat has any white *or* colorpoint patterning on their body, they have access to **Blue**, and **Heterochromia**, which makes one eye blue, and the other eye any of the first four categories. Furthermore, cats that are colorpoint in any degree will also be able to have darker tinted blue eyes. Every cat will have their eyes' hues and tints randomly generated. This means that two cats with the same color category will still be unique to one another. Eye color genetics are a simple 50/50 chance to inherit either color category from the parents, with further 50/50 splits regarding hue balances. There are no recessive elements to eye color at this time.

Scars are a natural part of a wild cat's life, and will be accrued by virtue of living in the wild. Cats with aggressive personalities or a history of fighting are more likely to gain scars than others, and these cannot be genetically passed on to one's offspring.

However, certain deformities, classed as scars in game, do have the potential to be genetic in nature. These include congenital blindness or deafness, as well as half-tails and bob-tails. It should be noted that *losing* one's sight, hearing, or tail due to injury or old age, though visually the same, are not genetic; a cat born with a full tail, functioning eyes, and functioning ears will not pass on a halved tail, blindness, or deafness they gained during life.
## Accessories

Though not common, some cats, particularly kittypets, will spawn with certain accessories. The most common accessories are **Collars** and **Scarves**. Although they may be aesthetically appealing, some accessories will hinder a cat's ability to survive. Collars with tags or bells jingle constantly, making it difficult to hunt. The player may ask an NPC to remove their collar, or if it proves too cumbersome, they may do so themselves. If the player chooses to have originated as a kittypet, they can remove their collar from within their den. Once removed, an accessory cannot be put back on.

## Genetics System

A cat's genes are made up of an array of **loci** and **alleles**. For example, the **black-base locus** determines whether a cat will be black (/**B**/), brown (/**b**/), or russet (/**bl**/). Most of these loci are made of pairs of alleles, with one allele coming from each parent. A black cat with the allele pair /**B.bl**/ has a 50% chance to contribute either his /**B**/ or his /**bl**/ allele to each of his offspring. The offspring will get their other allele from their mother. If she is /**b.b**/, their offspring have a 50% chance to be black (/**B.b**/), or brown (/**b.bl**/), with a 50% chance that they will continue to carry their father's recessive russet allele and pass it onto their own kits.

A cat's genome determines nearly everything about a cat's appearance, as well as some other traits such as sex, fertility, and personality potential. There is no way to see a cat's full genetic makeup without using cheats. At least one allele in each locus will be fairly easy to determine, provided the cat is not completely white and their coat colors and patterns are clearly visible. Potential recessive alleles can only be guessed at through comparison with the cat's relatives.