City Felines

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*Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.*

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Felines that live in the city walk a wide variety of paths, and not all of them are for the greater good of everyone. From simple caravan guards to the noble lives of the city's pets, every cat in the city has some purpose to their life, whether they acknowledge it or not. The city's "wild card", it's often hard to tell which side these felines sit on as they all have different opinions on how things should work, though few question the authority of The Council and it's actions.

## About

Knossos has been a city for many years. Thriving since the Minoan Age, it's unsurprising that much hasn't changed in how the city works since those ancient times... though the language and culture is clearly Greek in nature. Unlike the other factions, aside from the lurkers, the city faction is a "catch all" for members who may want to play something that isn't a part of any of the other general factions. Rogues, pets, thieves, messengers, medically inclined felines, you name it and you can probably play it.

In comparison to the Knossos Army and the Astynomia, these felines fill in the gaps of the city, breathing life and culture into it's very core. Without the city felines as a faction, there would be no Olympians to train against or promote up into the Astynomia or the Army. Without the merchant guards, there would be no protection for the simple traders in their hard line of work. Every position here is important, even the ones that aren't mentioned in the ranks listed below.

### Staff Notes

Crete doesn't get any kind of economic benefits from breeding felines for the sake of fighting, and because of this, there is no "breeder" rank in this group. If any felines are going to be bred, it'll be more similar to how we've bred dogs for certain jobs (and even then, it's not like the island has to try hard on that, seeing as how there is a cat species for every occasion) or to come up with the "best in show" of that species. The interest in making the biggest, strongest, most terrible fighter isn't on these people's minds, as Greeks generally tend to lean on less violent tendencies.

Sub-factions may eventually arise from the main City Faction, so keep an eye out!

It should be noted that all felines below the age of six months in the city all hold the same rank. Because of this, please note what eventual rank you want your child to have when they join the group. This is so we know where you want to go, and so that you know what we require for you to move into the position you wish to obtain. Also, if you have an idea for a rank that isn't listed, feel free to message the staff on discord or via the group to see if we can add it into the list. If it makes sense, more like than not we're not going to stop you from going for it.

## History

### Current Timeline

In the current political climate of the island is uneasy.

The potential for war is enough to put anybody in an uncomfortable position. It's impossible to tell who your friends or your enemies are, especially amongst the felines that live within the cities. Friends have been lost to the maze, whether because of wrongful convictions or accidental disappearances is up in the air. Rumors are flying and the fear is palpable in the air.

Something has to happen and soon. Otherwise chaos may reign...

## Culture

**Taken from Discord post**

As far as Crete and daily life for them, religion is at the center of daily life in Ancient Greece both in the domestic sense and the public one. It’s hard to explain based off of what I’ve read up on, but their religion overlaps their work and everything in a way that our own religions.... don’t. Their gods didn’t judge or look to see if people were “pure of heart and soul” like our current religions do, and instead were more like the fate makers and changers of the world. Festivals take place a lot in the Greek atmosphere because of this. As far as economic daily life, people take on apprenticeships, can partake in higher education with philosophers or other intellects, can become priests, you name it. The Greeks did not have a concept of economy that we do today, but they also didn’t think that the state monetarily had control over this aspect. They didn’t have budgets to work with for the year by the city’s treasurer for example. They were generally limited by the supply of the necessities needed, corn being king in this aspect. Prices fluctuated due to supply and demand, and for traders that were traders in various areas, their money was turned into credits / a very basic form of checks by the bank of Alexandria/Egypt to help ensure trading could happen between states. Priests/temples also were bankers in their own right by the city. Most Greeks in Crete prefer to work for themselves as working for somebody else was seen as worse than slavery, seeing as how a boss could lay them off at any time without any reason back in the day. For our felines, they probably see that in a different light as they work for their humans and generally live in comfort... However, it was still a normal thing, being hired out to help with crops or tending to certain labors that require more than a few people being chief in those aspects.

Travel is common in this day in age especially with the traders that work with the various caravans / guard the various caravans. Those that travel by foot in Crete are traveling between the other cities listed on the map while boat travel is more on the trading side. Fun things that the people take part in are theater, the Olympics, and the festivals/symposiums of the day.

**Here is some information we have direclty ported from our previous journal page... will be better organized later**

Arranged pairings exist within this group, predominantly for household pets, as they are often at the whims of their owners. Olympians may also come across this in order to have stronger offspring.

Pirates are the only outlier in this group as far as pairing ceremonies go, as the felines of the city follow in the traditional baths that the other two city factions take part in. The night before a union between felines, the felines will go to the temple of Poseidon (males) or Artemis (females) in the city and bathe. The idea behind this is that they are "washing their old life away" and preparing them both for their joined life ahead. It's assumed that most Pirates pray to Poseidon and take a swim in the ocean together, swearing oaths to the god of the sea (or in some cases the titan, Oceanus) before consummating the agreement somewhere secluded... Probably, it's not really clear for what the pirates do... This is the one sub-faction where it's okay to make up stuff for what they do.

Much like the other city factions, members of the City often take part in the Greek tradition of the symposium. The symposium in ancient times was basically a large party that gathered to drink and eat in merriment with exchanges of wit and words being the main form of entertainment... aside from the actual entertainers -who may have been more like courtesans in some cases- that would dance, sing, juggle, or do other acts to accompany the discussion. In Greece, males were the ones who took part in this... In TMS, we're going to go with the fact that cats view gender differently than humans do. Cool? Cool. Also! Sorry if this is the third time you're reading this post, it should be the last as no other faction takes part in this kind of entertainment... because they live in a maze... and don't have easy access to wine...

Greece was known for it's small time festivals, and because of that, the city felines are known to have their own small faction festivals throughout the year... but because the Greeks were crazy and had around 60 festivals a year (according to some of the books the staff has in their possession), we're not listing those out until we officially build a calendar of events for the group (which may not be until we're actually open) Deja Vu! (Obviously we're lazy admins who don't want to explain the same thing fifty times in fifty different ways. If this is your first time reading this, awesome but beware you're going to see this again in the army and astynomia faction journals)

Births are a family affair, often taking place in private areas within the felines home. Felines giving birth are placed under the protection of Eileithyia and Artemis, as the felines around the mother often give gifts and prayers towards the two goddesses, mostly to appease Artemis's anger (because of course the virgin goddess hates you for having sex). Once the cubs were born, it's normal for the mother to leave some trinkets at a shrine to Artemis, to once again calm her wrath. Olive branches are set out if the cubs are all male, wool if they're female, and a combination of both if, of course, the litter is of mixed gender. Five days after the birth, the child is introduced to the feline's family circle and placed under the protection of the family deities. Relatives and family members bring gifts for the baby, similar to that of what the Knossos Army does.

Characters who have been caught by any member of the Astynomia breaking the law are subject to trial. The more heinous the crime, the more felines are pooled. Any time there is a trial, a select number of our members will receive a "summons" and will be asked to draw or write out what their character thinks based off of the trial that is had. The council will present it to you in the form of a note, you merely need to submit your picture and then, once the period for the trial is over, we will tally the votes and determine the fate of the character.

... If you partake in this... be warned, you may be sent a note by one of the council members attempting to bribe you. Maybe. It's a possibility depending on the situation!

### Vernacular

It should be noted that the vernacular of the city is *extremely* varied due to the number of different ranks there are. Eventually we may have a sub-rank vernacular sheet, but for the time being, anything goes... trying to mix pirate speak in with convicts and pets is a little difficult.

## Scoundrels and Thieves

For the scoundrels, strays, and thieves, there is only one code: Don't get caught. For everybody else? Life's pretty simple, listen to the council and heed their warnings when they come. This "faction" is less of an actual faction and more a conglomerate of ranks that can be seen within the city that work for their own goals and often seem to focus on that narratives of the daily lives of these goals. Though some ranks may act as their own faction at times, most have their own agendas, and often put their lives and "careers" (if that's what you want to call them) at the top of their priority lists.

## Group Ranks

### Leadership

King of Knossos

Council of Felines

### Citizenship

Messengers

Pets

Olympians

Peiratēs

Guards

Labor Felines

Convicts

Strays

Thieves

Outsiders

Entertainers

### Children

Pais

Tsiraki

## Notable Figures & NPCs

There are going to be a ton of things listed here

## Locations

Knossos Palace

Knossos

Kommos

Gortyn

Kissamos

Myonopus

Palaiochora

## Faction Relations

### The Maze Factions

As long as they aren't in the city, we don't care.

### Astynomia

Glad that they protect the city, terrified that they'll catch and kill anybody who breaks the law.

### Knossos Army

The softer, much nicer cousin of the Astynomia, thank you for protecting us