Player Information
Name: Elly
Age: 46
Contact details: A Duck#0728 on Discord,
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nightlocke.
Other characters: Xander Woods
Character Information
Name: Saash
Canon: Feline Wizards (The Book of Night with Moon)
Canon Point: When the gate team goes to the Downside to try to find out why the gates are malfunctioning.
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: OU
Age: It's never really specified, but she's a mature cat, so say 8? She's been a wizard for two years more than Rhiow, who's been a wizard for 6. She's also
ffeih, or spayed, so kittens should NOT be a problem, thank you!
World Information: Here. Basically, it's very much like our normal New York, save for the fact that wizardry exists. A slightly better synopsis exists
here.
In the cats' mythology, Queen Iau birthed the World from Her Fire, and created the other Powers as Her children. Aaurh the Mighty, the Destroyer-by-Flame, the Firstborn. Hrau'f the Tamer, who speaks the Silent Knowledge to those who hear, and who cats view as the patron of wizards. After her came sa'Rrahh the Tearer, who is also known as the Lone Power, driven out by her dam for she would hear no wisdom, so Iau banished her until she learned better. Finally, She birthed Urrua, the Lightning-Clawed, lastborn and final gift to Herself. Sa'Rrahh allied herself with the Great Serpent in this 'myth', and while it is storied that it happened at the dawn of time, it is also consistently repeated throughout time, as the Lone Power has not returned to the fold.
It's important to note that unlike humans, who have a Manual, feline wizards actually receive information from She they call the Whisperer: Hrau'f. They need to take time to meditate and clear their minds, the better to hear the spells She speaks to them. Cats travel light. :D
Cats have nine lives, but feline legend does state that if they've done well in the previous nine, more good than evil, cats are given a Tenth Life...
"We all have to make the Choice again and again, a hundred times in a life, or a thousand. Sum up all the choices, over nine lives, and your fate's decided, they say. If you fail, then there's nothing at the end of it all but silence, and the night. Pass through that last summing-up, though, under Iau's eye, and there's the last life, which doesn't end--"
"--the Tenth Life, and the truest," Arhu said slowly, "of those whose spirits outwear and overmaster their bodies, untiring of the chase, the Choice, the battle, and go on in the world and beyond it; immortal, dangerous and fair, cats-become-Powers, who move in and out of physicality on the One's business--"
Rhiow and Arhu, discussing the Tenth Life,
The Book of Night with Moon.
The feline wizards are a gate team; they maintain the worldgates that wizards use for transport, both on Earth and out into the galaxy (as if you'd find wizards only on Earth!). When in place and working properly, worldgates allow wizards on errantry to spend their own energies on rapid transit to where the Powers That Be assign them--and, it's said, at least by Rhiow, that the Powers themselves might have made these gates in the first place...
Personal History: We first see Saash as an adult; part of Rhiow's gate technician team in Grand Central Station. It is briefly mentioned that her kittenhood was not an easy one, and she learned to hide well due to that. For her part, Saash doesn't talk about that part of her life, but it seems to have colored the rest of it somewhat; she's described as somewhat neurotic. She and the team lead, Rhiow, haven't always gotten along--they had come to blows in the past over what Rhiow perceived as Saash's vanity, as Saash has issues with her skin and often scratches and then needs to groom herself.
When the team discovers a half-grown kitten in the aftermath of one of their worldgates going haywire and an ensuing attack by rats, Rhiow asks Saash to look after him, because it's rather unlikely that he'd survive Urruah's tender care (toms being toms, after all). They quickly realize that young Arhu is a probationary wizard on Ordeal, and question what that might mean for the three of them. Saash finds that other than running diagnostics, one of the worldgates has completely slipped from her ability to control, which speaks of potential disaster fomenting below. Saash, Rhiow, Urruah, and Arhu all realize that they
need to go to the Downside, the "memory" of New York at the dawn of the world, to see what's going on with the gates down there. Something that the feline Senior, Ehef, only reiterates when the team goes to consult him.
Briefly, before heading Downside, the team is introduced to a pair of young human wizards, who are their backup, to watch the gates while they are down there. They happen to be Nita Callahan and Kit Rodriguez, though their interaction is brief; though Kit stays in contact with Rhiow, Saash mostly greets them, and the cats proceed to the Downside.
Arhu, being young and curious (cats are especially good at curiosity, of course!) asks a number of questions, and Saash reveals that the team had been Downside a sunround (year) prior--and things had not gone well for herself, Rhiow, and Urruah, and that they'd nearly died. Saash herself is the one who works to diagnose the problem with the main gate catenary and make a repair, but before they can return to New York proper, the Children of the Serpent--dinosaurs--burst in and try to attack them. However, they'd had a protective circle about the four of them, due to the necessity of being protected when working with the gate. While the rest of them defend, Saash sends the power source--the catenary--through the attacking dinosaurs, reducing them to ash and, for the moment, restoring the gates at Grand Central.
They realize that things are not well when one of the Regional Advisories, the human wizard Carl Romeo, goes missing. They try to find him, but he's disappeared and is unable to be found. The gates start acting up yet
again, and so Tom Swale, Carl's partner Advisory, closes them down--but the wizards lose control of the gates, and before Rhiow, Saash, and the rest of the team can go Downside again, the gates break open to release a literal *dinosaur attack*. The way Saash solves this is by pulling the loci from the gates, which closes them down--all save one, which ends up in the Sheep Meadow. They manage to curtail that as well, but it necessitates something called a timeslide, to "patch" time so that the dinosaurs never appeared. But due to the gates' malfunctioning, and the suspicion of even wizardry being changed, the timeslide isn't taking.
They have to go Downside again. Saash hates it, and reveals to Rhiow that she's on her ninth life, and is worried that she might not make it back if they
do go down again. This is reiterated by Arhu, who has been revealed to have the Seer's Eye, and tells them that Carl is in the claws of the Eldest--the Lone Power. There's no choice. Through all this, Saash is definitely concerned about what this all means for her--but also, being the best at gate technology, she
has to go--no one else can repair the gates with the quickness and efficacy that she herself can. Again, no choice.
Before they can make the journey, tragedy strikes. One of Rhiow's humans is struck by a taxi cab and killed, and she is cast into despair. Saash and the others do their best to support her, but Rhiow is embittered and angry with the loss of her Hhuha (Susan, to we humans). They do make it Downside, but Rhiow is there with a vendetta; to take strips out of the Lone One's hide as revenge for her loss.
They discover that in the Downside, the saurian Wise Ones have been trying to reclaim their old power, lost years ago when they made the Choice that the Lone Power offers every species. But a deeper, more shocking realization happens when the team finds out that the original Choice was flawed; when the Choice is made, there needs to be wizards present, and there were none. Arhu, it seems, is supposed to help the first dinosaur wizard on his Ordeal; he, Saash, and the others come upon him on their way down to the main catenary trunk for the gates. Being unable to pronounce his name, they dub him Ith, and proceed downward at a slowed pace, driving off other saurians as they do.
Once they arrive in the deepest part of the Downside, they come to a strange, black stone replica of Grand Central Station itself...and that is where Saash will find herself on the platform of the Voidtrecker Express.
Personality: Saash is somewhat neurotic and a worrier--a lot of times she thinks whatever can go wrong, will. For all that, she's able to compartmentalize her neuroses, so that she's not paralyzed by indecision. She's also terrifyingly competent in her job as one of the senior gate technicians in New York, responsible for the worldgates in Grand Central Station. When faced with a barely-grown kitten and given responsibility for him by the team leader, she actually does her best to take care of him in a gentle and motherly fashion--and yet, when Arhu acts like a little shit, Saash has no trouble taking him to task for his bad attitude, either--with claws out, when necessary! When Arhu acts dismissive of wizards of other species, she informs him that there are wizards who'd turn his mind around in his skin with how different they are to cats in form--but that they took the same Oath to prevent the heat-death of the universe, and thus deserving of respect.
For all her neuroses, Saash is also a caring and compassionate creature--trying to guide Arhu with a gentle paw, and comforting Rhiow when her friend is grieving. She can be witty, and she is very intelligent, generally a dignified and delicate little creature. She's not good at hunting, which embarrasses her, but Saash uses her wizardry to get around her shortcomings when she needs to.
Saash's past (only intimated at in the book) has left her jumpy--she has somewhat come to terms with this, but she also has the habit of being jittery after whatever conflict she's had to deal with passes--she needs time to come down from the adrenaline rush and destress, and dealing with a nervous cat can be fun at times. She can get a little snappish and rude, but she is mindful of this and will be apologetic once she realizes what's happened.
CRAU developments: N/A
Key themes: Supporting her team, teaching others how to use their wizardry (she was older than Rhiow and met her after her Ordeal). Keeping the gates in good condition so that other wizards might use them at need.
Main Motivation: Preserving life, even if it be at the cost of her own.
Skills:-Quick reflexes
-An excellent sense of hearing and smell
-In the Feline Wizards/Young Wizards universe, cats can perceive hyperstrings; this is why they are talented gate technicians. (It's never really described as what this means, I do wonder if Diane Duane was flirting with string theory...)
-Good at hiding; wizardly cats can also "sidle", basically becoming invisible.
-Knows and can use the Speech, the wizard version of language to delineate and invoke spells; linguistic chains that describe precisely what she wants reality to do. The Speech also is the language all others spring from, so she can somewhat understand others whose language she does not properly speak (or who do not speak cat-language, also known as Ailurin).
-Can sometimes walk
through objects. (It's said all cats can occasionally do this under duress, but wizardly cats can by choice. It might be due to asking politely in the Speech.)
-While most cats are excellent hunters, Saash is...despicable at actual hunting. She's said that she didn't have access to a human with a can opener, she'd starve.
Item: Saash hasn't really got a sentimental item or anything she can use, so, nothing!
Sample: Here and here!Notes:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
