Cat Clan

Biodata

Power Progression

• Potion research is coordinated across scattered Cat Clan settlements through limited communication provided by their Clan Artifact 18.
• Developing the first successful potion required extensive material collection and trial and error; many members died obtaining ingredients 18.
• Shashali plans to search deep in the Ash Fog for a Sequence 8 stone tablet. No successful Sequence 8 advancement is documented in the provided chapters 39.

Background / History

Settlement in the Ash Fog World

The branch neighboring the Human Race had lived in the Ash Fog World for 180 years when Zhang Zhonghua described it to Lin Shan. Its territory uses a projection of the Cat Clan's Clan Artifact rather than the original artifact 17.

Unlike the Cat Clan's homeland, where its Pioneers maintain control, Proud Meow City lacks unified political authority. Shashali has managed affairs there for roughly a century, but says the clan's development has stagnated for more than a decade because of internal conflict 39.

First Contact and Alliance

The first meeting between the Cat Clan and the Human Race occurs when Lin Shan witnesses Shashali, in deer form, defeat a black tiger. She discovers him nearby and attempts to communicate without hostility. After secretly following him to the human camp, she identifies herself to Yan Ruxin, beginning an exchange of languages 7 8 39.

The Cat Clan subsequently supplies the Pioneers and explains crossings, Clan Artifacts, and the distinction between life and fallen physiques. Zhang Zhonghua describes the arrangement as cooperation with the future Human Race, rather than merely with its small founding group 17.

Lin Shan remains suspicious of the unsolicited assistance. When he asks Parchment to determine the Cat Clan's purpose, racial fortune blocks its answer. His concern deepens when Weiyi briefly shows delight upon learning that several Pioneers will leave camp 18 19 22.

War with the Human Race

The alliance collapses in Year 2 of the Human Calendar, when the Cat Clan turns against humanity. Seven newly advanced human Pioneers return and organize resistance along the territorial border, but the war continues into Year 3 36.

Jin Tianzong reports that the Cat Clan raids daily, kills several hundred humans, and retreats while deliberately avoiding the Pioneers. The Cat Clan General's discussion with a subordinate confirms the purpose: harvesting human clan fortune to replenish resources and support territorial development. Killing the Pioneers would destabilize that fortune and reduce the harvest 37 38.

By Year 3, nearly 150,000 humans have crossed into the ancestral territory, yet fewer than 50,000 remain there. Lin Shan and the returning Pioneers describe the conflict as a blood debt of approximately 100,000 human lives 36 39.

Assassination and Human Withdrawal

Lin Shan infiltrates Proud Meow City, kills a newly advanced Transcendent and the Cat Clan General, and leaves a warning demanding an end to the attacks. He chooses assassination rather than open warfare because humanity cannot yet overcome the Cat Clan's military and technological advantage 38.

Afterward, Shashali asks that her half of the clan be spared if humanity eventually retaliates. Lin Shan agrees only to pass on the request. Expecting a brief interruption in attacks, he orders the Human Race to relocate toward the Purple Soul Flower Forest 39 40.

During preparations, Lin Shan intercepts butterfly messages and kills a human spy working for the Cat Clan. This reveals that the clan's apparent ability to track an earlier human relocation depended on informants, rather than a special tracking power. The migration ultimately reaches a new settlement despite severe losses to Ash Fog dangers 40 41 44.

Organization and Leadership

Political Factions

• Shashali privately regards Lin Shan's intervention as an opportunity to eliminate political rivals. Her willingness to accept human supremacy depends on humanity's strength 39.
• She considers a Supreme Sequence necessary to restrain competing leaders and unite the clan, motivating her search for the Sequence 8 tablet 39.

Known Members

Territory and Settlement

Abilities & Skills

Transcendent Transformations

Observed transformation abilities belong to individual members, not necessarily the entire race 7 20.

• Shashali's deer form — Possesses powerful kicks and rapid regeneration, allowing her to outlast and kill a black tiger despite severe wounds 7.
• Antlered members — Three of the five Transcendents visiting the human camp have antlers. Lin Shan suspects they share Shashali's deer-transformation ability, but does not confirm it 20.
• Feline transformation limit — Lin Shan observes that Cat Clan members do not appear able to transform into cats; he contrasts this with a Fox Clan girl's transformation 26.

Blue Butterflies

Blue butterflies appear in both combat and communication 38 39 41.

• The General summons butterflies, uses them to locate Lin Shan, and sends them toward him during battle 38.
• A butterfly near Shashali carries an audible voice 39.
• A human spy creates a butterfly to send information out of human territory; Lin Shan destroys it and other intercepted messages 41.

Clan Fortune and Clan Artifacts

• Territorial protection — A sufficiently large population can produce a Clan Artifact projection whose effectiveness depends on population size 17.
• Research coordination — The Cat Clan's artifact permits limited communication between scattered research efforts 18.
• Information shielding — Racial fortune prevents Parchment from determining the Cat Clan's intentions 19.
• Resource exploitation — Harvested human clan fortune replenishes Cat Clan resources, reducing the need for dangerous extraction expeditions into the Ash Fog 38.

Military

Technology and Supplies

• Spirituality-powered lighting — Glass spheres illuminate streets and corridors. Cat Clan documents explain the use of spirituality as an energy source; Yan Ruxin and Jin Tianzong later develop a human Spirit Energy Lamp 38 41 47.
• Spirit Markers — A navigation technique recorded in Cat Clan documents. Explorers leave a fixed spiritual target in their territory; its range is theoretically unlimited if sufficient spirituality is available 49.
• Azure Silkworms — A breed developed by the Cat Clan through unspecified means. They live for ten years, and ordinary, non-pregnant individuals produce a cocoon monthly while remaining silkworms after emerging 21.
• Pseudo-transcendent livestock — Supplies include oxen and horses with a thin veil of spirituality; Cat Clan-provided horses are used by the Pioneers 19.
• Transcendence Creature meat — Meals supplied by the clan give the human Pioneers spirituality before they obtain their own potions 18.
• Sequence Potions — Tribal stocks are scarce. Shashali believes they could address Lin Shan's anomaly-inflicted injuries, but considers them unavailable for an outsider because her own people lack enough 10.
• Ash Fog documents — Books taken by Lin Shan provide humanity with exploration techniques and technical knowledge 41 47.

Relationships

• Human Race — An early ally becomes the target of controlled raids intended to harvest clan fortune. Shashali's faction leaves open the possibility of future cooperation or subordination 17 38 39.
• Lin Shan — Establishes first contact, questions the clan's motives, and later assassinates its General to buy humanity time to withdraw 7 18 38.
• Yan Ruxin — Leads the early language exchange, teaches visiting members Huaxia Language, and studies captured Cat Clan technical books 8 20 41.
• Zhang Zhonghua — Receives and relays Cat Clan knowledge to the Pioneers; asks Weiyi to assist new arrivals during the group's absence 17 22.