Meewfolk (ArchemiPedia Entry)

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Meewfolk (Prrupt'Meew)

Introduction

Everyone has an opinion about the Prrupt'meew, the Cat Folk, but few Humans know them - at least on Artana. They are Archemi's oldest sentient species, the only major civilization to have survived intact through the reign of the dragons, then the invasion of the Drachan and the rise and fall of the Aesari Empires. The ruins of their palaces, temples, and cities are so old that barely any trace of their existence remains. They claim to be the only true natives of Archemi - in their songs and stories, the Aesari, the humans, even the dragons are thought to be aliens: species who supposedly traveled from Erruku to live on their world.

Meewfolk are large beings, standing anywhere from six and a half to seven and a half feet tall with their legs at full extension. They have digitigrade legs, walking on the large toes of their hind feet, with long arms that allow them to prowl forward in a crouch as well as walk upright. They have the general appearance of Siamese cats: slender, sleek builds, triangular muzzles, large upright ears, cream fur with points at the face, limbs, and tail, and large turquoise, green, or white-blue eyes. Their necks are long and slender, their general movement graceful and elegant. Meewfolk who have spent generations in colder climes have longer fur and luxuriant tails, while the more common tropical Meewfolk have short fur all over their body. Every now and then, the spontaneous birth of hairless Meewfolk occurs, and the birth of a fur-less child is considered to be a sign of great fortune in the families who bear one, especially if the kitten is a girl. 

To the human eye, Meewfolk males and females are almost identical, especially if they wear any form of clothing. They are almost of equal height and build. Primary sex characteristics are mostly hidden by fur; secondary sex characteristics only appear on female Meewfolk during breeding season.

The culture of the Meewfolk, and their place in the societies of Archemi, cannot be understood without looking back to their history.

History

The Meewfolk were the dominant species of Archemi for at least twenty thousand years, and ranged the entire globe, with populations on Artana, Daun, and the islands of Chawi and Molokai. In that period, they tamed the first hookwings, mastered the art of herding ceratopsian dinosaurs for meat, tamed and raced quazi, and domesticated many different kinds of mammals and insects, including their own feline ancestors, the humble cat. Their mythic stories tell of a time when the Meewfolk built great cities and monuments where the women and children resided, while bands of males and their dinosaur and dolphin herds explored the land and sea. The Meewfolk are, in fact, the only race of Archemi to have ever successfully sailed the planet’s furious oceans, though the methods they used to do so are now long lost. Scholars widely acknowledge that the contemporary design of airships and the Words of Power used to aid navigation on the ocean are derived from the Meewfolk's deep ancestral connection to the sea.

At some point in the history of the Meewfolk, this global dominance came to an end with the rise of the Solonkratsu (the dragons) and the avian Aesari some eight thousand years ago. Meewfolk myths refer to that period of their history as The Withering, claiming that the Aesari and Solonkratsu arrived on their planet from the moon, Erruku, bringing incurable diseases that wiped out most of their population without resistance.

The only preserved records of Meewfolk history after The Withering appeared in Aesari documents between five and six thousand years ago. During the reign of the Aesari, the Meewfolk were reduced to a holdout civilization in what is now known as the Shalid, the hot southern region of Artana. They put up a fierce resistance to the Aesari, and were mostly successful - until the arrival of the Drachan. The Void Dragons and their human slaves drained the life out of the Shalid, turning the verdant tropical region into a vast desert wasteland and forcing the Meewfolk further and further south. Eventually, they made a last-ditch ocean crossing to the cradle of their civilization: Molokai, the island now known as Meewhome or Prrupt’reao’lan. There, they created the prototype of the Caul of Souls - the Ancestor Shield, a smaller magical barrier which still seals Meewhome off from the rest of the world and protects it to this day. 

The devastation wrought on the Meewfolk by the other races of Archemi has had a profound effect on the way the cat people relate to the world, and has also created stark differences between the rugged, wary, opportunistic Meewfolk of the mainland, and the civilized, well-educated, intensely traditional Meewfolk who dwell in Meewhome.

Culture

All Meewfolk are intelligent carnivores, and this fundamental nature colors everything they do, from their social rituals to their methods of farming and their music.

Meewfolk on the mainland come from one of three backgrounds: a rare few are traders, adventurers, scholars and merchants from Meewhome, and are easily distinguished from other Meewfolk by their fine artificed equipment, enchanted jewelry, bluesteel weapons, and lack of clothes. The average Meewfolk found anywhere in Artana only passingly resembles their splendid island cousins in this fashion. They tend to be poorer, smaller in stature, and may be declawed or sporting criminal tattoos.

There are several notable and consistent cultural qualities of Meewfolk. The first and most obvious is that male and female Meewfolk live almost entirely separate lives from one another. There are powerful, enduring taboos about the interaction between the sexes. Some scholars characterize Meewfolk as ‘matriarchal’, but only because they misunderstand the complex power dynamics between Meewfolk women, and between the women and their menfolk. This is mostly because the women are traditionally sedentary, occupying and managing cities, towns, and settlements. They are the scholars, priestesses, historians, merchants and military strategists of their people.

Female Meewfolk are intensely hierarchical and territorial within their own sex, with social roles and dominance being decided through ritualized combat, gift-giving, and other forms of competition. All Meewfolk women have two names: Their 'Mother's Name', which is chosen by their parent, and their 'Self Name', which they choose on their fifth birthday. Their struggle to gain social status begins from their Self-Naming Day, and they will duel other women for status and ‘face’ (social prestige)  for all their lives. 

The martial arts practiced by women are taught from mother to daughter, and both scholarship and martial training are important cornerstones of female Meewfolk identity. The strongest female of a territory becomes the Queen of that Territory, and Meewhome itself has a Great Queen who is both the meritorious ruler and highest religious authority of all Meewfolk. The social hierarchy among women is maintained by grooming, scent marking, and gift-giving. Children and lower status women must submit to being groomed, marked and adorned by their higher-status peers. Queens are obliged to throw lavish parties on important dates in which they shower their community with gifts of food, tools, and sacred drugs. Queens also compete with each other in this way, and because of this need for goods, Meewfolk value trade and barter far more than they value money. A high-status Meewfolk woman will never receive gifts without giving something greater in return, and most self-respecting Meewfolk would never accept a casual gift or bribe from a human - at least, not without a proxy.

Meewfolk men, by contrast, are far more easy-going. They are nomadic and (traditionally) agrarian. They are responsible for the herding and slaughter of mammalian and dinosaurian stock and the collection of seafood and insects that are the foundation of Meewfolk cuisine. They are also craftsmen, artisans, musicians, performers and traders, circulating in and out of settlements in roving caravans that range between six to a hundred individuals. Men are responsible for many tasks which are considered taboo for women. These tasks include masonry, the performance of theatre, the creation of musical instruments and jewelry, and the preparation of sacred intoxicants. These secrets are passed from father to son, uncle to nephew, and different bands will typically specialize in a certain set of skills.

Every band has its own initiation rituals for boys, but they typically involve ritual body piercing and a naming ceremony, where the boy’s Mother Name is replaced by a Clan Name. To be without a band is absolutely unthinkable for a Meewfolk man, as they are a source of deep kinship that is more comparable to a gang or a guild than a family unit. Criminal men will form actual gangs, and will modify their bodies in ways to signify affiliation to that gang.

Reproduction

There is no animosity or economic divide between the sexes, who are mutually dependant on each other’s skills, and the Meewfolk calendar is set by the estrus cycle of the women. Twice a year when the females are in heat, the male-only caravans converge on settlements. They are graciously welcomed by the residents and are admitted to mingle during a week-long festival period. These festivals are exuberant, with feasting, courtship, theatre, and religious ceremonies, all of which involve a level of drug-induced intoxication that humans would be hard pressed to keep up with. Almost all children are born from the sex that takes place during these festivals, and because the estrus and gestation periods are so reliable, birthdays are more like a ‘Class of’ communal affair for children than an individual event.

Gestation time is very short when compared to humans: a sixty-day period in which the woman eats ravenously as she swells in size. A mother typically bears a litter of children, anywhere between one and six kittens. Meewfolk are born utterly helpless: blind, deaf, and partly unformed, and infant mortality with large litters is high even with good medical care. Boys and girls are raised together by their mothers until the boys are weaned, which takes about six months. The caravans return at these predictable times, opening bazaars outside of cities. Food is sold, goods change hands, and young boys have the chance to display their talents to the visiting caravans. While not a rule, many boys are recruited into the band their father travels with, and his caravan will become their family for the rest of their lives.

On Meewhome and in the desert-dwelling Meewfolk communities of the Shalid, these rituals and taboos comprise the fabric of society. In human cities, much of this traditional way of life has lapsed.

Justice and Exile

City-dwelling Meewfolk, more often than not, are either exiled criminals or the descendants of criminals. Meewfolk justice is swift and harsh. Murderers and the criminally insane are put to death by their peers. Their Mother Names and Clan Names are revoked. They are forcibly tattooed on the ears and nose, the parts which can be never be concealed by fur. Repeat violent criminals are declawed, and a declawed Meewfolk - male or female - is forcibly enslaved into professions such as dolphin care, construction and public cleaning. Other criminals typically face exile.

This means that many mainland Meewfolk are criminally predisposed. They still live in sex segregated communities, but it is common to find high-status females in charge of a harem of men who are active in criminal or untouchable enterprises, such as slaughter, tanning, gambling, theft or - most commonly - gladiatorial arenas. Meewfolk run all kinds of underground fights, from cock fighting to martial arts tournaments. They also stage plays, forming mummer  or stunt troupes who perform with animals.

Intoxicants are strongly associated with Meewfolk. Drug production and use is an integral part of their religious and artistic culture, and they produce a variety of substances for different effects: uppers, downers, hallucinogens, anesthetics. There are two major cultural taboos regarding drugs. The first is that intoxication should never be addictive, and addictive substances are carefully managed through ritual consumption. The second is that alcohol is anathema to the Meewfolk. Only the most hardened, seediest Meewfolk would ever let alcohol touch their lips. They consider it a degenerate human vice, and drinking alcohol is a quick and efficient way to be rejected by your community.

Much to the confusion and amusement of humans, urban Meewfolk frequently keep domestic cats as pets. These 'little ancestors' are treated with great love and affection, and are viewed by Meewfolk in much the same ways as humans view and keep monkeys. Meewfolk will frequently teach their cats tricks and use them in street performances. 

Religion

Meewfolk practice their own animistic religion, recognizing a triad of deities: Kylirra, Pur, and Hin'maru. Of the three, Kylirra is the creatrix, a goddess of fertility, beauty, the law, and the Earth. Pur is the god of agriculture and the hunt, and Hin'maru the god of the ocean. The Meewfolk do not hold the ocean to be an evil place, unlike most humans, and Hin'maru is capricious but not malevolent.

The three gods gave birth to countless spirits, Mrr'ur, who inhabit all material things. Meewfolk believe that all creatures and all inanimate objects have a Mrr'ur, and that these spirits have feelings and motivations of their own. Most Meewfolk homes have a shrine to these spirits and make offerings to them, and they also take exceptionally good care of their tools and other items so that the spirits of the objects remain happy. All accidents are said to have a cause: if a bowl breaks, it's because the Mrr'ur was unhappy and jumped to its death. When a pot is cast, the artisan invests the item with a spirit. Many Meewfolk stories are about interactions or personifications of Mrr'ur and the mischief they get up to. Many humans stereotype Meewfolk as materialistic and superstitious because of these beliefs.

Meewfolk priestesses are entitled to communicate directly with the gods, which they do with the aid of drugs and Shamanistic rituals. Mana is considered to be sacred and dangerous, and no righteous Meewfolk will ever trade mana for profit. It is mined by declawed temple slaves who committed serious crimes, then handed out freely by priestesses to male craftsmen, who invest the mana into weapons, armor and artifacts. Mana is also used for one other important purpose: maintaining the Meewfok holy-of-holies, the Shield of the Ancestors.

Death

Every Meewfolk knows from a young age that their soul is destined to join the Mrr'ah'kuu'a'hu (Murr-ah-coo-ah-hu), the Shield of Ancestors. The Mrr'ah'kuu'a'hu is an energetic barrier that has preserved Meewhome against invasion for over five thousand years, and it is fuelled and sustained by the spirits of every Meewfolk who passes from life into death. Dragons, Drachan, Aesari and humans have all beaten themselves to exhaustion against this wonderous Artifact, and Meewhome has remained unconquered thanks to its continuous upkeep.

The island has three great temples, and each one contains a Mi'i'hau, also known as a Phaeder ('fayder') - a great column of pure aetherized mana, contained within a Great Circle and bound by Words of Power passed down through generations of sacred guardians, the Mi'Ha. These priestesses are furless, Sphynx-like women who ritually tattoo their bodies with the history of the Prrupt'Meew and become permanently, ecstatically joined to the Mi'i'hau they serve. The Mi'Ha are considered to be avatars of Kylirra herself, and treated with great reverence. They travel in covered palanquins, eat special food, and males compete fiercely in gladiatorial and crafting competitions to win their attentions and sire their children. Male children born from Mi'Ha unfortunately die soon after birth, their hearts mutated from the genes which grant the females their hairless, smooth skin. The Great Queen is subject to the priestesses' counsel and advice and must accept gifts from them when she ascends the throne.

No human has ever gotten to examine the Mi'i'hau, but it is believed that they are similar to the mythical Dragon Gates that sustain the Caul of Souls, the larger Phaeder barrier that seals the Drachan in their icy northern prison. Every Meewfolk is bound by an ancient geas at birth to enter the Mrr'ah'kuu'a'hu. When they die, the magical binding draws their essence to the shield and adds to its mass. The term spent protecting the homeland this way is not eternal. The Mrr'ah'kuu'a'hu reliably maintains a certain strength, releasing souls to their final, unknown destination after a period of years. It has been noted that in times of war or when the island needs protection, the shield becomes considerably stronger than it normally is - so it may have a way to recall the released souls of the dead.

The worst fate a Meewfolk can hope for - and the greatest curse that can be levelled against them - is to be excluded from joining the Mrr'ah'kuu'a'hu. Only a few of the cat folk have ever been denied this privilege, and their miserable, cursed fates are frequently dramatized in ballads and stories.