INTRODUCTION TO ROLEPLAY: BACKSTORY

Four figures circled another, which would have seemed a normal sight, in a world where conflicts are just a feature of daily life. But these creatures, however much they looked like cats, they definitely weren’t. Smoke curled at the edges of one of the creature's pelts, and another’s paws were not solid, but a dripping mass of water. One’s tail was fire, which danced around his face, lighting up the endless world of black, the other's eyes were sealed shut, and their pelt seemed cracked and broken.

The commanders of air, water, fire and earth.

But the last, smaller than the rest was so strange and foreign, it was hard to see him against the world. He was a constant swirl of blacks and whites, yet at the same time, it was tinted with strange colours which seemed to flicker and change. His eyes had no pupils, just pure black.

The four commanders circled the last, the soul chooser, with bated breath, and harsh stares. Their teeth shone even though no light existed aside from the fire commander's glow.

“Sielos, do you have anything to say about your actions?!”

Four creatures spoke as one, their voices wildly different, merging into a sound which would have made every patch of a mortal cat's pelt prickle with fear. But Sielos, the soul chooser, seemed calm. Foolishly calm.

“Ah, Oras, Vanduo, I see that you have caught up with Ugnis, and Žemė! I haven’t seen you in a millennium, how’s the plants… and the trees.”

The giant earth commander growled, her cracked and broken voice barely ready for use.

“Look guys I don’t know what this is about ! I’ve just been doing my job..”

Ugnis snapped, as the most, volatile of all the commanders, it was no surprise. “You know EXACTLY what has been happening, Sielos. Or have you not noticed the unbalance?”

Sielos, for the first time, looked scared. His pelt prickled uncomfortably, and his tail flicked from side to side. The swirling black and white kaleidoscope of his pelt seemed to circle even faster.

“It was only a few souls, and they don’t clash that badly. I can fix it I swear! And no cat will even need to get hurt.”

This time Oras spoke, a soft chuckle came from her, as she stepped closer, and closer to Sielos, forcing him to retreat backwards.

“Only a few souls. Not that badly. Sielos, half the cats in the world have matching souls! And not even simply close souls. Exact. Matches.”

Her face was right next to his, and her cool breath blew strands of fur into his eyes, but he dare not blink. On cue, the most relaxed of the commanders pushed their way through the tense situation.

“What Oras is trying to say, is that this world is going to die. Even if you kill every single one of these cats, and then murder them again in the afterlife, the strain on the world is too much. There’s only one way to do this.”

Sighing at Vanduo’s usual know it all attitude, Sielos spoke again, slightly less scared for his life.

“So, great and powerful god of the sea and freshwater, ruler of currents, Vanduo, what course of action do you suppose my humble self should pursue?”

If this ruffled the commander's fur, they didn’t show it, but simply continued, ignoring Ugnis who was being held back from sending streams of fire towards him by a pillar of rock created by Žemė.

“We shall make a new world. It will be one strange and new, different to everything you’ve ever seen. But leave that to us. Your pathetic powers will do no good to us. You need to gather the linked souls, keep them in this plane we have created, give them a few challenges, hopefully a few will drop dead before any action needs to be taken.”

Sielos laughed. He didn’t want to, and was putting himself in a life threatening situation by doing so, but it was hilarious. Put the souls in one place! It was madness.

You're joking? If I put them in one place, well the souls are already tended enough, being so close…”

He stopped. Wait a second.

“It would kill every single one of them and me. Are you trying to get rid of me?”

Žemė barked a laugh from behind Vanduo.

“If we wanted you dead, why would I be holding back Ugnis?”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sielos turned back to Vanduo, who seemed ready to spurt some more know it all speech. What luck.

“Well we have discovered that if you provide the cats with a power outlet, you should be able to contain them in one place. Telekinesis, poison, weather and animation. At the end of the challenges, if their nemesis, this is what you shall call their Soul Linked, is still living, one must kill the other, give up their place in the new world for another or trade souls, with another, which will just lead to more confusion.”

Sielos winced. He’d seen many soul trades firsthand, and they weren’t pretty. Cats changed eye colour to the shade of the precious soul owner, and the were often left mentally and physically scarred. That’s if they survived at all.

“Now go, find our cats for the next world, and make sure no linked souls are forgotten. Because if they are…. the world shall perish.”

Sielos nodded and the scene faded.

He awoke, floating above the world, and began to seek the souls, hoping that for everyone’s sake, the commanders were right about the power outlet. If not…the world could perish.

Meanwhile, green eyes watched from far away, and the sound of giant wings echoed around the empty space, gone before any cat could turn their head.

Your Characters Story –

You had a life.

It may not have been normal, it may have been pain filled and tough, but you had a life all the same.

Then something came for you. Its, or rather his voice was urgent, saying that you had to come with him. You may have agreed or not, but it didn’t change the fact that whether through a fight or acceptance, this tom bit your throat.

And then you woke up.

Many others surrounded you, all seeming to wake up. You look at yourself in the nearest patch of water. All your scars, and the items you wore in life, they’re still there, and there’s no marks where your throat was bitten. Looking around you see you are in an open area, with massive stone walls. A few of the stronger cats look like they are trying to climb out, but fail, and strong gusts of wind carry them to the ground. The water looks…off. Very very clear, barely existent. The plants are a strange deep purple, with blue flowers, and the whole worlds seems to be conscious to the cats efforts to escape, and strong winds, tinted with pink incircle you.

Slowly the tom you saw before pads forward, a few cats hiss at him, others take a step back in fear. His pelt is strange and seems to move….

“Hello. You have been summoned here because your world is dying. And I want to give you a chance to have another life, go to a new, perfect world. But there’s one problem. It can’t be paradise, if you have a nemesis. It’s nothing to worry about, everyone has one, but we need yours gone. Some of you may have two, most of you just one, but one of you either needs to die, or give up you place in the new world, and die with the old.”

More cats begin to hiss, trying more and more desperately to climb the cliffs out. Yet the wind just grows stronger.

“But don’t worry, I have come up with a few tasks for you, that should help… dispose of a few of you so some won’t have to make this choice. But for now, just rest, and try to work out who that cat may be, and try not to get too attached to anyone.”