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Post by Urban Warriors on Jan 22, 2016 17:34:26 GMT -5
"Accept No Collar." The Renegades are a very open Gang, willing to accept any cat into their ranks. They are the youngest Gang, only a few generations old, far younger than the other three. As a whole they are generally fairly easygoing, but they also tend to be impulsive and hedonistic, acting on whatever whim strikes them at the time. If a cat is bored and feels like picking a fight, they won't think much of finding a kittypet or a loner to pick on, though they at least have common sense and generally won't carelessly cause trouble with other Gangs.
Their motto, “Accept No Collar”, refers to not accepting limitations, to living free and not allowing anything to hold you back. The Renegades believe the strict rigidity found in the hierarchies and laws of the other Gangs to be a self-imposed collar, and so the Renegades laws and hierarchy are far looser, covering only the basics, and restricting leadership rather than the Gang as a whole, so no cat will ever have absolute power over their Gangmates.
As the only Gang that didn't descend directly from the Guardians, instead being founded by a loner with no previous Gang affiliation, their ways are incredibly different from the other Gangs. The Renegades walk a strange line between warrior, loner, and kittypet. They believe that life should be about more than just surviving, and they are willing to use whatever resources available to ensure that they not only survive, but thrive, and can enjoy life however they wish to live it. Personal freedom is incredibly important to Renegades, so their leaders are all elected by popular vote, and can be removed by popular vote if the Gang decides they don't like how things are being run.
Favored Stat: Endurance
Tradable ResourcesHerbs - Throughout the year, the Renegades have access to all sorts of herbs due to the humans' greenhouses that keep plants growing even through the winter. While they leave the herb trading to the Guardians for the majority of the year, due to it being somewhat tricky to get into and out of greenhouses since the humans tend to guard them quite well, it gives them great negotiating power during the winter.
Food - While humans are not wasteful as they were before the world changed, they still toss out plenty of edible things that the Renegades can gather and trade, especially during the winter when hunting prey becomes so much harder.
Human Trinkets - Living with humans gives Renegades access to items that are rather hard to come by otherwise, and while the Guardians and Marauders couldn't care less about them, they are of great interest to the Scavengers and are a big part of what holds the Renegades' tenuous friendship with the Scavengers together.
DiplomacyMarauders
Common Stereotype: “They are too battle hungry for our tastes, but no Gang can deny that they fight well and can claim some of the toughest warriors in their ranks. We enjoy trading them for fish from their river, which is something of a rare treat for us, so we try to keep up decent relations even if they generally make it difficult to do so by invading our territory and stealing what they could simply trade for. It often seems as though peace itself is their enemy."
Current Status: Neutral
Scavengers
Common Stereotype: “Of all the Gangs, they seem to accept us the most and at least seem to try not to look down their noses at us. It is a nice change, even if it isn't necessary. They have their uses, even if we think they are hypocrites for spurning what humans have to offer when their own motto is 'Waste Nothing'. They are generally cowards, which is perhaps their greatest fault and why no Gang can truly respect them, but we have no real reason to quarrel with them."
Current Status: Friendly
Guardians
Common Stereotype: “We are almost complete opposites in the way we live. They will never understand us and will never think highly of us, but we don't need them to. They think so highly of their silly 'code', but we are the ones that help keep them fed and healthy through the winter. It is good that they live so far away from us or I'm sure we would clash much more often, and much more violently."
Current Status: Neutral
Rogues, Loners, & Kittypets
Common Stereotype: “There are mixed feelings about them in the Gang. They are all potential members, but they can also be great pains in the tail and competition for resources, including humans. Some of us prefer to use them as a way to keep our battle skills sharp rather than worry about asking them to join us."
Current Status: Neutral |
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Post by Urban Warriors on Feb 7, 2016 11:22:28 GMT -5
Traditions Laws1. A Kit must be at least 6 moons old to become an Apprentice.
2. Queens, Kits, and Apprentices must not go near humans. Apprentices must hunt for the Queens and Kits before they are permitted to eat.
3. No Renegade may neglect a Kit in pain or in danger.
4. A Renegade does not allow their human to make a kittypet out of them.
5. All Renegades must meet at camp every half moon for Gang Meetings, and every Full Moon for Trade Meetings.
6. A cat cannot be made General without having served as an Advisor for at least one season.
7. A cat cannot be made Boss without having served as General for at least one season.
8. After the death or retirement of a member of Gang leadership, the Gang will vote in their replacement at the next half moon. If the Boss has died or retired, the General is considered acting Boss until the vote can be cast.
9. A cat must be at least an apprentice to cast a Vote. A cat must be at least a warrior to Call a Vote of Defiance.
Kit NamingThere's no real ceremony to naming kits in the Renegades. The parents simply name their kits whatever names they like and agree on, usually within a week after birth, though there's certainly no rule or time limit on the naming of kits. Renegades go only by the names their parents gave them until they become warriors.
Warrior Test and NameIn order to become a warrior in the Renegades, an apprentice must be at least 12 moons old. The Test involves getting a human to take you in, but in this new world, that isn't as easy as it used to be. Humans are as likely to try to trap and eat a cat as they are to take one in, so great care must be taken when selecting a human. A prospective Renegade warrior generally spends many days searching out and observing humans to find the right one, and then leaves gifts of prey at the human's den to show them what a great hunter they are. Humans in this world have little need for a helpless pet to care for and feed, so a cat that shows they can take care of themselves (and also provide food for their human) is more likely to get a human on their side.
The warrior test will last as long as it takes for an apprentice to get a human to take them in. Once they succeed, it takes a little while longer for them to learn their Warrior Name. A Renegade's Warrior Name is their original name followed by the name their human gives them (Patch Renegade, Blue Neptune). Once they become a warrior, Renegades always introduce themselves with their full name, but often follow up by saying “but you can call me _____” and use either their original name or their human name as a nickname, whichever they prefer. Most often, they use their original name with cats outside the Gang, but they may choose to use their human name within their Gang. Other Renegades expect cats outside the Gang to call them by their full names constantly and only allow cats within the Gang to use their preferred nickname. Leadership SuccessionAlong with the Boss and General, the Renegades have three Advisors ranked right below the General. Cats who wish to become Boss one day must first become Advisors, then Generals, before they can be voted in as Boss. This is meant to help a cat gain leadership experience at lower levels, adding more responsibility with each rise in rank, so that if they do become Boss they will be better prepared. Advisors are like leader apprentices, with the Boss and Generals delegating various lower level responsibilities to them on a regular basis.
Unlike the other Gangs, leadership in the Renegades is chosen by the entire Gang in a process known as the Casting of Stones. Whenever a leadership position is vacant, each cat (apprentice aged and above) will find a stone that will represent their vote. Cats that wish to fill the position will sit in a line in front of the gathered Gang, and each will get to say a short speech about why they want the position and why their Gangmates should vote for them. After they have finished, any cat in the Gang may step up to nominate a cat who didn't present themselves, and the nominated cat can either decline or join the line up if they decide to try and fulfill their Gangmate's wishes.
After all the prospective cats have spoken, each cat will take their stone and place it in front of the cat they wish to vote for. The cats in the line up do not vote. The cat with the most stones after every cat has voted gets the position. Any warrior can present themselves for the rank of Advisor, but as the Renegade laws say, a cat must have been an Advisor for at least one season before they can become General, and they must have been General for at least one season before they can become Boss. This law of course can be bent if there are no cats in the Gang who meet the criteria, but such an occasion has not happened since the Gang's Founding.
Leadership positions in the Renegades are not for life, and leadership can be removed and replaced. If a cat becomes unhappy with how a cat in power is doing things, they can announce a Vote of Defiance at the next Gang meeting. The cat who called the Vote and the cat who they called the Vote for will then stand at opposite sides of the camp, and each cat will go to one side or the other to show their support for keeping the cat in power or replacing them with someone else. If the Vote of Defiance wins, the cat in power must step down and a Casting of Stones will occur to vote in their replacement. When it comes to voting in an Advisor or General, the Boss will not vote unless there is a tie, at which point the Boss will vote to break the tie. When it comes to voting for the Boss, the General will refrain from voting unless there is a tie, at which point they will be allowed to vote to break the tie.
Death RitualThe Renegades don't have an official death ritual. Cats who retire as Elders will choose to live with their humans full time until death. These cats announce their retirement at a Gang Meeting and the Boss will give them an honorable send off. If a cat is very sick or wounded, beyond the skills of their Healers, their Gangmates will return them to their human for treatment. Some cats never return. There may or may not be a formal mourning ceremony depending on how prominent the cat was in the Renegade community. If a cat dies in camp, the body will be transported to their human's dwelling for the human to take care of. |
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Post by Urban Warriors on Feb 7, 2016 11:23:14 GMT -5
History FounderPatch Renegade Notable AncestorsPatch Renegade LoreThe Founding
Patch Renegade was born Patch, a simple loner. He never knew his father, and he watched his mother struggle to care for him and his two sisters by herself. One of his sisters died of sickness before her third moon, and the other wandered off to explore while their mother was finding them food, and they never saw her again. His mother was killed by a dog while she bought time for him to run and hide, leaving him all alone. Unprepared for life on his own, he luckily ran across a kind human that shared scraps of food with him when they saw the pitiful state he was in. His mother had always warned him to stay away from humans, but he was desperate.
He came and went, continuing to teach himself how to hunt from where his mother had left off, and visiting the human when he hadn't managed to catch anything in a while. The human always shared a few scraps with him whenever he came around. One day he was out hunting and had managed to catch himself a big rat when a group of cats ambushed him, beat him up, and took his prey. He was hurt pretty badly and on some instinct he managed to get back to the human's den. The human fixed him up, cleaning his wounds. It spoke to him, but he had no idea what it was saying. It kept saying one word in particular, however: Renegade. He realized that the human was calling HIM that. He stayed with the human for a time, but eventually got bored of such a sheltered life and left again. He went on his way, but after a few weeks he found himself thinking that life alone was awful.
As he wandered the city, he learned more about the Gangs, groups of cats sticking together for survival and companionship. He was drawn to the idea, but the more he learned about them, the more he knew he didn't belong with them. He became determined to start his own Gang, one without all the rules and rigidity that seemed to exist in the others. Slowly, he started gathering members from loners and even kittypets, telling them they could go and stay with their humans whenever they wanted, it didn't matter, but if they wanted some cat companionship they could come find them, or if cats outside the Gang were giving them trouble, they could band together to help. As more cats started joining, Patch decided they would need a name, so they could get the word out about them easier, and make sure other cats knew they existed and not to mess with them. For some reason he came back to that word the human had called him. Renegade. He took the name as well, grateful for all the human had done for him.
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