The Starving Dark

There has never been a time in the Cauldron’s history that was not entangled with the Starving Dark. It has beset the Clans since the time of their founding, appearing in the darkest nightmares of Drakestar, Catappastar, Duskstar, and Applestar before seeping into their waking world. The deepest hours of the night and cold shadows of the day are when and where this ravenous entity emerges to hunt. It is motivated by an insatiable appetite. It is the hunger all living things feel— the empty stomach of a mouse, the starving of a plant in barren soil, the craving of power or longing for love. An absence in the core of a creature that must be filled is what the Starving Dark is. The only things safe from the Starving Dark are those things that cannot want, those things that are nonliving and were never living. It feeds upon the mind, chewing away at the feeling of safety, the state of calm and reason. Hunger ravages the brain, after all. Makes one angry, weary, disorientated and desperate. The wounds it leaves upon the mind are susceptible to infection, one of which spreads to its victim’s very soul. Sometimes those wounds become physical, madness becoming flesh. Or at least what the Starving Dark perceives as flesh. Such a meaty thing the Starving Dark is, for an entity of no substance. Not quite a void, but not quite something, the only home for it is in the belly of the living. Yet that has not stopped it from making home in wounds as well, especially the gouges inflicted upon the Great Tree’s Roots…

Not all the entities you will read about in the upcoming section are of the Starving Dark. Influenced by it, the existence of this malevolent mockery of sentience being the catalyst for their existence? Most certainly. But mortals have quite the tendency for lumping what they perceive as evil all under one umbrella- or perhaps one tree would be a more apt metaphor.

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SPECTERS

The last vestiges of a once living cat still wandering the Mortal Realm, even though their body is long gone. Many of these beings are often non-violent, simply feeling ‘lost’ without a clear path to resting alongside their ancestors upon Silverpelt’s flank. Others, however, linger out of spite, grudges, improper burials, and more, leaving them susceptible to the corrupting touch of the Starving Dark- or even their own psyche. Specters are wispy mirrors of their once living selves, appearing to hold a consistency similar to that of a cloud of fog. Each is unique, but all are susceptible to pure salt,

DARK NIGHTMARES

Not all nightmares are merely the product of an upset mind, but rather something much more sinister. At times the Starving Dark slithers into a cat’s dreams, corrupting those dreams beyond even nightmares into a mental trap of stress and horror. It chips away at the restoration sleep provides, inducing sleep deprivation and night terrors. The Veil is so very thin within these nightmares, barely any separation between the dreaming mind and Below the Roots…

UNLIVING SHADOWS

Unliving Shadows are voracious, destructive shadow creatures driven exclusively by the need to tear apart and toy with their prey. They are unbiased in hunting and will attack any and anything they could possibly torture, including prey species, making them a danger to both Clanlife and prey populations. They are sentient in only the most abstract terms, lacking any morals or conscious thought, but have shown the capability to act independently.

FADED MEMORIES

Ghosts that haunt memories, infesting them to make a defiled husk of what once was. Their true form is rarely seen as they prefer to take the forms of figures from the target’s memory. They themselves are physically harmless - the psyche is their battlefield of choice. They prey on the vulnerable, those that are grieving or under duress being the most common targets. They feed off the emotions they invoke and grow stronger, so beware the voices born of memories.

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RISEN DEAD

A rather self explanatory beast, there are several types of Risen Dead known throughout the Cauldron, most notably Skeletal, Meaty and Fleshy. All forms of Risen Dead rise from the fallen corpses of Clan cats, their classification depending on how far the body was in the decomposition process. They must feed on meat to survive, making them a danger to Clan life and prey populations alike. DesertClan in particular is plagued by Ghouls, those cats who have perished in the quicksand pits dragging their mummified bodies back up into the sunlight… Risen Dead of all kinds do not care for the purifying light of the moon, of which can expel the infection from its host.

HUNTER-PREY

Beasts born when the Starving Dark possesses prey animals. The lethality of Hunter-Prey varies depending on how long the victim has been infected, but these violent and vile creatures exist solely to hunt the very creatures that once hunted them. Hunter-Prey are distinguishable through their aggressive temperaments and unusual predatory traits not seen in their native species (ex: a rabbit with sharp teeth and longer limbs, a songbird with features similar to a Bird of Prey, etc). Eventually, these unusual predatory traits will rot the creature's whole being, turning it into a shambling thing that no longer resembles whatever it used to be. Some Monarchs warn their kits that hunting prey for sport will draw the attention of Hunter-Prey…

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HELLHOUNDS

Guardians of Below The Roots, hellhounds serve one primary purpose; keep those within trapped inside, and keep those still wandering above out.

DEMONS

The souls of cats who have wandered Below the Roots for much too long, their souls and bodies twisted into nasty, evil things, touched and tainted by the weight of their own misdeeds. They are wardened by the Hellhounds and kept corralled Below the Roots, but given the means, these dark, twisted souls would do whatever it takes to claw their way up to haunt the Mortal Realm once more. Demons drastically differentiate between new inhabitants in physical appearance, being that they were once cats and now no longer are.