Welcome to Roots-of-Life!
Roots-of-Life is a cat genetics-focused RPG set in North America.
It follows multiple cat colonies and their residents, all of which are created by members of the group.
This group is always open to new members!
Current Events
Garden Takeover
With Foxglove assassinating Swift, one of the former leaders of the now overthrown Garden Colony, the future is unclear for the north-eastern corner of the Colonies. The Flytrap Colony, formerly the Garden Colony, seems to be a much more hostile and dangerous Colony than it's predecessor.
With the attackers revealed to be the very same cats running this Colony, and them clearly shown to be willing to do anything, whatever future they may have seems bleak.
Season
Spring
Leaves are slowly returning to the trees and animals are leaving their burrows.
The chill in the air has disappeared, however, there’s still plenty of rain, giving life to all the flowers.
Resources are plentiful.
Discord Server
Check out our Discord server if you're considering joining the group!
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Other Links
Other Links
Roots-of-Life can also be found on Toyhou.se and DeviantArt! Please come and show our artists some love when you have the time.
Featured Cat
Tundra
A standoffish and contemplative Builder Colony gatherer.
Read more about Tundra here!
6/14
Changelog
March 10, 2024
Website overhaul based on member feedback!
Restructured organization of pages.
Joining and Genetics dropdown categories created.
Navbar dropdowns are no longer also pages. They are just dropdowns.
Added Character and Colony creation guides. Moved most character- and colony-specific rules to these pages.
Added Research Notes page. Rules for creating disabled and intersex characters moved to this page. Tweaked guide to writing a research note.
Added RoL basics page, with a guide to ticket categories and genetics for newcomers.
Design guide overhauled. Now features an explanation and photos of every gene we have.
Added Changelog (hi, you're reading it!) to the front page.
Removed references to rules and channels that no longer exist.
Made some information more concise, and clarified some information.
Standardized formatting across all pages.
Content warnings (CWs) are now allowed in histories. Certain topics that used to not require a CW now will need one. The same general scope of topics is still all that is allowed.
February 11, 2024
Added Minty and Nova as staff helpers!
February 7, 2024
Mica gene (mi) removed as it does not exist. All mica cats will become glittered cats.
Glitter gene (gl) updates — now considered a fur type gene and not a color gene, now allowed on any cat (previous restricted to cats with Bm only), phenotype changed from "with glitter" to "glittered", and moved to the front of phenotypes and genotypes.
Added satin-rexing (sa).
February 4, 2024
Colony population counts now live on the Sheets roster.
Added defined size categories for colonies. 25 square miles is the average size for a colony. Enormous-sized (50+ square miles) colonies now require a specific organizational structure to be created.
February 1, 2024
Colony ownership may now be transferred to another player if they have an open colony slot.
January 1, 2024
Instituted yearly activity check for colonies. Colonies must update their documents to remove old references, and update their histories to present time.
November 12, 2023
Members can now only have one new colony ticket open at a time; this includes territory reservations. Members must wait for their colony cooldown to finish before claiming a new territory.
Clarified co-ownership rules of colonies. One person is the "lead owner", and the colony is listed under their name + one of their colony slots is taken up. Other co-owners are considered "vice owners". Staff will contact the lead owner for all approvals, and it is up to the lead owner to disseminate information to vice owners.
November 8, 2023
Tickets system split into Character, Colony, and Events categories.
September 23, 2023
Added Colony Slot item to the shop, for members who want more than 3 colonies.
September 9, 2023
Chimeras may now have all of their relevant genotypes listed, not just one. Chimeras can now breed from all of their genotypes, if listed. Chimeras can update their applications to add their other genotype(s). Chimeras can have more than 2 phenotypes/genotypes now.
Rare Traits page added.
August 21, 2023
Added Hawk, Pumpkin, and Rift to the staff team!
June 12, 2023 - June 22, 2023
Ownership of the group transferred from Peep to Snow.
Reorganized server some.
Google Sheets roster created.
Achievements spreadsheet created.
Mateships are no longer restricted to a hard one-year age gap. Age gaps are now variable depending on the ages of the cats involved; staff will use their discretion to approve or deny age-gap mateships.
Character limit of 30 cats per colony has been removed. Members may have an infinite number of characters.
Added Extra Kitten and MYO Litter items to the shop.
User lookup added to the Bank and Achievements spreadsheets.
June 7, 2023
Clarified some gene descriptions on the Genotypes page.
Wideband and sunshine are now part of the same locus (the CORIN locus). Extreme wideband (wb+) re-added; extreme sunshine (wbeSIB) added.
May 17, 2023
Promoted Snow to a full staff position.
Discord server has been reorganized.
#questions and #design-help can now only be answered by staff, to prevent confusion.
Added tickets system; reviews will no longer be DMed to staff.
April 8, 2023
Shop updates:
Rebalanced shop rewards. Clarified reward descriptions.
Re-added character multiplier (backgrounds are counted separately and unaffected by multipliers.)
Story events now give 25 sprouts for participation.
Achievements system created!
Disabilities, scars, accessories, and mutation traits no longer require purchases, and are free to add to any character. Hairlessness, sparse fur, and albinism no longer require purchases.
Rare traits item added — covers chimerism, vitiligo, and other abnormalities. Members get 3 rare trait slots for free, and can buy more in the shop.
Litter reroll item added.
Shop designs added.
Non-members can open a bank account (get 100 sprouts, 3 colony slots, and 3 rare trait slots for free) by asking a staff member.
Genotype updates:
Genotypes page has been reorganized. Clarified gene descriptions.
Ticked tabby has been simplified to tata, Tata, and TaTa.
Wideband has been simplified to WbWb, Wbwb, and wbwb.
Exotic agouti (ApbA) is now just agouti carrying charcoal; no longer adds rufousing.
Bobtail is now properly incompletely dominant.
Rules updates:
Intersex characters are now allowed with a research note.
Redesigns should now be verified with staff.
October 25, 2022
Added a FAQ section to the rules page.
Redesigned Pinecone, the group mascot.
September 14, 2022
Added Snow to the moderation team.
Introduced research notes for disabilities.
Added PluralKit and some corresponding rules for usage.
Gave all members a third colony slot; added a 2 month cooldown to colony creation.
July 31, 2022
Roots-of-Life reboot! Shifted from using Google Docs to this Google Site. New application format for characters and colonies.
March 4, 2022
Updated colorpoint genes, added ringtail (Rt) mutation
October 24, 2021
Broken tabby changes — now properly does not affect classic tabby; removal of broken classic and sparbled. All genotypes will stay the same.
May 7, 2021
All cats must now list the "basic 3" patterns (mackerel, spotted, ticked) in their genotypes.
Added bengal modifier (Bm) and the midnight charcoal phenotype.
Overhaul of ticked tabbies — added genes specifically for rufoused (TiaTia) and un-rufoused (TiaTi+) unpatterned ticked tabbies.
Wideband is now properly recessive.
April 6, 2021
Rewards overhaul — updates to backgrounds, added fullbody/halfbody/bust distinction, changed some groupings, removed character multiplier.
January 27, 2021
Added hairless (hr), sparse fur (spf), albino (ca and c), and karpati (K) genes.