Post by cardinalmisdirection on Aug 16, 2020 17:08:12 GMT -5
The Puma Begin the Gather
Our History starts before the wolves. It is old, and it was pure. It was not until the men of the earth scraped their way into tribes and such that we had to question our place. In those days, the Pumanca were simply called king. We watched the wyld places, learned it's secrets and enjoyed Gaia's bounty. It was the Humans that brought the wolves. Certainly, their were wolves before, however they respected Gaia's law of the Predator, and hunted smaller game, in lower lands.
Man came, and wolves breed with them, making man's land theirs. We were surprised at this little trick, but we soon copied it and learned it as well. We might have learned it too well. Once Puma began breeding with the tribes, we became tied into the weaver wars and not Gaia's wars. As the Indian of the land made war, we made war to protect our spouses. They were always at war. This is the first secret we learned. Man makes us weak, not through poison, but through distraction. We did not see the way the Wolves used the tribes, and therefore, we protected our kin, and they took the land.
The Croatan were the first wolves, and we know their lands because we carved their grave stones when they died. Puma was before wolves, and when they took over, we did not fight back. They promised us our lands, if we enforced their laws, and so we did. They were not perfect, and we often fought, but they did do what Gaia asked. We built our Dens, we watched the land and the wyld sky, and we watched the wolves fight and bleed in their wars, with their enemies. The Wyrm was not in the ground then. It was not in the world as it is now, it was only where the wolf looked. Then, they died.
As we cared for the Croatan grounds, cleaned the Croatan battlefields and watched the Croatan tribes, we lost sight. Again, the wolves distracted us. Our Dens were far from us. We had to watch the holy sites the wolves found, since they went east and disappeared. In doing so, we left our homes and our places of wisdom to our kin. They fought and died for them, and once we returned we were proud of them. Sadly, it was they who became distracted by our absence, which was caused by the wolves. It is always the wolves. They distract us, they kill us, they stifle us.
When the other wolves came, they hated us. We buried their brothers. We protected the wolf lands. Of course we took our tithe, and used their gifts to do our duty. They were blood thirst from the north, and the south brought wolves of guile and traps. Our tribes died. Our people died. Our lands were taken because they did not care about the Croatan and their laws. They only cared about the wolf space that was not filled. They call themselves brothers, but they were scavengers with sharp claws and greedy numbers.
According to the Lynx
We were here before the Cannibals came south. BUTTTTTTTT.... we were really, really here when they came south. The Wildcats of The Bloodied Ground spent their time figuring out how to hide, and survive before our arrival. We knew them, but we didn't KNOW them in those days. To be honest, half the tricks we still teach in the north, today, are lessons and secrets we learned from the days with the Cannibal.
Puma was proud, and would not yield, even to greater numbers, and so the great cat of the mountains went to war with the wolves, and lost. We ate the squirrel and the mole, and learned. In those days, Kentucky was riddled with treasures. Rats left tunnels from mountain top to mountain top, the ravens had markings and troves even they couldn't care for. The wolves... well, the wolves left the one thing Gaia abhors... a vacuum. And that vacuum was immense. We knew the Cannibals well, and we rushed ahead, and mingled with them. The treasures they would not miss, we hid so the wyrm would not find them. Make no mistake, the Wyrm was there. It also knows what a vacuum is, after all.
The next two centuries were a mad scramble to find the dangerous secrets and hide them with the Puma. We also had to trick Puma into just taking them. Puma had a wounded soul, after all. It seemed like every trick we played on wolf, and every place we protected was under attack. The Ravens gave away every secret they knew, the Rats wanted things they couldn't use, and Wolf claimed all things as inheritance from their lost kin. I don't know who they thought their lost kin where, but it seemed to be the way. Cat finally did what we asked, because Cat is a bastard. He gave us the way of writing, and we used it. Our people scattered the wisdom the Croatan left behind on the walls of the Puma Homes, even if Puma was not there. We wrote the history of the lost truths on the bottom of the weavers webs, even if they were silk thin around the gaian spaces. We snuck into the realms of the Bear, and secreted old songs that would drive wolves mad. We did what we could.
We left our seeds in the belly of the wise and the cagey where we could, but the truth is... The Bloodied Ground was not our home. We could not live there long, even when the bobcat and the wildcat was so exotic and enticing. What we could do was leave a generation behind, and just trust Cat to be generous. Once the Europeans came, we were fortunate enough to have a generation of children living and trained by The Bloodied Ground, because too many of us knew our homes were elsewhere, and it was time to leave. Wish them luck, we did, and flee we certainly did.
The Fey Cat speak?
(transcribed and preserved from a diary found in Covington)
Everyone blames the Europeans. We always get the shaft, but you look at the world we came from, and soon you realize why we ran so hard and so fast from what we had to endure. My mom was a prisoner released from the jails if she would serve an America Lord for 7 years. That lord got 20 acres for giving her a job, and when year 8 came along, she was thick with me in her belly, and not a father in sight. By the time she moved to Kentucky Territory, the same land she served on was sold to her employer by three different Indian tribes and he paid taxes to a gov'nor for it. You wanna talk about what is pure and right? Hell, the people that held this land never cared a whit for that until they lost it.
Maybe the Puma got fucked early on, perhaps. Maybe the Lynx put in work, but they left when things got rough. It was the Europeans that made this place a place. It was my callouses that cut through the mountains so we could even reach Lexington, and it was my sweat that built those bridges. When we arrived, we wanted to build a place of our own, and by god it wasn't the wolves that stopped us. It was the rats and their knives. It was the Raven with their curses. It was the Bear and their valleys of sic. Then their were the Puma. They claimed the land was theirs, and yet they were too few to protect it. You can only follow so many fucking rules about who's is what, and what is who's before you realize that if no one is using it, it doesn't matter. So we moved in, and we took those Den Realms. We found OUR space, because if Puma was not going to love it, then Me and Mine would.
The Puma and the Lynx were surprised to see us, but if they didn't know we were coming, then more the fool them. Candidly, they were bowing down to wolves long before we arrived, and when we showed up, we did them a favor. See, all that land and all those homes couldn't be held by who was here. So we helped out, and kept it for Cat. What is so damn infuriating, is that as we took those dens and mates, it was the fucking Puma's that cursed us and just left. It wasn't a question of negotiation or figuring it out. No! They just flipped us the bird and walked on.
The Western Exodus and the Return in WW1
Now, the Cats were one. See, when the Europeans came, they tricked others with the Wyrm lies. Cats escaped and fled from their homes, and away from wolves. Similarly, they fled from white homids and their black servants. What we knew was that soon the riddle would be set, and the secrets of the Bloodied Ground would be revealed. There is no Peace in Kentucky. The Puma fled west, just as the Lynx fled north, and the European Cats fell to the claws of the Bear and Wolves on the Bloodied Ground. Plague haunted our kin, and hunters harmed our kin, however, we endured and we made plans to return. It was during this point that the Puma did what was unthinkable to them before. They kissed the sacred soil of Gaia and promised to return to her if they were allowed to wander.
Garou will tell you there have not been Puma, nor Lynx, nor Cats in Kentucky for some time. What they do not know is that we have always been in the Umbra. See the promise of the Puma, sealed with a kiss, was not one of position, but one of heart. A Wyld of sorts was created, and our elders were allowed to wonder it. We stayed with The Bloodied Ground with our souls, however, our bodies walked through the territory as it should have been. This is not something Cats are allowed to do, but perhaps the sweet love of Gaia is less fickle than Luna, and perhaps those that made that vow were more sincere. But in any case, those that once loved Gaia and Kentucky were part of her spirit, and not just her soil. It was not until the breath and water of Gaia was destroyed abroad that she called us home.
Most Cat Historians do not care about the Nukes in WW2, because they are the outcome. The start was WW1 where the Wyrm told man how best to slaughter man. It was in the bosom of Gaia, where men dug their own mile long graves, that the Wyrm finally completed it's mystic rite, and taught man how to end life. The rite was not chemical weapons, or nationalism. The rite was the true thirst of total annihilation. It was the clouds of death which the Wyrm gifted mankind, and they used, which cemented the gift. Back in Kentucky, this marked the beginning of the end, and the cats were called home. See, Gaia had no more room for love and secrets with Cat. Instead, she buckled in pain, and even those of us that loved both moon and earth were called back, slowly, but we were called back.
Side Note: "Valentine & Farewell"
The Myth of Puma Sealing his love with a kiss is not a joke. Puma has always been close to the territory he walks, and when finally forced to roam, the Mountain Lion made a promise to return with his very soul. What is interesting, is that the promise extended to all Bastet which called Kentucky home. Numerous foreigners of Irish/Anglo, Canadian, and Native American blooded Bastet (the entire world over) have felt the pull to Kentucky. It turns out that any kin OR LOVER OF, a Bastet at the time of the promise carry the Geas of the Sealing. For those that understand such things, this is called "Cat's Valentine" and represents the promise made to Gaia by Mountain Lion when the Bastet left Kentucky. The recall of that promise is called "Gaia's Farewell", and like a negligent lover, Mountain Lion has called the Bastet back to regain the affection of Gaia, specifically to The Bloodied Ground. It might get them killed, however Cat would rather be a negligent parent that an oath-breaker, and the call to return just cannot be ignored by the Bastet afflicted.
WW2 to present
Puma and Lynx kept their kin out of WW2. Maybe... no... definitely not successfully, but they tried. It was during this time that the call of Cat came. Luna WAS jealous, and Gaia was sad. Cat demanded that her children do SOMETHING about this. Slowly, her children heeded her call. It was a sad blessing that while the Garou were burying their kin, that the Puma and Lynx were able to move freely. Certainly, the Corax and the Rats fighting did create a moment of obscurement for the silky steps of the Bastet. What they found, however, was gut wrenching. The land was torn and divided by the wolves, and the humans had destroyed mountains, poisoned rivers, and decimated plains. The Puma collapsed in pain, and the Lynx sat on their hinds in confusion.
This is not how we left it? Maybe that is a simple thought for many, but the Bastet had taken such pains to leave things well when they went about. It was all for not, ALMOST. There were a few, very few, kin that remembered the old ways, and there were just a few old Dens left undefiled. The Rats had found so many, and carried them off. The Raven had taken many, and placed them in their treasure troves. And the Bears? Those sons of bitches had destroyed the Den Realms they found and turned them into... Dream Pillows? It doesn't matter, they were left in care, only to be defiled. NOW THE BEAR HAD TO PAY!
We might have... killed... a few bear in the 30's and 40's. I know there are plenty of folks that would roll their eyes, but keep in mind... we didn't kill all of them. Also, who the fuck do you think we trusted with our Den Realms when we left? It wasn't the Wolves or the Rats or the Crows. Those assholes can't be trusted, and that is exactly why the Bears letting our shit get stolen was such a shock. They were not supposed to be assholes. And yet... so, Yeah. The early Puma's that returned absolutely banded together with the Lynx and Killed a few specific Bears that were trusted with a sacred duty, and yet slept through the thefts they were employed to prevent. Let's not get crazy either... it was only a dozen by MOST accounts.
The Civil Rights era was a joke that only humans took seriously. While it was flattering to know that a boxer and a militant group named themselves after cat, that was just a novelty. What did matter is the search for the history of the Puma and Lynx of the past. These lands were in other's control, however, few knew what they had. So... the brave few Bastet were able to sneak into enemy territory and take back the lost lore and secrets of their ancestors. This left more puzzles than answers, and the Bastet of The Bloodied Ground were left with few allies to solve the puzzles with.
By the 80's, things had to change. More and more Bastet Kin and Young were arriving in Kentucky, only to be butchered for trespassing and insults. Worse still, it was not the other shifters that were doing it. The Youngsters made the mistake of being "too" inventive and found themselves trusting Wyrm creatures, vampires, werespiders, and worse. An entire decade of Bastet came to The Bloodied Ground, and too many found 'lethal allies' before they found other Bastet to trust. It was not until recently that the Children of Cat began to aggressively patrol for their own, and many have taken the risk of living in the scabs rather than live in the wyld. Today, a new Bastet entering Kentucky is more likely to settle in Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, or Covington for safety alone. If they are able to find one another, there are large pieces of a puzzle with no picture available amongst the wise. The modern days are much like the old days for Cat... filled with mystery, and filled with all the promise they are willing to reach for.
Our History starts before the wolves. It is old, and it was pure. It was not until the men of the earth scraped their way into tribes and such that we had to question our place. In those days, the Pumanca were simply called king. We watched the wyld places, learned it's secrets and enjoyed Gaia's bounty. It was the Humans that brought the wolves. Certainly, their were wolves before, however they respected Gaia's law of the Predator, and hunted smaller game, in lower lands.
Man came, and wolves breed with them, making man's land theirs. We were surprised at this little trick, but we soon copied it and learned it as well. We might have learned it too well. Once Puma began breeding with the tribes, we became tied into the weaver wars and not Gaia's wars. As the Indian of the land made war, we made war to protect our spouses. They were always at war. This is the first secret we learned. Man makes us weak, not through poison, but through distraction. We did not see the way the Wolves used the tribes, and therefore, we protected our kin, and they took the land.
The Croatan were the first wolves, and we know their lands because we carved their grave stones when they died. Puma was before wolves, and when they took over, we did not fight back. They promised us our lands, if we enforced their laws, and so we did. They were not perfect, and we often fought, but they did do what Gaia asked. We built our Dens, we watched the land and the wyld sky, and we watched the wolves fight and bleed in their wars, with their enemies. The Wyrm was not in the ground then. It was not in the world as it is now, it was only where the wolf looked. Then, they died.
As we cared for the Croatan grounds, cleaned the Croatan battlefields and watched the Croatan tribes, we lost sight. Again, the wolves distracted us. Our Dens were far from us. We had to watch the holy sites the wolves found, since they went east and disappeared. In doing so, we left our homes and our places of wisdom to our kin. They fought and died for them, and once we returned we were proud of them. Sadly, it was they who became distracted by our absence, which was caused by the wolves. It is always the wolves. They distract us, they kill us, they stifle us.
When the other wolves came, they hated us. We buried their brothers. We protected the wolf lands. Of course we took our tithe, and used their gifts to do our duty. They were blood thirst from the north, and the south brought wolves of guile and traps. Our tribes died. Our people died. Our lands were taken because they did not care about the Croatan and their laws. They only cared about the wolf space that was not filled. They call themselves brothers, but they were scavengers with sharp claws and greedy numbers.
According to the Lynx
We were here before the Cannibals came south. BUTTTTTTTT.... we were really, really here when they came south. The Wildcats of The Bloodied Ground spent their time figuring out how to hide, and survive before our arrival. We knew them, but we didn't KNOW them in those days. To be honest, half the tricks we still teach in the north, today, are lessons and secrets we learned from the days with the Cannibal.
Puma was proud, and would not yield, even to greater numbers, and so the great cat of the mountains went to war with the wolves, and lost. We ate the squirrel and the mole, and learned. In those days, Kentucky was riddled with treasures. Rats left tunnels from mountain top to mountain top, the ravens had markings and troves even they couldn't care for. The wolves... well, the wolves left the one thing Gaia abhors... a vacuum. And that vacuum was immense. We knew the Cannibals well, and we rushed ahead, and mingled with them. The treasures they would not miss, we hid so the wyrm would not find them. Make no mistake, the Wyrm was there. It also knows what a vacuum is, after all.
The next two centuries were a mad scramble to find the dangerous secrets and hide them with the Puma. We also had to trick Puma into just taking them. Puma had a wounded soul, after all. It seemed like every trick we played on wolf, and every place we protected was under attack. The Ravens gave away every secret they knew, the Rats wanted things they couldn't use, and Wolf claimed all things as inheritance from their lost kin. I don't know who they thought their lost kin where, but it seemed to be the way. Cat finally did what we asked, because Cat is a bastard. He gave us the way of writing, and we used it. Our people scattered the wisdom the Croatan left behind on the walls of the Puma Homes, even if Puma was not there. We wrote the history of the lost truths on the bottom of the weavers webs, even if they were silk thin around the gaian spaces. We snuck into the realms of the Bear, and secreted old songs that would drive wolves mad. We did what we could.
We left our seeds in the belly of the wise and the cagey where we could, but the truth is... The Bloodied Ground was not our home. We could not live there long, even when the bobcat and the wildcat was so exotic and enticing. What we could do was leave a generation behind, and just trust Cat to be generous. Once the Europeans came, we were fortunate enough to have a generation of children living and trained by The Bloodied Ground, because too many of us knew our homes were elsewhere, and it was time to leave. Wish them luck, we did, and flee we certainly did.
The Fey Cat speak?
(transcribed and preserved from a diary found in Covington)
Everyone blames the Europeans. We always get the shaft, but you look at the world we came from, and soon you realize why we ran so hard and so fast from what we had to endure. My mom was a prisoner released from the jails if she would serve an America Lord for 7 years. That lord got 20 acres for giving her a job, and when year 8 came along, she was thick with me in her belly, and not a father in sight. By the time she moved to Kentucky Territory, the same land she served on was sold to her employer by three different Indian tribes and he paid taxes to a gov'nor for it. You wanna talk about what is pure and right? Hell, the people that held this land never cared a whit for that until they lost it.
Maybe the Puma got fucked early on, perhaps. Maybe the Lynx put in work, but they left when things got rough. It was the Europeans that made this place a place. It was my callouses that cut through the mountains so we could even reach Lexington, and it was my sweat that built those bridges. When we arrived, we wanted to build a place of our own, and by god it wasn't the wolves that stopped us. It was the rats and their knives. It was the Raven with their curses. It was the Bear and their valleys of sic. Then their were the Puma. They claimed the land was theirs, and yet they were too few to protect it. You can only follow so many fucking rules about who's is what, and what is who's before you realize that if no one is using it, it doesn't matter. So we moved in, and we took those Den Realms. We found OUR space, because if Puma was not going to love it, then Me and Mine would.
The Puma and the Lynx were surprised to see us, but if they didn't know we were coming, then more the fool them. Candidly, they were bowing down to wolves long before we arrived, and when we showed up, we did them a favor. See, all that land and all those homes couldn't be held by who was here. So we helped out, and kept it for Cat. What is so damn infuriating, is that as we took those dens and mates, it was the fucking Puma's that cursed us and just left. It wasn't a question of negotiation or figuring it out. No! They just flipped us the bird and walked on.
The Western Exodus and the Return in WW1
Now, the Cats were one. See, when the Europeans came, they tricked others with the Wyrm lies. Cats escaped and fled from their homes, and away from wolves. Similarly, they fled from white homids and their black servants. What we knew was that soon the riddle would be set, and the secrets of the Bloodied Ground would be revealed. There is no Peace in Kentucky. The Puma fled west, just as the Lynx fled north, and the European Cats fell to the claws of the Bear and Wolves on the Bloodied Ground. Plague haunted our kin, and hunters harmed our kin, however, we endured and we made plans to return. It was during this point that the Puma did what was unthinkable to them before. They kissed the sacred soil of Gaia and promised to return to her if they were allowed to wander.
Garou will tell you there have not been Puma, nor Lynx, nor Cats in Kentucky for some time. What they do not know is that we have always been in the Umbra. See the promise of the Puma, sealed with a kiss, was not one of position, but one of heart. A Wyld of sorts was created, and our elders were allowed to wonder it. We stayed with The Bloodied Ground with our souls, however, our bodies walked through the territory as it should have been. This is not something Cats are allowed to do, but perhaps the sweet love of Gaia is less fickle than Luna, and perhaps those that made that vow were more sincere. But in any case, those that once loved Gaia and Kentucky were part of her spirit, and not just her soil. It was not until the breath and water of Gaia was destroyed abroad that she called us home.
Most Cat Historians do not care about the Nukes in WW2, because they are the outcome. The start was WW1 where the Wyrm told man how best to slaughter man. It was in the bosom of Gaia, where men dug their own mile long graves, that the Wyrm finally completed it's mystic rite, and taught man how to end life. The rite was not chemical weapons, or nationalism. The rite was the true thirst of total annihilation. It was the clouds of death which the Wyrm gifted mankind, and they used, which cemented the gift. Back in Kentucky, this marked the beginning of the end, and the cats were called home. See, Gaia had no more room for love and secrets with Cat. Instead, she buckled in pain, and even those of us that loved both moon and earth were called back, slowly, but we were called back.
Side Note: "Valentine & Farewell"
The Myth of Puma Sealing his love with a kiss is not a joke. Puma has always been close to the territory he walks, and when finally forced to roam, the Mountain Lion made a promise to return with his very soul. What is interesting, is that the promise extended to all Bastet which called Kentucky home. Numerous foreigners of Irish/Anglo, Canadian, and Native American blooded Bastet (the entire world over) have felt the pull to Kentucky. It turns out that any kin OR LOVER OF, a Bastet at the time of the promise carry the Geas of the Sealing. For those that understand such things, this is called "Cat's Valentine" and represents the promise made to Gaia by Mountain Lion when the Bastet left Kentucky. The recall of that promise is called "Gaia's Farewell", and like a negligent lover, Mountain Lion has called the Bastet back to regain the affection of Gaia, specifically to The Bloodied Ground. It might get them killed, however Cat would rather be a negligent parent that an oath-breaker, and the call to return just cannot be ignored by the Bastet afflicted.
WW2 to present
Puma and Lynx kept their kin out of WW2. Maybe... no... definitely not successfully, but they tried. It was during this time that the call of Cat came. Luna WAS jealous, and Gaia was sad. Cat demanded that her children do SOMETHING about this. Slowly, her children heeded her call. It was a sad blessing that while the Garou were burying their kin, that the Puma and Lynx were able to move freely. Certainly, the Corax and the Rats fighting did create a moment of obscurement for the silky steps of the Bastet. What they found, however, was gut wrenching. The land was torn and divided by the wolves, and the humans had destroyed mountains, poisoned rivers, and decimated plains. The Puma collapsed in pain, and the Lynx sat on their hinds in confusion.
This is not how we left it? Maybe that is a simple thought for many, but the Bastet had taken such pains to leave things well when they went about. It was all for not, ALMOST. There were a few, very few, kin that remembered the old ways, and there were just a few old Dens left undefiled. The Rats had found so many, and carried them off. The Raven had taken many, and placed them in their treasure troves. And the Bears? Those sons of bitches had destroyed the Den Realms they found and turned them into... Dream Pillows? It doesn't matter, they were left in care, only to be defiled. NOW THE BEAR HAD TO PAY!
We might have... killed... a few bear in the 30's and 40's. I know there are plenty of folks that would roll their eyes, but keep in mind... we didn't kill all of them. Also, who the fuck do you think we trusted with our Den Realms when we left? It wasn't the Wolves or the Rats or the Crows. Those assholes can't be trusted, and that is exactly why the Bears letting our shit get stolen was such a shock. They were not supposed to be assholes. And yet... so, Yeah. The early Puma's that returned absolutely banded together with the Lynx and Killed a few specific Bears that were trusted with a sacred duty, and yet slept through the thefts they were employed to prevent. Let's not get crazy either... it was only a dozen by MOST accounts.
The Civil Rights era was a joke that only humans took seriously. While it was flattering to know that a boxer and a militant group named themselves after cat, that was just a novelty. What did matter is the search for the history of the Puma and Lynx of the past. These lands were in other's control, however, few knew what they had. So... the brave few Bastet were able to sneak into enemy territory and take back the lost lore and secrets of their ancestors. This left more puzzles than answers, and the Bastet of The Bloodied Ground were left with few allies to solve the puzzles with.
By the 80's, things had to change. More and more Bastet Kin and Young were arriving in Kentucky, only to be butchered for trespassing and insults. Worse still, it was not the other shifters that were doing it. The Youngsters made the mistake of being "too" inventive and found themselves trusting Wyrm creatures, vampires, werespiders, and worse. An entire decade of Bastet came to The Bloodied Ground, and too many found 'lethal allies' before they found other Bastet to trust. It was not until recently that the Children of Cat began to aggressively patrol for their own, and many have taken the risk of living in the scabs rather than live in the wyld. Today, a new Bastet entering Kentucky is more likely to settle in Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, or Covington for safety alone. If they are able to find one another, there are large pieces of a puzzle with no picture available amongst the wise. The modern days are much like the old days for Cat... filled with mystery, and filled with all the promise they are willing to reach for.