I'm going to DM a STRPG, and one of the players wants to run a catfolk. We've seen them in ST, but always in a background alien or semi-canon (Animated Series) capacity. Just what do we know about the cat people of the ST universe? I don't really care whether it's FASA, TAS, or what not, I just want to draw on the incredible amount of coherent knowledge here that blind-Googling cannot match.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Cat-People SUCK!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, I'm a bit biased, I'll admit, but super-sizing housepets is just sloppy writing and not worth using in a game.
Make your player use something intresting, or make the character's background radically diffrent than what's been established before: they could be advanced pacificts that resent any animal comparisons (as example only).
Or just kill off his character over nad over untill he get the point and plays a human. That's always fun too.
Posted by Ultra Manjuice (Member # 239) on :
They're just too damn close to furries to be cool at all.
As for nerd knowledge, there are Caitians, or something. Some nerd will nerd more nerdular nerdulence I am sure.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
M'Ress and those TVH guys were Caitians. See Danhauser's site and the Lincoln biography for the most accepted background stories. And FASA has a lot of stuff on Caitians as well (at the very least a chapter is devoted to them in the TVH sourcebook).
We had the Kzinti in TAS. Basically taken from Niven's universe, so read his books or check larryniven.org.
There was a three-breasted cat in TFF. No info on her. Except that she featured prominently on the Japanese movie-posters of TFF...
I don't know nothing about no Regulans.
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
Cait orbits a star in the Lynx constellation. It is one of only two planets in it's system. Caitians are a diverse feline species, believed to share ancient common roots with the Kzinti.
Lt. M'Ress from The Animated Series was a Caitian from planet Cait, according to a biography published by Lincoln Enterprises in 1974. According to the FASA Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update, the felinoids seen in that movie were also Caitian.
There was a three-breasted cat stripper in Star Trek 5.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote: Cait orbits a star in the Lynx constellation.
A lamer sentence would be difficult to find outside a Thundercats episode.
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
Yeah, because aliens naming their twin homeworlds after the mythological founders of Rome makes a huge amount of sense.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
More than "cat people" originating in a constellation that aincent humans thought resembled a cat. A resemblence that only someone viewing from Earth could possibly imagine.
I guess we better never explore the Orion Nebula (much less the Hellspont Nebula), but if we get thirsty, we can just stop off at the Big Dipper for a drink and then get try to get some teen nookie in Virgo...
Mabye the Catians hunt bird-men from the eagle Nebula...
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
I'm not really a big fan of cat aliens either, and I did cringe when I read the Lynx Constellation bit, so I agree with you.
But it's no more or less stupid then numerous other references throughout the history of Trek.
I know it's non-canon, but the Franz Joseph Starfleet Technical Manual had the flags of 61 Cygni (Tellar) adorned with swans. Why the Hell would the Tellarites give a crap about Human designations for their star much less what Cygnus means?
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
There's nothing wrong with some really corny sci-fi to spice things up a bit. I mean, blue guys with friggin antennae on their heads? No-one would have dared pass them off as believable aliens outside Trek.
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
Or aliens with half white and half black faces on opposite sides to drive home the pointlessness of racism... for really, really stupid people who have to be beaten with the obvious stick.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Like almost everyone in the 1960's?
Posted by UFPSFMC-Colonel Mike Captain (Member # 709) on :
I think that Star Fleet Battles, the semi-licensed RPG used Kzinti in their Franz Joseph-based view of the Trek milieu, but so were their cousins the Lyrans. when the SFB material was adapted into video games (The Starfleet Command series) i'm not sure if they called them something else. (possibly making references to another 'split' in Kzinti/Lyran governments). i forget the new name of the SFC and Academy games' feline Kzinti though
Then there is the long held rumor that TZENKETHI from DS9 were an anagram of THE KZINTI. take that as you will, possibly we could "replace" the word Kzinti from any TAS memories we have, establishing that there were old Man-Tzenkethi Wars (around the ENT era, 2150s-2160s oddly enough, from the TAS reference), the Tzenkethi wouldve been the villains from the Slaver Weapon, and the DS9 backstory establishes at least one more war with them between TAS and TNG.. this is a bit of a presumption, however.
the TNG novel "Captain's Honor" has Kzinti that were called something else out of legal necessity, they were called the M'Dok.
So you have a plethora of names for what is essentially the same species, possibly this could be explained by the fact that their space is ruled by several different clans, kingdoms or governments. Kzinti, Tzenkethi, M'Dok, Lyrans, an any others i forgot...
Not much has been heard from Caitians, besides their supposed ST4 appearances.
the TOS novel "Uhura's Song" has Caitians who were revised to be called something else in the Eeiauoans (and they had a parent/offshoot species too, to complicate things.
I don't remember if Peter David used the name Caitians in New Frontier, but M'Ress has just joined the crew there and theyve established some backstory for her species leaving the Federation and rejoining it.
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
The SFC game's Kzinti stand-ins were called the Mirak, IIRC.
200 years prior to 2269 is not the ENT era. It's earlier. (2069) But that date can be fudged a bit to make things make sense, as could the use of the term "wars." (I once considered writing a fanfic detailing Trek's version of the Man-Kzin wars.)
Shane Johnson's non-canonical Worlds of the Federation sourcebook speculated that the Caitians were ancient offshoots of the Kzinti, much in the same way that the Romulans are of the Vulcans.
Regarding the non-use of the Kzin in later Trek, as I recall Niven always said he would have no problem with them being used, but Paramount was just too scared of the possible legal implications.
The most recent "covert" reference to the Kzinti was in Geoffrey Mandel's Star Charts, where their space was mapped and simply labeled "The Patriarchy." Strangely, the charts show the Tzenkethi in a different area of space.
I haven't yet been able to understand the seemingly-widespread objection to animal aliens. I think they can be quite cool. I don't recall people complaining so strenuously about the Selay and Anticans in TNG "Lonely Among Us," so why about the Kzinti? From what I've read of Niven and his cohorts, they were a well-developed and interesting species.
-MMoM Posted by UFPSFMC-Colonel Mike Captain (Member # 709) on :
the "hundred-year" fudge around there is certainly acceptable though, in my opinion. between trelane's near milennia since the 17-1800s, decker's 500 years and such, the references of the tas era certainly need to be taken with a grain of salt.
granted, it would be fascinating to portray a pre-ENT battle with The Patriarchy (i like this name) since there would be no Starfleet, or such an early form of the Starfleet that it would be hard to recognize..
Posted by Doctor Jonas (Member # 481) on :
The Regulan denomination comes from the most recent Star Trek RPG from Decipher. It gives a little more background in the Aliens manual from that collection.
Which gaming system will you be using, David? Or is it by email?
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
Thanks for the info, folks, I was worried for a moment that I'd get nothing except anti-Furry sentiments. Not that I can't understand why that'd be.
I'm using Decipher's system and doing it with my D&D group, hence "Regulan" rather than the previously established names. This will be the first time I DM and the first time any of us used the CODA system. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've heard catfolks in ST being referred to as Regulans before reading it in the Decipher books. I think I like the other names better.
Er, in a related note, if anyone in the Kitchener-Waterloo region is interested in participating in a mid-TNG era RPG, please drop me a line. I'm short a player or two, as half my D&D group doesn't want to play ST. taHqeqs.
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
Double posted.
Posted by Doctor Jonas (Member # 481) on :
They used Regulan just because of legal reasons.
I recommend you to go to http://forum.trek-rpg.net , if you didn't already. Their parent page hasn't been updated in ages, but the forums are filled with great resources for the CODA system.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Regulans instead of ...?
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
I'm assuming the Kzin, if I've read this discussion correctly.
Posted by Doctor Jonas (Member # 481) on :
Incorrect: the Caitians are called the Regulans, and coming from Regula II.
Posted by Kobi (Member # 1360) on :
On S. John Ross' homepage you will find an article about The Regulans that was not taken, because Last Unicorn Games' was no more. The author self says "The rough draft of the Regulans (read: Caitians, but we weren't allowed to say that) from the same book." about his book "Final Frontiers".
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Fuck that noise. You don't have to play by Paramount's or anyone elses rules. I'd say go with Kzinti/Patriarchy as they are TEH SMAXXOR. Read the Man-Kzin wars to get a good brief picture of them.
You won't be sorry. And neither would your player. Well until the baddies figured out how easily the character gets distracted by dangly bits of string and birdies. Bonuses for agility and reflexes, minuses for intelligence possibly for endurance.
Posted by Doctor Jonas (Member # 481) on :
Well, yeah, I agree BX. I use Regulans because it sounds less dorky. Never used the bad man-cats. Also, the Kzinti/Tzenkethi (if they are actually related) were never detailed on the newest sets of books (edited 1998 and later). You could guide yourself with FASA material.
Actually, I'd recommend you to go to the TrekRPG forums, do a search, and steal material as much as you please. Then, the names are totally on your taste. Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
So, inspired, I started reading Man-Kzin Wars last night and in the forward, Larry Niven talks about the Ringworld RPG from Chaosium. If you're not able to find Kzinti specifics, partway down this page this guy's composed an outline for a GURPS conversion.
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