"Was there ever
A cat so clever
As magical Mr. Mistoffeles" —T.S. Eliot
Cats have a latent magical ability whilst they are in Dreamlands, which is the ability to leap to the Moon from the Earth, and back again. Cats are able to decide where on the Earth they want to land, and by leaping to the Moon and back down again cats can travel thousands of leagues extremely quickly. A cat army can carry travelers with them, the traveler kept from falling to Earth by the massed felines. A traveler can make good progress to their destination if a cat army can be persuaded to take passengers, but recorded instances are rare.
Cats are able to use magic spells and items in the Dreamlands like human dreamers and other inhabitants of Dream. Magic corrupts cats as well as humans—cats suffer similar SEN losses from using magic as humans do from SAN loss, so the number of feline magicians is quite low, but adventurous cat sorcerers are not unknown.
Cats are limited to using magic that does not require components or equipment (like a wand) or need words to be spoken in a language other than Cat. Spells that use amulets could be used by a cat if worn on a collar. They cannot use spells that need specific gestures that cats are unable to make. For instance, the spell ‘Deflection’ can be used by cats because it only requires the movement of an arm (or foreleg and paw), but the spell ‘Voorish Sign’ cannot be cast because it needs the fingers of the hand to held in a specific way.
Cats are also subject to the spells ‘The Petition of Menes’, ‘Eye of Ubasti’ and ‘Summon/Bind Cat’ (see
Spells).
Cats and the Mythos
“The mysteries of those black outer gulfs whence
surely the first terrestrial felines lithely sprang long ago
when Mu and Hyperborea were young” —H.P. Lovecraft
Cats are implacably opposed to Nyarlathotep and his machinations. Nyarlathotep is particularly active in the Dreamlands where his servants and agents are continually plotting to bring about a stronger influence of the Cthulhu Mythos on the development of the Dreamlands. Cats bear a grudge against Nyarlathotep for his ancient interference with Bast.
The cats are continually fighting the Men of Leng, who are the servants of the Moonbeasts. The Men of Leng are found throughout the Dreamlands, and with them are found conspiracy and horror. The moonbeasts are cruel masters, and take delight in increasing the pain and suffering they can inflict on the cats they capture. For cats, moonbeasts are classic representatives
of Nyarlathotep: easily frightened, pliable, utterly reprehensible with no moral backbone, and very few vertebrae. It is also a good thing that moonbeasts taste all right as well.
Cats training to be sorcerers or have gone insane sometimes take up the worship of Tsathoggua. The cats’ traditional goddess and deity Bast is not happy with dissident cats that follow other gods. Tsathoggua is indifferent to Bast, but welcomes any individual looking for the Greater Truth.
The Cats from Saturn are the worst foe a cat can face. They come from Saturn’s Dreamlands. They are large, ferocious, and difficult to stop. They are completely alien and this is an advantage against Earth’s cats who are easily put-off by emanations from outer space. Only the brave or the foolhardy cat can hold against the Saturn cats, although larger numbers of fellow cats reduces the effects of stellar interference.
Other cats also exist in the Dreamlands cosmos. The heat-sensing Cats from Uranus are occasionally seen on the moon, and seem neutral in the battles between Earth and Saturn. Rumor has it that mysterious cats have been sighted on Mars, and legend tells of alien cats brought to earth with merchants from Sarrub.
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