The Kitteri

Introduction

Kitteri reside in the plains between Caliharah, Karg, and Alvania. These hybrid beings live in close-knit communities centered around worship and reverence of the Brown Beasts. Kitteri have oblong torsos, shaped almost like a lima bean, with russet brown, orange, black, or mossy looking fur. Their eyes are pupil-less and beady, sitting slightly offset from where you’d expect to see them on a human, giving them a slightly wider field of view. A kitteri’s arms and legs are uncomfortably long, (if a human leg to body ratio is 10:14, theirs would be 10:21), and they have a special ability to shift the length shorter or slightly longer if they wish. They stand between 3’10” and 4’5” when not using congruence to change their shape.

Movement

Their gangly limbs and natural control over congruence gives their gait a loping, horse-like quality, but can shift easily to an approximation of a gorilla charging if acting bipedal suits their needs better. Kitteri shift naturally between upright and all-fours with relative ease. Their movements appear slow and lethargic, and because of constant micro-adjustments to the length of their limbs, their form sometimes even appears to shimmer. Their long legs and quadrupedal form can maintain the speed of a loping horse, and bipedal is only barely slower.

Their innate mastery of certain aspects of congruence manifests in 3 integral ways. They are able to, as previously described, manipulate the length and dexterity of their limbs, and may even rotate their head on its neck like an owl. They are even able to increase the number of “elbow joints” on their limbs. Their torso remains moderately flexible, but humans have more ability to curve theirs than a Kitteri does. Secondly, they are able to blend into surroundings that they are familiar with, notably grasslands, weeds, shrubs, caves, and crags. A kitteri uses its own excellent natural camouflage and the congruence involved seems to be a suggestion that one’s perception simply pass over them rather than focus on them. Kitteri are more dangerous in groups therefore, as a single one might be absentminded and accidentally spotted, but with the force of a hunting pack, even a large number of them can render themselves “invisible”. The third use is of turning dirt into a softer clay that they use to dig and build maze-like underground caverns with. Most of these are connected by proxy to the den of a slumbering Brown Beast.

Temperment

When encountered alone, they appear skittish, tense, and wary, but in groups their confidence rises as they appraise what to do with the being before them. A large enough capacity for congruence sometimes means that a group of kitteri will attack after laying an appropriate ambush in order to bring the person back to their lair. They are omnivorous, like the Brown Beasts they worship, and will instinctively follow a Brown Beast’s cycles of mood swings. This often leads to long periods of relative inactivity, but sometimes turns into a hunt. On such an occasion, almost the entirety of the tribe will attempt to search for an appropriate gift for the Brown Beast, looking for concentrations of congruence, or large sources of food, and will travel great lengths, and even across other stretches of Brown Beast and kitteri territory to do so. This unfortunately means that hunts often lead kitteri (and sometimes their Brown Beast) to populated settlements near the plains.

Interacting with Kitteri

If ever dealt with when not ‘hunting’ they are cautious, unflinching, and rather easy to pacify completely if offered bribes. They communicate with a series of whispers and clicks they make with their mouth, and carry information within their communities very fast, so one who has been identified as a ‘friend’, ‘benefactor’, or ‘sucker’ will soon realize that so long as they do not anger the kitteri swarm’s large friend, they will be easily welcomed. Sharing among themselves equally is common, but they are aware of individualism and their overall caution lends them to be rather poor thieves, that will most often look rather than touch unless offered. In exchange for items they desire, often food or congruence items, they will return precious minerals and gems that they uncover from their lairs deep underground.

An average Kitteri lives for approximately 30 to 40 years, and so generations of them will worship their native Brown Beast. Their propensity for communication allows for understanding between their kind and others, though gibblang is complex, games of pseudo-charades might need to be played to supplement talking points. Intelligence can be strung in between crow/magpie, wolf, and human pre-teen to teen and seems to be a mixture of all 3 when fully grown.

In Combat

Most kitteri are averse towards one-on-one combat, but attack as a swarm in a group. A kitteri often has a sling or atlatl as its weapon of choice, and never really uses a melee weapon. Even the dart from the atlatl is avoided, though when cornered they fight with their hands. Lone kitteri often attempt to flee, even in the most hopeless of situations if their camouflage fails them, but when cornered will swing its arms wildly about like whips and flails before charging and wrapping itself around its aggressor. In a group, they use special atlatls and slings that send their projectiles hurtling faster than any conventional bow or crossbow, making them extremely deadly (There are rumors that one particular ‘friend’ of the kitteri frequently trades highly valuable congruence items to them in exchange for assasination attempts.). Because their limbs are essentially fluid when they want, they are able to whip-crack their arms with terrifying speed. Kitteri almost always attack from hiding, with the sole exception of the defense of a Brown Beast cub.

Relationship with the Brown Beasts

The Brown Beasts, despite having an affinity for snacking on congruence, tends to pass on these creatures, as it seems that there is a modicum amount of communication possible between them, although sometimes a snackrifice or two is called on every so often. The kitteri never seem to begrudge their lot when serving under a particularly hungry Brown Beast, and in fact many take such a loss to be the highest honor for them. The Brown Beasts recognize these creatures as little more than an annoyance at worst, most often as a portable fridge, but at best they enjoy the company of these bizarre creatures as much as a mother grizzly would her own cubs. In rare circumstances, a Brown Beast will even leave the nurture and raising of their own cubs to its kitteri swarm.

Worship

Kitteri worship and revere the brown beasts as idols, but believe in a higher power in the center of the earth, which can be accessed from the large pit.