Ruu
Legacy Name: Ruu_650

In those situations, Ruu had to more or less raise herself. She had the ability: from a young age she was seen to be quite bright, if not a little too serious. She showed aptitude for magic higher than some adult werecats at a young age, as is typical of ones. Very early on did she decide what she wanted from her life, and very early in life did she depart her childhood home to seek them out. At fourteen she left her mother to seek a mate of her own, as she had long been aware of her own power and potential, and also of the strength of the bond of mating, which she saw in her mother's continued sorrow for her lost partner.

Her real education began when she was fifteen. She had already traveled into western China, traveling far from where she was born in the northern region of South Korea, when another, older one, the first she had encountered, entered into her campsite. This was an older male, who introduced himself as Jacques Beaumont, and was the new king of Paris as well as Ruu's mentor. Ruu had never heard mention of this, but Jacques assured her that it was a secret tradition between ones, and that his tutelage would help more than harm her. A quick skirmish with the older one affirmed that he was significantly more in control of his powers than Ruu, and so she decided it was probably a good idea to take his advice. Thus, she became his student, and for a year they traveled around, while Jacques trained her in the most advanced forms of magic, and also in the traditions, customs, and rules associated with being a werecat, and more specifically, a one, and eventually, a king. These teachings imprinted strongly on Ruu, and even after he returned to his kingdom, his teachings staid strong within her.

After Ruu and Jacques parted ways, she continued roaming around east Asia. She continued practicing her magic and challenging any other werecat she came across. She also began courting duchesses -- single, powerful females who held domain over small regions of land and groups of weaker werecats -- but none of them interested her. For many years she roamed alone, building her strength and her reputation, never staying in one place for very long, and forever searching.

She was twenty-two when she found The Council. She had encountered other ones before. She could sense their magical aura from miles away, and she would challenge them, and they were always evenly matched. She had never encountered more than one other at a time, however. But one night in late spring while she was camped out in an underpopulated region of China, she noticed a large flare up of lights across the fields -- lights that, more importantly, hadn't been there the previous night. She could sense no magic coming from it, but still she drew near to investigate. As it turned out, a low structure similar to a tent had been set up from where there had been grass the day before, and it was surrounded by pleasantly flickering but slightly supernatural lights. She peered through the thick fabric cloth marking an entrance, making sure to cloak her presence, and was surprised to be greeted by a round of applause. She found herself in the company of exactly thirty-nine other werecats, all ones and their respective mates. She had found The Council, an annual meeting of the most powerful werecats alive, the finding of which being the second of the three milestones she would have to cross to become an adult in their eyes -- the first of which being completing her training, the third and final being surviving her First.

They accepted her into The Council without question, and gave her a seat at the table. They instructed her of the rules, allowed her to listen to their discussion, and then informed her of the date, time, and location of the next meeting. By the morning, all the others were gone and she was on her own once more.

For five more years it was just Ruu and Akihiro taking on all the werecats and demons they came across, and living the werecat equivalent of bachelorhood. They came across a couple of unusual individuals, but none quite so unusual as Keitaro. They were camping out in a forest in Japan one night when they heard the sound of crashing leaves, and something human-sized was running towards them. They reacted as one, and quickly came upon and surrounded what turned out to be, after a few moments of confusing, a completely naked, frightened, violent, and incredibly powerful young werecat. As soon as they came upon her she lashed out, taking on Akihiro first, until Ruu was able to divert her attention. For thirty minutes they fought, Ruu trying more to wear her down, and the girl throwing attacks the likes of which neither of them had ever seen. Finally she collapsed, exhausted and defeated, and Ruu carried her back to their camp where they wrapped her in a blanket and sat her down near the fire.

For hours she wouldn't speak. She wouldn't take the food or drink they offered her, and she seemed to be trying very hard to ignore them. She seemed terrified of them, which was strange, because werecats, though violent, almost never fought each other with the intention of harm. What was more, this girl couldn't have been twenty yet, and was also extremely powerful. She wasn't a one, but she was the next best thing. Three hours later they were able to get her to share their lunch and take some water, and an hour after that they were able to squeeze her name out her. By the end of the night they determined what Ruu had suspected all along -- she was feral.

Feral werecats were extremely rare, and altogether unheard of on the higher end of the power spectrum. A feral werecat grew up with no contact with other werecats. Their parents were either dead or had abandoned them, and no other adult had taken them in. Almost always an adult would be drawn to a distressed youth, and take them in, and if not, a demon would kill them. But somehow, this one girl had evaded both the attention of others of her species and those who would try to kill her. The subsequent answer to the greatest mystery of their kind -- what kind of magic a werecat would learn if they had to learn it entirely on their own -- was sitting right before them.

The rest of Keitaro's story they were able to work out over the course of a few weeks. She had been found by a human woman who had raised her while keeping her oblivious of her potential. At seventeen she had finally had enough of the restrictions, and lashed out, burning down the house she was kept in and the old woman who tried to imprison her. From there, she had been on the run. Several males had fought her and tried to mate with her, a complicated and violent process which, as she was not familiar, had quickly taught her to be afraid of other werecats. And slowly, Ruu and Akihiro tried to fill her in on all the details and rules involved with being a werecat, and slowly, she became "civilized". After they were done tutoring her, she became the craziest member of their now trio.

Still, whenever Ruu and Akihiro passed near to Okinawa, where Keitaro had established her duchy, Ruu seriously considered courting her, and always just managed to restrain herself.

Another five years passed and Keitaro rejoined them. She didn't say why she had relinquished her duchy, and they didn't ask. Neither thought Keitaro made for a very traditional duchess. Being feral, there was hardly anything traditional about her at all. They became a lighthearted trio of "bachelors" once more, although Ruu still couldn't shake the lingering feeling of desire that churned up inside her every time she saw the girl. It quickly became obvious to Akihiro, the unbiased bystander, who picked out both the way Ruu had a tendency to stare at Keitaro and how she had also stopped challenging duchesses. He made comments to the both of them, nothing totally obvious, but still hinting at what he perceived to be a mutual desire. But, as the weakest of the three of them, he was the lowest in the pecking order and Ruu often chose to ignore his advice.

It started to weigh on Ruu's mind more and more as the years passed. She started to have dreams. Infatuation was not really something her species did: they courted for a week, they fought, they mated, they bonded, and then that was it. But the want for another who was not her own...Ruu couldn't understand what was wrong with her. That was something humans did, not werecats. It troubled her more and more until she finally decided that the only way she could continue living the life she desired for herself, she would have to leave.

At forty-two, before the sun had even set, she packed all her belongings and set out to leave. But after she leaned down to zip her back, she looked back up and saw Keitaro, her silhouette emblazoned against the setting sun, and a furious power rising from her like heat off the sun.

"No," was all she said.

Ruu stared at her and something strange stirred within. "I must."

"You'll have to get through me if you want to." Her words were hard, and Ruu did not doubt their sincerity.

"I will defeat you." Keitaro was strong, but she was not a one.

"Perhaps. And if you do, I will give you two options. Either you leave, leave and never return, never show your face to me again, never even come near enough to me for me to pick up the slightest twinge of your beast of an aura, or..."

...or?

"You may mate with me."

Ruu let go of her pack and slowly straightened. She locked stares with the younger female and balled her fists. She could feel the magic welling up inside of her...

A month later she returned, her mind set, and she brought Keitaro to Tokyo, where she easily defeated the middle-aged two who had been duke of the region. She took control of one of the most densely populated magical areas in the world while Keitaro was temporarily incapacitated, and five months later she fought her First and prevailed, earning for herself the title of King and for Keitaro, Queen, as well as acceptance as a true adult of her creed.

Werecat Power Rankings: Werecats organize themselves according to how much magical power they can muster. They have a max potential that they are born with, and at adulthood (with the exception of ones, which can be identified at birth) they are assigned their power level. It ranks from five to one, with ones being immensely powerful, able to raze a city block, shield a building completely against a nuclear bomb, kill without warning from miles away, unleash the power of a large bomb dozens of times in fewer minutes, visit the land of the dead and return at will, completely restore severed limbs, and defeat demon lords. On the other side of the spectrum, the lowest ranked fives can barely conjure more than a magically talented humans: they can create small flames, light a darkened room, and heal small scrapes and burns. Within each power ranking excluding one there are inner tiers: low, middle-low, middle, middle-high, and high. A high-tier two is almost as powerful as a one, and a low-tier two is only slightly more powerful than a high-tier three. The percent of the population that is each power level is arranged in pyramid form, with only nineteen ones being alive at the given time, and many, many fives spread out across the entire world. Ones do not have power rankings within them, and all ones are equal, because unlike other power levels, being a one is controlled by an entirely separate set of genes that only combine correctly approximately once every twenty to thirty years.

Demons: Demons are werecats' only natural predator, and they are the reason for almost all of their social organization. Demons cannot withstand sunlight, and thus lurk in the night and dark places of the world -- thus, werecats are nocturnal and sleep only during the daylight hours when they can be safe for sure. While ones, twos, and high-tier threes can defeat almost any surface-dwelling demon, lower-level werecats are in almost constant danger from attack. Some are able to hide because their magical aura is so weak that demons cannot pick up on it, but most group together under the protection of a more powerful duchess, duke, or dynasty (King and Queen) who offer protection from demons in exchange for support of their regime.

Werecat Culture: To a casual bystander, werecats are extremely violet. They fight to establish leadership of an area, they fight to find a mate, they fight to greet each other. Prowess in battle is their most highly valued trait. However, the occurrence of violent crime between werecats is extremely rare, and as a whole, despite being largely antisocial, they help each other out. Most of the weaker werecats congregate in cities or other areas where there is a more powerful werecat to protect them, with their protector varying based on circumstance. Young, typically male, ones and twos roam the countryside testing their strength and searching for mates and are known as bachelors. If they don't find one or decide not to, they can settle down and become a duke of a duchy. Young, typically female, twos and high-level threes become duchesses and remain as thus until they either accept a mate, leave, or are displaced. If a bachelor and a duchess mate, and the bachelor survives the First, they become King and Queen and establish a dynasty over a larger territory than a duchy. There are no ones that are duchesses, because no duchess will accept a weaker mate, and thus there are only two female ones alive at present. The first, who is heterosexual, thus never mated, and Ruu, who is herself homosexual, took a female mate.

While werecats in average live longer than humans, dynasties outlive them all, and can exist or hundreds of years. Thus, dynasties are major conservative powers, and generally influence subsequent generations of werecats with their rules and cultures. Adapting to human culture is generally frowned upon, although especially many of the weaker werecats live in close relation to humans. Because the most powerful dynasties have ones as Kings, and ones are all led by older ones, they species has become largely steeped in tradition and cultural changes occur very, very slowly.

By others:

By Coey, Jacobin