Feline Spy Network

[ZeroGear]

(I hope I'm not becoming infamous due to my outlandish ideas)

So, this is a concept I've been kicking around in my head for a long time:
In pretty much every setting, we assume that there is a Thieves Guild in one form or another that deals with information and black market goods. Typically, this is one of the more common ways any given party find information about important characters or items that isn't pulling knowledge. And more often than not, it is assumed that the guild has agents out collecting information via infiltration, gossip, informants, and bribery, and/or through judicious uses of information gathering magic and scrying.

But what if they could just ask cats?

I've always had this idea of a kingdom where there was not only a human(oid) ruler, but also one that governed animals as well, specifically cats. In this city, either the King, the Royal Spy Master, or the Leader of the Thieves Guild has a deal with the King of Cats where they exchange information for protection, and it is either illegal or heavily frowned upon to to harm cats in any way.
Think about it: cats are everywhere, they blend in to any environment, they are always silent, and no one bats an eye when a cat is in the room. Best of all, unless you know that there is a King of Cats, no one would imagine that such a network even existed. Sure, some cats are less reliable and lazier than others, and many cats have short attention spans, but on the whole the network would be the ultimate way for someone to keep tabs on the entire town. And they can just pay them in leftover fish.

Tell me, has anyone done this before, or thoughts about it? Also, how would one introduce this concept to the players without making them exceedingly paranoid?

Edit: Minor Addendum
Two details I just thought of that I'd like to add in case anyone is confused:
1) The King (or Queen) of Cats is an intelligent creature that is able to think, reason, and communicate on a human level, and is able to converse in the common tongue. Additional he (or she) is able to converse with any feline be they a familiar, mundane, or awakened creature.
2) While not as wise as their ruler, the King (or Queen) of Cats is served by an entourage of felines that are also able to speak the common tongue. Typically these serve as messengers, advisors, and guards, often acting as intermediaries between their ruler and their human(oid) contacts.

Just thought I'd clear those up just in case.

[Pauly]

Have you seen “The Cat Returns” (neko no onegeishi) by Studio Ghibli?

[BWR]

GirlGenius did this. (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040315#.XbK0kZIzaM8) (make sure you read both pages)

[Pleh]

Well, I mean the Wizards would find out pretty quick with divination. Why wouldn't they make unearthing every unknown spy organization their top priority? Wizards would know to be guarded with cats.

Rogues are pretty likely to know as well. Anyone in the information war is going to devote resources to where their secrets are leaking. I live in an area with a lot of free roaming cats and while you often don't notice them, the times you do tend to stand out a bit more. "I wasn't expecting that" mixed with "I wonder what that cat is doing, does it have a home nearby or is it a stray?"

I suspect it would more realistically become a local superstition that some believe that cats can't be trusted with private, sensitive matters, even if most people can't prove it.

[LibraryOgre]

GirlGenius did this. (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040315#.XbK0kZIzaM8) (make sure you read both pages)

Came here to mention Krosp, specifically.

[King of Nowhere]

it's no different from any other spy network using magic animals. a druid can do it with birds

[Spore]

A few thoughts:

1) Naturally cats would have a basis to negotiate. Leftover fish will not do for long. There should at the very least be a black market including catnip, luxurious food items, protection (information can be dangerous) and a network of safehouses for the informants.

2) Spying cats would not be openly known but people are not stupid. If they do a crime and they get seen by a cat and then incarcerated for it, soon the rumors will start. In a world with magic, one would presume druids, inquisitors (clerics) and wizards to be the informants (casting speak with animal). Of course the less restrained people would shout it from the rooftops "The cats are actually informants of the crown". They would be quickly dispatched of, and this might be the best way for the party to realize something is off.

A raving homeless person jumping at them to "save them from the spying cats" is a very cliche but nice clue for that.

3) Cats are chaotic solitary animals. I assume their organization should reflect that of modern secret agencies. Independant cells that can be denied and dispatched of if their disguise is blown or if their agents are captured. They would not have a strictly hierarchic system. I assume each region would have a contact that would in turn bring their information to the 'Queen of Secrets'. (I feel King of Cats is a bit on the nose). I'd even make those messenger of another cat race. If you allow a bit of magic, maybe dweomercats (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/dweomercat/) (basically a magical medium cat with SLAs to turn invisible, move faster and survive the average combat encounter). Of course then I'd equip the Queen of Secrets with magic equal to a powerful rakshasa or even make them one.

[HouseRules]

it's no different from any other spy network using magic animals. a druid can do it with birds

This is a Lord of the Rings reference?
Radagast the Brown

[hamishspence]

This is a Lord of the Rings reference?
Radagast the Brown

As described in Unfinished Tales, the cats of Queen Beruthiel are a more exact Tolkien example. According to the tale, she was a legendary Queen of Gondor notorious for using her cats as spies.

[malachi]

GirlGenius did this. (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040315#.XbK0kZIzaM8) (make sure you read both pages)


Came here to mention Krosp, specifically.

I, also, came her specifically to mention Krosp.

[ZeroGear]

Have you seen “The Cat Returns” (neko no onegeishi) by Studio Ghibli?

Kinda what made me think of this idea (and yes, Korsp did add to that).
And yes, that is exactly how I picture the King of Cats (or Queen of Secrets if you want to use that name) to be.

“I permit thee to pet the Royal pelt! Present thy lap to me!”

[jjordan]

I see this more as small lions. You've got prides controlling territories and wandering bachelor groups. So you've got competition between prides and some prides talking to some humans while others are talking to other humans and you've got domesticated cats forming a despised/envied sub-group and shapechangers (people turning into cats) who are legendary monsters as far as the cats are concerned.

Just off the top of my head.

[Beleriphon]

A big part of the use of cats in a quasi-medieval society most cats are feral or semi-feral. They aren't house pets in most places.

[hamishspence]

A big part of the use of cats in a quasi-medieval society most cats are feral or semi-feral. They aren't house pets in most places.

"Farm cats" might be more common than house cats, but house cats were still pretty common:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_cats

[False God]

(I hope I'm not becoming infamous due to my outlandish ideas)

So, this is a concept I've been kicking around in my head for a long time:
In pretty much every setting, we assume that there is a Thieves Guild in one form or another that deals with information and black market goods. Typically, this is one of the more common ways any given party find information about important characters or items that isn't pulling knowledge. And more often than not, it is assumed that the guild has agents out collecting information via infiltration, gossip, informants, and bribery, and/or through judicious uses of information gathering magic and scrying.
Perhaps scrying is somehow "detectable" on a city-wide scale, so that every problem isn't just resolved with scry-and-die and more mundane means are more effective, in part because the "guards" aren't allowed to scry either.


But what if they could just ask cats?
The better question is: why would the cats tell?


I've always had this idea of a kingdom where there was not only a human(oid) ruler, but also one that governed animals as well, specifically cats. In this city, either the King, the Royal Spy Master, or the Leader of the Thieves Guild has a deal with the King of Cats where they exchange information for protection, and it is either illegal or heavily frowned upon to to harm cats in any way.
I feel like a game where you're playing as the cats would be the much more fun side of this.


Think about it: cats are everywhere, they blend in to any environment, they are always silent, and no one bats an eye when a cat is in the room. Best of all, unless you know that there is a King of Cats, no one would imagine that such a network even existed. Sure, some cats are less reliable and lazier than others, and many cats have short attention spans, but on the whole the network would be the ultimate way for someone to keep tabs on the entire town. And they can just pay them in leftover fish.
You had me until the last line. What self-respecting cat would accept the leftovers? Clearly the information the cats had was in high demand! Ever wonder why any time you go to a fish market the best fish are already "sold", yeah, that's where they went.


Tell me, has anyone done this before, or thoughts about it? Also, how would one introduce this concept to the players without making them exceedingly paranoid?
The players ought to be paranoid! The most adorable spy network, as well as a fully functional kingdom of cats exists right under their noses! They'd never know if that cat off to the side was just a mundane cat, or a spy. If the cuddly floof on their lap was secretly in league with the enemy! And what if some of the cats had class levels and in addition to being insanely adorable, they were also powerful wizards, druids and clerics!

Personally, after all this, I think you should pitch a game where the players are the cats, playing as part of this secret society, trading information and secrets for only the finest of fish!

[The_Snark]

As described in Unfinished Tales, the cats of Queen Beruthiel are a more exact Tolkien example. According to the tale, she was a legendary Queen of Gondor notorious for using her cats as spies.

You know, I figured someone would beat me to mentioning Krosp from Girl Genius, but I didn't expect Queen Beruthiel to have been cited already. Nice to know I'm not the only one who remembers that bit of trivia!

[ExLibrisMortis]

There's a Dutch book (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoes_(boek)) (and a film version (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undercover_Kitty_(film))) using this concept. I haven't read the book, but it's a good film.

[ZeroGear]

I feel like a game where you're playing as the cats would be the much more fun side of this.


Funny you should mention this...
There's a supplement known as The Noble Wild (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/54699/The-Noble-Wild) that provides rules for characters to play as intelligent animals (with versions existing for D&D, D20 Modern, and Pathfinder), including rules for using a humanoid race as a familiar.
I've always wanted to play a Wizard that was the Cat, and just pretended to be the familiar until a few adventured down the road he decides to start talking to the rest of the group and thanking them for "taking care of my familiar for me".
Essentially, I would love nothing more than a situation where either I or one of my players pulled this and the rest of the group went "You were a cat this WHOLE TIME?"

[King of Nowhere]

This is a Lord of the Rings reference?
Radagast the Brown

I wasn't even thinking of radagast, or any specific example. It's just a common applications of animal magic.

[Malphegor]

well, i’m stealing this if I ever play a tibbit warlock in 3.5, a tomcat named Charles Adam Tabernathy. Since tibbits can speak Feline, they don’t even have to be magical cat spies.

Ooh, an information broker by day, cat of unusual intelligence by night, using his cat followers (charisma caster plus leadership maybe?) and warlock abilities (patron if needed an upstatted cheshire cat based on the one in the fabulous cats! 3.5 april fools article) to find secrets and profit...

[Kelb_Panthera]

Am I the only one who thought of that one episode of Mahou tsukai no yome (ancient magus' bride) on reading the topic?

Anyway, a couple things come instantly to mind as someone who -loves- spycraft and cloak-and-dagger style games.

First and foremost, you've got to answer the question of why this is allowed to continue rather than the entire species being stamped out, ASAP. Humans are -great- at eliminating other species. We've done it entirely by accident on a number of occasions and basically -none- of those were nearly so capable as this of causing tremendous bedlam amongst the various blue-bloods of the world. The intervention of a god or two makes a certain amount of sense and it's entirely possible that cats in your world are not an invention of man (it was far enough into prehistory that the fact we did create domestic cats from wild species was forgotten even before the rise of egypt, IRL).

Once you've justified its ongoing existence, you've got to decide just how reliable this feline network is and why anyone in a seat of power would trust them enough to employ them over human(oid) spies. The latter can certainly be informed by the former. If the cats are remarkably up-to-date and accurate, that alone can make them preferable to setting up a normal network, especailly given that it's likely cheaper. If they're no more reliable than humans and they're obviously less motivated by abstract ideas then you've got to circle back around to my first question and/or acknowledge that they'll necessarily be one of any number of networks.

Access is also an important question. Getting access to a cat is trivial (presuming they're not treated as agents of chaos to be shunned) but how difficult is it to get one to -talk?-. Is "feline" just a language that anyone can learn? Is magic or a special tool required? Are there only special cats capable of communicating with human(oid)s? If so, how do you access -them- and in every case, what do the cats want for their information? I presume the power, riches, and prestige that motivates humans probably doesn't fit the bill, at least not entirely.

All of this can be sorted out if you're willing. In fact, it must be if you really want this network to exist as anything more than an idea in your head.

Fun idea though. :smallsmile:

[SpoonR]

The Birthright setting had a ruler who could see through the eyes of any cat in her realm. Iirc, she also made killing a cat a capital crime.
Course, that version might mean you can only see through one cat at a time, so you would need previous intel to get an idea where to look.