Malakats

By Moe Lane

**Flaming
Feather**

Corporeal Forces: 3
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Ethereal Forces: 2
Intelligence: 4
Precision: 4
Celestial Forces: 2
Will: 4
Perception: 4

Starting Malakats may also increase one of the above Characteristics by 2, or two Characteristics by 1.

Vessel: equivalent of vessel/3, with Toughness +1

Skills: Acrobatics/3, Dodge/3, Fighting/3, Move Silently/3, Tracking/3

Songs, Attunements and/or Distinctions: none (see below)

Reaction modifiers: regular humans will either react at -2 ("MONSTER!") or +2 ("Wow, a talking cat-guy! Neat!") when meeting a Malakat for the first time. Which response occurs in a particular human depends on GM whim: Malakats may buy Charisma normally (many do, especially the 'to the opposite sex' version).

Disadvantages: Malakats start with three levels worth of Disadvantages. Common ones include: Addiction (Catnip), Angry, Berserk, Celestial Blindness, Fear (Crowds, Demons, Technology), Lustful, Merciful, Murderous, Slothful and Vulnerability (Celestial Resonance). They can be a varied lot.

Total Cost: 16 points.

Malakats are effectively cat-men: they come in a variety of colors and patterns evocative of various types of domestic and great felines. All Malakats sport tails, whiskers and retractable claws (+2 to Power in punches or kicks). Despite their coloration, Malakats are all one species, and can thus interbreed without problems. Their current life expectancy is unknown: none of them have died of old age yet, but they don't seem to be aging faster than normal - presuming that 'normal' has any meaning when Vaputech's involved. Their reproductive cycle is bizarre: it's just like humanity's, except that twins are more common.

The species is currently crammed squarely on whatever metaphorical line it is that separates human beings from other animals. Like animals, they automatically go to Heaven when they die; unfortunately, also like animals they are unable to become Symphonically Aware. For that matter, they are incapable of manifesting more than 7 Forces. However, Malakats are sentient tool users with the capacity for free will, which might suggest that this condition might evolve along with the species. Servitors of Destiny, Fate and Animals are going to find this race very interesting, once they get around to discovering them.

As for personalities - well, they have them, and it's usually decidedly feline. They tend to be fairly polarized in their personalities. The ones that like to fight can be starkly terrifying, the ones that like to sit in the sun tend to be fairly dusty, the ones that like to mate - well, let's just say that the book of Leviticus is going to require serious updating. One thing that most Malakats share is a profound dislike of both technology and Technology (for reasons mentioned below), which has led to a certain distrust of celestials - no doubt reinforced by the above racial inability to tap into the Symphony.

Still, they would make good semi-Soldiers (Animals and War seem the most likely, although the War's also a possibility), provided that one can work around the problem of their appearance. Of course, what with the potentials of biotechnology looming on the horizon, they may end up being practically prosaic...

History

Really, considering the amount of things hiding in Manhattan's sewers, it's amazing that no one's made a formal complaint. Giant ants, albino alligators, rogue constructs, lost tribes of relievers, albino dragons, sentient dimensional vortices, libertarian sewer flukes, killer emperor penguins, albino alligator/dragon hybrids, sewer octopi, tool-using rats ... and now the Malakats have moved in. True, they don't particularly want to hang out underground, but they don't precisely see any alternatives right now.

There probably aren't, really. Malakats are yet another in a long line of probably unwise ideas brought to life by Vaputech's infamous Biological Research department (motto: "We'll infect you with our enthusiasm. Well, infect you enthusiastically, at least"). The researchers there are dedicated: they have to be, considering that Sparky keeps them under control by regularly setting off tactical nukes underneath their laboratories. He'd love to shut down the department completely, but Vapula takes an interest now and then.

The particular 'then' that is of specific interest here was the time that one of the bright boys in the lab decided that Hell really, really needed anthropomorphic cat-men super soldiers. So, he made some. Unfortunately, what he hadn't considered was the possibility that said cat-men might have had a somewhat different opinion about the desirability of their future job prospects. After the inevitable screaming, explosions and burning buildings, the first litters of Malakats were off and running - right into the sewers.

They are not amused.

**Flaming
Feather**

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