Cats - kaseido/NeoTokyo GitHub Wiki
Background
For decades prior to 2365, the capstone project for the Masters degree at Shimizu University's Cybernetic Culture Research Institute was to cybernetically upgrade a cat, release it into the wild, and observe its interactions. This project ended with the 2374 destruction of Shimizu University in the Breen attack.
The project led to a lot of cybercats, which were a not uncommon sight in the University Heights neighborhood.
In 2365, a team of contractors for the Fourth Interstellar came across the cats, who were helpful in resolving several of their cases. As a result, one cat, Mango, and her new litter of kittens moved in with the team, who further upgraded the kittens. Later that year the team and the kittens departed NeoTokyo.
Before their departure, however, they transformed the cyber-species radically: their Tech built a set of regional servers which enabled a networked kitty hive mind of limited geographic scope. The hope was that the limitations would be sufficient to prevent a genocide by Netwatch, although their "soft Singularity" was the sort of thing Netwatch was intended to prevent.
The cats were among the few denizens of NeoTokyo to thrive in the aftermath of the Breen attack: ruins presented a perfect environment for the cats to conceal their activities, along with greater access to discarded food and goods.
As a result, the cats are rarely seen, and largely forgotten by the human populace.
But with Netwatch gone, that might be about to change...
Structure
Cat
The basic unit of cats is one (1) cat. Onboard cybernetics enable short-range communication with a server linking the minds of all cats in range. Individual cognitively uplifted cats range from primate-approximate to human-plus approximate intelligence, but in weird directions.
Pounce
A Pounce is an extended family of cats, largely biologically related, in a limited area, generally not more than several blocks. Networked members of a Pounce are of slightly posthuman level intelligence, roughly equivalent to a Soong positronic brain.
Colony
A Colony is made up of multiple pounces able to access the same server node, generally within the radius of a neighborhood. Colonies are collectively of comfortably superhuman intelligence. To avoid Netwatch intervention, Colonies are not super-networked. Right? Right.
Clowder
A clowder is a parliament of cats, only called in response to matters effecting the species as a whole.
There was a Clowder just after New Years, in response to the expulsion of Netwatch. Another one was called to decide whether to add subspace transmitters to the Colony server hubs.
Notable Cats
Grandfather
Head of the Clowder, based in The Wreck.
Hayate
Human liaison for the Haiphong Colony, based in the old Exanic warehouse.
Kaito
Human liaison for the Myatna-Nyseth Drift Arcology.