"The Cats" are a close-knit gang of street kids who banded together for survival. They are the youngest of the Roofdancer clans of Ladroa - many of them little more than children - but together, they form a remarkably effective network of spies, messengers, informants, and pickpockets.
All of the Cats are excellent climbers, and they know their turf better than anyone. They are especially adept at squeezing through tight spaces or scurrying up structures that wouldn't bear the weight of an adult pursuer.
In total, the Cats number about thirty, with an inner circle of six older youths, a dozen or so children between the ages of 8-11, and a similar number of 'little ones' who act as beggars, pickpockets, and lookouts. The older Cats generally take care of the youngest, and the whole group maintains a strong collective bond. Life on the streets teaches bitter lessons, and many of these children were forced to grow up early.
They make their home in in the Corredors district, in a shabby abandoned tenement where the lower floors collapsed after a fire and left the upper chambers accessible only by rooftop. Although they're based in the Corredors, they operate throughout the Puerto and the Mercado Largo. Their youth works to their advantage - the older Roofdancers mostly tolerate them, and the Cats themselves rarely pick fights or challenge the other gangs.
THE INNER CIRCLE
YASIFA (the leader)
age: 13 / ht: 5'
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The eldest member of the gang, Yasifa likes to say she’s been surviving on the streets since birth. By now, she's seen the worst Ladroa has to offer, and knows the city inside and out. Nothing seems to rattle her. In spite of her tiny frame, she exudes confidence, savvy, and toughness, and the other Cats follow her lead mostly without question. Being faster, smarter, and luckier than the next kid always served her well, but she knows that nobody makes it completely on their own.
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JERONIMO (the brawn)
age: 12 / ht: 5'5
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The biggest and second-oldest Cat. In the rare cases that the Cats need to stand their ground, Jeronimo is usually at the fore. Despite his boyish face, his bravado and hot temper are backed up by a muscular torso and strong limbs. Even at 12, he is already a seasoned street-fighter - he knows how to take a hit, and is adept with any weapon at hand.
Jero grew up in a squalid mountain backwater. He inherited his rage from a drunkard father who cruelly brutalized his wife and children. One day, Jero could take it no longer, and beat his father to death with a shovel. Knowing that he would be forever cursed by his family and his community for this crime, he ran away. In Ladroa, he found life on the streets to be no worse than where he’d come from.
Jeronimo still nurses a simmering fury that can explode with surprising violence, especially when his friends are threatened. With the younger Cats, he keeps this side well-contained. He frequently butts heads with Yasifa, but he respects her seniority, and trusts her implicitly. He is belligerent, but not foolish, and acts as a competent lieutenant for the gang.
He is highly athletic, and may already be among the fastest Roofdancers in Ladroa, but he always sticks with his group to ensure no one is left behind.
GONZALI (the brain)
age: 9 / ht: 4'6
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Even as the youngest member of the Cats' inner circle, Gonzali is still small for his age. He has little memory of his life before the streets, but he could already read and write when he was acquired by a brothel at a very early age. Groomed to be a high-class catamite, he received an education in the classics, chess, music, and the arts. Before he could be auctioned off, Gonzali was rescued by Yasifa, who had earlier escaped the same brothel.
When he was interrogated by Boss Cortazaro, Gonzali bit off his own tongue to protect the other Cats. Even before that day, Gonzali wasn't much of a talker. He preferred to observe... but when he did speak, even the older Cats usually listened. Now he communicates mainly through the hand signs known to thieves and beggars. Although he is literate, few of his comrades share this skill.
While not as physical as the others, his pragmatic, analytical mind, and eidetic memory make him a valuable asset. Yasifa is often protective of Gonzali, but she has also come to respect his insight on matters of strategy.
Given Gonzali’s normally unfailing memory, the fact that he remembers nothing prior to arriving at the brothel suggests another truth - that he has memories that he refuses to share with anyone - or that he has blocked off even from himself.
age: 12 / ht: 5'1
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The most flamboyant of the Cats, Zantina bounds effortlessy across the rooftops barefoot, even when attired in the garish frills and skirts of a common street courtesan. This talent has earned her the nickname "The Little Saint," after the city's famous La Ladra. With her large eyes, freckled skin, and strawberry-blond locks, her waifish beauty and coy, unsettlingly childlike manner belie her horrific past.
Before joining the Cats, Zantina survived as a hustler in the darkest corners of Ladroa's red lantern district. It is unknown just how she acquired her freedom or what befell her handlers, but she was quick to adopt the life of a Roofdancer and leave that demimonde behind. In spite of her frivolous manner, she is adept at reading and manipulating others, especially men. The other Cats know that her 'little girl lost' persona is a facade, just another mask among many in Ladroa.
GARRAS (the knife)
age: 11 / ht: 4'9
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The girl nicknamed "Claws" is sullen with her friends, and downright mean with anyone else. She speaks little of her past, but beneath her harsh demeanor, it's clear that she is happy to belong to the group. Garras walks with a slight limp due to a fall years ago, and her left eye is obscured by a milky film (no one is sure if she is blind in that eye).
Garras is likely the most dangerous member of the Cats. While not as strong as Jeronimo, nor as canny as Yasifa, she is the most ready to employ deadly force. Garras is quick with a knife, and ready to lash out if provoked - showing no restraint and no remorse. In spite of her apparent physical disabilities, she is still the Cat you are least likely to see... until it's too late.
Garras was born into a colony of beggars and degenerates who lived under the piers of the Beach of Ghosts in the Playa district. She spent most of her life fighting with other abandoned, half-feral children for whatever scraps they could find… food, coin, cheap drugs. Violence and misery was her lot, and it would have consumed her, had fate not taken a hand.
OMAR (the escapist)
age: 10 / ht: 4'10
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Omar is a dark-skinned Ubali boy with an ever-expanding afro. His eyes are a startling blue colour, and a long, thin, diagonal scar stretches across his face. His manner is broody and cynical, but with a strong can-do spirit. There are few locks Omar cannot pick, crevices he cannot squirm through, or places he cannot break into (or out of.)
Orphaned and sold into servitude to a master printer and clockwright, Omar spent his early days covered in grease, cleaning tools, and climbing around inside machines with thousands of moving parts. He was treated worse than an animal by the master, and was frequently subjected to violent abuse from the shop apprentices who resented his skills. Once, after a particularly brutal beating, the apprentices feared they had killed him. They decided to dispose of his corpse and tell the master he had run away. Locking Omar in an old chest, they tossed it into La Grieta like refuse.
Against all odds, Omar still lived, and even semi-conscious had enough presence of mind to jimmy the locks from the inside. Although he managed to escape chest, in his weakened state he almost drowned. Luckily, the nearby Cats had observed the drop with curiosity, and so were on-hand to fish him out of the canal. Omar was quickly taken into the gang, where his hard-learned skills would be put to excellent use.
ZAYID (the roamer)
age: 11 / ht: 5'1
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A swaggering, pugnacious, and good-natured street urchin with a wolfish smile, and eyes perpetually hidden behind his long rusty bangs. Rarely speaks up, but mutters often and unintelligibly - often with a handrolled cigarillo on his lip.
Zayid is an effortless pickpocket and climber who never seems to be in a hurry, but who is still seemingly impossible to catch. He's a bit of a wandering tomcat, always off on his own somewhere, but usually turning up exactly when needed, and with loot or information in-hand.
Zayid is an effortless pickpocket and climber who never seems to be in a hurry, but who is still seemingly impossible to catch. He's a bit of a wandering tomcat, always off on his own somewhere, but usually turning up exactly when needed, and with loot or information in-hand.
