Cat culture varies greatly throughout the monarchies, but the proudest Siberian can find commonalities with even the wildest moggie. Whether the Siberian can tolerate the moggies frolicking through their lounge is entirely a different question.

Cat spirituality is deeply personal. Many believe that Man granted the cats all manner of gifts including nine lives to enjoy and improve the state of their souls. A cat must prove worthy of the great gifts, or fall into disgrace, personal ruin, and worst of all, pernicious embarrassment! Though cats possess no past or future lives, many consider their good sense and intuition to flow from their other selves, supporting righteous and clever actions in the present. There’s no empirical evidence of such beliefs, but they still shape the ideas and actions of countless cats across the world.

Temples in Mau are dedicated to the Nine, raised by ministers as state sanctioned sanctuaries and houses of worship. Here, cats meditate or consult with their other selves safely and privately. Minsters also provide guidance and advice, some confidentially telling worshipers whether they’re a “young soul” or an “old soul” in their progression of lives. Others are orators, using the respect their positions afford to sway public opinion. Some cats privately question such uses of the pulpit, while others ascribe their abilities or ideas to their other lives communing with them inside temple walls. 

Dating back to the Treaty of Unification, the four precepts represent a common code of behavior and ethics accepted across all the great and lesser houses. While certain houses append others to the list, even Trillani and the Ruling Council could only agree on a pawful that all held in common. Other precepts are referred to as the Disputed Precepts, such as the house mottos. 

All the gifts and praise Man lavished upon cats can be traced to this precept: Cats act in ways worthy of reverence, and so they were revered. A cat cannot look to an outside source to provide ultimate guidance, whether a dog’s single-minded devotion or a badger’s certain superstition. Instead, it’s up to every cat to follow the only authority they can truly accept: themselves. 

Cats of old protected Man to the best of their ability, hissing, scratching, and pouncing upon the Unseen, and yet it wasn’t enough to save their poor, oblivious servants. After Man’s disappearance, cats lost their ability to detect the Unseen — perhaps due to failing Man, perhaps as a side effect of whatever foul plot stole away the Old Ones. Thus cats must redouble their guard against Unseen threats every day. The slow return of the ability to sense the Unseen has not been lost on cats, but even the least aware believes it a duty worth upholding. Of all the precepts, this is the one cats agree on the most readily. 

Unlike the dogs who devote themselves to any friendly wagging tail, cats consider true loyalty more precious than plastic or treasure. Loyalty misplaced or abused led many a cat to ruin. Formalizing the importance of reciprocating loyalty allowed the great houses to spread trust and fraternity, and modern cats benefit from the practice without knowing how precious the gift is.

Even the most idealistic cat didn’t expect Unification to end all conflict. The Treaty channeled traditions such as Korat’s support of martial clashes or some moggies’ fondness for knife fighting into a standardized set of dueling rules. These rules gave cats from different regions common footing to settle their serious grievances without giving over to wholesale slaughter, through an exhaustive list of conditions, considerations, and alternatives. 

The basics are simple: when two cats cannot settle a dispute, a duel may determine which party is correct. Properly conducted and honestly witnessed, a duel settles the matter in favor of its victor. The code provides for any number of ways that cats may come to grips, from weapons to bare claws to nonviolent resolutions such as tests of skill or games. Some older cats disdain duels that don’t leave the possibility of bloodshed open, but modern cats accept that even a serious card game may decide matters. 

Dressing duels up in social ritual or elaborate etiquette is common, often to save face for both sides. Cats of House Rex complain of “a matter involving a boat” as a pretense, allowing potentially embarrassing or secret reasons for the dispute to remain hidden while issuing a challenge. Typically, challenger and challenged clearly know the true reason for the duel, though Cymric playwrights have written a number of popular comedies about when that isn’t the case.