Rakasta and cats behaviour
by Francesco DefferrariSo humans evolved from relatives of monkeys and it could be argued they have retained several of the normal monkey behaviours (social cooperation, playing together but also aggressivity between different groups) but rakasta have supposedly evolved from relatives of felines and what's different in feline behaviour compared to simian behaviour? How such differences could translate in modern rakasta societies?
- Cats hunt alone. Male cats normally do not form groups to hunt nor to fight other cats. Male cats fight, but serious damage to the opponent is very rare, differently from dogs and monkeys. In modern rakasta societies, this could translate to a particular code of honour. Duels are considered honorable and proper, but maiming the enemy is cowardly, and fighting to the death completely stupid. A proper and polite surrender is required from the losing party. On the other hand, maintaining discipline in an army could be very difficult and this could be quite a weakness for rakasta against other races with a more developed 'pack mentality'.
- But female cats do form colonies. In rakasta society, the administrative roles could be overwhelmingly female, as well the army officers.
- Cats in colonies do spend extensive time in mutual grooming, communication and cleaning. Terms and baths should have a prominent place in rakasta societies.
- Cats sleep a lot, and are more active at sunset/evening. Waking up early should be unknown in rakasta society and a 8-10 hours work schedule 'a thing for ants and humans'.
- Cats bring prey home. They probably do it to help their poor human clearly unable to hunt alone. Feeding the weak, the poor and the elderly should probably be mandatory in any rakasta society.
- Cats love to play. Outdoor sports probably should play a huge role in rakasta society, as well as hunting.
- Even if notoriously female cats scream loudly when mating and males appear to be 'rough', this is due to female ovulation, but the truth is that female decide everything on mating, reject males, attacks males who misbehave and often mate with several males. Kittens of the same litter may indeed have different fathers. Obviously all this excludes patriarchy and nuclear families. Rakasta society probably have complex romantic and passionate relationships, with couples splitting and reuniting, jealously and duels, but maybe to less extreme consequences than in humans, as love is taken seriously only up to a certain point. Typical rakasta families should be based on mother, maybe grandmother, sisters and sons/daughters, with fathers playing a secondary roles of helpers (and each male tipically having more than one family).
- Cats may exterminate small mammals and birds as they hunt 'for fun' if they can. This could have led to aggressive behaviour of males toward other species and maybe the difficulty of recognizing other species' rights.
- Cats are traditionally linked to superstition, the moon, dreaming, visions. Sometimes it seems they 'see' things we cannot see. This should play a role in rakasta society, maybe a special clerical class, or prophets?
- Cats are notoriously independent. Light governments probably prevail in rakasta societies.
Other ideas, comments?