Aisha Clan Clan from Outlaw Star
The above picture might not be the best example since the calicos of Windemere aren’t super strong, easily angered, hard to hurt aliens. I’ve been using these cat-people since Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero. They could be considered monsters in some fashion, but it’s probably better to call them a species or race like elves and dwarves. Calicos don’t appear like random encounters or roam the wild since they’re civilized. Instead, you have characters like Theresa Marley and Conrad Deviltongue who happen to be members of this race. They even make an appearance in The Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks if you want to go take a look. So, what are they?
I’ve already said cat-people, but there’s always more than that. You have so many versions of this that range from frightening lycanthropes to stuff from Japan that you don’t want to look at on a work computer. The calicos are in the middle, which still doesn’t sound good now that I said it. Physically, they are built like humans and are normally very slender, except when they get older and more homebody. They have small retractable claws, tufts of hair on their ears, some have whiskers, and they all have tails that can be thin or thick depending on their subspecies. Not that they have alternate names since they’re all called calicos.
Small aside here is that I had the hardest time figuring out what to do about the pants and skirts they wear. A skirt with the tail means it would be lifted up all the time and a hole felt incredibly restrained. Imagine having your pointer finger put through a tight hole in a glove all the time. I assume it would be uncomfortable or annoying after a while. So, the calicos have special pants and skirts that have a dip that goes below the base of their spine to grant freedom of movement for their tails. Connected to this, I ended up designing weapons that could be strapped to the tail. As of this post, I’ve only come up with a small dagger put over the tip, a chain that looks like a decoration before unfurled, a whip, and an axe head. Not sure what else I can do, but who knows what the future holds.
I’ve yet to introduce the full Calican society and I’m not sure people have picked up on what ‘Calican’ means. It’s a work in progress, I guess. So far, I’ve revealed that they’re capital is in the Cerascent region and they are a major trading power. My hope is to have some future series take place there and show more of these people. They’re actually one of the oldest Windemere races, so the pre-Cataclysm stories might showcase them more often. Still, they have shown an attraction to being warriors that specialize in stealth and speed, which means there are bound to be thieves out there. I already know that their capital will be a walled city too and they’ll have some sailing expertise. Nothing like the halflings, but the calicos have been traveling and trading long enough to be talented navigators and sailors.
The origin for this species isn’t as flashy as I would have liked, but that seems to be the case with many monsters. In fact, it actually stems from a different series that was eventually absorbed into Windemere. I had 11 heroes and 11 villains who were chosen by the gods to do battle and show if good or evil is strongest. A cat-girl was one of the main heroes and she caught my attention again when I was thinking about making some ‘unique’ races for Windemere. Since I was carrying her over, I decided to do the same with her species. So, the calicos came over with the fireskins, placids, and a few others that were wiped out by the Great Cataclysm.
Wait, that isn’t the full origin? How did I come up with calicos for that other series? Uh, I was big into anime at the time, a friend kept yelling cat-girls when we were hanging out, and I decided that I needed cat-girls. Also . . . I really liked the character that’s pictured at the top of this post. (Sorry if that’s a let down.)
Legends of Windemere 
Inspiration comes from strange places. I’ve been inspired by a work of art before too.
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Maybe. My inspiration tends to be character and story instead of style. That’s been fairly consistent considering my ultimate goal of creating a vast world of multiple stories. Kind of requires some consistencies.
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Lately I’m loaded with characters and vignettes. What I need are plots.
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Maybe one of the characters is hiding a plot on you. They’re where I get my plot twists and subplots as well as a few major ideas.
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I even have some twists for some of them. I hate to draw a plot out of the hat, “Okay, save the princess.” That kind of thing. It will come to me. Maybe some short stories for a time. I can stockpile those for a different project.
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Good luck. Though, you never know when a basic hat storyline can develop a twist that hasn’t happened before. Like ‘Save the Princess in order to kill her and stop her from destroying the universe’ or something.
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Good point. (writes that one down.)
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Lol – a bit of a letdown when it comes to origins is fine. Although I can’t help but compare to some of your other species, who had an exciting backstory, complete with gods and intrigue 😀
I’m surprised they are seafaring, as I expected them to have cats’ aversion to water. It also would have made for some fun sea scenes.
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Guess with water, they’re closer to tigers and jaguars. House cat doesn’t seem to fit them very well. The species that have wider and more exciting backstories tend to be connected to plots too. Elves and Orcs are really the two big ones considering they’re both connected to the Hejinn. That seemed to be the common factor in the intriguing ones.
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I’m particularly fond of the Chaos Elves backstory 🙂
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Those are one of the bigger ones that I tied into the Legends of Windemere series. It definitely evolved a lot as I wrote the books.
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You have a great variety of people in your world, Charles! Your Calicans sound very interesting, (I can’t help thinking that the Great Cataclysm is very fitting for cat people. :D)
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I haven’t really decided on how the Great Cataclysm effected them. They were always part of the island region that shifted and grew, so they could have lost a lot of cities in the upheaval.
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As a cat owner, I find it interesting that they are the inspiration for this species. Thanks, Charles.
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You’re welcome. Cats do tend to inspire a lot of fantasy. Griffins, chimera, etc.
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I can see where their tails would make them good sailors, keeping balance in the rigging of a ship must be hard.
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The heightened agility and near perfect landing skills can come in handy too.
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