Mythlands: THE HEIST

Character Profiles: Convention of Cats (11-15)

Griffin J Cat - Griffin is a unique character in the Mythlands as he alone hails from what is known as the mortal reality, not any storybook approximation. Created by Winter Silverberry and used with her permission, Griffin is the star of his own set of stories that sees him go from the real world to a magic land full of fairies and other fantastic creatures.

One day while visiting his fairy friend Chloe, Griffin discovers there are more lands beyond the borders of the Otherlands and he decides to explore the Mythlands, eventually coming into contact with other cats. The Glass Cat brings him to the Convention and tells him he has a special role to play.

There is something about his status as a cat from the real world that makes him a wild card in the prophesy of the Armageddon and Griffin gets caught up in a grand adventure, at first agreeing to travel with Ginger the mute Narnian cat, back to Narnia and act as a translator. Griffin soon meets The Hare and others and comes to learn he may have hitched his wagon to the wrong side.

In appearance Griffin is an ordinary cat, an attractive grey tabby from Earth. Hyper intelligent and used to communicating with other cats and other animals on Earth, he has always felt a sense of frustration about his attempts to communicate with humans who don't fully understand him. However in the Mythlands he gains the ability to talk and highly enjoys conversing directly with humans.

Griffin is pleasant, sweet, good natured and possessed of a high level of empathy (he literally breaks down crying and hugs Ginger, when he hears his story) - but he also has some cat-like qualities, most prominent among them is a belief cats are inherently superior creatures (based on his proud notion they are descended from Egyptian gods). He does however respect and admire certain humans, being very fond of Jessica Bunny and in awe when he meets a famous reborn human.

Griffin displays unusual qualities in the average earth cat - he can read English and has secretly been reading not only books belonging to his human Mia, but seeking out bookshops and libraries and finding quiet corners to indulge his love of fiction. When Griffin finds himself in the Mythlands, he has one huge advantage in the fact that he has read many of the stories of the characters he encounters - but this knowledge does tend to turn him into the ultimate fanboy and he is often in awe when he meets well known characters.

He has more dexterity than the average animal on the Mythlands (and is probably the most capable earth animal in this area), having spent some years learning how to remove objects like books, and open them page by page. At some point Griffin has learned how to do sign language (possibly due to his earlier frustration when attempting to communicate with humans) and can stand on his hind legs (if supported) and sign fluently with his paws.

Aslan - Created by C.S. Lewis and first appearing in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (published in 1950), The Great Lion is the spiritual leader of Narnia and has guided it wisely and benevolently from it's origins to the time of the Ultimate Narnia that followed 'The Last Battle.' 

There has been absolutely no signs or indication that he exists within The Mythlands, which could account for the direction the state of Narnia took in his absence. Isolationist and ultra religious, the so called Aslanist State of Narnia is now directed by The Church of Aslan and it is they who interpret the books of Aslan and his teachings. 

Renard the Fox - sometimes known as Reynard, the Mythlands fox is a clothes wearing anthropomorphic fox man who like many ambiguous characters known to the mortal realm, is an amalgam of many facets of the tales told about him. He is believed to be unique and without dopplers, for this reason.

The tale of the trickster fox in its many variations stretches back to at least the middle ages and springs from French, Dutch, German and Latin sources. Flitting between being a charming hero and a nasty self centred rogue, Renard is hard to pin down.

His attributes include cunning, charm, elegance and style - in the Mythlands he is something of a successful con artist who achieved material wealth many decades ago. He has used this wealth and his personable character to become a minority shareholder at MCI, entitled to a seat at stockholders meetings - a position he manipulated into a junior executive job at the behest of the Glass Cat.

Renard operates as an inside man in MCI and has been instrumental in forwarding the plans of Glass Cat and Loki, acting as a go between and 'handler' in respect to the coercion of The Hare. Despite his cunning, Renard is extremely susceptible to flattery and developed a genuine fondness towards Hare, which the latter was able to exploit by pretending to give in to the forces that had entrapped him and go along with them for material gain. As Renard has a grasping nature and The Hare has something of a reputation for shallowness, he found it very easy to believe that like himself, Hare was in it for the money and power - this enabled Hare to secretly act against the plotters and put him in a position to find out how they intended to bring about the End of Days - information he was able to pass to his allies through Jessica Bunny.

A sophisticated dresser, Renard is nearly six foot in height, slender and has an immaculately kept thin mustache - he speaks with 'ze Franch accent don you know mes ami.'

Jadis - Created by C.S. Lewis and first appearing in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (published in 1950), Jadis, the White Witch of Narnia and leader of the forces of evil that rose against Aslan, she has been conspicuous by her absence from the Mythlands along with her army and other unrelated evil entities.

Jadis is not however a native of Narnia - she previously ruled the dead world of Charn. Charn itself, as the Hare and his allies discovered was still accessible from the Wood between the Worlds and held a secret that may herald the return of the Queen and even darker forces.

The LolKitten - Not all residents of the Mythlands come from literature, fairytale, fable, myth, legend, poetry etc - some come from popular culture and since 1946 other entities, characters and even memes have appeared in the Mythlands once they became a firm part of the psyche of the collective unconscious of the mortal realm.

Such is the origin of the LolCats. In the early 1870's Brotish portrait photographer Harry Pointer created a carte de visite series of photos featuring cats posed in various situations, accompanied by amusing text.

This sparked a trend that continued and eventually produced internet memes based on cats. The first recorded use of the term Lolcat happened in June 2006 and they spread like wildfire throughout the net, becoming popular and famed for their cuteness and sayings like 'I CAN HAZ CHEESEBURGER?'

Naturally Lolcats then made it to the Mythlands and the Glass Cat took the cutest of them all under his wing.

During the events of the Convention of Cats, The Glass Cat forged an alliance with the Asgardian trickster god Loki and as part of their negotiations promised him a devastating weapon that would prove instrumental to Loki's grand design.

He then produced the LolKitten who proceeded to mewl and lick its paws.

While Loki was initially annoyed and accused Bungle of wasting his time, The Glass Cat persuaded him by talking of his researches into the internet and how the power of memes and social media were a new and powerful way of continuing old stories and expressing and persuading the masses with ideas.

In addition to this, the Glass Cat proved the power of the LolKitten as Loki was unable to drag his eyes away from the little creature, exclaiming 'What sorcery be this Glass one? I seek to tear mine eyes from the beast, but tis impossible ... see how it curls up into a ball ... those big round eyes ... thou hast ensorcelled me!'

At that point the LolKitten looked directly at Loki and asked. 'Can I haz Cream?' and all doubt about the power of the weapon was gone - The Glass Cat promised to send pictures and links.

Since then the LolKitten has travelled with The Glass Cat's agents, kept in readiness for its vital role in the masterplan.