Setting:The Karoush

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The Karoush is the code of conduct, or laws, by which the Bastet live. Each Bastet Tribe, and each individual Bastet may interpret these laws slightly differently, but all obey them. They are treated as a framework by which the Bastet can trust each other.

Honor Yourself

All Bastet are expected to act honorably, and this tenet of the Karoush is intended to drive that behavior. Arguably, Honoring yourself could cover every other tenet of the Karoush. Do not lower yourself to the level of your enemies. If you accept a challenge, play fair. Do not let others speak ill of you. "We are to remain clean," this cleanliness must extend not only to our physical bodies, but our spiritual bodies, our former lives, and clean of the sickness that comes from breeding among our own. Becoming tainted or possessed are some of our highest sins, and we must do all we can to avoid these. If you fail, cleanse yourself immediately and fully; wash the filth away, seek cures for your sickness, cleanse the soul through ceremony, and raise those who are born of our sins. If children of the Wyrm take from us our will and use our bodies for their cause, we are to kill ourselves, else our brothers and sisters come for us.

Honor Your Word

This tenet stands pure when we speak to our brothers and sisters. We know more of honor than the unrefined beasts that make up the rest of the Killi, or the dogs, or mankind for that matter. When we swear to each other, we must keep our word. It's fair enough to break your word to the others - when necessary. Those who do not share our blood are, after all, not worthy of your word - they do not honor their own. "We are to remain truthful" - we do not lie to or about our own. We do not make a promise to the Bastet and then break our word; a promise among Bastet is the same as a promise to or from Seline - the moon-mother. We do not flee when others depend on us, but we may flee for our own survival. If you fail, do whatever you can to make it up to those you have wronged. Do for them, give to them. If another challenges you for your betrayal, accept it. If another punishes you justly for your betrayal, accept it. If your betrayal is great enough, you may be branded among the folk, and your name only ever spoken again with disdain by your brothers and sisters.

Honor Your Kin and Kind

Our kin are critical to our survival. Our brothers and sisters deserve our respect. While we may offer greater respect to the Great Cats, the humans among our kin are of great import as well. We - our brothers and sisters of other Tribes, kin of men, and kin of cat - are all sacred in Seline's light. She guides us, and her laws apply to all of us. She demands we respect each other as siblings. "We are to remain just." We do not fight amongst each other for no reason - leave that to the dogs. We seek honorable combat when another has wronged us. We seek fair and open recompense. We respect the challenger and the challenged among us. We respect our hosts, our lorespeakers, the territory of our others. We aid our kin when they need us. We give them comfort. We care for them. If we fail, we accept our judgment. We distance ourselves when we know we have wronged them. We accept our punishment, as we should. If our kin come to harm, we accept the label of cowardice that we deserve.

Honor Your Earth

As children of both Seline - the moonmother, and Gaia - the earthmother, we feel the pain of both when they are stricken with corruption. We will not stand by while either is devoured by the destroyer or her ilk. We employ any weapon at our disposal to cease that corruption and restore the balance. "We are to remain fierce." We do not harm the earth, and we do not allow harm to come to her. We will warn the others and even enlist their aid - even the aid of dogs - it it means we succeed in our task. We do not indulge in the powers of shadows, or take wisdom from corruption. We stand brave. We win. We do not fail. If we fail, we deserve the deaths that fall upon us.

Honor Your Silence

Keep your damn secrets. You know your own doom - do not speak it except as Kuasha to your own kind. The others know we will not give them the deep secrets we have, and it pleases us when they fail to tease them out. Do not share any secret unless you explicitly desire it. "We are to remain quiet." Outsiders will not know our names. They will not know our breeds. They will think they do, but we will show them wrong - keep them on their toes. Wrap our lore in puzzles, let the outsiders try to find their meanings - most will fail. Act as though you know everything even when you know nothing - outsiders will want to know what you do and it will drive them mad. It is glorious. If you fail, cover your failure. If you fail to keep your Yava, you will likely die - and you'll deserve it. Make good on your sin before you die or warn the other children of cats so that they may shred they that learned your secret. The spirits will learn of your disgrace.

Article by Brian