Jackson Petro

Ms. Christina Staco

UWRT 1102
February 25, 2015
A Planet Ruled by a Cat
For this assignment I took the option of choosing two of my own genres to write about
my fictional cat planet in. The first genre is a simple visitor information sheet that I image could
be typical reading in a future space port. The second is a childrens guide to the planets wildlife
and about the planets native sentient species called treecats in particular. I know that the
assignment called for a planet that was ruled by a cat but I stretched that to mean a planet where
a catlike alien species, called treecats, were the native sentient species. The reason I did this was
because I saw the opportunity to set both pieces in the fictional universe created by the science
fiction writer David Weber for my favorite series of novels, The Honor Harrington series. The
name of the planet, its characteristics, the fictional star kingdom it is set in, the characters and
events that were alluded to, and the treecats themselves are all his inventions that he wrote about
in his books which I have adapted for this assignment.

Questions asked by Assignment 4

Did you collaborate with others while creating this content?
Not directly but all the content was either directly taken from or inspired by David Webers
Honor Harrington novels, my favorite science fiction novel series. He invented the characters,

concepts, planets, and the treecat species. I only read what he wrote and adapted it to be a travel
guide and childrens nature guide for tourists coming to the planet Sphinx, the home world of the
novel series protagonist.

Did you seek feedback on your drafts?

No. If this assignment had a due date that was further along in the future I would have but with
only a couple days to do this I havent been able to lure anyone into reading it. This class seems
to have a revised version of most of its major assignments due at some point in the future though
and between now and handing in a revised version, if indeed a revised version is wanted, I would
certainly have someone else, probably at least two someone elses, read it.

What parts of your writing process of your writing process worked well, and what will you do
differently the next time you tackle a similar project?
Because of my familiarity with the novels and many of the details that are woven in them, I was
able to spit out facts about the planet and the treecats with great ease. I think the shorter visitors
guide is an example of this as the gravity of the planet, its atmospheric composition, its climate,
its catalog number (Manticore A-IV), the Kingdom its in, the Empire its in (yes Manticore is
both a star system, a star kingdom, and an interstellar Empire all at once), are all details that are
in the official canon of the Honorverse. That is the universe of Honor Harrington according to
the novels by David Weber, the guide/canon books written by David Weber, and the novels
written by other writers that take place elsewhere or at different times in the Honorverse. I think I
would make the visitors guide a little more legit looking, as if it were something you might

actually download and read in a spaceport. I would have also liked to have made a video. I
justified making two written documents that were similar in intent, to give information to visitors
about the planet of Sphinx, because they communicated different subjects about the planet in
different ways. One was a quick read of traveling and information tips for a space port, the other
was something you hand your kid to read to get them excited about the trip and to stop tugging
on your leg asking Are we there yet? I like making videos and am very good at it but it is a
very, very time consuming process and Im not even sure there is enough fanfiction art of the
Honorverse to make a good video. Even a brief video would take more time than I had though. I
also might have tweaked the childrens nature guide a little bit. I was glad for the opportunity to
nerd out over the amazing epicness of the treecats, one of the best alien species in science fiction
that ranks up there with Wookies, Timelords, Klingons, and the Asgard. My worry is that
realistically, Im not sure that a small child would really understand the whole telepathic thing.
Then again, in the Honorverse people also spend 60 or 70 years in their 20s thanks to medical
advancements and genetic engineering has greatly increased human intellectual capabilities. I
can plausibly say that the 6 year old of the future (who might look 6 but could actually be more
like 15 or 16) could read that monstrously long paper about treecats and understand it. After all
who can argue with me but the children of the distant future?

Royal Forestry Service Nature and Wildlife Information

FOR KIDS!
Welcome to Manticore A-IV Sphinx young traveler. You are now on the
fourth planet of the Manticore system in the Kingdom of Manticore, a
member state of the Manticorian Imperium!

Did you know that the Manticore System has THREE naturally habitable

planets? Thats really rare!

Did you know that Manticore is the name of a star system, a star
kingdom, and an Empire! Isnt that cool? We think so. There is a lot of
history that made that happen and its all really complicated but for
further reading you should look for the book A Short History of
Manticore by Christine Staco, available in the visitors center.

You are going to see lots of really cool things while you are on Sphinx.
Probably the coolest will be all of Sphinxs wonderful wild life. Most of the
land animals on Sphinx are hexapedals! That means that they have SIX legs!
Scientists think that because Sphinx has such a high gravity, 1.35 G, and
because so much of the surface is covered in think forest, that the creatures
on Sphinx needed six legs to support themselves and travel through the

trees. Some scientists even classify the tail of some of Sphinxs animals as a
7th limb because of how dexterous and strong it is!

Did you know that because of how much additional energy it takes to
do stuff in the higher gravity of Sphinx, most of its animals need a very
high caloric intake for their size? That means they eat lots and lots of
food! Even the people on Sphinx need a lot more calories to operate in
the high gravity environment. That means you should make sure you
eat your desert tonight!

Did you know that the dominant native form of life on Sphinx are the
treecats?

Of all the creatures on Sphinx none are as fascinating as the treecats.

Treecats, which have no actual relation to terran cats, were the 12th sentient
non-terrestrial species ever discovered by mankind. They are also really
unique among intelligent species. Most sentient species, like humans, wipe
out almost all of the other large mammal species on the planet during their
own later development. Thats especially true if those large mammals were
carnivores. The treecats didnt do that though and are actually rather small
for an intelligent species. They only weigh about 8-10 kilograms and are
usually about 60 centimeters in length. Thats about the size of a terran

bearcat! Although Sphinx has several very large carnivores, none are known
to hunt the treecats. In fact the treecats are truly on the top of the food chain
and are able to hunt animals many times
their size and weight using their
exceptionally long claws and teeth. They
are also really unique in being the only
sentient species in the known universe that
is carnivorous. Most intelligent creatures
like humans are omnivores or herbivores because a purely carnivorous diet is
too restrictive to sustain large numbers on. Unlike humans who have an
incredible range of foods we can eat and gain nutrition from, treecats cant
efficiently digest any known vegetable or fruit. Treecats do however make an
exception for celery! Its the only vegetable that they will go out of their way
to eat and they love it despite celery being totally indigestible to them.
Nobody really knows why.

Did you know that the Manticorian constitution makes about 35% of
the land area on Sphinx a perpetual protected habitat of the treecats?
Isnt that way cool! It also acknowledges the
treecats as a sentient species and gives
them their own rights and protections and
stuff. Remember that a treecat is not an
animal. You cant chase it or take it home

with you against its will anymore than you can a person. You can get in
big trouble if you do!

Did you know that celery is actually how humans and treecats met?

When Sphinx was settled in the 15th century PD (Post diaspora) no one knew
that there were intelligent creatures on it. The early settlers began to
genetically modify and grow their crops to survive in the new environment.
One of the crops that could grow
with almost no modification was
terran celery and so the early
settlers grew it in large numbers.
Only they found that sometimes
their celery went missing. The
settlers didnt know what to make of this and set up cameras to see what
animal was taking their food. But the cats were too smart and actually
figured out what the cameras did and how to disable them long before one
was ever caught on video. This greatly alarmed the settlers who had no
explanation for what was happening. One day however a little girl named
Stephanie Harrington caught a treecat named Climbs Quickly in the act! Thus
the great celery mystery was solved, treecats were discovered, and little
Stephanie became the first human to ever be adopted by a treecat. She
would go on to found the Royal Forestry Service that still protects treecats to
this day treecats!

Did you know that a treecat named Nimitz once saved the Protector (thats
like a King) of the Star Kingdom of Grayson from assassins? The Protector
and the people of Grayson were so impressed by this that the treecat

became a symbol of loyalty and strength on their planet. The image of a

treecat is now included in the coat of arms for the Protectors bodyguards
and one of the planets professional soccer teams even adopted the name
Treecats!

So exactly how smart are treecats?

Until recently this was a matter of great debate among scientists. We have
observed treecats using simple tools made out of stone and wood and have
seen them making primitive houses too. When in a human environment the
treecats quickly learn how to utilize much more sophisticated tools. They can
operate elevators, doors, light switches, and even environmental controls like
air-conditioning. Still it was believed that the treecats were only on the level
of intelligence of our early ancestors as they lacked any visible ability to
communicate with each other or with us and their tools werent very
complicated. It wasnt until very recently that a very smart lady named Dr.
Adelina Alif worked with a treecat to create a form of sign language that both
humans and treecats could use. The first tree cat was able to teach other
cats the very complicated sign language is minutes, and since then we have
learned a lot. The truth is that treecats are exceptionally intelligent and have
long been able to understand human speech, social interactions and abstract
concepts like laws and power structures. The cats have also long understood
how humans came to be on their planet, through space travel, and have an

incredible understanding of human technologies. Really, we ended up

learning a lot more about them because they seemed to have already
figured us out pretty well! We have learned that the treecats are telepathic
among each other and are empathic towards humans, thus accounting for no
visible communication. Given how quickly the treecats are able to teach each
other this complicated sign language, a matter of minutes compared to the
months it takes humans, they are believed to be even more intelligent than
us in some regards though that may be more of the result of the efficiency of
their method of communication. Unfortunately our sign language remains of
limited use in trying to find out about many aspects of treecat culture and
thinking. Even though it works well enough for most communication, there
are many concepts about treecat society that the treecats that they simply
cant find a way to explain to us. The sign language depends on the
understanding of human words after all and it seems that our words are
sufficient for the treecats to communicate everything about them to us.

So, what does it mean for a Treecat to adopt a person?

When a treecat adopts a person they form a powerful lifetime bond. That cat
becomes the humans continuous companion or, as the cats see it, the
person becomes the treecats companion. This has a deeper more profound
effect than just friendship though. The human and the treecat will form a
great emotional dependency on each other. In all but a few cases, if the

human dies the cat will kill itself and the reverse has sometimes been true as
well. Its important to note that most treecats will never adopt a person but
will rather make these powerful bonds with members of their own kind. The
treecats have said that even while the first adoption of a human was
unexpected and unintentional, many subsequent treecats purposefully
sought out worthy humans for adoption, both as some means of selffulfillment that we dont as of yet understand and to allow them to relay
information about mankind to their fellow treecats. When asked why they
bond with humans, most treecats have said that they look for a unique mind
glow that is present in all treecats but rare in people. The cats have
attempted to explain exactly what this mind glow is to us but unfortunately
there arent words in the human vocabulary to describe it. Our mode of
communication is still developed and perfected but it made simply be that
the treecats are aware of unique concepts that we simply arent able to
understand.
Since the treecats havent been able to explain to us what the mind
glow is humans have been forced to try to make their own explanations
based on our observations. It is believed that the cats empathic ability
allows it to select a good candidate for adoption. Treecats almost always
adopt people of exceptional natural intelligence but that trait alone doesnt
guarantee adoption or even make it statistically likely. This had made many
to believe that personality, character, or attitude play a big role too. Many of
Manticores most famous people have been adopted by treecats. Our current

Queen and Empress, Elizabeth III, was adopted by a treecat when she visited
Sphinx fo r the first time and the Kingdoms most famous war hero, Admiral
Honor Harrington, was also adopted at an early age. In fact we have found
that except for a few rare exceptions, treecats will not adopt adult humans
but only children. Who knows, maybe on this trip a treecat will adopt you.

Treecat with adopted human. Notice how the cat positions

itself on the humans shoulders. This is the preferred
carrying position of a treecat.