View source for Cat Lord

{{Greyhawk Deity|fgcolor=#fff|
image=[[Image:Cat Lord01.jpg]]|
caption=The Cat Lord, as depicted in the ''Epic Level Handbook'' (2002).|
bgcolor=#000|
fgcolor=#fff|
name=Cat Lord|
title=|
home=[[Beastlands]]|
power=Animal lord|
gender=Male|
class=Rogue 37|
alignment=Neutral|
portfolio=Cats, felines|
domains=None|
alias=Catlord, Rexfelis, Master Cat|
super=None|
}}
The '''Cat Lord''', or '''Master Cat''', is the mysterious ruler of cats and a [[Lords of neutrality|Lord of Neutrality]]. The ''Epic Level Handbook'' included, as an optional rule, the possibility that he is a quasi-deity. In [[Gary Gygax]]'s [[Gord the Rogue]] series, he is called '''Rexfelis'''.

There are many other animal lords representing other species. The [[Wolf Lord]] is another example.

==Description==
The Cat Lord manifests as a dark-skinned human, a pale-skinned human with black hair, a black cat, a panther, or as a hybrid of panther and human. In human form he always wears black clothing decorated with gold and gems of feline colors. He has a muscular, compact form, and his eyes are feline in whatever shape he takes.

==Relationships==
As ruler of all cats since that position has existed, the Cat Lord bears the respect and fealty of felines from house cats to smilodons. Even hybrid beings like weretigers and wereleopards are loyal to him.

Apart from cats, the Cat Lord's only known friend is the goddess [[Xan Yae]]. He is the great-great-grandfather of Gord, to whom he abdicates his position at the end of Gary Gygax's series of novels.

==Realm==
The Cat Lord's realm, known as the ''Cat Lord's Prowl'', is in Brux, the second layer of the [[Beastlands]]. [[Ferrix]], goddess of weretigers, also dwells here.

The Cat Lord is also said to have a bower in the [[Fading Land]] known as the [[Court of Rings]].

==Dogma==
The Cat Lord is neither good nor evil, but is concerned solely with the welfare of cats. He travels between the [[Outer Planes|Outer]], [[Inner Planes]], and [[Prime Material Plane]] in order to watch over his charges, leading them out of danger and sometimes assuming the leadership of feline prides (killing their previous leaders out of cold necessity). 

==History==
Said to be the first of all the kings of cats, the Cat Lord retires at the end of the novel ''[[Dance of Demons]]'', giving his title to his great-great-grandson, Gord, who promptly loses it after a palace revolution  (as revealed in the short story "Evening Odds"). 

In the adventure ''Something Wild'', the Deliverers, a group of hunters from the plane of [[Carceri]] led by a wizard called Garond the Claw, captured the Cat Lord and brought him back to their home plane. There, he was hunted and killed, making excellent game. A new cat lord, a female, rose to take his place. She immediately fell under great suspicion among the other animal rulers, who believed incorrectly that she had killed her predecessor herself. This was part of Garond's plan, who sought to divert suspicion toward her and away from his own patron, a foul god of beasts.

==Artifacts==
The ''Ring of the Cat Lord'' grants a total of nine ''true resurrection'' spells, which take effect the round after the Cat Lord's demise.

==Gallery==
[[Image:Catlord02.jpg]]
[[Image:Catlord03.jpg]]

==Bibliography==
*Collins, Andy and [[Bruce R. Cordell]]. ''Epic Level Handbook''. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2002.

*Gygax, Gary. "At Moonset Blackcat Comes: A Tale of Gord of Greyhawk." ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' #100. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1985. 
*-----. ''[[Come Endless Darkness]]''. Delavan, WI: New Infinities, 1988. 
*-----. ''[[Dance of Demons]]''. Delavan, WI: New Infinities, 1988.
*-----. "Evening Odds." ''Pawn of Chaos.'' Clarkson, Ga: White Wolf Publishing, 1996 
*-----. ''Monster Manual II''. Lake Geneva, WI, 1982.

*LaFountain, J. Paul. ''Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix''. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1991.

*McComb, Colin, Dale Donovan, and [[Monte Cook]]. ''[[Planes of Conflict]]''. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1995.

*[[Carl Sargent|Sargent, Carl]]. ''From the Ashes''. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1992.

*Vallese, Ray. ''Something Wild.'' Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1996. 

*Varney, Allen, ed. ''Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix.'' Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1994.


[[Category:Characters of the Beastlands]]
[[Category:Nature deities]]
[[Category:Shapeshifter deities]]