Game designer Eloy LaSanta brings us our next monster in the Halloween Horror series.

Thanks to the Tabbinius Cats, there just might be a reason for all the superstition about black cats crossing your path…

Tabbinius Cats

Created by Eloy Lasanta

This evil creature has origins of the days of witches for mortals and trials that surrounded. Some witches were banished them from society or outright killed, but they had other ways of messing with townspeople. They turned black cats into their familiars, making them spies and vessels for the witch. She has several cats, each powerful in their own right, but many were killed as stories of black cats spread throughout the colonies. Tabbinius, one of her particularly clever cats, made his own deals with demons that released him from his link to the witch and gave him the ability to speak, but required him to feed on human souls. He led the other familiars against their witch, making her the first soul to be a tribute to the demon.

Generations of his litters were born with Tabbinius’ powers, each more powerful than the next. They sought other demons to devour and eventually bred certain magic into their race. Tabbinius cats (named after the first of their kind) are very much like other cats in that they preferred to be pampered than live on the streets. Instead of being chosen as a familiar, they began to choose a woman to become their host. To others in towns, they became the “cat woman”. In the modern day, no one thinks twice about cat ladies… they just walk away. Tabbinius cats slowly feed on their host’s soul little by little, until she is a shell of her former self, living only to serve the cats. Collectives gather around more attentive hosts, but usually no more than twenty Tabbinius cats can subsist on a single host. They’ll ride out a single host for decades, until the woman dies and then it’s on to the next.

While their host’s soul is for stability and shelter, their feast of choice is the soul of a child (sacrificing every fifth one to demons). Tabbinius cats have magic that allows them to turn invisible and walk through walls, as well as sensory magic that lets them know exact locations of childrens’ bedrooms. They usually lay in wait until night falls and the household is sleeping, and then they tread as light as a feather onto the child’s bed and draw their soul out through their mouth and nose. The child remains asleep during the process and many are blamed on SIDS.

Some chase the black cats away with brooms or just outright kill any black cat that crosses their path. Superstitious folk are correct to be so around Tabbinius cats, but they actually bring even worse luck to themselves by harming one. In major cities, there are approximately a thousand Tabbinius cats, usually within close proximity of each other. If one is killed, the others instantly sense it (another inbred ability). If they witness the event, they do not attack all at once, as there is power in numbers. Instead, they’ll regroup with the others and hundred of their kind with descend upon their target’s home and share the feast of their soul. The souls of their family, friends, or anyone else in or near the house are also in danger during these attacks. Tabbinius cats do have a known weakness: their tail. It is the source of their power and they are rendered powerless if it is removed from their body or broken.

About Eloy Lasanta
Eloy Lasanta is the owner of Third Eye Games and has recently released a new game called Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. Drop by www.thirdeyegames.net for more information on the game and other projects underway.

Tags | halloween horror, post-apocalyptic