Vorn-Cat

Physical Description: A strikingly handsome and elegant mammalian felinoid predator, this creature stands up to 1.1 meters tall at the shoulder and measures up to 3.3 meters long from nose to tail, weighing up to 306 kg. Most vorn-cats are much smaller and stand 45-80 cm tall at the shoulder, measure 90-165 cm from nose to tail, and weigh 23-90 kg with males being heavier and larger than females. Their tail lengths remain about the same regardless of body type and size, about 60-110 cm long. Most vorn-cats can reach speeds of up to 60 km/h, though the larger ones are somewhat slower, and they are able to move almost perfectly silently when stalking. They are avid swimmers and very able climbers; vorn-kittens are notorious for getting into everything. They can live for up to twenty-eight years in captivity, and there are no known wild populations. The vorn-cat has prominent fangs, the lower jaw's canines being up to eight centimeters in length while the upper jaw's canines measure from ten to twenty-three centimeters with the larger animals having proportionately larger fangs, and a pair of horns growing down from the lower jaw to match the prominent saber-teeth. It has thick, two-layered fur with a tan belly, dark brown body, and black stripes; rare mutations have led to white fur with dark brown stripes, slate grey with black stripes, solid white, or solid black fur. Beneath the skin, it has thick armored plates along the head, neck, shoulders, and on the shins and forepaws. This sub-dermal armor is quite resistant to lightsabers, albeit not immune; the animal still suffers the agonizing pain of the lightsaber's heat even if the armor does survive. The creature's fur itself has a curious refractory quality that disperses the effect of a lightsaber, blasters, and other direct energy weapons. While not invisible to the Force, they are curiously difficult to detect - an effect described like trying to grasp a slick surface. The vorn-cat's eyes are typically amber, though some animals have blue or green eyes and the all-white vorn-cats have blue eyes with pink skin. The vorn-cat's paws feature retractable claws with an enlarged sickle-shaped dewclaw on the forelegs that the cats use to take down larger prey - including humanoids. Their dewclaws range in length from 65 to 120 mm, with smaller animals having smaller claws and larger animals having larger claws. Vorn-cats have a paralytic, anesthetic toxin that they exude in their saliva and from their whip-like tails. They only excrete their venom when excited or angry, and most vorn-cat handlers have become immune to its detrimental effects through long exposure. Its antiseptic and anesthetic qualities still affect them, and vorn-cats instinctively lick wounds to treat them. The venom in their claws, on the other hand, is a neuro-toxin that the animal must deliberately secrete when it attacks; handlers are not often immune to it and the venom is fatal to most creatures under a ton in mass.

Subspecies: None, though the larger animals may be considered a subspecies sometimes known as vorn-lions or great vorn-cats.

Sentience: Vorn-cats are semi-sentient, and take well to training in a variety of tasks.

Strengths: Vorn-cats are designed to be apex predators. They are quite strong and very fast, more than a match for most humanoids even in the smaller morphs. Vorn-cats can detect those sensitive to the Force, and they can be trained to track them down over surprising distances (typically two to five kilometers). They have armor and fur partially resistant to lightsabers and energy weapons, and are difficult to detect through the Force. A Force-user already aware of the vorn-cat could force his focus on the cat, but one not yet aware would have a difficult time detecting the animal.

Weaknesses: A vorn-cat requires a strong handler, both physically and mentally, to keep it in line. They are also sensitive to their handler's moods and to changes in their environments, which can sometimes leave them agitated if they change unpleasantly or frequently. A vorn-cat too long exposed to the dark side and too often stressed may become feral, entering into a berserker frenzy as it regresses back to the most savage aspects of its vornskr and thernbee progenitors. A vorn-cat who enters such a frenzy typically lapses into a coma after destroying everything in sight and dies a week later. Very few animals recover from such a coma, requiring intense medical treatment to counteract toxic hormones and the presence of a much-beloved handler.

Diet: Preferential carnivore.

Personality: Despite their ferocious appearances, vorn-cats are surprisingly gentle - particularly with children. They are loyal and obedient when trained and treated well, stubborn and feral if not. Well-behaved around humanoids, their behaviors often retain much of the usual characteristics of wild carnivores (including preying upon smaller animals if not properly socialized to learn what is and isn't food). Vorn-cats are fiercely protective of those they view as part of their pack, particularly their handlers.

Vorn-cats hunt primarily using their paws and their strength to wrestle their opponents to the ground. They use their tearing dewclaws and large fangs to administer a killing blow, typically by tearing out the opponent's throat or abdomen. The vorn-cats use their neurotoxin in self-defense, while they whip their prey with their tails when trying to subdue it to deliver the killing blow. Though their play can be rough, they are intelligent enough to know the difference between play and actual hunting and thus rarely injure their playmates. Vorn-cats are immensely fond of play, ranging from mock-fights to games best described as 'tag'. If left alone for prolonged periods these high-energy animals tend to get bored and destructive.
Unlike their vornskr progenitors, vorn-cats do not react to Force-users as prey animals and thus can be safely kept around Jedi.

Language: Vorn-cats communicate with each other and their handlers through body language and facial expressions, as well as a variety of vocalizations. Their primary method of communication, though, is a form of empathy and telepathic projection.

Planet: None. As genetically-engineered artificial life-forms, vorn-cats have no proper planet of origin.

Culture: Vorn-cats are very social animals, taking naturally to living in packs with established alphas. They are bred to view height as a major factor in establishing dominance and to rarely attempt asserting it after puberty, thus giving their bipedal humanoid handlers an advantage.

Technology: None.

History: A genetically-engineered creature derived from the Mrykr vornskr, Mantessan panthac, Almanian thernbee, Corellian razor cat, Va'arti taozin, Corellian sand panther, and the Naboo tusk-cat, this felinoid predator was created in an effort to utilize the vornskr's Force-hunting talents in an animal that was simultaneously stronger and tamer than the original ferocious canid creature.

The vorn-cat's earliest incarnation was originally developed shortly after the Yuuzhan Vong invasion in a covert project, cloned voxyns that Yuuzhan Vong shapers created in exchange for certain considerations. Though subject to the same problems as the original strain of voxyns - namely, a certain nutritional requirement and a general foul temperament - project technicians began manipulating the creatures' genomes and splicing in foreign DNA in an attempt to first stabilize the creature and then develop something of a tractable nature in them. Three years after the project began, the project had developed the second generation of the voxyn. The creature was largely a Naboo tusk-cat with six legs and a vornskr's tail with both the ability and instinct to hunt Force-users.

Further modifications saw the introduction of other animals' genomes, though a crackdown on Yuuzhan Vong biotech as postwar reconstruction proceeded far enough to begin re-establishing order forced them to abandon the assistance of the shapers and eventually the extra-galactic biological matter entirely, forcing them to almost completely start over.

This setback proved to be a disguised boon, as abandoning the voxyn lineage enabled them to negate the nutritional dependence entirely. They found that by combining the thernbee and tusk-cat, they created a highly intelligent creature whose instincts were significantly weakened in comparison to the original design. They then carefully introduced the vornskr's Force-sensing organs. The end result was the first animal that bore anything more than a passing resemblance to the modern vorn-cat, though some of its size and natural weapons came from later generations. All modern vorn-cats are descended from these creatures, first made publicly available in 178 ABY. They are rare creatures, as until the return of the Sith there was little call for a large predator that could track and hunt Force-users - most of the vorn-cats were actually pets and military working animals for mercenary organizations. The Alliance acquired eight breeding pairs at the outset and began training them, raising litters of the animals to serve alongside their Dawnstar Force troopers in the same capacity as military working canids (and canid-analogs) have for millennia.