General > Except for the Pig
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Sindobook:
"Voting" began late Tuesday (Oct. 30) night. The battles went on throughout the night and are expected to last well into Halloween.
The only report I have from the inside is from one cat who insisted "This is much more combat than is normal... seriously... this could take days."
This one is totally up in the air, Cat P has lost much among his supporters in the recent gang wars, and who will stand and fight with him now? One of his rivals will likely prevail, but then he may get lucky and be able to take advantage while they fight among each other, believing he is already dead.
Samantha reported that C's forces are on the move, perhaps looking for an opening created by the whole affair. "But I doubt they can do much, C doesn't have much in the way of followers anymore."
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I don't have much to add. From Mikey: "We got a report from one of our cats about this. It's brief, but to the point."
"~Zs vote !!! con BJ, D _! J!", more precisely,
"~(snake)Zs vote !!! con[tested]. B[attle is] J[oined], D[efense] _[barely]! J[oined]!"
From Mikey: Reports do confirm heavy fighting around that period, and without any further contact, every reason to believe the infiltrator perished in the battle. On a more positive note, Snake Z did manage to escape largely unscathed. No idea if he still has a position in the gang, or wants anything to do with it to begin with.
Oh and by the way, we certainly don't have any other infiltrators in the upper echelon.
I don't know how the other votes went right now, so stop asking. No idea if Cat P managed to preserve his standing or fell. For all we know he could be dead.
Something does seem to be up, I mean, all the usual channels seem to have gone silent.
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I went over all the data last night. Most useful to reconstructing the timeline was the notes compiled by Samantha [1].
As the snake delivered his platform, there was little contest or opposition. It looked like he would prevail without much contest. At the end of his spiel, five cats stood in support, none in opposition.
First on the timeline is Mikey, who is pretty sure he heard repeating hissing from Cat P. Most of the pigs do recall hissing sounds at that time, but non-distinctive. Mikey, who has fought engaged Cat P in close-quarters combat in the past, is pretty certain the hissing came from Cat P.
Extensive hissing and high growls followed, accompanied with patters. This was around the time that the above communication was received by the informant. Battle was joined, reports are the Cat P led roughly 10 supporters, outnumbering the snake's defenders around 2:1.
Combat was relentless, with a lot of claw slashing, some biting, and plenty of thuds. More cats are presumed to have joined in, either the snake had some latent support, or perhaps the revolutionaries saw this as a good chance to take out Cat P. This helped to even out the odds. Close-quarters combat continued for around 14 seconds.
Mikey reports hearing Cat P yell something like "Yaaa!" at this point. It's believed the snake was getting away or escaping, and this was Cat P ordering his followers to turn their attention to him.
A couple of his followers charged the snake, but were quickly outflanked by his supporters. The snake managed to escape, largely unscathed. After his escape, the combat largely subsided. About 10 seconds later, it was silent, perhaps because it took that long for the rest to realise the snake was no longer there.
It should also be noted that Cat P's status is unknown. He may have been injured in the action against the snake, or lost too many supporters, costing him his own position in the gang.
[1] Small animals like bunnies, pigs, have very sensitive hearing. The brigade has two scouting companies, a field company of bunnies and an urban company of pigs, the latter was used extensively in this operation.
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At this point, we have every reason to believe that Cat P prevailed, since he is still alive and seems to be doing okay.
One of our insiders reported "I saw the fatty (Cat P) today. He was a bit scuffed up from the election, but still very much alive and kickin'. He was rambling on about getting together a search party to hunt down the snake, whining about what a travesty it was that he had evaded capture (and certain death) despite losing the election."
Cat P may be in charge uncontested now, but it's unlikely the gang can function financially with no significant territory left and no financial expertise.
From Mikey, "The snake was either a genius in the futures market, or extraordinarily lucky. Without him handling the financial side of things, the gang will likely be back in the red, their days could be numbered based on that alone. Cat P needs to find someone else to take over the financial side, another miracle worker because that's what it's gunna take to keep the gang afloat with so few outside resources.
Sindobook:
I can't comment much more, but I'll say one last thing. In general, the battles this year were much more brutal. In prior years, it would be something like, 10 cats in support, 10 cats against. They fight it out while 80+ cats look on. Last week, it was more like 30 or 40 cats fighting it out over each candidate. The number of cats that were getting involved in the fights was much greater. And most of the fights favored the supporters. The cats did show some good sense in one case, Cat W was defeated by a narrow margin and perished a few hours later.
Replacing Cat M (who defected from the gang roughly 3 cat years ago), the snake, and Cat W, Cat P filled the vanguard with three of his cronies.
It looks like the revolutionaries never had a chance, or they missed it. Their numbers were much greater before the struggle with the X gang, in fact some of the defectors like Cat M feel that Cat P engineered the whole thing with a self-facilitated purge in mind. Doing such a thing certainly isn't out of his league.
I do expect the gang will make one last major push before sputtering out. Cat P knows he needs to re-capture territory if he is to survive, he will take the newly formed vanguard and try to push out.
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This is what I know of at the time.
1) A while ago (roughly 2 to 3 cat years) the gang tried to launch an attack to the south using an affiliate that they had recently allied themselves with. There were some initial signs of success, as the initial detachment of roughly 20 cats tried to secure as much area as possible north of the city center. Their significant income, roughly 400,000 carrots annual helped to reinforce morale, but a lot of the cats had misgivings when it came to Cat P or the neighborhood cat gang in general. In two cat years, almost half their cats defected, leaving the attack force at only 10 cats. The black bunny squad is working to ensure further defections, the alliance has only a 50/50 chance of surviving for another year, if that.
2) After successfully defending their headquarters from an all-out assault around two cat years ago, the enemy tried to lay siege but was unable to keep their supply lines up having lost their supply vehicles. With their retreat, the gang has since been fighting to recover its territory to the north of its base, but their efforts are haphazard and they lack competent field commanders. Patrols are often disrupted by dog attacks and they seem unable to quell a small animal rebellion in the immediate vicinity.
3) Around the end of September, a couple of unknown Pandas showed up and were let in by Cat P. It turned out the Pandas were mercenaries allied with the Black Bunny Squad. They quickly overpowered a few cats and intimidated any others into standing down, after which they proceeded to ransack the place and take whatever they wanted. In all, it's estimated they made off with roughly 800,000 carrots worth of assorted equipment. Asked why he let them in, Cat P insisted he thought they must have been there to deliver his "Mists of Pandaria" game that he had ordered from online.
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We are actually pretty much in agreement. I won't say anything else on this topic.
And personally, I don't believe it will die off in the near term. It may be in decline, but decline does not equal death. In five to seven years, who knows what will happen. But in the short term, it will probably be at least okay.
Also, Cat P is reportedly trying to rally his troops to attack the small animal protectorate to the west. Not that has done him any bit of good. The last time the cats attacked the protectorate, of the twelve-or-so cats sent, only three returned (and they lost their top field commander at the time). Cats have been too terrified to participate in any attacks since then, as those who did return told tales of a large, "bigfoot - like" monster with immense strength that would rip cats in half or eat them whole.
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But they found little else of note, so they continued to press on.
The similar scene was repeated, only this time even more extreme. In an abandoned parking lot, the remains of what must have been several cats were strewn around, among puddles of blood. The smell was pungent, and the other signs of battle seemed relatively fresh.
Sindobook:
About that incident.
This was known as the 'elevator incident'.
In the far corner of the gang's headquarters lies an elevator, it is nonfunctional and has not worked in years. The doors are stuck in the open position.
When the headquarters was attacked, she ran to the elevator and hid in the corner closest to the wall. At some point during the battle, a team of three enemy cats went into the elevator, thinking they would be able to take it to the top floor. They quickly noticed her and tried to threaten her, moving to surround her and then slowly advancing in order to keep her cornered.
At that point one of the gang's enforcers showed up and hissed, the three cats looked at the enforcer and noticed he was larger than them. Their numbers may have been still superior (3 vs. 2) but they weren't willing to risk a fight so they split and ran.
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It was then that Cat K first smelled the bear. His hair instantly stood on end, and he stopped and froze. His eyes confirmed the sight, up ahead the fleet of wrecked supply vehicles, a bear had broken into one of the vans through the back window and was helping himself to the supplies. While Cat K recognized the smell from his days of training in the wilderness, his followers who had never left the city simply stood bewildered at the strange smell before they also froze and started to back off.
Regaining his composure, K mewled out the order to retreat while maintaining a tight formation. It was fruitless, his followers had panicked and quickly dispersed, running different directions. Fortunately, the bear seemed either unaware of their presence, or simply did not care; but at the same time bunnies began to pour out from two other ruined vehicles. The bunnies were heading out in groups, each group heading in different directions, as if in preparation to flank them.
Cat K knew he had a significant head start and could more than likely escape, but not wanting to leave his followers behind he ordered them to form up and get ready to fight the bunnies. Recognizing the bear did not pose any immediate danger, the cats rejoined formation and Cat K mewled out the orders to form up in a tight formation and punch through any bunnies that tried to stop their retreat. But he added, "If we get surrounded, form up in a tight circle to protect our backs."
More bunnies must have been waiting in ambush, for they appeared ahead of the retreating cats. Cat K paused to try to make sense of the events... Who could organize such a force -- commanding the bunnies and making them fight rather than turn and flee like bunnies normally do? Was the bear their leader, an ally, a paid mercenary, or something else? Cat K led his troops in an attempt to evade, but they matched his lateral movement and battle was joined.
The line of bunnies was two deep, and more than twenty bunnies in all. Cat K called for the circle formation right away, knowing it was only a matter of time before they would be surrounded. This tactic was successful at first, and several bunnies perished as the cats clawed and bit their adversaries. But it wasn't long before the bunnies in the back row started hopping, creating a mess of small furry animals flying in every direction. The confusion was too much for the cats, who found it difficult to dodge, attack, and maintain formation all at the same time.
A bunny had landed on the back of one of the cats and bit down with his teeth. He reached up to claw the bunny, but the teeth had already sunk in and the bunny had no intention of letting go. Another cats was knocked off his feet when a bunny landed in the middle of the circle and kicked him. He was kicked repeatedly by two other bunnies, despite his attempts to fight them off.
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This is relatively recent, but to celebrate that the gang was no longer in severe debt (primarily the millions of carrots 'run up' under Cat L), Cat P threw a lavish and extravagant party at an expensive venue that went on for the whole weekend. While he gained some supported from doing so, in the end it was announced that the party had run up a significant debt of roughly a million baby carrots.
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Cat K tried to run, knocking aside two bunnies as he charged through them, only to be faced by three more. He tried to fight, but was surrounded and fell. He managed to put his radio into continuous SOS mode before he lost consciousness.
Cat K and his team never returned from their mission. A few days later, the X gang's troops were pulled out. Scouts from the Bunny Brigade reported that their troops were near mutiny due to running out of supplies and that the commanders had little choice but to call for a timely retreat to maintain order. Cat P claimed responsibility for the victory, but it did not gain him much more support, as the truth was obvious to those who were not already following him.
About a month after the battle, the neighborhood cat gang received a ransom notice from the Black Bunny Squad. They claimed to have Cat K prisoner and wanted a sum of roughly (4 million baby carrots) in exchange for his safe return. Cat P refused the terms. Cat K has not been seen or heard of since.
Sindobook:
Many people report seeing Cat P and I can verify that. He was there on Friday manning the [deleted]. His mini countryman[1] was spotted by numerous people at the scene. Also on Friday, there was another cat next to him whom I don't recognize, but definately one of Cat P's cronies. His title was "Programming Director", as for Cat P, he told multiple cats that he was "kinda running things". But in reality, that might have just been his ego speaking.
BTW few people feel good about [deleted] today. They have lost roughly 2/3rds of their active supporters and of those left, it is strained to the limit. Among the remaining cats, morale is especially bad.
[1] A small luxury "mini-crossover SUV", look it up on wikipedia.
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According to an earlier "battle damage assessment", the vehicle was 'damaged beyond repair' during the battle with the X gang. However, the cat had it repaired anyway, at greater cost than simply obtaining a newer vehicle (likely more than 100,000 carrots). When asked to justify the cost to the treasurer, he cited sentimental value.
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Yes, I heard about it, and there is no way. For starters, he will always claim responsibility _before_ acquiring something like that. If there wasn't a claim of responsibility, warning letter, or such; it's not him, frankly it's barking up the wrong tree.
In all honestly, it's probably Cat P because that cat refuses to be one of his cronies. No there isn't any proof there, not yet at least. But wait, because these things can take time to play out.
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Numerous sources have reported that the purge is active and ongoing -- he is purging anyone who had any relations with (or in some cases, just knew) the snake Z. For instance, snake R, cat H, etc. Past purges have been undertaken with the intent of removing spies or tightening information security; this purge goes beyond simple paranoia. It is a vendetta against the snake and anyone who follows him.
Have no doubt that Cat P would kill the snake outright if he could, but with the reach of the gang severely limited, he simply isn't able to.
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Yes, and I think the sarcasm is lost (missed) on some people. It was quite obvious to me that the comments on that topic were meant to be sarcastic.
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Last weekend, a cat told me that Cat P wanted to charge him, as the host of the event, a protection fee. Starting at roughly equivalent to 1200 baby carrots, or more, depending on the size of his operation. Of course he didn't pay up, but it's the thought that counts.
Also over the weekend one of our bunnies reports that someone from the cat gang posted some photos of her on 4chan in an attempt to blackmail and ridicule her. In the end, no one really cared and it didn't have much effect. But again, it's the thought that counts.
It looks like the neighborhood cat gang is back up to its old tricks again. Or trying, at least.
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From Mikey: "There was no actual meeting. They are down to only several supporters. There just aren't enough cats in the area to actually get anything done. Morale is poor and hopelessness has set in."
"Cat P is trying to augment their lack of personnel by bringing in his own cronies. But he is so far removed from his power base that he can't get many to follow him that far south."
"When they attempted to meet, three Pomeranians and a Maltese happened to be meeting in the room next door. All the local cats were freaked, they either didn't show up or showed up only briefly, running away after that. And Cat P wanted to fight them but couldn't convince anyone else to fight. So the meeting had to be put off and no one knows when they will make another attempt to meet.
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Word is that today a single Pomeranian infiltrated the gang's headquarters.
"Cat P was taking delivery of a new deluxe coffee machine, he set down the box and opened it and a Pomeranian leapt out. Cat T, who was next to him, reports that he yelled and tried to turn to attack, but the Pomeranian was running circles around both of them while nipping at Cat P's rear legs repeatedly. Cat T tried to assist, but the dog was just too fast and he could not land a blow. After a few seconds of this assault, Cat P's rear legs gave out, he was disabled and collapsed to the ground, crying for help. Shortly after this the Pomeranian is said to have fled the scene."
"It was an off day, there were only around 10 cats at the warehouse, only three of which were trained in actual combat. The Pomeranian was able to make quite a ruckus, they tried to trap (him) to no avail and chased him throughout the complex. About five minutes later, (he) is reported to have made a getaway by going up onto the roof and leaping to the adjacent building. (His) actual objective at infiltrating the gang's headquarters and injuring Cat P is not known."
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I have no plans to sell it. I don't think it's worth the trouble. If I can find anyone willing to pay me (equiv. 4000 baby carrots) for one, I'd be glad to build one and send it out. But anything less, the answer is no.
The parts cost is roughly (equiv. 920 baby carrots) and it takes me roughly 8 hours of work to build one. If you want to build one yourself, I can demonstrate how (it's not too hard, just time consuming).
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I'm told that right now, their paranoia is at an all-time high. There is a massive and ongoing purge at all levels (and offshoots) which has been confirmed by many. And while it is having an effect on infiltration at the lower levels, it also crippling the gang. The purge is more than a third, by the time it is complete they will likely have purged around half their members.
"Cat P has gone totally rabid. He's systematically destroying the gang so that it can be remade in his image. Any cat that is even slightly suspected is removed instantly, and in the meantime, there is very little income available and cats to do anything at all. To him, enemies, real or imagined, lurk in every shadow; the snake is scheming for revenge, Cat K has been secretly working with the black bunny squad, etc."
Sindobook:
I can answer that with absolute certainty.
Roughly 9 (cat) years ago, plus or minus 3 cat years, Cat P was approached by a representative of the near eastern[1] cat gang. This was back when the neighborhood cat gang still controlled significant territories to the north.
The representative of the near eastern cat gang proposed a deal. His gang wanted to gain a local foothold, but without any local territory, they had nowhere to land troops or any base to serve as a staging area. He proposed an alliance where cat P's neighborhood gang would allow them to use their territory as a staging area, attacking their enemies to the north and seizing their lands. Ultimately this would create a friendly northern neighbor which would allow the neighborhood cat gang to focus on securing its own territory and focus its expansion to the south in an effort to increase effectiveness.
Cat P like the idea behind this deal, for both these reasons. At the time, he was having to deal with strong rivals within his own gang, and he would rather focus on expanding to the south anyways. So the two agreed to meet "face to face" in order to finalize and sign off on the deal. However, at the meeting, Cat P showed up with two of his lawyers in tow as well as several advisers; the representative was still alone. The representative became irate at having to negotiate with lawyers and left without a deal in place. Cat P tried to threaten him on the way out, saying if anyone from his gang set foot anywhere even near the city, he would be decimated. But the representative just ignored his threats.
What did the near eastern cat gang do? They held off and waited for an opportunity. When the X gang attacked the neighborhood cat gang, they had that opportunity, and they invaded shortly after the X gang pulled back from its seige. They have since expanded farther to the north, even trampling over a few of Cat P's sworn enemies in the process. As for most of the gangs to the north that are enemies of the neighborhood cat gang, they seem to be coexisting with them.
From Samantha: "We (the bunny brigade) had no part in this operation. The failure was purely based on Cat P's stupidity."
From Mikey: "It's good that the alliance failed, I mean, we'd likely be fighting them if it hadn't. But then it is to be expected, [Cat P] knows nothing of diplomacy, he couldn't even negotiate his way out of a paper bag[2]. Instead we are just waiting to clean up what's left of the mess they made down here."
[1] "near eastern cat gang" per Samantha's recommendation. Small animals typically label cat gangs based on their primary location.
[2] refering to the "paper bag incident" long ago. When he was a kitten, Cat P got a paper bag stuck over his head and was having problems getting it off. His owner eventually took it off, but not before taking a video which was later posted to youtube.
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At this point it's really hard to say what the future is for them. I don't think it will fail, not yet, at least.
1) There are huge gaps in personnel that need to be filled.
2) It's not an 'open' organization. About half the cats out there don't want anything to do with anything associated with the neighborhood gang in the first place. On top of this, I have talked to many who tried applying and were denied.
Both these things combined means that Cat P has to support it using his own people.
3) At the rate things are going, we expect the neighborhood cat gang will last between three to six more years. Once the neighborhood cat gang goes away, even if it is followed or replaced by something else, Cat P will have lost his powerbase.
4) Cat P's ego may mean he will keep it going, and as long as he has a powerbase of supporters, he can do this. But once he loses that, it's done.
One final note, funds were never a problem before. But if it's run poorly, it might end up in the red.
I expect that something else will happen before that.
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I haven't seen her in years. Evidently she doesn't get out much (though I'm told she's still around).
From Samantha - "One of our bunnies reported a high certainty sighting about [a month] ago."
None of the people who know her from that time want anything to do with her anymore. And I think I know why (at least, one part of it).
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We have now all but confirmed that Cat H has defected from the gang's constantly shrinking local chapter.
From Mikey - "I can't say this will have [much of an effect]. He had several followers, but as a leader, he was far from effective. What little leadership qualities he had were overshadowed by some major flaws, like a tendency to over-dramatize everything or become extremely emotional and unable to lead due to the goings-on in his personal life."
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I have no idea what it is. I don't think it is a trap.
But, I'll make that judgement at the last minute.
I still don't know.
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From Mikey: That bunny (bunny V) is probably one of the most out-of-touch I know. Don't get me wrong, we still love her. We just ignore everything she says.
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Okay, I am NOT going.
Mikey is pretty sure it is a trap.
From Mikey: "We have confirmed that Cat R is in the vicinity. That ruthless cat is known to be one of Cat P's cronies, among other things."
"They're certainly planning something."
"Best case, it's a trap. Worst case, it's an even bigger trap."
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