School of the Cat is a school of ragtag witchers formed after a student mutiny against their former masters. Headquartered in the traveling Dyn Marv Caravan, they are apparently one of the few schools training women and non-pureblood humans.
Alternatively, the Cats are a type of defective, psychotic witcher created using faulty decoctions in the citadel of Beann Grudd.
History
Beginnings
The earliest witchers that can be seen as spiritual ancestors of the Cats were a group of between 15 to 20 members of the Order of Witchers. Following the unrest caused by Arnaghad's violence against a fellow Order member and the subsequent formation of the School of the Bear and Viper, disputes arose in the Order concerning what exactly constituted the basis and code of the witcher profession. The aforementioned group of over a dozen young Order members believed that they could improve the mutation process and build a better order on their own, surpassing their predecessor and commanding the respect of both the poor and the mighty of the Continent. They left Morgraig by night, stealing a significant collection of mutagenic compounds and alchemical tools.
The group, reportedly already under the symbol of the Cat, established its seat in Stygga Castle, a citadel in a remote mountain chain in Ebbing. From a new base of operation, the School of the Cat emerged not as a mere training facility, but a significant piece of the local political chessboard. To win various rulers' favors, masters of the school rejected the policy of neutrality, sending their disciples as spies, assassins, and swords for hire. The school seemingly earned the respect of local commonfolk as well; centuries after the School's collapse people of Pereplut bogs still respected witchers not only for slaying monsters, but also for dealing with local banditry.
Gezras' splinter group and the Fall of Stygga
The School's success was only temporary. The efforts at creating improved, completely emotionless witchers went well at first; the first Cats created at Stygga were almost flayed of emotions, giving an impression of almost alien race. It was not enough for the mages, who worked on a new process, designed to dull the emotions of would-be witchers even more than usual. Apparently given free hand by the School's masters, the sorcerers caged a "failed batch" of students whose emotions were not dulled but enhanced and performed further tests (including vivisections) to derive a final solution.
Upon waking in a pile of discarded corpses, barely alive, a student named Gezras managed to crawl out and free those of "test subjects" that remained alive. Miraculously managing to escape, they found refuge among local a Aen Seidhe group who provided them with a safe sanctuary from those who still sought to abolish their past mistakes. In exchange, Gezras' group supported the elves in their guerilla fight. Cat assassins working for the elves only added to the already ill repute of Feline witchers, increasingly notorious in royal circles.
After a time, kings and queens began to take serious caution; likely not aware of the schism, they started to plan the assault on Stygga. As the royal armies amassed, the citadel was eventually infiltrated by Gezras' group who managed to strike at their misguided creators under the cover of night, slaughtering the mages as they slept. After they left, the old Cat witchers were alone to face the incoming forces. For three days the blood-soaked slaughter persisted, but eventually every last defending witcher perished.
The caravan
Sated by revenge and free from the past, surviving witchers led by Gezras moved north, bolstering their ranks with renegades and badly mutated outcasts from other schools. They gathered together to form the Dyn Marv Caravan and rejected the heritage of the early School's Styggan founders as the nomad witchers saw their beginning in Gezras' group's escape from the mages.
Over the years, the traveling troop of witchers sold their skills to anyone who could pay, for any job. The caravan stayed at numerous hiding places where the mutations were performed, through warped, experimental methods. The corrupt Trials combined with aggressive disposition entrenched in adepts in various training camps, slowly earned them the disdain of other Schools.
In 1060s members of School of the Cat aided Aelirenn in her rebellion against human rule.
"Cooperation" with the Wolves
At one point in late 12th century, Dyn Marv settled in Hertch, near the Summer Camp of the Wolf School. For some time since then schools of the Wolf and of the Cat were funded by Kaedwenian monarchs. The student exchanges took place and some older witchers befriended each other. However, a faction within the school centered around its then-leader Treyse engaged in a plot against the Wolves together with King Radowit II's mage Astrogarus (unbeknownst to other experienced school members such as Guxart). Treyse became convinced that if they helped the Kaedwenis to kill off the Wolves, they would be given a special position within the new witcher order under the King's commands. Guxart and others without the knowledge of the plot were arrested by King's men so that Treyse's faction could proceed.
The plot turned badly – for both schools. Just after the Cats attacked the disarmed Wolves at the Witcher Tournament, the King ordered his men to kill off all the witchers, showing that the sole reason of the Tournament was to get rid of growing witcher schools. Treyse was among the ones who were shot.
13th century
As Guxart was released some time later, he was presumably the one to rebuild the school, on Radowit's condition that royal money would never be given to them again. Some of the Cats, presumably those who took the part in the plot, were forever banned from entering Kaer Morhen and other witcher resting places, denying them a place to spend winters in warmth.
Prior to 1272 the soldiers took the caravan. As reported by Joël, witchers Axel and Cedric were killed in the process, with Schrödinger's fate unknown. The School's final nail in the coffin came in 1274 when Lexandre betrayed his fellow witchers, commiting a murder and stealing the Grandmaster's diagrams.
While all signs in heaven and on earth tell us that School of the Cat has disbanded, there are people who speculate that some of the Cat witchers have started to return to their quarters, seeing that monsters are becoming a threat again. Who knows what the future brings?
Training
Cat students hone their balance by walking a tightrope blindfolded. Failure is easy to shrug off at first, but throughout their training, the walk gets higher and the danger increases.
Characteristics
The Cats developed fighting styles focusing on speed, precision, and agility. One of these styles was Addan Aenye, created by the elf Nissail. As a result, Cat school witchers as well as their equipment do not deal a lot of raw damage, but can inflict deadly critical hits. By extension, their gear was designed to maximize flexibility and provide the greatest possible range of motion.
Because the Cats did not have a permanent home they performed their training wherever they could, even within human cities. The school's adepts would, throughout their years of training, hone their balancing skills by walking a tight rope while blindfolded. The walk would get higher as time went on, building towards the final trial where failure would be deadly.
The original founders' ideals on which the school was created were lofty. They wanted to build a school which would surpass the Order and earn them the respect of the people of the continent. These ideals would be abandoned by the later Cats. Because of their warped mutations and time among the Aen Seidhe, members of the Cat school proved as flexible in their morals and politics as in their armor and fighting style. Over time, they became pariahs even among their fellow witchers due to taking contracts on not just monsters but humans as well, with the latter going against the witchers' code.
As the School had no code of neutrality and Cats fought on the side of the Aen Seidhe during the race wars, Felines displayed a more favourable attitude towards the elves. Some were known to use the elven word: dh'oine, when refering to humans. The School's founder, Gezras, was known to say he would "take a contract from an Aen Seidhe over a dh'oine any day."
Members
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
Season of the Cat reward tree
This event allows to unlock the lore on this school and a cardback with the school's medallion.
Notes
- Ciri claimed a Cat School medallion from the corpse of Leo Bonhart who had reportedly slain at least one of its members.