Character: Krosp, Emperor of All Cats

Character Sheet (Krosp, Emperor of All Cats)

Combat Value: 3

You are Emperor Krosp I, King of the Cats. You tell yourself this to remind yourself that you aren't just a stupid experiment. You have one vassal so far, which is a start. If only she wasn't acting so damned weird today.

You were created by Dr. Vapnoople, a Spark of considerable talent in the biological sciences who hadn't the slightest lick of common sense. He came up with the brilliant idea of creating the "King of the Cats". Cats were the perfect insurrectionists, able to go anywhere and do anything, without anyone noticing. Which would be lovely except that all other cats except you are still dumb animals. Saboteurs who get distracted at the scent of the nearest mouse are the second-most-useless thing in the world, after spies who forget their task when they find a ball of twine.

Still, Vapnoople wasn't a bad sort. He taught you the rudiments of human intelligence: how to speak, how to act in polite company, and so on. In retrospect, proper table manners probably wasn't the most useful thing you could have learned, but again, common sense wasn't his forte. And it wasn't as if he actually knew anything about covert operations himself, so he couldn't exactly teach you about them.

Vapnoople was working for Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach, on board Castle Wulfenbach, as one of his pet researchers. Of course, like all Sparks, Vapnoople was a little bit mad, and he got the idea that he was going to use you in a scheme to unseat the Baron. You knew it was a bad idea, and tried to argue him out of it, but he was determined. So determined, in fact, that the Baron managed to walk in on your shouting match and hear most of the upshot.

Wulfenbach captured both of you, chained Vapnoople up, and questioned him until he talked. (Which took -- oh, about three minutes) Vapnoople explained the whole thing -- how you, his greatest invention, would enable the Baron to better control his various vassals, and conquer lands in secret. Wulfenbach, damn him, never lost that "amused but bored" expression that he has mastered so well; when the whole story was complete, he declared you a failure, and ordered your termination. You were taken down below, to be dealt with.

That was when you caught your one lucky break. A Jaegermonster named "Jenka", who apparently has a soft spot for animals, took pity on you. She distracted your minders, took your cage and made off with it. As far as you can tell, no one paid much attention -- they didn't even bother to tell the Baron that you had escaped. This was your first real lesson in people management: underlings are fools, who don't necessarily realize what is important.

You spent the next few days learning your way around the Castle, which proved to be astoundingly large. In the six months or so that you'd been alive, you had mainly been kept in and around Vapnoople's lab, so you had never really grasped the scale of the place. But you were determined to find your creator and rescue him as Jenka had rescued you. It wasn't to be, though. If it wasn't for your keen sense of smell, you would never have found him at all; as it was, it was too late. Wulfenbach had experimented on him, as part of his insane quest to understand the Sparks. He had extracted Vapnoople's brain, and placed it inside one of the Castle's systems -- controlling the waste management, as far as you could tell. It would have been bad enough if he had simply been killed; this was a truly terrible fate. Someday, you hope to be able to rescue him from that -- or at least, to get close enough to kill him properly.

You and Jenka developed a loose friendship over the next year. She wasn't often on board: the Baron uses her as a sort of detached agent, for jobs he wants dealt with "quietly". (Not that there is anything all that quiet about her. But she's much quieter than the Baron's usual army of Clanks and Jaegers.) But when she was there, she taught you much about how things really work -- everything from the flying of airships to the political structure of the world around you. You owe her much for that, and the debt has never been paid. One of these days, you will find something she needs: you don't like being in anyone's debt.

It's been a long time since you've really seen her. You think you saw her in that chaos down in the town of Zumzum last month, but you can't be sure -- if it was her, she was masked, and you never got close enough to smell her. You still have no idea what that mess was all about.

Anyway, your life got more interesting about four months ago, when Agatha Heterodyne wandered into your life. At first, she seemed like a normal girl, if a tad dim -- she called herself "Agatha Clay", and didn't seem to have much idea about how the world really worked. But she fed you, and that is always a good way to get your attention, even if she thought you were simply an ordinary stray cat. Eventually, you realized that she was secretly a Spark (well before she realized that -- see "a tad dim"), and she entered into your service as your first vassal.

That changed things. It was all right to simply wander around Castle Wulfenbach as a stray while you were on your own: young nobles always find themselves at loose ends. But now, you had responsibilities. If Agatha was going to serve you, that meant that you owed her protection, and protecting her meant getting her off the ship. Especially once it came out that she was actually the daughter of Bill Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish, and therefore heir to the most powerful and important Spark lineage there is. She wasn't nearly ready for that sort of power; she would simply wind up a pawn in everyone else's game. So she had to get out, while she still had any freedom at all to preserve.

The escape was -- messy. Fire, smoke, yelling, chaos everywhere. Not exactly the subtle exit you would have preferred, but you had no time to consider better plans. In the end, you and Agatha wound up out with an airship, able to take you wherever you wanted to go. Or at least, it would have done so, if that idiot Tryggvassen hadn't punched a hole in the airbag.

So down you went, into the Wilderness. The two of you were left with some emergency supplies, and a big gun. (Which, to be fair, is better than not having a big gun.) Before terribly long, you came across "Master Payne's Circus of Adventure", and tried to get them to help. They sent you away after hearing your story -- showing themselves smart enough not to want to cross Wulfenbach -- but took you in after Agatha saved them from a giant Clank that was attacking them. Gilgamesh Wulfenbach came after Agatha -- he is the Baron's son, and was quite smitten with her -- but the Circus folk fooled him into believing that she was dead, and you were able to leave in relative peace.

You've been traveling with the Circus for three months now, and have begun to fit in. It's not exactly the life you had hoped for: so far, you still only have one vassal. But Professor Moonsock, the animal trainer, keeps you well-fed (with cream, even!), and Agatha has taken on the role of "Olga, the Fotune Teller". The two of you found out relatively early that the Circus is largely made up of renegade minor Sparks, who have banded together for safety. That's actually pretty clever, allowing them to be who they are while convincing the various townsfolk that they are simply illusionists and fakes. You still haven't told them who Agatha really is, though -- she's back under the "Agatha Clay" name, because the Heterodyne one is still much too dangerous.

Along the way, some complications have arisen. The most dangerous is probably the Jaegers. Three of them -- Dimo, Oggie and Maxim -- who Agatha found hanging around in Zumzum. Of course, they recognized her immediately: Jaegermonsters have a bond to the Heterodynes, so they can recognize her by scent even more precisely than you can. They've sworn themselves into her service, which is somewhat redundant: the Jaegers have been the Heterodyne's creatures for hundreds of years. But it officially makes them at least partly your problem -- subinfeudeation rules notwithstanding, the vassals of your vassal are at least somewhat your responsibility. But they're violent and unpredictable creatures, and not nearly as stupid as the ones back on Castle Wulfenbach were. And they are annoyingly sneaky: you're not used to anything that can take you by surprise, and having several around is damned annoying.

In the time you have been with the Circus, though, things have never been quite as grim as they are now. They are down to half-strength, and time is drawing short.

Three weeks ago, the Circus passed through the town of Middleburg, a filthy and bad-smelling town. The Circus hadn't been there in many years, they said, but with the bridge at Passholdt out of commission (and you all having barely gotten away from the creatures there with your lives), it was the obvious way to go. A bunch of the Circus folk went into town for a night of relaxation, but you and Agatha stayed out: you were quite clear that you wanted nothing to do with a place that smelled that nasty.

Middleburg, it transpires, was now run by a corrupt nobleman named Hugo von Markheim. Von Markheim is quite a creature, a bad excuse for a noble even by human standards. He runs Middleburg as his own private little fief, and he makes up the rules arbitrarily. By all accounts, he is exceptionally harsh, and likes to extort from everyone who passes through.

So Payne and Countess Marie were very clear with the members of the Circus: everyone was to stay strictly on the up-and-up. For all you know, they might have done so -- reports were very muddled. All you know for sure is that, late on that first night, a rider came from Middleburg, telling you that all the Circus members in town had been arrested, on the serious grounds of "theft". That was out of character (although a bit of basic grifting wouldn't have been surprising), but Payne treated the matter at face value. He asked how to get them out of jail, and was cited a price that was clearly a bribe. A bribe far beyond the Circus' means.

Payne and Marie pleaded with the herald -- everything but outright exposing their own Sparkiness to the herald. But the herald was implacable. Either the Circus coughed up the money within three weeks, or von Markheim would begin to execute members of the show. Finally, Payne asked whether fair exchange would be accepted, and the herald agreed that a gift of suitable value would be considered a proper bail.

Well, you clearly couldn't raise the money in Middleheim, and risk having more members of the Circus taken hostage. So you have spent the past two weeks on the road, doing everything you could to raise the funds. It has been hard, though, especially with half the group behind bars. They even relented and let you do a little musical show, which you've been wanting to show off for months, but the philistine crowds apparently have no ear for music. As of a week ago, you were nowhere near having the needed money. But you did hear about one desperate option. The Hidden Castle of Amagog had recently reappeared.

It all tied into a famous local legend. Two centuries ago, the Great Spark Amagog had been terrorizing the countryside, with his "Perfect Construct" (some sort of monster -- accounts vary, but people can always be counted on to believe the worst of a Construct) by his side. And then, one day, he simply vanished: he, his monster, even his Castle, just disappeared one night. No one knew where they had gone, but the legend had it that he would return one day. And that day seems to be now -- a few weeks ago, the Castle reappeared, fully intact.

Of course, every adventurer in the region has been coming around and trying to enter the Castle, and none of them have come back out as far as you know. The Castle is fully functional, including all of its deathtraps. Not exactly inviting, but the possibility of treasure inside is too tempting to pass up.

And so you all camped out here. Embi wound up going inside the Castle. You aren't sure precisely what he did, but he apparently has friends out in the forest, and the bunch of them went into the Castle several days ago. (You are pretty sure that you smelled Othar Tryggvassen on him, and you saw a fairly worse-for-the-wear Theopholous DuMedd going into Countess Marie's cabin a few days ago. Small world: what is Theo doing here?) Embi hasn't told you exactly what they found there, but when you ask about the ransom, he smiles and tells you that he has a plan. You hope he is right -- von Markheim's herald is supposed to rendezvous with the Circus here tonight, and he expects you all to be able to give him his money then.

Meanwhile, the situation is making you distinctly uneasy, especially as you wander around and see who is doing what. Besides Embi's friends, there are clearly others out in the forest. You spotted a couple of men in lab coats sniffing around, apparently spying on Dingbot Prime. You have no idea what that is about, but the whole vassal-of-your-vassal thing does make it somewhat your problem again. Besides, while you can't profess any love for Dingbot Prime (it always bothers you immensely to see a creature walking around that only smells faintly of oil), you've developed a certain fondness for the thing -- you've even learned how to communicate with it, at least a little.

That said, it's acting pretty strangely today. Normally, it's always hanging close to Agatha or off running errands for her: it is admirably devoted to her, one of the few examples you have seen of someone who really understands the basic principle of service. But today, it's instead hanging around that new townsgirl Maria. She came to the Circus a few days ago, claiming to be a perfectly ordinary townie who wanted to run away with the show; the only reason she wasn't immediately sent away was that the Circus is so short-handed right at the moment. But if she's somehow reprogrammed the Dingbot to follow her, then there's clearly more to her than meets the eye. Yet another hidden Spark? They seem to accumulate in this show, but you don't like anyone whose agenda you don't know.

As for Agatha herself, she's been a real bubblehead the past day or so. She wandered off into the forest a couple of days ago -- you suspected she was going to try the Castle herself, and ordered her not to do so, but as so often she ignored your commands. (You really do need to teach her proper respect one of these days.) She came back having found yet another hanger-on: a talking gerbil by the name of "Artie". You were a bit resentful of him at first -- the Circus doesn't need someone else in the talking-animal role -- but you have to admit that he seems both smarter and more sensible than most of the humans around here, so you're developing a certain fondness for him. He's a naive little rodent, but time has a way of teaching people to be sensible, and there is some potential in this "Construct Rights" thing he is cooking up: as a front for organizing a power base, you've heard sillier ideas. You just have to keep reminding yourself that, despite how he smells, it's inappropriate to eat anyone smarter than a Jaegermonster.

As for Agatha herself, she has been looking distinctly disoriented and confused. Granted, that made her training session with Zeetha yesterday morning particularly amusing, but you do need to look after your vassal. She doesn't smell hurt -- really, she smells pretty normal aside from you take to be a new perfume -- but something's clearly up with her. It never stops: having the most wanted woman in the world in your retinue keeps you busy, if nothing else...

Summary

You are Krosp I, Emperor of All Cats. Sometimes it frustrates you to have a natural title that is so utterly useless. But no matter: you have been gradually developing a retinue, particularly in the form of the girl Agatha Heterodyne, and indirectly through her an increasingly-motley court.

You are, of course, a normal-sized cat. Use your own judgement in how you approach the costuming, but you are quite fond of proper military coats.

Public Info

Personality

You have the personality of the leader you were bred to be: cool, analytic, sometimes annoyed but rarely out of control. You are a perfectionist, and rarely happy with other peoples' plans, since most people don't think things through carefully. You are fiercely protective of your subjects: when someone is your responsibility, you will not see them harmed, either by others or their own errors.

For all that, you revel in being a cat, and sometimes can't understand how humans get by with their poor senses and their clumsy bodies. Cats are the most naturally perfect of all creatures.

Some People You Know (Krosp, Emperor of All Cats)

Dr. Vapnoople: Your creator, a fairly foolish Spark. Now a brain in a jar on board Castle Wulfenbach.

Agatha Heterodyne: Known as "Agatha Clay" to most of the people around here. Your one vassal, and one of the most powerful Sparks around. Agatha is the child of the great hero Bill Heterodyne and the sometime villainess Lucrezia Mongfish, and she shows both sides: she tends to rush into situations to help people without thinking it through, and she really likes big guns. She's also very much a typical human of that age, constantly distracted by romance -- she has a bad crush on Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, and something of a crush on Lars.

Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach: Ruler of most of Europa, and the most powerful of Sparks. Wulfenbach is the one who did in your creator Dr. Vapnoople, but you nonetheless somewhat admire him. He isn't a nice person, but he understands rulership better than anyone else around. You observed him from the shadows long enough to understand that he is usually doing what he perceives as necessary, and he's usually right. That said, he isn't your ruler, and he is a threat to Agatha, so he must be considered a rival force.

Gilgamesh von Wulfenbach: The Baron's son, who has all of his father's intelligence but little of his wisdom. Quite young, quite hot-headed, and quite in love with Agatha. One of these days, you'll undoubtedly find it necessary to use that.

Boris and Wooster: The manservants to the elder and younger Wulfenbachs. Both admirably careful aides, good examples of how a Master should be served.

Dingbot Prime: The first of Agatha's little Clanks. Surprisingly intelligent for a non-living creature, and admirably devoted to its Mistress. You've been slowly learning how to talk to it -- that's challenging, but it's been an interesting puzzle for slow days.

Master Marcus Payne: Owner and ringmaster of Master Payne's Circus of Adventure, he runs things around here with a reasonably practical and experienced eye. You don't always agree with him, but he's not a fool. Secretly a Spark, but you still aren't precisely sure what he can do.

Countess Marie: Payne's wife and co-owner, a secret Spark who specializes in potions and such. She currently has charge of the kitchen cabin, which means she has the cream. She is, therefore, an ally and friend to be cultivated.

Abner: Payne's second-in-command, who was captured with most of the rest of the Circus. Apparently, Pix and the others convinced the guards to let him out to help raise the funds for the ransom, and he caught up with the Circus yesterday. He is holding together surprisingly well -- he occasionally surprises you at how cool he can be in a crisis situation.

Zeetha: A warrior from the mysterious land of Skifander, who has taken Agatha on as her student in combat. One of the most clear-headed and straightforward humans you have met to date, and quite skilled, so you approve of her teaching Agatha what she knows.

Embi: A little black man who claims to be 130 years old, which is an impressive lifespan even for humans. He also claims to be on a lifelong mission to see the entire world. He seems prone to exaggeration, but he usually smells like he's telling the truth. Smarter and more competent than he looks. But his dancing cat costume is an affront to cats everywhere, and you need to teach him how to sing properly.

Lars: The Circus' advance man, who left to scout out the next month's route quite some time ago. Since then, the Circus has had to divert to a completely different route than normal due to the Middleburg mess, so Lars hasn't yet caught up. He is rather pathetically sweet on Agatha, so you hope that he eventually finds the Circus again.

Artie: The talking gerbil who Agatha brought home the other day. Smells a little too much like dinner, but he turns out to be quite a good conversationalist and lateral thinker. If he sticks around, you might appoint him as some sort of vizier.

Maria: A local townsgirl who has been hanging around the Circus for the past week, helping out. You don't know what her story is yet; you'll need to observe her, and see what she is up to. The Dingbot is hanging around her instead of Agatha, which is very strange. Has she done something to it? If so, there is more to her than meets the eye.

Dimo, Oggie and Maxim: The trio of Jaegermonsters who have joined the Circus. They've been assigned as clowns in the show, but they aren't nearly the funny creatures people are treating them as. You know the smell of a predator, and they have it all over them. The only question is, who is going to be their prey? They claim to serve Agatha, but you can't say you entirely trust them.

Jenka: The Jaegermonster who saved your life, back on Castle Heterodyne. By far, the smartest and sneakiest Jaeger you ever met, but she always had her own agendas, and you've never known what they were.

Moloch von Zinzer: A soldier of some sort, who came on board Castle Wulfenbach at the same time as Agatha; everyone was apparently convinced that they were lovers of some sort. You never interacted directly with him, but Agatha's descriptions of him weren't complimentary.

Othar Tryggvassen: A Spark who has some sort of life mission to kill all Sparks, including himself. He is a fan of the Circus, and apparently comes to all of their shows when he can. He is encouraging Agatha in foolish heroism; you do not approve. At some point, you're going to have to have a stern talk with him, and make clear that he should not be leading your people in dangerous paths like that.

Theopholous DuMedd, Sleipnir O'Hara, Zulenna Luzhakna and Z: Various students on board Castle Wulfenbach, with whom Agatha was quartered when you first met her.

Von Pinn: Some sort of creature who kept all the students in line. Admirably disciplined, but rather unsettlingly strange-smelling, with bits of Jaegermonster, human and something else you never managed to identify.

---

Neuter Construct (from Comic) (Status: In Game)

Pictures
Here is [the first time Krosp talks] -- one of the definitive Girl Genius moments.
A few shots of [an unclothed Krosp].
He is first given his greatcoat, and we see several shots of it, on (v4, p97).

Plots:
The Construct Rights Movement (Construct Rights)
Agatha Transformed (Agatha Transformed)
Crisis of Infinite Agathas (Infinite Agathas)
The Circus Arrested (Circus Arrested)
Dingbot Studies (Dingbot Studies)
People of the Mirror-World (Mirror-World)
Lab Rats (Lab Rats)

Bluesheets:
Master Payne's Circus of Adventure (Circus Bluesheet)

Abilities and Disabilities

Very, Very Cute (Cute) -- You are very, very cute. That's a point of pride, but it's also a useful tool at times.

You may distract any player or groups of players briefly, by spending one Point and showing them this "Cute" card. For up to one minute, you can keep your target busy scritching and generally adoring you, and they must focus on you during that time, not noticing other things happening around them. You may only do so once to any given player (after that, they may notice that you are distracting them), and you can only do this once every fifteen minutes. While being Cute, you must roleplay this to the hilt: remember, you're being the cute fuzzy animal here, not the intelligent creature you really are.

Resistant to Cuteness (Anti-Cute) -- You aren't the kind of person to care much about cuteness -- fuzzy animals and the like don't do much for you. So you may ignore any attempts others make to play the Cute special ability on you. (You may choose to roleplay otherwise, but it's your choice.)

Powerful Sense of Smell (Smell) -- You have a powerful and sensitive sense of smell, far moreso than an ordinary human.

You can recognize people by smell: if you believe that someone is in disguise, you may concentrate on them and spend one Point to determine if they are who they appear to be. Tell a GM that you are doing so, and they will tell you what you find.

You can also detect a person's mood by their scent -- humans give off very different scents depending on how they feel. You may spend one Point and show someone this card to ask them how they feel right now. They must answer honestly: in particular, they must tell you if they are feeling any emotions that are not readily apparent on the surface, and whether they smell like they are trying to hide something from you. (To the target: please be honest here -- yes, your mood can be read by scent.)

Agile Escape (Agile Escape) -- You are a small, agile animal, and therefore difficult to catch. Because of this, you can escape from any combat without being caught. Immediately after a combat is declared, you may declare that you are escaping, and no one can prevent you; you may also escape between rounds as normal. Roleplay this appropriately -- ducking and weaving, diving beneath furniture and things like that are appropriate. Note that there are limits to this ability: characters who are particularly good at tracking may be able to catch up with you, so hiding carefully and running away again may sometimes be necessary to stay uncaught.

Bite (Bite) -- You are a cat. As such, you have a very practiced skill at biting things, and sneaking up on them. You may jump into any combat, unannounced, at any time, by biting a single combatant on the arm or leg. This distracts them from whatever else they were going: they must focus on you for this round of combat. If they were in the middle of combat with someone else, and would have won the round, they do no damage; if they would have lost the round, their opponent's effective score is increased by 1.

However, you cannot immediately run away after a biting attack. You must show your opponent your Scruff disability, and they may scruff you if they choose.

Scruffing (Scruff) -- You are a cat. As such, you are hard to catch, but totally immobilized when held by the scruff of the neck. If someone with Stealth grabs you, they may pick you up by the scruff, and hold you that way for up to three minutes. (You are a heavy cat, so a normal human cannot hold you longer than that. However, someone with great strength, such as a Jaegermonster, can hold you up indefinitely.) While you are scruffed, you may flail, struggle, and complain vituperatively, but you cannot perform any useful physical actions, and you cannot escape. The person holding you scruffed may not engage in combat while holding you, nor may they carry heavy objects or perform other physically intense actions without dropping you.

If you use your Bite special ability, you must show your target this card, and they may choose to scruff you (regardless of whether they have the Stealth ability) instead of continuing in whatever they had been doing.

Phobia of Water (Phobia Of Water) -- You're a cat. You really, really, really don't like getting wet.

Small (Small) -- You are much smaller than a normal human. This means that you can get into tight spaces where ordinary people can't.

Can't Carry Much (Cant Carry) -- Being a small creature, you can't carry anything bulky or heavy. The definitions here are obviously subjective, but please roleplay accordingly, based on your size. You struggle with even medium-sized objects, and simply can't move anything large.

Stealthy (Stealth) -- You are practiced in sneaking around and listening in on people.

To be stealthy, spend one Point, hold this card up on your forehead, and roleplay it to the hilt -- going under tables, hiding around corners, and things like that are appropriate. You may be stealthy for up to five minutes, listening in on conversations. This isn't quite invisibility: if someone has specific reason to be looking for someone listening in, they can see you. But otherwise, they should roleplay not noticing you there, and continue with their conversations accordingly. (Targets: please be honest, and roleplay accordingly -- don't suddenly start looking around just because someone is using this on you.)

You are strongly encouraged to roleplay giving away your position when you have heard enough, just to tweak the people you were listening in on, and perhaps ask further questions.

If someone uses Stealth on you, you may notice them after only two minutes -- you are more attuned to people sneaking around, since you do it yourself.

Understands Dingbot, Somewhat (Understands Dingbot Somewhat) -- The little Clanks that follows Agatha around -- "Dingbot Prime", as she's taken to calling it -- took you badly aback at first. On principle, you don't much like things you can't smell. But it's basically the vassal of your vassal, and thus deserving of some protection, so you've decided to take it seriously.

The problem, of course, is that the thing is largely incomprehensible: it speaks some sort of machine language that is quite different from human speech. Agatha can communicate with it fine, but most people just find it baffling. That makes for a good intellectual challenge, so over the past couple of months, you have been studying the Dingbot and its interactions with Agatha, and slowly puzzling out its queer language, a combination of gestures and little mechanical noises. You can't say that you are good at it yet, but you're starting to get the idea.

You can show this card to Dingbot Prime, who may afterwards communicate with you, albeit imperfectly. It can only speak very quietly (so no other players can hear) in words and small sentence fragments, punctuated by its usual nonsense noises. But you can typically get the drift of what it is saying.

---

Historical Background

The following were notes while the character was evolving. They do not necessarily represent the way it came out.

A cute, megalomaniacal furball.

Krosp is [a large cat], but not unnaturally so -- I'd guess 20-24 pounds.

Note that Krosp is entirely capable of [acting like an ordinary housecat] when he wants to. However, from the way he [grasps things], it's pretty clear that he has small but fully functional opposable thumbs.

From [the first time he talks], Krosp bosses Agatha around. It is clear that he regards himself as the alpha cat in the relationship. From his POV, Agatha swore fealty to him on [this page], and he takes that responsibility very seriously. His attitude towards her is downright paternal at times, but he does [expect to be served well]. He approves of the way that Zeetha is training her, as shown on (v4, p65), and hopes that it will toughen her up.

He is explicitly a cat with human intelligence. He was deemed a failure, and intended for termination.

He might have a nasty bite as a special ability? He definitely has [catlike agility], which might prove useful in combat or for dealing with traps.

When in a true crisis (v3, p108), Krosp instinctively tends to take charge. He is really quite an effective leader, in his way.

He knows (v3, p109) how to fly airships, although he's too short to reach the controls. One suspects he has a lot of practical knowledge like that.

Krosp really, really (v4, p6) does not like getting wet. Given the choice between mortal danger and a bath, he has to think about it.

He is (v4, p7) supremely self-confident about his own abilities, at least on the surface. When plucked off the Castle for the first time in his life, he simply assumes that he can catch enough for them to get by. This probably factors in his bluesheet -- it's not quite that he is that overconfident, but he believes that a leader must show confidence at all times. But he also (v4, p8) tends to believe in his own PR, and gets very frustrated when he can't do things that he thinks he ought to be able to do. In general, we should write him as someone who thinks the sky is the limit: if you have a strong enough will, you can accomplish what you want. He's sort of like Miles Vorkosigan in a fur coat.

While by no means paranoid, he does (v4, p8) tend to be a bit suspicious of the unknown, and will usually assume the worst of strangers. He is very suspicious of the Circus when they arrive, and he is very observant about the strangenesses there (v4, p81). However, he seems to confide quite completely in Agatha.

For all his intellect, he (v4, p9) doesn't always grok the differences between humans and cats. In this case, he doesn't understand why Agatha wouldn't want to eat the yummy raw mouse head.

He is well-managed by (v4, p9) stroking his ego. He is cute, knows he's cute (v4, p12), and is quite proud of it. This may well be a special ability.

He has (v4, p10) a keen sense of smell. He is able to distinguish, eg, the smells of campfire, horses and people. He can even distinguish individuals who he knows well, and is surprised that humans can't do the same -- see (v4, p56), where he is disconcerted that Gil can't recognize Agatha by smell. He can even recognize her moods by smell (v4, p57). This might well be a special ability. He can smell monsters, as we see on (v5, p11). There is an implication that animals can generally smell the unnatural -- the horses smell it too. This sense of smell can be a weakness, though -- on (v5, p91) he is all but traumatized by falling in a sewer.

He hunts Mimmoths like mice (v4, p19).

He has a serious weakness for cream (v4, p57).

He is inherently stealthy, and almost casual about it (v4, p68). He just instinctively sneaks around, listens in on people, and tries to understand what is going on around him (v4, p71). However, as we see on (v5, p30), he doesn't always succeed in hiding. We might consider giving him stealth as a special ability, but require a die roll for success -- he has something like a one in three chance of being seen if the players he's listening to try to detect him. This requires good metagaming on the part of the listened-to players; then again, this game requires reasonably good metagaming on all players' parts anyway.

He is suspicious of Dingbot Prime, and doesn't wholly like it (v4, p82). One gets the impression he would respect it more if it were more obviously useful, but there's a certain sidekick rivalry going on here. LATER: no, strike that and reverse it. Dingbot Prime doesn't have enough allies, and Krosp is the best candidate. So instead, he thinks of Dingbot as a subject of his (vassal of his vassal), and has invested significant effort in being able to communicate with it. Might give him the ability to do extremely limited communications with it.

He is willing to sing and dance as an entertainer, but he is really, really bad at it (v4, p97). As a result, the Circus gives him his greatcoat to be part of his "act", to make him look less like a natural cat. It used to be Balthazar's coat, but he outgrew it. Note that he is the one person who does not like Agatha's playing of the Silverodeon on (v5, p43). What is this about? Does he have a tin ear, or just dislike music, or is it something particular to her music that he has a problem with?

Like any cat, he shows his mood in his ears (v4, p97). This might well go into the costume hint -- having ears that can be put down when annoyed would be a Nice Touch.

Krosp is a skilled chess player, or at least fancies himself as one (v5, p33). Given his nature, this makes a certain amount of sense.

He likes Artie after a fashion, although he thinks of him as rather naive. He thinks that intelligent-animal Constructs need to hold together -- but, as the cat, he is obviously the one in charge.

See Plot Brainstorming for one or two more ideas for Krosp. What is he doing to help Vapnoodle? What might he want out of the Castle? Does he know anything about the relationship between Klaus' brain experiments and the Jaegers, and what does he think about that if so?

Justin 2/19: Vapnoople is now essentially a brain in a jar in Castle Wulfenbach -- his brain is controlling the Castle's waste management systems. There are a couple of possible ways that Krosp could save him, if he's clever enough and gets enough information and allies. He could use the Eye of Amagog to transport Vapnoople through to the Castle Laboratory, the way that Beetle rescued himself from death. Or, he could have Helen transplant the brain into some other body. Either of these will require using the Mirror to transport himself to Castle Wulfenbach, which is a bit dangerous from a GM POV, but we should probably allow the players to do it if they choose.

See the To Do under Jenka. I am moderately sure that Dr. Dmitri created Fust, which means he and Jenka have a connection, which means that she might have a soft spot for critters, which means that she and Krosp might have a connection. Play with that. Krosp might even be conscious of owing her a debt.

Krosp is rather suspicious of Abner (actually Sarah), and is observing him closely.

History

First appears in [The Electric Coffin]. Note the implication that Krosp will still be around when we get around to these sequel stories.

Krosp first saves Agatha by attacking Moloch when he is [attacking her]. At this point he is still trying to pretend to be an ordinary cat, though.

Krosp was [the person to point out to Agatha] that she is a Spark.

His story can be found [starting here]. He was created by [Dr. Vapnoodle] (Vapnoople?), who then became one of Klaus' experimental subjects, with the usual effects. From the way Gil [reacts to Vapnoodle's name], I get the impression that he wasn't exactly a benign sort. Though note that Krosp references [trying to save Dr. Vapnoople]; Gil's dark expression might have been due to the notion of something similar happening to Agatha. Plot notion: Krosp could be after something that might help his creator in some way - or at least make his life a little better. --Darker Justin: interesting idea, with potential. The trick there will be that Vapnoodle himself probably isn't a character, so giving this plot sufficient meat may be hard. Still, might make a decent side-plot -- can never have too many side-plots.

Amount of Character Potential: Excellent (Popular, well-defined character, with some plots and fine ties to the web.)