Cats are immune... to what extent?

[Shotgun at the Disco]

I was bored and musing, and I was thinking about SSSS (Specifically the thing I'm writing for it, as some of you may remember).
It suddenly hit me during this musing that I didn't actually know the extent of the "Cats are immune" thing. If house cats are immune to the Rash, what about bigger cats like say a mountain lion? What about the Puma family? If the entirety of the feline family tree is covered, what about animals closely related to felines like Hyenas or Meerkats. Does it apply to the entirety of the Filiform family, or are there some specifics?

[Jitter]

At least all felines are, including all big cats. They would have suffered a devastating famine, as non-elective carnivores, but the ones that managed would be immune. This has been asked, and answered, by Minna. An interesting idea could be a companionship between humans and some big cats!

As for hyenas and meerkats, I don’t know whether it’s been established.

[Shotgun at the Disco]

At least all felines are, including all big cats. They would have suffered a devastating famine, as non-elective carnivores, but the ones that managed would be immune. This has been asked, and answered, by Minna. An interesting idea could be a companionship between humans and some big cats!

As for hyenas and meerkats, I don’t know whether it’s been established.

Thanks for the answer, m8. At least my unwilling insomnia lead to something worthwhile.

[JoB]

As for hyenas and meerkats, I don’t know whether it’s been established.

I believe I've seen someone report that a "what about hyenas?" solicited sort of a "... maaaybe." from Minna in a livestream, so I guess we'll have to mark that up as a definite "unknown".

[Tarnagh]

I was bored and musing, and I was thinking about SSSS (Specifically the thing I'm writing for it, as some of you may remember).
It suddenly hit me during this musing that I didn't actually know the extent of the "Cats are immune" thing. If house cats are immune to the Rash, what about bigger cats like say a mountain lion? What about the Puma family? If the entirety of the feline family tree is covered, what about animals closely related to felines like Hyenas or Meerkats. Does it apply to the entirety of the Filiform family, or are there some specifics?

At least all felines are, including all big cats. They would have suffered a devastating famine, as non-elective carnivores, but the ones that managed would be immune. This has been asked, and answered, by Minna. An interesting idea could be a companionship between humans and some big cats!

As for hyenas and meerkats, I don’t know whether it’s been established.

I'm slow, but I get there eventually.

This makes me wonder - now that the comic is effectively over - how much influence a person's luonto might have on their immune status. Lalli's is a lynx, an animal that would be naturally immune.

[Jitter]

Onni’s is a bird, so also immune. It’s not directly related at least.

[Tarnagh]

Onni’s is a bird, so also immune. It’s not directly related at least.

I thought of that. I think their grandmother's is also a bird of some sort? So it wouldn't directly indicate immunity. Unless the luonto were a cat of some sort?

Either that or I'm overthinking this, and possibly also need more sleep. 

[Róisín]

If I remember correctly, Ensi and Lalli were the only immunes in the family?

[Jitter]

Yes, Ensi and Lalli are immune, while Ensi and Onni both have bird luontos.

[Suominoita]

Very interesting. Minna said Tuuri's Luonto is a hedgehog. Soul-bird is a different thing. Maybe there is something. Though it is more about personality -- as in it's in your nature to do this and not that sort of thing. I'm thinking Eino and Tuulikki both had Swan Luontos. The whole thing about the swan with hearts on the boat...

[wavewright62]

Sorry, I'm confused, I don't get why Lalli's mum would have a swan luonto?  Oh, duh, you meant Tuuli, Eino's wife, sorry.
But you bring up an interesting point about the love-heart swan motif.  Do present-day ordinary Finns have a sense of what their own luonto is?  That is, Eino having that knowledge prior to the development of the Rash and rise of magic?  It's presented as worldbuilding stemmed in and extrapolated from actual Finnish culture.  Is it a sort of thing similar to many saying, 'oh that's my Cancer coming out, always so emo haha' or 'gawd, that's an evil-twin Gemini for ya' even if they don't believe in astrology?

[Jitter]

No, I don’t think we do. It’s not a generally known concept that each person has a luonto. And in the ancient Finnish tradition the luonto wasn’t necessarily an animal.

I suppose the concept of “sisu” might have its roots in this thinking however. Sisu means approximately perseverance, sometimes bordering on stubbornness, and it’s supposedly something Finns have a lot of. “Sisu vie läpi harmaan kiven”, sisu will take one through the rock. Sisu is considered as something that a person has, but it’s also something a person can call upon. So almost like it were partially external to the person? What’s this sound like to you, Suominoita?

I assume all peoples have similar concepts, how they have certain qualities that help them keep going, and probably more of it than the neighboring peoples So it’s not the idea that we the Finns have sisu in itself that I’m thinking about. Rater the way it’s perceived as both a personal and external thing at the same time is what reminds me of the concept of Luonto, and the way one supposedly draws of it to be able to keep going or accomplish something.

[Róisín]

I take sisu as being what my Irish grandmother used to call ‘pig stubbornness’. It is a major trait of my own character, and has saved my life. It’s the kind of endurance that says: ‘Just because I am obviously doomed is no reason to give up’.

[Suominoita]

Yes well, there is something: Theme animal. Basically having pictures, toys or sculptures of that animal in various places. Our Prologue preppers do seem to have some sort of a swan theme there. Also, the "possibly a crazy person" in the introduction card may mean Tuuli already had some sort of a thing there. Such as the traditional sauna birth she suggested to Aino. She seemed like she had learned a thing or two about traditions around a sauna birth and really wanted to try them out.