The Jellicle Chronicles - Year Two

Prologue

Year Two marks a second chain of short stories concerning the further adventures of the Jellicle Cats. The major difference between this set and Year One is the addition of several new characters. Mostly, the new characters are children of the original characters - a sort of “Next Generation,” if you will. Keeping with the edict of “New Jellicle Life,” at least three of the characters in Year Two are reincarnated Jellicles. In Year One, Queen Demeter bears two kittens, Aphrodite and Augustus. In actuality, these two are returning souls of Grizabella and Gus the Theatre Cat. In Year Two, Quaxo and his new Mate, Scatterburr, bears the kitten whose soul is Old Deuteronomy. So, although the Chronicles will eventually begin to lose characters from the original “cast,” their afterlife will bring about a “new” member of the Jellicle Tribe. However, the characteristics of the original soul will eventually re-immerge, and the story will be remembered and continued. 

      The hardest thing to conceive, both in a story line and in real life, is the “death” of any being. Many cultures around the world, both in the past and present, believe in some form of afterlife. To some, the soul goes to a reward (or punishment) and is never seen in “life” again. To others, life transmutes to another form, higher or lower than what we are now. Still others, we are set free to do whatever it is we want to do. The afterlife scenario to the Jellicle Cat is a mystical “heaven” know as the Heavyside Layer. Eventually, these souls return to a “different Jellicle Life.” In short, they die in one identity, and are born again into another identity. However, one thing is definitely changed. The “old identity” is gone, and we no longer have that character to work with. For both the writer and the reader, we lose something very vital. When this occurs, we have to remember that there is “a time to mourn.” 

      Why reincarnate, or return as pretty much the same thing? To the Jellicle, the answer was lost literally in time. In this storyline, the Jellicle Cat did not originate on this world we know as Earth. Through a powerful spirit known only as “Charumcah,” the Jellicles were once the “People” of a far off planet in the Great Magellan Cloud (a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way). When their planet was threatened by a superior race, Charumcah transported the remaining Jellicles to Earth. However, the spirit did not realize what such a move would cost. The Jellicles landed in Ancient Egypt, somewhere around the year 1280 B.C. - fortunately for them. Because of their cat-like appearance and physiology, they were immediately viewed as representatives of the Goddess Bastet. The Pharaohs of the time were quick to both use their talents, and ally with their power. However, when first the Greeks, and then the Romans conquered Egypt, the Jellicles made a transformation - part of their spirit became human, and the other became the Jellicle Cat. Thus, the Jellicle that came to this Earth had a means to survive through the changes of the centuries, hidden from the World at large. 

      In Year One, Munkustrap is given the Aegis of Bastet, a wand of power once held by his distant Ancestor, the High Priest Munkti. Through this wand of power, the Ancient Jellicles were revealed, and the heritage was restored. The reason for the reincarnation of the characters was simple to explain after that. Charumcah had to be certain that the Jellicles he sent to Earth would still be there when he found enough power to retrieve them. Thus, the “main” characters would eventually be returned every so many generations, and regain their identity and name. From Ancient Egypt to the present, several Munkustraps, Bombalurinas, Mistoffelees, and, yes, even Rum Tum Tuggers, have existed. And, some day, when the Master finds his power once again, the Jellicles will return to their Homeworld, and the Jellicle Cat will become a memory. Until that time, we have their chronicles to record.