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Master Zen-Dao Meow | | | Age | | Appears to be mid-20's | | Species/Race | | Anthro-cat | | Height | | 5' 10" | | Build | | Average but fit | | Coloration (skin, scales, fur, feathers, hair, etc.) | | Golden fur | | Eye Color | | Blue | | Clothing/Armor | | While at the monastery or during meditation, Zen-Dao wears a plain gray robe with white trim. His contemporary urban attire usually consists of jeans and a black turtleneck sweater. As transcendental detective, he wears a beige trench coat and fedora. But outfits vary with each past life. | | Occupation/Class | | Varies by past life, but consistently in each, Zen-Dao has mystical abilities which inform his various roles. He has been a private detective, warrior, spy, reporter, cartoonist, jester, royal prince, and more. | | Affiliations (family, friends, organizations) | | Zen-Dao has a direct relationship to all of the first twelve avatars, though not all of these connections have yet been established. Currently revealed relationships include being a pupil (along with Quacky) of Master Mu, a detective partner with Hollis, romantically linked to Wendy and Val, a rival and/or enemy of Pigham, Manchia and Elroar. | | | Accessories | | In meditation as past life dreamer he wears The Napping Cat's 12 Mystical Icons in the form of a necklace. As detective he carries a gold lighter with the Yin Yang symbol. Zen-Dao uses various other accessories and weapons depending on the past life. | | Pets | | None | | Abilities/Skills & Power Level | | Zen-Dao is skilled in various martial arts and can duel effectively wielding a sword or using unarmed combat. He has a variety of mystical skills that can be used in combat situations, including levitation, telekinesis, mind manipulation, remote viewing, teleportation, and undetectability. His special connection with The Napping Cat gives him heightened intuition, allowing him to anticipate unexpected possibilities and solve complex mysteries. | | Weaknesses | | Zen-Dao's intuitive powers tend to be a bit spotty. He often doesn't recognize this. So he will confidently assume that he has uncovered some fact or come to some truth when he is actually in error. In the current past life tale, "The Spiraling Heart", he has lost his powers entirely. Zen-Dao is vulnerable to standard weapons that can get past his mystical defences. | | Special Effects (if any) | | Zen-Dao's single greatest "special effect" is his unique connection to The Napping Cat, the god-entity within whose multiverse of dreams, Zen-Dao, and all other NCD avatars exist. The nature of this connection is not entirely clear (but see Brief History below). | | Description of Personality | | While many mystics can (or believe they can) communicate directly with The Napping Cat himself, Zen-Dao considers his personal connection to be somehow more direct and intimate. This connection is the source of his powers and his hubris. Though Zen-Dao is called "Master", it is a distinction he has accorded himself, and not one granted by his teacher, Master Mu. Zen-Dao, though cocky, can also be quite witty and a lot fun. He enjoys works of imagination (books, music, comics, film) and can spend hours lost in these realms, often in conjunction with the smoking of Bong Tzu weed. Zen-Dao is fond of philosophical speculation and discussions, getting a thrill out of making connections between seeming disparate ideas. He's rather self-centered and somewhat immature in his personal relationships, particularly with women. But most of all Zen-Dao is a dreamer, in every sense that the word implies. | | Brief History | The history and premise of Zen-Dao Meow and his past lives is best explained in the first comic, Welcome To The Napping Cat's Dream. Essentially, Zen-Dao is in a state of meditation, reliving several of his past lives in a attempt to solve a spiritual riddle, known as a koan. His teacher, Master Mu, believes Zen-Dao to be incomplete, and solving the koan (or more accurately, remembering it) will make him whole--a true master who can then actually serve as a spiritual guide for another.
But Zen-Dao has taken a short cut in the meditation process, stealing the dangerous and unpredictable Napping Cat's Mystical Icons. It is not clear what consequences his use of the icons may have triggered, but the existence of this very forum may be one of them. For in the midst of his meditation, 12 souls who have figured prominently in Zen-Dao's past lives achieved a kind of sentience independent of the ephemeral past life dreams. One of these avatars, Furilius Pitch, capitalized upon this rather extraordinary situation.
While the meditating Zen-Dao continued to journey through his first past life dreams, Furilius Pitch made the dreams public by hiring artists to create webcomic versions of the tales. But Furilius didn't stop there and developed a means for other beings to actually access the infinite realities of The Napping Cat Dream via the Internet. So Zen-Dao Meow and the other avatars exist on at least two levels of reality--the series of past lives being dreamt by Zen-Dao and the live, real time Napping Cat's Dream. But from the NCD threads, these avatars actually have access to an unlimited number of past lives and alternate realities.
Confused? Welcome to the Napping Cat's Dream!
Zen-Dao's interactions in real time on the forum are rare, though he does emerge occasionally to engage in a discussion. His primary goal remains to dream through his past lives and solve his koan. The odd thing is, his past lives contain appearances by avatars who have only arrived in the Napping Cat's Dream quite recently. Time sure is curious in a cat's dream. | | Key Appearances | First ever appearance in The Cat Grins--A Dream Begins
First Dream Ditty appearance in Confounding Itself
First Past Life: The Maltese Mandala
Second Past Life: The Spiraling Heart | | A brief and character revealing answer to the question, "What is your ambition?" | | "Gotta solve that darn koan." | |
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