Morrowind Role-Play: The Cat-Catcher

CW: Slavery, unethical/controversial character

The Cat-Catcher class by Ahead of the Classes is a dark, morally ambiguous bounty hunter who tracks escaped slaves - especially Khajiit. This roleplay guide explores a brutal character path rooted in Morrowind’s slave economy and Dunmer xenophobia. It is intended as a narrative and roleplay challenge, not an endorsement of its ethics.

Whether your character is a cold professional, a sadist, or someone just trying to survive, playing a Cat-Catcher means walking a dangerous line. Will you rise in the ranks of the Camonna Tong? Or will your guilt eat at you over time?

Due to the origin story of the Empire, the Alessian slave rebellion, slavery is hated by most people, except for the Dunmer. Therefore, a Dunmer character would fit best for such a playthrough. The character's motivations can be simply survival by doing a job, Dunmer traditionalism or just being a sadist. However, a Khajiit character is also possible and would make an even darker character: for whatever reason they elected to betray their own people. It could be that blackmail was involved or that they seek money above anything else. For birthsign, The Steed fits best in my opinion: you need to be quick to catch those escaped slaves!

Goals of the character could include becoming the leader of the Camonna Tong so that eventually others would catch your escaped slaves and you won't have to do dirty work anymore. Alternatively you can also become the leader of the Slave Hunters factions to coordinate cat-catching around Vvardenfell. Handicaps include a commitment not to kill but rather overpower your opponents: dead people cannot be enslaved without necromancy. Perhaps your character is tormented by nightmares: the faces of their victims haunt them at night, for this reason you can never sleep for more than a couple of hours each day. Such a restriction is meaningful if you use a survival mod, such as Necessities of Morrowind or Devilish Needs (Vanilla/OpenMW) or Ashfall (MWSE).

Consider doing some work for the Twin Lamps too! For example, you might work with the Twin Lamps under false pretenses - to gain their trust, only to betray them later for personal gain or loyalty to slavers. Another reason is that if slaves don't ever escape, your job will become redundant: you need to maintain the problem you exist to solve. Or perhaps... you can have a redemption arc: a botched capture or capturing a child’s parent could slowly make you question and change your ways.

Gear should include some sort of light armor and a blunt weapon which makes a quick movement and a non-lethal takedown possible. Invest into scrolls or enchanted items with Paralyze, Calm Humanoid and Command Humanoid spells for the sake of capturing slaves more easily.

Mods:

Nevana's Twin Lamps and Slave Hunters: Allows you to join a Slave Hunter faction and do quests for them! Also makes the rival faction, the Twin Lamps playable.

Slavers by Ghostwalker: With Nevana's mod you can return slaves, but what about enslaving free people? With this mod you can do that with defeated enemies.

Easy Escort (MWSE): For escorting captured slaves. Ensures that your followers get warped to you if they get too far away. Compatible with any follower from any mod, without any special script attached to that NPC.

Djangos Dialogue and Khajiit Speak: Adds more personality and dignity to Khajiit NPCs, increasing the emotional stakes.

Tamriel Rebuilt: Adds tons of content involving slaves and cat-catchers too!

Three different mods exist (here, here and here) to join the Camonna Tong and eventually become their leader.

Writing and Journal Enhanced (MWSE): so that you can keep track of the slaves you have caught.

Trophy Taker (MWSE): When capturing is not an option, acquire trophies from defeated enemies. Decorate your home with Khajiit skulls!