Battle of Kadesh

This is how the eighteen cats came to Earth. Pharaoh Seti led Egypt to greatness, but it was his son Ramesses II who faced the real test. King Muwatalli of the Hittite Empire had already read him before the armies ever met — he fed Ramesses' scouts false word that the Hittite host was still far off, then sprung his own army from ambush right outside the city walls at Kadesh in 1274 BC.

Cornered, outmanoeuvred, his morale breaking, Ramesses had nothing left when the goddess Bastet appeared before him in a secluded cave.

She introduced him to Vivek — a guardian with the appearance of a cat, but distinctly different from the Good Luck Cats — and set two conditions on the help she offered: their powers had to remain secret, and they had to always stay together. With Vivek and the eighteen cats at his side, Ramesses turned the battle. The Hittite lines broke, and the Battle of Kadesh became legend — a tale of divine intervention and human courage.

Muwatalli's own defense held long enough that neither king could claim outright victory. The fight ended the only way it could: in the ancient world's first known peace treaty, its terms cut into a tablet both kings signed and sealed — the same seal Ramesses carried ever after as a mark of the crown.

The cats, guided by Vivek, stayed in Egypt afterward, their presence a closely guarded secret. From there their guardianship spread to civilisations across the world — the eighteen sites of the Astral Bridges Collection are where they took up their posts. Under their influence, monuments rose and knowledge expanded. They remained loyal to every Pharaoh who followed, all the way to Cleopatra — the last Egyptian Pharaoh, and the one who broke the covenant.