Clickers

Created by the humans in an attempt to better the world around them, helpful robots quickly became a growing phenomenon, especially around the City. They were advertised as completely autonomous with minimal maintenance, beneficial to the environment, and were designed and programmed to be animal-like and friendly to appeal to the public. The City had invested heavily in these robots two decades ago, and have maintained a steady population of them since.

To the colonies, the sudden introduction of these robots was a disastrous event, believing them to be demons summoned by the Goat to tear apart the forest. They began preparing themselves for a full-on war, before realizing that they were largely docile and that the humans could control them. The colonies hesitantly settled with avoiding the beasts rather than confronting them, stories and myths keeping the fear of them alive. Eventually they were named 'clickers' after the tell-tale clicking sound they make, with further classification based on what the colonies believed the clicker's 'function' was.

After the Final Light, the 'autonomous' nature that the company had bragged about proved semi-truthful. The robots continued without intervention, and likely could have continued flawlessly for a long time, but the damage and injuries the clickers sustained from hungry predators or nightmares was beyond what the creators could imagine. The clickers followed their programming mindlessly without acknowledging that they were malfunctioning, and quickly became dangerous. Clickers with damaged sensors would unknowingly trample cats, functions meant to safely trap and transport animals would instead crush and drag victims away, and the friendly curiosity was quickly recontextualized to beastial chasing. The survivors were only further convinced that these creatures were demons, now let loose and wild that their human masters were gone.

Clicker Types

Clickers come in all shapes and sizes, with specialized purposes and uses for each. The colonies usually only name the most common ones they come in contact with in the forest, but exchanges with the City cats have put names to the more rare ones. Generally, the biggest danger with a clicker is the possibility of being trampled or crushed.

Clicking Maw

Large, bipedal clickers that grab and filter garbage from the ground and transport it elsewhere using their massive mouths. They are intentionally designed to be clunky and playful, similar to giant trash dogs, and have a tendency to chase or try and play with animals it sees. The colonies believe them to be gluttonous demons, and imagery or murals of them depict them consuming the forest as a whole one day. Fortunately, they are slow and too bulky to chase a cat properly, and lose interest quickly.

Clicking Devourer

Sleek, raptor-like clickers with a conical head and long tails. During the day, or whenever they detect light, their head opens into five solar panels (like a flower) and points towards the source. A later model that acted as an intelligent battery, this clicker would use the panels to generate electricity during the day, and use their tail to recharge fellow clickers at night. They generally ignore cats altogether unless they're carrying a light source, at which point they'll excitedly follow and 'stare' at the target. These clickers are terrifying to the colonies, who saw a beast who's head split open and bathed it's innards in the sun's light. Their name comes from the (somewhat contested) idea that devourers are slowly eating the light from the world.

Clicking Sentinel

A rare clicker found only in the City, clicking sentinels are small boxes that roll around using a sphere on it's underside. They patrol buildings using adaptive routing, and will start making noise if they detect something is moving. The colonies almost never see or hear of this type of clicker outside niche stories and myths, which place this clicker as a living 'eye' used by the humans to find intruders. Some smart cats have learned that these clickers can be immobilized by flipping them on their side and be put to use as their own security system this way.

Clicking Gaze

Flat arachnid-like clickers with a long, flexible tail that functions as a flashlight. It's tail follows the closest creature that it can detect, staying a set distance away and following to keep the light on it. They are relatively rare and harmless, but hard to shake off once spotted. Cats tend to bolt once the clicking gaze spots them, which causes the clicking gaze to follow and give the illusion of 'chasing' the cat. After the Final Light, being chased is a lot more dangerous as malfunctions cause the gaze to simply plow through anything (or anyone) in the way of a target, or even to misjudge the distance to it's target and to run the unfortunate victim over.

Clicking Grave

Used by wildlife researchers and programs, this clicker is a flat oval with several legs on it's underside to skitter across terrain. They find places with heavy foliage and debris to bury themselves within, and 'snap' upwards to trap whoever stepped on top of it, an intelligent cage. With the massive feral problem the area suffered, these clickers were used primarily for TNR, and even if a cat found their way back after the ordeal, their personality and energy was... Different. The colonies took notice and treatment towards survivors was harsh, and the general attitude was that getting taken away would result in spiritual death, which is where the name stems from. After the Final Light, the name became even more literal. Any malfunction could prove fatal, deaths ranging from trapped limbs and heads, being crushed inside, or even stuck with no way to escape until starvation. Survivors speculate that clicking graves originally ate bits of the soul while under the human's leash, but after, they hungered for the whole body.

Clicking Hoarder

Incredibly rare clickers that look like headless quadrupled beasts, they followed a signal that the owner carried with them, transporting whatever was put on their backs or sides. The colonies largely thought that these clickers served a religious purpose, a moving altar to the Goat, hoarding items for it's beloved god. After the Final Light they are almost never seen, usually destroyed and completely looted or wandering aimlessly. It runs away at the first sign of danger to protect it's inventory, but the supplies it carries can often times be incredibly useful.