#First of all if that big dastardly plan of Macavity's sounds like the plot of the 2019 movie that's because it is.

[theimpossiblescheme]

In that case, then, if you don't mind, I'm very interested to hear more about the Macavity tribe - and I am intrigued by the mutiny from Mungojerrie, Rumpleteazer and Griddlebone and how that went about.

All righty, here we go... getting into some Lore (TM)...

After Macavity was banished from Old Deuteronomy’s Tribe, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to make it on his own (especially since his magical benefactor was a moody bastard who would take away his powers whenever he was upset with him).  So his first order of business was to make himself feared.  He started colluding with other gangs and mini-Tribes of feral cats, making deals with them and gaining their favor until he basically gained a reputation as the Jellicle equivalent of a mafia don.  In fact, he garnered so much power that a lot of the gangs he used to depend on now depended on him so much that without him, they would descend into bloody in-fighting and collapse.  Think of a more evil cross between Vito Corleone and Havelock Vetinari.

Naturally, this made him a very seductive figure to a lot of cats, especially after setting up a permanent lair in what used to be an old speakeasy.  His first follower was Griddlebone, who was looking for protection from the pirates roaming the Thames.  Next were a quartet of queens--Angelika, Jokaste, Zampalesta, and Sparetta--who wanted to escape their humdrum lives as showcats and gain some glamour and notoriety.  Then came Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, the former of whom was basically press-ganged into it and then charmed into staying with the promise of being able to wreak as much havoc as he wanted, and the latter of whom staying because that’s where Jerrie was.  And then--unfortunately--there was Bombalurina, who wanted to be close to the Mystery Cat she found so alluring.  Bomba’s case was especially tragic because she wanted a closer relationship with Macavity and was devoted to him to the point of having no sense of self-preservation, but he thought of her only as cheap labor (in more ways than one).  Even when Macavity kidnapped Demeter and Bomba still tried to keep her half-sister safe, her loyalties were always torn.  To make another movie analogy, Bomba and Macavity were basically Nancy and Bill Sykes from Oliver!

While Macavity still worked with the odd mercenary willing to slit a few throats and get their paws dirty, these eight were his main force.  And he tried very hard to keep them all loyal to him, encouraging him to think of their gang as a “family” and just as valid a Tribe as Old Deuteronomy’s.  For the most part it worked, and they were willing to go along with his bidding... until one Jellicle Ball.  Macavity charged his “family” with kidnapping the candidates for the Jellicle Choice, taking them to an abandoned port along the Thames, and drugging the other Tribe members into forgetting the candidates were ever there in the first place.  Once they had the all rounded up, Macavity ordered his followers to kill them.  He had never expressly told anyone that the plan involved murder--of cats some had once called family and friends, no less--but he expected them to follow his orders as a given.

But Bombalurina said no.  So did Mungojerrie, Rumpleteazer, and Griddlebone.  And right at that moment, they fought back, causing an all-out battle to erupt right there on the docks.  In the confusion, Jerrie and Bomba were able to smuggle a few of the candidates back to safety.  Griddlebone tried to convince the four former show queens to switch sides, but they refused, and the Persian queen was forced to escape with Teazer, who was badly wounded.  But they couldn’t go home yet--Demeter and her kittens were still with Macavity (as was Bomba’s daughter, but none of her fellow mutineers knew that).  So their last act of rebellion was to free Demeter and her children before bringing everyone home to the Junkyard.

Jerrie and Teazer had an easier time winning back everyone’s trust since they were still so young and truly had no idea what they were getting themselves into.  Bomba took a while longer, but her devotion to keeping her family and its new members safe, as well as her disgust for being taken advantage of for so long, eventually won over the skeptics and found her promoted to the rank of co-Protector.  And Griddlebone... well, she was always a bit of a loner, so she didn’t particularly care for what the Tribe at large thought of her.  She still occasionally visited because she was extremely fond of Jerrie and Teazer, but for the most part she kept to herself and her music hall performance schedule.  Entourages were never her thing, anyway.

Macavity didn’t take this loss lying down, of course.  He continued to bring on new assassins and thieves, and he even managed to win over Tumblebrutus’s older brothers, two mean-spirited pranksters who were banished after one of their tricks nearly killed multiple cats.  The war of attrition between him and his father’s Tribe continued, but the Jellicles were as determined as he was not to be beaten back.  And the four mutineers, more than anyone else, are willing and ready to stand alongside Munkustrap and Alonzo when the next battle begins.