New Cyprus

New Cyprus is a planet.

Ring Trees

The planet is famous for its "ring trees." These are trees with ringed branches similar to those found in certain areas on Earth. After settlement of the planet began it was soon discovered that, rather than being formed by the actions of anyone who might have settled the planet in the past, the rings are actually formed by animals called dubbed Ring Cats sleeping on the branches and wrapping younger branches around themselves. This process slowly results in the formation of the rings and also benefits both cat and tree as the receives sap from the trees along with its fur picking up small seeds from the tree, allowing for faster propagation.

Further investigation into the Ring Cats themselves revealed them to be descendants of polydactyl cats originally brought to New Cyprus during early colonization long ago. The bark of the ring trees was found to contain chemicals that reacted favorably with cat physiology, resulting in relaxed and euphoric states in felines.

Ring Cats

Ring cats themselves are more sociable than their terran counterparts, preferring to spend time around the locals. It is not uncommon for homes to be built with small entrances for the animals to enter throughout the day or night.

Religion

As part of the effort to encourage thne population of New Cyrpus to be more amicable to one another each family immigrating there was assigned a randomly generated religion. These religions, created by artificial intelligence drawing both from the psychological profile of the family itself and from past cultures, were tailored to each family, with some similarities engineered in. Alothough not a hard and fast law, the practice of following the AIligion became something of a semiserious joke among most colonists.

The family of Kimberly Stapledon was assigned a religion of goddess worship, which they observed in a haphazard manner. As a result of her upbringing, Kim can be known to say "Oh Goddess" on occasion.