Well having in mind of the Owlite shield Looks like an owl, and the fact that they're called OWLites we could assume that they were some kind of owl-ish animal/monster/thing. (Same with the kats)
the zombies on the other hand have a mouth with teeth instead of a beak, so that kind of rules out the possibility of them being dead owlites.
The feather drops are just there to craft the magic cloak armors, since you know... owlites... wisdom... magic.
Before the drop system was revamped to make less sense with the battle sprite update (Trojan Horseshoes were only dropped by trojans before this time, now silkwings can drop them? Also why do slimes drop driftwood? That used to be a lumber-only thing), only Kats would drop owlite feathers and the likes. When the drop system was revamped, they moved drop tables over to the monster families moreso than individual monsters.
So gameplay here sort of overrules lore, sorry.
Owlites and kats are probably the same things. Owlites come from owls because owls are the sign of wisdom and in owlite keep, otherwise known as candlestick keep. Kats are the inhabitants of Owlite Keep. They are a mixture of ghosts and cats. Zombies have nothing to do with this.
Lakella.
You are crazy mixing up the owlite history with the Almirian history.
More: Black kats are kats, cursed by the book of dark rituals as activated by Margrel. Do we see him as an owl? Non! He is a kat, or an "owlite".
@firemetal, don't insult Lakella for mixing up Almirian and Kat history, since you're jumbling things up as well.
Kats and Owlites are not the same thing. The reason why the ghost-like family of "Kats" has that name, is because that's what they are. Kats. That should be pretty obvious. We haven't seen any Owlites as of yet, possibly because they were all murdered by Kats and their remains eaten, which would explain why the zombies drop Owlite feathers, if they ate dead Owlites. What do you guys think?
Kats aren't directly mentioned by any Almirian history but the current lore suggests that Almire was under attack my many enemies so the Kats may or may not have participated.
Actually, Almire's events happened many years before the Owlites and Kats went extinct, as the Owlites were able to document the history of Almire.
No, black kats are not cursed, they are blessed with the ancient rituals of margel.
Also, kats are KATS, possibly they were CATS before Margel.
Their enemy was an owlite... Perhaps the story of Almire is as follows:
There were two other kingdoms, right?
The kats(or maybe cats), and the owlite(or maybe owls), and almire.
Vanaduke went into a rage, a scattered them, perhaps pieces of the three kingdoms to cradle. The cats grew hungry, and perhaps they saw the owlites, previously allies... as a food source. And ate them, and the last owlite before he was killed, cursed the cats, and made them kats!
Or maybe...
As the cats grew hungry the owlites saw this immediately. They used spells to banish the cats from their city, or their schools, and made giant walls to protect them. Scraith used his claws, and got to the top of the wall. He scratched at the forcefeild, and eventually broke it.
Then Preowa, a gifted claw-shooter, put an end to the Grey Feather Tower Sages, so they wouldn't warn anyone.
They attacked, and ate the the Owlites.
But the Owlites books... one unfortunate cat opened the book of gray feathers, because that book... looked... so... interesting.
He brought upon the first Kataclysm, transforming cats into kats, and several kats into black kats. But Margel, he had it the worst, he was turned into a kat, then a black kat, and then the giant kat he is when you summon him.
This sent the kats into a madness, and as they ate the last Owlite, Torair jumped onto the gates of the Academy of Magicks, and used his explosives.
He watched it burn.
They are called "Dust" Zombies, and it is more likely that they are Almirian citizens rather than owlites. As far as zombies and dreadnaughts go they seem to have more linking them to Almire than the Owlites, One prestige mission has you enter an almirian graveyard to retrieve a Codex (where you find Almirian crusaders, shadow guards, and zombies), another you must travel through a graveyard to meet the spirit of an almirian crusarder, lastly is the Firestorm citadel (where Slags and royal guards are). Certain zombies even have a blackened crest shield that they carry. The fact that Kats show up in some of these levels proves that the Almirians and the Kat tribes existed together (most likely at war considering the current info on both).