At the recent City Festival in Landstuhl, we not only had our own booth and an exciting quest, but also ran a fundraising campaign. We were collecting donations for Stubentiger in Not – a non-profit organization based in Trippstadt. By now, all coins and bills have been counted, the check has been filled out, and during a personal visit to the cat village, it was handed over to chairwoman Katja Günther. Here, we share how it went and how much was raised in total.

Stubentiger in Not e.V. is a small, non-profit cat welfare organization based in Trippstadt. Our connection to the chairwoman, Katja Günther, goes back quite a while—although, to be precise, it has mainly come about through Manu. Manu, a native of Landstuhl, had a cat show up at his doorstep in early April 2023. To everyone's surprise, the cat turned out to be not only female, but also pregnant. Suddenly, four paws turned into twenty.

Even though Manu has a huge heart for cats, that was “a bit” much—so he reached out to Katja and Stubentiger in Not for support. Out of the five kittens, Manu and his family kept two. The rest found wonderful new homes, thanks to Katja’s commitment. Stubentiger in Not helped not only with care and adoption but also with organizing and funding vet appointments.

Katja and Manu are still in contact to this day – we could hardly have imagined a better opportunity for our fundraising campaign. Besides, a VERY large part of our team are cat lovers.

Since the obvious connection was so clear, Manu simply asked Katja if she was okay with it. The answer is history, and some time later we had a suitable donation box that we set up at our booth. In addition, we decided to add one euro in donations for every completed quest – a kind of scavenger hunt, only, uh… way cooler! Then we waited excitedly to see how much the city of Landstuhl would donate and contribute!

On September 14th, the Stadtfest came to an end—and so did our fundraising campaign. The following week, we spent a lot of time evaluating everything that had happened—looking at both the quest participations and the donations collected.

In total, 49 hardworking adventurers and daredevils successfully took part in our quest—among them seven Heirs of Fendiril, eleven Skuhuks, eleven Streamrunners, eleven members of the warrior elite, and Trandar’s Basin was represented nine times. What do these affiliations and strange names mean? Well, part of the quest was to set out for a specific faction of Silberheim, which was rolled at the start of the route. Each faction had different solutions to find and seek. The five factions had already appeared during our alpha test phase.

To the 49 € from completed quests, the donations collected in the donation box over the three days were added. Here, we would like to sincerely thank the city of Landstuhl for their generosity! Additionally, as Beyond Worlds, we added a mid-three-figure amount on top, rounding the total up to 500 €. With this amount on our check, we set off on a Friday afternoon.

Armed with the check and lots of love for cats, a few especially passionate cat enthusiasts from our team set off to celebrate a proper handover at the cat village. Of course, we didn’t miss the chance to cuddle cats extensively and get a tour around the cat village.

Katja and her husband Michael, the association’s second chairperson, told us about the challenges faced by the cats currently living here—challenges that are by no means isolated cases but rather give a small yet vivid impression of what the cat village manages daily and has been doing since 2020.

First, we visited the sickbay and quarantine station. Here lives a 15-year-old, kidney-diseased tomcat, as well as a mother cat with her two-week-old kittens. They are Scottish Fold cats, recognizable by their folded ears. Katja explained that this breed is a result of unethical breeding and that the cats suffer from the cartilage disease osteochondrodysplasia (OCD). Of course, they still find a place at Stubentiger in Not.

Illness or even death can also affect cat owners. We visited two cats that returned to the cat village after their owner passed away. Katja explained that cats once adopted out by Stubentiger are taken back in such unfortunate cases, as stipulated in the animal welfare contract.

Then we met a cat roaming freely outside the spacious enclosures, wandering across the grounds and padding through the lush green meadow. It’s one of Katja’s own cats. She has twelve in total. “That might sound like a cat hoarder at first,” she said, explaining, “but these are sick cats, disabled cats, cats that can’t be rehomed, and that’s how the number comes about.” Unfortunately, we didn’t see all twelve, but we were happy to meet a few of her own protégés.

Next, we visited a tomcat who, along with a feline companion, will soon be moving into a new home. He actually came to the cat village because of FIP. For many cat lovers, feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a terrifying diagnosis. At Stubentiger in Not, cats with FIP are treated—rather than, as is often the case elsewhere, being euthanized. The tomcat in front of us has already successfully completed his therapy and is healthy. “His blood values are phenomenal,” Katja says proudly. So far, 44 cats with FIP have been treated at the cat village.

Finally, we stayed with two holiday guests: two British Shorthair tomcats are staying at the cat village for a while—until their owners return from their trip. The laid-back giants clearly feel very comfortable with Katja and Michael. We, too, felt very welcome at the cat village and appreciated the warm reception.

Here, we experienced firsthand that our fundraising campaign has gone to exactly the right cause. The dedication and selfless work of Katja and Michael, as well as all the other volunteers of the association, is remarkable. We hope to support them again in one way or another in the future and warmly recommend that you visit their website and—if it’s within your means—consider making a donation.