What I need to do is make cats as a species to be more subservient to our will, and have that translate into present day. How can I make this work?
Domestic cats are available everywhere and you. You can make them more subservient to your will by training them.
It's already been done, many times. All you have to do is search for 'cat circus' on Youtube.
Here is an example: https://youtu.be/8e0z3-iZ_TY?t=60
I personally trained my cat to high-five in an afternoon - they learn quickly. Here is an old video showing the method https://youtu.be/q787R2DNDJI?t=35
You can search Youtube for 'cat clicker training'.
An anecdote
I was training my dog to jump on a chair and sit in return for a treat. The cat had been watching with great interest. A the end of the (short) session the cat jumped on the chair, sat, and looked at me expectantly. I gave him a treat! It was at that point I understood the expression, "copycat".