Catfolk



The Khajiit are a race of feline humanoids hailing from the province of Elsweyr, well-known for their keen intelligence and agility. While these traits make them superb thieves and acrobats, Khajiit are also fearsome warriors. However, strenuous training must typically be undertaken to make wielding magic a serious option, either in passive or aggressive actions.

History

The kingdoms of the Khajiit existed long before recorded history. Elsweyr consisted of 16 kingdoms of about 20 different types of Khajiit early in the First Era, which were a model of cooperative specialization and harmony compared to other races of the time. The Thrassian Plague would upset this balance in 1E 2260, leaving only two primary kingdoms. The province was fashioned into its modern state in 2E 309 when Keirgo of Anequina and Eshita of Pellitine combined their long-feuding domains and gave the land its name, sparking a class struggle that briefly threatened to draw outside intervention. The people of each kingdom found themselves drawn together by their leaders, which was considered a betrayal by many, as the northern Anequina saw Pellitine as depraved and decadent, while the Khajiit of Pellitine thought Anequina barbarous.

Peace was eventually restored among the Khajiiti by the generally non-partisan Mane, Rid-T'har-ri'Datta, who "bestowed to the classes equality under the bi-lunar shadow, dividing their power in accordance with two-moons-dance". What this established, in a more understandable sense, was a rotational power base in which both sides of Khajiiti society, the southern city-dwellers under the nobility and the northern nomadic tribes under their chieftains, shared alternate control of the region based on the phases of Masser and Secunda, which are held in great reverence in Khajiiti society. The terms of this measure, the Riddle'thar, were overseen by the thinly-veiled dictatorship of the Mane himself. The efficacy of each individual Mane has varied greatly, and some led the Khajiit to periods of strife and war. They have historically achieved greater peace and prosperity under Imperial rule (according to Imperial scholars), yet often rebel against their authority in keeping with their unique view of the world.

Society

The Mane, while the unofficial head-of-state, is no more a "breed" of Khajiit than any other is; he is simply unique. Khajiit tradition holds that only one Mane may be alive at any one time, since the Mane is one entity reborn in different bodies with the passage of time. The veracity of this is unknown, but there has been no recorded instance of multiple Manes contending for power. The Khajiit are divided by two disparate ways of life: the civilized jungles and river basins of southern Elsweyr, which have ancient mercantile traditions, a stable agrarian aristocracy based on the exportation of saltrice and Moon Sugar, and a thriving artistic culture, which contrasts greatly with the nomadic tribe or pride-centric Khajiit of the dry northern wastes and grasslands, where aggressive and territorial raiders occasionally unite under a single chieftain. It is widely held that the greatest force among the Khajiit are the Clan Mothers. It is they, ultimately, who control both the harvest and refining of Moon Sugar, and thus they who are seen as the most influential.

The Khajiit often refer to Moon Sugar as "crystallized moonlight", trapped by the glimmering waters of the Topal Sea and washed to the sugarcane groves of the Tenmar Forest by the tides, under the guidance of Hermorah. The Khajiit believe that by consuming it, they are consuming a small portion of the eternal souls of the moon gods, Jone and Jode. It drives them into fits of ecstasy and abandon, purportedly leaving the streets of Elsweyr's major cities strewn with catmen shivering in the grip of sugar-fits. Despite the extremely addictive nature of the sugar, it is an integral part of Khajiit life and the chief export of Elsweyr, where it is smuggled out in both raw and refined forms. It helps support a thriving black market; it is said one can purchase practically anything among the Khajiit. Khajiit of the desert tribes are often buried with only a small cairn of stones, so their bodies can be easily used by Necromancers.

This love of Moon Sugar has given them a "sweet tooth"; candies, cakes, puddings, and sugar-meats are the staples of the Khajiit diet, each generously enriched with Moon Sugar. This relationship between religion and cultural practice goes deeper than appearances suggest. According to legend, the Khajiit and their deities are bound up in the Lunar Lattice, no less than the famed Liminal Barriers, the tendency of Mundus to remain discrete from the Sea of Oblivion and the force that keeps the Daedra out of Nirn. In this way the Khajiit, Moon Sugar, Lorkhan's Moons, Lorkhan's Heart, and White Gold Tower are all related, as all play a part in shaping the fundamental structure of the mortal plane.

The typical bipedal Khajiit dresses in an ample shawl of brightly-colored cloth, known as a budi, for defense against the harsh rays of the sun. This shirt is tightly fastened in braids down the right side, in order to prevent any part of the torso fur from being seen, as the exposure of such in public is deemed both offensive and unsightly. In battle, those who walk upright traditionally don medium-weight armor, exquisitely fashioned from loose-fitting leather overlaid with lacquered and highly-burnished metal plates. While leather caps are generally preferred, those with the means to procure such will often don helms of fluted silver. Furthermore, most Khajiit bedeck themselves with jewelry, trinkets, and occasionally even herbs such as Nightshade. Their tattoos often have deep cultural and religious significance, as they signify their race, tribe, and the gods of their worship.

Over the years, Khajiit frequently have had to deal with the worry of being kidnapped and sold into slavery, especially in Morrowind, so they have to take self-defense seriously. While the majority of Khajiit prefer to use their razor-sharp and retractable claws as weapons in numerous forms of Khajiiti martial arts like Goutfang, Whispering Fang, and Rawlith Khaj, many have mastered the use of the sabre, scimitar, dagger, and longbow. Their chosen mastery is often reflected in male Khajiit names, through which they display their status in life with the prefix; though care is always taken, for the use of two titles is perceived as the result of either great pride or ignorance.

Khajiit Language & Names

Ta'agra is the Khajiiti language and is Khajiit names, particularly among males, often have a prefix before them, usually though not always separated by an apostrophe. In general, the name following the prefix should be capitalized. Khajit normally refer to themselves in the third person in any language and have a distinct accent when speaking in common