Kahjiit

Khajiit are cat-like people who come from Elsweyr, known for high intelligence and agility. These traits make them very good thieves and acrobats, but Khajiit are also fearsome warriors. However, they are rarely known to be mages. Khajiit mostly stay on land, but piracy and skoomatrade does draw some to work as sailors.

Khajiit anatomy differs greatly from both men and elves, not only because of their fur, tail, and sometimes toe-walking stance, but also their digestive system and metabolism. Khajiit, Argonians, and Imgaare the so-called "beast races" of Tamriel because of these large differences. Khajiit have a lifespan similar to that of humans. There are no well-documented cases of cross-breeding between Khajiit and other races, though there are rumors of such a thing. The foreign appearance and behavior of Khajiit make them common targets of racial discrimination.

History

Khajiit kingdoms existed long before recorded history. Elsweyr consisted of 16 kingdoms of about 20 different types of Khajiit early in the First Era, particularly cooperative and harmonious compared to other races of the time. The Thrassian Plague upset this balance in 1E 2260, leaving only two primary kingdoms.

Elsweyr became 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 serious class struggle, as the northern Anequina saw Pellitine as depraved and decadent, while the Khajiit of Pellitine thought Anequina barbarous.

The Mane Rid-T'har-ri'Datta restored peace by having each side of Khajiiti society take turns governing the entire region based on the phases of Masser and Secunda, which Khajiit hold in great reverence. The terms of this measure, the Riddle'thar, were overseen by the thinly-veiled dictatorship of the Mane himself. The effectiveness of each individual Mane has varied greatly, and some led the Khajiit to periods of strife and war throughout the Third Era, especially with the Bosmer. 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. While widely speculated, it is unknown whether the Khajiit are in any way related to the Po' Tun (currently Ka Po' Tun) cat people of Akavir or the Lilmothiit, a vulpine beast race which once inhabited Black Marsh.

Religion

A monomythic society, the Khajiit are led in their beliefs by mysterious figures known as "Clan Mothers", whose duty it is to disseminate the cultural myths among their kind, and who maintain autonomy from the Mane and the disparate tribal leaders.

On the origin of their species, the Khajiit believe that life originated with two litter-mates, Ahnurr and Fadomai, who gave birth to the first cat, Alkosh. To Alkosh was given the guardianship of time, and whose birth prompted Ahnurr and Fadomai to bring forth further life into the world, thus they created Khenarthi, guardian of the winds; Magrus, guardian of the sun; Mara, guardian of love; and S'rendarr, guardian of mercy.

In time, Ahnurr and Fadomai wished to share the happiness they felt in life with further children, and so, Fadomai gave birth to Hermorah of the tides, Hircine of hunger, Merrunz of destruction, Mafala of the Clan Mothers, Sangiin of blood and life, Sheggorath of insanity, and many others.

Despite the phonetic and circumstantial similarities with deities in many other pantheons, the Khajiit maintain that many of these are wholly separate entities from similar spirits in other cultures and their version of the world's genesis as the only pure rendition.

Ahnurr decided to stop having children since further offspring would dilute their own happiness. However, Fadomai was persuaded by Khenarthi - who had grown lonely in the realm of the winds - to give birth to further children, and this she did, bringing forth Nirni, the majestic sands and lush forests, and Azurah, the dusk and dawn, as well as the Moons and their Motions. It was at the time of her birthing that Fadomai was caught by Ahnurr who, angered at her trickery and disobedience, struck her. She, fearing for her life and children, fled with them to the Great Darkness and hid, giving birth to her final child, Lorkhaj. Having been born amidst the Great Darkness, the Khajiit believe that Lorkhaj's heart was filled with such, and thus was the Great Darkness made aware of itself and then known as Namiira.

Amidst the darkness, surrounded by her children, Fadomai realized her death was near and set the moons, Jone and Jode, in the skies to guide her children and protect them from Ahnurr's wrath. She gave Nirni her "greatest gift", proclaiming that she would give birth to as many children as Fadomai had. Nirni was pleased because Azurah, with whom she routinely squabbled, had been left with nothing. Protected by the Lunar Lattice, the children of Fadomai left, save for Azurah. Into the silence and void their absence caused, Azurah approached her mother and was then given her gifts in the form of three secrets. She was told to take one of Nirni's children and change them, making them the fastest, cleverest, and most beautiful of creatures, naming them the Khajiit; second, that they must be fashioned as the best climbers, to climb upon the winds of Khenarthi's breath and set Masser and Secunda aright, lest they fail; lastly, that the Khajiit must be the best deceivers, able to hide their true nature from others. Then Fadomai died, and Azurah left to join her kin.

Nirni approached Lorkhaj, whom she asked to create for her children a dwelling; he did so, and yet the Great Darkness in his heart forced him to deceive his siblings so that they were trapped in the new place with Nirni. Some managed to escape death and become the stars, and those who remained punished Lorkhaj by tearing out his heart and hiding it deep within Nirni, so that he would be with her whom he had done the most harm. Thus among the new world of Lorkhaj's creation, Nirni came to give birth to her children, who were many, but wept bitter tears for her favorite—the forest people—who did not know their proper shape. It was at this time that Azurah came forth and comforted her, taking some of the forest people and placing them in the deserts and forests, where she fashioned them in many forms, one for each purpose they might need, and having done so, named them the Khajiit, teaching them the secrets entrusted to her, and binding them to the Lunar Lattice.

In speaking the secrets, the first was heard by Y'ffer, who told Nirni of Azurah's deed. Nirni, in retribution for her changed, and now lost, children made the deserts hot and sands biting, and filled the forests with water and poison. To separate her beloved children from those of Azurah, she allowed Y'ffer to change those who remained so that they would always be of the mer, and never beasts, and named them Bosmer. From that moment forth, the two were eternally separated and, as with their makers, were bound in animosity one with the other. In this fashion, the Khajiit explain not only their origins, but their bind to the moons and conflict with the Bosmer.

Contradictions to this explanation of Khajiiti origin have been raised by Imperial scholars, who purport that the Khajiit are descendants of a race of great cats of the desert regions of Nirn, backing their claim with the fragmented letters of Topal the Pilot - the earliest known Aldmeri adventurer, after whom the Topal Sea is named - which reference both quad- and bipedal cats:

"The cat demons of four legs and two ran the river's

Length, always keeping the boat in their
Green-eyed sight, hissing, and spitting, and

Roaring with rage."

However, even this obscure evidence may yet be debated, as Pelinal Whitestrake, leader of the Elven Pogrom, slew many thousands of the Khajiit, during the same era, under the mistaken impression that they were "another strain of Aldmeri" so closely did they resemble such. There are other such reports, and they raise the possibility that the Khajiit in general may actually have elven ancestry.