On the Khajiit.
The Catfolk from Elsweyr. Their feline grace makes them skilled at sneaking, while their claws make them almost unmatched in hand to hand combat.
This, amongst other things, has earned them quite a reputation in Skyrim, and indeed much of Tamriel. Khajiit, when falling on hard times, have an easy time of turning to theft, and it is for this reason that many distrust them, believing them to be thieves and pickpockets.
Another thing that has earned them distrust is the infamous reputation of Elsweyr earned through the production of Moonsugar, and its subsequent refinery into Skooma, an addictive drug.
An interesting side note on the drug; while many believe that once addicted, it is impossible to lose the urge, the desire to take more, simply because that is what the Khajiit say, and if the Khajiit do not know Skooma, who do?
But there has been at least one documented occasion of a Skooma addict 'curing' herself of the dependence, the story of which she has written in "Confessions of a Dunmer Skooma-eater."
In this book, Tilse Sendas explains how to recognise the dependence and either deny or accept it, and through that cure or choose not to cure oneself.
But of course, should one which to read that book, one should pick up that book rather than this one.
In Skyrim today, Khajiit are not often allowed within city walls, and the caravans are forced to pitch tents outside the city to ply their trade. I would like to note though, that the prejudice against them is not entirely senseless.
I myself have spoken to a caravan merchant, who vilified the Nordic locals for suspecting all Khajiit of dealing Skooma one moment, and attempted to sell me Skooma the next!
But now, moving on to facts.
The Khajiiti culture revolves strongly around the two moons, Masser and Secunda, and their lives are plotted around it. The two currently existing tribes, the Anequina and the Pellitines, trade rulership of the land depending upon the stance of Masser and Secunda, as the Mane decreed.
The Khajiit have existed in Tamriel since long before our records tell, indeed, their lands were the most peaceful and internally co-operative of all in the early days of the First Era, each of the sixteen to twenty tribes specialised in a different field, and knowledge and expertise was traded quite freely amongst them.
This balance was, rather tragically, destroyed by the Thrassian Plague in the year 2260 of the First Era, which was sent by the Sload of Thras, an island west of Tamriel.
Tamriel exacted swift vengeance upon the Sload, and an army was brought together and slaughter brought to the islands, after which 'great unknown magics' were used to sink their kingdoms. It took them many years to recover, and they have never again attempted such an assault upon Tamriel.
Due to the Plague, almost half of the people in Tamriel (by some accounts), died. This left kingdoms and cultures in disarray, and the Khajiit were no exception to this.
It was centuries later that Elsweyr came to be in its current state, with the two kingdoms of Anequina and Pellitine, though both obey the will of the Mane, who is, for all intents and purposes the greatest power on earth to them. There is no disobeying the will of the Mane. He and his followers reside in Torval, living in great homes of wood chopped in Valenwood, and exceedingly valuable material, as Bosmeri religion practices forbid the felling of trees in Valenwood.
The two Khajiiti kingdoms are greatly culturally opposed; the Pellitines being a nomadic people and the Anequina being city dwellers. There is no love lost between the two, the Anequina think the Pellitines decadent and lazy, the Pellitines think the Anequina barbarians.
The different forms of Khajiit.
The form a Khajiit has when he is grown depends upon the stance of the moons at the time of his birth.
These forms range from almost entirely human-like, to small housecats, to tiger-like creatures the size of two Altmer and the weight of fifty!
It is through the stance of the moons too that the Mane, the king, the ruler is chosen. When the Mane is born, the two moons stand perfectly aligned in the sky, leaving a seeming 'third moon'.
While known for their grace, rather than their battle-prowess, that too is not inconsiderable. In their battles with the Bosmer especially they used exceedingly well thought-out tactics.
First they chopped wood from Valenwood, knowing this would lead to warriors being sent to stop them. This would lead to smaller, separate forces of opponents, rather than one larger army. When Bosmeri archers shot arrows at the tree-tellers from the branches, they took cover. They hid under barricades, and when warriors came down to engage them sword to claw, hidden Khajiit surprised them!
The arches in the trees would have won the day, but smaller, lighter Khajiit hidden in the trees above the Bosmer distracted them.
This tactic lead to roughly fifty Khajiit defeating an entire company of Bosmer, with only half a dozen casualties. Due to the delay in reporting the exact manner of the defeat, this tactic was repeated once more before the Khajiit were driven from the woods.
The Khajiiti religion is similar to the Imperial pantheon and Daedric Princes, though the names differ slightly, one will hear of Alkosh rather than Akatosh, and Merrunz rather than Mehrunes Dagon.
Amusingly enough, Mehrunes Dagon's domain of Destruction is here depicted as him being but a kitten, with the senseless urge to destroy.
There are some additions, one being the mortal thief Rahjin whose infamy reached such levels as to deify him after death. June and Jode, big moon and little moon god, or Masser and Secunda, are revered differently by each Khajiit depending upon the time of their birth.
Khajiiti culture is greatly dependant upon the moons, and therefore Lorkhan, for popular Khajiit belief is that the moons are two halves of Lorkhan's body.
When around the ninety eighth year of the fourth era the moons disappeared from the sky, it caused great panic amongst the Khajiit. Understandable, if the cornerstone of your society disappears overnight, in a manner of speaking, one is like to worry.
But two years later, the moons reappeared! The Thalmor were very quick to claim credit, and the Khajiit were prepared to believe it, and hailed the Thalmor as their saviour. When in the year one hundred and fifteen of the fourth era the Thalmor staged a coup, the Khajiit helped them, toppling the Imperial government in Elsweyr and installing the kingdoms of Pellitine and Anequina as client kingdoms of the Thalmor. And so they are to this day.
- From the Journals of the Dragonborn, Volume seventeen.
Authors note
This chapter was written for a reviewer who asked for Khajiit, so here is Khajiit! Once more, if there's any particular topic you'd like to see, just tell me and I'll try to do that next.