Tabaxi

Anthropology & Culture

Hailing the strange and distant land of Evergreen Deep, wandering tabaxi are catlike humanoids driven by curiosity to collect interesting artifacts, gather tales and stories, and lay eyes on all the world’s wonders. Ultimate travelers, the inquisitive tabaxi rarely stay in one place for long. Their innate nature pushes them to leave no secrets uncovered, no treasures or legends lost.
The Tabaxi culture is highly militaristic. Each Tabaxi completes what is called a tributary times, 5-10 years of service in the military between the ages of 20-40. This makes even their academics and tradespeople masters of combat and weapons.
Their leadership is based around a very direct chain of command. The Forward Guard is responsible for all diplomatic matters of the Tabaxi people, negotiates trade deals, and handles the Department of Fish and Game (DFG). However don't let the name fool you, as Fish and Game have always been vital for the survival of their people, as the world around them evolved the DFG became highly skilled in espionage and tradecraft. Many of them posing as fishermen and tradesmen act as a network of information processors and disinformation sources to protect their homelands.
The current chain of command is:

• Forward Guard: Trice Longstrider
• Rear Guard: Dew of the Rolling Thunder
• Seargent at Arms: Cricket Pitchmaker
• War Priest: Y'rion Freeflow
• Mayor Domo: Malloy Windtail

Wandering Outcasts

Most tabaxi remain in their distant homeland, content to dwell in small, tight clans. These tabaxi hunt for food, craft goods, and largely keep to themselves.
However, not all tabaxi are satisfied with such a life. The Cat Lord, the divine figure responsible for the creation of the tabaxi, gifts each of his children with one specific feline trait. Those tabaxi gifted with curiosity are compelled to wander far and wide. They seek out stories, artifacts, and lore. Those who survive this period of wanderlust return home in their elder years to share news of the outside world. In this manner, the tabaxi remain isolated but never ignorant of the world beyond their home.

Barterers of Lore

Tabaxi treasure knowledge and Everore with an eye towards the past. A chest filled with gold coins might be useful to buy food or a coil of rope, but it’s not intrinsically interesting. In the tabaxi’s eyes, gathering wealth is like packing rations for a long trip. It’s important to survive in the world, but not worth fussing over.
Instead, tabaxi value knowledge and new experiences. Their ears perk up in a busy tavern, and they tease out stories with offers of food, drink, and coin. Tabaxi might walk away with empty purses, but they mull over the stories and rumors they collected like a miser counting coins.
Although material wealth holds little attraction for the tabaxi, they have an insatiable desire to find and inspect ancient relics, magical items, and other rare objects. Aside from the power such items might confer, a tabaxi takes great joy in unraveling the stories behind their creation and the history of their use.

Fleeting Fancies

Wandering tabaxi are mercurial creatures, trading one obsession or passion for the next as the whim strikes. A tabaxi’s desire burns bright, but once met it disappears to be replaced with a new obsession. Objects remain intriguing only as long as they still hold secrets.
A tabaxi rogue could happily spend months plotting to steal a strange gem from a noble, only to trade it for passage on a ship or a week’s lodging after stealing it. The tabaxi might take extensive notes or memorize every facet of the gem before passing it on, but the gem holds no more allure once its secrets and nature have been laid bare.

Tinkers and Minstrels

Curiosity drives most of the tabaxi found outside their homeland, but not all of them become adventurers. Tabaxi who seek a safer path to satisfy their obsessions become wandering tinkers and minstrels.
These tabaxi work in small troupes, usually consisting of an elder, more experienced tabaxi who guides up to four young ones learning their way in the world. They travel in small, colorful wagons, moving from settlement to settlement. When they arrive, they set up a small stage in a public square where they sing, play instruments, tell stories, and offer exotic goods in trade for items that spark their interest. Tabaxi reluctantly accept gold, but they much prefer interesting objects or pieces of lore as payment.
These wanderers keep to civilized realms, preferring to bargain instead of pursuing more dangerous methods of sating their curiosity. However, they aren’t above a little discreet theft to get their claws on a particularly interesting item when an owner refuses to sell or trade it.

Tabaxi Names

Each tabaxi has a single name, determined by clan and based on a complex formula that involves astrology, prophecy, clan history, and other esoteric factors. Tabaxi names can apply to both males and females, and most use nicknames derived from or inspired by their full names.
Clan names are usually based on a geographical feature located in or near the clan’s territory.
The following list of sample tabaxi names includes nicknames in parenthesis.
Tabaxi Names: Cloud on the Mountaintop (Cloud), Five Timber (Timber), Jade Shoe (Jade), Left-Handed Hummingbird (Bird), Seven Thundercloud (Thunder), Skirt of Snakes (Snake), Smoking Mirror (Smoke)
Tabaxi Clans: Bright Cliffs, Distant Rain, Mountain Tree, Rumbling River, Snoring Mountain Tabaxi Personality
A tabaxi might have motivations and quirks much different from a dwarf or an elf with a similar background. You can use the following tables to customize your character in addition to the trait, ideal, bond, and flaw from your background.
The Tabaxi Obsession table can help hone your character’s goals. For extra fun, roll a new result every few days that pass in the campaign to reflect your ever-changing curiosity.

Related Organizations

• Old World Artifacers Guild