Khajiit Description

Khajiit (from Ta'agra, meaning desert-dweller) 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 Skooma trade 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. The foreign appearance and behavior of Khajiit make them common targets of racial discrimination, being given the name Cat-Men by foreigners, which the Khajiit don't take lightly to. The morphology of Khajiit is determined at their date of birth rather than the shape of their parents, and they will remain in that form the rest of their life. It is intrinsically tied to the phases of Jone and Jode and the Lunar Lattice, also known as the ja-Kha'jay. After birth, Khajiit look very similar to one another and are smaller than human newborns. Within weeks, their individual morphology becomes more clear, and their growth is faster than that of humans. The lifespan of Khajiit is around the same as men. It should not be compared to shape-shifting, as Lycanthropy is. It is possible for Khajiit to become werewolves, but lycanthropy is considered heretical to the Lunar Lattice.
The Mane, while the unofficial head-of-state, is no more a "breed" of Khajiit than any other is. 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 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. Over the years, Khajiit frequently have had to deal with the worry of being kidnapped and sold into slavery, especially from Morrowind.
Even before the first Men or Mer set foot on Tamriel, the Khajiit were already native to the continent. However, the origin of the cat-folk on Tamriel remains debated. Legend speaks of the Khajiit to have originated from an intelligent feline race or being their cousins. Other theories speak of them being descendants of Aldmeri settlers. The Khajiiti creation myth suggests the Bosmer and Khajiit to have common ancestors; Azurah having taken the forest people that were torn between the shape of beast and man and given them the many shapes of the Khajiit. But with Y'ffre telling Nirni of Azurah's doings and shaping the remaining forest people into the Bosmer, this link was cut.
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 worship both Aedric and Daedric gods which they refer to as spirits. Amun-dro, the Silent Priest, in The Spirits of Amun-dro, sorted them as Sky, Worldly, Wandering, Dark, or Adversarial Spirits. Featured prominently in a Khajiit's spiritual journey is "the Path", a road they take during their journey through life, while avoiding temptations that would lead them astray so they could ultimately reach a sort of enlightment. Amun-dro's writings detail the "Many Paths of time", where ancient Khajiit looked to their various spirits as a source of guidance (or avoidance) to reach their destinations. As prophesied by the First Mane of the Epiphany, They must be curious (to avoid Lorkhan's deceptions), clever (to navigate the hardships of life), kind (to "blaze a trail for the downtrodden to follow"), pious (to avoid Namiira's temptations), and wary (of the other races, as well as the dangers of Oblivion).
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.