Tabaxi

'She greets you, human friends. Dew brings you many tidings, tales of far-off lands and great adventures of the past. She has collected these tales over her years of wandering, from the Old Kingdom to the Land of Giants. Shall she begin?' - Dew on the Grass, bard

Tabaxi are a sapient race that most closely resemble humanoid cats, said to hail from a strange, distant land many generations ago. Tabaxi are an intensely curious people, widely renowned for their wanderlust and friendliness. Many favour trading in stories over bartering or currency, though they are accomplished craftsmen on the rare occasion that they can concentrate on a project for that long. They are generally peaceful, but competent fighters when needs be, with impressive agility and fearsome claws that can make them potent fighters. It is rare for a tabaxi to stay in one place for very long at all, preferring to move on to sate their curiosity and find more stories.

Basic Information

Ecology and Habitats

Tabaxi are better adapted to warm climes, preferring jungles and deserts to most other environments. It is believed, due to their skill with climbing, that their original home was a jungle-like environment. Notably, they are poor swimmers, and greatly dislike being in water.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Tabaxi are largely carnivorous, but they are partial to especially sweet fruits and plant products.

Biological Cycle

Tabaxi mature at a similar rate to humans, reaching adulthood in their late teens. They breed less frequently than humans, but they typically give birth to litters of 4-6.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Tabaxi have catlike faces, with very distinctly-shaped noses and ears, as well as eyes with vertical pupils.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Tabaxi have a very unusual, unisex naming system, taking aspects from particularly liked stories, usually as a short phrase, for their name, with one word as a nickname (e.g. Storm at Sea, or Storm, Branching River, or River).

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Most tabaxi speak common as well as a number of other languages. Notably, they typically refer to themsleves in the third person. This is believed to be a quirk carried over from their original language, which seems to have been lost among those living in the known world.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Stories are the driving force in tabaxi culture, taking importance over almost all forms of material possessions. For the most part, tabaxi travel, whether alone or in small tribes, seeking out all the stories that they can find, and even going to great lengths to find those that are largely forgotten.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Tabaxi are on good terms with most species, though are often considered oddballs.

Lifespan

Similar to humans

Average Height

Slightly taller than humans

Average Weight

Slightly lower than humans due to their slim builds

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Tabaxi can have a great number of coat colours and patterns, mostly mirroring those found in big cat species such as tigers, leopards, and ocelots.