Tabaxi

Summary

Once the proud rulers of the island of Meotyi, most Tabaxi now cling to a small area of tropical rainforest in Northern Rhovra, fighting a constant border war with Sakilos to maintain their freedom. Others settled in Burmiya, integrating into a culture with a religious fascination with cats. This fall from political influence didn't result in a decline in cultural vibrancy, however: Tabaxi maintain their religion and values in their traditional form, raising cubs to become not only warriors but also artists and craftspeople.

Culture

Tabaxi have taken their unfortunate circumstances in stride, forming a culture of fierce independence. They are exclusively devoted to their traditional Cempohualli religion, practicing a hard-line form of it that requires the sacrifice sentient creatures. While this tendency is certainly evil, their society is egalitarian and accepting of internal differences, so their alignment isn't easy to pin down. Tabaxi speak Nenepilli, a language they share with the Frogfolk who now control Meotyi. Tabaxi are carnivores and are most comfortable eating food they killed themselves. Nahuatl is the best source of Tabaxi names.

Livelihood

Tabaxi who live outside their jungle are often driven by an adventurous spirit to chase legends of powerful artifacts and long-lost treasures. To put it less charitably, these Tabaxi have a reputation for criminal activity. For Tabaxi who live in Sakilos, age determines your profession. Young adults are all hunters and warriors, while the old or injured do the cooking and other specialized tasks. Due to the constant danger of invasion, the warriors are considered far more important than others. Those who cannot fight are cared for in the best of times but are likely targets for religious sacrifice in dire circumstances. Sometimes, those who make other positive contributions to the community by creating art and music are spared this fate.

Upbringing

Though their society is now dominated by the need for self-defense, Tabaxi were not always this way, and this shows in their approach to raising their children. Tabaxi cubs are encouraged to be independent explorers while also showing reverence to their superiors. When they reach adulthood, they form close bonds with a selected group of peers (see below) that act as a second family of sorts. Though their religion is mandatory, Cempohualli religion places few restrictions on its practitioners' social lives. It even has a god of homosexuality named Xochipilli whose presence can give even the least knowledgeable outsider an idea of how widespread the practice is in Tabaxi culture. 

Cempotes

Each year, all Tabaxi parents and children attend a sacred festival Cempote celebrating the birth of the Cempohualli pantheon. All Tabaxi who reached adulthood the previous year and are fit for military service are placed in a cohort of 20. For the rest of their lives, this group lives together, fights as a unit, and elects its own leaders. The bonds formed within these Cempote groups go beyond an ordinary friendship, but romance within these sacred groups is technically forbidden.

Relations with Others

The Tabaxi of Sakilos interact almost exclusively with the Satyr soldiers sent to kill them, making their enmity towards outsiders understandable. Tabaxi in Burmiya are similarly reclusive, only interacting with the native population. For Tabaxi who venture farther afield, their reputation for lawlessness earns them few friends in police society but many in the seedy undergrounds of cities across Vrashyn. These Tabaxi don’t have many prejudices when it comes to race, though they hate the Frogfolk who colonized their former homeland.

Leonin Vanguard by Aaron Miller

Racial Features

Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.
Age: Tabaxi have lifespans equivalent to humans.
Alignment: Tabaxi tend toward chaotic alignments, as they let impulse and fancy guide their decisions. They are rarely evil, with most of them driven by curiosity rather than greed or other dark impulses.
Size: Tabaxi are taller on average than humans and relatively slender. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You have a cat’s keen senses, especially in the dark. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Feline Agility: Your reflexes and agility allow you to move with a burst of speed. When you move on your turn in combat, you can double your speed until the end of the turn. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you move 0 feet on one of your turns.
Cat’s Claws: Because of your claws, you have a climbing speed of 20 feet. In addition, your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Cat’s Talent: You have proficiency in the Perception and Stealth skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Nenepilli.

Population Map: