The Khajiit are a race of feline creatures hailing from the province of
Elsweyr, well-known for their keen intelligence and agility. While these traits make them superb thieves, Khajiit are also fearsome warriors, although seldom gifted with the skill to harness magical forces.
The Khajiit stand divided amongst two disparate ways of life, those of the southern Elsweyr jungles and river basins being settled city-dwellers with ancient mercantile traditions and a stable agrarian aristocracy based on the exportation of saltrice and Moon Sugar; whilst the nomadic tribe or pride-centric Khajiit of the dry northern wastes and grasslands are, by contrast, aggressive and territorial raiders periodically united under a single chieftain.
In a society such as this, where the source of power is lost amidst so many convolutions, it is widely held that the greatest force amongst the Khajiit is that of the Clan Mothers, who are said to be both a "shifty and elusive bunch". It is they, ultimately, who control both the harvest and refining of Moon Sugar.
Moon Sugar is a daily part of Khajiit life, as well as comprising the chief export of Elsweyr, smuggled out in vast quantities of both raw and refined forms. The Khajiit see moon sugar as a way to connect with the spiritual realm, and thus their cities are filled with vagabonds and addicts.
The typical Bipedal Khajiit dresses in an ample shawl of brightly-colored cloth, known as a budi, for defense against the harsh rays of the sun. This shirt is tightly fastened in braids down the right side, in order to prevent any part of the torso fur from being seen, as the exposure of such in public is deemed both offensive and unsightly. In battle, those who walk upright traditionally don medium-weight armor, exquisitely fashioned from loose-fitting leather overlayed with lacquered and highly-burnished metal plates. While leather caps are generally preferred, those with the means to procure such will often don helms of fluted silver. Furthermore, most Khajiit bedeck themselves with jewelry, trinkets, and tattoos; the latter holding both important cultural and religious significance, being used not only as decoration, but also as a mark of their race, tribe, and the gods of their worship.
While the majority of Khajiit prefer to use their razor-sharp and retractable claws as weapons - being practitioners of one of the numerous forms of Khajiiti martial arts, many have mastered the use of the sabre, scimitar, dagger, and longbow. Such mastery, among other things, may be seen among the male Khajiits' names, through which they display their status in life with the prefix; though care is always taken, for the use of two titles is perceived as the result of either great pride or ignorance.
Ta'agra, the native language of the Khajiit, is poorly understood by those of other races; this ignorance may be attributed primarily to the lack of Khajiit literature, due to the Khajiiti people making use of an oral method for the preservation of their history. Consequently, few scholars have access to the scripts necessary to translate Ta'agra, and the natural disdain Khajiit share for indoctrinating foreigners into their culture forestalls any chance of learning the tongue from a Khajiiti citizen. That much having been said, the following encompasses those words found in Ta'agra for which an accurate translation has been obtained:
- "Jo" means "wizard".
- "Dar" means "thief". This appellation is not meant to imply a criminal, but rather, one who is clever, or else, particularly gifted with their hands.
- "Do" means "warrior". This title is rarely used by modern Khajiit, save it be for the Mane's personal guards, and masters of Goutfang, Whispering Claw, and Rawlith Khaj.
- "M" or "Ma" means "child" or "apprentice". Khajiit also use the word to imply one who is a virgin.
- "J," Ji," or "Ja" means "a bachelor" or "young adult". In the common vernacular, it means one who is young and lacks experience.
- "S" means "adult" or "an adult".
- "Ra" and "Ri" are used to imply great status, "Ri" being the highest honorific among the Khajiit, used by leaders of cities or tribes.
- "Dro" means "grandfather" and is meant as a sign of respect.
- "Khaj" means "desert".
- "Iit" is used to state where one lives, and is also used to define one's job.
- "Va" means "to be".
- "Rabi" is used to define ownership, as well as being the title for a style of shirt commonly worn by Suthay-raht.
- "Thjizzrini" means "foolish concepts," the closest translation of "rules" possible in Ta'agra.
- "Ri'sallidad" means "martyrs", but is used only in the case of those martyrs deserving special honor.
- "Vaba" means "it is".
- "Ja-Kha'jay" the "Lunar Lattice", occassionally translated as the "Moonstrings" by foreigners.
Etymological Note
The title "Khajiit" is derived from the Ta'agra words "khaj" and "-iit", a literal translation of which would be "one who deserts". The Khajiit themselves, however, point out that the only action of value that may be taken in a desert is to walk; as such, a proper translation would be "one who walks in the desert". For this reason, "khajiit" is translated in short-hand as "desert-walker", and thus are many Khajiit known.
