Tell me about Tabaxi

So ... this is going to sound stupid: I hate tabaxi - but I need to know everything I can learn about them. Not primarily the stuff I can just look up online, because ... I can look that up online. And obviously also not all the stuff I need to pay for access to. 

What I'm after is everyone's impression of them. What do you use them for, how and where do they live, what's their society like, all that good stuff.

Thing is: Since I hate tabaxi, they're a total blank for me. And now I happen to actually need on. It's my own fault, really. But when you have a place called The Land of the Beast-Headed Men (and Women), they can't all be dogs*, right? So I kinda dug my own grave on that one.

Maybe I should add that ... I'm not going to have any tabaxi. But I will have a race called Pantherans. Which, if you look closely, is essentially the same thing. With a better name. 

* and bulls and snakes and crocodiles and .. eventually, you'll need a cat, or it just starts to look strange.

In times long past, refugees from future earth arrived on the world. They called it N'earth. Most of them retreated to a city they called Heaven, but some, having become separated from their compatriots, settled elsewhere. They built a city of the future--complete with AI controlled arcologies--and life was good. Then, they tried to call home. The city of the future became a haunted graveyard in a single moment, as the entire population was translated into incorporeal undead at the press of a button. Why am I telling you this history? Because years later, the leftover concrete jungle became the abode of tabaxi. Probably they migrated from the desert outside the city. Unable to enter the city's buildings on account of hostile algorithms and wraiths, they made their homes on roofs and in sewers. From there, they spread out into the world through nautical voyages. Once, humans from elsewhere in the world knew them as The Enemy from Across the Waves; now, they are the piratical menace who hound the dreams of sailors. Their society is something like what I imagine the Iroquois Confederation to have been. Also, one group is lead by a dread pirate who is the spirit of a deep dragon inhabiting the undead corpse of a former tabaxi buccaneer. She goes by "M."

P. S. I find Tabaxi to be a better moniker if you pronounce the "x" as if it were pinyin, making an aspirated "sh" sound...

Quote from eapiv >>

In times long past, refugees from future earth arrived on the world. They called it N'earth. Most of them retreated to a city they called Heaven, but some, having become separated from their compatriots, settled elsewhere. They built a city of the future--complete with AI controlled arcologies--and life was good. Then, they tried to call home. The city of the future became a haunted graveyard in a single moment, as the entire population was translated into incorporeal undead at the press of a button. Why am I telling you this history? Because years later, the leftover concrete jungle became the abode of tabaxi. Probably they migrated from the desert outside the city. Unable to enter the city's buildings on account of hostile algorithms and wraiths, they made their homes on roofs and in sewers. From there, they spread out into the world through nautical voyages. Once, humans from elsewhere in the world knew them as The Enemy from Across the Waves; now, they are the piratical menace who hound the dreams of sailors. Their society is something like what I imagine the Iroquois Confederation to have been. Also, one group is lead by a dread pirate who is the spirit of a deep dragon inhabiting the undead corpse of a former tabaxi buccaneer. She goes by "M."

P. S. I find Tabaxi to be a better moniker if you pronounce the "x" as if it were pinyin, making an aspirated "sh" sound...

 Huh - interesting. I'm guessing that's not the ... official dogma?

Basically cats. They are humanoids with the personality of house cats.  Personality wise, think the Khajite from Elderscrolls.

They are interested in exploring and finding good stories, but might get bord with an object once they get it. They mostly look like big jungle cats, but nothing says you can't have them also take after the ones that are desert or plains dwelling, or look like humanoid house cats (make it a monk-Celestial Warlock Multi Class, and now you can play Beerus). 

Late to the party...

Mid campaign (my first) - and I've ended up with  a late teenage Tabaxi Bard transplanted to Faerûn by a series of mishaps (inc. a shipwreck).

 I found the "Official Lore" sparse and a tad unimaginative (and the whole "Maztica" thing itself somewhat derivative), so, while keeping to the basics without going too off piste - my character is from a non-urban Tabaxi clan (based loosely on a largely female-centred feline Pride; a little like a lion Pride) with the females doing all the serious work - hunting, making things, looking after the kits etc. etc. and the few males of the Pride being there for territorial disputes, mating purposes and being a nuisance - so a bit like most of the real world for centuries, and the developing world today.  Her Pride had no formal religious structure - so she doesn't "get" Gods and temples. They were hunter/gathers, so she doesn't "get" cities.

Kidnapped by raiders she ended up in pampered  but secluded slavery to a human mistress (which she doesn't know: she thought she had been rescued from her kidnappers, not bought) as part of a private entertainment troupe for a couple of years, then a spell with a criminal gang on the streets (this was all in Helmsport-Ulatos) so she never got properly socialised and doesn't really understand how "Furless" society works. This makes her socially awkward (and occasionally embarrassing) to the rest of the group. She is a picky eater (background issues). She is self-obsessed, has no real understanding of money - and always seeks the warmest spot. She will have a nap at every opportunity. She is self-opinionated, selfish and sometimes just rude. Basically a cat. However, she is inconsistent - she may be rude to a stable boy one minute, then tip him a ridiculously high amount because he has looked after her donkey nicely. 

She has a distinct sibilant, lisping accent and pronunciation ("Tabaxi: is pronounced Ta -followed by a guttural back of throat noise (like ch in "loch")- ah-shee), she often mutters "Tabaxi words (gutteral, sibliant, slightly "yowly") before clarifying in Common. 

All "Furless" look alike to her, so humans, Elves, even Orcs are almost indistinguishable to her (though she's learning). She doesn't understand Dwarves & Gnomes yet. Dragonborn are OK - they are "lizard people" and there were lizards in her childhood home and she likes them. She has Tiefling phobia (due to background). 

It is part of her culture that her people have Nine Lives (life in the womb, life as a "nothing" (i.e. when born and before coherent speech), life as a "Kit" until puberty, life as an adult - with other lives being "discovered" during major changes (esp. trauma). 

She considers males as expendable, but will instinctively put herself in danger to rescue an injured female - or something small and helpless (or her donkey - anything even looking like it is a threat to her donkey will be attacked). She will recklessly chase fleeing enemies. She will NEVER surrender.

She will NEVER use attack magic to physically harm anything (background issues), only using healing, buffing or spells which confuse hostiles. 

Names are important to her culture. All have meanings relating to the character or appearance of the individual, and can change over time. She will never reveal her true "birth" name (which never changes), but uses a series of aliases, changing after each major life change, each alias reflecting how she views herself - or wants to be seen - at that time of her life.
Thus, as she is currently rootless, alone in a strange land and sad she is currently "T'Zitarr" ( transl;  "Wandering Weeping Cloud", from the t'zitrrow; the occasional single rain clouds which pass over her home range) or "Cloud" for short.  She NEVER uses other people's names  - and does not understand the "nonsense names of the Furless" (thus her quest companions, to her, are "Sharp Shooter" - an Elf rogue, "Sailor With Scar" - a battered nautical half orc tank,  "Lizard Lady" - a Dragonborn monk and "Gnome Lady" (guess.. :) ). 

She doesn't understand meaningless place names. Descriptive ones, yes, but others, no (Phandolin, for example, is "The Place With The Cowardly Taskmaster",  Helmsport-Ulatos "The City of Ships and Screaming Birds" ). Others she will change and invent her own (Neverwinter is "The City of Lies";  she was cold there - and was cheated),

OK.. So why am I wittering about her..? 

To demonstrate that even if the D&D Lore for a race is lacking, with a good DM and some imagination even poor world-building and scant lore can be used as a springboard to create a LOT of fun - and interesting characters...... 

I imagine them like Catwoman in vintage 1960s Batman.

meow

Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt? 

Quote from EyeDeeDee >>

Late to the party...

Mid campaign (my first) - and I've ended up with  a late teenage Tabaxi Bard transplanted to Faerûn by a series of mishaps (inc. a shipwreck).

 I found the "Official Lore" sparse and a tad unimaginative (and the whole "Maztica" thing itself somewhat derivative), so, while keeping to the basics without going too off piste - my character is from a non-urban Tabaxi clan (based loosely on a largely female-centred feline Pride; a little like a lion Pride) with the females doing all the serious work - hunting, making things, looking after the kits etc. etc. and the few males of the Pride being there for territorial disputes, mating purposes and being a nuisance - so a bit like most of the real world for centuries, and the developing world today.  Her Pride had no formal religious structure - so she doesn't "get" Gods and temples. They were hunter/gathers, so she doesn't "get" cities.

Kidnapped by raiders she ended up in pampered  but secluded slavery to a human mistress (which she doesn't know: she thought she had been rescued from her kidnappers, not bought) as part of a private entertainment troupe for a couple of years, then a spell with a criminal gang on the streets (this was all in Helmsport-Ulatos) so she never got properly socialised and doesn't really understand how "Furless" society works. This makes her socially awkward (and occasionally embarrassing) to the rest of the group. She is a picky eater (background issues). She is self-obsessed, has no real understanding of money - and always seeks the warmest spot. She will have a nap at every opportunity. She is self-opinionated, selfish and sometimes just rude. Basically a cat. However, she is inconsistent - she may be rude to a stable boy one minute, then tip him a ridiculously high amount because he has looked after her donkey nicely. 

She has a distinct sibilant, lisping accent and pronunciation ("Tabaxi: is pronounced Ta -followed by a guttural back of throat noise (like ch in "loch")- ah-shee), she often mutters "Tabaxi words (gutteral, sibliant, slightly "yowly") before clarifying in Common. 

All "Furless" look alike to her, so humans, Elves, even Orcs are almost indistinguishable to her (though she's learning). She doesn't understand Dwarves & Gnomes yet. Dragonborn are OK - they are "lizard people" and there were lizards in her childhood home and she likes them. She has Tiefling phobia (due to background). 

It is part of her culture that her people have Nine Lives (life in the womb, life as a "nothing" (i.e. when born and before coherent speech), life as a "Kit" until puberty, life as an adult - with other lives being "discovered" during major changes (esp. trauma). 

She considers males as expendable, but will instinctively put herself in danger to rescue an injured female - or something small and helpless (or her donkey - anything even looking like it is a threat to her donkey will be attacked). She will recklessly chase fleeing enemies. She will NEVER surrender.

She will NEVER use attack magic to physically harm anything (background issues), only using healing, buffing or spells which confuse hostiles. 

Names are important to her culture. All have meanings relating to the character or appearance of the individual, and can change over time. She will never reveal her true "birth" name (which never changes), but uses a series of aliases, changing after each major life change, each alias reflecting how she views herself - or wants to be seen - at that time of her life.
Thus, as she is currently rootless, alone in a strange land and sad she is currently "T'Zitarr" ( transl;  "Wandering Weeping Cloud", from the t'zitrrow; the occasional single rain clouds which pass over her home range) or "Cloud" for short.  She NEVER uses other people's names  - and does not understand the "nonsense names of the Furless" (thus her quest companions, to her, are "Sharp Shooter" - an Elf rogue, "Sailor With Scar" - a battered nautical half orc tank,  "Lizard Lady" - a Dragonborn monk and "Gnome Lady" (guess.. :) ). 

She doesn't understand meaningless place names. Descriptive ones, yes, but others, no (Phandolin, for example, is "The Place With The Cowardly Taskmaster",  Helmsport-Ulatos "The City of Ships and Screaming Birds" ). Others she will change and invent her own (Neverwinter is "The City of Lies";  she was cold there - and was cheated),

OK.. So why am I wittering about her..? 

To demonstrate that even if the D&D Lore for a race is lacking, with a good DM and some imagination even poor world-building and scant lore can be used as a springboard to create a LOT of fun - and interesting characters...... 

 Amusingly, it's been awhile since I made this post - but at present, a new party is about to (or at least eligible to) travel to the Lands of the Beast-Headed Men (and Women). 

And it remains an issue. I have arrived at much the same place you describe: Males being large and loud and making nuisances of themselves, insisting on territorial disputes, hunting rights, various forms of cat like behavior I won't get into here, and so on. Mix in a bit of Kilrathi, from Wing Commander. But I still don't have enough to really ... feel like I have a full culture for them.

So the Lands of the Beast-Headed Men (and Women) would be gnolls, pantherans (tabaxi), yuan-ti, kenku, lizardmen. But the point being: A racial mix entirely alien from your normal medieval fantasy setting. 

Also reality itself would be different there. But that's ... besides the point right now =)

Quote from AnzioFaro >>

Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt? 

 Both… lol

Quote from Acromos >>

Quote from EyeDeeDee >>

Late to the party...

Mid campaign (my first) - and I've ended up with  a late teenage Tabaxi Bard transplanted to Faerûn by a series of mishaps (inc. a shipwreck).

 I found the "Official Lore" sparse and a tad unimaginative (and the whole "Maztica" thing itself somewhat derivative), so, while keeping to the basics without going too off piste - my character is from a non-urban Tabaxi clan (based loosely on a largely female-centred feline Pride; a little like a lion Pride) with the females doing all the serious work - hunting, making things, looking after the kits etc. etc. and the few males of the Pride being there for territorial disputes, mating purposes and being a nuisance - so a bit like most of the real world for centuries, and the developing world today.  Her Pride had no formal religious structure - so she doesn't "get" Gods and temples. They were hunter/gathers, so she doesn't "get" cities.

Kidnapped by raiders she ended up in pampered  but secluded slavery to a human mistress (which she doesn't know: she thought she had been rescued from her kidnappers, not bought) as part of a private entertainment troupe for a couple of years, then a spell with a criminal gang on the streets (this was all in Helmsport-Ulatos) so she never got properly socialised and doesn't really understand how "Furless" society works. This makes her socially awkward (and occasionally embarrassing) to the rest of the group. She is a picky eater (background issues). She is self-obsessed, has no real understanding of money - and always seeks the warmest spot. She will have a nap at every opportunity. She is self-opinionated, selfish and sometimes just rude. Basically a cat. However, she is inconsistent - she may be rude to a stable boy one minute, then tip him a ridiculously high amount because he has looked after her donkey nicely. 

She has a distinct sibilant, lisping accent and pronunciation ("Tabaxi: is pronounced Ta -followed by a guttural back of throat noise (like ch in "loch")- ah-shee), she often mutters "Tabaxi words (gutteral, sibliant, slightly "yowly") before clarifying in Common. 

All "Furless" look alike to her, so humans, Elves, even Orcs are almost indistinguishable to her (though she's learning). She doesn't understand Dwarves & Gnomes yet. Dragonborn are OK - they are "lizard people" and there were lizards in her childhood home and she likes them. She has Tiefling phobia (due to background). 

It is part of her culture that her people have Nine Lives (life in the womb, life as a "nothing" (i.e. when born and before coherent speech), life as a "Kit" until puberty, life as an adult - with other lives being "discovered" during major changes (esp. trauma). 

She considers males as expendable, but will instinctively put herself in danger to rescue an injured female - or something small and helpless (or her donkey - anything even looking like it is a threat to her donkey will be attacked). She will recklessly chase fleeing enemies. She will NEVER surrender.

She will NEVER use attack magic to physically harm anything (background issues), only using healing, buffing or spells which confuse hostiles. 

Names are important to her culture. All have meanings relating to the character or appearance of the individual, and can change over time. She will never reveal her true "birth" name (which never changes), but uses a series of aliases, changing after each major life change, each alias reflecting how she views herself - or wants to be seen - at that time of her life.
Thus, as she is currently rootless, alone in a strange land and sad she is currently "T'Zitarr" ( transl;  "Wandering Weeping Cloud", from the t'zitrrow; the occasional single rain clouds which pass over her home range) or "Cloud" for short.  She NEVER uses other people's names  - and does not understand the "nonsense names of the Furless" (thus her quest companions, to her, are "Sharp Shooter" - an Elf rogue, "Sailor With Scar" - a battered nautical half orc tank,  "Lizard Lady" - a Dragonborn monk and "Gnome Lady" (guess.. :) ). 

She doesn't understand meaningless place names. Descriptive ones, yes, but others, no (Phandolin, for example, is "The Place With The Cowardly Taskmaster",  Helmsport-Ulatos "The City of Ships and Screaming Birds" ). Others she will change and invent her own (Neverwinter is "The City of Lies";  she was cold there - and was cheated),

OK.. So why am I wittering about her..? 

To demonstrate that even if the D&D Lore for a race is lacking, with a good DM and some imagination even poor world-building and scant lore can be used as a springboard to create a LOT of fun - and interesting characters...... 

 Amusingly, it's been awhile since I made this post - but at present, a new party is about to (or at least eligible to) travel to the Lands of the Beast-Headed Men (and Women). 

And it remains an issue. I have arrived at much the same place you describe: Males being large and loud and making nuisances of themselves, insisting on territorial disputes, hunting rights, various forms of cat like behavior I won't get into here, and so on. Mix in a bit of Kilrathi, from Wing Commander. But I still don't have enough to really ... feel like I have a full culture for them.

So the Lands of the Beast-Headed Men (and Women) would be gnolls, pantherans (tabaxi), yuan-ti, kenku, lizardmen. But the point being: A racial mix entirely alien from your normal medieval fantasy setting. 

Also reality itself would be different there. But that's ... besides the point right now =)

 Maybe take some inspiration from the time in Egyptian society when cats were worshipped as gods and shift forward to a time where they no longer are? BTW, I co-habitate with 3 female cats and I am positive they retain knowledge of when their kind were revered and that most of their behavior is a reflection of, "Worship and serve me, human", lol. Bast and Sekhmet are examples of  deities for any clerics or paladins, the true/full nature of the sphinx is still a bit of a mystery so may be it could be a Warlock patron ... idk, but you get the idea. Or, if you're at all familiar with the 80's sensation that was/is Thundercats, you practically have several archetypes, if not NPC's, already designed for you to pattern off of and their struggle to keep their culture alive; which will inevitably lead to it changing over time to adapt to current circumstances. 

Yes..I can completely understand re. the "I still don't have enough to really ... feel like I have a full culture for them.".  The "Lore", such that it is, seems to (lazily?) lead to them, basically, being human-like cats, rather than beings setting out from a totally different mind set/cultural base, which was disappointing. Meanwhile, I'm playing like my character comes from a totally alien background, and a large part of her "game" is her adapting ( - and her companions gauging and  coping with her oddities - luckily we have a great DM and a fun group of players who know me well from outside the game).

Even her experiences with "Furless" in her home continent Maztica were alien to her, and socially abnormal - and having been shipwrecked in the (to her) weird world of Faerûn - with its mix of odd beings, and constant fighting and killing in horrid, dark, smelly (!!) places with horrid creatures - she has come to the conclusion that she has died "again" (in the shipwreck) and that what she is now experiencing is a kind of "Hell" she has to endure and can only escape from by fulfilling her own (secret) quest (of which only the DM is aware. Her references to having died (twice now) are still being explored by the group, but we're getting there..).

Hence my approach and the building/playing of my character revolving around her initial cultural "differentness"  and mind set (elements of which only I and the DM know in advance ) - and which the other members of the party had/have to deal with as the differences become apparent though conversation or her actions (which as in a couple of the early quests) can have a sometimes serious impact on interactions with NPCs (the group now understand her dietary issues, the ways she approaches gender and power issues, her wacky scale of values re. worthless "shiny things" as opposed to hard cash etc ) - and (crucially) combat.

In the first combat that the group had she (instinctively protecting a female) put herself in danger to rescue a fallen female of the party. (So, she seemed to be a brave and selfless "party player".)

Then, in her second quest, she started a fight (and nearly died before others intervened to calm matters down) with an NPC Manticore (WAY above the group's pay grade) -  which the party was apparently supposed to befriend - because she felt it was acting as if it intended to eat her donkey. (So she NOW seemed to be a potentially dangerous loose cannon...)

But in another fight, surprised by a mass of scarier enemies, she climbed out of the danger zone completely (self-preservation), in order  to snipe from a place of safety, while totally ignoring a male of the party in danger (again, culturally-dictated instinct cutting in). (Now a selfish  "party-splitter"..)

In another, during a lull, when sent off to scout, she found a warm room with a fire and went to sleep. (Now unreliable and random.)

But all of theses actions made sense in the light of her alien cultural background. 

Meanwhile, she is slowly learning and accepting the group as "companions" (and members of her "Pride"), and they are used now to her funny ways, so she feels more comfortable with them and can now explain herself more. By allowing her (cat-like) cultural background to affect how she behaved in the first few sessions the Party have got to grips with her background without the need for exposition...  She, in turn, is learning to act more like one of the group (she has actually started helping the males !!!).

It is proving to be a lot of fun..