The Tabaxi Race

Traits

Common features

Tabaxi literally translates as star singer(s) from their own language, though these people have also been called catfolk in Common. The reason for this is obvious. These catlike humanoids have long limbs, retractable claws, and a tail of about 60 centimeters. There is only one recognized race of tabaxi on the Zurica continent.
Their faces are round or oval with short snouts, long whiskers, and large movable ears that sometimes have small tufts on the tips. Their eyes with slitted pupils in bright light, have yellow, green, or blue irises. Their bodies are covered in either sandy, brown, or grey fur, with patterns of darker stripes on the limbs and tail unique, to each individual. Their heads can have longer fur that can be styled like other humanoids do, sometimes braided or even dyed.
They are longer than most sentients, between 1.80 to 2.20 meters, but rarely stand up to their full length with very dynamic poses. In slender or lithe builds, their weight averaged around 90 kilograms.

IAMI-periods

To equalize the life stages of all the races including very diverging lifespans, and ensure that they can be categorized correctly when it comes to rights, taxes, and healthcare, all ID cards also share their racial Infancy-Adolescence-Maturity-Index, or IAMI. For tabaxi, the life stage periods are:
Infancy: 0-11 years
Adolescence: 11-18 years
Maturity: 18+ years
Lifespan: 90 years

Culture

Nocturnal

Tabaxi are adapted to a nighttime lifestyle. Their eyes can adjust to daylight easily, but their metabolism and sleep cycle generally make it hard for them to be active during the day. Other races have long held the stereotype that tabaxi are lazy and slow, but this may only hold up until the sun sets. Then they are actually very energetic. Tabaxi that want to stay awake during the day hours, tend to shut out the sunlight and hide indoors. However, most of them have found that the nomadic and nocturnal lifestyle of the Yu Me feels much more comfortable and natural to them.

Short attention span

Tabaxi have very little need for routine and stability. They usually show a boundless curiosity for anything new they come across. This also means that in general, the catfolk have trouble focusing on a specific subject for long. Any distraction can draw their attention elsewhere. To compensate for this, they do have exceptional memory for details that on average exceeds that of other races. These factors combined make that most tabaxi are adventurous, always looking for new experiences, and have trouble sitting still.

Musical and expressive

Any type of musical instrument in existence has at some point been mastered by a tabaxi. Most of them have an innate knack for rhythm and pitch and a wide variety of taste in music. On top of that, they generally love hearing and sharing stories, through either song or speech. A good joke or an exciting tale can be worth more than material gifts when trying to befriend a tabaxi. Should a tabaxi choose to settle down somehwere instead of travelling around, they are usually fast to make friends and start parties.

Naming conventions

Tabaxi names are created from events, dreams, and other omens that occurred around the time of birth. As a surname of sorts, the name of the caravan leader or elder could be provided, but there are no inherited family names. These names are formed from two to three Tabaxi words, sometimes simplified for a more fluent pronunciation. Still, Tabaxi names are difficult to properly pronounce for people who do not speak it fluently. Tabaxi tend to give them an abbreviation as a nickname, or use the literal translation of their name. There are no distinct differences in naming conventions for different genders. Examples are:
Arrainagorria (Red Fish), Borrokansute (Fights with Fire), Dantzanmihia (Dancing Tongue), Erlealau (Four Bees), Gauilargia (Night of Full Moon), Haziazazpi (Seven Seeds), Hodeibegia (Clouds in their Eyes), Ilunakaitza (Darkness of a Storm), Izpilikua (Purple Flowers) Korrikobasoa (Running Forest), Lainoagoizean (Mist at Dawn), Lotanzuhaitza (Sleeping in a Tree), Marroiatxoria (Brown Bird), Mozorrobi (Two Masks), Negukoeguna (Winter's Day), Oinaizotza (Toes on Ice), Paduralurra (Earth from the Marsh), Saguahortza (Teeth of a Mouse), Sudurrabat (One Nose), Tximistasei (Six Lightning Strikes), Udanbelarra (Summer Grass), Zuhaitzhamar (Ten Trees).
GM Note: the Basque language is used as inspiration for the Tabaxi language.