Sand Cat
The Sand Cats are a nomadic culture of Tabaxi hailing from the Ashoka desert on what the Prima Terrans call "Terra Mirandium" or "The Great Southern Continent." To those from this land however, the continent is known as Umbosu.
History
The Sand Cats cultured originated after the fall of Leonid Dynasty, a legendary event which saw the Tabaxi scatter across the continent of Umbosu. The Leonid's are revered as legendary forefathers, whose knowledge and spirits still guide the modern Sand Cats. The Sand Cats trace their direct lineage from the followers of Desert-Walker Hasztir, a powerful merchant. The Sand Cats, unlike other nomadic wanderers, didn't raid their neighbouring kingdoms when they settled in their desert homeland. Rather, under the Desert-Walker code, the Sand Cats became trading caravans, capable of traversing the vast Ashoka desert in a way most humans found difficult. They became considered to be important economic assets, being capable of bringing coinage and resoruces to far flung cities and kingdoms. During times of war, bands of Sand Cants would form mercanery companies to fight for whomever paid them in the most interested way. The Legend of Ulmassa of the Aeigou states how when the titular hero was at war with his nemesis, Zamhana the Cruel, Zamhana offered a band of Sand Cats the weight of his kingdom in Gold. Aeigou instead offered them the most beautiful sight the mountain's could give, which the feline mercanaries gladly accepted.Religion
Sand Cats are followers of Ashokan Fetishism. Their following of this faith often informs their fasciantion with objects and symbolism, with Sand Cat shamans and witch doctors being important figures within their tribe or family unit. For a child to become a Shaman, it often requires them tutoring under another Shaman, where at the end of their training they will go under a 'spirit journey' to another plane of existence, and if they return unharmed, they are officially a Shaman. Witch Doctor's undertake a more traditional training in magic, often specialising in the powers of alchemy and restoration when attending a school as a child.Archetypes
Sand Cats are respected and trusted by others, with their personal code forbidden them from cheating in a deal. They are considered to be superstitous, tough, egalitarian and fair. Sand Cat adventurers will often be trained monks, especially Four Element monks. Rangers and fighters are also common amongst them, with only the feircest of warriors becoming barbarians. Others will be wandering clerical shamans or druidic Witch Doctors. Adept wizards are rare amongst the sand cats, with those that study magic more often becoming bards.Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Masculine names
Family names
Sand Cats do not take last names. Rather, they will adopt titles or monikers to celebrate their deeds. In this case, the Moniker or title will come first.
Uncle
Warlord
Greater
Old
Young
Travelled
Feirce
Small
ect.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Culture and cultural heritage
The Sand Cats have a nomadic culture, never settling down permanently anywhere. There are some small permanent settlements hidden away within rocks and mesas, in large cave complexes, within dried river basis, or around numerous oasises.
They travel in tribal caravans, trading with mostly human settlements they find. Sand cats travel by foot, placing their goods and homes on camels as they travel. Often temporary settlements will last for decades, due to them being ideal waiting stops for the caravans. Sand Cats being a social people, they will often group of other tribes when they find them before setting off again.
The Sand Cats value trinkets and wealth, often attaching the things they find to their clothing. They are shameful hoarders, their travelling tents being covered in the tat they collect throughout their lifetimes.
Depsite their mercantile reputation, Sand Cats are used to the harsh desert landscape and are tough figthers. They fight ferociously, with numerous monastaries throughout their desert homeland dedicated to martial arts, especially to do with the elemental plane. Likewise, there are schools dedicated to fighting and magic which Sand Cat children will be enrolled in, and can spend months at a time in these schools when parents go on dangerous caravan routes, collecting them on their way back. Underintensive study, it would take a Sand Cat seven years to complete their training, but due to their nomadic lifestyle it often takes up to Eighteen years of a Sand Cat to graduate from their school.
Shared customary codes and values
Sand Cats share the Code of Hazstir, a twenty-four rule based doctrine passed down through oral tradition. This determines the laws of the Sand Cats, with the bulk of it being about fair business transactions and community interactions. They also freedom and the ability to wander where they please. Their vast desert homeland is largely uninhabited, and most surrounding kingdoms will leave the Sand Cats to it. Encroachments or claims to Sand Cat lands will often be met with a unified reponse from the clans, who will either fight for the territory back or use their extensive trade connections to oblige other nations to invade for them.
Average technological level
Nomadic scavenger people, they hold the same technological level as their neighbours at anytime. Currently, that is as a late-medieval state.
Common Etiquette rules
Sand Cats will name their full title when meeting new people, especially when it involves a transaction. When meeting others for the first time, it is customary for them to place their hands on the other's shoulders and announce their full title. When they become close to someone, hugs are the most common form of greeting.
It is considered intimate for a Sand Cat to be petted, and only close family are permitted to do it. If a stranger or aquaintence was to perform this, it would be considered a gross invasion of privacy, which would breach their codes.
Common Dress code
Sand Cats will often travel barefoot, with shoes being uncomfortable for Tabaxi feet and their desert home making shoes useless. The warm nature of their homeland will often mean they wear light hoods and long open robes. They will tie or pin trinkets and treasures to these robes, to both protect them and to demonstrate their wealth and status.
Art & Architecture
Sand Cats primarily live in large canvas tents with carefully engineered ventiliation. These tents are large and decorated with collected trinkets and rugs within. Sand Cats admire all art, and will more often collect it from surrounding cultures rather than make it themselves.
Their permanment settlements are built from sandstone, and carved in simplistic bricks. Their interiors are large and spacious, with high windows to stop the sand blowing in. There is a dim amount of lighting inside, with oil candles being the most common light source. The floors are adorned in rugs and sand, with simple wooden doors.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
On the autumn equinox, it is beleived dark spirits will emerge and roam the material plane looking for souls to capture and drag back to the dark side of the material plane.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
When a Sand Cat is born, they are welcomed to the tribe after a week of being born, where a small festival of birth is thrown. This is more for the benefit of the parents than the actual child.
Coming of Age Rites
Sand Cats come of age in two ways. Firstly is for those who complete an education in one of their schools. For martially trained Sand Cats they will peform a demonstration of their abilities against a master from the school. For those who were not school trained, this will be when they complete their first cross desert trade.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Sand Cats are cremated under moonlight. The funary process lasts for four hours, starting at twilight. Readings of their key achievements, their life stories, and their impact on the material plan are read by loved ones around the pyre as it's constructed. When the moon comes out, Shamans will begin to douse the body in oil, chanting tabaxi prayers to help the spirit move onto the spirit world. When the fire is lit, silence is observed until it has died down. Any surviving elements of the deceased are turned into memorial trinkets, often being encased in lockets or small chests.
Common Taboos
Sand Cats do not touch each other's tails under any circumstances. This is considered to be an invasion of privacy and a breach of trust. Likewise, it is considered rude to pet another Sand Cat unless they are a close friend, a member of the direct family, or a lover. Sand Cats will take their other's personal space seriously as well, and find anyone that invades into another's business or gets too physically close to be rude.
When it comes to any transaction, to cheat another unfairly is a breach of all the Sand Cats hold dear. Sand Cats that are found to have breached the code are exiled from the desert, their name passed around the desert to all the tribes. If an exiled Sand Cat is stumbled upon, they are again chased away. If they choose to fight, they will be killed and given no funeral. Likewise, if a Sand Cat is cheated, they will take vengance upon those that cheated them. Many shrewd merchants who saught to cheat a Sand Cat caravan sound found themselves at the end of a Tabaxi's claws.
Common Myths and Legends
Myths and Legends of the Sand Cats are largely oral in tradition, being shared around campfires in the desert nights. Many tales will be exagerated tales of their ancestor's adventures, but there are certain populat myths and legends that most if not all tribes will know:
Fall of the Lionids: A tragic legend around the fall of the ancient Lionid civilization, with the death of the last Lionid king being the narrative focus.
Bargain of Aiegou: A tale of the Claw band, a group of Sand Cat mercanaries caught in the middle of a war. The two side's each offered the band of adventurers differing rewards, Zamhana the cruel offering the weight of his kingdom in gold, whilst Aeigou offered them the simplicity of the most beautiful view on the mountains.
The Jester: A tale of a festisit spirit, a fiendish man known as the Jester, who wanders the material plane and offers bagains for a game of cards. Focuses on a Sand Cat who loses, and finds himself hounded by spirits for fourteen days before his death from frieght.
The Tabaxi and the Princess: A tale of the Sat Cat hero Ackilon, who saves an Elven princess and inherits a vast kingdom. Purely mythological.
The Fire Walker: A creation myth about a powerful elemental prince who lost his lover, and as such scorched a swathe of the material plane in grief, creating the Ashoka desert. His tears are what formed the oasises of the desert.
He Who Chased the Moon: A cautionary tail of hubris, where a Sand Cat named Isker trains in magic, claiming to the be the finest mage around. He is challenged by a trickster fire spirit to use his magic to chase the moon and bring it back, the cat flies high, chasing the moon all night, until the sun comes out and burns him alive.
Historical figures
Hazrit: Founder of Sand Cat culture, a trader and exile from the fallen kingdom of the Lionids.
Olix: A warrior who united the tribes to defeat the Yuan-Ti incursion.
Amayr: A shaman who founded the largest shamistic temple in the Ashokan desert.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Sand Cats are considered "uncivilsed" by other cultures, especially their human trading partners on the coast. Sand Cats will wear comfortable and practicical clothing, often donning themselves with jade and turqouise jewellery peircings to signify their wealth and rank.The importance of an individual sand-cat amongst their community is shown by the length of the hair, with their most important tribal members growing out their hair on the top and side of their faces, the closest a Tabaxi can get to "beards."
The importance of jewellery is essential to the Sand Cat idea of beauty. They have a focus on the small beauties found in trinkets and jewellery, far more than other cultures. A Sand Cat is more likely to pass up a bar of platinum in exchange for a small garnet ring.
Gender Ideals
Sand Cats have no strong concept of gender binaries, and often many sand-cats will choose to appear androgynous. As such, there are no uniform gender roles or gender specific clothing. Rather, sand cats will wear general robes and trousers and all manner of jewellery they find. Parents are expected to take dual roles. The role of mother and father is taken seriously, however this can be adapted into any combination.
Courtship Ideals
Sand Cats are a passionate people, as such casual dating is considered normal. Dancing and partying is a common place for Sand Cats to meet each other, with intoxication and eating food together considered to be a good signs for forming bonds. Courting will last anywhere between a single evening to several months.
Relationship Ideals
When two Sand Cat lovers feel they are ready to settle down, they seek the blessing of each other's parental figures. Once this blessing is achieved, the lovers will engage a pre-marital relationship for five years. When these years are up, they will be considered bonded for life, and a ceremony involving silk rope being tied around the hands in front of the Midday sun occurs, acting as a form of marriage rite. For a Sand Cat couple to divorce is considered very rare but still accepted. The divorce ceremony occurs on an anniversary of the bonding, under the midnight moon where bonds are untied and the two set free.
Family is important to the Sand Cats, with parental figures often being very involved in their childrens lives. Parental figures are not necessarily the Sand Cat's biological parents. Rites of adoption are common, and there are no limits so long as both parties are capable of consent. Families can be large, and they will form even larger travelling tribes, with the Tribe being considered an extended family.
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