Book Claim - The Cat That Walks Alone

[Ja-Kha'jay]

Cheers dude

[raggidman]

k - what I done is to post a copy in editor's corner where I can get around the editing time restrictions that sadly abound elsewhere on the forum.

If you are going to work more on it, do so - otherwise I intend to plunge in(assuming you want this to be a book!) which I do.

Mind you, maybe, many moons later, we will decide we want to change some of this again because of new stuff we come up with - hrug: but I want to do somethig more with this fairly soon.

[Ja-Kha'jay]

The Cat that walks alone.
By Clan Mother Ri?rassi.

Come, favoured daughter, there is much to learn. You have always been restless, and long to leave this place. You have seen Ahnissi?s words, and know them well, and yet you do not know all.

In the beginning, Ahnurr and Fadomai gave birth to three litters. Khenarthi of the first litter was the eldest daughter of Fadomai, like you, my favoured daughter, are my first. But Azurah of Fadomai?s third litter was her favoured daughter. Nirni and Khenarthi were jealous of Azurah.

When Azurah took Nirni?s forest people and made the Khajiit, Nirni was angry. Nirni wanted to make the desert hot and the sands biting, so that the Khajiit would always be hungry. She asked Khenarthi, to whom Fadomai gave the wind, to help her.

"Does Khenarthi-sister want to be good sister-friend to Nirni? Help Nirni punish nasty Azurah's favored people for her selfish trick?"

And Khenarthi said, ?Yes, Khenarthi will help Nirni. For Khenarthi should have been Fadomai?s favoured daughter, as Khenarthi was her first. Khenarthi will make the winds blow hard so the sand will strip the very fur from their skins.?

And so the desert became hot and windy, and the Khajiit suffered in the stinging sands. Nirni watched as the Khajiit perished in the flaying sandstorms. But the Khajiit prayed. They prayed to Alkosh, and Mara, and Magrus. But nothing happened, and the Khajiit despaired.

S?rendarr, the merciful cat, saw the Khajiit suffering and he took pity on them.

?Khenarthi,? he said. ?Why do you make them suffer so, can you not hear them calling out to you? You are no better than noisy Lorkaj for doing this?

And he opened Khenarthi?s ears to the prayers of the Khajiit.

?Khenarthi,? they said. ?Why are you punishing us? We have done nothing wrong. Why are you punishing us??

And Khenarthi thought to herself, ?Why am I punishing them, they have done nothing wrong.? And Khenarthi felt disgusted with herself. And she stopped the winds from making the sand fly so hard.

Nirni was angry when Khenarthi stopped the winds and she cursed her older sister to always be alone. And Khenarthi wept, as she watched Nirni make nasty creatures to torment the Khajiit.

And so Khenarthi went to Alkosh and spoke, ?Alkosh-brother, can you turn back time so Khenarthi can stop herself from making the mistake of helping Nirni? Khenarthi would be a good friend to Alkosh??

And Alkosh said, ?No, dear sister. Everyone must learn from their mistakes, all of Fadomai?s children included. You alone must forgive yourself.? He said.

And so Khenarthi saw that Alkosh was right and she resolved to make something for the Khajiit. She granted one of her favoured Priestesses with a divine vision. She had the priestess craft an artifact and hide it in the desert, to help the Khajiit survive Nirni?s wrath.

The artifact was a ring, so small a trinket with such a power. They say it made you light as one of Khenarthi's feathers and swift as Khenarthi's winds. They say Khenarthi looks favourably on one who wears the ring, stopping the flying sands.

And when Nirni found out about the ring, she swallowed it deep into herself, so no one ever found it. Not even the great Rajhin!

But Khenarthi had one last trick up her budi. Using her power over the wind she whittled down a part of Nirni?s body into her divine form, as a marker for her gift. It took so many phases that Nirni did not find out.

Now, Clan Mother Ri?rassi knows not if Khenarthi?s landmark exists, for she has not looked for it, but should any of Clan Mother Ri'rassi's litter find this artifact, Clan Mother Ri'rassi thinks this would make Khenarthi very happy and that kitten would also bask forever in the warmth Ri'rassi's regard.



The Artifact is a placeholder for now, so far I've come up with a ring which fortifies speed and gives water. As for the landmark, i thought it should resemble a bird, which seems to be Kynareth's common avatar. You can plunge on in now.

[raggidman]

Just had a thought, hows about a Gryphon = cat-bird for the marker?

[Ja-Kha'jay]

Perfect! It would fit in with Khenarthi being a Khajiiti deity, whilst still maitaining the wings on Kynareth.

I'll get onto some concept art right away!

[raggidman]

Was just wondering, although Elsweyr as a political entity is only 600yrs old, I suspect that the Khajiiti are far more ancient as a race...

Maybe this could be used as an introduction to a few more exclusively khajiit Deities? And a 'desert creation myth' - If so you could say something like:

And Khenarthi said, ?Yes, Khenarthi will help Nirni. For Khenarthi should have been Fadomai?s favoured daughter, as Khenarthi was Her first. Khenarthi will make the winds blow hard so they strip the very fur from their skins.?

And the winds followed the walkers everywhere they went so that they could not see and they became lost and began walking in circles. They walked in circles for so long that the winds sucked all the moisture from that land, and the soil dried up and blew away...

And so the desert came, hot and windy, and the Khajiit suffered in the stinging sands. Nirni, who was so angry that she did not care how the land suffered so long as the Khajiit hurt too, watched as the Khajiit perished in the flaying sandstorms.

But the Khajiit prayed. They prayed to their own special deities: some prayed to Alkosh, ferocious Tiger Dragon, but He slept the long sleep of His kind and heard them not;
- and they prayed to Khenarthi, but of course Her ears were turned from them;
- they prayed to ja-Kha'jay - to Jode and Jone but the noise of the wind drowned the words in their mouths and the swirling sands hid them from the Moons' bright gaze;
- Azurah, some cried You were with us at our conception, will you come to us now, but there was no sight of either Dawn or Dusk in the darkness brought by the sands;
- to Mara the Mother some pleaded, but She was too busy with Her other children to listen out for them, and the swirling sands blew on;
- a few thought to call on Sheogorrath, but He was mesmerised by the patterns of the whirling sands on the face of the world and they could not break the trance.

Now it just so happened that S?rendarr, the merciful cat, who was having enormous fun playing in the sand which was new to him, wandered into the pitiful remains of the people and his heart reached out to them.

Not sure if this breaks up your story too much, what do you think?

heh heh, if you like it then Khenarthi can waken Alkosh by blowing in his ear! So he might yawn enormously = time yawns? And maybe She would curl up under His Great Wings seeking shelter from her own remorse?

Which in turn might make Her reaction to his advice: ...saw the He was right, and strangely comforted by this for they do say that Time heals all wounds...

weeee.... having so much fun with your story, hope you don't mind...