Who Said What? (Part 2)

Due to the length that the IGS took the first time I’ve decided to dedicate this part to PGE 1’s page so that it isn’t too long, so

What did the IGS (1st edition) say?

Firstly, here’s a reminder that in the later edition the author apologises for some misinformation in this text, but we’ll get to it later.

We begin with

Elsweyr is the youngest of the modern regions, and the only one to have established itself in the Common Era, nearly six hundred years ago.

Now, as we know from other texts this does not mean that the Khajiit came about much later than the other races but that the nation of Elsweyr had not existed until the 2^nd Era (termed the Common Era in this text). What had occurred were the several kingdoms (including, but not limited to, Anequina and Pelletine) in the land now called Elsweyr until they were unified by Eshita and Keirgo.

It is inhabited by a strange race of intelligent beastmen, who call themselves the Khajiit in their native tongue.

This isn’t particularly important, but just a bit odd as we know from just about everything that Khajiit call themselves Khajiit regardless of the language they’re speaking (that we’ve heard them speak). It could be a reference to Khajiit referring to oneself as Khajiit, but it’s not particularly important.

A particular family-tribe, or pride, might include a hunting party of males that appear like upright jaguars, a few beautiful youths who could pass for Elves were it not for their swishing tails, an uncle or two that would stalk the perimeters on all fours, and a chief who, depending on the moons of his birth, might have the form of any of the above.

This detailing what a Khajiit family would be like. Whilst it does sound believable in that it’s detailing the variety amongst the sub species of Khajiit AND apparently the Keyes novels detail a Khajiiti family similar to this; however, it cannot be taken word-for-word as the cultural differences and geographical difference between Anequina and Pelletine are too great for this to be the case with both. Clans have been mentioned in texts and due to this I suspect this is a relatively small one likely found in/around Anequina. However, families/groups of this size are certainly a possibility but, in my opinion, uncommon compared to larger ones. As Jobasha states in Interview with 3 booksellers “The Mane seems powerful in Elsweyr, but you forget the city governments, the chiefs of the tribes, the Clan Mothers”.

After this there’s a section on the Lunar Lattice and some of the Khajiiti sub-species that are born at certain times, with “an intelligent house-cat” certainly referring to Alfiq and so on.

the Senche-tiger, the largest great cat in existence, has proven to be just another form of the khajiit

Little bit of bullshit here as we know that the largest of all the sub-species is the Senche-Raht (not that the IGS would care to know the difference) and that “Senche-Tiger” (a term that sprang back up from TES:O) is likely a general name for Senche and Senche-Raht but it indicates that at the time not much was known of Khajiit by outsiders and there being a likelihood of Elsweyr being known as “big scary cat land” that nobody bothered looking into (or were able to come back from looking into).

Over twenty forms have been documented among the catmen of Elsweyr

Big part of the text, backed up by an old MK comment detailing that there were 24 exact forms of them and myrrlyn’s moon mathematics seen here.

and, in their own society at least, no one of them is more important or inherently better than another (with the exception of the Mane form, to be described shortly).

This appears to be the case through other texts, but is not outright stated in others I’m aware of (that aren’t PGE) at the moment.

Until relatively recently, the nearly constant insurrection and tribal warfare among the catmen rarely troubled the stage of history.

TOTAL BULLSHIT, as even PGE 3 states

Earlier versions of this Guide spoke of tribal conflict, but the truth was quite the opposite in the earliest Khajiit society.

Next there’s a little history lesson on Eshita and Keirgo and the Mane coming down with the Riddle’Thar. There is the line “dividing their power in accordance with two-moons-dance of the ja-K’hanay” however, due to this being the only place it’s found and the distance between j and n on a keyboard, it’s likely a typo for Ja-Kha’jay.

Since then, Elsweyr has withdrew itself into a secrecy that has scarcely been breached in five hundred years.

Could be a little bit of an explanation as to why Khajiit seem to both have this “rich literary tradition” and yet we have barely any Khajiiti books around. It implies that this “secrecy” only came about when Rid-T’har-ri’Datta came down and there’s nothing to really back up whether that’s true or false (Although it does line up with Return False detailing Lleswer, which I suppose would be something Khajiit would likely prefer to keep to themselves).

Next we’ve got some geography info, basic stuff we all know, but then

The old kingdom of Anequina is its northern section, and has historically offered no threat to either the early Cyro-Nords or the later Cyrodiliic [sic] Empires.

Considering what we had just read previously about the “Senche-Tiger” AND what we’ve read in PGE 3, that sounds like bullshit to me. Next is a line about Pelinal going nuts in Elsweyr, which we know happened from MK comments.

Talking about Elsweyr joining the Aldmeri Dominion, we hear

may force the catmen into another bloody confrontation with the Cyrodilic masters of Tamriel.

So not only is it claiming that Khajiit were, in fact, a threat to Cyrodiil but also that they’d fought before? Now this book is disproving itself. IGS isn’t doing too well in the consistency department (but again, even the later edition admits this one was a little bullshit).

They are quick to anger, unpredictable, and dangerous, though singly no match for an Imperial legionnaire.

Tell me when you see the propaganda

Their chief attire, the budi, or shirt, is fastened in braids down the right side, not permitting any part of the torso fur to be seen, for such is believed to be highly indecorous.

This is a cool little bit and appears to be the case. The only Khajiit that’s not a random bandit I’ve seen who does reveal their body hair is the barmaid in the Suran strip club; and she’s not likely to be worrying about “social norms” when she’s got her tits out and selling alcohol.

The obvious weapon of choice among the khajiit are their claws, naturally sharp and retractable.

Backed up by Jobasha in Interview with 3 Booksellers who talks about the various martial art forms the Khajiit have.

Others, though, have mastered the use of the saber and scimitar, the dagger and the longbow.

Likely to be Cathay and Cathay-Raht, those that Jobasha states are better and more suitable fighters; and likely also guards for the Mane.

the catmen have never shown an expansionist inclination.

Somewhat true, however totally ignoring the many conflicts that Khajiit and Bosmer have had over their borders; but that’s more a matter of not being invaded and holding onto land than expanding a kingdom’s territory

Tamriel’s two moons are inextricably linked to the society of the khajiit, who worship their different phases, and the combination of the phases, as if they were gods.

Not so sure about this, as it isn’t backed up by any other text. However, it’s possible that various phases are kind of like worshipping days for various gods. If not, it fits into the whole “we’re the empire, look at these silly foreigners” thing the IGS has had going for it for some time.

Therefore, each “breed” of khajiit has its own patron deity

Super unproven and is backed up nowhere. Very interesting if the case but also highly unlikely.

the lunar gods of Elsweyr are merely the divinities of the Imperial Pantheon (Stendarr, Mara, Kynareth, etc.) in disguise.

Sounds like bullshit to me, there aren’t enough Khajiiti Aedra-like gods (5, including Magrus) for this to be the case and for it to hold up with the phases.

Similar findings have revealed that the dro-m’Athra, or dark spirits of Elsweyr… to be aspects of the more universal Daedric powers.

Again, bullshit, as Khajiit already have Daedra-like gods and for the most part seem alright with them. However, they could be confused with the Daedra that aren’t found in Khajiiti beliefs (Boethiah, Molag Bal, Meridia, etc.) but there’s too little info on the dro-m’Athra to say.

There’s a bunch on moon sugar here, which is all backed up in other texts to no need to go into it.

the streets of Elsweyr’s major cities are full of catmen shivering in the grip of sugar fits.

Even if true, it’s likely hyperbole. But we’re yet to see those streets for ourselves.

Now we get onto a big and often debated part of the Mane

Khajiit tradition holds that only one Mane can be alive at any one time; indeed, they believe that there is only one Mane, who is simply reborn in different bodies. Be that as it may, there has been no recorded instance of multiple Manes contending for power; whether this is due to the truth of the khajiit belief, or whether the ruling Mane takes care to eliminate any potential rivals before they can mature, cannot be determined.

Now, I don’t want to sound pissy and typically “here’s ESO being dumb” but they’re very likely going to go through that latter detail of eliminating potential rival Manes. I don’t particularly like it, but if that’s the way it is then that’s all there is to it. I’d rather it be a true matter of Mane reincarnation but sometimes you draw the short lore-straw. Still, we’re yet to see what actually happens with this and this isn’t a “let’s debate ESO” thread.

In olden times, the khajiit would shave off their own manes in deference to the Mane, braiding them into locks that he would incorporate into his own, gigantic mane.

Necessary for Mane-Moon and hence backed up. This would especially likely be the case around Rid-T’har-ri’Datta’s time as he appears to be somewhat authoritarian of a Mane and not having given the shaved hair to the Mane could’ve been a shameful symbol back then, but that’s conjecture.

The next section is on three big towns in Elsweyr: Senchal, Torval and Rimmen. Not much to really go into here, but Senchal details their infamous port city, markets and drug addicts though I will say that

All in all, Senchal is the ugliest city outside of Imperial jurisdiction. The air is humid and full of the chimney-smoke caught in the eddies from the surrounding coasts. Much of the city is abandoned or in ruins.

Sounds, again, like bullshit propaganda to me. The air being humid is likely due to the fact that Senchal is surrounded by the Topal Bay and the Pelletine jungle; which tend to be able to get pretty damn humid. Saying that one of, if not the, largest port cities in Tamriel is "abandoned or in ruins" sounds like a flat out lie. The only probable case of unpleasantness coming in from the air would be the corpse sellers and supposed Sload airships holding corpses they got from Senchal.

And that’s part 2. Now with the IGS out of the way, the other parts should be both easier and more enjoyable to read. If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around.