Catfolk

No nation — scattered peoples Pre-war culture: Aztec/Incan — jaguar people Homeland: Mexico (a farside landmass off the dinosaur continent's coast) and both shores of the sea between them — now a dried seabed, and now goblin territory. See Geography document.

History — the Catfolk Diaspora: Very early in the Long War, the Giants dried the sea at the heart of Catfolk civilization, with the Caldrian Imperium lending a hand. It wasn't a battlefield defeat — it was an act of war aimed at their whole way of life, and it worked. Catfolk had no technology to compete with it. Their cities, their fleets, and their coastline stopped functioning as a civilization all at once, and they were taken out of the Long War entirely rather than beaten in it. What followed is remembered as the Catfolk Diaspora — the scattering into every other nation that defines Catfolk life today. See Geography and Giant Kingdoms documents.

Seafaring and airships: Catfolk are, without much argument, the finest shipwrights and captains in Tir Hathar — sea or air. Before the Diaspora, this wasn't a reputation, it was daily life: Aztec-mode Catfolk fleets used that now-dried sea as a highway between both shores, not a barrier. When they were scattered, the craft came with them, and they've spent the centuries since sharpening it rather than losing it. Catfolk are also credited as the ones who first worked out airships, and they remain the captains every nation wants at the wheel of one when they can get them — every major power fields airships now, and a Catfolk pilot is the difference between a good crew and the best one. Some rare Catfolk master shipwrights are said to be able to build something more than a hull — a vessel with a spark of its own awareness. Not standard, not well understood, and not something this document is resolving yet; see Open Questions.

Ruins: Catfolk ruins are scattered across all of Mexico — what's left of the cities and ports that used to be there before the sea dried and the goblins moved in. Nobody Catfolk has ruled that land in generations — except, in a strange, quiet exception, a handful of Catfolk who never left at all. Mexico's dragon, the Feathered Serpent, keeps Catfolk remnants among the high-ranking staff of his Demesne, holding real titles and thoroughly sick of the goblin underlings beneath them. See Dragons document.

The long game: Catfolk are rebuilding through dispersal and numbers. They've spread into other nations, moving into positions of influence through politics and relationships. They breed deliberately and spread out so the growing numbers aren't obvious. The goal is to eventually reclaim influence — through numbers, political control, and indispensability rather than warfare.

Awareness of the plan: Most Catfolk are not aware of the strategy. It's simply the Catfolk way — enjoy a large family, move around, build connections. The elders and priests carry the full weight of the plan. The average Catfolk doesn't need to understand it to participate in it.

The Healer Sigil: Catfolk hold the Healer Sigil, which means every nation has a reason to tolerate them that they'd rather not admit openly. The elders know this and use it deliberately. (Small chance this reassigns or opens up to other races later — flagged in Open Questions, not decided.)

The Tide Sigil: Catfolk also hold the Tide Sigil — navigation and the intuitive command of a vessel, sea or air, rather than the raw power that drives one. See The Sigil Houses document. Between Healer and Tide, Catfolk hold two of Tir Hathar's Sigils, more than any other single race. The elders are entirely aware of this and entirely unbothered by it — it's the same pattern as Healer, applied to shipping instead of medicine: make yourself the thing every nation quietly needs and can't easily replace.

Magic: Primarily sorcerers and witches. Magic flows through blood and lineage rather than academic study. Their sorcerous bloodlines trace to pre-war traditions the colonizing nations tried to suppress without full success.

Religion: Some Catfolk communities have quietly adopted Blood cult theology and woven it into existing ancestor-worship traditions.

Changelings: Catfolk and Changelings have a natural affinity — neither has a homeland, neither fully belongs anywhere. Not a formal alliance, just a mutual understanding.

Sigils present: Healer, Tide