Katari¶

"We were here when this peninsula was a forest. We were here when the elves arrived. We will be here when you have all forgotten what came before."
— Rrhash the Old, eldest of the Krak Katari, to a Cynwäll envoy who never reported the conversation

The cat-folk of the Lanever peninsula — sapient feline humanoids who are, by every credible measure, the oldest continuously-resident population in Cadwallon. They were here when Elhan arrived. They were here when the Ophidians withdrew. They may have been here when the Sphinx war happened. Most Cadwës have no idea any of this is true, because the Katari do not advertise.

What They Are¶

Cat-folk — humanoid in build, feline in features (slit pupils, ears, fur in various coat patterns, prehensile tails of varying length)
Pre-Cynwäll natives — the Katari predate Elhan's settlement of the peninsula. They were the peninsula's people when the Cynwäll arrived. The Cynwäll did not displace them; they reached an accommodation that has held, in some form, for over a thousand years.
Long-lived — 150-200 years; their elders preserve oral traditions that go back further than any other surface population's records
Diaspora — substantial Katari populations exist elsewhere on Aarklash (the southern coasts, particularly), but the Cadwallon population is the founder community

Where They Live¶

The Krak (Kraken) — the spiritual heart of the Cadwallon Katari. The Krak's "upside-down tower" architecture is Katari design, not Bismuth design — House Bismuth inherited the building when their ancestor purchased it from the previous Katari steward. The Katari still live in the building's middle floors, by arrangement.
Heaven Heights (Soma) — older Katari trading families with mercantile ties going back to the founding era
The Free District (Drakaër) — Katari scholars at the Free University, particularly in the Antiquarian Chair's adjacent departments
The Outskirts — semi-feral Katari clans on the peninsula's interior, who have never moved into the city

In Cadwallon¶

Pre-Cynwäll memory. Senior Katari elders preserve oral traditions about the Ophidians, the Sphinx war, and Elhan's original arrival that no other Aarklash population can match.
The Cynwäll accommodation — Dyrsin knows the Katari are there; the Katari know Dyrsin is there. The two have had perhaps a dozen formal conversations in the past five hundred years. The accommodation is real and unsentimental.
House Bismuth relationship — complicated. The Katari rent space to the Bismuths in their own ancestral building. Bismuth pays. Bismuth also defers to Katari elders on questions of The Krak's deep architecture.
No guild penetration — the Katari sit outside the guild structure almost entirely. They trade independently.
Diaspora trade ties — Katari merchants connect Cadwallon to the southern Aarklash coastal cities through family-network commerce that bypasses formal trade routes

What They Know¶

Elhan's seal

The Katari were present when Elhan sealed the chamber in the Walled Library that bears his name. Rrhash the Old of the Krak Katari was a child at the sealing. Rrhash remembers what was put inside. Rrhash remembers who else was present. Rrhash will not say without an extraordinary reason. The Cynwäll know Rrhash holds this; they have asked, more than once, in their oblique way. Rrhash has declined.

The Sphinx war fragment

Katari oral tradition contains an alternate, older account of the Sphinx war that contradicts both the Daïkinee record and the Cynwäll reticence on the same period. The Katari version names parties on the Ophidian side that no other source names. Sharing this would reshape Cadwë understanding of the deep past. The Katari have not been asked correctly in eight centuries.

Relations¶

Cynwäll / Dyrsin — the formal accommodation
Ophidians / Ss'Alish / S'ylice — pre-existing diplomatic memory (mostly cold)
House Bismuth / The Krak — ongoing tenancy relationship
Free University of Cadwallon — academic representation
Daïkinee — quiet respect; the two oldest local peoples acknowledge each other

The Antiquarian Chair

A Katari scholar, Lyrrish of the Free District, holds the Antiquarian Chair at the Free University. Lyrrish has just submitted a paper to the academic council on "Pre-Cynwäll Lineages of the Peninsula" that contains, in coded footnotes, fragments of the Katari Sphinx-war account. The paper is scheduled to be reviewed. Dyrsin has formally requested the council not publish it. The council will probably comply. Lyrrish wants to publish anyway and is looking for free leaguers who can protect the manuscript through the publication process.