Argonians are monotremes

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:12 pm

Khajiit in Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim are all Suthay-Raht. For some reason the digitigrade feature used in Morrowind was axed in later games, it was either simplification (call it "dumbing down" if you want) or to balance the races.

Suthay-Raht is similar build and height as average man. Cathay is similar to Suthay-Raht but greater in size and strength and obviously Cathay-Raht is even bigger.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Khajiit#Sub-species_Notes

User avatar
alyssa ALYSSA
 
Posts: 3382
Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:36 pm

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 10:17 am

Ah. I remember reading an argument on some forums over whether the digitigrade feet even made sense for a bipedal species.

Speaking of Khajiit physiology, wasn't the only thing Bethesda openly retconned from the Elder Scrolls a certain... barbed body part, described in Daggerfall's edition of "The Real Barenziah"? I know actual cats have a part like that, but since Khajiit don't have to deal with the same things there's really no reason for them to have one. I think there was a dev post a long time ago about it, but I can't remember.

User avatar
Jonathan Braz
 
Posts: 3459
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:29 pm

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 7:28 pm

I don't see why digitigrade feet would be problem on a bipedal animal; they already exist in the form of birds. Cat paws as they are might not cover enough surface area to be practical, though there have been cats and dogs without forelimbs that were able to get around on their hindlimbs just fine.

Found it:

User avatar
Shannon Lockwood
 
Posts: 3373
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:38 pm

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 11:52 pm

pretty sure Morrowind's were Cathay

User avatar
Adam
 
Posts: 3446
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:56 pm

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 9:52 pm

I thought it was the other way around. Morrowind had Suthay-raht while Oblivion and Skyim had Cathay. They look similar, but Suthay have digitigrade legs and Cathay have plantigrade legs. Or did that get swapped around in a retcon?

User avatar
roxxii lenaghan
 
Posts: 3388
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:53 am

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 1:12 pm

They were Suthay-Raht, and have been that since MW (Ohmes in Arena, Ohmes-Raht in Daggerfall). The only time Cathays have been somewhere was the TES book, The Infernal City, and they're much larger and muscular than the Suthay variety.

User avatar
Anthony Rand
 
Posts: 3439
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 5:02 am

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 5:35 pm

If the khajiit in Oblivion and Skyrim are Cathay, why aren't they ~2.5m tall or even taller?

Simple, they are not Cathay, they are Suthay-Raht.

User avatar
Patrick Gordon
 
Posts: 3366
Joined: Thu May 31, 2007 5:38 am

Post » Sat Dec 06, 2014 12:40 am

Because that's Cathay-raht, not Cathay?

User avatar
Robert Devlin
 
Posts: 3521
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:19 pm

Post » Sat Dec 06, 2014 1:19 am

From UESP which I linked earlier and which you clearly missed, the important bits:

Cathay is already larger than Suthay-raht.

Of course that ~2.5m was just a rough estimate since no Cathay has been seen ingame.

User avatar
lillian luna
 
Posts: 3432
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:43 pm

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:35 pm

Just because they look like a species, doesn't mean they're genetically similar to that species.

User avatar
LuCY sCoTT
 
Posts: 3410
Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:29 am

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 7:59 pm

I counter with http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Khajiit#Moons_and_the_Khajiit_Breeds. :tongue:

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Cathay - The Cathay are a relatively common type of Khajiit seen throughout http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Cyrodiil and http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Skyrim. They have plantigrade legs and are similar in height to Men.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Cathay-raht - Still maintaining their agility, the Cathay-Raht are larger and more powerful jaguar-like Khajiit, often described as "jaguar-men".

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Suthay-raht - Suthay-raht have similar features to the Suthay but are taller, around the height of Men. Suthay-raht are the most common breed seen in Morrowind.

Therefore, Cathay probably are taller than Suthay-raht, but not to the degree you are asserting. You can liken it to the height difference between Bretons and Nords if you like.

User avatar
Sarah Evason
 
Posts: 3507
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:47 pm

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 4:49 pm

This probably has to do with how some clothing and armor mods tended to give female Argonians serious 'endowments' which just looked weird...but then Iv always been a stickler about that... :dry:

User avatar
Dawn Porter
 
Posts: 3449
Joined: Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:17 am

Post » Fri Dec 05, 2014 4:11 pm

Unfortunately everyone knows TES Crapia is riddled with false info. That should never be used as a source.

User avatar
Brad Johnson
 
Posts: 3361
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 7:19 pm

Previous

Return to The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion