Beastfolk

Argonians



Argonians are the reptilian denizens of Black Marsh. Little is known and less is understood about them. Years of defending their borders have made the Argonians experts in guerrilla warfare, and their natural abilities make them equally at home in water and on land. They are well-suited for the treacherous swamps of their homeland, and have developed natural immunities to the diseases and poisons that have doomed many would-be explorers into the region. Their seemingly expressionless faces belie a calm intelligence, and many Argonians are well-versed in the magical arts. Others rely on stealth or steel to survive, and their natural agility makes them adept at either. They are, in general, a reserved people, slow to trust and hard to know. Yet they are fiercely loyal, and will fight to the death for those they have named as friends.

While Argonians appear reptilian in nature at first glance, they also exhibit fish- and amphibian-like qualities, such as being able to breathe underwater, having small gills behind their ears, and swim using the same body mechanism as that of a tadpole or eel, waving its tail side-to-side to propel itself through the water. Unfortunately for the Argonians, the very traits that enabled them to survive so well in the swamps of their homelands also made them ideal slaves for hard labour in regions of Morrowind that would prove uninhabitable to the other races. They are commonly enslaved along with the Khajiit in Morrowind. Though slavery is illegal in the rest of the Empire, the Dunmer of Morrowind were allowed to own slaves for quite some time. This was due to the conditions of the treaty under which Morrowind joined the Empire, which allowed the Dunmer to follow their ancient traditions concerning the ownership of slaves. King Helseth eventually abolished slavery from Morrowind due to political and moral reasons.

Khajiits



The Khajiit are a race of feline creatures hailing from the province of Elsweyr, well-known for their keen Intelligence and Agility. While these traits make them superb thieves, Khajiit are also fearsome warriors, although seldom gifted with the skill to harness magical forces. This is not to say that Khajiit do not possess the ability, merely that strenuous training must be undertaken to make wielding magic a serious option, either in passive or aggressive actions.

Physiologically, Khajiit differ greatly from both the varied races of man and mer, not only in their skeletal structure (possessing a tail and digitigrade -toe walking- stance) and dermal makeup (the "fur" that covers their bodies) but in their digestion and metabolism as well. The Khajiit, along with the Argonians, make up the so called 'beast races' of the Empire, due to their therianthropic qualities.

It is currently unclear whether a successful union between Khajiit and other races may occur, for, while reports of children born of such unions have been noted in the past, no well-documented cases exist.