I have made a catfolk barbarian for a RotRL adventure and I am coming up with his backstory. He is basically from a northern nomadic tribe (I'm thinking from the land of the Linnorm Kings) and he is searching for a valuable artifact (read: an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists) that was stolen from them. The amulet is more than just a magic weapon though, it is a ceremonial token of rank, because in his tribe, only a select few become "guardians" and are given one of these amulets. The amulets have been passed down for generations, so the theft is most grievous. He has tracked the thief to Varisia, and that is how he ends up embroiled in the events of RotRL. Whether or not he finds it in this adventure is up to the DM.
So, the question is: What region would YOU base this tribe in? I feel as though the land of the Linnorm Kings fits his tribes beliefs and practices, that it is mostly a human area. Or would the people there welcome them as traders and whatnot? I'm not sure if there is racism in the area toward non humans. If there is, but not very strong, then I could set them up as sort of warrior traders like in Skyrim, trusted enough to sell to/buy from, but not allowed in cities.
Thoughts?
Pretty much anywhere there are other "barbarous" peoples would work. The Storval Plateau and the Cinderlands might be just as good as anywhere. Maybe they're the unmentioned 8th clan of Shoanti? You're off the map canonically, so I'd suggest putting your character's people close to the action so that your GM has a bit more story gristle to throw your way than the stolen amulet. That way he/she can threaten your character's people on a whim and it's close enough to be like "oh man you jerk! leave my momma alone!" *throws soda can* :-)
I thought about the Cinderlands too. I envision them being from a snowy area, for some reason. My character in particular has the coloring of a white tiger. The distance from Varisia was something that i didn't like as well.
Also, out catfolk are more Khajitt in appearance, so they can fit in with humanoid society a lot better than some interpretations. (Not that any other ones are wrong!)
Maybe they live in the snow capped areas of one of the Varisian mountain ranges (Kodar Mountains, Mindspin Mountains, Red Peaks, etc)? They would be icy and snowy most of the year...fighting giants, guarding lost shrines to ancient things...I'm just spitballin' here.
If I recall correctly, there are catfolk in droves in Southern Garund.
The varisian mountains would work, I suppose. Its been a while since I looked at my inner sea map and I totally forgot they were there. Whoops!
Southern Garund. There aren't catfolk in Varisia 'natively'.
Last map I checked, there seemed to be plenty of mountains in Southern Garund,
so you can have a colder high altitude region inhabited by this tribe, no problem.
Southern Garund begins to go so far south that it would be more temperate than Mwangi expanse, anyways.
There may also be some tribes in the Valashmai Jungle (?) of Tian/Vudra, but I think Garund is the prime area,
and having mountains and not being tropical seems more in tune with the imagery you already have.
Garund might just work, as well. Thanks for the help guys!
If you want snow tiger type stuff, the person probably needs to be from a mountainous region or even an arctic one of some sort. There's a lot of room in the Crown of the World.
But I was thinking that a lion-man of some type might very easily come from Rahadoum or Thuvia or the other not-very-well-described areas along the southern coasts of the Inner Sea.