Senche-Cats

Senche-tiger concept — Concept art of a senche-tiger.

For the Khajiit form in Elder Scrolls lore, see Senche-tiger.

Senche-Cats are large felines native to Elsweyr and Valenwood. They are distant relatives to the Khajiit, but cannot speak like the cat-folk.^[1] They come in many varying forms, from senche-tigers to senche-leopards.

Description[]

Senche-cats share a namesake with the Senche breeds of Khajiit, and like their Khajiiti relatives, senche have sweet teeth. Senche-cats are able to be tamed because of their fondness for Moon Sugar, which their khajiiti masters use on raw meat as an incentive to train them, and their appetite for it waxes and wanes with the moons.^[2] Tamed senche-cats are used for a variety of purposes by the Khajiit; be they mounts, hunting companions, or guards for temples.

The Bosmer have a much different relationship with the senche. The wood elves hunt senche-cats for their meat and pelts,^[3] as well as their bones, which the Wood Elves are convinced contain almost magical properties when crafted into arrows. Whereas the Redguards of Hammerfell import powdered senche-tiger claws and teeth, for use in concoctions that claim to do everything from extending one’s life to instilling good luck.

Variants[]

Senche-Tigers are one of the most common breeds seen throughout Valenwood and Elsweyr. Like most tigers, they can vary in color from orange to white, and come in many different sizes and stripe-patterns. Some have been bred by the Khajiit for size and manageability, to be used as mounts.^[4]
- Moonlight Senche-Tigers have been the sleek and silvery guardians of the Khajiiti temples of the moons ever since the revelation of the Riddle'Thar. The Moon Bishops say that the Moonlight Senche just knows things of which no other tiger is aware.^[5]
Senche-Lions are the fierce and powerful senche-cats indigenous to the broad savannahs of Anequina in Northern Elsweyr.^[6] While they are often tamed by the Khajiit to be mounts, the male Pride-Kings are especially prized for this purpose.^[7] Lions with black manes are ridden by the Bi-Lunar Guard and are by tradition reserved for the Bi-Lunars' exclusive use.^[8]
- Black Senche-Lions serve as the preferred mounts of Elsweyr's greatest thieves. The most famous of these is Rajhin's companion, Umbrage, who could not only fly for brief periods of time but also talk.^[9] Unlike Black Senche-Panthers, Black Senche-Lions have manes.
Senche-Leopards were bred for bearing armed warriors while slinking through the steamy jungles of Pellitine, but Khajiiti riders found they had broader applicability, and use them as both fast coursers for couriers, and as elegant town mounts for young Elsweyr nobles.^[10] They are among the Tenmar Forest's feared predators.^[11]
- Clouded Senche-Leopards are strong yet nimble mounts, bred for hunting in the Tenmar Forest.^[12] Among all the varieties of Senche-Cat found in nature, the Clouded Senche-Leopard is noted for its singular beauty.^[13]
Senche-Panthers are skilled and stealthy hunters and notoriously dangerous when encountered in the wild. It is said that their claws are the untimely end of many an unwary traveler.^[14] They are usually small, but some can grow to large sizes.
- Black Senche-Panthers were said to have been bred as mounts by Baandari Pedlars, for ease in hastily leaving town after dark.^[15] Legend holds Black Senche-Panthers were born from some of the thief Rajhin's many shadows.^[16]
- Striped Senche-Panthers are uncannily intelligent natives of Valenwood. These solitary animals rarely befriend mer or men, but are often held as pets when tamed.^[14] While striped similarly to Senche-Tigers, these Senche-Panthers are distinct in their dark colouring.