Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-9062114-20140323022721/@comment-24590102-20140324043237

I think people are confusing race and species here.

Don't follow the example of all too many post-graduates; use a dictionary regularly - even when you think you know what the word means.

Race can produce remarkable variation within a species- you only have to look at Homo Sapiens to see how true that is. However, the distinction between species is not defined by superficial morphological differences but by the inability of of the two groups of organisms to produce any fertile hybrid. What distinguishes an intraspecific hybrid from interspcecific, intergeneric and interfamilial hybrids is the fact that intraspecific hybrids are fertile while all other hybrids are infertile.

Also, something I neglected to mention is that evolution is not always divergent and can be convergent too. This "convergent evolution" idea, I mentioned some days ago on another thread seems relevant to one of the speculations which is made in Sugar and Blood: The Cats of the South which states:

''"Some believe that the Khajiit are simply descendant of the original Aldmer settlers in Tamriel, who evolved, like the Altmer, Bosmer, Dunmer, and Orsimer, because of circumstance, ito the cat-like race that walks the dunes of Elsweyr. If so, they are just one more of the alien, sentient species who have made themselves so much a part of Tamriel to be confused for natives."

"The more commonly held belief, however, is that they were not foreign intelligent creatures who became cats to survive the hostile, arid land of Elsweyr, but they were indigenous cats whose knack for change allowed them to survive while other native creatures declined and disappeared.''"

Going based on the text, it would seem that the biology and history of the Khajiit it is considered somewhat of a mystery in TES. Moreover, the text goes on to contradict histories concerning the Khajiit, which is reminiscent of the necessity for one to verify the facts for oneself before accepting anything which one may hear or read.

To this end, here's something Ted Peterson had to say: The origin of the "races", if that's even the proper term for them since many of them can interbreed, is largely speculative and based on myths and traditions.

Two points:

Firstly, it seems that diction was important enough for Peterson to question his own usage in the interview - and I think he was right to do so.

Secondly, here we have one of the game designers telling us how a key lore element in TES is "largely speculative and based on myths and traditions." - which, again, goes to the very important theme that not everything you hear or read is necessarily so, even in TES.