Quote:In a time before records, magi wove miracles. The very universe was their canvas and what they chose to paint was limited only by their imaginations. A sect of these magi sought more power from the cosmos, and beseeched the star Leanoeaus for wisdom. It answered. They collected encoded answers from this star into a book with pages woven from starlight, and ink rendered from the very stuff of the night sky.

The completed volume was known as The Leanoeaus Grimoire. The wisdom it contained was encrypted, and had to be deciphered. The magi involved needed familiars to assist in the safeguard and study of it. Something clever, and something strong. Figuring the wisdom of a feline-aspected star would best be uncovered by other felines, the magi created a chimera of cat and man.

For years these familiars, now known as the felinae, worked along side the magi to decrypt the volume. But as the tome was deciphered, the answers proved to be too much for the magi. They began to go insane, obsessed with the tome and the knowledge it gave them. In a bid to defend the tome they were created to study, the felinae stole it. It was a betrayal against their masters, but not their duty to the tome. They fled with it to the mountains of Esshar, leaving the magi in this sect to wither and fade without the source of their power.

The last act with the tome was forming a covenant with Leanoeaus. He vowed to bless and protect the felinae, and they vowed to safeguard the grimoire. To ensure it could never be abused again it was split into twelve smaller volumes. The felinae divided into tribes to protect each part. 

While the tome has long since faded from the memory of the world, the felinae are still raised as the clever protectors of Leanoeaus's knowledge. It's this skill they bring to the world, along with the vague notion you probably shouldn't trust a cat. After all- they've chosen the stars over men before.