orsal said:
To me, it's as much how they are viewed as how they act. If I'm not familiar with Katara until one greets me in the Red Dragon Inn, am I likely to think, "Wow, more kinds of people than I had been aware of in this world", or am I likely to think, "Did I just hear an anthropomorphic cat speak to me? I think I've had too much to drink." I'm a lot more comfortable with the kind of race that would provoke the former reaction than the latter.
Well, they're not going to speak in a hiss or meow all the time or anything like that. Their cat-like traits mostly revolve around curiosity as well as a few physical traits. However, other than being extremely curious, they are more human than cat. I'm not going to give them a racial like of milk and fish, have them inately chase mice, or make them sleep at least 16 hours a day. They don't have claws, bite, or caught up hairballs either. So, while you might find one strange, they are different enough from a normal cat (They stand, they have opposable thumbs, ect) to be unique.
I see them coming from a fairly isolated foresty region, having only slowly been moving west. Being furry, they are naturaly a bit more skitish about getting wet (kind of like a dwarf), so ship travel is something they have generaly avoided in large groups untill ships from other races reached them.
Their fur is likely because of the harsher winters in the area. Their increadable jumping and balance lets them pounce from tree to tree and avoid larger predators while hunting for smaller game (They are small remember). With the thick canopy, they developed low light vision, and keep ears to find their prey and predators.
Some of their initial settlements were likely higher up in the trees (another reason they likely didn't have many boats), and they were likely curious and cautious about approaching the larger humanoid races (perhaps they have had problems with another evil race, and are therefore were a bit shy about showing themselves to these other races that showed up).
This is good stuff. I'll have to rewrite and flesh out some of it.