Altaica
“How stunned was I by my first glimpse of these immortals? Do not think me soft, kind reader. I am a sturdy man, not easily moved by feeling. I tell you – wholly without embellishment – the sight drew the breath out of me, and I fell upon my knees.”
These mysterious beings are the highest known form of life, either the pinnacle of natural selection or something beyond it. Some believe they are angels from a supernatural realm sent to inhabit earth to inspire mortals. They are worshiped as gods by the Nadhili people. Others believe they are the very spirits of nature, neither good nor evil.
Appearance and Physical Characteristics
“The whole picture of them shimmered like a mirage, like a heat haze. They seemed to flicker with power, to emanate a light or an aura. They were present, and yet present like a continual flash of lightning. They were in the world, but they were like nothing of the world.”
What can be said is that an Altaican always appears taller than human height, usually approaching some eight feet tall, with considerably thicker limbs and torso. Their bodies are covered in waving fur and their stripes of black and white resemble that of tigers, though they are only as similar to the animal as a man is to a chimp.
Their fur is exceptional. Similar to that of wolves, it is impervious to frost, and seems to truly deserve its mythic reputation of keeping an Altaican warm in the most frozen reaches of the wild. It can also keep them cool, allowing them to wander deserts under the full power of the sun. Their bodies do seem to gather dust, dirt, and mud, but soon they appear fresh and immaculate again.
The hands and feet of Altaicans possess claws which have been described as ivory-like or diamond like, depending on the witness.
Another wonder of the Altaican physique is the tail, which, in addition to other factors unknown, must be responsible for their inerrable balance. Altaicans can walk any surface capable of holding their body weight, from a tight rope to the most supple tree bough, without the possibility of falling. Their natural dexterity and balance makes them incapable of falls, slips, or other mistakes of locomotion.
Equal to their balance is the Altaican’s speed and reflex. Sutherbury hunters have observed baby lions allowed by their mother’s to play with poisonous cobras. The baby lion’s reflexes are reliably quicker than even the fastest strike of a snake, allowing the cub to claw and paw at the snakes without danger, always reacting with time to dodge incoming strikes. So with the Altaican — his speed and reaction time renders him completely invulnerable in melee combat against any creature on the face of the earth. It is thought even human firearms could not avail against an Altaican.
Yet by far the most remarkable quality of the Altaica’s existence is their natural immortality. They could possibly be injured to the point of death, but this is conjecture. Their natural forms are not corrupted by age, so that they enjoy an immortal lifespan, or at least a lifespan that has not run its course since men have been capable of observing its beginning or end. Perhaps generations of men are as short of generations of butterflies to them, and perhaps they do age, but at a rate so slow as to be imperceptible in the scope of a human life.
Clothing
It will be easily imagined that the Altaica would be comfortable without clothes, yet they are seen to wear limited coverings, usually vests, trousers, skirts and other light garments made of a silk. The production is a mystery.
It is speculated that the “clothes” Altaica wear are not really clothes at all, but projections of majik, with which they may adorn themselves however they like to appear to whomever they are speaking.
Language
Nothing can be said of the Altaican language, for their intellect and longevity has led to speech too complex for human understanding. Some say they have named all things in the world or that they can vocalize the exact sound of crashing waves. What’s more likely is that their language is to humans what human language is to a dog, owing to the difference in cranial ability.
Altaicans can speak the complete languages of all the other sentient races perfectly without accent, languages which must seem infinitely simpler to their greater minds. It is also believed they can speak all animal tongues, inasmuch as animals use language.
Territory
Altaicans are predominately solitary wanderers. They may go years alone in any of the wildernesses of the earth. Why they choose to socialize and congregate at their palaces on Mt. Dolymtiud remains a mystery to outsiders. It is certainly their only established land claim, a desolate and solitary peak of rock and snow. Here sit the Altaican palaces, a place unclassifiable to science and majik.
Culture and Technology
Little can be said of Altaican culture. Due to their physical and intellectual superiority, they live lives without concern for shelter, clothing, injury, attack, or discomfort, and therefore they have achieved a height of cultivation alien and supernatural to humanity.
They have exact methods for sleeping in deal comfort which include the specific arrangement and size of fire logs, the design of the fireplace, the exact distance from the bed and a complicated arrangement of bedding. The shutters and window treatment arrangement is changed based on the phase of the moon and the cloud cover, to let in the right amount of moonlight or outside air. The standards could not hope to be replicated by humans without lengthy scientific examination, but they have the effect of ensuring perfect, uninterrupted rest, pleasant dreams, and maximal physical recovery as well as subsequent wakefulness.
Their music, their painting, their knowledge of majik, their crafts and every other creation or activity, is supreme.