Realm: Kemet
Typical Height Range: 3'6" to 5'
Typical Weight Range: 60 to 110 lbs
Center of population: Israel
Estimated population:
Physiology
Basthept are exactly what you'd think of when you hear 'neko'. They're a mostly-female species that look very human, save for feline ear and tail 'add-ons', resembling those of domestic cats.
They have a peculiar life-cycle, in that they are born as infants, and grow through their entire physical adolescence in 3 years, at which point they resemble a 9-10 year old human girl. Their mental development plays catch up for a long time afterwards, and they're considered fully adult at age 20. However, during this time, they undergo very little physical change, and at age 20, they resemble a 12 year old human. They retain this stature, and continue to look very young by human standards, for over 100 years, often longer. If one dies of old age (almost invariably from a sort of rapid-onset brain function collapse that resembles Alzheimers), they will look nearly the same as they did at age 20. This can occur at an age anywhere between 120 and 160.
Notably, "upgraded" versions of the species exist, denoting a reward from the gods. These individuals resemble older humans, sometimes appearing as old as 17 or 18.
Basthept are able to reproduce at approximately age 20. For the 'base model' females, breasts do not grow until pregnancy, and recede after weaning. By default, they will be flat-chested. They have an extremely adaptive metabolism that seems to fluctuate dynamicly to keep their BMI at a standard baseline, so one will almost never find a fat basthept, and starving one takes a long time, during which their energy expenditure is very low.
Testing confirms that basthept suffer almost no adverse effects from ageing, until the point at which their brains can no longer cope with the strains of regeneration, and a rapid (sometimes hours, sometimes months) degenerative collapse kills them. Their diet is human normal. Gestation is 9 months. Hair and nail growth are human normal, but they grow replacement teeth. A set will come in over the course of a year, displacing the previous set of teeth. Generally this happens at around ages of 3, 20, 50, 80, 110, and 140.
Males constitute approximately 8% of the basthept population, and are not immediately distinguishable from the females except for genitalia and a modest difference in vocal tone.
Basthept vision averages 25/20, their hearing is slightly above human average in sensitivity, and well above human average in range. Their sense of smell is human-average.
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