In The Elder Scrolls Online there is a clear highlight for our author and ESO fan Jürgen. And it’s not fire-breathing dragons or dark necromancers, but adorable little kittens.
What kind of cats are we talking about? In Elsweyr live the Khajiit, and these humanoid cat beings are known by anyone who has ever played any Elder Scrolls game. They are basically upright walking cat beings.
But what die-hard fans of Elder Scrolls mainly know: There are 17 different Khajiit subspecies, some of which differ radically from the classic “cat people”.
In Elsweyr, we venture into the heart of the cat kingdom for the first time, where you will first encounter the more exotic versions of the cat people. And they are, for me, the clear highlights of the expansion.
Little Cat, Big Joy
That’s why the Alfiq Khajiit are the highlights of Elsweyr: One of the 17 Khajiit subspecies is the so-called “Alfiq.” These are essentially house-cat-sized Khajiit that also look like regular cats. Except they wear clothes, speak, and are blessed with great magical talent.
It was already known in advance that the Alfiq would appear in Elsweyr, and Zenimax even made jokes about ridiculously expensive cat clothes in the real-money shop.
Therefore, I was really curious when Elsweyr finally went live, and I could play it. I didn’t want to see a Necromancer, and the dragons didn’t matter to me at first. I wanted to meet an Alfiq! After all, they are spell-casting, talking, and wonderfully fluffy cats!
So I met my first Alfiq: In fact, you encounter Alfiq earlier in Elsweyr than dragons. Because already in the first quest of the main story, I met an Alfiq mage who seriously explained to me that a strong magical discharge supposedly killed an unfortunate monster that is lying there.
I could not follow her explanations with the best of my will because it was an adorable little cat with a tiara, giving me a lecture in an extremely sweet, squeaky voice. All the time I thought, “sooo cute, sooooo fluffy! I want to hug you, you sweet kitty!”
That was my absolute Alfiq highlight: My first Alfiq encounter was already cool, but it got even better. In a quest at the notorious outlaws’ hideout “The Stitches,” you must help a disgraced Khajiit thief to steal the treasure of the current leader of the Stitches.
In a typical “heist movie” quest, you are first to assemble a team of quirky experts. You need to recruit an old battle monk, a wood elf technician, and finally a mage named Seyrene.
When I went to look for the mage, I couldn’t find her anywhere. Instead, I heard an almost adorable snoring sound. After some searching, I found the source of the noises. A sleeping cat in robes surrounded by empty wine bottles.
Apparently, she had a few too many glasses, and the only way to wake her up is with a bucket of foul-smelling water. From there, a lengthy word battle begins with a still very intoxicated house cat, who sways around during the conversation.
This doesn’t get any better over the course of the quest, and among other things
- Seyrene falls asleep in the middle of the planning,
- foretells terrible deaths if we fail at certain things,
- and loudly vomits in front of her paws during a complicated summoning.
As disgusting as that sounds, Seyrene is still cute, if only because of her adorable voice.
The quest has, of course, some highlights with the other three NPCs on the team, but the perpetually drunk, cynical, and yet adorable house cat mage is by far the highlight. You can see the beginning of the quest here in our video of an Elsweyr stream on MAX.
The dragons are loose! Watch ESO: Elsweyr with Jürgen & Leya from MONSTERSANDEXPLOSIONS on www.twitch.tvSince then, I have been eagerly searching Elsweyr for even more cool Alfiq Khajiit and hope that Zenimax will let this subspecies appear more often in upcoming DLCs and expansions.
Big Cats Are Cool Too
These Khajiit subspecies are also cool: The Alfiq are, in my opinion, the coolest Khajiit in Elsweyr, but the other variants are also nice to look at. For example, you finally encounter the feared Senche-rath. These “battle cats” are the largest Khajiit and resemble a mix of a saber-toothed tiger and a gorilla. Only bigger!
These creatures can also speak and serve as voluntary mounts for Khajiit warriors. You can even discuss with a Senche-rath in the game. This love for detail and loyalty to Elder Scrolls lore is one of the main reasons why I appreciate ESO so much.
Moreover, the Senche-rath are also available as a mount in the Collector’s Edition of Elsweyr. Perhaps Zenimax will also give us an Alfiq as a companion. I would buy that immediately!
But enough of my enthusiasm for the new Khajiit. What do you think of the Alfiq and Senche-rath?
