Still more wonderful Tékumel figures from a Hero of the Age, Howard Fielding.

The Hláka are one of the most intriguing alien races on Tékumel. The Swords and Glory Sourcebook describes them as highly cultured but “one of the least humanoid” of the aliens, which seems odd. The Hláka are roughly anthropoid in appearance (essentially flying three-eyed monkeys). Though they are famous for being skittish, irascible, and somewhat oblivious to the ways of humans, they’d seem more humanoid than the foul, incomprehensible Ahoggyá, the insectoid Pe Choi, or the budding Páchi Lei.

Moreover, the Hláka have some secrets. Their religion involves arranging colored stones into patterns on mountaintops. When humans denigrate this practice, the Hláka just laugh. They live in mountain caves by themselves in settlements that no human has ever seen (intrepid adventurers who intrude are seized and dropped from great heights). And the Hláka are the only non-humans not native to Tékumel who manage a peaceful neutrality with humankind”s nemesis the Ssu.

So, it may not be one of the “great mysteries” of Tékumel, but I would speculate that something is going on with the Hláka that humans don’t know about. I have a pet theory, which is definitely not in the canon. Even a little bit of physics will show you that a 60-70 pound monkey-like being could not fly with wings of that size. Perhaps the Hláka have a limited interdimensional presence that can propel them? Nothing like the Mihálli, but a little bit of access to other planes. This might explain both their ability to fly and their seeming distracted.

Militarily, the Hláka are less than meets the eye, however. Since Billy Mitchell, flying forces have been considered decisive in terran warfare. Not so in Tékumel. According to Deeds of the Ever-Glorious, the Hláka have only been used in warfare in the last 400 years, the blink of an eye in Tékumel’s long history. Their skittishness means they are rarely willing to venture into the range of archers and are content to scout, drop firepots, and throw javelins. In Empire of the Petal Throne, Barker says the Hláka fire small bows. He seems to have later changed his mind about this and in later works only the javelins and dropped items are ever mentioned.

The Hláka do not wear a lot of clothes or insignia that distinguish one from another. The bits of blue on these figures mark them as Tsolyáni but they could be from either of the two Hláka legions in the Tsolyáni army in 2355 AS: The Legion of the Whistling Peak and the Legion of Aerial Joy. While a “Hlaka Diplomat” figure can be used as a commander for the standing Hláka there are no flying command figures.

I initially had a plan to use telescoping stands whose heights could be adjusted. In the end, I simply bent some coat hangers and adde weights to the bases so the figures wouldn’t tip over. I was happy how they turned out and they seem to give the impression of a mess of Hláka, who do not fly in serried ranks.