Aslan and Clan Society

[ruhalla]

I have a new player joining that wants to play Aslan which is fine by me but he's struggling to get to grips with how
Aslan Clan society is set up.

the way i have been trying to explain it to him is as follows.

The Aslan Clan system is semi Feudalistic.

Smaller clans are vassals to larger clans

The Larger clans offer protection against aggression by others to the smaller clans.
Smaller Clans support their Feudal overlord clans actions for instance in war.
Smaller Clans can act independently of their overlord in matters of conquering new Territory trade and most other matters.
Some But not All Clans owe fealty to the Hierate but all Loyalist clans are part of the Hierate.
The Hierate is a mix of a Cultural and Law court deciding what is traditional Aslan behavior than anykind of world government.
The Hierate has little or no military force or governing body but can negotiate Treaties with non Aslan that Hierate Clans are honorbound to follow

is this about right ?

 

[paltrysum]

Most of that is pretty accurate. The one thing I would say is that basically all clans owe fealty to the Hierate. At least, that's the way the leading clans of the Hierate see it. As for the Hierate, there are few things that hold it together. It is a loose confederation of competing clans, connected to one another by fteir, the Aslan system of honor that was codified in the Grand Conclave in 2304 (-63 Imperial). There are other governmental bodies, such as the Tlauku and the Yasoisthea, but neither truly can be said to have authority of all the other clans. They are merely the most powerful and demand the respect of the other clans.

Yes, vassal clans owe fealty to larger clans, but vassals often break off completely into independent clans, and then claim no outstanding debts to their former superior. A good read to get a sense of what life is like as a low-level clan is Gareth Hanrahan's article on "The Arhiyao Clan" in JTAS (Mongoose) Vol. 3.

 

[ruhalla]

Thanks will update the info i am giving him and check out jtas 3

 

[Garran]

The last two points are a bit off since, as already noted, there really isn't any central authority to negotiate or enforce things. In the case of treaties it's a matter of negotiating with the relevant clans, or at least the ones that are powerful enough to ensure that the smaller ones stay in line. The peace treaty between the Imperium and the Hierate is a good example: it only actually binds those clans that were present to agree to it, and may only be valid in their eyes vis a vis the human 'clans' that were involved on the other side. How they'd react to any perceived breach by any clan (or whether they'd perceive it as a breach) will vary from clan to clan if it ever comes to that.

 

[ruhalla]

Aye thats about how i read most of the info on the Aslans that the hierate and tlauku mostly have what power they do because powerful clans back them up.

 

[Condottiere]

Beginning to think that they're more Mongols, than Samurai.

 

[ruhalla]

Funny i have always viewed them sort of like Vikings. Close knit clans who raid and try and take territory from those weaker.

 

[paltrysum]

Because of their disparate nature, it would ostensibly be easy to divide and conquer the Aslan. There is little that holds their territory together politically speaking. However, few outsiders uphold the tenets of fteir, which the Aslan view to be sacrosanct. Even if two clans dislike each other, possibly even engaged in war with each other, they will unite against an external threat that does not uphold their strict code of honor. At least that's my take on it; otherwise, I don't see how an Aslan Hierate exists.

In contrast, you have the Imperium, a polity united by free trade and mutual self defense. One of the Emperor's greatest fears is that the empire is divided into dozens of distinct cultural regions which have little or no reason to back each other up when faced with an external threat. Large-scale interstellar polities cannot exist without some form of unifying force. For the Aslan, the glue that holds them together is more social than political.

 

[Ursus Maior]

Because of their disparate nature, it would ostensibly be easy to divide and conquer the Aslan. There is little that holds their territory together politically speaking. However, few outsiders uphold the tenets of fteir, which the Aslan view to be sacrosanct. Even if two clans dislike each other, possibly even engaged in war with each other, they will unite against an external threat that does not uphold their strict code of honor. At least that's my take on it; otherwise, I don't see how an Aslan Hierate exists.

In contrast, you have the Imperium, a polity united by free trade and mutual self defense. One of the Emperor's greatest fears is that the empire is divided into dozens of distinct cultural regions which have little or no reason to back each other up when faced with an external threat. Large-scale interstellar polities cannot exist without some form of unifying force. For the Aslan, the glue that holds them together is more social than political.

That certainly seems to be the case, aye. It would also explain how the Glorious Empire and some other splinter polities exist: They have their own way of fteir or disagree with major policies of the ruling councils; i. e. Tlaukhu and Ya’soisthea. Those bodies of governance on the other hand are not ruling entities, but hold and give council. Operative politics, i. e. all executive power, rests with the clans themselves. The Glorious Empire might be an abomination to many clans, but there is no common interest to annihilate it and some clans even interact peacefully with it. So it stays alive long past its prime. That is not so say, Aslan societies cannot integrate other sophonts peacefully. Humans and other sophonts have lived within the Hierate peacefully for centuries. Either as exotic outsiders or accepting fteir and honouring it. The latter gives them access to most positions in the Hierate; there is even a clan composed of humans, if I remember correctly, in the main Hierate.

On the other hand, once a large block of clans, possibly even across traditional power-blocks of the Tlaukhu, wills an action, it comes to pass with astonishing swiftness. Especially if the block has a strong leader and can muster a sizable number of ihatei. There is no stopping a Levée en masse of 7-8 feet tall predatory sophonts that have mastered interstellar travel and particle weapons.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[Old School]

Funny i have always viewed them sort of like Vikings. Close knit clans who raid and try and take territory from those weaker.

That's MJD's take on it as well from what I can gather. From the POD Supplement Ship Encounters:

If attacked, Uekh Etasieaheari will resist vigorously, but her crew have no interest in helping other vessels no
matter what interstellar law might say. The strong prey on the weak, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes its easy to forget that they aren't complete savages. Sometimes a subordinate relationship (i.e. a vassal clan) is better for both parties than even limited warfare, and they are willing to acquire territory by means other than violence and conquest.

The whole "males can't be bothered to understand money" thing always struck me as contrived, however. Currency is too important in their society (and quite frankly, too simple a concept) for the culture not to have adapted to it.

 

[Condottiere]

Depends.

Maybe wealth is calculated by acreage and quality thereof.

Or number of cows.

 

[ruhalla]

That's MJD's take on it as well from what I can gather. From the POD Supplement Ship Encounters:

If attacked, Uekh Etasieaheari will resist vigorously, but her crew have no interest in helping other vessels no
matter what interstellar law might say. The strong prey on the weak, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes its easy to forget that they aren't complete savages. Sometimes a subordinate relationship (i.e. a vassal clan) is better for both parties than even limited warfare, and they are willing to acquire territory by means other than violence and conquest.

The whole "males can't be bothered to understand money" thing always struck me as contrived, however. Currency is too important in their society (and quite frankly, too simple a concept) for the culture not to have adapted to it.

I agree with the money thing it makes no sense to me perhaps socially a male will not engage in such course matters as trade, but unless they are somehow lobotomized they would understand the value of a thing and could in a pinch repair gear.

But having read the information in aliens of charted space and the Ahriyao Clan in Jtas 3 The idea of them being somewhat like Space vikings seems right.

Viking raiders were often the sons of established chieftains seeking fame and wealth to gain standing in their homeland, or seeking to conquer land to farm as there wasn't any back home to share out

Much like the Vikings they are opportunistic raiders probably a throwback to their ancestry as pounce predators. And much like the Vikings will sail off for easier pickings if met with sufficient force.

Also much like the Vikings raids over time would weaken the hold a state had on coastal areas causing the vikings to start moving in much as happened in the Viking Raids on England were they were faced with a disorganized
defense by the Saxon kings.

Like the Vikings some Aslan settle inside a powerful state becoming part of that state often given lands in return for helping defend against their brethren.

Like Vikings the line between daring explorer and taker of new land and bloody murderous reaver is probably in the eyes of the beholder

 

[Condottiere]

Bite and hold.