Aslan

[mancerbear]

I love the Aslan, and the Mongoose Aslan supplement is great except for one small detail that, to me, makes a huge difference. They turned the Aslan into lion-men.

This is unfortunate, because the Aslan are supposed bear a resemblance to lions, not look like anthropomorphic Terren big cats. I much prefer the look that was developed for them in MegaTraveller. You can see why the first humans to encounter them named them Aslan, but they aren't identical to upright lions. I really hope Mongoose goes back to this look for them and not the lazy lion-man look that has crept in.











Thoughts?

 

[-Daniel-]

For me, the Aslan were the most problematic of the aliens. I kept falling into the trap of running them like humans in rubber suits. So around the mid 80's I eliminated them from my games. It was just easier for me. But I do like these older images though. :mrgreen:

 

[mancerbear]

I love the Aslan. I got a good grasp on them from a few articles, the best one from JTAS which really made a big difference in how I ran them. In many ways, they are a cross between Klingons and the ancient Japanese Bushido code, along with some very real sexism going on. I find them fascinating; more so when a player runs one with the intent of exploring their very different mind-set.

 

[Condottiere]

I don't find them as interesting as the Vargr, being somewhere between American Indians and Sengoku Samurai.

Or, Thundercats, Thundercats ...

 

[mancerbear]

One of my favourite Aslan images...

 

[Reynard]

I see nothing wrong with the aslan. They are as 'rubber suit' as any other alien in Traveller as you want to make them. I've seen many images for them over the 40 years of their inclusion and it varied a lot. When they were created with the concept of alien lion men, the image and personality were naturally locked in. They are no better or worst than the vast number of science fiction feline races. They are what you make them just like the vargrs or even the variety of humans spread over known space. You can claim the Zhodani and Vilani are just another rubber suit aliens.

Traveller mechanics aren't complex when creating things including races, a couple of characteristic modifiers and a couple traits define a non-standard human race. Racial background and detailed biological, mental and social information allow refs and players to flesh out aslans from humans rather than a stack of numbers. Even aslan who have been part of Imperial communities for generations can still show behavior and cultural remnants to color their character as we see all the time with immigrant populations in host countries on Earth today. My aslan character lived with humans for years and acclimated reasonably but still spoke broken Anglic (low language skill) often relying on her translator and peppering her speech with trokh whether her company understand or not. She could fall back to racial or cultural behavior from her childhood on Khusai. Don't piss off a woman with dewclaws! Describing how she reacts to situations based on body language (show of teeth and dewclaws, position of the ears, the motion of the tail, handling her fur). All that made her an aslan engineer rather than an engineer. Same with vargr or droyne.

If you're going to take something unusual and not just for the stats then study the background to bring it to life.

 

[rust2]

I rarely used Aslan in my campaigns, but when I did I took my inspiration from the Kzinti of Larry Niven's Known Space / Ringworld novels.

 

[Sigtrygg]

I find it hard to tell much difference between the Aslan in Traveller and C.J. Cherryh's Hani - they are an incredibly close match.

 

[alex_greene]

I rarely used Aslan in my campaigns, but when I did I took my inspiration from the Kzinti of Larry Niven's Known Space / Ringworld novels.

An even more unequal species - the Kzinti considered their females to be non-sentient, meaning that they essentially bred with livestock to propagate the species. *shudder*

I felt tempted to write a short story set in Larry Niven's universe where the human crew encountered a ship crewed and piloted by female Kzinti, and they reveal that in fact they are more intelligent than the males - and twice as intellectually developed than human beings, but they have perpetuated this urban legend that they are non-sentient for their own purposes.

Oh, the Man-Kzin Wars? They have to let their males let off some steam once in a while, beat their chests and roar, and let them think they're in control - then the females come along and rein them in once again. The last few wars had not been ended by them, though, but the humans' using alien technologies in ingenious ways ... hence the first contact with the females, this being the first time the humans had come onto the Kzinti females' radar.

See, until the humans used the giant disintegrator on the planet Canyon, the Kzinti females considered humans, male humans in particular, to be barely sentient themselves ...

But I digress.

*cough* Aslan. I could never get past the hideous cultural sexism. Any time the Aslan fleets turned up in one of my stories, they would get thrashed and sent packing by System Defence Boats a hundredth their size.

 

[Reynard]

There was one story in the Man-Kzin Wars series featuring a human on some ancient zoo world featuring isolated environments from different worlds. He explored one that had kzin females in suspension. When he woke them he found they were from thousands of years ago before male kzin bred the females for non-sentience. He and the females took on kzin who landed and won. The males now had to deal with their past.

Two other stories had a kzin geneticist take a human female soldier prisoner back to the homeworld. Along the way, he thought the idea of any intelligent females was bad and manipulated her genetics until they arrived and the kzin presented a feral human-kzin who would later have a hybrid son. Don't you feel better the aslans are only 'slightly' sexist more akin to many cultures here and now on Earth?

Oh, according to the novelization of the Star Trek animated series 'The Slaver Weapon', the caitians are a species related to kzin. M'ress nearly died when on a spy mission impersonating a female kzin.

The Hani? They were more like domestic cats than the aslan big cat analogy.

 

[-Daniel-]

I see nothing wrong with the aslan. They are as 'rubber suit' as any other alien in Traveller as you want to make them.

I think you misunderstand me. I did not mean to say they were any worse, just that *for me* I have a hard time not turning them into rubber suited humans. Something about them just does not connect with me. So I pass on them now.

I am sure many others have and will continue to have success playing Aslan as unique beings. :mrgreen:

 

[Sigtrygg]

Read the Chanur series and you will have a better take on how the Aslan could play.

 

[Reynard]

I remember that series. Humans play a secondary role in the stories. I remember the commander was worried the newest and youngest member of the crew might find the human they rescued 'interesting'.

 

[Condottiere]

Let's not forget Wing Commander, where they're Klingons.

 

[Infojunky]

I find it hard to tell much difference between the Aslan in Traveller and C.J. Cherryh's Hani - they are an incredibly close match.

I am Glad I am not the only one in that camp. I especially like the detail in Chanur's Legacy where they go into the clans political lives...

 

[Sketchy]

Aslan are just too much 'Narnia' for me. IMTU I use their stats and call them "Wookies" instead. There're LOTS of images to come by with that name! :-D

 

[FentonGib]

Let's not forget Wing Commander, where they're Klingons.

I was wondering if I was the only one that relates Aslan to Wing Commander's Kilrathi. hehe

 

[Reynard]

Kilrathi just seem made to be pure bad guy cardboard target. Typical 'monster'.

 

[Condottiere]

One's a philosopher, or a running gag.

 

[phavoc]

Let's not forget Wing Commander, where they're Klingons.

Are we talking the early games, the full-motion video, or the movie?