One key point about Aslan that remains somewhat in the background, and never much expanded upon, is that they apparently evolved from solitary animals. Obviously, Aslan themselves are a social species, but their immediate ancestors were not; in great contrast to Humans, since primates have been social for tens of millions of years. Human society is the product of a far more ingrained set of operating principles. Whereas Human honour codes are there to regulate social interaction -- arguably to curtail it, so there's some "objective" distance and standards and it's not one huge emotion-driven orgy of constantly shifting micro-politics -- Aslan honour codes are probably almost the opposite. They don't regulate a part of their nature that is evolutionarily long-established, they reinforce a part of their nature that is relatively "new". At least, that's how I see them. I think society, rather than being something taken for granted as it is in Humans, Vargr, K'kree, etc., is to Aslan a little akin to how consciousness works for Hivers -- it's always there now on a low-simmering level, but to really experience it they need to work at it. To me, it explains the Cultural Purge and the strive for linguistic monoculture; there's a tension there somewhere, the notion not too buried in their recent evolutionary history that they might all decide to "go Grinch" and slink off to skulk on their own territorial patch and not put up with other people, if society isn't reinforced by shared commitment. Fake-it-until-you-make-it, almost.
Hence why the Aslan term for their species is the same as their term for "people who follow the honour code". It's key to their identity because without it they don't necessarily have a social identity to the same intrinsic degree as Humans, Vargr, etc.
