The Great Dungeon of the North: December 2021

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Governments and Allegiances in the Hierate

Government in the human sense does not exist In Aslan space. There is no central authority for the Aslan as a race, and Aslan have little concept of racial unity, purpose, or pride.…The Aslan equivalent of government is best equated with social structure. The head of the family settles disputes between family members. The head of the pride or a delegated male member of his clan or a delegated vassal settles disputes between prides. —Referee’s Companion 72.

As world governments in the Aslan Hierate are all variations on feudalism, the CT alien module created alternate government codes for Aslan worlds to reflect the on-world power structures:

G. Small Station or Facility. An off-world clan or a corporation operates a military, mining, or research base on the mainworld.
H. Split Clan Control. Several on-world clans own different parts of the mainworld.
J. Single On-World Clan Control. One local clan dominates the mainworld, though other small clans may also be present.
K. Single Multi-worlds Clan Control. A single clan whose span extends over several worlds, not necessarily nearby, dominates the mainworld.
L. Major Clan Control. One of the Tlaukhu controls the mainworld.
M. Vassal Clan Control. A single local clan controls (but does not own) the mainworld in fief to a larger clan.
N. Major Vassal Clan Control. A single local clan controls (but does not own) the mainworld in fief to one of the Tlaukhu.

The Aslan world generation sequence used a special table to determine government code, which was modified by population. Lower population worlds had a higher likelihood of code G, and higher population worlds had a greater likelihood of code H. The overall odds of each government are as follows:

CT Distribution of Aslan Control Types
Government Type	%
Small station or facility	14%
Split control	17%
Single on-world clan control	14%
Single multi-worlds clan control	14%
Major clan control	14%
Vassal clan control	14%
Major vassal clan control	14%

All Hierate worlds in CT used the two-digit allegiance code “As.” MegaTraveller used the same government codes as CT but added specific allegiance codes A0 through A9 for worlds with government code L (major clan control) to identify worlds controlled by one of the ten different Tlaukhu factions, or power blocs. Although I can find no write-up of how these faction codes were assigned, looking at the data each power bloc appears to directly control roughly the same number of worlds, so I assume this was assigned using an unweighted random roll.

MgT uses the old CT government codes for Aslan worlds, but with a slightly simplified generation procedure and some alternative base codes to distinguish on-world facilities. The sector data in Pirates of Drinax, however, uses standard government codes for Hierate worlds.

The T5 Second Survey project, which reviewed and updated legacy sector data, moved away from the species-specific government codes used in the various Alien modules and replaced them with a combination of standard government codes 0-F and more detailed 4-digit allegiance codes. For Aslan space, many of these T5SS allegiance codes capture the same information used in the old CT government codes:

T5SS Aslan Hierate Allegiance Codes
Allegiance Code	Control Type
AsMw	Single multiple-world clan dominates
AsSc	Multiple clans split control
AsT0, AsT1, AsT2, AsT3, AsT4, AsT5, AsT6, AsT7, AsT8, AsT9	Tlaukhu control
AsTv	Tlaukhu vassal clan dominates
AsVc	Vassal clan dominates
AsWc	Single on-world clan dominates
AsXX	Unknown

As each Tlaukhu bloc seems to control roughly the same number of worlds, for convience I’ll group all ten Tlaukhu codes into a single code (“AsTX”).

Ten sectors of the Aslan Hierate have been reviewed and declared official by the T5SS: Dark Nebula, Ealiyasiyw, Hlakhoi, Iwahfuah, Reavers Deep, Riftspan Reaches, Staihaia'yo, Trojan Reach, Ustral Quadrant, and Verge. There doesn’t seem to be much documentation of how the team converted legacy data to Traveller⁵ standards, but the resulting sector data lets us make some educated guesses.

As an aside, I discovered a serious problem in the Staihaia‘yo data: the original data only used government codes G (small facility) and L (major clan control). The T5SS conversion masked this problem, but the resulting data that’s currently on Traveller Map has allegiances and governments so skewed I had to remove them from my analysis. At some point I’ll work up a proposed fix and submit to Joshua.

The following table demonstrates the various ways the T5SS converted a single CT Aslan code into a T5SS standard government code and a 4-digit allegiance code. Each entry shows the original government code, the new T5 allegiance, and the number of worlds that were reassigned to each new govenment code:

T5SS Conversion of CT Govenment Codes
Old Code	New Alleg	New Government Code
Old Code	New Alleg	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	Total
G	Various	7	49	0	2	3	0	132	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	196
H	AsSc	4	1	0	0	0	2	10	308	3	0	1	0	0	0	329
J	AsWc	1	5	14	19	24	28	9	7	96	28	16	7	6	5	265
K	AsMw	4	3	12	21	40	28	5	4	93	36	21	9	7	5	288
L	AsTX	0	3	8	15	29	30	6	3	79	23	14	17	7	5	239
M	AsVc	0	7	3	16	33	24	8	12	101	36	23	17	7	2	289
N	AsTv	2	4	10	18	37	29	7	4	82	28	21	10	10	3	265

Most code Gs (small facilities) were reassigned to code 6 (captive) or less frequently, 1 (corporate). Most code Hs (split control) became code 7s (balkanized). All other Aslan codes appeared to have been reassigned using a weighted roll that moved most to code 8 (civil service bureaucracy), or else codes 4 (representative democracy), 5 (feudal technocracy), or 9 (impersonal bureaucracy) with much lesser chance for other codes. The T5SS conversion also enforced keeping the new government code within +/- 5 of the population code.

As seen in the table, all of the old government codes had corresponding new allegiance codes except for G (small facility or station). While the T5SS briefly introduced “AsSf,” this code appears to have been depreciated. Instead, the small facilities appear to have been randomly assigned allegiance codes. Worlds with pop 0 were often designated AsXX (unknown), while most of the others were designated as being controlled by multi-world clans:

Small Facility Allegiances
Total	186	100%
Allegiance	# Worlds	%
AsMw	75	40%
AsSc	35	19%
AsTX	25	13%
AsVc	23	12%
AsTv	19	10%
AsXX	7	4%
AsTz	1	1%
AsWc	1	1%

While I think the T5SS was correct to depreciate the AsSf code, I can envision a new allegiance code to describe worlds controlled by companies that are not tied to a single clan: “AsCo - Aslan Hierate, corporate control.” As CT Aslan notes, “Corporations are the domain of female Aslan.… For this reason, corporations are not clan-owned, since the clan is a masculine quasi-political structure” (7). (There are exceptions to this rule.) Further, some worlds with Government Code G are controlled by a corporation, “the only instance where a world is controlled by anything but a clan.” (25). Without an AsCo allegiance code we can’t quite capture worlds run by independent corporations.

Hierate Worlds by Control Type

So based on this, we can estimate the expected number of Aslan worlds of each allegiance code, which in turn helps us understand the composition of the Hierate:

Estimated Number of Hierate Worlds by Control Type
Control Type	% of Worlds	Number of Worlds
Control Type	% of Worlds	Low	High
Split	20%	1,238	1,376
Multi-world Clan	19%	1,222	1,358
Tlaukhu bloc	16%	987	1,097
Vassal Clan	16%	978	1,086
Tlaukhu Vassal	15%	959	1,066
On-World Clan	14%	879	977
Unknown	1%	33	37
Total	100%	6,296	6,996

As the ten power blocs within the Tlaukhu roughly control an equal number of worlds, we would expect each bloc (represented by allegiance codes AsT0 through AsT9) to hold somewhere between 98 and 110 worlds. (I’ll have a bit more on the Twenty-Nine in my next post.)

We can use the actual distribution of Aslan allegiance codes in the nine T5SS sectors to double-check our estimated distribution for the Hierate:

Number of Hierate Worlds by Allegiance and Sector
	AsXX	AsWc	AsTv	AsTX	AsVc	AsMw	AsSc	Total
Sector	1%	14%	15%	15.5%	15.5%	19%	20%	100%
Verge	0	2	1	0	0	8	0	11
Reavers Deep	0	1	1	10	0	3	3	18
Riftspan Reaches	1	16	12	15	12	17	27	100
Trojan Reach	6	15	13	13	14	33	18	112
Ustral Quadrant	1	19	21	23	29	22	33	148
Dark Nebula	0	27	36	35	34	57	45	234
Ealiyasiyw	0	31	65	50	55	77	82	360
Hlakhoi	8	45	57	58	62	77	86	393
Iwahfuah	5	55	68	68	66	72	66	400
Total	21	211	274	272	272	366	360	1,776
Predicted	18	249	266	275	275	337	355	1,775

The actual numbers in the T5SS data fit the predicted numbers relatively closely. In fact, this exercise helped me spot problems with the Staihaia’yo data.

The Hierate is perhaps unique among the interstellar polities in that worlds within a single star system might regularly have different allegiance codes. Normally, all worlds within a single system would share the same allegiance. But consider Kusyu, the Aslan homeworld: the mainworld is a classic split control world (allegiance AsSc). But the secondary worlds, as described in Solomani and Aslan, vary. The innermost planet, Htealas, is also split control (AsSc), while the next planet, Iaoau, is uninhabited and apparently unclaimed (allegiance AsXX). And the third planet, Ulyei, is controlled by a corporation backed by the Tlaukhu clan Khaukheairl (allegiance AsT1).

I suspect that, given the powerful Aslan drive for territory, that the secondary worlds of systems inside Hierate space are much more likely to be developed than secondary worlds of other polities. And secondary worlds in Dark Nebula, being so close to Kusyu, are even more likely to be developed than in other Hierate sectors. But that said, even the Kusyu system has worlds too hostile or unpromising for even Aslan to lay claim.

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Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Demographics of the Aslan Hierate

The Aslan Hierate and Surrounds (circa 1120).

So let’s start with an “easy” question: just how big is the Aslan Hierate? According to Classic Traveller Alien Module 1, Aslan, “The Hierate includes more than 4,000 clans spread across about 7,000 worlds in 17 sectors.” Nearly all of the CT alien modules have similar statements for the different major races, but such statements need to be read as very, very gross approximations, as they were written long before dot maps or sector data had been generated for most of Charted Space.

Alien Module 1 includes a map of “Sectors of the Aslan Hierate and Environs,” showing us where the borders lie circa 1111 or so. Solomani and Aslan provides even more detail in dotmaps of the “The Aslan Hierate and Surrounds,” circa 1120. The dotmaps show the presence and position of individual systems within the Hierate. These dotmaps were then used as the basis for most of the subsequent development that can now be found on the Traveller Map.

If we simply count the number of Hierate systems in the Traveller Map database, we fall somewhat short of 7,000:

Hierate Systems by Sector
Sector	Coordinates	Hierate Systems
Karleaya	(-5,-3)	487
Staihaia'yo	(-4,-3)	460
Waroatahe	(-6,-3)	455
Heakhafaw	(-6,-4)	430
Aktifao	(-4,-4)	427
Iwahfuah	(-3,-3)	417
Hlakhoi	(-4,-2)	385
Ealiyasiyw	(-3,-2)	360
Uistilrao	(-3,-4)	341
Kefiykhta	(-7,-4)	336
Etakhasoa	(-5,-4)	319
Teahloarifu	(-4,-5)	297
Dark Nebula	(-2,-3)	235
Irlaftalea	(-5,-5)	170
Esai'yo	(-7,-3)	168
Afawahisa	(-5,-2)	159
Ustral Quadrant	(-2,-4)	147
Yahehwe	(-8,-4)	118
Trojan Reach	(-4,0)	106
Riftspan Reaches	(-4,-1)	99
Fahreahluis	(-7,-5)	58
Touchstone	(-5,-1)	55
Hfiywitir	(-6,-5)	43
The Beyond	(-5,0)	43
Ohieraoi	(-8,-5)	42
Iphigenaia	(-6,-1)	36
Ftaoiyekyu	(-6,-2)	26
Hkakhaeaw	(-8,-3)	24
Ahkiweahi'	(-3,-5)	18
Reaver's Deep	(-2,-2)	18
Verge	(-3,-1)	11
Vanguard Reaches	(-6,0)	3
Total	–	6,293

It’s possible my numbers might be a little off, and it’s important to note that some of these sectors have had very little development—I did not go back and double check the data against S&A and it’s possible there are some discrepancies.

And in general, the listed number of worlds given in the various CT alien modules tends to be higher than the actual number of systems in the dotmaps. A few different rationalizations have been used to explain, for example, why the Third Imperium has far fewer systems than the 11,000 worlds described in Classic Traveller. (A good one is that the 11,000 figure includes all the worlds in the Solomani Confederation.) It’s possible the difference in the Hierate is due to systems lost during the Rebellion, maybe from breakaway colonies along the rimward edge.

But my preferred rationalization is that a system may have multiple major worlds that all count toward the overall total. For example, Aoshi, one of the moons of Kusyu, has a population code of 5 and so might be counted as a second world in the system. Thus, a random sample of 100 systems might include 103 major worlds.

So let’s say the Hierate contains 6,300 to 7,000 worlds. Aslan worlds use the same method for generating population codes as standard Traveller worlds: 2D - 2. Although the median world population generated this way is 500,000, the mean population is much higher: 1.71 billion, because the higher population worlds strongly skew the average. This suggests a total population for the Hierate of 10.7 trillion to 11.97 trillion.

How many citizens out of this population are biologically Aslan? In Imperiallines 7, Marc Miller explained that “While the Imperium was created by Humaniti and continues to be dominated by humans, roughly half of the nobles in the Imperium are non-Humans or minor Human races that have diverged significantly from the Sylean, Vilani, and Solomani norm.” This seems high compared to canonical sources, so maybe non-Humans are over-represented within the Imperial nobility compared to the general population.

We know from the MT Referee’s Companion that the Aslan “have no racial prejudice, but do have cultural prejudice,” and that “a human who adheres to the culture and traditions which Aslan consider proper is considered closer in spirit than an Aslan who has, for some reason, abandoned those traditions and that culture” (72). So it seems reasonable to assume that the Hierate contains a sizable number of non-biological Aslan. But maybe not as high a percentage as the Imperium has of non-Humans.

As a rule of thumb, native sophonts appear in Charted Space at rates of 8 to 32 per sector, though most have not yet been documented. Traveller⁵ assumes much higher rates, but even 8–32 per sector suggests something like 136 to 544 sophonts within the Hierate, with only a handful mentioned in canon. There are the Mwawmbijebe of Kualakhtaea (Alien Realms). And there are the “Krayl’luk, native to Afawahisa, and the Murrissi, a minor human race,” as well as the Zodia colonies, fully assimilated Terran Humans (Solomani and Aslan 49). (All three are vassals of the Tralyeaeawi.) MgT Aslan notes that the Hierate includes races ranging from “the avian-descended Pol Nox to the reptilian Z’kr to the Ulane” (62).

Let’s assume 25% of the Hierate population are non-Aslan. That would suggest 2.7 to 3 trillion biologically non-Aslan in the Hierate, and 8.1 to 9 trillion Aslan. We’ll use these estimates as we build out our working model of the Hierate.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Developing the Aslan Hierate

Once I had worked out my sector data for Dark Nebula, I then turned to the Aslan Hierate itself, which is a rather odd and interesting polity. The Hierate is, in many ways, the inverse of the Third Imperium: if the Imperium is a federation of diverse cultures and worlds unified by a single central government, the Hierate is more like a federation of diverse governments united by a single, unifying monoculture. The Hierate has only one primary language, Trokh, and only a single “religion,” a form of ancestor veneration.

The most important organizing unit of the Hierate is the clan, a group of Aslan connected by bloodlines, marriage, and political alliances. The 29 most powerful clans, the famous Tlaukhu, do not govern so much as advise the others. (Though woe to the upstart clan that does not heed the words of a more senior one!)

With no central government, nearly everything in the Hierate is run by individual clans, though a shared, conservative culture probably creates many common practices. And with all clans jockeying for resources, the resulting alliances, rivalries, and enmities are constantly shifting. This fluidity and decentralization creates extreme complexity—and plenty of opportunity for exploration and adventure.

And probably the best, and maybe the only way to facilitate running a sandbox game in such a complex, shifting environment is through use of random tables. A random clan generator seemed like a natural place to start, but I soon realized that there was much about the Hierate that had never been fleshed out over the editions: how big is a typical clan? What kind of resource might a typical clan command? How many allies, vassals, and enemies might it have?

My goal was to create a working model of Aslan clans and the Hierate that would generate useful details but would be compatible with existing canon. So if a referee wanted to roll up a bunch of new clans, they would get results that reflect the Aslan world generation rules from Classic Traveller. And if a referee had the UWP of an Aslan world they could determine the number and nature of clans that might inhabit that world.

In order to develop a working model of the Hierate, I took a hard look at the previous descriptions of Aslan society. Although many excellent sources cover the Hierate, they all largely follow the lead of CT Alien Module 1 - Aslan (1984). So where the CT module was strong, subsequent sources tend to be strong, and where the CT module was weak, so too are they.

Other CT sources include the Atlas of the Imperium (1984), which has dotmaps of nine sectors that incorporate parts of the Hierate: Trojan Reach, Riftspan Reaches, Hlakhoi, Staihaia'yo, Verge, Ealiyasiyw , Iwahfuah, Reavers Deep, and Dark Nebula. The often-forgotten late CT Module 4, Alien Realms: Eight Excursions Beyond Human Space (1986) has three adventures set in the Hierate.

MegaTraveller information is largely split between the Imperial Encyclopedia (1987), Rebellion Sourcebook (1988), and the Referee's Companion (1988). Although Aslan and the Hierate are discussed in several issues of Digest Group Publications’ Travellers’ Digest, two issues are particularly important: Issue 17 (1989) covers Dark Nebula, Kilrai’ subsector, and contains the adventure “The Blade of Koiyekh,” which is set on the Aslan homeworld of Kusyu. Issue 18 (1989) covers Ealiyasiyw Sector and names all Tlaukhu members and their arrangement into ten power blocs. Only some of this information was included in DGP’s Solomani and Aslan: The Rimward Races (1991) and much of that is currently caught in copyright limbo.

The TNE Regency Sourcebook: Keepers of the Flame (1995) “rescues” some DGP lore and includes some interesting new information applicable to the 1105 setting. GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 2 (1999) has a very thoughtful discussion of Aslan roles and Hierate society, and does a nice job of working around the DGP material. The MgT1 Alien Module 1 - Aslan (2009) goes back to the original CT module and largely ignores all subsequent sources in favor of developing new material, resulting in some minor incompatibilities. The MgT2 Pirates of Drinax (2017) and Aliens of Charted Space 1 (2020) update the 2009 supplement and add some additional information.

Finally, a very useful, if unofficial, inspiration for the Hierate is the Chanur Novels by the science fiction writer C. J. Cherryh. Cherryh has a tremendous ability to create alien races that are interesting, identifiable, but clearly distinct from humans in psychology and society. She thoughtfully considers how language, commerce, and politics might complicate the interactions of multiple alien races.

I have read that there is no direct influence between the hani, a race of vaguely lion-like aliens that are the main protagonists of her Chanur series, and the Aslan of Traveller. And while I have no evidence either way, the similarities are remarkable. The hani are a fiercely territorial species organized around clans, with wildly different roles for males and females. Landowning males—violent, emotional, and proud—live lives of privilege, while the landless males are forced to eke out rough existences on the margins, hoping to one day win their own holding. Meanwhile, the practical-minded females organize the households and conduct all interstellar commerce.

Any of this sound familiar? In any case, the Chanur novels are great reads and Cherryh offers some extremely helpful insights into the female perspective within such a society. Her hani have certainly informed Aslan interactions in my own games.

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Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Astrography of Dark Nebula

The ancient Kusyu Cluster of Yataw subsector.

Dark Nebula is notable for the scattered nature of its astrography: instead of a sprawling main connecting most subsectors by jump-1, the sector features several stellar rifts and dozens of small, isolated clusters and lone systems that can only be reached with jump-2 or even jump-3 drives.

The Aslan homeworld of Kusyu (DARK 1226 A876976-E) lies at the edge of Aslan space, rather than in the middle of a sphere of influence as is more common with starfaring major races. (The Vilani spread mostly in one direction because of the limitations of jump-1 drive, but for most others, the stars were more evenly spread.) Most agree that this is because Aslan developed jump drive relatively late, and found that Humans had already claimed most of the worlds to coreward and trailing of Kusyu.

It is noteworthy that in order to expand in the direction left open to them, Aslan had to develop jump-2 soon after inventing jump drive. Many small clusters of Aslan worlds would be isolated with only jump-1 drive available.

Major Astrographic Features of Dark Nebula
Quadrant	Subsector	Feature
Alpha	Earle	Earle cluster, Ul cluster
	Aotrei	Ftahalr cluster, Samarorn cluster
	Kyaenkha	Au'aiyyee cluster, Hipera cluster
	Akhlare	Ormine cluster
Beta	Ruih	Murphy cluster
	Akuusir	Akuusir cluster, Urartu cluster
	Kilrai’	Strin cluster
	Danvers	Savage main
Gamma	Siei	Nurnlin cluster, Ktaol cluster
	Yataw	Kusyu cluster
	Hrorehe	Hrorehe cluster
	Kou	Steisua cluster
Delta	Khtoiakta	Mir Cluster, Eakhoi cluster, Mizah cluster, Mechane cluster
	Kimson’s Stand	Maadin trace
	Yohkui	Yohkui cluster, Dark Nebula
	Staai	Vecinos trace, Treege cluster, Staai cluster, Agarian cluster

The Aslan and Humans of Dark Nebula tend to have long memories, and many astrographic features retain names that are thousands of years old. Here are a few representative clusters:

The Kusyu cluster is a grouping of 17 Aslan worlds connected by jump-1 distances, located entirely within Yataw subsector. The cluster contains, naturally, the Aslan homeworld of Kusyu (DARK 1226 A876976-E). Following the development of the jump drive in -1999 the Aslan rapidly expanded across the cluster, claiming all worlds prior to -1700. The high population water world of Bacci (DARK 1123 D77AADE-5) is notable as the site of first contact between Terrans and Aslan in -1980, when the Awiykoheh, a Yerlyaruiwo survey vessel encountered the Cudi, a Turkophone colony vessel from Suleiman (SOLO 1504). Given this ancient pedigree, Aslan clans place tremendous prestige on any holdings, no matter how humble, located on worlds of the cluster. Accordingly, all secondary worlds, including tiny moons and planetoids, have been thoroughly surveyed and divided over the millennia.

The Ktaol cluster, one of the largest clusters in the sector with 27 worlds, lies mostly in Siei subsector and contains no less than three important worlds. To the Aslan, the Ktaol cluster is second only to the Kusyu cluster in terms of cultural importance, as settlement began in earnest between -1700 and -1600.

The Mizah cluster is a string of 14 worlds separated by jump-1, located entirely in Khtoiakta subsector. The cluster is anchored by the non-aligned Human world of Sequel (DARK 2225 C773973-9). The mainworld was settled approximately -1950 by Turkophone Terrans from Suleiman (SOLO 1504), who named the primary Mizah. Sequel was an important stop on the ancient Hkiyrerao Passage, a trade route that connected Kusyu with Human worlds as far distant as the Solomani Rim. By -1118, the start of the Border Wars, Sequel had expanded to control most of the cluster and enjoyed reasonably good relations with both Clan Yerlyaruiwo and the Suleiman Confederation. By -600 the Aslan had largely absorbed the entire cluster. Today Sequel is populated by biological humans who have largely embraced Aslan culture.

The Mechane cluster is a small but historically important grouping of worlds located in Khtoiakta and Kimson’s Stand subsectors. The cluster is notable for Earltras (DARK 2527 B6A1965-8), a system known originally by the name of its primary, Mechane. Earltras was not settled until -700 by Terran refugees from the Mizah cluster and beyond as the Border Wars steadily drove Terrans out of worlds deeper in Aslan space. By -500 the Aslan claimed most of the cluster, though the Human populations proved more difficult to assimilate. As the Long Night drew to a close Earltras welcomed expeditions from both Old Earth Union and Third Imperium, and became an early, enthusiastic supporter of the Solomani Movement. Earltras was captured by worlds from the Solomani Autonomous Region during the War of Kimson’s Stand in 832. Following the Solomani Rim War Earltras has aggressively cultivated human worlds within the borders of the Hierate.