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:
| 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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