Aslan Clan Profiles

We have estimated the holdings of Tlaukhu clans, as well as the number and holdings of their vassals. And we’ve estimated the number, types, and holdings of independent clans. So let’s recap:

Estimated Number of Hierate Clans by Type

Sovereignty	Clan Type	Allegiance	Number
Sovereign	Tlaukhu	AsTX	29
	Multiworld	AsMw	76
	Single World	AsWc	930
	Small	–	1,200
Vassal	Tlaukhu, Direct	AsTv	102
	Tlaukhu, Secondary	AsTv	254
	Independent, Direct	AsVc	190
	Independent, Secondary	AsVc	380
	Small Vassal	–	861
Total			4,022

A little more than half of the clans in the Hierate hold only a part of a world or worlds, which structurally feels right to me.

Now that we’ve sketched out the potential number of various Aslan clans in the Hierate, why not develop some additional details for each clan type? Several years ago the late Hans Rancke-Madsen had an interesting piece in the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society Online, then published by Steve Jackson Games to support the GURPS Traveller line. His scenario focused on the Loaktarl * clan and their recent setbacks:

The Loaktarl clan is a venerable old clan fallen on hard times… Around the time of the Great Conclave, the Loaktarl clan was ranked 31st and was a serious contender for membership in the Tlaukhu. It dominated almost half of Ealiyasiyw Sector and was active in parts of Reavers’ Deep, trying to prevent other clans from settling worlds the clan lords had their eyes on… Two years ago, the Loaktarl ranked 271st, with about 11 billion members and seven vassal clans totaling another 9 billion. They owned eight worlds outright and had landholds on another 19. Today they are ranked 730th, with roughly 2 billion members scattered on 16 worlds. They control no worlds outright and all—or, arguably, all but one—of their vassals have deserted them. All of their holdings are menaced by greedy neighbors (The Loaktarl and the Hkastahistoti).

Ilekhakhe (Ealiyasiyw 2828 B567552-A), the ancient homeworld of the Loaktarl clan.

I remember being struck by how useful it would be to know any clan’s population, holdings, vassals, and rank. Although many of these details were probably developed merely to illustrate the depth of the Loaktarl’s fall, knowing Hans I am sure he thought very carefully about what numbers to use here.

Within the Hierate, each clan is essentially an independent government. As such, I use a system to describe individual clans that builds on an ingenious idea from Andy Slack: Traveller’s Universal World Profile could be adapted to describe entire interstellar governments.

Utilizing UWP-style codes to define a clan provides a general sense of a clan’s characteristics and capabilities, but is also abstract enough to offer lots of wiggle room. UWP codes allow us to compare different clans on a relative basis.

While the planetary data in the UWP doesn’t make sense for describing an interstellar state, the social data—population, government type, law level, and technology level—certainly does. Since all clans embrace one variation or another of feudalism, a government code is unnecessary. But Population, Law Level, and TL all could be useful.

What other characteristics might be useful for defining an Aslan clan? As land is a critical differentiator for clans, a stat that captured the size of a clan’s holdings seems natural. This also provides an indicator of the resources a clan commands.

A characteristic that describes the clan’s relative reputation or social status could also be useful, akin to an individual’s Social Standing score. A clan Status characteristic should be correlated to clan Population and Holdings, but should probably be separate. A small clan, its holdings reduced to a string of islands, might have a relatively high status if it had a prestigious lineage and history of honorable conduct. In contrast, a large and mighty parvenu clan that gained its wealth by betraying allies might have relatively low Status.

Two other “outlook” charecteristics—let’s call them Aggression and Traditionalism—can be used like D&D alignment to help define a clan’s general perspective and attitude.

In the next few posts I’ll lay out the key characteristics that can help us define a clan.

* The Aslan clan Rancke wrote about in JTAS Online is obviously the same one at the center of the “Syareahtaorl” adventure from CT Aslan. I am not entirely sure why Hans used variant spellings for the names of the clan and its homeworld—Loaktarl instead of Loakhtarl, Ilekhakhe instead of Ilekhahke. His spellings are a little simpler, eliminating a redundant “h.” I would be very surprised if he didn’t post some very definitive opinions on Trokh orthography at some point.

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