Several Aslan families combine into a pride, and several prides combine into a clan. We can estimate 4,000 clans and 9.1 trillion clan members at one end of the scale, and approximately 1,200 billion families at the other end, but there’s no clear indication how big prides are or how many there might be in the Hierate.
If Aslan families range from Pop 0 to 1, and Aslan clans from 4 to A, prides must fall in between with some potential for overlap. In fact, given the lack of specificity perhaps prides could range from as small as Pop 1 to as large as Pop 6 for a Tlaukhu or multiworld clan. A large pride, then, might be larger than a small clan and might well command similar resources. The one hard and fast rule should probably be that a pride cannot be larger than its clan’s Pop -1.
| 1D | Clan Size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | ||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | |
| 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | |
| 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | |
| 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | |
Relatively little canonical detail is available about prides, but the adventure “Ahriy Uprising” from the CT module Alien Realms gives us a tantalizing glimpse of internal clan politics at the pride level. As the name suggests, the adventure involves an Ahriy (pride) vying for rule of their clan.
Prides are probably much more regional in scope than clans. Even a pride of a Tlaukhu clan might be restricted to a sector, a pride of Mulitworld clan to a subsector, prides of vassal clans a world or two, and a pride of a Single World clan might be limited to a single continent or region.
Given the immense scope of the very large clans, prides offer tremendous potential for development as well as opportunity to make interacting with a Tlaukhu clan a bit more manageable. For a player with an Aslan character belonging to one of the Twenty-Nine, their pride identification might be much more meaningful than their clan affiliation.
Just as clans within the Hierate constantly contend for status and power, so do prides within clans and families within prides. Inter-pride politics are probably every bit as messy and fraught as inter-clan relations, but with many more complications of kinship and marriage. Civil wars, after all, are some of the fiercest and bloodiest conflicts.
Copyright Information
The illustration at the top of the blog is by D. J. Barr in the adventure “Ahriy Uprising” from Alien Realms (1986).
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