The Aslan are, paradoxically, as fractious as they are deeply hierarchical. All individuals and clans are constantly striving to improve their positions, but at the same time must understand and be reconciled to their place within the social order.
A Clan Status attribute describes a clan’s relative esteem or social status within the Hierate, akin to an individual’s Social Standing score. Clan Status is correlated to clan Population and Holdings, but also separate. A small clan, its holdings reduced to a string of islands on a single world, 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.
Background
We know from CT Aslan (1984) that “The Tlaukhu consists of the 29 preeminent Aslan clans, the strongest within the Hierate.” And that the Tlaukhu clans control “The largest landholds … [which] consist of many worlds and parts of worlds” (4). The criteria for the “composition of the 29 has been strength and land; population, military strength, industrial power, and landholdings are together considered when evaluating relative rankings of clans” (5). This ranking is not fixed but subject to flux along with a clan’s fortunes, such that even a mighty Tlaukhu member might lose so much strength that they are removed from the 29 and replaced by a stronger clan.
CT Aslan also tells us that there are more than 4,000 clans in the Herate, and GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 2 (1999) adds that “no central body [collates] census data, and some clans prefer not to make their numbers public” (15). Beyond the acknowledged 4,000 clans, there might be thousands or even tens of thousands more entities in the Hierate calling themselves clans—but they are too small, too new, or too deviant to be generally recognized as such.
The MegaTraveller Referee’s Companion (1988) names and ranks a handful of clans, including several Tlaukhu members: Akhailrau (340), Aroaye'i (397), Hlyueawi (6), Kaukheairl [sic] (2), Loakhtarl (730), Raohkerl (450), Syoisuis (3), Tralyeaeawi (4), and Yerlyaruiwo (1). Travellers’ Digest 18 (1990) names all 29 members of the Tlaukhu, and gives us their ranks.
Given the lack of any central body in the Hierate, ranking clans seems a little fraught. I am sure there is strong consensus about the top 40 or so clans, and reasonable agreement about the top 400, though less so, but probably no agreement at all about the rest.
Any ranking system is subject to dispute: members of Khaukheairl probably grouse that their clan should actually be ranked number one, and can offer many weary reasons why this is so. But disputes over ranking can arise not just from the hyper-competitive nature of Aslan clans, but because males and female Aslan employ completely different systems of valuation. I’m sure Trokh has separate words for “male value” and “female value.”
Males use an elaborate, weighted system to rank clans that is almost impossible for non-Aslan to understand; it incorporates landholdings, wives, vassals, military deeds, ancestral accomplishments, and miscellaneous points of honor. Many attempts have been made to codify these rules, which are subject to much debate and interpretation and occasionally result in the academic equivalent of duels. This system is so complex and subjective that it can only effectively rank about half the clans in the Hierate.
Females, meanwhile, use a rating system much more recognizable to Humans, based on quantifiable economic factors such as population, gross planetary product, and volume of trade; this data is tracked and circulated in data markets and helps determine currency valuations. The Imperial Interstellar Scout Service uses a modified version of this rating system.
The Clan Status Attribute
A Clan Status attribute generally follows the female rating system and ranges from 0 to F (15). Scores of 0 or 1 are associated with Aslan clans that exist outside the Hierate social and political structure. This includes clans that are too small or insignificant to be generally recognized as clans. Other clans in this group may live inside the borders of the Hierate but have adopted barbarian practices or become outcasts, while others live outside the borders of the Hierate by choice or circumstance: political exiles, war refugees, or cultural dissidents.
The 4,000 plus recognized clans of the Aslan Hierate generally have Clan Status ratings of 2 or more. At the upper end of the scale, a Clan Status of F indicates the most powerful clans in the Hierate, including all members of the Tlaukhu.
The more obscure male system of ranking clans delineates seven tiers of 288 clans, or hyreastarl. Hyreastarl is Trokh for the number 440 (base 8), or 288 in base 10. The top seven Clan Status codes roughly correspond to the seven hyreastarl. So Clan Status F encompasses the top 288 ranked clans in the Hierate, which includes the 29 Tlaukhu members; Status E includes clans ranked 289 to 576, Status D includes clans ranked 577 to 864, and so forth.
| Code | Status |
|---|---|
| 0 | Exhierate clan |
| 1 | Exhierate clan, outcast or unrecognized Hierate clans |
| 2 | Unranked Hierate clan, minimum vassal clan |
| 3 | Unranked Hierate clan, minimum Tlaukhu vassal |
| 4 | Unranked Hierate clan, minimum sovereign clan |
| 5 | Unranked Hierate clan |
| 6 | Unranked Hierate clan |
| 7 | Unranked Hierate clan |
| 8 | Unranked Hierate clan |
| 9 | Hierate clans ranked 1,729–2,016 |
| A | Hierate clans ranked 1,441–1,728 |
| B | Hierate clans ranked 1,153–1,440 |
| C | Hierate clans ranked 865–1,152 |
| D | Hierate clans ranked 577–864 |
| E | Hierate clans ranked 289–576 |
| F | Tlaukhu clans, Hierate clans ranked 1–288 |
Based on this rating scale, the Tlaukhu clans Hlyueawi (6), Khaukheairl (2), Syoisuis (3), Tralyeaeawi (4), and Yerlyaruiwo (1) would all have Clan Status F. The clans Akhailrau (340), Aroaye'i (397), and Raohkerl (450) would have Clan Status E. And the Loakhtarl (730) would have Clan Status D.
Determining Clan Status
Clan Status is largely derived from other clan attributes. All Tlaukhu members are Status F. All exhierate clans are Status 0 or 1. Status for all other clans can be determined as follows:
Clan Status = 1D+
- Sovereign= +3. Tlaukhu vassal= +2. Vassal= +1.
- Age A= +2. 9= +1.
- Holdings A= +3. 9= +2. 7 8 = +1.
- Population A= +2. 9= +1.
- TL E=+2. C D= +1.
- 1 or more vassal clans= +1.
- Tradition 0 1 A= -1.
A Status of more than 15 is equal to 15.
A vassal clan should probably have a Clan Status lower than, or at least equal to, its patron clan.
Other Thoughts
An individual Aslan’s Social Standing and their Clan Status can interact in different and occasionally unpredictable ways depending upon the context, offering interesting role-playing opportunities. In some situations Clan Status might override Social Standing, and in other situations an individual’s Social Standing might be more important.
Consider: each clan is its own individual government and the large clans are gigantic, with billions or even hundreds of billions of members. Within any clan there is the same variation in individual Social Standings as can be found on any world. Billions of clan members of the mighty Yerlyaruiwo have SOC scores of 2, meaning they are effectively peasants. And billions of high-born nobles of small vassal clans have SOC scores of 12 or even higher.
As a general rule of thumb, the higher of Clan Status or Social Standing will prevail when interacting with members of an Ally or Vassal clan. And the lower of Clan Status or Social Status should be used when dealing with a neutral, Rival, or Enemy clan members.
Imagine a Yerlyaruiwo member with low SOC visiting the homeworld of a clan that is a vassal to his own. Despite that individual’s lowly status, he might be be shown hospitality by the natives out of respect for his clan. But imagine that same Yerlyaruiwo visiting a world controlled by an independent clan. His clan’s preeminent status might not supplant his personal social status, and he could be treated as a mere peasant—which, after all, he is. Or imagine a prince of a small clan visiting a backwater Yerlyaruiwo world: the yokels, despite their clan, might be totally ignorant of his high-born status or the niceties of Aslan behavior.
In all cases, an individual’s behavior trumps every other consideration: even a high-born Yerlyaruiwo should expect a challenge if they act dishonorably or discourteously. Honor always tells, holds an ancient Aslan proverb.
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