Aslan Allegiance Codes

[Garnfellow]

Where was the first use of the two-digit Aslan allegiance codes of A0, A1, A2, etc. to show control of a specific Tlauku bloc? (The T5SS uses 4 digit codes of AsT0, AsT1, etc.)

DGP's Solomani and Aslan uses the two-digit allegiances for the Dark Nebula data, but I don't see where these allegiances are actually defined anywhere.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

This was in DGP Traveller Digest #18 (dated January 1990, not with an Imperial Year)with Ealiyasiyw Sector Year 1120 . The write up of allegiance codes and the power structures the Tlakhu at the time of writing (IY 1120) are on page 36.

There is a lot described, so the following is my rephrasing/summary of that text:

The Tlaukhu have, over time, have solidified into 10 well-defined power blocs become indicated by codes A0 thru A9. The numeric represents the overall ranking amongst the power blocks, 0 the most "powerful" (whatever that means), 9 the least.

Each clan in the Tlakhau has aligned within these 10 power blocs, Each has been numerically ranked in power, 1 the most "powerful" (whatever that means), 29 the least.

The list represents the current 29. Since inception, 10 of the original clans have been replaced by newcomers. An example was given

Goals for each bloc were described and what is going on with them during Rebellion.

 

[Garnfellow]

Thanks -- I need to dig out my copy of that issue. It's amazing to me that this information has never really appeared anywhere else except that one, now-obscure source. (Well, the T5SS helpfully includes the clans and their Tlaukhu ranking in the allegiance key.)

David Drazul's awesome Aslan Clans page salvages a lot of the relevant information. I'm working on a revision that's focused on the clans as of 1105 and adds some information from the Mongoose Traveller: Aslan book.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

If the source is considered canon, there have not been too many changes. Consider them constraints.

First the list of of who is in the 29 has only changed 10 times. Their strength and power may have gone up or down or broken free or suffered vassaldom, but changes can only result in at best 10 different name changes to the list, 9 given the fact that one was given in the text.

Despite implication A above, the list is written like it is fluid. Only the 29 most "powerful" get to sit at the table of the Tlaukhu. Clans ranked 30 and less powerful do not.
"You used to be ranked 26. You are now ranked 34. Please leave (the list).
You, who were ranked 30, you are now ranked 29. Have a seat."
Besides the name changes, of the 19 remaining their numeric ranking may have changed up and down greatly over the years.
Who and what is the arbiter of doing the ranking, I leave to creative writers. I suspect tradition is involved in counting to determine the ranking :coffeesip:

Or perhaps dropping the bloody decapitated head of a Clan leader at the meeting table, then sitting at the dead Aslan's seat after a really brutal Clan War. :smirk:

 

[Garnfellow]

If the source is considered canon, there have not been too many changes. Consider them constraints.

First the list of of who is in the 29 has only changed 10 times. Their strength and power may have gone up or down or broken free or suffered vassaldom, but changes can only result in at best 10 different name changes to the list, 9 given the fact that one was given in the text.

Not exactly -- the exact quote from the CT Alien module is "Of the original 29, nineteen of the original clans remain in it today; the remaining ten positions have been occupied (some by a succession of clans) by new clans which have risen in strength, power and population to replace the others" (5).

That suggests there have potentially been far more than just 10 changes in the history of the Tlaukhu. Some of those 10 slots have had multiple clans cycle through -- and I would imagine that any new Tlaukhu member would be very vulnerable to enjoy only a short tenure: they had to expend resources to break into the 29, and all the other clans outside must recognize their best shot at sitting on the Tlaukhu is to knock off the newest, weakest member.

Further, within the 29 as a whole there has been movement up and down the ranking. As you rightly point out, while the Tlaukhu is fairly stable, it's not static.

We know that the list in TD18 reflects the situation in 1120, which is the year that the Hlyueawi clan is cast from the Tlaukhu by the Hlaotiyoiho in 1120, and that this change shifts other clans around. So I'm just trying to reconstruct the composition circa 1105.

[Actually, upon review TD 18 does not seem to reflect the 1120 changes, though S&A does.]

 

[Graham2001]

I was just looking at the Aslan Clans page and noticed that the author of that site has missed one other source for Aslan related material. Namely, published scenarios. These are the ones I have identified from GDW (Note I have not yet checked the sector/subsector/world data in these scenarios to see if they made it to the Traveller Map.)

Raid on Stataorlai, Keith Douglass, pg 28, JTAS 20 (Dark Nebula/Kyaenkha/Stataorlai)
First Son, Lost Sun, Not given, Pg 6 (Players), Pg 30 (Referees), (Waroatahe/?/Several worlds), Alien Realms
Interdiction Zone, Not given, Pg 7 (Players) Pg 34 (Referees), Alien Realms (?/?/Kualakhtaea)
Ahriy Uprising, Not given, Pg 8 (Players) Pg 40, Alien Realms (?/?/Hahorahyi) - Scenario takes place on the third moon of the systems Gas Giant (Aikoho).
Syareahtaorl, Not given, Pg 35, Alien Module 1: Aslan (Starts in Spinward rift, contains rules for exploring 'unknown' space.)

Of these the most interesting, even if off topic, is First Son, Lost Son as the author includes a partial subsector map showing the area in which the scenario takes place, but didn't bother to stat out a full subsector, or even what was mapped.

 

[Garnfellow]

I was just looking at the Aslan Clans page and noticed that the author of that site has missed one other source for Aslan related material. Namely, published scenarios. These are the ones I have identified from GDW (Note I have not yet checked the sector/subsector/world data in these scenarios to see if they made it to the Traveller Map.)

Good catches -- I had identified Alien Realms as a missing sources but not JTAS 20.

Alien Realms seems to have been a weird blind spot for subsequent writers -- right now that partial subsector information is not included in the Traveller Map, but I know figuring out how to incorporate it into Waroatahe has been on Joshua's to-do list. I don't think it fits into the Solomani and Aslan dotmap of the sector *, but as a GDW published, CT source I think it tends to trump most other canonical sources.

*Most of the world locations specified in S&A don't fit on the dotmap, such as Home (Aldebaran 1009).

 

[Graham2001]

Good catches -- I had identified Alien Realms as a missing sources but not JTAS 20.

Alien Realms seems to have been a weird blind spot for subsequent writers -- right now that partial subsector information is not included in the Traveller Map, but I know figuring out how to incorporate it into Waroatahe has been on Joshua's to-do list. I don't think it fits into the Solomani and Aslan dotmap of the sector *, but as a GDW published, CT source I think it tends to trump most other canonical sources.

*Most of the world locations specified in S&A don't fit on the dotmap, such as Home (Aldebaran 1009).

I checked Traveller map and found that Stataorlai is missing from the Dark Nebular subsector. I have contacted Joshua about it. Planning to go through all those scenarios and note the name of each of the worlds mentioned. Because at some point they should be added to the maps, if only to help those who try those scenarios out.

 

[Whipsnade]

Gents, how about DGP's Traveller Digest #18 and #19? Both feature Aslan focused adventures?

Issue #19 is set in a single system in the Riftspan Reaches. Issue #18 has the players visiting at least two named systems as the ship they're aboard prepares for a raid in the clan war.

 

[Garnfellow]

I checked Traveller map and found that Stataorlai is missing from the Dark Nebular subsector. I have contacted Joshua about it. Planning to go through all those scenarios and note the name of each of the worlds mentioned. Because at some point they should be added to the maps, if only to help those who try those scenarios out.

Yeah, that's a tricky one to reconcile. The Dark Nebula data was published in S&A so probably has canonical precedent, if we can call such a thing a thing. But that said, if we change the PBG for Leftearl (0615) from 122 to 113 and assume that Stataorlai is the system planetoid belt, we can slip it in with minimal disruption.

 

[Graham2001]

Yeah, that's a tricky one to reconcile. The Dark Nebula data was published in S&A so probably has canonical precedent, if we can call such a thing a thing. But that said, if we change the PBG for Leftearl (0615) from 122 to 113 and assume that Stataorlai is the system planetoid belt, we can slip it in with minimal disruption.

I would like to disagree with you slightly, isn't S&A the book which managed to leave the capital of the Solomani Confederation off the map, and I can think of one or two other cases where they made mistakes that should not be considered canon (The X-boat routes in Maygar Sector)?

Also when I checked out the scenario 'Interdiction Zone' it showed that the scenario is also based in the same subsector of Dark Nebula and so that ups the number from 1 system to 8 systems that might need changing or tweaking. (Note I actually found nine world names I could not match to the map, but two were very close in spelling and so it could be a world with multiple clans in control.)

I still have not finished going though the scenario in the original Aslan sourcebook, that one as I noted earlier actually includes rules for exploring 'unknown space'. Once I have got the full list I will post it to the T5SS Semi-Official Thread.

 

[Garnfellow]

I would like to disagree with you slightly, isn't S&A the book which managed to leave the capital of the Solomani Confederation off the map, and I can think of one or two other cases where they made mistakes that should not be considered canon (The X-boat routes in Maygar Sector)?

Yeah, I would definitely not defend the dotmap, but the rest of the book is pretty solid. It's the Dark Nebula sector data at the end of the Aslan section that I think has elevated status, but even then that's not sacred, either. I mean, even Kusyu's position was subsequently re-shifted.