The Asura

[gchuck]

The Asura

The Asura are a ‘minor’ human race whose home world is rimward of the Storr sector (I haven’t given it an exact location yet). They are a Matriarchal society.

Approximately twenty-eight hundred years ago, as the ‘Rule of Man’ was hitting its stride, a handful of ships left the Terran Empire, and proceeded rimward in hopes of finding a habitable planet to colonize.

They eventually settled on a cold world (think northern Scandinavia). The environment was tough, but workable, and with some genetic manipulation, i.e. introduction, and production of natural chemicals that provided a protection against the extreme cold that periodically occurred on world. The result was a natural anti-freeze that was produced by the human body, and provided a much needed tolerance for the extreme cold. And a much lessened tolerance for heat! (‘Room’ temperature will see an Asuran sweating like a proverbial pig!)

These modifications were successful, though there are levels of success. As the mods took effect, more and more of the population began to take on a very pronounced ‘blue’ skin tone!

Asuran Society

Some time, almost eight hundred years ago, after several internecine conflicts between various political and religious groups, the male leaders were enticed, restricted, or forcibly banned, from leadership roles in political, military, and religious offices, or commands.

An Empress was installed as world leader. Over six hundred years has passed since any kind of ‘organized’ conflict, or warfare has occurred on planet or in the ‘Empire’.

Males had become ‘second class’ citizens, taking on more home based roles in society. Think women in the 1930’s to 1950’s. The current Empress is ‘progressive’, and working to ease the restrictions on males in the workplace. At best, it’s an arduous goal. Many of the current leaders think a ‘mans place is in the home’!

Crews of Asuran traders and exploration ships will be almost exclusively female, having somewhat misandristic (you learned a new word today!) and aggressive attitudes, with the odd steward or purser being male. Any male ships officers encountered, i.e. pilot, engineer, or navigator will most likely be a ‘foreigner’ (pink skin), and non-Asuran.

Asuran Technology

Generally accepted as TL-13, in computer, power generation, starship construction, and space sciences.
Asuran medical and life sciences tech is a very conservative TL-14, and rapidly approaching TL-15.

A capsule overview, that will be fleshed out as need arises.

 

[McPerth]

Just a comment:

If their origin is a Terran migration, I guess they should not be considered a minor race, but a splinter of the Solomani (see that the same can be said about Sword Worlders).

Of course, this does not affect all the rest...

 

[aramis]

Just a comment:

If their origin is a Terran migration, I guess they should not be considered a minor race, but a splinter of the Solomani (see that the same can be said about Sword Worlders).

Of course, this does not affect all the rest...

Sword Worlders are considered a minor race, and are an STL terran colony.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Nice start so far. Needs more info about the politics and the role reversals.

 

[BwapTED]

I like them.
They have two clear, well-defined traits that set them apart from Earth humans:

1
matriarchy

and

2
antifreeze



The bluish skin is a nice touch.


I agree with Driscoll about politics. A bit more on how the matriarchy developed would be good.
Was there a big shortage of men at one point because of all those wars you mention?

 

[gchuck]

Answers (sort of)

There was no 'artificial' cause, per se. Just after a couple of hundred years on planet, female births became more prevalent. Over time, the females started to outnumber the males.

As the female population grew, so did the views on politics, and societal equality change. (Did that make sense?) More and more of the predominant gender began to become disaffected with the governments decisions.

Internal strife began to manifest itself, with a growing political unrest. A civil war occurred. Political concessions were made.

The male dominated government scrabbled for an answer. How could they hold on to their power? Secret plans were enacted for restrictions on females in the military, government, and higher civilian positions.

The 'secret' plans were leaked. Only days before enactment. Less than a decade after the last one, another civil war erupted.

With over 2/3 of the various military's personnel being female, the result was a foregone conclusion.

The males who ran the government were given a choice; retirement(at their homes), prison, or exile. Many males resisted, and were made to see the error of their choices. The great majority accepted retirement and lived out their lives with their families. Only a very few accepted exile.

For the next decade, the females debated, argued, and fought over a new form of government, while the previous system was kept in place. The military kept the peace.

Numerous political demonstrations turned violent. Civil unrest became the norm. Then it became bloody.

It all came to a head, when a college professor started a 'pacifist' movement, which grew rapidly. Within a year, most of the planet reverberated with the call, "Choose NOW!" Former housewives, blue collar workers, and professional women raised the cry. "Choose NOW!" Ninety percent of the population were fed up with the slow progress. "Choose ONE! Choose NOW!"

Olivia Lakenan, the professor, was asked to form a government with her at the head.

She formed the constitutional monarchy that survives to this day.

The current 'restrictions' on males are more a result of keeping them out of influential positions, than outright discrimination, though over time, that is what it has developed into.

Check the image gallery for examples.

 

[BwapTED]

I just looked up the images.
Nice work.

It makes sense that they are scantily clad if they're supposed to be gathering supplies in an environment that would be pants-and-a-shirt temperatures for you and me but quite hot for them.




I like the female majority idea.

Do women still outnumber men by a fair margin?

If so, are there a good number of unmarried Asuran women who show romantic interest in non-Asuran males?

Do some women who share husbands?
Polyandry actually exists in a very few Earth cultures, strange as it might seem.

 

[gchuck]

Asuran women

You nailed the environmental traits!

As far as the numbers of males in their society, it's roughly somewhere between one third, and one quarter.

As in the original post, if the females are feeling........anxious(?), after being cooped up on a ship for a month or two, they are going to be VERY aggressive! Though mostly law abiding.
"Don't trust her Joe! She's got a guy in every port!"

Regarding relationships with 'outsiders', love conquers all, as long as we live at the North Pole!

Monogamy is the general practice, though you can have as many husbands as want. But she is most definitively responsible for her husband(s) support and well being. Will that be cash or charge?

 

[Quint]

I love this race, I just wish I hadn't used "Asura" for a race (?) of little robots like the Ghosts from the Destiny computer game.

D.

 

[Tiikeri]

"Have you seen the shrine of Azura? The dark elves, I mean, the matriarchy built it after they came from morrowind."

Anyway.

Don't human birthrates even out to approx 50-50 male-female over time? What prevented this from happening?

Since women made up 2/3rd of the military at the time of the revolution, women were already performing important societal functions. Why was the leadership male dominated? Why did they want to oppress women? Didn't the men love their daughters?

Since there's been no conflict in their society for 600 years, why are they misandristic? If males are only 25 to 33% of the population, many women wouldn't have much contact with them, and the women got everything 600 years ago. Women have had complete control and autonomy for centuries. Why would they have resentment? Since men are relatively scarce, wouldn't they be valuable and therefore desireable?

Do the women reflect on their having committed the same injustice they were protecting themselves from, or do they not care? Do they acknowledge what their ancestresses did, and then make rationalizations?

Why would women think that a man's place is in the home when there hasn't been enough men in centuries for most women to have family homes for men to be in? If the women are misandristic why would they even want men in their homes? Wouldnt domestic chores be automated at that TL?

 

[gchuck]

"Have you seen the shrine of Azura? The dark elves, I mean, the matriarchy built it after they came from morrowind."

Been playing D&D since the late '70's, and never run into or played a Drow.
Chose the name from here: http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com

"Don't human birthrates even out to approx 50-50 male-female over time? What prevented this from happening?"

The gene mods, trace elements, and birth 'choices' all played their parts in creating the Matriarchy.

This is delicate. I think my toes are hanging over that ledge that Marc Miller sought to avoid in CT. Sexuality.

Since there's been no conflict in their society for 600 years, why are they misandristic? If males are only 25 to 33% of the population, many women wouldn't have much contact with them, and the women got everything 600 years ago. Women have had complete control and autonomy for centuries. Why would they have resentment? Since men are relatively scarce, wouldn't they be valuable and therefore desireable?

Okay. The whole of the society is not 'misandristic'. Ship crews, i.e. free traders, scout, and exploration ships, are by design, mostly loners. They are going to find 'relief' where they are able. 'Wham bam, thank you man'!

Also, in that vein, as a sort of 'rite of passage', many females will join ship crews for 'short term employment', in order to actively seek pregnancy, or bring home a husband.

I came up with this race as a way to throw current 'norms' on its proverbial head.
It is far far away from being a perfect society. 'Foreign' males on any of the empire worlds may feel like their being watched by a pack of predators when wandering around.

It merely has to be plausible. Like the Vargr, or Aslan?

 

[BwapTED]

EDIT--He just got into the factors related to the sex imbalance.
If I read him correctly, some of the imbalance has been created or perpetuated by deliberate actions. Some kind of twisted eugenics? That does look to me like a nasty case of hatred or contempt for men and boys.
This wrinkle makes the society darker and grimmer.

 

[Tiikeri]

"Have you seen the shrine of Azura? The dark elves, I mean, the matriarchy built it after they came from morrowind."

Been playing D&D since the late '70's, and never run into or played a Drow.
Chose the name from here: http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com



The gene mods, trace elements, and birth 'choices' all played their parts in creating the Matriarchy.

This is delicate. I think my toes are hanging over that ledge that Marc Miller sought to avoid in CT. Sexuality.



Okay. The whole of the society is not 'misandristic'. Ship crews, i.e. free traders, scout, and exploration ships, are by design, mostly loners. They are going to find 'relief' where they are able. 'Wham bam, thank you man'!

Also, in that vein, as a sort of 'rite of passage', many females will join ship crews for 'short term employment', in order to actively seek pregnancy, or bring home a husband.

I came up with this race as a way to throw current 'norms' on its proverbial head.
It is far far away from being a perfect society. 'Foreign' males on any of the empire worlds may feel like their being watched by a pack of predators when wandering around.

It merely has to be plausible. Like the Vargr, or Aslan?

The dark elves comment came from a line of dialogue in skyrim, a very popular game. There's a dark elf goddess in it called Azura.

It was clear you were doing straightforward role reversal, but I wasn't sure if you did it for deliberate humor or if you were trying to explore a social scifi concept.

The reproductive policies and the discriminatory hiring practices suggest a deeply negative culture, a culture willing to engage in deliberate population reduction and social restrictions against a persecuted minority. There doesn't seem to be a reason to continue these policies against powerless males, but the females do anyway despite having total control for centuries. It's like they want to subjugate them for its own sake, and that says a lot about their national character.

If you're doing it to be funny, there's not much point in drawing conclusions about the society from the info you've posted. But, if it's supposed to be logical the info so far suggests some serious social-cultural negativity.

I don't know how much interest the female asurans would have in foreign men, since foreign men wouldn't have the cold weather adaptations. They wouldn't do well in shared habitats. Even on a ship when asurans and foreigners are together, the environment will be uncomfortable for someone. Sounds like a big downer when trying to meet new people.

On plausible. There has to be a coherent explanation for why the females do as they do. If someone asks them, they need to be able to explain. When girls ask their mothers why, what do the mothers say?

 

[Tiikeri]

I guess it doesn't matter. The players will interact with that society in order to accomplish their mission and then move on. Reminds me of dealing with the tezcat in GURPS aliens. Pcs are usually action oriented people who are interested in the task at hand. Why the tezcat want to surgically transform other people into tezcat is immaterial to them, only dealing with that society in a way that helps the pcs accomplish their mission would matter to them. I guess I was asking for more social mapping than was really necessary ; )

 

[BwapTED]

I guess it doesn't matter. The players will interact with that society in order to accomplish their mission and then move on. Reminds me of dealing with the tezcat in GURPS aliens. Pcs are usually action oriented people who are interested in the task at hand. Why the tezcat want to surgically transform other people into tezcat is immaterial to them, only dealing with that society in a way that helps the pcs accomplish their mission would matter to them. I guess I was asking for more social mapping than was really necessary ; )

I think your questions and feedback would have been really helpful to me if this were my race.

As I noted up-thread in my edited post, I now agree with you about misandry in this culture. It was one thing when I thought the demographic sex imbalance was due only to factors out of human control...


RE marriage

Polyandry and monogamy together will leave the great majority of women without potential husbands, though. Not good for social stability or family life.

My earlier question about marriage ended up being garbled by a typo and some unedited stuff.

What I had meant to ask was what I started off suggesting: polygamy/polygyny. Women share a husband.

Multiples wives, one husband.

The OP seized on my confusing italicized reference to polyandry, I think. That was part of a longer section I meant to delete, but I only deleted part of it.

 

[Tiikeri]

I wonder if it would go far beyond polygamy.

The best ratio they could get is 1 man per 3 women, probably worse since women wouldn't want less desirable men, maybe 1 to 4 or 1 to 5. Even then it would be an issue. How are men allocated? What's the system for who gets who? What do men even do in domestic life, watch the kids and untrap the roomba? Act as household helper for 3 women and 6 kids?

Anyway, self reliant women may not even care about being a part of a family group besides her birth family. Women might form a social co-ops from friends or coworkers, decide who's going to do child care and work part time, then the women would just go to the clinic for insemination. That way all women could get the best genetics for their kids without having to compete with other women or listen to a man saying me me me all the time. I wonder about the politics of which mothers get which genetics. If everyone got the best, people would get inbred. Could be a reason for spacer crews to meet new people. Genetic engineering could give the baby cold weather adaptations (kind if a handwave, but hey.) Really with their TL theY could synthesize what they need for biological reproduction.

Maybe men would be kept in coed cities where they could frolic and play, work out, go to finishing schools to be impeccably trained to be pleasing to women, get jobs in the music, media, and sports industries, and generally be trained to serve as the masculine archetypes that the women want. It could even be formulaic, like x% of men will be trained to be fun loving partiers, x% extreme sports competitors, x% brooding bad boy musicians, or whatever career/archetypes market research says will be most pleasing to women. Wider female society could have idealized media stars follow instead of real people they'd have to compromise to have a relationship with. The whole thing could be a cynical psyop to give women thrilling media to keep them on the job, give men something to do so they don't become a law enforcement problem, and to keep the current elite in power.

 

[BwapTED]

I wonder if it would go far beyond polygamy.

The best ratio they could get is 1 man per 3 women, probably worse since women wouldn't want less desirable men, maybe 1 to 4 or 1 to 5. Even then it would be an issue. How are men allocated? What's the system for who gets who? What do men even do in domestic life, watch the kids and untrap the roomba? Act as household helper for 3 women and 6 kids?

Anyway, self reliant women may not even care about being a part of a family group besides her birth family. Women might form a co-op from friends or cowirkers

There are major psychological and social issues to consider with such a radical sex imbalance.
The OP touched on these matters, in a manner serious in some spots and humorous in others.

That puts me in mind of something he'd written.
The women seek off world husbands, sometimes.

Can they conceive and bear children with other races of Humaniti?

RE Asura men

The persistent, cross-cultural differences between men and women in the real world owe much to biology and evolutionary history.
I do wonder how these men have been kept in a subordinate position for eight centuries.

Do they know that they used to be equals? Even the dominant sex in politics?
That's dangerous knowledge.

My guess is that the men are inferior to normal human males. Lower testosterone? Not as intelligent and aggressive on average? This could be related to the combination of factors that reduced the male population in the first place.

If that isn't the case, and the men are normal apart from being blue and cold-loving,, then I am going to have to agree with your take on the culture, Tiikeri.

 

[Tiikeri]

EDIT--He just got into the factors related to the sex imbalance.
If I read him correctly, some of the imbalance has been created or perpetuated by deliberate actions. Some kind of twisted eugenics? That does look to me like a nasty case of hatred or contempt for men and boys.
This wrinkle makes the society darker and grimmer.

Probly the usual human flaw of the in group trying to stay in power. There could have been real grievances centuries ago, or something not working for the women of society, but since they're the majority, they would have most everything. It was probly more like ambitious people wanted it all and took it. For women, they got some hurray for our side satisfaction, but I bet the new boss is the same as the old boss, women are still in the same situation they were in before the revlution, except now they have a persecuted minority to look down on so they can feel good about themsekves. Any woman who questions the system ends up conscripted for a spacer crew where she tragically dies in a startown incident with uncivilized males running loose in the backward patriarchal imperium.

 

[BwapTED]

Probly the usual human flaw of the in group trying to stay in power. There could have been real grievances centuries ago, or something not working for the women of society, but since they're the majority, they would have most everything. It was probly more like ambitious people wanted it all and took it. For women, they got some hurray for our side satisfaction, but I bet the new boss is the same as the old boss, women are still in the same situation they were in before the revlution, except now they have a persecuted minority to look down on so they can feel good about themsekves. Any woman who questions the system ends up conscripted for a spacer crew where she tragically dies in a startown incident with uncivilized males running loose in the backward patriarchal imperium.

And it grows darker yet...

 

[Tiikeri]

There are major psychological and social issues to consider with such a radical sex imbalance.
The OP touched on these matters, in a manner serious in some spots and humorous in others.

That puts me in mind of something he'd written.
The women seek off world husbands, sometimes.

Can they conceive and bear children with other races of Humaniti?

RE Asura men

The persistent, cross-cultural differences between men and women in the real world owe much to biology and evolutionary history.
I do wonder how these men have been kept in a subordinate position for eight centuries.

Do they know that they used to be equals? Even the dominant sex in politics?
That's dangerous knowledge.

My guess is that the men are inferior to normal human males. Lower testosterone? Not as intelligent and aggressive on average? This could be related to the combination of factors that reduced the male population in the first place.

If that isn't the case, and the men are normal apart from being blue and cold-loving,, then I am going to have to agree with your take on the culture, Tiikeri.

The males have probly been propagandized since birth, educated just enough for whatever role society has for them, kept apart in small groups per region, and police and military are there to get rid of anyone who steps out of line. In time people can't imagine another way of life.