Alien Suppliments
- Thread starter Thanos
- Start date
The Mongoose book goes far beyond the original CT Aslan book, and gives a more "mongoose-y" style character generation sequence that includes a ton of Aslan-specific rules to make playing Aslan more fun and accessible.
MgT's Aslan also includes a sector book for the Trojan Reaches, as well as a very detailed history and cultural primer on the Aslan.
I don't think there are a lot of discrepancies where the two books overlap in content, but the artistic renderings are wildly different.
In fact, about the only thing I DON'T like about MgT's Aslan book is that while they go to some lengths to write "They're NOT Lion-Headed Men!" not a single artist read that part, and the book is full of Lion-Headed Men pictures.
MgT's Aslan also includes a sector book for the Trojan Reaches, as well as a very detailed history and cultural primer on the Aslan.
I don't think there are a lot of discrepancies where the two books overlap in content, but the artistic renderings are wildly different.
In fact, about the only thing I DON'T like about MgT's Aslan book is that while they go to some lengths to write "They're NOT Lion-Headed Men!" not a single artist read that part, and the book is full of Lion-Headed Men pictures.
Samurai?
I don't remember that well, but by then C. J. Cherryh had made them seem more like her Hani, than the Kzinti (who I still haven't read stories of).
I think they seem more like themselves than either the Kzin or the Hani (or the Tigery or the Orions or any other vaguely great cat like alien race).
If they remind me of any race in SFdom, it's the Klingons (Though the gender-based roles of the Aslans mars the likeness). Shave a (male) Aslan and you get a Klingon; glue whiskers on a Klingon and you get a (male) Aslan.
And, no, I don't think either set of authors "stole" the one from the other.
Hans
Good points.
Then again, the Hani too weren't really kitty folk any more than the Maehandostat (the primates, because I really should be sleeping right now and can't remember if I spelled it right) were gorillas, too thin for one thing.
(So, does the OTU have a Kif equivalent?
)
But yeah, in the end the drawings of the skeletons and the description said they were not felines, that was just being lazy. Sort of my using the Hani. *shrugs* When I eat the bricks, I own it!
I never really hung out with the Aslan, but I never thought of them of cats. I mean I did read the AM once or twice and I seem to recall them being in truth more like lemurs the way they evolved.
Then again, the Hani too weren't really kitty folk any more than the Maehandostat (the primates, because I really should be sleeping right now and can't remember if I spelled it right) were gorillas, too thin for one thing.
(So, does the OTU have a Kif equivalent?
)But yeah, in the end the drawings of the skeletons and the description said they were not felines, that was just being lazy. Sort of my using the Hani. *shrugs* When I eat the bricks, I own it!
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I said great cats, not cats. That's lions and tigers (but not bears
). I don't think there's much doubt that they were originally inspired by lions (and samurai!). The very first illustration of an Aslan was a small vignette that indisputable is a Lion-man. But that concept was very soon amended and those early Keith pictures were spot on: A vague resemblance to lions that, when you looked closer, wasn't so very lion-like after all. (I also liked the Aslan hands with the centrally placed opposed thumb -- a pity that that fell by the wayside).Hans
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
None of the Aslan attempts have been perfect.
Are you suggesting that she contributed to one of the Alien Modules? I don't think it was the original CT one, but the only other version of the alien modules I have is the Mongoose one. Are there others?
No.
I just tend to see my Aslan (not that I ever used them) as functioning in a manner similar to her Hani. Mostly since that makes them more entertaining, otherwise, I see them as the Minor Race they are and being of Terran descent feel my culture to be superior to them. I see them as barely above primitives.
No, not at all. In fact I am kinda confused as to how this idea.
I just tend to see my Aslan (not that I ever used them) as functioning in a manner similar to her Hani. Mostly since that makes them more entertaining, otherwise, I see them as the Minor Race they are and being of Terran descent feel my culture to be superior to them. I see them as barely above primitives.
When I first saw Traveller Aslan, I thought of humanoid figures with Great Dane heads (but with much shorter snouts) and otter fur/whiskers. Maybe large monkeys with Doberman-cut ears.
I can see though, that sticking with the word Aslan over time in Traveller and branding it on alien race book covers, that they have become accepted as lion people. Maybe the original findings on them was false after all. They still evolved on their own, but as lion people. There are no existing lions though to get DNA from to compare with. And Earth lions have totally different DNA.
I can see though, that sticking with the word Aslan over time in Traveller and branding it on alien race book covers, that they have become accepted as lion people. Maybe the original findings on them was false after all. They still evolved on their own, but as lion people. There are no existing lions though to get DNA from to compare with. And Earth lions have totally different DNA.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
CT Alien Module from GDW
MT half book ("Solomani & Aslan") from DGP
GT half (roughly) book from SJG
MGT book from Mongoose
DGP and the CT materials (book and various other articles) got the best art, while Mongoose got the worst, getting the hands completely wrong, among other things.
Cultural descriptions have all lacked in one respect or another. CT lacked simple depth, MT mixed in too much feudal Japan, and MGT went a bit too Lion. I haven't given the GURPS version a close read in a while, but I recall being unimpressed.
Ironically, the Lion model does make a good cultural start, but a lot of civilization is required on top of that, and the best examples are too Japanese. It is an easy slope to fall down, though, as some of the elements of the Aslan already echo the feudal Japanese and are firmly entrenched from CT days.
It doesn't help any that the Aslan are Traveller's original PWR*, slapping yet another layer of cliche onto the mess.
--
* - Proud Warrior Race
It's not just the illustrations and it wasn't 'over time'. The very first illustration, as I mentioned above, was unmistakably a lion-man. And from the first writeup, the "looks vaguely reminescent of lions" description is there.
Hans
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Which is why I try to use "Ftierle".
Problem though is, no one has heard of that word. One text file on AltaVista or USENET might still be found using Bing or Google if one knows to even look for that word.
The Traveller Wiki has "Fteirle". The fact that Google can't get it right is Google's problem.
