Aslan Bases

[Garnfellow]

I did an analysis of the number of Aslan bases in the T5SS reviewed sectors, which include Trojan Reach, Riftspan Reaches, Hlakhoi, Staihaia'yo, Verge, Ealiyasiyw, Iwahfuah, Reaver's Deep, Dark Nebula, and Ustral Quadrant. It appears that there are far fewer bases (both clan and Tlaukhu) than we would expect to have using CT Aslan worldgen sequence. The deep dive is over on my blog:

Aslan Bases in Dark Nebula

Has anyone noticed this before? And is it considered a problem with the sector data, or the CT worldgen?

 

[infojunky]

I hadn’t noticed but I am not surprised.

 

[Spinward Flow]

The Aslan are underdeveloped (as a species/polity) in general, with insufficient author resources dedicated towards their region of charted space over the past 40 years (real world). Not surprising then that the number of bases shown on the map(s) can be quite underwhelming.

 

[GypsyComet]

The question is whether it was a mis-written algorithm or a conscious decision to tweak the results. Roughly half of Heirate sectors remain solely fan generated, IIRC. Is there a difference between the raw and reviewed sectors?

 

[Garnfellow]

The question is whether it was a mis-written algorithm or a conscious decision to tweak the results. Roughly half of Heirate sectors remain solely fan generated, IIRC. Is there a difference between the raw and reviewed sectors?

A good point. Consider Waroatahe, for example -- created by Jo Grant and Jeff Zeitlin, with modifications by Joshua Bell. The data is in a standard CT format, more or less. The government and base codes use standard CT codes rather than specialized Aslan codes.

About 18% of the systems have N base code, which I would treat as Tlaukhu bases. That's consistent with standard CT worldgen as well as CT Aslan. About 29% of the systems have the S base code, which I would treat as clan bases. That's also consistent with CT Aslan.

 

[Garnfellow]

Ustral Quadrant is maybe a little more informative. Not included in the Atlas of Imperium, but given a full T5SS review. 148 Hierate systems, with 14% having Tlaukhu bases and 29% having clan bases. More-or-less what we would expect from CT Aslan worldgen and a lot more than comparable systems in Atlas of the Imperium.

 

[Graham2001]

A good point. Consider Waroatahe, for example -- created by Jo Grant and Jeff Zeitlin, with modifications by Joshua Bell. The data is in a standard CT format, more or less. The government and base codes use standard CT codes rather than specialized Aslan codes.

About 18% of the systems have N base code, which I would treat as Tlaukhu bases. That's consistent with standard CT worldgen as well as CT Aslan. About 29% of the systems have the S base code, which I would treat as clan bases. That's also consistent with CT Aslan.

As the person who helped Josh Bell with the Waroatahe modifications (I pointed out the partial sector map in 'Alien Realms' to him.) I'd also like to second the call to at least overhaul the base codes. The same issue crops up in Iphigenaia Sector where you have a 'Heriate Fragment' and the Regency of Muirimi (The last organized state before Theta Borealis) both with inapropriate Imperial base codes.

 

[Graham2001]

For what it's worth the biggest mystery relating to Aslan space comes from the scenario published with the CT Aslan module. The following dates from 2020 and was amongst the notes I'd sent to Joshua regarding 'lost' Aslan systems. The way to read the world details are Sector, Subsector, World Name.

The rest should be self explanatory.

Syareahtaorl, Author Unknown, Pg 35, Alien Module 1: Aslan

Note: most but not all of these systems appear on the map included in the original Aslan module. The ones marked with a '*' appear on the Traveller Map.

(Iiyoihuakh (Riftspan Reaches)/Aulryakh/Aulryakh (A542A54–E))*
(Iiyoihuakh (Riftspan Reaches)/Wahtoikoeakh/Wahtoikoeakh (A773A87–E))*
(Ealiyasiyw/Tulrakh/Ilekhahke (B567552–A))*
(Weasuirlaoa (Touchstone)/A Ekhyolyooul/Feirirlakh (B8958C7–D)) *
(Kyatulyare' (Iphigenaia)/?/Hirohyukh) (Located around 36 parsecs from Feirirlakh ((J3)36/(J4)36/(J5)35)
(?/?/Htoi) - In the Rift, reachable by Jump 5 ships from Hirohyukh (Located around 60 Parsecs ((J3)57/(J4)60/(J5)60) from Aulryakh and around 40 parsecs from Hirohyukh ((J3)39/(J4)40/(J5)35)

Also mentioned is a region of 19 worlds called Luakhti in Iphigenaia held by Akaoft of the Loakhtarl Clan, the exact location on the map is not specified but is presumaby near the rift. Hirohyukh is within this region.

It might be possible to use the distances mentioned to narrow down the approximate area, but I never quite worked out how to do this using Traveller Map.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Note: most but not all of these systems appear on the map included in the original Aslan module. The ones marked with a '*' appear on the Traveller Map.

(Iiyoihuakh (Riftspan Reaches)/Aulryakh/Aulryakh (A542A54–E))*
(Iiyoihuakh (Riftspan Reaches)/Wahtoikoeakh/Wahtoikoeakh (A773A87–E))*
(Ealiyasiyw/Tulrakh/Ilekhahke (B567552–A))*
(Weasuirlaoa (Touchstone)/A Ekhyolyooul/Feirirlakh (B8958C7–D)) *
(Kyatulyare' (Iphigenaia)/?/Hirohyukh) (Located around 36 parsecs from Feirirlakh ((J3)36/(J4)36/(J5)35)
(?/?/Htoi) - In the Rift, reachable by Jump 5 ships from Hirohyukh (Located around 60 Parsecs ((J3)57/(J4)60/(J5)60) from Aulryakh and around 40 parsecs from Hirohyukh ((J3)39/(J4)40/(J5)35)

Also mentioned is a region of 19 worlds called Luakhti in Iphigenaia held by Akaoft of the Loakhtarl Clan, the exact location on the map is not specified but is presumaby near the rift. Hirohyukh is within this region.

First problem is figuring out which sectors are being talked about (there's a lot of space out there ... in ... space ...) so you can even HOPE to be looking in the right direction(s) on Traveller Map (otherwise you're hopelessly lost from the start).

(Iiyoihuakh (Riftspan Reaches)/Aulryakh/Aulryakh (A542A54–E))*
(Iiyoihuakh (Riftspan Reaches)/Wahtoikoeakh/Wahtoikoeakh (A773A87–E))*

Aulryakh is the coreward end of the J-5 Trans Hierate Trade Route crossing the Great Rift in the Riftspan Reaches sector, while Wahtoikoeakh is the rimward end of the route.

(Weasuirlaoa (Touchstone)/A Ekhyolyooul/Feirirlakh (B8958C7–D))

Feirirlakh is located at Touchstone 0413 but the Traveller Wiki has a strange redirect to the adjacent system in Touchstone 0414 (a system named Ie) that only confuses matters greatly.

(Kyatulyare' (Iphigenaia)/?/Hirohyukh) (Located around 36 parsecs from Feirirlakh ((J3)36/(J4)36/(J5)35)
(?/?/Htoi) - In the Rift, reachable by Jump 5 ships from Hirohyukh (Located around 60 Parsecs ((J3)57/(J4)60/(J5)60) from Aulryakh and around 40 parsecs from Hirohyukh ((J3)39/(J4)40/(J5)35)

This is "so far off the map" from anywhere else as to make you wonder how and why any adventuring Travellers would be sent that far out.

Also, Feirirlakh is 33 parsecs from Aulryakh to start with, so Htoi would only be 27 parsecs further away from Aulryakh.
So here's the region of space to search.

Cyan lines are 36 parsecs from Weasuirlaoa (Touchstone)/A Ekhyolyooul/Feirirlakh (B8958C7–D) to Kyatulyare' (Iphigenaia)/?/Hirohyukh.
Magenta lines are 60 parsecs from Iiyoihuakh (Riftspan Reaches)/Aulryakh/Aulryakh (A542A54–E) to ?/?/Htoi.

What makes this especially problematic when using Traveller Map is that the rimward/trailing subsectors (Riter, Emma, Bablari, Eikaoweal) of Iphigenaia sector are accessible by Jump-5 only if you detour through the Regency of Muirimi (established by Solomani settlers during The Long Night) ... which seems like a dubious prospect of being allowed to travel THAT FAR through their space in an Aslan ship so as to get to Riter subsector in order to access Emma, etc.

All other access to the rimward subsectors of Iphigenaia sector and Touchstone sector will require 6+ parsec range capability in order to reach those star systems, meaning either deep space fuel caches and/or L-Hyd drop tanks (which if dropped cannot be reused for the return transit absent a type A or B starport capable of fabricating replacement L-Hyd drop tanks for you).

In other words, those last 2 worlds sound like something that was written up without having any "real" mapping effort behind them to actually put them anywhere "real" that was actually on a map somewhere. Practical upshot is that they sound like either "fanciful fiction" in their location details of the Old Spacer's Tale variety or the astrogation information was deliberately falsified in the reporting so as to hide/obfuscate their true location (presumably somewhere else a LOT more plausible).

 

[Graham2001]

The original scenario was the 'Deepnight Revelation' of it's day, it comes with rules to roll up the 'unexplored space' the Travellers are traversing, that's what makes it so tricky to sort out 'on the map'.

 

[Graham2001]

Also where did the Regency of Muirimi originate, is it another case of CT material that was forgotten between it's issuance and when that piece of the universe was created by a fan or another company.

At this point the issue is probably academic, but it would be interesting to know whether at one point what is now called the 'Regency of Muirimi' was originally intended to be part of the Heirate by the authors.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Also where did the Regency of Muirimi originate, is it another case of CT material that was forgotten between it's issuance and when that piece of the universe was created by a fan or another company.

The distinctive outline of the Regency of Muirimi appears on the map of Charted Space in LBB S8 on p24-25, which I think may have been the first appearance of the 16x8 sectors overview map of the OTU in CT. What is NOT specified by the map is whether it's an Aslan colony region or not.

 

[Graham2001]

The distinctive outline of the Regency of Muirimi appears on the map of Charted Space in LBB S8 on p24-25, which I think may have been the first appearance of the 16x8 sectors overview map of the OTU in CT. What is NOT specified by the map is whether it's an Aslan colony region or not.

Thanks,

As far as I can tell the name Regency of Muirimi seems to have first appeared in 'Solomani & Aslan' by DGP.

 

[Graham2001]

I've put together a timeline of what seems to have happened.

1981 - Region is first shown in Library Data (A-M) (Supplement 8), outlines without names shown. The words 'Aslan Colonies' are written in The Beyond and Trojan Reach sectors.

1984 - Alien Module One 'Aslan' published. The map on page 41 appears to only be showing Aslan majority regions. The scenario in the module 'Syareahtaorl'. Aside from including rules for mapping unknown regions, the plotline involves Aslan settlements in Iphigenaia which if I'm reading the map correctly included both of the bordered areas within Iphigenaia.

1991 - Solomani & Aslan is published by DGP. The map on page 51 labels the larger of the bordered areas in Iphigenaia as the 'Regency of Muirimi'. It's known that this volume contains a number of inacuracies regarding Aslan space, most notably ignoring the partial subsector map appearing in 'Alien Realms' for Waroatahe and of course adding more confusion to the location of the Aslan homeworld.

c.2006 - Paul Grey provides additional details on the Regency of Muirimi, describing it as a kind of 'space Tibet' settled by Solomani during the Long Night. It's known that Paul was working from the Sunbane Data when he did this.

I think a resonably strong case can be made that what's marked on Traveller Map as the 'Regency of Murimi' is in fact part of the Heirate and Aslan dominated rather than Human dominated.

 

[Spinward Flow]

I think a resonably strong case can be made that what's marked on Traveller Map as the 'Regency of Murimi' is in fact part of the Heirate and Aslan dominated rather than Human dominated.

It certainly makes more sense than the alternative.
For one thing ... how would the Solomani settlers have gotten there? What was the route?

First of all, we know for a fact that they couldn't have used the J-5 Trans Hierate Trade Route crossing the Great Rift in the Riftspan Reaches sector, since that was Aslan controlled and the Aslan wouldn't have tolerated Solomani colony convoys crossing their space to go "further spinward" and lay claim to territories that the Aslan themselves would someday want to expand into. I mean, why do a competing species a "solid favor" when that simply means that they will ultimately wind up being a competing power in control of territory the Aslan will eventually be wanting (meaning: needing!) to expand into? It doesn't make near term nor long term sense.

Furthermore, the Regency of Muirimi was supposedly settled during the Long Night (-1776 to 0), while the J-5 Trans Hierate Trade Route crossing the Great Rift in the Riftspan Reaches sector wasn't even discovered until -1044 and would have been jealously (and zealously) guarded by the Wahtoi clan during the Long Night when the region would have needed to have been settled by the Solomani. So easy answer ... the J-6 Verge Connector would not/could not have been used for the Solomani to deploy sufficient colonization resources driving towards Iphigenaia sector during the Aslan Border Wars (-1118 to 360) time period of the Long Night (-1776 to 0).

So with access across the Great Rift blocked by the Aslan Border Wars which started before the J-5 route across the Riftspan Reaches was even discovered ... the only colonization path open for Humaniti to settle in the region would have been a continued outward expansion of colonization like so:
Solomani Rim sector
Diaspora sector
Massilia sector
Core sector
Vland sector
Corridor sector
Deneb sector
Spinward Marches sector (Gram of the Sword Worlds fully settled by -200, but Solomani traders encountered Darrian in -1151)
The Beyond sector
Vanguard Reaches sector
Iphigenaia sector

In other words ... an almost absurdly LONG HAUL for Solomani colonists to get out that far (from Terra), of approximately 11 sectors.

Now, given than there are Solomani pocket empires even further out in the Mavuzog and Theta Borealis sectors, it's not impossible for Solomani settlers to have "set up shop" in what later became the Regency of Muirimi ... but it still somewhat strains credulity that there would have been sufficient colonists THAT DESPERATE to go THAT FAR OUT just to find a "quiet spot" to settle down and colonize somewhere. I mean, the intervening sectors would have had plenty of underdeveloped places those colonists could have laid claim to and begun building themselves up in.

My point being that the only reason for Solomani colonists to go as far as Iphigenaia sector, Theta Borealis sector and/or Mavuzog sector would have been to GET AWAY FROM the Long Night and cut all ties with the former Terran Imperium in a bid for stability and survival by being SO FAR OUT that meaningful trade and diplomatic relations would be impossible at such distances. In other words ... A Fresh Start™ for Humaniti would have needed to be the ideal for such colonists.

Not impossible ... just really really implausible, all things considered (logistically speaking).
And one of those considerations would have to be ... what technology level (and therefore jump drives) would have been available to such a colony fleet? I can easily imagine a colony fleet being limited to TL=9 (during the Long Night), meaning Jump-1 and needing to use extra fuel fraction and tanker relays to be able to cross 2-3 parsecs without a source of wilderness refueling (LBB2 "standard" hull designs would be horribly cramped for this at TL=9, and without fuel purification plants would doomed to unacceptably high misjump attrition losses, so they would have to be LBB5.80 colony ship designs).

Cattle Car Galactica indeed ...

Of course, compared to the Distant Fringe ... this is practically a walk in the park ...
54-55 sectors rimward+trailing is a REALLY LONG HAUL ...

 

[whulorigan]

Unless they were using STL Colony/Sleeper Ships. Do we know the Launch Date of the colonists (or plausibly when it could have been)? Was the Regency perhaps not the originally intended destination, and they simply made do where they ended up?

 

[Spinward Flow]

Info on the Regency of Muirimi is sparse to the point of uselessness.
So the best answer to your questions is ...

 

[Graham2001]

For what it's worth here is the timeline from the backstory portion of the scenario 'Syareahtaorl'.

3610 (1081) - Akoaft leaves Heirate in search of lands to settle.

3611 (1082) - Fourth Frontier War Starts. Akoaft reaches the Trojan Reach, decides to head Spinward.

3614 (1085)- Akoaft attacks Feirirlakh to obtain supplies, looses two ships.

3617 (1088) - Akoaft begins conquest of Luakhti (a region in Iphigenaia). (Planets in the region are described as "...already developed landholds...)

3619 (1090)- Conquest of Luakhti completed.

3642 (1109)- Aikhaheh starts his journey in search of Luakhti

3644 (1111)- Start of Scenario.

Now I suspect that Luakhti is equivalent to the Trailing portion of the 'Regency of Muirimi', just where in that region is another matter.

 

[daryen]

First of all, we know for a fact that they couldn't have used the J-5 Trans Hierate Trade Route crossing the Great Rift in the Riftspan Reaches sector, since that was Aslan controlled and the Aslan wouldn't have tolerated Solomani colony convoys crossing their space to go "further spinward" and lay claim to territories that the Aslan themselves would someday want to expand into. I mean, why do a competing species a "solid favor" when that simply means that they will ultimately wind up being a competing power in control of territory the Aslan will eventually be wanting (meaning: needing!) to expand into? It doesn't make near term nor long term sense.

Uh, the Asian did: those who would become the Sword Worlders. They got there through the J-5 passage. And, for your following comments I deleted for the sake of brevity, the desire to get very, very far away from everything was exactly their reasoning.

Heck, this last point even applies to the Solomani who settled on Darrian. Same thing: they were trying very hard to get very, very far away from everything they knew before.

At this point, it should be considered a very Solomani thing to do, to try and get very, very far away from your current situation.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Uh, the Asian did: those who would become the Sword Worlders. They got there through the J-5 passage.

The Sword Worlders are Solomani descendents, not Aslan.
The settlers for the Sword Worlds would have come through Corridor sector (known territory to the Vilani), not across the 6 parsec range required Verge Connector into the Riftspan Reaches before the J-5 Trade Route was even discovered by the Aslan.