Aslan

Races - Major Race

Bipedal apex predator sophont Major Race, named Aslan by early human explorers because of their resemblance to Earth lions. This led to some speculation that they were another Ancients transported and uplifted species, but genetic studies have shown unequivocally that they are indigenous to their homeworld of Kyusu.

Aslan are the only Major Race from carnivore stock, and this radically shapes their base personality traits. There are two genders, and they vary in pyschology and intelligence to a greater degree than any other major race, reflecting early and persistent sexual social specialisation.

Aslan males are driven by highly individualistic impulses to dominate other males (or anyone else that they see as a threat or displaying Aslan male-like behaviour). They find it very hard to act co-operatively, but will only act in master-subordinate relationships, and the subordinate male will always be looking for an opportunity to assert their dominance over the dominant male. For example, if an Aslan starship has several male officers, and the captain is wounded in an engagement and unable to assert dominance over the junior officers, the normal behaviour will be for the subordinate male officers to challenge and execute the dominant male, and then fight to determine who will be the new dominant male. The idea of postponing that until the end of the battle will not be entertained, because that would require subordinating to another male who might not be a worthy dominant male. This makes Aslan groups better suited to hit-and-run ambush tactics rather than slugging it out in long combats (either on land or in space) as unit cohesion is fragile at best and will quickly collapse as casualties occur.

Individual Aslan males are imposing and aggressive warriors, and can easily beat a human in close combat. Advanced weapons will even up the contest, and in group or long-term combats, human cohesion and resilience will almost always win out.

Traditional and typical Aslan males are obsessed by shows of dominance, which requires territory, wives, followers and possessions. They will attempt to acquire these to the exclusion of all other objectives. They are normally completely untrained in anything other than the warrior arts, and rely on well trained females to handle all aspects of high-tech life, including most social structures.

Aslan females are socially adept and normally occupy all other roles in Aslan society, including diplomats, merchants, engineers, artisans etc.

Aslan society within the boundaries of the Aslan Hierate? on the far side of the Great Rift? is very consistent and traditional, and organised along these lines, as a result of a series of cultural purges and normalisation initiatives centuries ago. Many of the Aslan clans on this side of the Great Rift fled those purges and thus are more culturally diverse, although there are also many recent arrivals who conform to the traditional cultural norms.

These variants include the Glorious Empire? who regard all non-Aslan as slave or meat species, but also some clans that have males who have had their dominance instincts conditioned down, and even some clans that are entirely female, and reproduce parthenogenically.