> So, when you said the "rubber suit" rant helped you crystallize some
> thoughts about that, what do you mean? Is it the kind of stuff you were
> trying to figure out for yourself, or stuff you were trying to explain to
> your players?
Mostly for myself so I could write them. It really helped in two ways.
For some initial context, do know that I did not get the book back when
it came out, but much, much later. I had to do some hunting on eBay before
I was able to find it. (At the time I was looking, that was pretty much
the only avenue. Marc wasn't doing those reprints yet, so it was either
used hard copy or nothing.)
First, it let me move past the desire to create truly alien aliens. I had
already figured out just about every alien wasn't really alien. In fact,
they were *worse* than alien, as they were just humans with a whole bunch
of options taken away. So, for example, humans can behave however they want,
but Aslan have to obey a whole bunch of restrictions, many of which are
quite ridiculous. A human can think any though an Aslan can, but many areas
of human thought are unavailable to an Aslan. I was trying to figure out
how to make aliens that really could have thoughts that a human couldn't,
or do things a human couldn't (not powers or abilities, but ideas and
ways of thinking or doing). That article really helped turn how I was
approaching the problem by letting me realize that was a futile activity
for the most part.
Second, it helped me when I was dealing with writing the 1248 Spinward
States book. For most of the aliens, I was good with them and just went
with what was already written. (Though, I did "promote" one very minor
alien to a multi-planet presence. [The Dandies. They realized their
species could easily be snuffed out by the Vargr, so they worked with
the Regency to make sure they had some colonies on other worlds as a
hedge against that.]) But I was having trouble with the Aslan. Quite
simply, the Aslan don't make a whole lot of sense. It isn't because
they are truly "alien", but because they have stupid restrictions on
what they can do that severely handicap them. (This is ignoring their
broken history. I am just talking about their culture.)
Going back and doing some of that "reading between the lines" thing again,
I decided that, really, all of these social and gender limitations are
really just learned behaviors, not innate. So, I decided that the only
real limitation on the Aslan was the male "need for land". And even that
is a misdirection, as they don't actually have a "need for land", but
just a "need for confirmation of status". It isn't the land; it is the
status the land grants. In effect, I was willing to let the Aslan become
"more human" because the only thing making them "alien" was their
stupid self-imposed limitations.
Then, just to have fun with the whole idea, I made the most successful
Aslan pocket empire a "barbarian" empire lead by a unique Aslan that
figure all of this crap out. He intentionally reworked his empire's
society to reduce or eliminate the most stupid parts so that the
Aslan could be freed to be more successful. As they became more
successful, more Aslan started to join because, barbarian or not,
they weren't going hungry and their empire was expanding. Even some
human worlds joined the empire.
Mike West