That's really cool. I like what you did with the Aslan insight, and I'm
glad that I did something that could help with that.
Yeah, you're right about the "humans minus" idea, because any way of
thinking we can't conceive of...we can't conceive of, so where does that
leave us? Taking stuff away.
That, plus the Aslan were too often ST:TNG Klingons, running around
bellowing, "You have no honor!" Geez, gift it a rest, Worf. Look, it's that
Gypsy fortune-teller counselor.
Getting yourself backed into the corner all the time over small issues of
honor isn't an adaptive trait. Are you aware of the recent research that
shows that one of the most adaptive reproductive traits in real Earth
animals is sneaky males that run in and impregnate the females while the
dominant males are off bellowing and pawing turf? That would throw the
Aslan for a loop.
On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:31:05 -0500, "Mike West" <>
wrote:
>> 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
> [1]
>
>
>