Also, one thing I forgot to mention: It was really MT that messed with
the Aslan history. Really, the Regency Sourcebook tried to remove a
lot of the silliness, but they still had to leave what was written alone.
So, in the Regency Sourcebook, the Regency had reclaimed all of their
territory "taken" by the Aslan. (So, for example, the Domain holdings
in the Trojan Reach were Regency holdings.) They also retconned
the penetration of the Aslan back by at least a subsector. (MT had
the Aslan knocking on the door of Glisten. TNE pushed them back
outside the Spinward Marches.)
The Aslan in the Regency Sourcebook were bottled up. They had lost
all of their ancestral homelands, and had completely lost the entire
J5 route across the Rift. All they had left were their spinward holdings
in the Trojan Reach and Beyond. They also had little area to try and
expand. They were beholden to the Regency for their protection from
Virus, but resented it and resented the limitations the Regency had
placed on them (like no going back across the Rift). So, it was a very
tense situation. It was a powderkeg waiting for a match. (Which, of
course, was left to happen after 1202.)
In addition to that dynamic, there were also millions (probably billions)
of Aslan left in reclaimed Regency territory. These Aslan were allowed
to stay as long as they toed the Regency line. This, of course, pissed
off the other occupants on those worlds who felt that the Regency
was giving a free pass to their "invaders" and occupiers.
Also, the Regency was trying to apply the lessons learned by the
Darrians in how to coopt the Aslan. They would hire willing Aslan to
the defense force (forgot the name) with the promises of land in
the Regency (and, presumably, the buffer zone). This was done
hoping that they could "domesticate" (my word, not Dave's) the Aslan
into proper Regency citizens, like the Darrians had done to the Aslan
that had settled in the Darrian Confederation.
Mike West