In a conversation with FuzzyGeff...
Talking about the various Traveller races and the expansive tendencies of the Aslan.
The Aslan have an ingrained cultural urge to obtain and possess real estate for themselves personally, and for their clan as a whole. Since nobody is making more land, they expand outward as populations increase.
They've been smacked back a few times as the expansion rubs against Humaniti's borders.
The discussion humorously centered on what to do about an unwanted Aslan enclave on your world.
Dropping rocks from orbit...
Nukes...
Tailored nerve agents.
"Where would you get a nerve agent tailored for Aslan?"
"From the Hivers."
"What would they know about Aslan, There's no Aslan in Hiver space!"
"Exactly!"
Introduce a bunch of Vargr? "Sic'em!"
ReplyDeleteHow do Aslan and Vargr get along, anyway? GURPS Traveller doesn't say much about it, but they must have met.
They've got the Zhodani and Imperium seperating them.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are Aslan and Vargr living in the Imperium.
DeleteAslan and Vargr who're culturally Imperial get along as well as any Imperial citizen. The Third Imperium is wonderfully egalitarian about races.
DeleteAslan in the Imperium who're culturally Aslan don't do near as well. They tend to attempt to buck the systems in place that their more culturally adapted kin would exploit.
Vargr in the Imperium do tend to self segregate into enclaves for reasons that are still not well understood.
The Great Rift and two human nations separating the Aslan and Vargr make interaction between their nations rare.
The Hivers wouldn't need "a nerve agent tailored for Aslan." They would simply nanipulate any Aslan populations in their sphere of influence into breeding at less-than-replacement rates, and let the math take its course. After all, the Hivers have the Ithklur as their happy warriors (and never has this phrase been more appropriate!); they would have no need to manipulate Aslan to become warriors for the Hive Federation.
ReplyDeleteOf course, a specific Manipulator might have reason to disregard the above, and manipulate the Aslan in different ways.
Darned typo. Although "nanimpulate" might be an unintended portmanteau word for using nanotechology as part of a manipulation. Probably frowned upon, if used directly on the target's physical bodies.
DeleteThat there isn't Aslan in a post-manipulation state says that they MUST have exterminated them!
DeleteIt is known.