On 08Jul2023 0520, Jeff Zeitlin - editor at freelancetraveller.com (via
tml list) wrote:

> The novels give us a viewpoint of the Hani, who turn out to be a fairly
> good match for the Aslan. An important difference is that prior to the
> events of the Chanur saga, Hani males in space was culturally impossible,
> and afterward, vanishingly rare. However, the Tlakhu is a reasonable analog
> for the Han, and there are many cultural parallels between the Hani and the
> Aslan, to the point that Cherryh was asked if (and denied) the Hani were
> influenced by the Aslan.

And recently I've seen people claim the opposite - that GDW copied the
Hani. Checking publication dates shows that the classic Aslan book
appeared the same year the first compact novel was published, and I
don't think even Keith was *that* fast a developer and writer.

I always assumed parallel development, both species being derived from
pop culture lions with a dash of Niven's Kzinti tossed in.

> Second in visibility to the Hani are the Mahendo'sat and the Kif. Kif
> society seems to run on _sfik_, which in some ways seems to be Vargr
> charisma-based social status cranked up to eleven - or maybe twelve. There
> seems to be an undercurrent in Kif society that says, in effect, that
> anyone who can credibly threaten one's _sfik_ is an enemy that should be
> destroyed; anyone who can be used to add to one's _sfik_ should be so used,
> and anyone whose _sfik_ is above one's own may be someone who one should
> respect and 'ride the coattails of'. _Sfik_ competition is by no means
> 'friendly'.

Sociopathic Vargr, perhaps.

> Mahen society places a lot of store on Personage, which has some
> similarities to both _sfik_ and Vargr charisma, but definitely toned down,
> and there is also an element of Hiver Manipulation in there. It is not
> nearly as cutthroat as _sfik_, but Mahen governments have fallen when
> leaders have their Personage reduced.

I got the impression, though I don't think it's ever mentioned
explicitly, that Personage has a hereditary element - that those born
into little power were not expected to ever gain much, unlike the Kif,
where anyone could become a great leader if they had sufficient guile,
will, charisma, and luck.

> Technology tends to rest near the lower end of most Traveller settings -
> personal weapons seem to be mostly slug-throwers, though lasers aren't
> unknown. Starships are mostly tramp traders, going where profit seems most
> likely, and trade is mostly speculative.

They are, I think, fairly large ships, with small crews. That's why an
honest freighter can become a less than honest hunter by pulling off the
cargo holds, etc., and adding weaponry - they engines and powerplants
are already pretty hefty to allow hauling massive cargoes.

> FTL travel isn't quite the neat
> one-subjective-week-equals-one-objective-week of stock Traveller; perceived
> (subjective) time, objective (real-universe) time, and biological time
> (measured by physiological effects) may all be different. There seems to be
> three classes of interstellar routes: Those that can be run only by Knnn
> ships, those that can be run by high-mass ships, and those that can only be
> run by low-mass ships. There are also four basic classes of ships:
> Ground-to-station shuttles, miner craft, trade ships, and 'hunters'.
> There's examples in the stories of trade ships shedding mass - essentially,
> dumping cargo and running empty - to be able to make the 'low mass' routes;
> there are also indications that 'hunters' are relatively overpowered for
> their size and can also utilize the 'low mass' routes because of it. There
> is also a suggestion that 'hunters' can do what Traveller would call
> 'micro-jumps'.

*Some* species' hunters (and other ships) can make micro-jumps.
Mahendo'sat's and Humans' can, Hani can't and didn't even know it was
possible (at least in the time of the novels) - one of the many things
their Mahendo'sat mentors didn't mention. I can't remember if the Kif
are shown to be able to or not. The Knnn seem to be able to do these,
and change course in jump, and do other completely 'impossible' things.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>