Interstellar, multi-sector government of the many Aslan
clans. Aslan society centers on the
clan. Within the Hierate, the
family structure of the Aslan and the governmental structure are the same.
A council of twenty-nine clan leaders chosen from amongst the most
powerful clans performs the highest governmental functions.
The Trokh name for this council is Tlaukhu,
which has a literal translation of thirty-five (Aslan numbering is in base-8,
this is 29 in base-10).
"The 29" (as they are called) have quasi-religious status and
represent the essential unity of the Aslan race.
To be chosen one of the 29 is the highest honor to which
any Aslan can aspire. The 29 meet
continuously on the Aslan homeworld, Kusyu
(Dark Nebula 1919) to adjudicate
inter-clan disputes and decide matters of group policy.
No member of the 29 speaks for the Hierate as a whole, nor does the whole
29.
There are
no Hierate military forces; each clan has its own, and they rarely act in
concert with those of other clans. The
Hierate itself can call upon military forces only insofar as the clans
themselves agree to provide such forces. Even
the minor forces conveying the 29's decisions are actually under the control of
individual clan leaders.