Aslan Hoaawli in the Buffer

Eldrytch Suns – Part 6

The Hoaawli are warrior societies/ monasteries in Aslan society that teach meditation, martial arts, and spiritual enlightenment. They are rare, and scattered throughout the Hierate and in general, settled Aslan space outside the Hierate. In the Supplement Clans of the Aslan, on page 38 three of the larger Hoaawli are mentioned. But these three are, of course, not the only such institutions. Unlike the Psionics Institutes of the Imperial underground, the Hoaawli do not share a common cause, not even the promotion of Aslan psionics.

Not every Hoaawli deliberately promotes the development of Psionic Abilities. Indeed, not every Hoaawli are exclusively Aslan, some allow culturally Aslan Humans among their members. Still, the disciplines taught by these institutions, focusing on mental discipline, meditation and martial arts are the same techniques that can unlock latent psionic abilities in those with potential.

Eaes Elaokhvikhe

One such Hoaawli is in Reaver’s Deep Sector on the world of Htalrea. (Parsec 1226, Ea Subsector) The Eaes Elaokhvikhe (eh-AH-ays el-ah-ok-VEE-khe) is a monastic community that promotes a contemplative spirituality, that rejects material possessions and technology beyond simple tools (Tech Level 1). While the Yehosa clan of the Roaa system claims and protects the system, they do not interfere with the Eaes Elaokhvikhe and preserves the rainforests to maintain the native flora and fauna, especially the Risth population, which is the resource the Yehosa cultivate for export (among other rare and exotic materials that thrive in the jungle.

The Eaes Elaokhvikhe are a relatively small population (7 million worldwide) and are concentrated among the rainforest jungles of the world’s largest river basin, an area roughly the size of the Amazon on earth, roughly 5.5 million square kilometers. The civilization are concentrated around several ancient temple cities built by the earliest Aslan that settled Htalrea thousands of years ago. All of these city-states honor agreements with the Yehosa clan that strictly defines and protects the cultural integrity of the Eaes Elaokhvike and restricts the population that are allowed to reside in the Starport. Since the Eaes Elaokhvikhe have lived in ecological balance with the world, the Yehosa are content to permit the monks to continue cultivating the rainforest they live within.

Like most Aslan cultural societies the roles of the members in the Eaes Elaokhvike are gendered. Female roles, maintain and administer the monasteries, known as “htestao” they teach the techniques of meditation and keep the recorded wisdom of the ancient masters. Male roles hunt and husband the fauna of the rainforests (though they do not domesticate the wild creatures of Htalrea), known as “ktestao” they engage with outsiders and practice the martial art disciplines that the Eaes Elaokhvike have developed over the centuries.

It is the combination of meditative and martial discipline that lead the monks of the Eaes Elaokhvike towards spiritual enlightenment. The simple lives that they lead among the temple cities of Htalrea remove distractions from their pursuit of enlightenment. Hunting and stalking with dewclaw, fierah, kuiheah, and yurletya.

Psychic Abilities and Psionic Training

One of the Eaes Elaokhvike’s most closely held secrets Psionic. It did not take long for the Eaes Elaokhvike to discover how meditation and martial practice can awaken psionic abilities in the sensitive among them. For centuries, there has been a psionic school within the htestao of the Eaes Elaokhvike.

The Uil Ea (WEEL eh-AH) is considered a female role among the Eaes Elaokhvike, which is why it is found among the htestao. Unlike the various human traditions of Psionic Training among the Zhodani, and within the Psionic Institutes, the Uil Ea develops psionic discipline differently (likely due to differences in Aslan psychology)

As mentioned in Clans of the Aslan, Aslan as a species are not as psionically potent as humans. Even the masters of the Uil Ea are weak when compared to other peoples.

When trained in the Uil Ea the psionic student rolls an Average (8+) PSI check to develop the different disciplines.

• Awareness: +4 Learning DM (automatic if selected as the first discipline)
• Clairvoyance: +3 Learning DM
• Telekinesis: +2 Learning DM
• Telepathy: +1 Learning DM
• Teleportation: +0 Learning DM
• -1 Learning DM per previous talent attempt
• +1 Learning DM for each level of the Meditation skill

Wearisth Incense

The scent glands of the Risth can be used to make an incense “Wearisth” (weh-AH-reesth). When prepared in the Eaes Elaokhvike tradition, it is a calming medication for Aslan when burned and is used in meditation. To humans, Wearisth is an exquisite scent resembling lavendar and chamomile. This incense is the resource that the Yehosa clan exports. While the production of Wearisth through commercial fabrication remains a premium and luxury product, the incense made by the Eaes Elaokhive is of yet higher quality and exclusive, commanding a monumentally high price.

Wearisth, when prepared with other ingredients native to the Htalrean rainforests, makes a potent Psionic drug, either inhaled through smoke or fermented and brewed into a drink. This drug, Uil Wearisth, can be created with the effects of Standard, or Double Psi Drug (depending on the recipe used). Uil Wearisth is unknown beyond Htalrea, and is only effective upon Psionically trained Aslan. Uil Wearisth is also undetectable by normal Imperial tests, only returning results similar to the non-Psionic incense.

Htarlea

The Htalrea system, being a territory of the Yehosa clan gives it a measure of security in a starfaring environment like Reaver’s Deep. Even in it’s early years, the Yehosa jealously guarded Htalrea, protecting the Eaes Elaokhive from the reavers and rival clans. Over decades, the Yehosa have developed a partnership with the Eaes Elaokhive. Helping the monasteries to preserve the world’s ecology and the Eaes Elaokhive helping the Yehosa produce their lucrative export.

The Yehosa has run several experiments hoping to find other worlds where the Htalrea biome could flourish, but without success over the centuries. There is something unique about Htalrea’s environment that is critical to the biology, especially for the Risth. Thus, the Yhosa clan heavily restricts travel into the system. In eras where the TAS is active and can issue sector wide restrictions, Htalrea is Red Zoned. Even then, the Yehosa maintains a 1000 dt Aositaoh cruiser in system to deter pirates, or adventurers. planetside, the Yehosa keeps a company of ground troops at the Htalrea starport as a garrison.