I think the racial descriptions were left intentionally vague so that players could imagine to suit their own tastes, but in this instance "humanoid" is the noun and "feline" the adjective, so I would personally expect them to have more in common with humans than with cats.

The Shanthine, as the largest collective of aslaran players, definitely put more emphasis on the "humanod" than the "feline". I don't think there's a single active member of the pride that goes with even the "part-time quadruped" interpretation.

I always found that the old totem tribe, while more primitive, went for things like that and the fluidity and variation it granted them as a race provided far more depth and interest.

I always thought that Aslarans could do both, run on either two or four legs. Now, if its running out of fear and that sort I would think that instincts would take over and they'd run on all fours. If its just running, I think they'd be on two legs, since nothing is driving them, well nothing that's making them aggitated or fearful that they're instincts kick into overdrive.

And I don't think that Taurians could really walk on all fours, because it'd be odd with how the legs are bent and such. Walking/running wouldn't be easy and it'd probably take a while for that taurian to be really good at walking/running on all fours so that they'd don't fall over.

The question is whether they instinctively run on all fours or not.

Given that they are splintered versions of an Elder God, and not actually evolved from a cat... I don't think that they will spend much time on four legs. They're very much a bipedal creature. I have to agree with Gwylifar's assessment.

Nothing stopping you from making an aslaran and refounding the Totem Tribe, but you'll note that even Gwylifar's intepretation is strictly bipedal.

As a footnote for those readers who are unaware and might misintepret Laysus' words, "the old totem tribe" is "old" in the sense that it is essentially defunct, and has been since Gwylifar left. It is not, in fact, "old" in the sense of pre-dating the Shanthine Pride, which existed many RL months before the totem tribe was founded. Please do not think we are in any way supplanting groundwork it did.

Even if they're splintered, how some people play aslarans is that they've got Pards/Prides/et cetera, which is a group for leopards/lions/et cetera. Some people play more "cat-like" than "human-like" Aslarans, so in my thinking that would mean they would be instictively run on all fours, but this is just my thoughts. Splintering doesn't mean that a person/race their instincts aren't the same as anothers. This being an aslarans instincts may very well be the same as a domestic cats or even a lions.

Just because something's splintered doesn't mean that mentally they're not like what they appear as, and in this case Aslarans appear as "Big Kitties" as my furrikin would call 'em. It is all based upon how they're played. Majority of players probably go for a mix of "kitties" and "humans" in their rp. For instance, they take the aspect of being in a close knit community with others of their race, cuddling for comfort, grooming each other, and hunting with their claws and teeth instead of hands from being a "kitty." Now they take being in a city, a guild, buy clothes, eating cooked food, doing daily chores such as tidying the shop, sweeping and mopping the manse from being a "human." The "human" parts are basic things we all do, every day, that runs our lifes whereas the "kitty" parts are more of instinctives parts.

Well, all of the Aslaran major characters that I've seen, despite their actual mediocre intelligence and lower then average charisma, tend to fit a good bit of arrogance, independence, and intelligence into their characters, all stereotypical cat traits. Crawling around on all fours is seen, in human terms at least, as something only the unlearned and undeveloped do (such as the very young, and our own pre-evolutionary forms), so that would be why I would put my vote on strictly bi-pedal movement.

Don't let that stop you from going around on all fours when/if you want to though Noola.

Noola's a Trill.

I was asking so I could get a feel for what is more widely accepted as the standard form of motion for a running Aslaran so I could more acurately portray it in my drawing.

From what everyone's said, I think I'm going to go with bipedal, just slightly bent forward in the run.

Thanks everyone for your input!

An "average" trait is 12 (c.f.: humans, who start with 12 across the board, and stayed there in the original version before they got 'evolution).

Aslaran are smarter and and more charismatic than an un-evolved human. I think you're making the mistake of generalizing against maxed-out stats here.

As for the arrogance, yeah. That's pure role-play, and most of us do it. I think it's pretty universally accepted that I go over-the-top role-playing feline arrogance myself (discounting the players who think that none of it's role-play).

I've known a few players of meek aslaran, but I always try to coax more self-confidence and unapologetic pride out of them.

All races are bipedal, or at least can move bipedally, because the mechanics say so. One leg broken means you hobble, two legs broken means you can't move at all. Broken arms, however, have no effect on movement, but they would if you walked on all fours.

I'd say that Aslarans, like all other animalistic races, are completely bipedal. They likely have paws for feet but regular hands, perhaps with pads on their palms or something along those lines.

Remember, from an IC standpoint, the races resemble the gods they splintered from, not the animals which were also rendered in the images of the gods. Birds resemble Trillillial and Trills resemble Trillillial - both were modeled after Her (or, in the case of birds, the other feathered gods as well). And though we don't have a description of Aslarn, I've yet to hear of any quadruped gods. They're referred to a the 'star gods' in the Elder Histories, which implies two arms and two legs being the standard.

Think of it this way--while in Lusternia races are shards of gods, in other worlds races might be assumed to follow evolution. We are allegedly part of the "Great Ape" trees, somewhere between Bonobo Chimpanzees and Homo Neanderthal. However, we can't "knuckle walk", or swing from trees easilly.

Also, Aslarans shouldn't automatically have a connection to the "cat", just like Human barbarians don't have a special connection to the "monkey". Monte Cook created his own race of "cat people" called Litorians for his Aracana Evolved world and he used this specific example when talking about a Totem Warriors. I think we can assume the similar (although I don't know enough about the Lusternia Prides to really know).

In short, just because they are cat people don't assume they are werecats or are completely interchangable with a lion or cat.

Charune!

Though I believe He mentioned once (after someone asked, I think the phrase "true form" was in there) that He hadn't found another form He liked as much as His current one and that perhaps sometime He will.

Oh? I've always imagined Charune as being, essentially, a satyr with stag's horns. Saw his description ages ago, can't remember if it addressed hands/feet.

it says he has the body of a stag waist down... and since he's the brother of Centaubi.. who knows

and sure, Gods can change their form, so maybe he was a stargod to begin with and just transformed into what he is beccause he loved his favorite creation really much... the cow

Osteologically speaking, it is impossible to be both quadreped and bipedal. If someone would 'instinctivly' run quadrepedal, they would not walk, in general, as bipedal because the placement of muscles, the way the bones are placed together, and all of that, make it so ALL beings with a skeleten are one or the other. Yes this is a fantasy world, but a lot of the phsyics and such ARE based in real world comparisions...

Hm, so He's either a centaur or a satyr in terms of build. Either way, he still has arms, fingers, ect.

I view 12 as below average myself, the reason being that in charisma when Estarra reworked influencing speed 14 was stated as the average speed, anything higher is above average anything lower is below average.

I picture aslarans as walking on two limbs, but as they run, it isn't as smooth as a human. They would almost thunder with each step, pushing off the ground farther than humans, thus being faster. Just what I think.

I can picture Aslaran using their hands while running, but not in a quadroped way, but more like, when running through the rocking terrain of the moors, or through the forest, pushing off of things that are high enough to do so, giving them an extra burst of movement in a 'bounce' sort of way.

Just something I thought of while watching my cat chase a deer in our front yard since he sort of bounced like a rabbit.