Warhammer: did CJ Cherryh's qhal inspire the Slann?

[Hobgoblin]

I picked up Gate of Ivrel by CJ Cherryh in an Oxfam bookshop the other day. It's a 1977 book that I think might have inspired the Slann in Warhammer. Cherryh's qhal are an ancient time- and space-faring race that travelled by means of 'gates' - until those gates failed, causing catastrophe and a reversion to primitive technology.

A cursory search of the internet reveals nothing of this connection. But the book appears to have been a big influence on Warhammer's Known World. See what you think (and let me know if this is old news!):

http://hobgoblinry.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-qhal-and-slann-or-did-cj-cherryh.html

[Skrapwelder]

The Qhal were humanoid and capable of interbreeding with Humans. I recall that Morgaine herself was half Qhal. You might be thinking of the older, unnamed race that created the gates and were then destroyed by them.

[Hobgoblin]

I'm not suggesting that the qhal were frogs!

Yes, they seem to be more like elves/eldar physically. And yes, the prologue to Gate of Ivrel says that "The technology had been discovered in the ruins of a dead world".

But the parallel and source of inspiration, surely, is between the qhal as arrogant travellers in time and space interfering in the development of other species on other worlds, and the Slann as ... arrogant travellers in time and space interfering in the development of other species on other worlds!

I'd be really surprised if Cherryh wasn't the direct source of inspiration for Halliwell et al.

[Sir_Theo]

Is it an entirely original idea? But the parallels do seem to be there and as you say they've always been open that a lot of different sources were the inspiration for a lot of early warhammer and 40k lore. Interesting stuff!

[Hobgoblin]

It may not be, though I don't know of any earlier source. But then I haven't read much sci-fi. You certainly get the development of the same idea by successive authors - as with the 'Dying Earth' concept through Clark Ashton Smith, Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe.

But I think the Cherryh book looks like the direct inspiration: it's sufficiently close in time (1977 to 1983). And I find it interesting that the Slann were initially "lords of time and space", like Cherryh's qhal, before being relegated to mere space travellers in later editions.

[DegenerateElite]

They are based on the Tekumel world created by M.A.R. Barker and published as a campaign world for D&D and as a standalone game.

All the main human races are based on star faring civilizations that have regressed and still have access to technology.  The early Slann and Amazons used laser weapons and chain swords.

Read the setting info here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A9kumel

I would bet the Cherryh book borrows from Tekumel also.