Dread Empire's Fall
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The Dread Empire's Fall series began in 2002 when The Praxis was published, science fiction novel by Walter Jon Williams. Being well-received by many, The Sundering released the subequent year. This series was brought to an explosive conclusion in the final edition of the Dread Empire's Fall in the summer of 2005 with the publication of The Conventions of War.
The novels are of the space opera subgenre.
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[edit] Books in the series
The Praxis, First published in the UK in 2002 by Earthlight. ISBN 0-7434-2897-8
The Sundering, First published in the UK in 2003 by Earthlight. ISBN 0-7434-2898-6
The Conventions of War, First published in the UK in 2005 by Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-5677-8
 The Praxis |
 The Sundering |
 The Conventions of War |
[edit] Races
[edit] Shaa
The first beings to envision the truths of the Praxis, and first to spread it throughout known space.
Very little is known of the Shaa, they chose to isolate themselves from their empire, having gradually lost interest in the world they had built. As a result of achieving a near immortal state these beings had lived for countless millennia, but such long lifespans resulted in their memories eventually becoming saturated. Their thirst for conquest dwindling, and their impressive memories failing all but for the massive computer networks that had been intended as some measure to help in the storage of their memories (though it should be noted that only new memories failed, being easily displaced by newer events. Old memories of their civilisation in its prime remained), the Shaa began committing suicide.
One by one, the Great Masters died, and were promptly cremated along with their possessions, servants and loyal subjects whose position and power allowed them the honour of death with a Great Master.
Martinez, the stories male protagonist, is seen wondering what really made the Shaa tick, and tossed thoughts around his mind in regards to performing an autopsy on the last Shaa since there were no others left to prevent it, but it seemed none of those in a higher position shared his curiosity to investigate the biology of the beings who had kept such things secret from their subject races for the 12,481 years that had so far gone by since the inception of the Praxis.
An interesting point to note is the Shaa's love of prime numbers, as can be most obviously seen in their standard timekeeping system.
[edit] Naxid
The first of the races to be converted to the Praxis by the Shaa in the Year 437 of the Peace of the Praxis. Fiercely pack oriented, it can be seen without even considering uniforms who is superior to who in a group of these insectoid creatures.
Their six legged physiology, of which four legs are used for locomotion and the forward two used as either prehensile limbs or another set of legs, which allows them great speed and agility, but only two speeds, very fast or stop, is unique among the beings under the Praxis in that their scaly skin can fluoresce a visual form of communication. Though the empire has accommodated for this by allowing Naxid citizens and officers to wear a Chameleon cloth that echos the patterns flashed beneath, the language is not well understood and is subject to interpretation depending on context.
[edit] Terran
The second race to be exposed to the Praxis by the Shaa, these beings where considered highly cultist and brought many vices into the realm of the Shaa. Though the Shaa have since eliminated the cults from mainstream awareness in favor of the doctrine of the Praxis, the vices, to the eternal disbelief of the Shaa, remain.
Recreational tubes are installed on terrain vessels to allow officers and crew to relieve sexual tension, and products such as alcohol and tobacco, while not directly opposing the ways of the Praxis, are misleading from the truths and have been heavily taxed by the Shaa as opposed to complete banning of the substances.
[edit] Torminel
Nocturnal creatures, they resemble teddy bears, a resemblance that has often lead to many Terran children sleeping with a toy Torminel in their beds. In reality though, they are far from cute and cuddly. Nocturnal hunters, they use their large eyes to hunt their pray and their sharp fangs to tear into its flesh.
Or at least they did before the Shaa came to their world. Now, while they still enjoy a carnivorous diet, their food is served pre-killed and at blood temperatures.
Due to their furred bodies, clothing can be an issue for them, and are often seem dressed in nothing more than shorts and a vest, and sunglasses should they be out in daylight. Only on rare occasions, such as the funeral parade for the Great Masters, do they risk heat stroke by wearing full dress mourning uniform. Not even during the customary mourning period are they allowed to return to their normal fashions, but instead they compromise by bleaching their fur white in place of the white uniform they would be wearing.
[edit] Lai-own
This race of flightless birds were the first to give the Shaa a challenge in their conquest. Unlike the other races they had conquered, the Lai-own had a decent level of interplanetary colonisation in progress, and had a few warships. They main strength however was their minds. The Lai-own war is renowned for the defenders quick thinking and sharp tactics. Their only weakness was their hollow bones which could not withstand the punishing accelerations that were usually required in space combat, and soon after the Lai-own fleet fell, so did the rest of the Lai-own system.
[edit] Cree
The natural musicians of the empire, their large ears make up for their poor eyesight as a result of their eyes being no more than a light sensitive patch on their heads.
Both genders of the Cree start life as unintelligent quadrupeds, though after a few years, the males become bipedal and sentient. They can often be seen walking their quadrupedal females in large open spaces.
The sleeping habits of the Cree are also slightly curious in that they choose to sleep in piles. In the rare Cree warships there are no distinct quarters for each officer and crew, and they instead sleep in heaps in either the officers stateroom for the officers and another stateroom for enlisted crew. The only difference from their normal sleeping habits is the lack of females on the ships who would join the heaps had they been at home and not in the fleet.
[edit] Daimong
Expressionless faces, melodic voices and perpetually decaying flesh are the main points of note about the Daimong. They are often used as news presenters due to their natural inability to display emotion on their faces and as choirs due to the natural harmony their voices offer, though their colleagues are often eager to avoid them when necessary due to the smell of rot that spreads across rooms when one is near.
[edit] Yormak
This race is little heard of in the empire, a fact mainly due to the special dispensation they received centuries ago that allowed them never to leave their homeworld. It is generally understood that this shaggy hair race tend equally shaggy haired cattle to provide some excellent exports of wool and other produce for the empire.
[edit] Social Structure
[edit] The Praxis and the Dread Empire
Created some 12,481 years ago by an unnamed Shaa, the Praxis is believed to be the fundamental truth of the universe, summarised by the phrase: All that is important is known. It sets out to govern people lives and its application is by no means voluntary.
Numerous classes of technology have been outlawed by the Shaa in accordance to the Praxis, machine intelligence and autonomy, translation of organic intelligence into a machine or electromagnetic form, machines capable of manipulating molecules and atoms, genetic manipulation. A group of humans on the planet Dandaphis were once caught experimenting with genetic manipulation in the hope of engineering a plague to eradicate the Shaa.
The entire planet was annihilated in antimatter bombs.
Such was the teachings of the Praxis, those who offend against the fundamental law shall receive punishment in greater proportion than their crime, so public virtue may be maintained by this example. Never since the death of an entire planet for the actions of a few had such tenets been challenged.
The Praxis also outlawed the search for immortality. This was a lesson hard learned by the Shaa themselves as they were immortal. In one of the few episodes of open reasoning they admitted to their subject races that this was a terrible error on their part, and would be one they would ensure would never be repeated by those they ruled.
Another clause to the Praxis ensured a distinct social structure. The Shaa were below the Praxis, the Convocation were below the Shaa, the rest of the Peer society were below the Convocation, and then there were the Commoners, in essence the poor people. In a similar divide as seen here on earth, ten percent of the empires population (predominantly the Peerage) held ninety percent of its wealth, and they weren't afraid to display it either.
As for the Empire itself, the watchword was obedience. Punishments could be doled out for even the slightest misdemeanour, and though only the worst crimes warrant execution and torture, there were apparently sufficient numbers of highly criminal acts perpetrated to deserve a number of broadcast channels devoted entirely to broadcasting the flaying, the hangings, the limbs being torn apart and the many other forms of torture and execution they could perform.
Censorship was also a strong influence. All civilian mail was sent via censorship nodes that could stop a letter being sent should its complex algorithms detect even the slightest hint of anti-empirical content, and if necessary inform the Legion of Diligence as to the location of possible traitors. Fleet mail was typically censored by an officers superiors.
[edit] Convocation
The only people who were permitted to petition the Shaa, the Convocation typically wore red and were made of over a hundred of the most prominent clans and their clan head from each race under the Praxis. In total, over six hundred beings could be present when the Convocation was in session. The Convocation themselves were involved in all the administrative projects of the empire, such as commanding the fleet to simply managing the ring stations and their antimatter fuel.
Though they were supposedly all equal and only one step down from the Shaa, the Convocation usually spoke under one person, the Lord or Lady Senior who, after the death of the last Shaa, would be the highest ranking official in the entire empire.
[edit] Peers
The elite of the Empire's population. Born into wealth only to make more wealth, these people make up only a small percentage of the population, yet control most of its wealth. They are typically expected to look after those below their station, and as such Peer clans are seen as patrons to others, their clients. Marriages are arranged between clans, promotions organised behind the scenes, all to the benefit of themselves in their never ending struggle to rise above the rest of the Peerage.
While the Praxis states that Peers are all created equal, there is no evidence of that in practice. Provinsial clans, such as the Martinez clan, who come from so called backwater planets with grating provincial accents are shunned by others of their caste in more central regions of the empire, such as its capitol, Zanshaa.
[edit] Commoners
The actual workforce behind the empire. These people worked so the Peers could get richer, all the while they stayed poor. Few commoners were ever accepted by the peerage, even those with money, and it would be rare to see a commoner in an officers uniform in the fleet, such positions were usually held by the Peerage.
[edit] The Fleet
The backbone of the Empires power. They could rain down antimatter bombs on populations that had displeased them and though the had never been involved in war since the conquest of the Lai-own, they stayed on guard of their principle planets, the playground of the rich.
Being in the fleet was a highly prestigious achievement, and most peers were guaranteed a place on their seventeenth year should they choose to become a fleet officer. Commoners generally had to enlist into the fleet and specialise in their chosen role.
Discipline was always strict and draconian, a superior officer could kill a subordinate on a whim for any reason, and even for no reason. Though these were permitted, they were rare as they would often lead to civil lawsuits from the victims clan.
To cope with the lack of any actual combat, the fleet was highly sport oriented. If you didn't follow at least one sport, you were classed a "toil" by colleagues and shunned. Another method of dealing with the boredom of peace time was in the participation of manoeuvres, highly scripted combat in which crews were trained and judged in their ability to follow orders. It was these tactics that led to the devastating losses of the two large engagements of the civil war, and only tactics developed by Martinez which allowed more freer movement proved successful in destroying large numbers of enemies at a relatively small cost of friendlies.
[edit] Officers
Typically of the peerage, these people start off in the fleet at a training academy, the Cheng Ho Academy for the privileged cadets, Nelson Academy and others for the less fortunate. Regardless of where they attended though, once released from their academy, they were usually distributed among the fleet to learn the skills they would need as Lieutenants in time for their Lieutenants exams three years later. A lucky few cadets each year, of appropriate seniority, could be promoted to a lieutenancy by those of Lieutenant Captain rank or higher.
Once of Lieutenant rank and higher, they were traditionally referred to as Lord or Lady (the usual title of Peers) regardless of whether they were Peers or not, and many officers chose to openly refer to cadets as scum in a variety of disgusted howls.
Once in the fleet, officers typically used family ties to ascend through the ranks of the fleet as rarely was there a notable event that would entice promotion of an officer other than a vacancy above, and even then, allies of the higher ranks were more likely to achieve that position than those who had caused enmity or just simple indifference in those higher ranks.
[edit] Enlisted
These people, usually commoners, made up the majority of a ships crew. There are multiple divisions for a crewman to go down, such as electrician, data manager, weaponer or rigger to name just a few. They rise through the ranks from trainee to second class to first class and eventually, upon the successful completion of an exam, Master.
