Saraksh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saraksh is a fictional planet described in "Inhabited Island" ("Обитаемый остров") by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a world that survived an atomic war. As a result of the latter the surface of the planet is mostly covered with debris and junk. This is a great problem for the survivors since many of the old war machines still endanger those living in the regions. For example, in one episode of "Inhabited Island" the main character's aircraft gets shot down by an old air defense system.

Sakarsh is notable for its mostrous refraction in the atmosphere. From the surface it looks like the horizon is above the observer which makes the inhabitants of the planet think that they actually live inside a hollow cave in an endless piece of rock rather than on a round planet floating in space (see "Hollow Earth" theory). The phenomenon of night and day change is explained by periodical changes in the clouds gathered in the middle of the "cave". In ancient times, there was a school of scientists who did not believe this theory. Their beliefs found little support within the normal populace, though they did inspire a curse word "Massaraksh" (literally: "the world inside-out"). According to Maxim, their theories gained new prominence when they were used to help to plot long-range ballistic missiles.

Contents 1 Inhabitants 2 Technology 3 Earth and Saraksh 4 Unknown Fathers 5 Emanation 6 Trivia 7 See also

[edit] Inhabitants

The planet is inhabited primarily by a humanoid race that is virtually identical (both genetically and physiologically) to humans from Earth. The only difference mentioned in "Inhabited Island" is the sensitivity to so called "white" and "black" Emanations which the people of Saraksh have and people of Earth don't have. For more information about these emanations, see below.

There are four countries mentioned in the book:

• The Land of Unknown Fathers (a country ruled by an oligarchy of "Unknown Fathers", a group of wealthy politicians and military generals)
• Insular Empire (the supreme marine power, very little information present)
• Honti (Хонти) (a government in the mist of a barely restrained cold war between two governing factions: Honti Union of Justice and Honti Patriotic League; for reasons even Unknown Fathers can't quite agree on, it has been considered a dangerous threat to the Land of Unknown Fathers)
• Pandea (Пандея) (a prosperous capitalist democracy. Like Honti, it's a former colony of the empire that became the Land of Unknown Fathers)

The last two countries on the list were once provinces of a great empire (not the Insular one) that collapsed during the atomic war and divided into three parts the biggest one of which is the Land of Unknown Fathers. A number of countries were completely wiped off the face of the planet, leaving the so-called Great Southern Desert in their wake. There were indications that some of the survivors of the war managed to create a nation deep within the desert, but, due to the fact that the region was very radioactive, this has not been confirmed. There were also persistent rumors that some coastal nations managed to survive the war essentially intact. It is also mentioned that somewhere deep in the mountains there is a folk of "highlanders", people more similar to humans from Earth, but this rumor is never confirmed.

Saraksh is also the home planet of an intelligent kynoid (dog-like) race called Headies (голованы). These are most probably an aftermath of the atomic war, a random result of mutations caused by the radiation although some sources consider them a product of genetic engineers of the old empire. Headies were discovered by an Earthling Maxim Kammerer in the course of "Inhabited Island".

[edit] Technology

Technologically Saraksh is identical to the Earth of the 1950s and 60s. Most of the technological progress is made by the military but despite advanced ground techniques there is nearly no sign of air force. One of the characters makes references to short-range helicopters and "air platforms". The only airplane mentioned in the book was a relic machine from the old empire. Such lack of airplanes only supports the dominant theory of Hollow Earth (in this case - hollow Saraksh).

The sea is completely monopolized by the Island Empire and its "white submarines" that are able to attack land targets as well as marine ones. Apparently, the submarines are much more preferred than traditional vessels.

Apart from the normal, human-developed technologies there are also some elements of alien ones, for example, the so called "Anti-Missile Defense System" ("система противобаллистической защиты") of the Land of the Unknown Fathers. The Land of Unknown Fathers also possesses advanced mentoscopic technology that allowed them to scan mental images and affect human nervous system (the later was primarily used for torture devices). It is suggested that these were build using the secrets left by Wanderers.

[edit] Earth and Saraksh

Saraksh was discovered in 2148 AD by an expedition from Earth led by A.-I. Bader. After the scientists found an advanced humanoid civilization on the planet, they've immediately withdrawn and Saraksh became an object of study for progressors. All information about this contact was classified, so the planet was officially "open" for free exploration. This is the reason the main character of "Inhabited Island", Maxim Kammerer, who couldn't find an interesting job on Earth, decided to go to Saraksh.

As Maxim wanders through the Land of Unknown Fathers participating in wars, discovering new races and organizing a revolution he is hunted by an Unknown Father under the nickname "Wanderer" who turns out to be a progressor from Earth Rudolf Sikorski. Later on Kammerer manages to destroy the Anti-Missile Defence System (see below) causing one of the severest social crises in the history of progressors.

[edit] Unknown Fathers

Unknown Fathers turned out to be a cabal of military leaders and politicians. Contrary to propaganda, very few of the originators of coup that overthrew the Imperial government are still part of the Unknown Fathers. Most were replaced by newer recruits. Some advanced through the ranks, while others came from the opposition. All Unknown Fathers went by pseudonyms which reflected either their personality traits or their level of power relative to the head Unknown Father (who, naturally, called himself "Papa"). The newer replacements often took on the aliases of their predecessors ("Dever" was a prominent example of that trend). All Unknown Fathers had absolute authority within their areas of government. Often, those areas overlapped, which lead to bloody skirmishes. Papa, however, commanded the ultimate authority within the Unknown Fathers, executing any Father that displeased him.

• Papa - overall leader of the Unknown Fathers. He was a prominent banker before the coup. He may have had gold mines in Honti.
• Smartie - the Head General Prosecutor. In charge of the legal apparatus in the Land of Unknown Fathers. One of the few Fathers that has been in power since the original coup.
• Wanderer - Chief of Counter-Intelligence. He operates one of the largest spy networks on Sakarsh. He also heads the AMDS research team.
• Blister - Chief of Propaganda. He was responsible for the introduction of the "Fun Journeys" program, which featured mentograms of mental patients. This, along with several other eccentricities, fueled the rumor that he was insane himself. He was killed during a power struggle.

[edit] Emanation

The Anti-Missile Defense System (AMDS) presented by hundreds of defense towers all over the Land of Unknown Fathers is complete mystery at the beginning. Officially it is meant to protect the country from ICBMs from other continents but it is apparent that no nation on Saraksh possesses such weapons. Throughout the book it is revealed that AMDS is actually a network of so called "emanation emitters" later destroyed by Maxim Kammerer.

This "emanation" is a mind affecting electro-magnetic wave pattern used by the Unknown Fathers to control the population of their country. There are two types of the emanation known: A-emanation ("white emanation") and B-emanation ("black emanation"). A-emanation has two possible effects, depending on the person it is applied to. In most cases the person loses his or her ability to make own decisions and prefers to take orders rather than to think for him- or herself. Those who somehow resist the previous effect suffer from terrible headaches when the emanation intensity rises above normal level (which happens twice a day). Such people are labeled "black sheep" ("выродки") and hunted down by the Fathers as a possible threat to their power since the Fathers themselves all belong to the second group.

B-emanation is the emanation of sorrow, putting anyone it is applied to into a deep depression. This was used only once in "Inhabited Island", when Maxim Kammerer changed the program of the emanation emitters to win enough time to plant a bomb at the system center and get away.

It is clear that the AMDS was the most sophisticated propaganda machine ever employed by any regime in the Noon Universe.

[edit] Trivia

Boris and Arkady Strugatsky planned to describe the Insular Empire's society and government in greater detail in what was to be their final Noon Universe novel. Along with the other things, they would have explained that the Insular Empire was a prosperous, utopian society that maintained internal harmony by deliberately exiling their more deviant citizens to the outer fringes of the Empire. The crews of the white submarines was made up of the worst segments of the Empire's society. However, Arkady Strugatsky died before the novel was completed. Following that, Boris Strugatsky decided that he could not bring himself to finish it, so the novel was never published.

[edit] See also

Saraksh was prominently mentioned in Inhabited Island and Beetle in the Anthill. It was also referenced in Hard to Be a God, Space Mowgli and The Kid from Hell.