Foreigner universe
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 Foreigner (10th Anniversary Edition); Cover art by Michael Whelan as per original 1994 edition. |
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| Released | 1994 – 2007 | |
| Publisher | DAW Books (US) | |
| Genre | Science fiction | |
| Pages | 3,369 (hardback editions) | |
The Foreigner universe is a fictional universe developed by Science fiction and Fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. The series centers around the descendants of a ship lost in transit from Earth en route to found a new space station. It is currently a series of nine novels published between 1994 and 2007, focusing on the life of Bren Cameron, the human paidhi, a translator-diplomat to the court of the ruling Aiji of the atevi aishidi'tat. The series consists of three semi-encapsulated trilogy arcs (or sequences). Cherryh is currently working on a fourth trilogy: the first book, Conspirator, is complete and awaiting publication, while the second, Deceiver, is in progress.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
The Foreigner series opens with the failure of a starship. A brief preamble to the first book describes a system failure that leaves the starship Phoenix stranded in some far-flung reach of space, without any idea of how to get home, completely unable even to locate Sol in the visible stars. Phoenix is carrying colonists and equipment to establish a new space station to extend Earth's interstellar trade empire.
Sketched in the preamble is the heroic effort to refuel Phoenix in the environs of a hostile sun, and navigate the lost starship to a more habitable environment. Lost to this effort are many of the best and bravest of the crew.
The habitable environment that the damaged starship can reach is the homeworld of the atevi, a green and living world, already populated by aliens with steam age technology.
The humans build their station in orbit around the atevi world but tensions build between the colonists and the Phoenix crew. The Pilot's Guild, comfortable with the power it has accrued during the emergency, and stripped of its best elements by the battle to refuel, has become oppressive and oligarchic. When the refueled Phoenix leaves to explore the local space and establish a further station the colonists become restless.
When Phoenix is slow to return some the colonists choose to abandon the station in parachuting landers (much akin to NASA's Project Mercury), despite the efforts of the remaining Pilot's Guild to retain the colonists and control, until the space station becomes unviable and is abandoned entirely.
On the surface the humans encounter the atevi, a race of dark-skinned humanoids, for whom math is as intrinsic as breathing. Atevi possess no concept of liking or loving another person, but instead place utmost importance on feelings of loyalty or man'chi.
Cross-cultural misunderstandings lead to the War of the Landing. Despite their vast technological advantage the colonists lose, and swiftly. In the aftermath of the war, the atevi government abandons the island of Mospheira to allow the establishment of an enclave for the human colonists. Only one human, the paidhi, is allowed to live among atevi. All communication between the atevi and the humans is via this single point of contact.
On the island of Mospheira the colonists prosper. As part of the treaty of the landing that ceded Mospheira to humans a succession of paidhiin broker a slow, careful, managed transfer of technology to the atevi, all the while creating dictionaries so that the next paidhi can further the work of understanding and technology transfer.
Fast forward 200 years. The colonists on Mospheira are comfortable and self absorbed. The atevi are close to technological parity, and have outpaced the humans in some areas. All seems peaceful and manageable. Against this background the main story of the first book of the series unfolds as, unknown to the main protagonist, paidhi Bren Cameron, Phoenix returns to orbit.
The remaining books focus on the interrelations among Bren Cameron, Tabini (the Aiji, the head of the most powerful atevi clan, keystone of the atevi western association, and thus effective supreme ruler of the atevi government), his atevi associates, the human enclave of Mospheira, the humans aboard Phoenix, and an alien presence in the nearer stars.
Part of the style of the stories is that they are told from the viewpoint of, in the first eight books at least, Bren Cameron, the paidhi at the time of Phoenix's return.
[edit] Genre
As with many of C. J. Cherryh's novels, this series could be best described as anthropological science fiction, focusing on the interface between our human customs and understandings and that of an alien race whose motivations, thoughts and even feelings are diametrically opposed to our own. Broadly speaking, the series could also be described as Space Opera, especially the second and third story arcs. It also contains elements of political thriller, with the complex racial and cultural interplay between humans and atevi, and between ship crew and colonist.
Throughout the series the reader is led to understand that the atevi have no feeling of love, but rather man'chi -- a loyalty-web to one's leader, one's leader's leader, and so on until the Aiji of Shejidan, leader of the aishidi'tat or union of all atevi.
Like other works, such as the Chanur Novels, Cuckoo's Egg and her other alien centered novels, the Foreigner series brings in a peppering of alien names and concepts attached to the language. Stringently asserted is the idea that the number two to the atevi is disharmonious and as unnerving as fingernails on a chalkboard is to humans. The number three however is "felicitous," and the entirety of the main atevi language Ragi is a continual mathematic construct to enable so-called "felicitous numbers," that is unless the speaker wishes to convey anti-social messages to their audience.
[edit] Major characters and other important persons
- Bren Cameron, paidhi and later paidhi-aiji, translator to the court of Tabini.
- Tabini, Aiji of Shejidan, supreme leader of the atevi.
- Ilisidi, the Aiji-dowager, grandmother of Tabini, and thrice denied the throne by the tashrid, or atevi parliament.
- Banichi and Jago, Bren's male and female (respectively) Assassin's Guild guard, assigned from Tabini's own staff in the first novel.
- Cajeiri, eight year-old son of Tabini, presumed heir to the aishidi'tat.
[edit] Story Arcs
Each arc consists of three novels. Each arc deals with an entire storyline, although there are cross-connections as the series has progressed. Roughly 10 years of time are supposed to have elapsed (per the novel) from Book 1, Foreigner, to Book 8, Pretender.
The First Arc (Foreigner, Invader, Inheritor) focuses on an assassination attempt against Bren Cameron, an act illegal by the peace treaty made following the War of the Landing. It is for this reason that all paidhiin are dressed in white, showing no attachment to any house. This assassination attempt proves to be a conspiracy by factions of humans and atevi to depose Bren as the paidhi. The Starship Phoenix returns, causing the entire system to come out of balance, causing political unrest on both Mospheira and the mainland, and while the atevi change from simple rocketry to advanced single-stage-to-orbit shuttles, radically altering their economic and industrial base in the process.
The Second Arc (Precursor, Defender, Explorer) focuses on Bren as he is elevated by Tabini to be the Lord of the Heavens, making him a lord of the aishidi'tat. Bren is then charged with taking Tabini's heir, Cajeiri and Ilisidi his grandmother to see to a threat of aliens encountered by Phoenix, but Bren and the Aiji-Dowager must first solve a mutiny aboard Phoenix.
The Third Arc (Destroyer, Pretender, Deliverer) focuses on Bren Cameron, Ilisidi and Cajeiri's return from deep-space and their encounter with the alien kyo only to find the aishidi'tat in tatters, Tabini-Aiji reputed dead, and Murini, the pretender-aiji on the throne in Shejidan. The kyo will expect a unified planet, and under the rule of Tabini-aiji. Bren, the Dowager and the Aiji must restore order before the kyo arrive for negotiations.
[edit] Cover artwork
Although drawn by different artists, the cover art for the series maintains a fairly consistent look and feel. Every cover to date but one has featured the protagonist Bren Cameron as the sole human pictured along with one or more armed Atevi. This serves to visually emphasize Bren's, and the human refugees in general, patently foreign presence among this aggressive alien race. The depiction of Bren's Atevi lover, Jago, on most of the covers may both exacerbate and ease the reader's sense of the protagonist's isolation.
[edit] Arc 1
 Foreigner (1994); Cover art by Michael Whelan (Hardcover ed.). Depicts Bren along with two Atevi, probably Banichi and Jago. |
 Invader (1995); Cover art by Michael Whelan (Paperback ed.). Depicts Bren along with a female Ateva (probably Jago) and an unknown Ateva. |
 Inheritor (1996); Cover art by Dorian Vallejo (Paperback ed.). Depicts Bren and a female Ateva (probably Jago) mounted on mecheiti. The human faintly visible in the background is probably Jase-paidhi, and the structure they are exiting is probably the historic fortress of Saduri. |
[edit] Arc 2
 Precursor (1999); Cover art by Stephan Youll (Paperback ed.). Depicts Bren and a female Ateva (probably Jago) with an Atevi space shuttle in the background. |
 Defender (2001); Cover art by Stephan Youll (Hardcover ed.). Depicts Bren and a female Ateva (probably Jago) |
 Explorer (2003); Cover art by Michael Whelan (Hardcover ed.). Depicts Bren aboard the starship Phoenix along with Illisidi and two other Atevi (probably Banichi and Jago). |
[edit] Arc 3
 Destroyer (2005); Cover art by Michael Whelan (Hardcover ed.). Depicts Bren along with Illisidi and two other Atevi (probably Banichi and Jago). |
 Pretender (2006); Cover art by Donato Giancola (Hardcover ed.). Depicts Bren along with a group of at least seven Atevi, which probably include Banichi, Jago, Tano, Algini and Cajeiri (in the foreground). |
 Deliverer (2007); Cover art by Donato Giancola (Hardcover ed.). Depicts Bren and four Atevi (probably, clockwise from left, Illisidi, Cenedi, Banichi and Jago), mounted on mecheiti with a large fortress (probably representing Malguri, Illisidi's seat of power) in the background. |
[edit] Trivia
- Deliverer is the first book in the series that is not told exclusively from Bren's perspective, with a number of passages from Cajeiri's point of view.
- Cherryh frequently misspells the name of the riding animals used in the books, generally going between mecheita / mecheiti and mechieta / mechieti. The official spelling is mecheita / mecheiti as stated in the entries dated 10/18/04 and 10/19/04 of her Progress Report:[2]
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- Mecheita is a hoot---on the same page, usually meticulous me has "mechieta," "mecheita," "mechieita," and I'm wickedly tempted to standardize it as ie in the singular and ei in the plural, just to drive the copyeditors berserk, but hey, it would drive me there first. It is officially "mecheita, pl. mecheiti."
[edit] References
- Cherryh, C. J. Defender, DAW Books, 2001.
- Cherryh, C. J. Deliverer, DAW Books, 2007.
- Cherryh, C. J. Destroyer, DAW Books, 2005.
- Cherryh, C. J. Explorer, DAW Books, 2003.
- Cherryh, C. J. Foreigner, DAW Books, 1994.
- Cherryh, C. J. Foreigner (10th Anniversary Edition), DAW Books, 2004.
- Cherryh, C. J. Invader, DAW Books, 1995.
- Cherryh, C. J. Inheritor, DAW Books, 1996.
- Cherryh, C. J. Precursor, DAW Books, 1999.
- Cherryh, C. J. Pretender, DAW Books, 2006.
- ^ Cherryh, C. J.. The Journal: Progress Report. C. J. Cherryh homepage. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
- ^ Cherryh, C. J.. The Journal: Progress Report Archive 3. C. J. Cherryh homepage. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official Site, run by the author
- Shejidan, a fan site & active discussion list
