Maske: Thaery

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Maske: Thaery is a 1976 science fiction novel by Jack Vance set in his Gaean Reach milieu.

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[edit] Plot summary

A religious sect seeking a new home arrives at the planet Maske. They take over a region from the resident humans and rename it Thaery. The factions aboard two of the fourteen starships disagree to varying degrees on matters of theology with the rest. One ship is destroyed outright; the survivors become the Waels of Wellas. The less heretical Glints are driven off to colonize a stony peninsula, where they become sailors and bandits. Eventually, they are conquered and grudgingly accepted by the Thariots, the descendants of passengers of the more orthodox ships. However, Glints are still looked down upon as coarse and belligerent.

Jubal Droad, a young Glint man, goes on Yallow, a rite of passage into adulthood, traditionally spent wandering the land, tending the countryside. He recruits three Djans, as the natives are called, and spends several weeks repairing a trail. One day, an arrogant Thariot ignores Jubal's urgent warning; he and his accompanying troop of Djans use the path, causing it to collapse and seriously injure Jubal.

When he recovers, he obtains a letter of introduction from his uncle Vaidro to Nai the Hever, one of the most powerful men in Thaery. He arrives in the city of Wysrod and, in the course of locating Nai the Hever, encounters his daughter Mieltrude and her friend Sune. He accompanies them to the examination of Ramus Ymph for the vacant influential position of Servant. Jubal recognizes his nemesis. During a recess, he informs Nai the Hever, the senior Servant, of certain facts he has uncovered that result in Ramus being rejected. Ramus, as Jubal has deduced, has been off-world, breaking the isolationist laws of Thaery.

As a reward, Nai the Hever offers Jubal a seemingly poor position, that of Sanitary Inspector. Jubal reluctantly accepts and learns, during his training, that he has unwittingly become a secret agent. His first assignment is to try to discover what Ramus is plotting. He follows Ramus to the tourist world Eiselbar and learns that he is trying to raise enough money to purchase a space yacht.

Back on Maske, Jubal is called away by a family crisis. Trewe, his brother and the head of the clan, has been killed by Cadmus off-Droad, a sibling whose illegitimacy has "robbed" him of what he considers his rightful place. Eventually, the clan gathers and brings Cadmus down in fierce fighting, but one of his supporters, a masked man, escapes. Jubal is certain that it is Ramus, but is puzzled by his involvement in the tragedy. Without proof though, Nai the Hever is unwilling to antagonize the powerful Ymphs. In fact, Jubal gets the impression that he has become an embarrassment to his superior.

Jubal investigates further and finds that Ramus is sailing across the ocean to meet with the Waels. Nai is uninterested, so Jubal is forced to use his own initiative. To show his disapproval of Nai's inactivity, Jubal takes Mieltrude into custody, using a warrant he had obtained months earlier; he had (mistakenly) believed that she had hired thugs to punish him for thwarting Ramus's attempt to become a Servant. In reality, Sune, Ramus's mistress, had been behind the plot against Jubal.

Jubal pursues Ramus. Unwilling to waste precious time, he is forced to take Mieltrude along with him on a chartered ship. As the voyage progresses, their mutual disdain for each other begins to weaken.

When they reach their destination, Jubal finds Ramus negotiating with the Minie, the leader of the tree-worshipping Waels, for the use of their land in exchange for much-needed food. Jubal convinces the Minie to allow him, in disguise as a Wael, to question Ramus. Jubal gets his enemy to admit that he wants to construct large tourist resorts run by his Eiselbar associates. (Ramus had also wanted to lease Droad land for the same purpose, hence his support for Cadmus.)

The Waels are greatly disturbed and after dealing with Ramus, place him aboard Jubal's sailing vessel, over the Glint's objections. Ramus is mute and strangely subdued. During the return trip, he begins a transformation into a tree, to the awestruck horror of Jubal and Mieltrude. When they return to Wysrod, Ramus runs off the ship, plants his feet on the ground, raises his arms, and to all intents and purposes, becomes a tree. Thus, the Waels and Jubal have their revenge.

Afterwards, Nai the Hever asks his daughter her opinion of Jubal. She admits that he is not unpleasant, for a Glint.

[edit] Characters in Maske: Thaery

  • Jubal Droad, a determined young Glint man
  • Ramus Ymph, a young Thariot with enormous ambitions
  • Nai the Hever, a middle-aged Thariot of high status, a Servant (a position of great power and responsibility)
  • Mieltrude, Nai the Hever's haughty daughter
  • Sune, Mieltrude's less decorous friend
  • the Minie, leader of the Waels
  • Cadmus, off-Droad, a Droad relation who broods over the injustice done him by his illegitimacy
  • Trewe Droad, Jubal's older brother and head of the Droad clan