Emberverse: Difference between revisions

The Year: 1998.<br />The Date: March 17.<br />The Time: 6:15 p.m. PST.

 

 

Thus begins ''Dies the Fire'', the first "Novel of the Change," by [[S.M. Stirling]]. The Novels of the Change, aka the Emberverse, concern what happens to the modern world after the island of Nantucket is hurled back through time in [[Island in The Sea of Time]], the other side of the Emberverse coin.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: whoever or whatever is controlling Sethaz and the rest of the CUT High Seekers definitely qualifies.

* [[Enemy Mine]]: Rudi invokes this when he decides to warn President-General Thurston of the Cutter ambush, and again when urging Thurston to ally with Deseret against the Cutters. (Thurston had previously refused to do so on the grounds that he was opposed to theocracies.)

** [[Lampshading|Lampshaded]] in ''A Meeting at Corvallis'', where some young fighters actually sing the song of the same name.

* [[Even the Girls Want Her]]: Mary and Ritva Havel have each had to bounce many a [[Lipstick Lesbian]] from their respective beds. {{spoiler|At least once Ingolf is looking on laughing.}}

** Many of the new nations that arise after the Change are inspired by [[Theme Park Version|old movies and books]], and the residents of each one seem to think of all the others as acting upon some strange fantasy. Even nations like Boise, Corvallis, and Iowa, which have retained more of the pre-Change world's forms and systems than the others.

* [[Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering]]: Corvallis's contentious Faculty Senate is sometimes shown this way. The Protectorate manipulates their politics in an effort to keep Corvallis from entering the War of the Eye. {{spoiler|Nice try.}}

** Played straight with Corvallis, Boise, and the surviving urban centers of the Midwest.

*** Doubly averted in the faux-medieval societies. PPA fashions derive from Pre-change SCA fashion resulting in a chaotic mix up of medieval, migration, and renaissance. Clan Mackenzie fashion owes more to Braveheart and Ren Faires than anything else. In Idaho bib overalls and cowboy boots have evolved into formal wear as farmers became the post-change power brokers.

* [[Religion Is Magic]]

* [[Religion of Evil]]: The Church Universal and Triumphant edges on [[Path of Inspiration]], but the fact that they're pretty openly out for world conquest and the way they keep followers in line by freaking them out with aural [[Alien Geometries]] plunks them in this category. Not to mention that they turn out to be a front for [[Eldritch Abominations]] that want to reduce the universe to nothing.

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Many. Norman Arminger, Mike Havel, and Astrid Larsson are war leaders; the multitalented Juniper Mackenzie is a bard, a high priestess, an expert weaver, and a pretty decent archer. Mathilda Arminger and Rudi Mackenzie, the heirs apparent, undertake the quest for the sword in the second trilogy, and fight in combat repeatedly.

* [[Schizo-Tech]]: the survivors post-Change implement useable technology from all eras, from the Stone Age to the 19th and 20th centuries (among other things, knowledge of modern medicine and sanitation proves ''very'' helpful).

** When he, Astrid, Eilir and Alleyne spring a surprise attack, John Hordle calmly informs their target, "Nobody expects the Elvish [[Monty Python's Flying Circus|Inquisition]]."

** While learning martial arts in ''The Scourge of God'', some of the heroes unknowingly quote a couple of lines from [[The Frantics]]' audio-skit 'Ti Kwan Leep'.

** At one point while the CUT is {{spoiler|attempting to assassinate the main characters in the Republic of Iowa }} lines are almost directly lifted from the [[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]] story "The Hour of the Dragon" where Xaltotun convinces a man that his belt is a snake.

*** ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' gets another one in ''Tears of the Sun'' when a group of traveling performers is overheard delivering the opening narration ("Know, o prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities...")

*** The owner of Ford's Kyentse Cowboy Bar & Grill (''The Scourge of God'') resembles [[Harrison Ford]]. The eaterie is located in Wyoming, where Ford has a ranch, and it's rumored that the owner built the place with his own hands. [[Harrison Ford]] has worked as a professional carpenter. (Also, we get a fair amount of information on the character, for all that [[Law of Conservation of Detail|he appears in only one scene]].)

*** Given that Harrison Ford would be well into his eighties by the time that scene takes place, his mere survival in this setting would qualify him for [[Badass Grandpa]] status far above and beyond the characters he's played.

** The quote is actually from "The Broken Sword" by Poul Anderson, though "The Long Ships" is also excellent and they probably like that one, too.

** Tiphaine and Delia's children are all named after characters in a book series that however remains unnamed so it's something of a stealth shoutout.

*** So, are you going to tell us or what?

* [[Single-Minded Twins]]: Ritva and Mary Havel begin very much like this, though they develop/display more distinct personalities in the course of the second trilogy.

* [[Smug Snake]]: Norman Arminger, Duke Iron Rod, Piotr Stavarov, Eddie Liu

** {{spoiler|[[Inferred Holocaust|It's kind of a shame that the next time is going to have to wait until the Earth's supplies of readily accessible metals, coal, oil and other traditionally non-renewable resources refresh themselves, really.]]}}

** {{spoiler|the theory behind solar power is still on the books, which the surviving universities are maintaining. Likewise wind power (they're already using windmills) and other renewable sources. Alcohol is available as an internal combustion fuel, and there's still more than enough coal left to jumpstart an industrial revolution once the normal laws of nature apply again. Even nuclear power is still an option--the point is that humanity will have learned to take nature more seriously the next time around (which will take place once the [[Powers That Be]] decide humanity has learned its lesson sufficiently.) It won't be easy, but neither was gearing down to medieval technology. In both cases, though, the hardest work has already been done.}}

** Although the premise spoilered above seems extremely high. And the human cost... **shudders**

*** Well, it's explicitly a compromise or something done 'behind the back' of the other powers "while Mind was divided", to avoid the futures where humanity goes extinct, and also to avoid a war between factions of the Mind that would destroy the universe - "something so terrible that only a greater terror made it possible to think it." The good powers didn't think this was a good option, just the least terrible one available - basically, the only one involving humanity surviving at all.

*** Consider that {{spoiler|Heaven exists and is run by the collective souls of all sentient beings, including those who died in the Change, who may very well have agreed to the whole thing. Human cost starts losing its meaning under these circumstances.}}

** If you like that idea, try Steven R. Boyett's "Ariel" series, Stirling's inspiration for the Change.

** it's remarked on in the books that if the Change had been a random event, it would probably have just turned everything into quark soup. However, it's done with "Clarke's Law" science by the {{spoiler|the Universal Mind}}, so it's a localized and directed Change. Humans can't understand how it was done; the analogy would be trying to explain algebra to a dog.