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The Foreigner universe is a fictional universe developed by Science fiction and Fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. The series centers around the descendents of a ship lost in transit from Earth en route to found a new space station. It is currently a series of eight novels published between 1994 and 2006, 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 semi-encapsulated trilogy arcs (or sequences). The ninth book is in progress, with a fourth arc under contract. *
Introduction
The Foreigner series begins as another attempt by Earth to establish an interstellar trade empire. Within the first few chapters of the book, the voyage of the Phoenix goes terribly wrong and the humans find themselves stranded in some far-flung reach of space, without any idea of how to get home, completely unable to even locate Sol in the visible stars.
The humans decide to look for a habitable world, but in the process create a stark divide between the population meant for the station and the pilots of the starship and intrasystem craft, culminating in the formation of an oppressive oligarchic Pilot's Guild.
The humans opt to build their space station in orbit of the homeworld of the atevi, a green and living world. After some time the starship Phoenix leaves the humans of the station to begin building further stations to expand their territory, and ostensibly protect their race by spreading it to the nearer stars.
Phoenix's disappearance leads to a breakdown in the system of the Pilot's Guild and the stationers who choose to abandon the station in parachuting landers (much akin to Project_Mercury of NASA) for a sparsely populated island.
The humans encounter the Atevi, a race of dark-skinned humanoids, for whom math is as intrinsic as breathing, for whom the feelings of love is only felt for lettuce and inanimate things, but are lead and ordered governmentally by the all encompassing force of man'chi.
Cross-cultural misunderstandings lead to the War of the Landing, a horrific war that leads to the creation of a human enclave on the island of Mospheira, a long-standing peace between the atevi and the humans maintained only by the careful transition of technology from the humans to the then-steam-age atevi. Only one human, the paidhi was allowed to broker the transition of technology in a slow and measured pace, all the while creating dictionaries so that his replacement paidhi could further the work of understanding and careful transfer of knowledge.
This is all contained within the first book of the series. The remaining books focus on the interrelation among Bren Cameron, Tabini, the Aiji or supreme ruler of the main atevi government, the human enclave of Mospheira, the humans aboard Phoenix and an alien presence in the nearer stars.
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.
Throughout the series the reader is lead 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.
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.
Story Arcs
Each arc consists of three novels (and the number is no doubt related to the "felicitous three" of the atevi beliefs). 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 paidhi'in 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 Illisidi 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,
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.
Arc 1
Arc 2
Arc 3
References
- Cherryh, C. J. Defender, DAW Books, 2001.
- Cherryh, C. J. Destroyer, DAW Books, 2005.
- 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.
See also
External links
- Official Site, run by the author
- Shejidan, a fan site & active discussion list
Fictional universes | Science fiction book series | Space opera | C. J. Cherryh
"Foreigner Universe"