Severian
New Member
I wrote this piece as an introduction to something longer. I haven't yet started a continuance but I have planned further ideas. It's a far future setting influenced by Olaf Stapledon's style in Last And First Men and Star Maker and other science fiction.
Oblivion Angels and Suicide Saints
The black armored vehicle approached the barrier shield and the defensive batteries opened up blasting green bolts of energy down towards the unidentified intruder smashing it to pieces of flaming metal, a fiery wreck. Strangers approached at their own peril. The scattered remnants of society were extremely paranoid. Any vehicle not broadcasting the correct signal was fired upon. Of course this led to the accidental slaughter of friendly vehicles with malfunctioning equipment or quite simply unwitting travellers but most people were aware of the customs and few if any cities followed a different custom. The Corporation Wars had left the countryside wrecked and torn apart; great forests burned to ash, arable land now a baren wasteland of craters and energy burn scars, twisted metal and concrete of the old cities left like some memorial for a long extinguished race, whole populations reduced to a blemish on the face of the landscape. Corruption at corporate and government levels had gradually led to mutant hybrid of government and global multinational giants with funded armies fighting for control of mercatorial territory. Sporadic skirmishes turned into all out global and even solar system spanning conflict. Orbitting platforms and space ports were destroyed or utterly reduced in their capacity to function. The outlying colonies on mars and the platforms orbitting Jupiter and Saturn were cut off from Earth and in some instances damaged beyond repair, their population left to suffer slow asphyxiation as their environmental systems shut down or explosive decompression as great rents were blasted in the metal superstructure and the atmosphere was vented. Henceforth humanity was split into three factions. the Martian colony which had escaped with relatively little damage and still possessed a reasonable space faring capacity, the remnants of the orbitting societies of Jupiter and Saturn which had quickly formed an alliance and resolved their differences but had had all ability to communicate with Earth and Mars destroyed in the war and the remaining population of Earth who still bickered and squabbled and were divided into many separate subfactions. Ultimately the human race on Earth had been left a shadow of its former self, desperate, starving, neurotic. The Corporations were gone but the legacy remained dooming Earth into a dark age of degeneracy and depravity.
In Exigency the light of nobility still burned strongly. Society was remodeling itself and civilisation had adapted. slavery had been reintroduced and their ranks were filled with petty criminals (serious offenders were executed), political agitators, prisoners of war and other unfortunate miscreants but slaves were not without rights and could in time buy their own freedom and progress up the social ladder. At the top resided the spiritual caste, spreading God's will. Below them the Lords and a council of Administrators, entrusted with the duty of leading the city state to greatness. Under their control was the warrior caste whose members formed the Praetorian Guard and professional army, the elite land owners and holy knights. Next and lowest except for the slave population was the worker caste. It wasn't a perfect system but when the wheels were well oiled it worked adequately. The Administrators were not above ordering force to be exerted upon dissident elements and riots were quelled ruthlessly. No deviation was tolerated.
Civilisation had been ruthlessly hacked and slashed like some noxious and virulent weed but the human virus could not be completely destroyed and was sprouting new growth perhaps this time for the better. There still existed enough land, infrastructure and advanced technology to rebuild and reshape society but the governing systems of old had perished in the conflict and new and resourceful men had risen to the challenge of leading humanity onwards. But the world climate was overall a hostile one. There was no trust and as yet no common ground. The city states vied for land and power. Great barrier shields provided the cities with protection from the extremes and enemy fire. Only a serious and prolonged bombardment could penetrate these colossal benefactors of the new regimes. Skirmishes generally took place far outside the city's perimeter, in no man's land and prolonged sieges were rare and usually avoided through diplomacy and bargaining over territory. Exigency alone of all the Earth city states had made contact and an alliance with the Martian colony and together were working for the unification of Earth. Several other city states were cooperating but asserted their independence and as yet the air was still to full of mistrust and ill will. But a future goal had been set and the path was clear. The supreme will would triumph over ignorance and fear. Enlightenment seemed possible if far off in the future days of distant halcyon years. The road towards unity was being paved.
Oblivion Angels and Suicide Saints
The black armored vehicle approached the barrier shield and the defensive batteries opened up blasting green bolts of energy down towards the unidentified intruder smashing it to pieces of flaming metal, a fiery wreck. Strangers approached at their own peril. The scattered remnants of society were extremely paranoid. Any vehicle not broadcasting the correct signal was fired upon. Of course this led to the accidental slaughter of friendly vehicles with malfunctioning equipment or quite simply unwitting travellers but most people were aware of the customs and few if any cities followed a different custom. The Corporation Wars had left the countryside wrecked and torn apart; great forests burned to ash, arable land now a baren wasteland of craters and energy burn scars, twisted metal and concrete of the old cities left like some memorial for a long extinguished race, whole populations reduced to a blemish on the face of the landscape. Corruption at corporate and government levels had gradually led to mutant hybrid of government and global multinational giants with funded armies fighting for control of mercatorial territory. Sporadic skirmishes turned into all out global and even solar system spanning conflict. Orbitting platforms and space ports were destroyed or utterly reduced in their capacity to function. The outlying colonies on mars and the platforms orbitting Jupiter and Saturn were cut off from Earth and in some instances damaged beyond repair, their population left to suffer slow asphyxiation as their environmental systems shut down or explosive decompression as great rents were blasted in the metal superstructure and the atmosphere was vented. Henceforth humanity was split into three factions. the Martian colony which had escaped with relatively little damage and still possessed a reasonable space faring capacity, the remnants of the orbitting societies of Jupiter and Saturn which had quickly formed an alliance and resolved their differences but had had all ability to communicate with Earth and Mars destroyed in the war and the remaining population of Earth who still bickered and squabbled and were divided into many separate subfactions. Ultimately the human race on Earth had been left a shadow of its former self, desperate, starving, neurotic. The Corporations were gone but the legacy remained dooming Earth into a dark age of degeneracy and depravity.
In Exigency the light of nobility still burned strongly. Society was remodeling itself and civilisation had adapted. slavery had been reintroduced and their ranks were filled with petty criminals (serious offenders were executed), political agitators, prisoners of war and other unfortunate miscreants but slaves were not without rights and could in time buy their own freedom and progress up the social ladder. At the top resided the spiritual caste, spreading God's will. Below them the Lords and a council of Administrators, entrusted with the duty of leading the city state to greatness. Under their control was the warrior caste whose members formed the Praetorian Guard and professional army, the elite land owners and holy knights. Next and lowest except for the slave population was the worker caste. It wasn't a perfect system but when the wheels were well oiled it worked adequately. The Administrators were not above ordering force to be exerted upon dissident elements and riots were quelled ruthlessly. No deviation was tolerated.
Civilisation had been ruthlessly hacked and slashed like some noxious and virulent weed but the human virus could not be completely destroyed and was sprouting new growth perhaps this time for the better. There still existed enough land, infrastructure and advanced technology to rebuild and reshape society but the governing systems of old had perished in the conflict and new and resourceful men had risen to the challenge of leading humanity onwards. But the world climate was overall a hostile one. There was no trust and as yet no common ground. The city states vied for land and power. Great barrier shields provided the cities with protection from the extremes and enemy fire. Only a serious and prolonged bombardment could penetrate these colossal benefactors of the new regimes. Skirmishes generally took place far outside the city's perimeter, in no man's land and prolonged sieges were rare and usually avoided through diplomacy and bargaining over territory. Exigency alone of all the Earth city states had made contact and an alliance with the Martian colony and together were working for the unification of Earth. Several other city states were cooperating but asserted their independence and as yet the air was still to full of mistrust and ill will. But a future goal had been set and the path was clear. The supreme will would triumph over ignorance and fear. Enlightenment seemed possible if far off in the future days of distant halcyon years. The road towards unity was being paved.