Darkover

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The planet Darkover is the setting for science fiction and fantasy stories by the American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley . In her fictional Darkover universe, which is considered to be her most extensive work and her life's work, telepathic and other so-called parapsychological phenomena are of central importance. The first Darkover history was the story savior of the planet ( The Planet Savers, 1962). By the time she died, Bradley wrote 21 Darkover novels. She has also edited numerous anthologies of short stories by third-party authors set in the Darkover universe. According to her own admission, she took on less the role of an inventor than that of an explorer of the planet and its history: "I did not invent Darkover, I discovered it."

Important ruling families on Darkover

There is an aristocracy on Darkover . There are seven families of nobility on Darkover, also called Comyn, which also form the ruling caste. The Comyn have laran , PSI powers, especially telepathy . Each family also has a special PSI gift, the Donas (gift) of the family:

  • The Hastur of Elhalyn: Laran multifaceted prospectus
  • The Hastur of Hastur: Laran Living Matrix
  • The Ardais: Laran Catalyst
  • The Aillard: Laran unknown (the circle gift is assumed)
  • The Alton: Laran forced report and command voice
  • The Ridenow of Serrais: Laran Empathy
  • The Aldaran: Laran more precise future view

In addition to this high nobility, there are also lower noble families, who are mostly vassals of one of the Comyn houses. Many of these lower aristocratic families have their own laran gifts:

  • The MacAran: Laran Animal Communication
  • The Delleray: Laran Finding Persons
  • The Deslucido: Laran Lies Under the Spell of Truth (extinct)
  • The Leynier: Laran gestaltenwandlung
  • The Lanart
  • The Castamir
  • The DiAsturien (also d'Asturien)
  • The Hammerfell
  • The Harksell: Laran Perspective
  • The Rockraven: Laran Weather Affecting
  • The Storn: Laran Weather Affecting
  • The Syrtis: Laran empathy / since Danilo Syrtis also a catalyst

Geography and Weather on Darkover

Darkover and its four moons

Darkover takes its name from its red sun, also called the Bloody Sun, which produces little light compared to our sun. The planet also has four moons ( Mormallor , Idriel , Liriel, and Kyrrdis ). Darkover itself consists of four major geographical areas: a warm and windy desert, a flat, almost unforested lowland, densely forested foothills and high mountains and salt marshes and swamps by the sea. The sea itself is cold and is not sailed by the inhabitants except for fishing. Frequent storms prevent great voyages of discovery by ship. In general, the weather conditions on Darkover are quite cool and stormy, which, among other things, affects agriculture. More noble fruit and vegetables are therefore grown in greenhouses for the privileged nobility . Especially in the foothills to the Hellers there are strong storms, so that the buildings have to be protected by storm-breaking hills. Only the desert and the desert fringes have a relatively warm climate. The long cold spells and the short warm spells mean that the vegetation on Darkover begins to thrive at just a few plus degrees.

Novels (in internal chronological order)

The landing

There is only one story by Marion Zimmer Bradley from this period. A Terran spaceship, which is supposed to bring emigrants of predominantly Spanish and Celtic descent to a planet to be colonized, goes off course and has to make an emergency landing on an unknown planet orbiting a red sun. Conflicts arise between the colonist groups who want to build a society as an alternative to the original settlement goal on the new planet, and the members of the spaceship crew who want to restart the spaceship and, after this attempt has failed, alternatively want to keep the computer with it future generations of descendants can also use him to solve problems.

The planet has a cold climate and is poor in ores and fossil fuels, so that Darkover can never build a technologized society on its own. In order to prevent a world of technology-believing computer worshipers from developing, who are hindered in their own development by the memory of a glorious past among the stars, which will never reach the level of the ancestors due to a lack of raw materials, the captain ultimately destroys the computer himself and hopes that the descendants will develop their own technology when settling, which is better suited to the new world.

The matrix crystals for focusing telepathic forces, mentioned for the first time in the epilogue, provide a first indication of the forms this technology will take.

The age of chaos

The Age of Chaos denotes a period of wars about 1000 years after the landing. The descendants of the colonists have become a farming people and have built a feudal patriarchal system. Many Darkovans have developed mental powers called laran , which are enhanced by certain Darkovan jewels, also known as the matrix or star stone. Through breeding and inbreeding, certain gifts were specifically developed in the ruling families. Others with strong laran form the "technological" elite.

Laran is used primarily as a weapon in the terrible wars that are devastating the planet at this time. The worst by Laran weapons produced which are clingfire (engl. Clingfire ) (possibly a phosphorus compound or a Napalm -like substance) and the bone dust, a radioactive powder, makes the whole land inhospitable.

Most recently, Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote the Clingfire Trilogy in collaboration with Deborah J. Ross . Of the three volumes, the second and the third remained unfinished after the death of Marion Zimmer Bradley, but were continued and completed by Deborah J. Ross according to her ideas and constructs.

  1. Downfall of Neskaya , 2002, ISBN 3-442-24194-4 ( The Fall of Neskaya 2001), with Deborah J. Ross
  2. Zandru's Forge , 2004, ISBN 3-442-24195-2 ( Zandru's Forge 2003), by Deborah J. Ross
  3. The Flame of Hali , 2006, ISBN 3-442-24196-0 ( A Flame in Hali 2006), by Deborah J. Ross

In terms of time, the novel Mistress of the Falcons is embedded in the plot of Zandru's forge .

The time of the Hundred Kingdoms

The Time of the Hundred Kingdoms is the last 100 years of the Age of Chaos. Darkover is fragmented into numerous separate kingdoms that are ruthlessly at war with one another. However, the situation is slowly stabilizing. More and more empires are joining a pact that prohibits the use of laran weapons.

The Rediscovery / The Time of Comyn

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About 500 years after the Time of the Hundred Kingdoms, Darkover is rediscovered by a Terran ship. The political situation has stabilized in the meantime, the rule is with seven families, the Comyn .

The time of rediscovery is marked by a culture shock among the Darkovans on the one hand and a lack of understanding on the part of the Terrans on the other. Darkover gets the status of a protected planet, which severely restricts the technology exchange between the two planets.

  1. The Forces of Comyn , 1966, ISBN 3-426-60955-X , ( Star of Danger, 1965)
  2. The Winds of Darkover , 1971, ISBN 3-426-60956-8 , ( Winds of Darkover, 1970)
  3. The Magic Sword , 1976, ISBN 3-426-60959-2 , ( The Spell Sword, 1974)
  4. The broken chain , 1978, ISBN 3-426-62554-7 , ( The Shattered Chain, 1976)
  5. The Forbidden Tower , 1981, ISBN 3-426-60962-2 , ( The Forbidden Tower, 1977)
  6. Gildenhaus Thendara , 1986, ISBN 3-426-62555-5 , ( Thendara House, 1983)
  7. The Black Sisterhood , 1986, ISBN 3-426-62556-3 , ( City of Sorcery, 1984)
  8. At the fires of Hastur , 1994, ISBN 3-426-60970-3 , ( Rediscovery 1993) - together with Mercedes Lackey

After the Comyn

This phase of Darkovan history begins about 100 years after the rediscovery. Terra now maintains a spaceport and a base in the Hellers Mountains near Thendara, Darkover's largest city . With the increasing exchange of knowledge between Darkovans and Terrans, the power of the Comyn is becoming less and less important. The Terran Federation tries to force Darkover into the status of a full member.

  1. Savior of the Planet , 1962, ISBN 3-426-60982-7 , ( The Planet Savers, 1958), published in The World of Marion Zimmer Bradley
  2. The Bloody Sun , 1967, ISBN 3-426-60953-3 , ( The Bloody Sun, 1964)
  3. Hastur's Heritage , 1980, ISBN 3-426-60960-6 , ( The Heritage of Hastur, 1975)
  4. Sharras Exil , 1983, ISBN 3-426-60965-7 , ( Sharra's Exile , 1981) - New version of Das Schwert des Aldones , 1971, ISBN 3-8118-2860-6 ( The Sword of Aldones, 1962)
  5. The World Destroyers , 1973, ISBN 3-426-60957-6 , ( The World Wreckers, 1971)
  6. Hastur Lord (January 2010) - written by Deborah J. Ross

The Marguerida-Alton cycle

The three books in this cycle are set around 20 to 50 years after the planet destroyers. At the age of 28, Marguerida Alton returns to the planet she was born on, which she left as a little girl.

The political situation in the Terran Federation has meanwhile changed significantly in the direction of a military dictatorship . Ambitious military men try to break Darkover's status as a protected world, and any means are okay with them. However, they are eventually driven out by Darkover.

The series is now continued with "The Alton Gift". It is increasingly about the problems on Darkover, which have appeared since the Terrans left. According to Ross, it should be a trilogy again.

  1. Ashara's Return , 1998, ISBN 3-426-60971-1 , ( Exile's Song, 1996), with Adrienne Martine-Barnes
  2. Die Schattenmatrix , 2000, ISBN 3-426-62148-7 , ( Shadow Matrix, 1998), together with Adrienne Martine-Barnes
  3. The Traitor's Son , 2002, ISBN 3-426-70305-X , ( Traitor's Sun, 1999), with Adrienne Martine-Barnes
  4. The Alton Gift , 2007, written by Deborah J. Ross

Darkovan as a language

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The language spoken by the population of Darkover ( Darkovanisch ) knows different variants depending on the time, region and social group (most importantly Casta and Cahuenga, as well as other regional dialects and languages ​​e.g. in the Hellers and the dry cities). Since a considerable number of Darkovan passages appear as sprinkles in the English or translated German text in the Darkover novels, the language can be approximated and classified. Extensive dictionaries have even been created on Darkovan Internet sites, for which efforts have been made to utilize Marion Zimmer Bradley's texts as fully as possible.

Darkovan can be characterized as an Indo-European language.

  • If you follow the logic of the Darkover novels, it goes back to the first settlers and is mainly based on Spanish and Celtic elements. In addition, there are Latin elements, conveyed via the clergy who stranded on Darkover with the first settlers and also conveyed secondarily via the language of the Spanish settlers. Occasionally, English influences could be added due to the world language or spaceman language at the time of settlement.
  • If you follow the logic that Darkover regards as Marion Zimmer Bradley's fictional creation, the author, as a native English speaker, has combined Spanish-Latin with Celtic language features.

The same overall view follows from both interpretive approaches: a new language in which an indefinite Romance vocabulary slightly predominates and is supplemented by Celtic terms.

In order to make the step from book language to living language, Darkovan would have to be used at least by a larger group of people who are interested in dealing with one another. There are undoubtedly certain approaches to be found on Darkover pages on the Internet, but English is the predominant language there too.

In contrast to other constructed languages ​​such as Sindarin and Quenya by Tolkien or the Klingon by Marc Okrand , the Darkovan language is not complete. It has no explicit grammar and the vocabulary is limited to single words or phrases.

See also: Constructed Language

Darkover as an alternative world to earth

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The motif of Darkover as a counterworld to earth (called "Terra" in the book) pervades large parts of Darkover literature.

Darkover versus Terra in the world of novels

In addition to the name of the planet, Terra also stands for the technology-based civilization of the Terranan , which started out from the earth and built a large empire in space. In contrast, activities on Darkover are also carried out with the help of the PSI staff, which are effective there. Sometimes both are in competition (for example, when it comes to an ore deposit that the Comyn want to raise with intellectual power instead of a mine). Bradley describes this competition pragmatically: what works is ok.

Darkover is portrayed as a place of strong emotions, borderline experiences, unforeseen surprises and dangerous adventures. Terra, on the other hand, appears to be a boring, planned, superficial world determined by flat technological rationality.

The conflict when these worlds collide (cf. clash of civilizations ) is usually not portrayed as a violent military conflict, but as an emotional conflict within a main person, as a process similar to falling in love, irrevocably turning to a newly found partner or also similar to converting to a religious community. The main person who has to choose Terra or Darkover and who often chooses Darkover is often of Terran or mixed descent and finds on Darkover their home on the one hand, and on the other hand the solution to all their old problems, but also a number of new problems, which are much more serious than the old ones, but are something that the main character has always been unconsciously looking for.

Fantasy versus everyday life of the reader

The readers mostly live in everyday life in the industrialized countries of the north, many in North America, as does the author Marion Zimmer Bradley. The counterplay "Darkover versus Terra" finds its counterpart in their feelings. The universe of the Darkover books is a distinct counter-world to the everyday life of reading people. Some, who identify particularly with the fantasy world, even feel, as a reading "Terranan", as part of the world . The emotional conflict inside the main character is experienced by the reader, which explains the success of the Darkover books. At the end of the book they part ways. In contrast to the fictional character, the reader has to return to everyday life. So he experiences the adventure risk-free, but on the other hand the happy ending unfortunately does not include himself.

Since Darkover books are also enjoying great popularity outside of the USA , it can be stated that the described motivational situation of the readers is not limited to North America. Different explanations are possible for this. A superficial everyday American culture may have spread to many other countries and is provoking backlash. Or Marion Zimmer Bradley has succeeded in creating a cross-cultural work in which she deals with universal human conflicts.

Darkover outside of Marion Zimmer Bradely's books

From the above-described fascination with the world, a counterculture of Darkover fans has emerged, in which Darkover goes beyond the immediate content of the books. New Darkover texts are emerging (by other authors), some of which were included in anthologies by Marion Zimmer Bradley. There are meetings of Darkover fan groups, and last but not least, there are Darkovan places on the Internet such as the Dalereuth Tower, the Neskaya Tower or the guild houses of the Free Amazons. Some of the “residents” have adopted Darkovan identities, which is to be understood more as a role-play and not as a real change of identity, although the boundaries are difficult to define.

The “Darkover Universe” is currently being developed by other authors even after Bradley's death.

Darkover as an RPG

There are now several role-playing games around the world of Darkover. This includes literary online role-playing games ( forum role-playing games ) as well as live role-playing games ( LARP ). In both cases, the game management sets up an action framework ( plot ) that is located in the world of Darkover. In this framework of action, the players act, who adopt appropriate identities (characters) in the framework of action.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Catherine Coker: The Contraband Incident: The Strange Case of Marion Zimmer Bradley. In: Transformative Works and Cultures. no. 6, 2011. doi: 10.3983 / twc.2011.0236 . Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

Web links

Commons : Darkover  - collection of images, videos and audio files