Otherland

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Otherland is a tetralogy of science fiction - or cyberpunk - novels by the American writer Tad Williams .

content

Society and technology

The action takes place in the second half of the 21st century in a world in which the net (a further development of the Internet ) dominates all life. By implants that are directly connected to the sensory nerves, and other technologies, it is now possible to completely virtual reality and simulations to latch and to experience this first hand. Many people spend most of their lives in virtual environments; some have withdrawn almost completely from the real world. Access to the network and the quality of the instruments and implants that enable the use of virtual realities are an essential social status characteristic. The gap between rich and poor is not only deeper in this area than in the reality of the early 21st century. Wealthy families in the USA, for example, have withdrawn to fortress-like secured residential areas, while huge slum settlements ( beehives ) suspended from bridges have developed under the highways .

action

Otherland , a collection of virtual worlds, was created by some of the richest and most powerful people in the world. They call themselves the Grail Brotherhood. The technology on which this virtual world is based is far more advanced than any other known world on the web . In contrast to the rest of the virtual space, Otherland also makes use of human consciousness. As a result, in the course of the plot, children are trapped in virtual space and can no longer return to the real world. This motive determines the plot of the first book. The goal of the Grail Brotherhood is to become immortal with the help of Otherland.

In the first novel, the reader gets to know a number of people through various, at first seemingly unconnected storylines, who meet in Otherland through the intervention of Mr. Sellars and try to destroy it from the inside. Sellars is the victim of military trials in which he received various electronic implants. He has deciphered parts of the secret of Otherland and decided to fight its founder. The group of helpers wanders through ever new virtual worlds in search of information and opportunities to destroy Otherland - or at least to leave it alive.

In the real world, however, various people are linked to Otherland - as members of the Grail Brotherhood, as their henchmen, as police officers or as relatives of children who are in a coma . All of these storylines exist partly in parallel, partly touch or unite on the real or virtual level - until the mystery of Otherland is solved.

main characters

  • Paul Jonas : a physically and mentally English prisoner of the chairman of the Grail Brotherhood, Felix Jongleur. He suffers from memory loss. He is freed from a juggler simulation in virtual reality by Sellars. In Otherland he is pursued by henchmen jugglers and the angel Avialle.
  • Mr. Sellars : a man under house arrest by the US military. He is a former soldier who has had numerous performance-enhancing modifications and an IT infrastructure installed. He was crippled by a killing spree and has since been classified as a danger due to his armament and useless due to his handicap, monitored by the military.
  • Irene (Renie) Sulaweyo is a South African university professor in Durban. After her younger brother Steven falls into a kind of coma, she begins looking for answers.
  • ! Xabbu : is a student at Renie's college. He is a Bushman and culturally torn between the modern and traditional way of life of his people. As a result, he often has different approaches and through the entire plot of the book he tells stories of his people that fit into situations.
  • Christabel Sorenson : Major Sorenson's daughter lives with her family on a military base in the USA . In this base she grows up well protected from the outside world. Against the will and knowledge of her parents, she visits Mister Sellars and helps him with actions.
  • Orlando Gardiner : He is a highly talented 14-year-old boy who suffers from an incurable disease that causes him to age prematurely. In relation to the normal life expectancy for the disease, he has already passed the zenith of his life. Due to his physical limitations , he takes refuge in an MMORPG in which he is the most successful player as Thargor. He spends a lot of time with his best and only friend Fredericks.
  • Salome (Sam) Fredericks : She is Orlando's best friend. Since the two only know each other virtually, she could fake Orlando for years that she was a boy, which she initially only did because she wanted to behave as such in the game, but later could not clarify it in order not to endanger the friendship. She is always called Fredericks.
  • Felix Juggler is the head of his corporation of the same name. He and his extras are so powerful that they can easily influence world politics and make people disappear without any problems. He is over 150 years old and is terrified of death, which is why he makes various attempts to avoid it - including the Grail Project.
  • Decatur (Catur) Ramsey is an attorney hired by Sam's parents. He does research, comes into contact with Sellars, Prowlowski, Orlando's parents, the Sorensons and their software agents, and helps them too.
  • Olga Pirofsky is engaged in children's entertainment. In doing so, she controls the surrealistic figures of an interactive children's program that runs in the virtual reality of the network. More and more often she is plagued by stabbing pains while working on the Internet and at some point she begins to hear children's voices while connected to the Internet. Still plagued by her child's miscarriage and the death of her husband, Olga finds that there is a connection here to the fate of the other characters.

Implementations

radio play

→ Main article: Otherland (radio play)

The novel cycle was also produced as a radio play in 2004 under the direction of Walter Adler . With a running time of 24 hours, this is currently the longest radio play production.

Pc game

In October 2008, RealU and Gamigo began work on an MMORPG based on the books . Tad Williams was also involved in the development. Four years later, in September 2012, the closed beta test was started with several test phases on weekends and a stress test . At the time, dtp entertainment , to which Gamigo partially belongs, was already in bankruptcy . In March 2013, development of the game was finally stopped due to the bankruptcy of RealUI- related financier United Investors.

On October 9, 2014, the Polish development team Drago entertainment published a short teaser on the revival of the game project on YouTube and announced the start of the first closed beta test phase on November 13, 2014 on the newly founded Facebook page of the Otherland Games. As a publisher applies Interactive Media & Entertainment .

Book editions

The four novels with the titles City of Golden Shadow ( German : City of Golden Shadow ), River of Blue Fire ( German : River of Blue Fire ), Mountain of Black Glass ( German : Mountain of Black Glass ) and Sea of ​​Silver Light ( German : Sea of ​​Silver Light ) were first published between 1996 and 2001 by the US publisher DAW Books .

The German translations by Hans-Ulrich Möhring have been available from Heyne Verlag since 2005 , but had previously been published by Klett-Cotta .

In addition, Tad Williams wrote a short story based on the novels entitled The Happiest Dead Boy in the World ( German : The happiest dead boy in the world ), in a novella collection called 2006 Legends - The Secret of Otherland was printed.

Original English-language editions

German-language editions

Short story :

swell

Web links

Reviews

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MMORPG not affected by dtp bankruptcy . free2play.chip.de. May 2, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  2. ↑ Otherland: Developer RealU apparently closes the gates. What now? . browsergames.de. March 3, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  3. ↑ Otherland: MMORPG should start again in 2015 . browsergames.de. October 23, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.