Names Of Things And People
- Pirayus: A reference to the Piraeus, which is a modern day city in Greece but is more famous as the port of Athens where Socrates carries out his business in Plato's Republic and other dialogues. Socrates chose this location because, as a major port in the ancient world, Piraeus was a cross roads of culture and ideas.
- Aaron: In the Tanakh (The Old Testament to Christians), Aaron was the brother of Moses. Our Aaron is more like Moses, but actually naming him Moses would be a little too on the nose. Before assuming the life of an Atropan on Kepler Lyra Prime, the infant Aaron was discovered in a Pirayan canal and brought to Auris, much like the ancient Moses was set in a floating basket on the river Nile. Auris found him adoptive parents and Aaron grew up without knowing his true origin. Once it is discovered that he is a natch, the Meropene natches see him as a savior figure.
- Asandra: A invented variation of Cassandra, daughter of king Priam of Troy. Asandra is a victim of the disease known as the shudders, which is related to the curse of her namesake. It predicts a problem in the genetic engineering process which could spell the downfall of the Atropan people and even the League.
- Martin Thomas: An amalgam of Martin Luther and the Apostle Thomas. Like Luther, he is a reformer. He sees Meropenes as Luther saw the Jews. Like Thomas, however, he is plagued by doubt. Though this is a bit of anachronism when it comes to Martin Luther, our Reverend Martin Thomas is also a Calvanist of a different color.
- Delian League: The name of the trans-national organization that united many of the city states of ancient Greece. It was a sort of ancient NATO. Athens sat at the center of the Delian League until the Peloponnesian War. Volume One is about a civil war within the futuristic Delian League which is modeled after the Peloponnesian War. It chronicles the threat to the hegemony of the Atropans, who like the Athenians see themselves as protectors of refined civilization.
- Atropan: Atropans reject free will and believe in a scientific form of predestination. Thus we could also call them scientific Calvanists. They also bear a relationship to Platonic ideas, and the Republic in particular. Through genetic engineering, Atropans create people of various classes that work together in harmony to form the ideal state. Though people within that state appear to be happy, it falls under the same critiques as the ideal Platonic state.
- Meropenes: Based on the term Meropis, a mythological island nation which in turn is based on Atlantis. There were many people who believed in the existence of Meropis/Atlantis and that its discovery would yield a trove of lost human wisdom. Some people today still believe this. Atlantis is believed to be a creation of Plato, who invented it as a nemesis of his ideal city state. Due to the superiority of that state, the Atlanteans were defeated and their civilization sank into the sea. Thus Plato, like the Atropans, see Meropis/Atlantis as a symbol of folly. The Meropenes themselves see it as a source of lost knowledge. The Meropene religion is also based on Gnosticism, and in particular early Christian Gnosticism. The Sorter is a representation of the Gnostic Demiurge or false god.
- The Lost City: As stated above, this is derived from Meropis and Atlantis. It is also a symbol of Troy, the site of an ancient war and yet another enemy of the Greeks. Cassandra was a princess of Troy who saw its demise. Many people believed that Troy was mythological until its ruins were finally discovered.
- The Sorter: The name is based on the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, a very popular personality test which is related to the Myers-Briggs types (eg. ENFP or INTJ). This stands as a representation of the whole class of generalized personality tests that have become popular in the age of the Internet (though they may pre-date the Internet). Individuals and organizations use these tests for all kinds of purposes, from determining occupational roles to finding compatibility in romantic relationships. While the tests might be useful analytical tools, they also fall prey to the fault of many psycho metrics such as IQ tests. They classify people using the authority of science, which causes individuals to self-identify in ways that may limit their conceptions of themselves more than it expands self knowledge. More dangerously, it can limit their roles within society. As should be clear by now, there is a relationship between the way modern pop psychology sorts people by type and the way Plato assigns citizens of his ideal state to types. Interestingly, Plato acknowledges that his types are fictions, "noble lies" that we tell to ensure harmony, stability and satisfaction with one's lot. The temperament sorter, like the futuristic Sorter, presents itself as uncovering real types.
- Auris Derived from the Latin for "gold", his name is actually a reference to Aristotle. "Aris" actually means best, but it is also a popular girl's name in the present century. To avoid confusion, I chose another name that is similar to Aris and still has a connection to both Aristotle and one of the key elements of his philosophy. Aristotle made famous the notion of the "golden mean", or moderation in all things. Auris also supports moderation.
- Lisette Is a form of the name Elizabeth. There are many famous Elizabeths, but the one of particular interest for this story is the mother of John the Baptist. It is really Lisette herself who is more the heralder of the coming changes to society, however. And it is she that turns Aaron into a savior figure. This, we draw a parallel between Aaron and Jesus. That shouldn't be a surprise.
- Kepler Lyra Prime This is a reference to Kepler 438B, a real earth-like exo-planet that orbits a red dward star in the Lyra constellation. It is about 470 light years from Earth. There really is no meaning beyond that association. I just thought it would be nice to reference a planet that we know exists. However, there is probably little similarity between Kepler Lyra Prime and the real Kepler 438B.
(Not So) Big Ideas
I'm still working on this part. Check back later.
- Free will
- Scientific vs pseudo-scientific authority
- Godelian Incompleteness
- Noble lies and the ideal state
- Genetic engineering and chance events
- Automation of production
- Transcendence of science
Stylistic Thoughts
The main settlement on Piraeus resembles Venice, Italy. Science fiction is full of future cities that, well, look like they're from the future. They have big glassy buildings and space ships flying everywhere. Our story takes place far enough in the future that really any architectural style is plausible, as far as I'm concerned. The steampunk movement has popularized the use of British Victorian design tastes into other settings. The Firefly series put the American old west onto other planets. Perhaps there's even a revival of medieval and Renaissance architecture in much the same way that America choose Greek themes when designing Washington, DC. Because of all the Greek stuff in Pirayus, perhaps it would make sense to also use Greek architecture. However, I don't want to be too limited. I wanted to try something different and choose a visual setting that would set Pirayus apart from other science fiction locales.
At first I thought St. Petersburgh would be a good model. It was a port city created from the ground up and has a distinct look. Then I realized that I'd never been to that place. For me, that would make it difficult to imagine an environment that I had to mentally live in. It would feel less natural to navigate my cityscape on the basis of photos. I have been to Venice, however. It seemed like a good fit. Also, Venice evokes the idea of a lost past that may be hiding beneath it and like Meropis and Atlantis is rather water-logged.
To make this gel with the idea of Pirayus being the epicenter of ridge space, I put the access points far outside the main city. People must travel into the uninhabited outer regions to reach space elevators that take them to orbiting way stations of the tunnel network. There is some inspiration here from the structure of Australia and its outback (which has also become a nascent space port).
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