Childe Cycle - Splinter Cultures

Splinter Cultures

By the late 21st century, human culture begins to fragment into different aspects. Following the events of Necromancer, humanity has colonized some 14 Younger Worlds. The inhabitants of these worlds have evolved culturally, and to some extent, genetically, into several specialized Splinter Cultures. This was done by the racial collective unconscious itself as an experiment to see what aspects of humanity are the most important. The inhabitants of Earth (now called Old Earth, since New Earth is one of the Younger Worlds) remain "full spectrum humans" as a control.

The interstellar economy is based on the exchange of specialists, which puts Old Earth, the jack of all trades, at something of a disadvantage.

Of all the Splinter Cultures, three are the most successful:

• The Dorsai (Courage): The Dorsai, inhabitants of a Younger World also called Dorsai, are honorable, elite mercenaries. Given the book-selling nature of their occupation, the Childe Cycle focuses mainly on their exploits, to the extent that the Cycle is sometimes called the "Dorsai series". The culture tends to have a number of Gaelic influences, including a love for the bagpipes, although their ancestry is drawn from all races and cultures. Dickson also mentioned in lectures that the "ethnic food" of the Dorsai is fish and chips, due to the great amount of surface water and oceans on their homeworld, with mutton being the most common red meat in the Dorsai diet.
• The Exotics (Philosophy): The Exotics are the inhabitants of Mara and Kultis. They are peaceful philosophers, the descendants of the 21st century Chantry Guild. The traits which Dickson assigns to the Exotics in many ways mirror the Human Potential Movement of the 1960s, in combining elements of Eastern philosophy and religion with psychology. The Exotics clearly have some vaguely described level of paranormal powers. They can, among other things, communicate between star systems far more quickly than a ship can travel, an ability no other culture has. The Exotics hire themselves out as psychiatrists and mediators, among other things. The paranormal ability of the Exotics is never shown definitively (save for Donal levitating with Exotic encouragement in Dorsai!), and Volume Two of The Final Encyclopedia reveals that their rapid communications ability is based the use of a carefully hidden network of spaceships used innovatively, rather than on paranormal abilities.
• The Friendlies (Faith/Fanaticism): The somewhat ironically named Friendlies inhabit the worlds of Harmony and Association. Friendlies can be true faith-holders, or they can be fanatics. The difference, according to the Cycle, is that true faith-holders are guided by their faith, while fanatics use their faith to justify their actions. The Friendly homeworlds experience continual sectarian civil war. On their home planets, they are primarily agrarian, but, like the Dorsai, they earn interstellar credit as mercenaries, fighting in other people's wars. Unlike the Dorsai, Friendly mercenaries are drafted cannon-fodder, with largely green troops and high casualty rates. However, they are tenacious defenders. While the Friendlies are sometimes presented as villains, their faith is co-equal in importance to humanity with the Courage of the Dorsai and the Philosophy of the Exotics. A recurring theme in the series is the experience of a young man placed among Friendlies, forced to gain respect for them. Dickson based the Friendlies on the Oliver Cromwell's "Roundheads" of the English Civil War.

Other Splinter Cultures include the hard scientists of Newton and Venus, the miners of Coby, the fishermen of Dunnin's World, the engineers of Cassida, the Catholic farmers of St. Marie, and the merchants of Ceta.

The internal consistency of the series suggests that the resolution to be sought in Childe is the evolution of Responsible Man, individuals who integrate the three disciplines of the Dorsai, the Exotics, and the Friendlies to the overall advancement of humanity, and who do possess explicit if not yet well-defined paranormal abilities. As of The Chantry Guild, only Donal Graeme/Hal Mayne has achieved the full status of Responsible Man. The conflict which drives this evolution is the developing war between Old Earth, supplemented by the Dorsai and the Exotics, and the organization of Others led by Bleys Ahrens, with the aid of the Friendlies and a powerful (but largely irrelevant to the psychological conflict) coalition of the technically inclined younger worlds. The strength of the Others is that they are hybrids of two of the Splinter Cultures (Ahrens is of Friendly and Exotic extraction), and while less capable than the emerging Responsible Men they are significantly more numerous, and more interested in gaining power for themselves (as by Ahrens using his combined background to manipulate the entire Friendly culture to support his war against the Dorsai, Exotics, and Old Earth).