Darkover - Laran, Chieri and Human Interbreeding and The Kireseth

Laran, Chieri and Human Interbreeding and The Kireseth

Perhaps the most significant feature of Darkovan society is the presence of Laran, the psychic powers of the Comyn, who are the ruling class of Darkover. Various arguments are presented to explain the high presence of psychic abilities in the human population of Darkover. One of the most significant is that the human colony described in the 'first' chronological book, Darkover Landfall, received the genetic material which carried Laran from the Chieri who fathered children with human women, and who bore children with human men. The original population of the colony also derived overwhelmingly from certain areas of north-west Europe (the Scottish highlands, Ireland and the Basque country) commonly linked in popular belief and tradition with a high level of supernatural abilities such as the second sight.

The other, equally significant argument is that the planet itself contributed to the realization of psychic abilities in its human population, primarily through the star flower or Kireseth. The "ghost winds", where Kireseth flowers bloom in unseasonably warm weather and then produce a vast amount of the psychotropic pollen which give the winds their name, are described in Darkover Landfall as the first human experiences with Darkovan pharmacopeia and its psychological effects.