Terra
Terra is the third planet of the Solar system, homeworld of Terrans and a depiction of the Earth. People from Terra are supposed to be descendents of colonists from a planet called Hain. At some unspecified date, humans join the League of All Worlds, which includes the Cetians and other peoples of Hainish descent.
In The Left Hand of Darkness, it is said that 'Hainish Normal' people were placed among Terra's own 'proto-hominid autochthones by the ancient Hainish 'Colonizers'. After that initial contact with Hainish civilization Terra experiences two more cycles of isolation followed by the restoration of extraterrestrial contact and community with other worlds.
The second period of contact with the interstellar Hainish community is the background for The Word for World is Forest, in which people from Terra appear as aggressive settlers of other planets, The Dispossessed, and Rocannon's World. Some time later, City of Illusions provides a detailed description of Terra in the depths of a third era of isolation.
A post-apocalyptic Earth is seen in City of Illusions as story takes place across a large landmass, perhaps North America, which shows signs of an advanced, abandoned civilization under a rewilded landscape. A small number of humans live in tiny, isolated settlements where they retain some technologies from the past but are completely cut off from any communication with neighboring regions or with other worlds; there is only one city where high technology and energy intensive construction have survived. The events of City of Illusions lead up to the third period of Terran contact with other worlds, during which The Left Hand of Darkness takes place.
Various individuals from Terra play a part in other stories. In The Telling, Terra's incorporation into the Ekumen is briefly explained. Also, the main character in The Left Hand of Darkness is from Terra. The Hainish placed fossils and other artifacts on Terra as an experiment to trick the settlers into believing that human life had evolved on Terra.
Read more about this topic: Planets Of The Hainish Cycle
Famous quotes containing the word terra:
“A book should contain pure discoveries, glimpses of terra firma, though by shipwrecked mariners, and not the art of navigation by those who have never been out of sight of land. They must not yield wheat and potatoes, but must themselves be the unconstrained and natural harvest of their author’s lives.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In the event of an oxygen shortage on airplanes, mothers of young children are always reminded to put on their own oxygen mask first, to better assist the children with theirs. The same tactic is necessary on terra firma. There’s no way of sustaining our children if we don’t first rescue ourselves. I don’t call that selfish behavior. I call it love.”
—Joyce Maynard (20th century)
“His firm stanzas hang like hives in hell
Or what hell was, since now both heaven and hell
Are one, and here, O terra infidel.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)