Tuesday 3 March 2020

Raven's Career

The planet Lochlann combines an aristocrat-peasant, castle-village, social structure with interstellar travel. The aristocrats fight bandits and almost certainly also each other.

A hundred years ago, the Lochlanna conquered the planet Nuevamerica, Fifty years ago, they simultaneously fought both Namerican rebels and the Grand Alliance, which we assume to have been an alliance of several colonized/civilized planetary systems. Now that Lochlann is at peace, some of its military units hire out to organizations in other planetary systems.

Raven, who seems to have only one name, is a Commandant of the Oakenshaw Ethnos. As a nobleman's son, he was instructed by regimental bonzes. As a man of rank, he is expected to have some artistic skills and plays the flute although he has had little musical instruction. As a younger son, he leads mercenaries and has been hired by the Namerican Argo Astrographical Company for their expedition to Gwydion. As a Lochlanna, he despises Namerican merchants. His sense of honor decrees that he will not kill temporarily insane Gwydiona.

There could be a series covering:

Raven's upbringing and training in his father's castle;
campaigns against bandits and other nobles on Lochlann;
previous interstellar expeditions.

Such a series would culminate in The Night Face - unless Raven does after all escape from the Holy City.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Part of that "times of increasing peace" could have included more peaceful times coming to Lochlanna itself. The Lochlannan barons could have worked out less bellicose means of settling their quarrels--which would be good, of course. That in turn would have less need and demand for mercenaries. Hence we see Lochlanna soldiers hiring out to become guards for mercantile expeditions.

Ad astra! Sean