Thursday, 20 January 2022

Consequences Of Ikranankan Conditions

"The Trouble Twisters."

Water is too precious to be used in construction so walls are of dry-laid stone.

Because daylight is permanent, Ikranankan eyes have little dark adaptation.

Ikranaknans exhale no body vapor. Instead, any bodily moisture goes straight onto their bloodstream. (We remember Dune.)

There is no native word for ship. Unable to call Muddlin' Through his "ship" and not wanting to say "wagon," Falkayn resorts to calling the spaceship his "house."

Scientifically trained readers will be able to deduce other consequences. The main consequence, that will emerge shortly, is the bleak cosmology that the Ikrankans have deduced from their deteriorating environment. Stepha refers to "magic" (I, p. 89) and the Imperial agent makes "...signs against evil...," (III, p. 103) two early indications that the universe is not regarded as rational or ordered.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And the Ikranankans of the Empire were paranoid and lived in dread of demons. And we see mention of frequent barbarian invasions and raids, problems which were matters of obsessive anxiety to the Deodakh Emperor.

Ad astra! Sean