The Great Survivors : Shadows of the Apt

The Great Survivors

I probably won't be able to keep up this kinden per month business that much longer, not because I'll have run out of kinden (several million left to go) but because it's an artificial restriction on the content of stories. I'll still pop back for the odd showcase, and more art from David, however.

This month, however, roaches. Roaches make an entrance in Dragonfly Falling with Sfayot and family. The insect-resemblance is not so much their ability to survive anything (though they are a resilient breed) so much as the despite they are viewed with. In those lands that they habitually travel, there are few who are pleased to see them or have a good word for them. In the same way that the humble cockroach, marvel of efficiency that it is, is so savagely maligned, so the poor Roach-kinden, one of the least harmful of the kinden, carry the burden of a bad reputation.

The story, Spoils of War, that shows our friend Sfayot's escapades a few years before his appearance in Dragonfly, can he found here.

Posted by Adrian Tchaikovsky on April 7th, 2009

Posted in Blog, Home

Tags: roaches

7 Comments

7 comments to “The Great Survivors”

Trey, April 7th, 2009 at 3:57 pm:

Damn.
That's strong stuff. It makes the Wasps both horrible, monstrous and somewhat sympathetic at the same time because they have caught a tiger by the tail and cannot let go or get off. They're caught up in their own swarming activity and the only way to sustain what they have is keep going. And in the mean time, everyone suffers for their Emperor.

Minor spelling error on p 11 — sword and stong. Might want to try sword and sting.

Related to this, and "Scent of Tears," a question — what are Wasp-kinden literature and plays like? Or do they leave that for the lesser kinden?
Grahame, April 8th, 2009 at 11:25 pm:

Yeah, bet you wouldn't be so fond of them if you found them taking a poo in your cornflakes.

Actually, you probably would…

Anyway, another great story. But why don't Sfayot's daughters seem to have names?
Adrian Tchaikovsky, April 10th, 2009 at 12:55 am:

Trey — Wasps have no real literature. The hill tribes they arose from have a strong oral tradition which the Wasps are keen to put behind them, and writing and other artistic pastimes are not seen as fitting for (male) Wasps, who should all be dedicated warriors. However, this is changing as the Empire grows. The various artistic traditions of conquered races are spreading Empire-wide, and talented slave entertainers (like Grief in Chains) are valued commodities. Also, as a set of wealthy and powerful families establish themselves at the top of the imperial hierarchy, their scions often have more leisure, and access to more outside influences (Lowlander, Spiderlands etc), and some of these are now turning their hand to a little poetry or similar themselves. The emergent Wasp style is emtirely imitative, a mélange of the various influences of their slave races.

Grahame — it's a Roach-kinden tradition that the names of children are never given to outsiders, and indeed are used as little as possible (with nicknames often used instead) as a protection against certain curses and magic. It's this kind of shiftiness that gives the Roaches such a bad name.
Trey, April 10th, 2009 at 3:33 pm:

Grahame,
I think that was uncalled for.
Adrian has stated from the word go that the Wasps were meant to be ambiguous and what they did in the Commonwealth, well, to me it says they're loosing, or already lost control (also, Thalric's mission to Maynes).
They have to conquer or their society will tear itself apart. And since we've been encouraged from EIBAG on to remember that the Wasps are human, not faceless evil monsters, you have to wonder how many would get ground to bits as the Wasp empire shatters into its components and slave rebellions.
Finally something for Adrian — what's the ratio of slave to free in the Wasp holdings? If its what I think it is, they're going to face something like David Drake's and S.M. Stirling's Chosen did in the book of the same name.
Grahame, April 11th, 2009 at 2:24 am:

Trey — what was uncalled for exactly? Nothing you wrote bears any relevance to my (intended in jest) comments.

Adrian ‑that's interesting. I'll try and incorporate that.
Trey, April 14th, 2009 at 10:15 pm:

Grahame,
Oops. I'm going to chalk this up to a low bandwidth communication problem on my part. My bad.

Hope I didn't cause any ill will on your part and I apologize for not addressing this until today.
Grahame, April 17th, 2009 at 1:26 am:

Trey,

Not at all, my friend. No worries.

Shadows of the Apt