Humans (Noon Universe)
Encyclopedia
Humans of the Noon Universe
created by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky are mostly identical to homo sapiens. Humans inhabit numerous planets, but their original homeworld is probably Earth
, others being populated by humans, presumably, as a result of Wanderers
' manipulations.
Earth is assumed to be the origin of human race, since it was the oldest and most technologically advanced planet in the known Universe of 22nd century.
.
. In fact, it was believed that Pantians won't even notice that they were transported from their own planet to another one in the course of "Ark Project".
is an example of an early feudalistic society. Its inhabitants can produce simple melee weapons and build houses and palaces. They have managed to create a number of states, all of them - monarchies close to despotism
. A division of the society into higher and lower class is also obvious. Aristocracy
seems to have an idea of philosophy
and politics.
Arkanar
is an example of a late feudalistic/Renaissance
society. Great empires have risen and fallen, giving space to smaller countries whose political system varies from absolute monarchy
to republic
and theocracy
(see the main article for more info). Arts and science are blooming, even though fiercely opposed by reactionist fractions (most of them - religious ones).
Giganda is at the point of World War II
: simple but effective firearms and technical units unencumbered by high-tech electronics are common. As a result, the whole planet is in a state of global war. No nuclear weapons were developed yet.
Forty years prior to its discovery Hope was probably in the stage of Cold War
, except for the fact that there was no Cold War and, likely, no World War
. The whole population was about to be wiped out by an ecological catastrophe resulting from an uncontrolled industrial
development. Ever since the Wanderers deported most of the population to another planet the local civilization is at the brink of extinction.
Saraksh
is in the stage of post-World War III
times. Nuclear war has thrown the local technology back to the stage of World War II, although things could've got worse, and so by the end of 22nd century Saraksh was roughly at the same technological level as Giganda.
is the most technologically advanced human civilizaion in the Noon Universe and is considered to be the origin of the entire human race. See the main article for more information.
abilities, and are called "espers". Espers are able to read thoughts, sometimes at great distances, and often with some perception of the direction of origin of the thoughts. Espers occur extremely rarely, with only 120 registered Espers among Earth's 10 billion citizens. While two or more Espers are perfectly able to communicate telepathically (i.e. simply read each other's thoughts), an unwritten rule among Espers requires them to communicate verbally if non-Espers are present.
process described by Charles Darwin
. Other planets were presumably inhabited by human race because of Wanderers' manipulations.
All humans of Noon Universe have identical genetic structure, but the inhabitants of Saraksh have a unique sensivity to the so called "Emanation" which is uncharacteristic for other humans, e.g. from Earth.
Thanks to a combination of advanced technology and higher standards of living, humans from Earth exhibit abilities that would be considered superhuman by contemporary standards. They possess comparatively greater strength, speed, endurance and sensory perception. Thanks to advanced psyonic therapy, they can speed up the rate at which they recover from injuries and shield themselves from certain toxins.
Apart from inter-planetary relationship, there are some intra-planetary tensions on all human planets. This is, apparently, typical for humans everywhere. For example, on Saraksh a strong enmity dominates the relationship between normal people and mutants. The mutants live in the regions that suffered during the nuclear war
. Their bodies adapted to the enormous radiation
levels. On Earth, ordinary people are suspicious of Ludens.
Noon Universe
The Noon Universe is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The universe is named after Noon: 22nd Century, the chronologically first novel from the series...
created by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky are mostly identical to homo sapiens. Humans inhabit numerous planets, but their original homeworld is probably Earth
Earth (Noon Universe)
In the Noon Universe created by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky Earth is one of the planets populated by humans as well as their assumed origin. It is identical to the modern Earth except for the fact that it is set in the 22nd century...
, others being populated by humans, presumably, as a result of Wanderers
Wanderers (Noon Universe)
Wanderers are a fictional alien race from the Noon Universe created by Strugatsky brothers. Their homeworld is unknown. No official contact between Earth and Wanderers has ever been registered, although they've contacted humans from other planets, e.g...
' manipulations.
Human Planets
The following planets had a local human civilization when Earth's explorers arrived:- ArkanarArkanarArkanar is the capital of Arkanar Kingdom on a fictional unnamed planet described in "Hard to Be a God" by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a world in a late feudalistic/Renaissance stage...
- Giganda
- Hope (local human civilization at the brink of extinction)
- Pant
- SarakshSarakshSaraksh is a fictional planet described in Prisoners of Power by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a world that survived an atomic war. As a result, the surface of the planet is mostly covered with debris and junk...
(neighboured by Golovans) - SaulaSaulaSaula is the second planet of EN-7031 solar system, about one and a half times further from its sun than Earth is from ours. The day and night cycle on Saula lasts 28 hours, its mass is about 1.1 of Earth, which means that acceleration of gravity is roughly equal to 10.8 m/s². It has three moons...
Earth is assumed to be the origin of human race, since it was the oldest and most technologically advanced planet in the known Universe of 22nd century.
Appearance
Humans are typical humanoids. All over the Noon Universe they are visually identical to inhabitants of today's EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
Technological Advancement
On different planets human civilizations show different stages of technological advancement.Pre-ancient stage
The least developed human planet of Noon Universe is probably Pant. It is mentioned in "The Little One" that its inhabitants still live in tribes (probably, nomadic) and have absolutely no idea of cosmographyCosmography
Cosmography is the science that maps the general features of the universe, describing both heaven and Earth...
. In fact, it was believed that Pantians won't even notice that they were transported from their own planet to another one in the course of "Ark Project".
Middle-Age stage
SaulaSaula
Saula is the second planet of EN-7031 solar system, about one and a half times further from its sun than Earth is from ours. The day and night cycle on Saula lasts 28 hours, its mass is about 1.1 of Earth, which means that acceleration of gravity is roughly equal to 10.8 m/s². It has three moons...
is an example of an early feudalistic society. Its inhabitants can produce simple melee weapons and build houses and palaces. They have managed to create a number of states, all of them - monarchies close to despotism
Despotism
Despotism is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. That entity may be an individual, as in an autocracy, or it may be a group, as in an oligarchy...
. A division of the society into higher and lower class is also obvious. Aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
seems to have an idea of philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and politics.
Arkanar
Arkanar
Arkanar is the capital of Arkanar Kingdom on a fictional unnamed planet described in "Hard to Be a God" by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a world in a late feudalistic/Renaissance stage...
is an example of a late feudalistic/Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
society. Great empires have risen and fallen, giving space to smaller countries whose political system varies from absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, his or her power not being limited by a constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch thus wields unrestricted political power over the...
to republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
and theocracy
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
(see the main article for more info). Arts and science are blooming, even though fiercely opposed by reactionist fractions (most of them - religious ones).
"XX century" stage
Since Strugatsky were generally more interested in what happened around them than in an abstract future prospects, most of the human civilizations on Noon Universe are approximately in the Earth's 20th century.Giganda is at the point of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
: simple but effective firearms and technical units unencumbered by high-tech electronics are common. As a result, the whole planet is in a state of global war. No nuclear weapons were developed yet.
Forty years prior to its discovery Hope was probably in the stage of Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, except for the fact that there was no Cold War and, likely, no World War
World war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
. The whole population was about to be wiped out by an ecological catastrophe resulting from an uncontrolled industrial
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
development. Ever since the Wanderers deported most of the population to another planet the local civilization is at the brink of extinction.
Saraksh
Saraksh
Saraksh is a fictional planet described in Prisoners of Power by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a world that survived an atomic war. As a result, the surface of the planet is mostly covered with debris and junk...
is in the stage of post-World War III
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
times. Nuclear war has thrown the local technology back to the stage of World War II, although things could've got worse, and so by the end of 22nd century Saraksh was roughly at the same technological level as Giganda.
XXII century
EarthEarth (Noon Universe)
In the Noon Universe created by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky Earth is one of the planets populated by humans as well as their assumed origin. It is identical to the modern Earth except for the fact that it is set in the 22nd century...
is the most technologically advanced human civilizaion in the Noon Universe and is considered to be the origin of the entire human race. See the main article for more information.
Espers
A very small group of humans possess ESPExtra-sensory perception
Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was coined by Frederic Myers, and adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and...
abilities, and are called "espers". Espers are able to read thoughts, sometimes at great distances, and often with some perception of the direction of origin of the thoughts. Espers occur extremely rarely, with only 120 registered Espers among Earth's 10 billion citizens. While two or more Espers are perfectly able to communicate telepathically (i.e. simply read each other's thoughts), an unwritten rule among Espers requires them to communicate verbally if non-Espers are present.
Background
The Earth's humans are assumed to have developed from the local pre-historic microorganisms as a part of natural evolutionEvolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
process described by Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
. Other planets were presumably inhabited by human race because of Wanderers' manipulations.
All humans of Noon Universe have identical genetic structure, but the inhabitants of Saraksh have a unique sensivity to the so called "Emanation" which is uncharacteristic for other humans, e.g. from Earth.
Thanks to a combination of advanced technology and higher standards of living, humans from Earth exhibit abilities that would be considered superhuman by contemporary standards. They possess comparatively greater strength, speed, endurance and sensory perception. Thanks to advanced psyonic therapy, they can speed up the rate at which they recover from injuries and shield themselves from certain toxins.
Interhuman Planetary Relationships
This headline stands for the relationship between humans of Earth and humans on other planets, since Earth is the only space-faring human civilization of Noon Universe. In 2141 AD the Earth World Council has decided to reactivate the Institute of Experimental History and to let its agents work undercover on less-advanced planets in order to help them to achieve a higher level of development. Such practice became known as "progressing" and the agents of EHI - as "progressors". Their job was both dangerous, mentally and physically, and fascinating, which made it (along with null-physisists' one) one of the most prestigious jobs on Earth. However after "Arkanar Massacre" general public opinion towards progressors became much colder, more suspicious and even a bit fearful.Apart from inter-planetary relationship, there are some intra-planetary tensions on all human planets. This is, apparently, typical for humans everywhere. For example, on Saraksh a strong enmity dominates the relationship between normal people and mutants. The mutants live in the regions that suffered during the nuclear war
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
. Their bodies adapted to the enormous radiation
Radiation
In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
levels. On Earth, ordinary people are suspicious of Ludens.