Saga of Pliocene Exile
Encyclopedia
The Saga of Pliocene Exile (or the Saga of the Exiles) is a series of science
/ speculative fiction
books by Julian May
, first published in the early 1980s. It consists of four books: The Many Colored Land, The Golden Torc, The Nonborn King and The Adversary.
epoch, in the hopes of finding a simple utopia where they can finally fit in.
However, the reality is far removed from the dream. The time-travelers arrive to discover the Pliocene is already inhabited by a dimorphic
race of aliens ('exotics'), the Tanu and the Firvulag. The exotics, who have fled their home galaxy because of religious persecution, are marooned on Pliocene Earth as well.
The Tanu exotics have difficulty reproducing on Earth due to the high terrestrial and solar radiation, relative to their homeworld, and so have enslaved many of the humans in an effort to overcome this problem, interbreeding with the more robust humans. The Firvulag exotics are, in the main, unaffected by the higher levels of radiation and have no reproductive challenges.
Understandably, relationships between all exotics and the humans tend to be somewhat strained, although this manifests in different ways, and is complicated further by the exotics' metapsychic powers
.
To prevent any contamination of the past, the Galactic Milieu sterilises all females before allowing them to go back and does not allow any advanced technology to be taken. The Milieu also does not allow any operant metapsychics to go back.
and Firbolg of Celtic Mythology
.
The exotics are known as the 'Tanu' and the 'Firvulag', and together constitute a single dimorphic
race. The Firvulag are the 'metapsychically operant' [see below] members of that race, and the Tanu are the 'metapsychically latent' half. However, the majority of Firvulag have only weak mental powers, whereas the Tanu wear torc
s, which are also mind-amplifying devices to allow use of their mental powers. The Tanu are generally much longer lived than the Firvulag. The four books of the Saga of Pilocene Exile abound with Tanu who are more than a thousand years old, who were not born on Earth, and who are called 'first comers' because of the fact. Examples of 'first comers' include King Thagdal, Celadeyr of Afaliah, and Dionket Lord-Healer. The Firvulag are not usually as long lived, although they have a few first-comers of their own (King Yeochee and Palloll One-Eye among them), but are physically hardier and more resistant to Earthly radiation than the Tanu.
Tanu and Firvulag are sworn enemies, with each race routinely attacking the other. The only exceptions to this are in the month before and the month after the ritual Grand Combat, a gladiatorial combat that pits the Tanu against Firvulag. These two months are called The Truce.
Firvulag babies are frequently born to Tanu mothers carrying recessive Firvulag genes. These babies are cared for until they can be handed safely over to the Firvulag. Firvulag never produce Tanu babies.
Both Tanu and Firvulag can be killed by objects made of iron
, which they call "blood-metal." Its use in weapons is forbidden by their battle code. Since the exotics are otherwise extremely difficult to kill, some humans take advantage of this weakness.
In the forty years before the start of the first book in the series, however, the Tanu have claimed ascendancy. Their use of humans to assist their reproductive capacity means that their numbers are rising, albeit with Tanu/human hybrids rather than true Tanu. This gives them an advantage in the Grand Combat (the annual ritual war between Tanu and Firvulag), since their human subjects and "half-breeds" fight on their side. The Tanu have won the Combat without fail for the past forty years, because of their use of grey-torc humans [see below] to fight the Firvulag, and other human innovations, such as the use of horse-like chalicothere
s (known as 'chalikos') as riding animals (which gives the Tanu cavalry that the Firvulag lack).
There are some differences between pure Tanu and hybrids. Hybrids tend to be hairier, darker, have coarser features and less of the ethereal beauty of the Tanu. They also have a much more muscular figure, and often have stronger metapsychic powers. Unlike the Firvulag and the Tanu, hybrids are not poisoned by iron.
The Firvulag are primarily creative adepts, spinning horrific illusions around themselves in battle to terrify their opponents. They are merciless opponents and when working together are capable of driving a human or weak Tanu mind completely mad with their illusions.
The Firvulag martial tradition is very conservative. They do not ride chalikos into battle, unlike the Tanu and their human cavalry. They wear obsidian armor and fight using obsidian bladed swords and obsidian tipped spears. In battle, they fight like an unorganized mob of infantry. They usually throw their spears in the first rush of battle, then close in using their swords and mindpowers. For the last 40 years, the Firvulag have lost every single one of the grand combats because their unorganized and undisciplined infantry cannot withstand the shock of a heavy cavalry attack. Exiled humans introduced the concept of heavy cavalry to the Tanu and helped them mentally tame the chalikos.
Because of the constant defeats, the Firvulag have been recently growing desperate, and have been willing to take on lowlife humans like Madame Guderian as military advisors. The Firvulag are beginning to adapt more and more of human military tactics and equipment.
, who parted with mainstream Firvulag society 800 years before the beginning of the first book in the series, over the issue of the perpetual enmity between Tanu and Firvulag. The Howlers are essentially a peace-loving people, and have long been spiritual, if not actual, allies with the Peace Faction amongst the Tanu, who are also opposed to the battle-religion practiced by the Tanu and Firvulag. After over-exposure to dangerous radiation, they mutated into hideous, deformed entities, filled with self-loathing, who attack anyone who strays into their territory.
Technically they are ruled by the King of the Firvulag, but this is in name only, and they have their own king, Sugoll. Both by Sugoll's own assertion and the attestation of the rest of the Howlers, Sugoll is first among the Howlers in all things - mental power, physical ability, and, most of all, physical deformity. Sugoll, although often robed in an illusory body, is the most hideous and frightening of all the Howlers.
By the end of the series, the Howlers have left their radioactive mountain home and moved to the deserted Firvulag city of Nionel, where they set up a genetic plan to restore their hideously mutated selves to some degree of normality. Interbreeding with humans, to revitalize their genetic stock with uncorrupted alleles, is a major component of this scheme, formulated by a slightly insane gold-torc human named Greg-Donnet Genetics Master (born Gregory Prentice Brown, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., L.H.D.), who had fled the Tanu capital of Muriah. Although the Howlers can create beautiful illusions around themselves to disguise their mutations, these illusions do not work on normal Firvulag. They are very effective for humans, though, which is fortunate for Greg-Donnet's schemes.
The Firvulag were operant, but most were much more weakly powered. When science advanced enough to allow for interstellar travel once again (by the daughter worlds), it was discovered that the torcs also worked well on most but not all the inhabitants of the daughter worlds. Certain (female) members of Lene, known as Shipspouses, developed a symbiotic relationship with interstellar organisms known as Ships which were capable of superluminal travel. Only one member of the race which inhabits Lene appears in the Saga of Pliocene Exile. She is Brede Shipspouse. She seems longer lived than either the Tanu or Firvulag. She also has a legacy power from her time as Shipspouse: the ability to D-jump.
Some humans are happy with Tanu rule. Humans with valuable talents like genetics, robotics, etc. are often given golden torcs and are sometimes even ennobled. Other humans with great metaphysical powers are also given silver or golden torcs and may eventually achieve high rank. This is of course, as long as these humans are willing to work for the benefit of the Tanu. Though ramapithecine apes are made to do a lot of the menial labor in the Tanu kingdom, human grey torc slaves end up doing the more complex and dangerous grunt work. For example, grey torc humans are used as shock troops, cavalry, cannon fodder, and as guards.
In order to increase their population more rapidly, the Tanu have been using humans as breeding stock ever since they arrived. The human women have their tubal ligation
reversed. Those human women who are metaphysically gifted or have some unique, highly desired talent are often married off to Tanu nobles, after they each have spent one night with King Thagdal. Thagdal is very fertile (which is the main reason he is king) so many of the women who are forced to sleep with him are impregnated. Those human women who are less talented but are beautiful end up in houses of pleasure where they are forced to service the sexual needs of Tanu. Any children resulting from this sexual slavery are separated from their mothers at birth and are placed in adoption
with a Tanu couple, to be raised as Tanu.
Human males are also forced to become genetic donors. Those humans who are metaphysically or aesthetically gifted are approached by Tanu women who desire to have children. The human males are not allowed to refuse the sexual attentions of the Tanu. Some human men, however, find this duty not onerous as the Tanu ladies are often quite beautiful, exotic, and metapsychically gifted. Others quickly become burnt out, due to repeated metapsychic trauma.
Operant humans in the Galactic Milieu are not allowed to enter Exile, so most humans in the Pliocene are latent at most. The few who are operant are sometimes categorized using terms from the Milieu. These categories include master class (a well above standard amount of metapsychic powers), the grand master class adepts (large amounts of metapsychic abilities, like Elizabeth), and the Paramount Grand Masters (enormous amounts of metapsychic power, including Marc Remillard, Aiken Drum, and Felice Landry). Individuals generally have different levels of ability in the various classes of metapsychic powers. For instance, Felice Landry is Paramount in creativity but only roughly masterclass in redaction.
Latency: Psychic powers which, although present, cannot be consciously used by a person - because of a lack of training, inhibiting factors, trauma, or mental blocks of uncertain origin. In theory, all humans have some psychic abilities, even though they may be hopelessly latent or extremely meager. The Tanu and the vast majority of humans are latents, with most humans having extremely meager abilities. The Tanu use torcs to allow them to use their psychic powers.
In places May implies that individuals noted for possession of an extremely high level of a skill or an attribute are often latents who make unconscious use of their metapsychic powers. For example, Felice (an individual with extremely powerful latencies) has a natural ability to control animals, and many individuals with latent Creative powers are gifted artists or scientists, while those with latent Coercive ability may have substantial charisma - animal magnetism.
Creativity: the ability to create illusions, change shape and manipulate energy. The Firvulag are described as being naturally gifted at creativity, often using it to assume monstrous forms. More powerful individuals could use it to crudely change states of matter (air to plasma and thus throw lightning bolt
s and so forth) but the most powerful can actually manipulate and change the very form of matter (air & water to fresh cherries for example).
Coercion: the ability of metapsychic mind control
over other people.
Psychokinesis
: (or PK) the ability to move physical objects through space metapsychically. The most powerful PK Tanu used this ability to levitate a number of Tanu and their chaliko steeds as a Pliocene Wild Hunt
.
Farsensing: the ability to communicate with others and to sense remotely via metapsychic means. Analogous to telepathy
, clairvoyance
and remote viewing
. In the story "Intervention", this ability is initially termed ultrasensing.
Redaction: the ability of psychic healing
and, to a certain extent, mind reading
. This is most commonly described in the books for mental or psychological healing, but it is also used for healing physical ailments as well. It was also used in the Galactic Milieu to help latent metapsychics achieve operancy. It could also occasionally be used for interrogation and torture. In the Galactic Milieu recidivist criminals would be adjusted with this power.
Each latent or operant individual has a different combination of these abilities and, amongst the Tanu, those with similar abilities were organized into guilds, called the Five Guilds Mental, each with a guild leader. As of the start of the first novel, "The Many Colored Land", the leaders of the five Tanu guilds were as follows: the Coercer Guild was led by the human Sebi-Gomnol (formerly the embittered Eusebio Gomez-Nolan, ennobled because he invented the controlling silver and grey torcs). The Creator Guild followed Aluteyn Craftsmaster, while the Farsensor Guild was led by Mayvar Kingmaker. The Psychokinetic Guild followed highly influential Nodonn Battlemaster (leader of the Wild Hunt), and the Redactor Guild was led by peaceful Dionket, Lord Healer. All of the guilds came under the authority of a Tanu noble called the Dean of Guilds, Lady Eadone Sciencemaster (the oldest surviving child of the Tanu King Thagdal).
A sixth power, prolepsis, is alluded to in The Saga of Pliocene Exile and explored a little in the Galactic Milieu trilogy. May does not clarify whether prolepsis, the ability to predict future events, is a separate metapsychic ability or merely a manifestation of extremely developed farsensory ability.
D-jumping (dimension jumping) or teleport
ation may also be considered a metapsychic power, but appears more in the Galactic Milieu Series
of books also by Julian May. For the purposes of the Saga of Pliocene Exile only Brede, Felice and later Marc may have been able to use this power and it may have been a synthesis of other powers (creativity, psychokinesis and farsense?) rather than a separate power.
Dr. Eusebio Gomez-Nolan, a human who was given the name Sebi-Gomnol by the Tanu, invented the silver and grey torcs, along with much simplified torc-like devices for controlling the ramapithecine apes which do the drudge work in Tanu society. These lesser torcs allow for control of the wearer by any gold torc wearer.
Silver Torcs give operancy equal to that of the gold, but unlike the gold torc they also incorporate control circuitry. This allows a gold torc wearer to compel obedience in the silver torc wearer, allows for punishment or reward of the silver torc wearer via so-called pleasure-pain circuitry, and act as a means of mentally tracking the wearer. (Therefore a silver torc wearer can never succeed in running away, unless their metaphysical talent is so great it burns out the torc circuitry (see Aiken)). Humans with significant latent powers who come through the time-gate are initially given silver torcs. This allows the Tanu a degree of control over them until they prove themselves trustworthy, at which point they may be given a gold torc.
Grey Torcs do not enhance metapsychic powers at all, although they do grant the wearer a much simplified version of Farspeech. They have control circuitry like that found in the silver torcs. They are given to humans with no significant latent metapsychic powers at all, but who have skills which the Tanu consider to be vital or sensitive, e.g. physicians, technicians, soldiers/guards.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
/ speculative fiction
Speculative fiction
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as...
books by Julian May
Julian May
Julian May is an American science fiction, fantasy, horror, science and children's writer who also uses several literary pseudonyms, best known for her Saga of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu Series books.- Background and early career :Julian May grew up in Elmwood Park, Illinois, a suburb of...
, first published in the early 1980s. It consists of four books: The Many Colored Land, The Golden Torc, The Nonborn King and The Adversary.
Main story
The Saga of Pliocene Exile (known as the Saga of the Exiles in some markets) is a narrative surrounding the adventures of a group of late 21st and early 22nd century misfits/outcasts who travel through a one-way time-gate to Earth's PliocenePliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
epoch, in the hopes of finding a simple utopia where they can finally fit in.
However, the reality is far removed from the dream. The time-travelers arrive to discover the Pliocene is already inhabited by a dimorphic
Polymorphism (biology)
Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words, the occurrence of more than one form or morph...
race of aliens ('exotics'), the Tanu and the Firvulag. The exotics, who have fled their home galaxy because of religious persecution, are marooned on Pliocene Earth as well.
The Tanu exotics have difficulty reproducing on Earth due to the high terrestrial and solar radiation, relative to their homeworld, and so have enslaved many of the humans in an effort to overcome this problem, interbreeding with the more robust humans. The Firvulag exotics are, in the main, unaffected by the higher levels of radiation and have no reproductive challenges.
Understandably, relationships between all exotics and the humans tend to be somewhat strained, although this manifests in different ways, and is complicated further by the exotics' metapsychic powers
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
.
The Pliocene Gateway
The device used to transport people back in time allows objects to travel back to the Pliocene era intact, but any object attempting to travel forward by the same method ages by millions of years. This effectively makes the portal one-way for any living being, and most other objects.To prevent any contamination of the past, the Galactic Milieu sterilises all females before allowing them to go back and does not allow any advanced technology to be taken. The Milieu also does not allow any operant metapsychics to go back.
Tanu and Firvulag
The exotics inhabiting the Pliocene Epoch, despite being separated from the appearance of humans on Earth by millions of years, closely resemble the Tuatha Dé DanannTuatha Dé Danann
The Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gabála Érenn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....
and Firbolg of Celtic Mythology
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
.
The exotics are known as the 'Tanu' and the 'Firvulag', and together constitute a single dimorphic
Polymorphism (biology)
Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words, the occurrence of more than one form or morph...
race. The Firvulag are the 'metapsychically operant' [see below] members of that race, and the Tanu are the 'metapsychically latent' half. However, the majority of Firvulag have only weak mental powers, whereas the Tanu wear torc
Torc
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large, usually rigid, neck ring typically made from strands of metal twisted together. The great majority are open-ended at the front, although many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove. Smaller torcs worn around...
s, which are also mind-amplifying devices to allow use of their mental powers. The Tanu are generally much longer lived than the Firvulag. The four books of the Saga of Pilocene Exile abound with Tanu who are more than a thousand years old, who were not born on Earth, and who are called 'first comers' because of the fact. Examples of 'first comers' include King Thagdal, Celadeyr of Afaliah, and Dionket Lord-Healer. The Firvulag are not usually as long lived, although they have a few first-comers of their own (King Yeochee and Palloll One-Eye among them), but are physically hardier and more resistant to Earthly radiation than the Tanu.
Tanu and Firvulag are sworn enemies, with each race routinely attacking the other. The only exceptions to this are in the month before and the month after the ritual Grand Combat, a gladiatorial combat that pits the Tanu against Firvulag. These two months are called The Truce.
Firvulag babies are frequently born to Tanu mothers carrying recessive Firvulag genes. These babies are cared for until they can be handed safely over to the Firvulag. Firvulag never produce Tanu babies.
Both Tanu and Firvulag can be killed by objects made of iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, which they call "blood-metal." Its use in weapons is forbidden by their battle code. Since the exotics are otherwise extremely difficult to kill, some humans take advantage of this weakness.
The Tanu
The Tanu (e.g., Nodonn Battlemaster, Kuhal Earthshaker, Minnanon the Heretic, et al.) are extremely tall, slim, and beautiful, and live in large cities across South West Europe. They tend to have fair hair and green or blue eyes. Their latent metapsychic abilities, once brought to operancy by the Torcs, are on average stronger than the operant abilities of the Firvulag; however, the Firvulag outnumber the Tanu considerably, which for a long while meant that there was a balance between the two races.In the forty years before the start of the first book in the series, however, the Tanu have claimed ascendancy. Their use of humans to assist their reproductive capacity means that their numbers are rising, albeit with Tanu/human hybrids rather than true Tanu. This gives them an advantage in the Grand Combat (the annual ritual war between Tanu and Firvulag), since their human subjects and "half-breeds" fight on their side. The Tanu have won the Combat without fail for the past forty years, because of their use of grey-torc humans [see below] to fight the Firvulag, and other human innovations, such as the use of horse-like chalicothere
Chalicothere
Chalicotheres were a group of herbivorous, odd-toed ungulate mammals spread throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa during the Early Eocene to Early Pleistocene subepochs living from 55.8 mya—781,000 years ago, existing for approximately .They evolved around 40 million years ago from...
s (known as 'chalikos') as riding animals (which gives the Tanu cavalry that the Firvulag lack).
Tanu/human hybrids
Because the Tanu use humans to reproduce, a number of the 'Tanu' are in reality Tanu/human hybrids (e.g., Bleyn the Champion, Alberonn Mindeater, Katlinel the Darkeyed, et al.). It is generally accepted amongst the Tanu that provided a person looks like a Tanu, they are one, in the same way that humans with gold torcs are considered to be honorary Tanu. However there is a certain amount of discrimination against them from more conservative Tanu.There are some differences between pure Tanu and hybrids. Hybrids tend to be hairier, darker, have coarser features and less of the ethereal beauty of the Tanu. They also have a much more muscular figure, and often have stronger metapsychic powers. Unlike the Firvulag and the Tanu, hybrids are not poisoned by iron.
Firvulag
The Firvulag (e.g. Fitharn Pegleg) are, on the whole, small, dark and less good looking than the Tanu, although this is not always the case and there are some giants among them. Many Firvulag are large enough that they would not look out of place on a present-day street, while the greatest heroes and leaders amongst the Firvulag (i.e. Pallol One-Eye, Betularn the Whitehand, Medor Battlemaster, etc.) - who also have the most powerful mental abilities - are true giants, from 8 to 12 feet tall, and massively strong. They live in mountains and caves, far separate from the Tanu, and regard both humans and Tanu with disdain. At the beginning of the series they have a shaky treaty with the 'Lowlife' human escapees of the Tanu regime.The Firvulag are primarily creative adepts, spinning horrific illusions around themselves in battle to terrify their opponents. They are merciless opponents and when working together are capable of driving a human or weak Tanu mind completely mad with their illusions.
The Firvulag martial tradition is very conservative. They do not ride chalikos into battle, unlike the Tanu and their human cavalry. They wear obsidian armor and fight using obsidian bladed swords and obsidian tipped spears. In battle, they fight like an unorganized mob of infantry. They usually throw their spears in the first rush of battle, then close in using their swords and mindpowers. For the last 40 years, the Firvulag have lost every single one of the grand combats because their unorganized and undisciplined infantry cannot withstand the shock of a heavy cavalry attack. Exiled humans introduced the concept of heavy cavalry to the Tanu and helped them mentally tame the chalikos.
Because of the constant defeats, the Firvulag have been recently growing desperate, and have been willing to take on lowlife humans like Madame Guderian as military advisors. The Firvulag are beginning to adapt more and more of human military tactics and equipment.
The Howlers
The Howlers are a rogue Firvulag faction inhabiting the mountains of the VosgesVosges
Vosges is a French department, named after the local mountain range. It contains the hometown of Joan of Arc, Domrémy.-History:The Vosges department is one of the original 83 departments of France, created on February 9, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was made of territories that had been...
, who parted with mainstream Firvulag society 800 years before the beginning of the first book in the series, over the issue of the perpetual enmity between Tanu and Firvulag. The Howlers are essentially a peace-loving people, and have long been spiritual, if not actual, allies with the Peace Faction amongst the Tanu, who are also opposed to the battle-religion practiced by the Tanu and Firvulag. After over-exposure to dangerous radiation, they mutated into hideous, deformed entities, filled with self-loathing, who attack anyone who strays into their territory.
Technically they are ruled by the King of the Firvulag, but this is in name only, and they have their own king, Sugoll. Both by Sugoll's own assertion and the attestation of the rest of the Howlers, Sugoll is first among the Howlers in all things - mental power, physical ability, and, most of all, physical deformity. Sugoll, although often robed in an illusory body, is the most hideous and frightening of all the Howlers.
By the end of the series, the Howlers have left their radioactive mountain home and moved to the deserted Firvulag city of Nionel, where they set up a genetic plan to restore their hideously mutated selves to some degree of normality. Interbreeding with humans, to revitalize their genetic stock with uncorrupted alleles, is a major component of this scheme, formulated by a slightly insane gold-torc human named Greg-Donnet Genetics Master (born Gregory Prentice Brown, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., L.H.D.), who had fled the Tanu capital of Muriah. Although the Howlers can create beautiful illusions around themselves to disguise their mutations, these illusions do not work on normal Firvulag. They are very effective for humans, though, which is fortunate for Greg-Donnet's schemes.
The race from Lene
Little is known about this race of people from the same galaxy as the Tanu and Firvulag, but a different planet. Whereas the Tanu and Firvulag come from the planet Duat, which also gives the entire galaxy its name, this race comes from Lene. Thousands of years before the action of the novels, the inhabitants of Duat developed interstellar travel, co-mingled their genes, and colonized other planets in their native galaxy. These other planets came to be called 'Daughter Worlds', as in 'the daughter worlds of Duat'. A series of wars and the passage of time cut off Duat from these other worlds. Among the daughter worlds only Lene retained any form of space travel, and only very primitive reaction engines. The war left Duat with a wildly varying climate, and because of this, over a thousand generations on Duat, the race diverged into two separate races, the Tanu and the Firvulag. The Tanu were metapsychically latent and developed and employed torcs to raise them to a limited form of metapsychic operancy.The Firvulag were operant, but most were much more weakly powered. When science advanced enough to allow for interstellar travel once again (by the daughter worlds), it was discovered that the torcs also worked well on most but not all the inhabitants of the daughter worlds. Certain (female) members of Lene, known as Shipspouses, developed a symbiotic relationship with interstellar organisms known as Ships which were capable of superluminal travel. Only one member of the race which inhabits Lene appears in the Saga of Pliocene Exile. She is Brede Shipspouse. She seems longer lived than either the Tanu or Firvulag. She also has a legacy power from her time as Shipspouse: the ability to D-jump.
Ships
Gigantic crystalline organisms, self-aware and powerfully psychic, which evolved in and continue to inhabit interstellar space in the Duat Galaxy. Ships were capable of superluminal travel through mental generation of an aperture into hyperspace ("grey limbo"). Ships were entirely benevolent and many of them undertook a symbiotic "mind-marriage" with humanoid females of the Duat daughter-worlds. Ships routinely carried the Duat citizenry on interstellar voyages of considerable distance, the passengers traveling within a vessel embedded in the Ship's crystal body.Humans
Humans in the Pliocene Epoch play a variety of different roles and are difficult to classify as a group. Virtually all humans are time-travelers from the 21st century, as the Tanu forbid human/human procreation on pain of death, so human children are born only in outcast villages. Nevertheless, there are some humans born in the Pliocene (i.e. Sunny Jim Quigley and Calistro, a goat-herder).Some humans are happy with Tanu rule. Humans with valuable talents like genetics, robotics, etc. are often given golden torcs and are sometimes even ennobled. Other humans with great metaphysical powers are also given silver or golden torcs and may eventually achieve high rank. This is of course, as long as these humans are willing to work for the benefit of the Tanu. Though ramapithecine apes are made to do a lot of the menial labor in the Tanu kingdom, human grey torc slaves end up doing the more complex and dangerous grunt work. For example, grey torc humans are used as shock troops, cavalry, cannon fodder, and as guards.
In order to increase their population more rapidly, the Tanu have been using humans as breeding stock ever since they arrived. The human women have their tubal ligation
Tubal ligation
Tubal ligation or tubectomy is a surgical procedure for sterilization in which a woman's fallopian tubes are clamped and blocked, or severed and sealed, either method of which prevents eggs from reaching the uterus for fertilization...
reversed. Those human women who are metaphysically gifted or have some unique, highly desired talent are often married off to Tanu nobles, after they each have spent one night with King Thagdal. Thagdal is very fertile (which is the main reason he is king) so many of the women who are forced to sleep with him are impregnated. Those human women who are less talented but are beautiful end up in houses of pleasure where they are forced to service the sexual needs of Tanu. Any children resulting from this sexual slavery are separated from their mothers at birth and are placed in adoption
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
with a Tanu couple, to be raised as Tanu.
Human males are also forced to become genetic donors. Those humans who are metaphysically or aesthetically gifted are approached by Tanu women who desire to have children. The human males are not allowed to refuse the sexual attentions of the Tanu. Some human men, however, find this duty not onerous as the Tanu ladies are often quite beautiful, exotic, and metapsychically gifted. Others quickly become burnt out, due to repeated metapsychic trauma.
Lowlives
The "Lowlives" is a term referring to humans in Pliocene Europe. The Firvulag call all humans Lowlives, while the Tanu and humanity reserve the term for those humans in Pliocene Europe not ruled by the Tanu. They live in small bands without medical care or good supplies and are harassed by both the Tanu and Firvulag, although at the beginning of the series there is a shaky treaty in place between the Vosges Lowlives and the Firvulag. It is difficult for free humans to exist in large groups as they become easy targets for exotic attacks. However, In The Many-Colored Land, the Lowlives begin to fight against their oppressors, attacking the Tanu city of Finiah with the Firvulag.Ramas
The only true "natives" in the book, the Ramapithecus are a race of small, somewhat fragile seeming hominids, believed (at the time of writing, though no longer) to be the original ancestors of modern humanity. The "Ramas" were enslaved by the Tanu when the exotics first arrived on the planet, through the use of Grey Torcs, a derivative form of the Tanu's own Gold Torcs. The Ramas were in many cases supplanted by the arrival of 21st century humans who are not only more intelligent, but more robust than the simple Ramas. They are still used however in farming, mining and other forms of unskilled manual labour, and occasionally as surrogate wombs for Tanu and Silver Torc human offspring.Metapsychic powers
The author of the novels, Julian May, prefers the term 'metapsychic' to the terms 'psionic' or 'psychic', which she considers mundane and un-evocative thus 'Metapsychic' powers are psychic abilities by another name. Humans in the late 21st century, along with the other races of the Galactic Milieu (the Lylmik, Gi, Krondaku, Poltroyans, and Simbiari) and the Tanu and Firvulag of the Pliocene epoch, have developed psychic powers. The psychic powers of Julian May's books are seemingly magical powers which go far beyond the 'simple' psychic abilities we more commonly think of, such as clairvoyance, telepathy, and telekinesis. The human race is a blend of 'operant' metapsychics (not very many, but more born every day), 'latent' metapsychics (lots, but dwindling in numbers as people learn to actually use their psychic gifts), and those with no useful metapsychic powers at all (most of humanity).Operancy and latency
Operancy: Psychic powers which are available for conscious, controlled use by a person. Basically, one is considered operant if they have psychic abilities and can consciously use them. In the Pliocene Epoch, the Firvulag were naturally operant. They did not require torcs or other mechanical assistance to be able to use their psychic powers.Operant humans in the Galactic Milieu are not allowed to enter Exile, so most humans in the Pliocene are latent at most. The few who are operant are sometimes categorized using terms from the Milieu. These categories include master class (a well above standard amount of metapsychic powers), the grand master class adepts (large amounts of metapsychic abilities, like Elizabeth), and the Paramount Grand Masters (enormous amounts of metapsychic power, including Marc Remillard, Aiken Drum, and Felice Landry). Individuals generally have different levels of ability in the various classes of metapsychic powers. For instance, Felice Landry is Paramount in creativity but only roughly masterclass in redaction.
Latency: Psychic powers which, although present, cannot be consciously used by a person - because of a lack of training, inhibiting factors, trauma, or mental blocks of uncertain origin. In theory, all humans have some psychic abilities, even though they may be hopelessly latent or extremely meager. The Tanu and the vast majority of humans are latents, with most humans having extremely meager abilities. The Tanu use torcs to allow them to use their psychic powers.
In places May implies that individuals noted for possession of an extremely high level of a skill or an attribute are often latents who make unconscious use of their metapsychic powers. For example, Felice (an individual with extremely powerful latencies) has a natural ability to control animals, and many individuals with latent Creative powers are gifted artists or scientists, while those with latent Coercive ability may have substantial charisma - animal magnetism.
Types of metapsychic powers
There are five categories of 'metapsychic' powers in the series: creation, coercion, psychokinesis, farsensing and redaction.Creativity: the ability to create illusions, change shape and manipulate energy. The Firvulag are described as being naturally gifted at creativity, often using it to assume monstrous forms. More powerful individuals could use it to crudely change states of matter (air to plasma and thus throw lightning bolt
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
s and so forth) but the most powerful can actually manipulate and change the very form of matter (air & water to fresh cherries for example).
Coercion: the ability of metapsychic mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
over other people.
Psychokinesis
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
: (or PK) the ability to move physical objects through space metapsychically. The most powerful PK Tanu used this ability to levitate a number of Tanu and their chaliko steeds as a Pliocene Wild Hunt
Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt is an ancient folk myth prevalent across Northern, Western and Central Europe. The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal, spectral group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground,...
.
Farsensing: the ability to communicate with others and to sense remotely via metapsychic means. Analogous to telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
, clairvoyance
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
and remote viewing
Remote viewing
Remote viewing is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means, in particular, extra-sensory perception or "sensing with mind"...
. In the story "Intervention", this ability is initially termed ultrasensing.
Redaction: the ability of psychic healing
Psychic surgery
Psychic surgery is a procedure typically involving the supposed creation of an incision using only the bare hands, the supposed removal of pathological matter, and the seemingly spontaneous healing of the incision....
and, to a certain extent, mind reading
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
. This is most commonly described in the books for mental or psychological healing, but it is also used for healing physical ailments as well. It was also used in the Galactic Milieu to help latent metapsychics achieve operancy. It could also occasionally be used for interrogation and torture. In the Galactic Milieu recidivist criminals would be adjusted with this power.
Each latent or operant individual has a different combination of these abilities and, amongst the Tanu, those with similar abilities were organized into guilds, called the Five Guilds Mental, each with a guild leader. As of the start of the first novel, "The Many Colored Land", the leaders of the five Tanu guilds were as follows: the Coercer Guild was led by the human Sebi-Gomnol (formerly the embittered Eusebio Gomez-Nolan, ennobled because he invented the controlling silver and grey torcs). The Creator Guild followed Aluteyn Craftsmaster, while the Farsensor Guild was led by Mayvar Kingmaker. The Psychokinetic Guild followed highly influential Nodonn Battlemaster (leader of the Wild Hunt), and the Redactor Guild was led by peaceful Dionket, Lord Healer. All of the guilds came under the authority of a Tanu noble called the Dean of Guilds, Lady Eadone Sciencemaster (the oldest surviving child of the Tanu King Thagdal).
A sixth power, prolepsis, is alluded to in The Saga of Pliocene Exile and explored a little in the Galactic Milieu trilogy. May does not clarify whether prolepsis, the ability to predict future events, is a separate metapsychic ability or merely a manifestation of extremely developed farsensory ability.
D-jumping (dimension jumping) or teleport
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
ation may also be considered a metapsychic power, but appears more in the Galactic Milieu Series
Galactic Milieu Series
The Galactic Milieu Series of science fiction novels by Julian May is the sequel to her Saga of Pliocene Exile. It comprises four novels: Intervention, Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask and Magnificat...
of books also by Julian May. For the purposes of the Saga of Pliocene Exile only Brede, Felice and later Marc may have been able to use this power and it may have been a synthesis of other powers (creativity, psychokinesis and farsense?) rather than a separate power.
Torcs
There are three kinds of torc made by the Tanu: gold, silver and grey. Gold Torcs are the original version, worn by all pure-blooded Tanu, as well as the inhabitants of the Daughter Worlds back in the Duat Galaxy. A gold torc makes a person with latent powers completely operant in those powers.Dr. Eusebio Gomez-Nolan, a human who was given the name Sebi-Gomnol by the Tanu, invented the silver and grey torcs, along with much simplified torc-like devices for controlling the ramapithecine apes which do the drudge work in Tanu society. These lesser torcs allow for control of the wearer by any gold torc wearer.
Silver Torcs give operancy equal to that of the gold, but unlike the gold torc they also incorporate control circuitry. This allows a gold torc wearer to compel obedience in the silver torc wearer, allows for punishment or reward of the silver torc wearer via so-called pleasure-pain circuitry, and act as a means of mentally tracking the wearer. (Therefore a silver torc wearer can never succeed in running away, unless their metaphysical talent is so great it burns out the torc circuitry (see Aiken)). Humans with significant latent powers who come through the time-gate are initially given silver torcs. This allows the Tanu a degree of control over them until they prove themselves trustworthy, at which point they may be given a gold torc.
Grey Torcs do not enhance metapsychic powers at all, although they do grant the wearer a much simplified version of Farspeech. They have control circuitry like that found in the silver torcs. They are given to humans with no significant latent metapsychic powers at all, but who have skills which the Tanu consider to be vital or sensitive, e.g. physicians, technicians, soldiers/guards.
Mythology
There are many parallels between the persons and places of the Saga of the Exiles and Celtic (and other) myths and legends. The presumption is that such myths and legends result from the peoples, individuals, and events in this story. The list below is far from exhaustive.- Tanu, the tall and beautiful exotic race - the Tuatha Dé DanannTuatha Dé DanannThe Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gabála Érenn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....
, mythical gods and kings of Ireland - Tana, goddess of the Tanu = Dana, goddess of the Tuatha De Danaan
- Firvulag, the dwarf or goblin-like exotic race - the Fir BolgFir BolgIn Irish mythology the Fir Bolg were one of the races that inhabited the island of Ireland prior to the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann.-Mythology:...
, enemies of the Tuatha Dé Danann - High Vrazel, the royal seat of the Firvulag - Hy-Brasil, a mist-cloaked phantom island off the Irish coast
- Finiah, destroyed by the Lowlives - Finias, one of the cities of the Tuatha Dé Danann
- Thagdal, King of the Tanu - The DagdaThe DagdaThe Dagda is an important god of Irish mythology. The Dagda is a father-figure and a protector of the tribe. In some texts his father is Elatha, in others his mother is Ethniu. Other texts say that his mother is Danu; while others yet place him as the father of Danu, perhaps due to her...
, King of the Tuatha De DanannTuatha Dé DanannThe Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gabála Érenn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg.... - Nodonn, Battlemaster of the Tanu - NuadaNuadaIn Irish mythology, Nuada or Nuadu , known by the epithet Airgetlám , was the first king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He is cognate with the Gaulish and British god Nodens...
of the Silver Hand - Yeochee, King of the Firvulag - Eochaid mac EircEochaid mac EircIn Irish mythology Eochaid , son of Erc, son of Rinnal, of the Fir Bolg became High King of Ireland when he overthrew Fodbgen. He was the first king to establish a system of justice in Ireland. No rain fell during his reign, only dew, and there was a harvest every year.His wife was Teia Tephi...
, King of the Fir BolgFir BolgIn Irish mythology the Fir Bolg were one of the races that inhabited the island of Ireland prior to the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann.-Mythology:... - Pallol, Battlemaster of the Firvulag - BalorBalorIn Irish mythology, Balor of the Evil Eye was a king of the Fomorians, a race of giants. His father was Buarainech and his wife was Cethlenn...
of the Evil Eye, a king of the FomoriansFomoriansIn Irish mythology, the Fomoire are a semi-divine race said to have inhabited Ireland in ancient times. They may have once been believed to be the beings who preceded the gods, similar to the Greek Titans. It has been suggested that they represent the gods of chaos and wild nature, as opposed to... - Morigel, the name given by the Tanu to Felice - MorriganMorríganThe Morrígan or Mórrígan , also written as Morrígu or in the plural as Morrígna, and spelt Morríghan or Mór-Ríoghain in Modern Irish, is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have once been a goddess, although she is not explicitly referred to as such in the texts.The Morrigan is a goddess...
, goddess associated with war, who also favours the form of a crow or raven - Dionket Lord-Healer - Dian CechtDian CechtIn Irish mythology, Dian Cécht , also known as Cainte, Canta, was the God of healing to the Irish people. He was the healer for the Tuatha Dé Danann and the father of Cian, Cú, and Cethen...
, Celtic god of healing - Muriah, capital city of the Tanu - MuMu (lost continent)Mu is the name of a hypothetical continent that allegedly existed in one of Earth's oceans, but disappeared at the dawn of human history.The concept and the name were proposed by 19th century traveler and writer Augustus Le Plongeon, who claimed that several ancient civilizations, such as those of...
, a sunken continent legend, or Murias, one of the cities of the Tuatha - Minanonn the Heretic - Irish Celtic god of the sea Manannan mac LirManannán mac LirManannán mac Lir is a sea deity in Irish mythology. He is the son of the obscure Lir . He is often seen as a psychopomp, and has strong affiliations with the Otherworld, the weather and the mists between the worlds...
, or Welsh ManawydanManawydanManawydan fab Llŷr is a figure of Welsh mythology, the son of Llŷr and the brother of Brân the Blessed and Brânwen. The first element in his name is cognate with the stem of the name of the Irish sea god Manannán mac Lir, and likely originated from the same Celtic deity as Manannán... - Kuhal Earthshaker and his brother Fian Skybreaker - the Irish legends of CuchulainnCúchulainnCú Chulainn or Cúchulainn , and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin , is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore...
and Fionn mac CumhaillFionn mac CumhaillFionn mac Cumhaill , known in English as Finn McCool, was a mythical hunter-warrior of Irish mythology, occurring also in the mythologies of Scotland and the Isle of Man... - Lugonn, the Tanu Battlemaster prior to Nodonn - LughLughLug or Lugh is an Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past. He is known by the epithets Lámhfhada , for his skill with a spear or sling, Ildánach , Samhildánach , Lonnbeimnech and Macnia , and by the...
, Celtic sun god - Nodonn, Tanu battlemaster, Nuada, Tuatha King
- Richard Voorhees, a Dutch spacecraft captain, dies when he places an old Tanu spaceship into a parking orbit around the Earth - perhaps giving rise to the legend of the eternally sailing Flying Dutchman
- Aiken Drum, the Nonborn King, was based on a popular Scottish folk song and nursery rhyme called Aiken DrumAiken Drum"Aiken Drum" is a popular Scottish folk song and nursery rhyme, which probably has its origins in a Jacobite song about the Battle of Sheriffmuir . It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 2571....
.
Related
Julian May has written nine books which concern this material.- The Many Colored Land is the first book in the Saga of Pliocene Exile. It climaxes with the joint and successful Lowlife human-Firvulag attack on the remote but strategically vital Tanu city of Finiah.
- The Golden Torc is the second book of the Saga of Pliocene Exile. Although the idea was eventually discarded, Ms. May had originally envisioned "The Many Colored Land" and "The Golden Torc" as being published as a single, larger book. The first two-thirds of "The Golden Torc" occur at the same time as the events described in "The Many Colored Land".
- The Nonborn King is the third book in the Saga of Pliocene Exile, and it introduces the character of Marc Remillard, the Angel of the Abyss, the Adversary, or Abaddon, who sought to overthrow the Galactic Milieu and make humanity supreme.
- The Adversary is the fourth and final book in the Saga of Pliocene Exile. A time gate back to the 21st century is opened, the Firvulag nearly beat the Tanu once and for all, and Marc Remillard's original scheme lives on in a slightly different form.
- Intervention (split into two volumes titled The Surveillance and The Metaconcert in some editions), published in the late 1980s. They discuss the very first operant Remillards, Rogatien [Rogi], Donatien [Don], Denis, and Victor, culminating with humanity contacting the Coadunate Galactic Milieu.
- The final three books - Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask, and Magnificat — are what May calls "the Galactic Milieu TrilogyGalactic Milieu SeriesThe Galactic Milieu Series of science fiction novels by Julian May is the sequel to her Saga of Pliocene Exile. It comprises four novels: Intervention, Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask and Magnificat...
". They discuss Marc Remillard's Metapsychic Rebellion. Although these three novels were published in the early to mid-1990s, the fact that Ms. May so extensively researches and outlines her stories suggests that parts of these three novels had been written in the late 1970s or early 1980s, when the four Saga of Pliocene Exile novels were being written. The three Galactic Milieu novels close the circle, and bring the end back to the beginning. - May also "wrote" a tenth book, which was first published in the mid to late-1980s, called A Pliocene Companion, from which much of the information above is taken. A Pliocene Companion is essentially a glossary/gazetteer for the four novels of the Pliocene Exile which Ms. May compiled to help her write those four books. (May, Julian. A Pliocene Companion: A Guide To The Saga Of Pliocene Exile. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, USA. 1984.)