Urras (fictional planet)
Encyclopedia
Urras is one of two inhabited planets of Tau Ceti
, in the 'Ekumen
' science fiction novels by Ursula K. Le Guin
.
system with Anarres
, Urras is covered by oceans and continents.
The oceans are simply named Tiuve Sea, Insel Sea, North Sea and Great South Sea. Besides a couple of smaller islands, Urras' landmass is split in two big continents.
On one of the two continents, the nation-states of A-Io and Thu are located, both portrayed as developed industrial societies. A-Io is evidently a capitalist parliametary republic
, whereas Thu is described as a totalitarian socialist state; both thinly veiled allegories of the United States of America and the Soviet Union
.
On the second large continent, unstable Benbili is found whose society is economically underdeveloped. In The Dispossessed
, A-Io and Thu fight a proxy war in Benbili, both claiming to resurrect order and stability.
society, have settled Anarres
, but still have an influence on the various nations of Urras, as is told in The Dispossessed
.
Urras is also seen in The Day Before the Revolution
in the short-story collection The Wind's Twelve Quarters
. But this is primarily the story of Laia Odo, the founder of the Odonian movement.
Cetians appear or are mentioned in various other tales, mostly without specifying which world they come from. In The Left Hand of Darkness
, the star-ship is of Cetian make. It is mentioned that they and the Hain both developed starships.
Tau Ceti in fiction
Tau Ceti is the closest single Sun-like star to the Sun, making it a popular setting or reference in science fiction media.Isaac Asimov set the planet "Aurora" and its two asteroidal satellites around Tau Ceti in the Robot and Foundation novels. In Robert A...
, in the 'Ekumen
Ekumen
The Hainish Cycle consists of a number of science fiction novels and stories of Ursula K. Le Guin. Most of them are not set on the planet Hain, but have it as a distant background...
' science fiction novels by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
.
Geography
Being the larger body of a double planetDouble planet
In astronomy, double planet and binary planet are informal terms used to describe a binary system of two astronomical objects that each satisfy the definition of planet and that are near enough to each other to have a significant gravitational effect on each other compared with the effect of the...
system with Anarres
Anarres
Anarres is one of two inhabited planets of Tau Ceti, in the 'Ekumen' science fiction novels by Ursula K. Le Guin.-Geography:Being the smaller body of a double planet system with Urras, Anarres is largely covered by land while having two large seas as the biggest bodies of water.While its society is...
, Urras is covered by oceans and continents.
The oceans are simply named Tiuve Sea, Insel Sea, North Sea and Great South Sea. Besides a couple of smaller islands, Urras' landmass is split in two big continents.
On one of the two continents, the nation-states of A-Io and Thu are located, both portrayed as developed industrial societies. A-Io is evidently a capitalist parliametary republic
Parliamentary system
A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....
, whereas Thu is described as a totalitarian socialist state; both thinly veiled allegories of the United States of America and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
On the second large continent, unstable Benbili is found whose society is economically underdeveloped. In The Dispossessed
The Dispossessed
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia is a 1974 utopian science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, set in the same fictional universe as that of The Left Hand of Darkness . The book won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1974, both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1975, and received a nomination for...
, A-Io and Thu fight a proxy war in Benbili, both claiming to resurrect order and stability.
History
Urras is the original world of the Cetians. An anarchist group called Odonians, separating from its propertarianPropertarianism
The term propertarianism has been used to describe various views regarding private property. Those holding positive views on property rights may be described as propertarian. Conversely, others opposed to private property may be described as non-propertarian or...
society, have settled Anarres
Anarres
Anarres is one of two inhabited planets of Tau Ceti, in the 'Ekumen' science fiction novels by Ursula K. Le Guin.-Geography:Being the smaller body of a double planet system with Urras, Anarres is largely covered by land while having two large seas as the biggest bodies of water.While its society is...
, but still have an influence on the various nations of Urras, as is told in The Dispossessed
The Dispossessed
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia is a 1974 utopian science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, set in the same fictional universe as that of The Left Hand of Darkness . The book won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1974, both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1975, and received a nomination for...
.
Urras is also seen in The Day Before the Revolution
The Day Before the Revolution
"The Day Before the Revolution" is a Nebula Award-winning short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in 1974.It is considered a short story prologue to The Dispossessed and represents an idealized anarchy by following the character of "Odo", the semilegendary woman who led the revolution...
in the short-story collection The Wind's Twelve Quarters
The Wind's Twelve Quarters
The Wind's Twelve Quarters is a collection of short stories by Ursula K. Le Guin first published by Harper & Row in 1975.Le Guin describes the collection as a retrospective. It includes many stories which had been published previously or expanded into novels. Others take place in locations that...
. But this is primarily the story of Laia Odo, the founder of the Odonian movement.
Cetians appear or are mentioned in various other tales, mostly without specifying which world they come from. In The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness is a 1969 science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is part of the Hainish Cycle, a series of books by Le Guin all set in the fictional Hainish universe....
, the star-ship is of Cetian make. It is mentioned that they and the Hain both developed starships.