The Pheonix is a colony ship
exploring uncharted space. Her mission: Build a station at a suitable star
to be used as the first jump point in a bridge of stations toward new planets
rich in resources. The Pheonix is forced to cut short her voyage due to
a computer malfunction. The crew locates a nearby yellow star with a suitable
planet. There, a landing party makes First Contact with a native
alien species, the Atevi.
After First Contact was made, the
officers of the Pheonix abandoned the human colonists on the planet. The
Pheonix left to search for precious resources. The officers belonged to
the Pilots Guild, hard core spacers who were of a very different background
from the Station-builders who were colonists at heart. The colonists established
relations with the atevi.
War then broke out between
the two species. Neither side had been intentionally hostile toward the
other, but biological factors involving atevi and human emotion (see Culture
of the Western Association) made misunderstanding between the two species
inevitable. The atevi won the war in spite of superior human technology.
The humans and the atevi segregated
themselves completely with the humans taking up settlement on the island
of Mospheira. Mospheira is technically a province of the atevi Western
Association, but in most matters, it is a sovereign state.
A Treaty was struck and the
office of the paidhi was created in order to prevent another war.
The paidhi is the sole human allowed on Atevi land. He (or she) is a neutral
translator between the humans and the atevi. His duties include the gradual
introduction of human technology into Atevi society in order to advance
atevi technology at a controlled pace. (The ultimate goal for the advancement
of atevi technology is the building of a ship that would allow the humans
and atevi to travel to space.)
The Western Association is
the largest atevi political entity and the only one that has any dealings
with humans. The Western Association benefits from the human technology
passed on by the paidhi for an advantage over the other weaker Associations.
Any attack on the office of the paidhi would constitute a risk to the power
of the aiji of the Western Association. Such an attack would not be against
an individual, but against an entire atevi social structure. |