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The Risen Empire
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Read The Risen Empire
Succession: Book 1

The Risen Empire (2003) (edit title/settings)

by Scott Westerfeld (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

The undead Emperor has ruled his mighty interstellar empire of eighty human worlds for sixteen hundred years. Because he can grant a form of eternal life, creating an elite known as the Risen, his power has been absolute. He is worshiped as a living god. No one can touch him, meanwhile he is... read more

Summary edit see section history

The story is set thousand of years in the future in a galaxy filled with human worlds and filled with human polities. Interstellar travel, while limited to light-speed, is routine. Limited FTL communications exists and is in use.

The Risen Empire is a odd collection of eighty or so... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The story is set thousand of years in the future in a galaxy filled with human worlds and filled with human polities. Interstellar travel, while limited to light-speed, is routine. Limited FTL communications exists and is in use.

The Risen Empire is a odd collection of eighty or so worlds ruled by the man who discovered the only practical method of immortality, a symbiote which in some unclear fashion preserves the body and mind after death (if the death isn't too messy or destructive). These people – called the Risen – are somewhat like zombies but are completely their own masters and not controlled by anyone else. Nearly all of them retire after they die, forming the Gray population which controls a huge fraction of the wealth of the Empire, but participate only in a very limited way in public life.

The excitement in the story centers around a hostage crisis on a border world where Rix commandos have captured the Empress and are holding her hostage while they infiltrate the planet's electronic infrastructure. The Rix are heavily cyborged, and worship the intelligences which naturally arise in any sufficiently complex computer network. Most worlds (including those of the Risen Empire) take active steps to suppress the rise of network intelligences, while the Rix try to seed other planets' networks. Once an intelligence has fully emerged, it can't be shut down short of completely shutting down the network and scrubbing each machine.

The young warship captain who is nearby and who must deal with the situation is one of the centers of the story, along with his lover, the leader of one of the Empire's Senate's parties.

Since the senators are still alive, and since they represent planets many years away in space, their terms are fifty years and they spend 80% or so of their time in suspended animation. This gives the senators an effective lifespan to match the long, slow, pace of events in the Empire and to match the Emperor's longevity.

When the Risen Empire was founded 1600 years previously, it was the technological leader; by now, it has slowly fallen behind and its technology is more than a bit obsolete by galactic standards. Thoughtful people in the Risen Empire worry about this.

(Heavily edited from source: New England Science Fiction Assoc. Member review by Mark Olson - http://www.nesfa.org/reviews/Olson/RisenEmpire.html)

Characters/People edit see section history

Show all 28 characters
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Setting & Locations edit see section history

  • Legis XV: A planet on the Rix frontier; chosen by the Child Empress as the site of her palace.
  • Home: Capital of the Eighty Worlds.
  • Vada: Home planet of Laurent Zai; very gray.
  • Vasthold: Home planet of Nara Oxham.
  • The Lynx: A new model of Imperial Frigate; captained by Laurent Zai.
  • Dhantu

Organizations edit see section history

  • The Rix: A human cult that believes in fostering and spreading Artificial Intelligences of planetary extent.
  • The Imperial Political Apparatus: Risen Adepts that oversee the granting of symbionts and otherwise act on the Emperor's behalf.

First Sentence edit see section history

The five small craft passed from shadow, emerging with the suddenness of coins thrown into sunlight.

Table of Contents edit see section history

ONE: HOSTAGE SITUATION
Pilot
Captain
Executive Officer
Pilot
Doctor
Pilot
compound mind
Captain
Initiate
Child Empress
Doctor
compound mind
Child Empress
Executive Officer

Ten Years Earlier (Imperial Absolute)
Lieutenant Commander
Senator-Elect

TWO: RESCUE ATTEMPT
Senator
Captain
Executive Officer
compound mind
Doctor
Admiral
Corporal
Captain
Senator
compound mind
Doctor
Private
Pilot
Private
Pilot
Initiate
Captain
Corporal
Executive Officer

One Hundred Years Earlier (Imperial Absolute)
House
Lieutenant Commander

THREE: DECOMPRESSION
Senator
Executive Officer
compound mind
Initiate
Captain
Commando
Senator
Executive Officer
Commando
Senator
Captain
Executive Officer

Ten Years Earlier (Imperial Absolute)
Senator-Elect

FOUR: HIGH GRAVITY
Senator
Adept
Captain
Militia Worker
Captain
Commando
Executive Officer
Senator
Militia Worker
Executive Officer
Militia Worker
Executive Officer
Commando
Senator
Executive Officer
Commando
Marine Private
Senator

Ten Years Earlier (Imperial Absolute)
Lieutenant-Commander
House

EPILOGUE
Captain

Glossary edit see section history

  • Gray: Political persuasion whose followers are loyal to the Emperor, very military, and very beholden to tradition.
  • Pink: Political persuasion whose followers hold that death is necessary for humanity to evolve, and very few (if any) humans should ever be Risen.
  • Risen: Joined with a symbiont that grants eternal life. Granted at the whim of the Emperor.

Errata edit see section history

The Epilogue was also published as the Prologue in The Killing of Worlds.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 1 of 2 in Succession. (standard series)

Followed by The Killing of Worlds.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Scott Westerfeld (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Stephan Martiniere (Cover Artist)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Tor Books
Country: U.S.A.
Publication Date: 2003
ISBN: 0765305550
Page Count: 304

Classification edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Worthing Saga
  • The Warrior's Apprentice

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