Diskusjon:Dorsai

Her var der mye mere enn bestilt. EnWP er omfattende! Får ta det pø om pø, så blir det nok ferdig til 2009? enWP har omdirigering fra Dorsai til Childe Cycle, noe som nok kan passe bedre til alt det som fulgte med - det får i så fall andre ta stilling til. Lenker ut finnes på enWP. jeg tør ikke ta dem med, så ---!--Bjørn som tegner 21. des 2006 kl. 15:39 (CET)

Hovedpersoner bok for bok? ikke for meg. Teknologien kan bli en annen snakk - i romjula.--Bjørn som tegner 22. des 2006 kl. 00:18 (CET)

Technology

Throughout the series, Dickson's primary interest is the characters, not the hardware, much of which is explained only to the point where the reader will understand how it relates to the people around it and thus share the author's imagery.

Hyperdrive

The invention of the hyperdrive allowed the colonization of the Younger Worlds. (The hyperdrive used in the Childe Cycle appears in many of Gordon R. Dickson's works.) It uses an application of the [Heisenberg uncertainty principle. During a jump, a spaceship's position becomes infinitely uncertain, and occupies every position in the universe, before resolving again at a specific point. The jump itself is instanteous, but each jump requires a lengthy calculation. A jump is never exact, and long journeys require several jumps, each getting closer to the final destination. A certain percentage of jumps never resolve, and the ships are never seen again. Because of this, the higher the number of jumps, the greater the risk. By the 24th century, a ship could jump directly off a planet's surface, but only the Dorsai are brave/foolhardy enough to do this on a routine basis.

When the hyperdrive was first invented, a jump would cause passengers severe disorientation. During the Necromancer period (21st century), the disorientation was so bad that the technology was limited to inanimate cargos. The invention of certain drugs enabled human passengers to use the hyperdrive. By the 23rd century, these drugs were only necessary in the case of repeated jumps. By the 24th century, the jumps were hardly noticeable.

Except for the hyperdrive, technology is not a large part of the Childe Cycle. This is partly because the "science fiction" is used mainly as a setting, the real focus of the Childe Cycle is elsewhere.

Weapons

A large part of the series focuses on the exploits of the Dorsai. In the face of escalating countermeasures, the Dorsai choose to use relatively simple weapons, which are less likely to be jammed. The other militaries follow suit. By the 23rd century, the average civilian sports hunter has a more technological weapon than the average soldier. In fact, "advanced" small arms are treated with derision, such as the "Dally Gun" which Cletus uses to break up an ambush in Tactics of Mistake. The Dally Gun is possibly derived from an Armalite weapons system of the 1960s, the Stoner 63, which (like the "Dial-A-Gun" from the story) was designed with interchangeable components for reconfiguration as needed for a particular mission. The Stoner 63 and the Dally Gun were both considered failures.

The main infantry weapon throughout the Cycle is the cone rifle. This simple weapon uses chemically self-propelled flechettes. These flechettes are cone shaped, allowing them to be stacked into tubes. The rifles are little more than launching platforms with triggering mechanisms. Because the cones (which explode on impact) accelerate after being fired from the rifle, they are more deadly at long ranges than short. Also used are spring rifles, utilizing a 5,000 sliver magazine in a non-metallic mechanism to fire a sliver up to one thousand meters.

Power guns were used (in Brothers, Ian uses his pistol to slag a lock, sealing the room into which he has placed Kensie's body), as well as sonic cannons.

The Final Encyclopedia

While the concept of the Final Encyclopedia as an information construct containing the total sum of human knowledge came about in the early days of computer technology (though including such fictional progenators as the Brain of the Skylark of Valeron in E. E Smith's Skylark series), the conceptualization anticipated the concept of cyberspace and, of course, of wiki. It is noteworthy that William F. Gibson paralleled Dickson's title Necromancer for his definitive cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer.

Primary characters

• Necromancer

Paul Formain

Walter Blunt

Kantele Maki

• Tactics of Mistake

Cletus Grahame

Eachan Khan

Melissa Khan Grahame

Dow deCastries

• Soldier, Ask Not

Tam Olyn (as a young man)

Jamethon Black

Kensie and Ian Graeme (Great-grandsons of Cletus and Melissa)

• Dorsai!

Donal Graeme (Great-great-grandson of Cletus and Melissa)

Anea Marlivana

William of Ceta

Ian Graeme

• The Final Encyclopedia and Chantry Guild

Donal Graeme|Hal Mayne

Tam Olyn (as a very old man)

Bleys Ahrens

Amanda Morgan (Dorsai)|Amanda Morgan (the third of that name)

Category:Science fiction book series