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The Emberverse series is set of alternate history, post-apocalyptic books written by S. M. Stirling. The novels focus on the events after something called "The Change", which caused electricity, guns, explosives, internal combustion engines and steam power to stop working. The series centers on the Willamette Valley area of Oregon and describes how people in those places survive the loss of 200 years of technological progress.

The primary focus of the first three books of the series focused on the conflict between a Portland-based neo-feudal dictatorship created by a sociopathic history professor, and the free communities of the Willamette Valley, most notably the Wiccan Clan Mackenzie and a group led by a former Marine, the Bearkillers. The current books focus on the now adult children of the major character of the original trilogy.

Novels and Short Stories

Novels

Shorts Stories

  • A Murder in Eddsford - a murder mystery set in Post-Change Britain, in the anthology Sideways in Crime
  • Something for Yew - another Rutherston and Bramble mystery, in the anthology Ice, Iron and Gold.

Post-Change Oregon

Though the Change caused a large loss of life everywhere, Oregon suffered rather less than most places of similar population density. Though losing over 95% of its population, but it was spared turning into a 'death zone' with no survivors at all except the more successful cannibal bands. This is what usually happened around large cities, like Portland.

There were several reasons for this. First much of the population of Portland, the largest city, was forced out by the Portland Protective Association (PPA) and congregated in large refugee camps around Salem. Thanks to the Oregon state government, the refugees were stopped from foraging in the rural areas. The downside was that this many people living in refugee camps with limited medical supplies was breeding ground for disease and most died off. While devastating, the spread of disease protected the rural communities around Oregon from being destroyed by starving urbanites.[1]

Post-Change Oregon history is then marked with attempts by the PPA to conquer the entire Willamette Valley, but they are successfully opposed by the southern communities led by the Bearkillers and Clan Mackenzie. The last attempt is called the War of the Eye or the Protector’s War, and end with the death of Lord Protector Arminger by the hands of Lord Bear Havel. The end of the war saw the PPA ending their attempts at conquest south and the creating of “The Meeting”, a United Nations like organization dedicated to keeping the peace among.

Information released by Stirling stated that “Montival”, from the title of the upcoming novel ‘’High King of Montival’’, will mean the area of Oregon where the series is set.

List of Nations

Portland Protective Association (PPA): A neo-feudal dictatorship founded by history professor Norman Arminger, and his wife Sandra, aided by former urban gang-members. The nation follows medieval Norman customs and practices. Castles defend the farming communities and are the centers of regional government where barons and other nobles sit. The newly-minted PPA aristocracy often refers to its members as Associates.

Jousting and baseball are popular sports. For a time the PPA had their own Pope and operated an Inquisition, but this ended after contact was again made with the official Pope in Italy. The strength of the military comes from their knights who are trained from childbirth to fight on armored horseback. Currently the PPA is ruled by Regent Sandra Arminger for her daughter Mathilda. The national heraldic symbol adopted by the PPA is the 'Lidless Eye,' an allusion to the Eye of Sauron from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The PPA is centered on Portland and stretches from Astoria to Pendleton.

Bearkillers: A military organization founded by former marine Mike Havel. Made up of refugees from the Change, the group immigrated from its beginnings in Idaho to its current base at Larsdalen in Oregon. The lands held by the Bearkillers are sectioned into 'commanderies,' with outlying farms centering upon a fortified settlement, with a smithy, mill and other utilitarian buildings. The Bearkillers military elite are the “A Listers”, who become part of the brotherhood of the Bearkillers after completing an apprenticeship program. Membership in the "A List" is open to both men and women who are able to meet the rigorous physical requirements and have passed the requisite training regimen. The Bearkiller's military is noted for its use of pikes and horse archers. They are led by the “Lord Bear” but they have a democratic council that also helps govern. The heraldic symbol of the Bearkillers is a red or crimson snarling bear's head on brown. The upper echelon of Bearkiller society favors a sartorial style that appears to be derived from flamboyant rodeo costumes. The Bearkillers main base of Larsdalen is centered west of Salem and northeast of Rickreall.

Clan Mackenzie: A Wiccan clan founded by Juniper Mackenzie and members of her coven who fled to her country home. The place was renamed “Dun Juniper” after it was rebuilt into a fortified homestead. The Clan includes several other Duns and the walled city of Sutterdown, which is based of the town of Brownsville, Oregon. Mackenzie’s weapon of choice is the longbow, but in hand to hand fighting they will switch to the gladius.

Mount Angel: After the Change, the Benedictine monks of Mount Angel Abbey aided the local town and refugees get through the worse of the crisis. Similar to such organizations like the Knights Templar, the monks and sisters of the Abbey now practice medieval warfare to protect their nation. Mount Angel Abbey itself was rebuilt into a large fortress that is considered the largest in the area.

Corvallis: Corvallis is a city-state at the southern end of the Willamette Valley. It is governed by the faculty of Oregon State University, who took over the governing of the city after the Change. It is a very wealthy state that also controls the town of Newport as a port. The Corvallis military prefers pikes as their weapon of choice.

Dúnedain Rangers: Founded by Astrid Larsson, the Rangers are a mercenary military organization that protects caravans and fighting brigands in the Willamette Valley. Ranger lifestyle is based solely on the The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, even requiring all members to learn Sindarin. The Rangers operate out of Mithrilwood which is located in the old Silver Falls State Park, centered upon the settlement they have named Stardell Hall.

Central Oregon Ranchers Association (CORA): A confederation of independent ranchers and farmers located in eastern Oregon. The ranchers and farmers of the area took in refugees after the Change who now work for the men who allowed them to settle on their land. Warriors of CORA prefer to ride horseback using a sabre and javelins. The capitol is located at Bend.

Post-Change North America

After the Change happened, millions of North Americans found themselves the denied the technology they had been dependent on. The Eastern United States and California were some of the worst hit as starving urbanites ate the remaining food in the area before resorting to cannibalism. Pockets of civilization, mostly around the Great Plains, survived if there were no large cities around. Several new nations sprang up to keep order in the changed world.

List of Nations

Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT): Located in Paradise Valley, Montana, the religious organization has built an empire controlling most of Montana and Wyoming. Under the leadership of the Prophet, the CUT is aggressively spreading their religion, often resorting to conquest to do so. Soldiers of CUT are commonly called “Cutters.”

United States of America (Boise): Founded by President Thurston, the country claims all of the territory of the old United States, vowing to once again reunite the country. Though they call themselves the United States of America, most of their neighbors only refer them as the “United States of Boise.” The nation follows the military practices of the Roman Empire. Though technically a democracy, elections haven’t been held for some time.

New Deseret: Mormon theocracy covering northern Utah and southern Idaho. At the beginning of The Sunrise Lands the nation is in a losing war with CUT.

Other Nations: Free Cities of Yakima, Republic of Fargo, Republic of Marshall, Provisional Republic of Iowa, State of Nebraska, Emergency Powers Zone of Concordia, Republic of Kirksville, Red Hills Refuge, Republica de Pecos, Free Republic of Richland, Dominion of Drumheller, Dominion of Moose Jaw, and Dominion of Minnedosa.

The Sioux and Haida have also carved out sizable nations but no information has been given on what they call their nations.

On Hawaii the population of Oahu wiped itself out, but civilization still exists on Hawai'i. The island produces coffee which has become a rare commodity in North America.

There are also scattered independent ranchers and farmers around the continent along with small communities in Louisiana, West Virginia, and Maine. Prince Edward Island also survived relatively intact and is now a part of a reborn British Empire. No information has been given involving the fates of Mexico or Central America.

Post-Change World

Due to the problems of communication and travel that the Change caused, information of the rest of the world is scanty. Some information, however, has been revealed.

In Great Britain the royal family and others were evacuated the Isle of Wight to protect them from the starving rioters of the cities. A couple years later recolonization began from Wight and other islands and farmland was once again reestablished in England and continental Europe. Contact was made with other parts of the world, including Iceland which removed its entire population to Britain in order to survive. Contact was also reestablished with Gibraltar (which had started to colonize southern Spain and Morocco), Ulster, and Prince Edward Island. All three once again swore loyalty to the British crown and along with the new territories being colonized in Europe and North Africa, the British Empire had been born again. Tasmania and New Zealand also recognized British sovereignty over them, but due to distance this is pretty much a hollow statement.

Other parts of Europe also survived the Change and prospered. Parts of Scandinavia that survived formed the nation of Norrland and divided Western Europe with Britain along the Rhine. Parts of Ireland also survived quite well and besides Ulster also included the nation of the Republic of Ireland and the Shannon-Irish. In Italy two nations arose out of the Change known as Sicily and the Umbrian League. Not much has been revealed of Eastern Europe, though from what has been revealed it has appeared to have had a better survival rate than the west.

The Pope fled to Umbria where the connections with the church were reestablished in time for an election of a new Pope. Probably the greatest post-Change success of the Roman Catholic church was reunification with the Anglican Church and the crowning of the British monarch as Emperor of the West.

For a time Europe was threatened by raids from pirates out of the Canary Islands, supported by the Emir of Dakar. A coalition of European nations joined together to retake the Canary Islands and then destroy their bases on the mainland.[2]

Information on the rest of the world is scanty though traders from Astoria and Newport have been trading at several ports in Asia.

List of Characters

  • Mike Havel
  • Kenneth Larsson
  • Signe Larsson
  • Eric Larsson
  • Astrid Larsson
  • Will Hutton
  • Luanne Hutton
  • Pamela Arnstein
  • Juniper Mackenzie
  • Eilir Mackenzie
  • Rudi “Artos” Mackenzie
  • Dennis Martin
  • Sam Aylward
  • Norman Arminger
  • Sandra Arminger
  • Eddie Liu
  • Mack
  • Aaron Rothman (Doctor)
  • John Brown
  • Sir Nigel Loring
  • Alleyne Loring
  • Crusher Bailey
  • Mathilda Arminger
  • Ritva and Mary Havel
  • Mike Havel Jr.
  • Lady Tiphaine
  • Sethaz
  • Odard Liu
  • Ingolf Vogeler
  • Kaur and Singh
  • Edain Aylward
  • Alex
  • Father Ignatius
  • Kuttner
  • President Thurston
  • Martin Thurston

List of Real People

Connections to ISOT

One of Stirling's other series, beginning with Island in the Sea of Time (ISoT), appears to be set in the same universe:

  • The Change occurs at the same time (6:15 pm PST, March 17 1998) as the Event which propels ISoT's Nantucket back in time.
  • Pamela Arnstein, by all appearances, is the sister of ISoT's Ian Arnstein.
  • The Mackenzie Dennis Martins' brother John, a blacksmith, is an important secondary character in ISoT.
  • The Larssons bought their Montana property from the family of William Walker, the principal antagonist of ISoT, and Signe dated him briefly.
  • A general in the Church Universal and Triumphant is named Walker and may be related to William Walker.

Magic

It should be noted that Dies the Fire, despite its trappings of swords, witches and armor, is not a fantasy. Nothing happens that is not explainable in mundane terms (except for the Change itself). However, Juniper (and, as the story progresses, more and more of her followers) explicitly believes in magic and attributes many happenings to magic and/or divine intervention. Whether or not she is correct is up to the reader to decide; as the series progresses events become harder and harder to explain without recourse to some supernatural agency but die-hard rationalists will find nothing that is impossible. Readers may be reminded of a famous quote from noted science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

References

  • Stirling, S.M., "Dies the Fire", New York, Roc, 2004.
  • Stirling, S.M., "The Protector’s War", New York, Roc, 2005.
  • Stirling, S.M., "A Meeting at Corvallis", New York, Roc, 2006.
  • Stirling, S.M., "The Sunrise Lands", New York, Roc, 2007.
  1. ^ http://hem.bredband.net/b108107/stirling/sunriselandsB.html. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ http://hem.bredband.net/b108107/stirling/sunriselandsA.html. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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