(no subject)

[melannen]

1. Still have not read any more FMK. I am trying to get through Downbelow Station, but it started with a long section of character-less history exposition, and it did not motivate me much to keep going. IDK - I like a good fictional exposition, but I think I am glad publishing has moved away from encouraging them as the first chapter of novels.

2. If you want a poll, though, I posted a very important poll to fictional_fans yesterday.

3. The reason I haven't written more Imperial Radch fanfiction is that I want to write stuff that really digs into the worldbuilding, but the canon worldbuilding is really deep (without having any convenient-to-fanwriters history chapters) and there are no really good online concordances for it, so I have to go back to the originals to get the worldbuilding details, and then I have to re-read the whole trilogy, because those are not books I can just dip into and out of. Oh well!

So anyway, for my own references, here is A list of major stakeholders in the Republic of Two Systems as of the end of Ancillary Mercy

Not residents of the Athoek system:

1. Anaander Mianaai, who can be subdivided into:
   • The Anaander who thinks scorched earth is a good tactic, represented by the Anaander from Tstur Palace
   • The Anaander who thinks giving One Esk Nineteen a fleet command is a good tactic, represented by Fleet Captain Uemi
   • The person who hid AI cores in the Undergarden?? who we know nothing about but seems to know Anaander's secrets very well and can access most of her resources. Another faction of Anaander? Another Tisarwat? A rogue Ship who's a better con artist than Sphene? Possibly represented by Eminence Ifian
2. The Presger, of unknown motives and desires, but we can separate out:
   • The Presger/Human Translators, who seem to be aware that acting in the best interests of the Presger may not be in the interest of their continued existence, represented by Zeiat
3. Free AIs, whose presence RE: the Presger treaty is the Republic's insurance against reprisals, represented by Mercy of Kalr and her cousins, including
   • Sphene, who as the only resident of the Ghost System presumably gets her own vote on the Security Council
   • Sword of Atagaris, who seems to mostly be sticking with Breq because everywhere else would be worse
   • A pile of unclaimed baby AIs??? Possibly the only ones currently in existence???
4. Other Radchaai military presence, of unknown factional loyalty (as represented by Mercy of Ilves)
5. Other non-Radchaai trapped in the system (I don't think any are named, but presumably Dlique was not the only non-citizen stranded when the gates went down, or unwilling to go home via a war zone)
6. Non-Radchaai galactic powers who are affected by the Radchaai civil war and the Presger treaty (currenty unrepresented, unless you count Sphene, but presumably not for long.)

Residents of the Athoek system:

1. "Outsystem" Radchaai. These are curiously difficult to figure out, because Breq really truly does not seem to care where you are from as long as you wear gloves and don't expect her to gender you, but presumably they include
   • Most of the high-ranking political appointees on Station, represented by Governor Giarod and most of Tisarwat's friends
   • The top ranks of the state religion, represented by Eminence Ifian
   • Most of the large plantation owners, represented by Fosyf
   • "Provincial" Radchaai who are partly "Radchaaiized" but can still more or less code-switch between Radchaai and their home indigenous cultures, probably mostly in support roles for Radchaai institutions or Houses, represented by Basnaaid
2. "Athoeki" Radchaai, who presumably include
   • Xhai, who seem to have been the dominant culture at the time of annexation, and who we see curiously few of, at least as distinguished from default Athoeki
   • Ychana, who seem to have been the lowest-status ethnic group, as represented by Emer of the Undergarden tea shop
   • Assorted other Athoeki ethnic groups, including the Sahut, as represented by Head of Security Lusulun
   • "Radchaaiized" Athoeki, who speak Radchaai as a first language and are mostly culturally oriented to the Empire, or are mixed between different ethnic groups or part Outsystem; Breq reads this as default for any Athoeki citizens, but presumably includes at least some of the influential Station Athoeki of ethnicity not otherwise specified.
   • Samirend transportees, who have been on Athoek enough generations that they are fairly Radchaaiized and may be starting to think of themselves as a Samirend-Athoeki diasporan community, represented by Sirix
   • Valskaayan transportees, 0-3 generations from the Valskaay annexation, not Radchaaiized at all, including an unknown number of still-frozen transportees direct from the Valskaay annexation, some of whom are on Sphene; represented by Uran and Queter

/looks at that list
/thinks about dreams of one day writing the post-AM fic about all of Breq's family working things out, but that would inevitably require dealing with the above mess in the background
/says "good luck, folks!" and nopes out.

Other Imperial Radch fic I would like someday but know I cannot write is the crossover where a Dendarii ship falls out of the Ghost Gate and Admiral Naismith and Lieutenant Tisarwat need to have a charm-off and then a lot of sex.

....actually I would like to write a lot of Tisarwat fic, but I do not know how to write unreasonably charming and charismatic characters. I can write unreasonably smart ones - you just have them know something the audience doesn't at the right times, and they'll fill in the blanks - and unrealistically lucky ones - you roll the dice, you can cheat - but I dunno how to write people that are more charming than I am. And Tisarwat does it so well!