Take it away, Chris...
An Introduction to The Empire's Corps
by Chris Nuttall
When I was a child, I read the Foundation series and it left a great impression on me. (It must have done; collapsing galactic empires is one of my favourite SF themes, both as a reader and a writer.) The sheer scale of the story impressed me, as did the concept of making a new start and forging a new world from the ashes of the old.
In hindsight, of course, the series
has problems. Psychohistory stretches my suspension of disbelief past the
breaking point – the Mule hardly needed to be superhuman to pose a significant
threat – and the ethos of the Second Foundation is chilling. They are, to all
intents and purposes, a ruling elite that intends to slip into power when the
Second Empire is established, using psychohistory and mental manipulation to
ensure that resistance is not only futile, but inconceivable. (Gaia, in Foundation’s
Edge, charges that their Second Empire will be held in a kind of living
death, a judgement I cannot help supporting.)
Historically, of course, it isn’t
really that easy to preserve an empire. As I see it, Empires start off
by taking advantage of their natural assets and then have to work harder and
harder to maintain their position. The British Empire is a case in point; at
birth, the British maintained their control of the sea, giving them a
significant advantage over France and other European empires. (The one time
this slipped, during the American Revolution, the results were bad.) However,
as the years wore on, the British had to work harder and harder to keep their
position – and eventually gave up. Britain simply couldn’t afford to stay in
the race.
This can be magnified by the
governing system. Empires are generally run for the benefit of the rulers,
rather than the ruled. Governments generally don’t want outsiders coming in
unless they are fully integrated, which tends to ensure that the ruling class
(however defined) decays into ignorance and incompetence. Imperial China is a
good example of this particular problem--the Chinese Empire was completely
unable to realise that the ‘Foreign Devil Barbarians’ were actually vastly
superior to their empire. Indeed, the few Chinese who attempted to come to
grips with this fact were defeated by their own people, not by the
outsiders.
The fall of an empire can be
disastrous, no matter how unpleasant the empire was or how many people welcomed
its departure. Empires tend to maintain a monopoly of force in their territory
and thus ensure peace; the sudden disappearance of that power can lead to civil
unrest and outright conflict between the Empire’s former subjects. The collapse
of the British Empire, for example, led to considerable bloodshed in India,
Palestine, and Africa. Even with prior preparation for the transfer of power (as
in India) the process can be incredibly rocky and establishing new governments
can take time. Indeed, the empire might not have established local governments
that can take over. (To some extent, most of Africa was better off under the
European empires than it is now under home-grown tyrants.)
A sudden power vacuum can also
attract outside powers. To some extent, this happened to Imperial China; the
decline of the Chinese Empire drew in the European, American and Japanese
powers. It also happened with the USSR (an empire in all, but name); as it
weakened, NATO moved westward, something bitterly resented by the Russian
government. And, of course, the barbarian advance into the Roman Empire is
perhaps the strongest example.
While some historians claim there was no real shift in living standards after the fall of the
Roman Empire, much of the evidence suggests otherwise. As Rome withdrew from
the outer territories (including Britain), barbarians flooded into the
abandoned territories – a series of events that included the eventual Sack of Rome. Nor is this really true of any other empire’s withdrawal from power. The
decline and fall of an empire – and its replacement by a new order – can be
hellish.
But it can make a great setting for
a story.
In the universe of The Empire’s
Corps, humanity has established a massive empire that stretches over a
third of the galaxy. Humans are alone in the universe, but there are many
different kinds of human; baseline humans, genetically-engineered humans,
cyborg humans, all part of the empire or living on the margins. The empire,
which has been in existence for over three thousand years (following its unification
of the human race by force), is dying, a victim of its own success. And its
leadership are unwilling to take the steps necessary to deal with the crisis
before it overwhelms them.
This is a common historical pattern.
To borrow (and probably misquote) a Japanese expression, the first generation
of government is always supremely competent, the second is good enough … and
the third is incompetent. This was certainly the pattern in the early years of
the Roman Empire. Augustus Caesar was extremely competent, Tiberius was good
enough … and Caligula was a mad incompetent. Bad luck certainly played its
role; young men who Augustus groomed to take their place in government died
with astonishing regularity, leaving Tiberius as the only remaining candidate.
(The Romans blamed this on his mother, who was accused of poisoning the others,
although the truth may never be known.)
Put in plain English, the first
government was smart enough to take power and hold it; the second learned from
the first … and the third, knowing nothing of the struggles of the first,
allowed its understanding of power to slip.
This is partly the reason why
aristocracy and monarchy are such poor forms of government. A lucky country may
end up with a good monarch (a good monarch may not be a good man) and then
discover that his son is a bad monarch. James I of England was capable; Charles
I was so incompetent that he united much of the country against him, sparking a
civil war that ended with his execution. (To some extent, Richard Cromwell also
embodies this historical process.) Most importantly of all, there is no easy
way to remove an incompetent monarch. Revolution is the only answer.
By the time of the series, it is
already too late to save the Empire.
Instead, the story focuses on the
people who struggle to keep some aspect of civilization alive. One group of Terran Marines is sent
out to battle insurgents on a world called Avalon, where they are effectively
abandoned as the final collapse begins. The Empire's Corps, No Worse Enemy, and Semper Fi follow them as they struggle to defeat the insurgents, face pirates scavenging
in the ruins of empire, and deal with another successor state rising from the ruins
to cast a baleful light over the galaxy. When The Bough Breaks goes back to Earth and charts the
final collapse of the planetary government and the end of Empire, despite all
the heroes can do to prevent it. The Outcast focuses on a trader
struggling to survive as interstellar trade slowly grinds to a halt,
threatening to bring down galactic civilization once and for all.
It is my intention to have the
even-numbered books following the Marines on Avalon and odd-numbered books
exploring different aspects of the universe. (Suggestions welcome.) I feel that
the stand-alone books add depth to the series, instead of just focusing on the
Marines (although When The Bough Breaks also features Marines, if on
Earth rather than Avalon).
The series has its own page on my site where you can download
samples (10+ chapters) of each book for free. And the Kindle books are
DRM-free!
All welcome!
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