''Orion Shall Rise'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novel by American writer

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson ( ; November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until his death in 2001. Anderson also wrote historical novels. He won the Hugo Award seven times an ...

, published in 1983. It is part of his

Maurai The Maurai series is a series of short stories and a novel by Poul Anderson set in a resource depleted, post-apocalyptic earth several centuries in the future. The series is named after its most frequent protagonists, citizens of the Maurai Fede ...

series.

Premise

The novel is set several hundred years after a devastating nuclear war which has pushed back the level of technology. The action focuses on four societies: * The Northwest Union, a technological, clan-based society in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

of North America * The Five Nations of the Mong, a feudal society in the center of North America, where an elite descended from post-war Russian, Chinese and Mongol invaders rules over a serf class descended from American citizens. * The Maurai Federation, an ecotopian society in the Pacific, dominated by the

peoples of N'Zealann. * The Domain of Skyholm, a class-based European society located in France, the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, and the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

dominated by an ancient pre-war

dirigible An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat ( lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding ...

aerostat An aerostat (, via French) or lighter-than-air aircraft is an aircraft that relies on buoyancy to maintain flight. Aerostats include unpowered balloons (free-flying or tethered) and powered airships. The relative density of an aerostat as a ...

. The aerostat is of the STARS type (Solar Thermal Aerostat Research Station), first described in 1980. Other nations mentioned include Angleylann, divided into small statelets including

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, Italya, the confederation of the Alemanns in central Europe, the Zheneralship of Espanya in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, Corodo and Meyco to the south of the Northwest Union. Brief mention is made of Benghal, part of the Brahmard confederacy mentioned in other Maurai stories, and an extremely patriarchal society located in Khorasan. The novel follows a group of characters as they navigate tensions between several of the nations. The title derives from the Orion project, which one of the factions intends to resurrect. The world depicted is full of historical paradoxes and apparent anachronisms, due to unequal economic and technological development in various regions and continents, and the inability of the resource-depleted world to fully use technologies which were retained or re-discovered. * France is ruled by an English-speaking aristocracy - a precise mirror image of the situation of England after the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. * The Skyholm aristocrats in France are feudal lords on the ground, and at the same time fly supersonic planes in the air. * France has a feudal society like in the Middle Ages, and faces across the Rhine a Germany inhabited by barbarian tribes, as in the time of the Roman Empire. * The Maurai Federation, a powerful maritime empire presided over by a Constitutional Queen, recalls the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

under

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

- but the Maurai Polynesian sexual mores are the very opposite of

Victorian morality Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of the middle class in 19th-century Britain, the Victorian era. Victorian values emerged in all social classes and reached all facets of Victorian living. The values of the period—which ...

. * The Northwest Union, like

Weimar Germany The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, secretly builds weapons which were forbidden after its defeat in a previous war - and comes up with 19th Century style ironclads equipped with

nuclear bombs A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explo ...

References

External links

* 1983 American novels Novels by Poul Anderson American science fiction novels American post-apocalyptic novels Phantasia Press books Fiction about airships 1983 science fiction novels {{1980s-sf-novel-stub