Publisher's summary[]
For Humanity, the War is over...
We all remember Resurrection Day. Even now, three centuries later, we cannot forget that awakening: our bewilderment, our terror and our joy. Each of us had experienced death, imagining ourselves bound for oblivion, Heaven or Nirvana, according to taste. Instead, we found, each member of the many human species -- from tool-wielding australopithecines to posthuman philosopher-gods -- had been harvested, gathered here by the Founders’ unfathomable technologies.
Reborn in our countless immortal bodies, we were given the freedom of the City of the Saved. A single conurbation as broad as a spiral galaxy, she has been our sanctuary from the ravages of the War. That monstrous conflict between inhuman cultures cannot touch us here: we live our afterlives beyond the end of time, in perfect safety.
We may be certain, therefore, that these rumours of a murder (the brutal stabbing of a City Councillor, no less!) are nothing more than lurid fabrications. The supposition that the murder weapon is missing, or that it could have been -- as hysterical conjecture has claimed -- a "potent weapon," capable of injuring a Citizen within the haven of the City, is equally absurd. The idea that a guerrilla war has already begun in one of our less harmonious enclaves need not be dignified with refutation.
Please go about your business, Citizens, as normal. We are perfectly safe, here in the City. Humanity has never been safer.
Of the City of the Saved... is not a novel of violence and political intrigue, set against the backdrop of humanity’s last resting-place. There is no evidence that it is the second in the series of original Faction Paradox novels.
Characters[]
Tobin[]
- Compassion V / Civitata
- Laura Tobin
- Vice Vera
- Godfather Avatar
- A fetch
- Compassion III
- Gally Redcross
- Big Finish Benny
- Compassion II
- Compassion IV
Julian[]
- Julian White Mammoth Tusk
- G4Granddad Crouch
- A Sherlock Holmes
- Cllr Mesh Cos
- Lon Shel
- Troffi
- Cllr Voscht
- Parqué
- Cllr Wen
- Joey Gilgamesh
- Marag
- UniMac
- Keert Lammaste
- Huang Zhe
Urbanus[]
- Lucillius Urbanus Ignotus
- Cllr Lucius Cassius Ignotus
- Mrs Bladderwrack
- Hettie Bladderwrack
- Skray
- Priscilla
- A cinematic Remake Spartacus
- Korth
- Prato
- Quintus
Anthony Fisher[]
- Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus / Anthony Fisher
- Camilla
- Prof. Isichei
- Cllr Giuliani
- Cllr Angstrom Hive
- Cllr Brindled Wolf
Ludmilla[]
- Ludmilla
- Master Decimuses
- Cook
- Jemily
Allisheer St Marx[]
- Cllr Prof. Allisheer St Marx
- Prof. Handramit
Rick Kithred[]
- Philip Kindred Dick / Rick Kithred
- Bloch
- Martha Joan SwarmLeader
Tiresias[]
- Tiresias / Keth Marrane
Melicia Clutterbuck[]
- Prof. Melicia Clutterbuck
- Loke
- Yspe
- Diarmuid
- Jicks
- Peter
- Kathka
- Jorre
Cousin Porsena[]
- Cousin Porsena / Vedular Ormazd Mostyn
- Little Sister Eliza
- Father Self
- Mother Lavelle
- Cousin Antipathy
- Father Stendec
- Godmother Quelch
- Little Sibling Pinocchio
- Mother Melby
Gnas Gortine[]
- Gnas Gortine
- Krest Ivarre
- Priske
- Tythe
Dedalus[]
- Dedalus
- Sosimus
- Centurion Tyrannosaurus
- Albus
Little Brother Edward[]
- Little Brother Edward
- Mother Twain
- Nina Gutierrez
- Monica Gutierrez
- Martha Gutierrez
- Carlos Gutierrez
Kyme Janute[]
- Delegate Kyme Janute
- Hent Gortine
Compassion III[]
- G. B. Shaw
- Resident Kane
- Music Fabricator Nekni Vass
- Woody
- Chad Vandemeer / Cousin Berle
Other[]
- Kassandra
- General Scipio Africanus
- Lief
- Catriona
- Krish
- Gaius Cassius Ignotus
- Calpurnia
- Septimus Rufus
- Livilla
- Gaius Livius Sulla
- To Har
- Mod Kale
- U Plest
- Dr Lewu St Marx
- Citizen Sharp
- Ellen Thirteeno
- Gloria Gloria
- Godmother Jezebel
- Godfather Lo
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin / Pope Peter
- Vril
- Cllr Techotlala
- Mother Vittoria Cellini
- The Prof
- Scholar Emblem Matchmark
- Rev. Charles Dodgson
- Lewis Carroll
- Polycrates
- Dr Konrad Lorenz
- Krisztina-Judit Németh
- Ajiel Soto:Carm
- Alan Turing
- Persval Sejwyk
- K~
- Omicron Cwej
- Yola Kaka
- Sherman "The Tank" Cwej
- W. T. P. Saunders
- Trish
- Father Tesla
- Shokendorot
- Ans genTang
- Elvis Aron Presley
References[]
- Robert Graves' I, Claudius
- Doctor Who
- Sherlock Holmes
- Elvis Presley
- Lonely Planet Guides
- Near the end of the Universe, House Mirraflex wipes out the last surviving humans.
- Manfolk were created by Antipathy.
- Remakes were created by Citizen Sharp.
- Quaxis III is an agricultural world populated by low-gravity post-human adapts.
- Erath conceals the Downtime Gate.
- Anul is the moon of Erath.
- Great Parks in the City include RealSpace, Thule Marine Park, Oakhay Dustbowl Park, and Mappamundi Great Park.
- The Car Park contains the following vehicles: stagecoaches, Steam-trains, flying carpets, biplanes, monorails, moledelvers, dog-carts, dingy, agee discs, in-comb cars, a-voiders, penny-farthings, chariots, an aircraft carrier, amphibious tanks, donkeybots, tractors, timecars, ornithopters, hang-gliders, paddle-steamers, rockets, fighters, shuttlecraft, broomsticks, sleds, aircraft, traction engines, hovermopeds, harness-wings, float, coffin-capsules, raft, wallcrawlers, juggernauts, metallipedes, a generation starship, junks, schooners, hypertransports, tunnellers, pagoda-pods, kayaks, airliners, skateboards, chronic jaunting trousers, skis, steam-powered elephants, land ironclads, perambulators, seven-league boots, flying saucers, traffic-stalkers, nuclear submarines and railway pumping trolleys.
- Given that the City is inhabited by everyone of human or mostly human genetic heritage, people who were cloned (through time travel, mundane cloning technology or Remembrance Tanks and so forth) are there in however many clones were created. There are five versions of Laura Tobin/Compassion in the City, for example. The original Laura is a detective and one of the main characters, while Compassion three is a media reviewer. Compassion five is the Timeship but no one knows where she is, except for Laura and a few select others. There are multiple Elvis Presleys (some of whom are responsible for the sightings of Elvis after his death) and Sherlock Holmeses (most of whom work for "the Great Detective Agency").
Notes[]
- The publisher identifies this as a stand-alone novel that takes place in the Faction Paradox Universe.
- Edited by Lawrence Miles
Continuity[]
- The Book of the War gives additional information about the City and its inhabitants, such as Grandfather Halfling.
