Saga of Recluce: Difference between revisions

 

The 16 books of the series describe the changing, often confrontational, relationship between the [[Ancient Astronauts|genetic descendants of two technologically advanced cultures]], representatives of which have been marooned on a sparsely inhabited planet and regressed to the level of the existing inhabitants' primitive technology. Themes of gender stereotyping, prejudice, ethics, economics, environmentalism and politics are explored in the course of the series, which examines the world through the eyes of all its main characters.

 

Modesitt's fantasy novels are known for their [[Magic A Is Magic A|unusually rigorous system of magic]], in contrast to typical fantasy universes where magic is ill-defined. Within the Recluce universe, magic is manifest as a person's ability to harness the natural order or chaos inherent in matter. The feats of magic that are possible rely on the user's understanding not only of order or chaos, but in the interaction between the two and how they occur in balance in nature. Modesitt is unusual in fantasy writing in that he shows how the use of order and chaos affects all aspects of society. For example, his order wizards have jobs—they are carpenters, coopers, smiths, and engineers—all areas where order gives an added understanding. The chaos wizards are mostly enforcers, but can take on tasks like road-building when it is in their interest.

* [[Anachronic Order]]: If you read the books in order of their release, you'll be jumping back and forth from past, to future, and back, many times before you're done.

* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]/[[Light Is Not Good]]: The "black" mages are the ones who use order, and are unable to do violence or kill without suffering painful headaches and blindness. Meanwhile, the "white" chaos wielders can pretty much be guaranteed to be the villains of the story.

* [[Magic A Is Magic A]]: The rules of what can be done with order and chaos magic ''are'' rigorously defined, and the author seldom breaks his own rules.

** New variations of the magic seen in subsequent books often focus more on deeper understandings of how the two forces interact and combine, often verging on what appears to be a magical variant of molecular physics.

* [[Medieval Stasis]]: Averted in some respects, played straight in others. The books span more than 1,500 years of history, and while there is progress in some respects — steam engines, firearms — in other respects, society and technology are ''exactly'' the same in the final story as they were in the first.

** There's a good reason for said stasis in this case. Much like how the ancient Greeks had invented a steam engine but never really found a purpose for it because they had slaves to do most of the work, the mages in the world of Recluce get by just fine on magic, somewhat obviating the need for technological development. And considering the way some bits of technology affect the balance, there's actually kind of a disincentive to develop anything really complex.

** Further, there are extremely practical reasons that certain advances we made in technology cannot be used. Firearms, for example, could be disastrous from a tactical standpoint when one relatively weak chaos user (not necessarily even powerful enough to call them a mage) could heat the gunpowder, and internal combustion engines generate raw chaos which is much more powerful in the universe of Recluse than ours. There's a reason that most technology that actually get used requires black Order-imbued iron, and using too much of that creates Chaos concentrations elsewhere in the world. A major criticism of Recluse is that their over-concentration of Order is responsible for the constant war and other social evils of Candar.

* [[Order Versus Chaos]]: The driving force of the stories; an emphasis is placed on finding a balance.

* [[The Red Mage]]: Some mages are capable of tapping into both order and chaos, and are called "gray" mages, or druids. They generally are more powerful than all-black or all-white. The only two white mage main characters in the novels, Lorn and Cerryl, are both actually grey - they can both wield order powers.

** The incomprehensible textbook for white mages points out that you'll just blow yourself up with pure chaos. All chaos mages use order to channel their chaos. This doesn't make them grey in the same way the druids are grey.

 

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