The Viagens Interplanetarias series is a sequence of science fiction stories by L. Sprague de Camp, begun in the late 1940s and written under the influence of contemporary space opera and sword and planet stories, particularly Edgar Rice Burroughs's Martian novels. Set in the future in the 21st and 22nd centuries, the series is named for the quasi-public Terran agency portrayed as monopolizing interstellar travel, the Brazilian-dominated Viagens Interplanetarias ("Interplanetary Voyages" or "Interplanetary Tours" in Portuguese). It is also known as the Krishna series, as the majority of the stories belong to a sequence set on a fictional planet of that name. While de Camp started out as a science fiction writer and his early reputation was based on his short stories in the genre, the Viagens tales represent his only extended science fiction series.
The Viagens stories were written in two phases; the first, written between 1948 and 1953 and published between 1949 and 1958, was a burst of activity that produced the first four Krishna novels and most of the non-Krishna pieces, including all the short stories. The second, produced at a more deliberate pace from 1977–1992, comprised the remaining four Krishna novels and the two novels of the Kukulkan sequence. The early works established the setting of a cosmopolitan future interstellar civilization comprising both Terrans and a handful of other space-faring races who trade and squabble with each other while attempting to maintain a benign stewardship of the more primitive planetary societies with which they come into contact. The later works assumed but largely ignored this background, concentrating exclusively on the adventures of Terrans on the alien worlds of Krishna and Kukulkan.
The setting
The Viagens universe is not a picturesque backdrop for heroics, like those of de Camp's predecessors Edgar Rice Burroughs and E. E. "Doc" Smith, nor is it a carefully constructed and recounted future history like those of contemporaries Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Poul Anderson. Most of the stories take place in the 22nd century, after an initial period of exploration and diplomacy establishing the ground rules for interstellar commerce and contact, but before the higher civilization of the space-faring cultures has completely transformed those of the more primitive, planet-bound races. Given de Camp's view of even the most intelligent of beings as subject to the dictates of their instincts, emotions and self-interest, the Viagens universe represents a workable but decidedly imperfect future.
Just as de Camp attempted to do in the fantasy genre with his Pusadian stories for the Hyborian Age tales of Robert E. Howard, the Viagens tales represent both a tribute to contemporary space opera and sword and planet fiction and an attempt to "get them right", reconstructing the premises logically, without what he regarded as their technological, biological and anthropological absurdities. De Camp intended the stories as "pure entertainment in the form of light, humorous, swashbuckling, interplanetary adventure-romances - a sort of sophisticated Burroughs-type story, more carefully thought out than their prototypes."De Camp, L. Sprague. "The Krishna Stories " (Essay, in New Frontiers, v. 1, no. 1, Dec. 1959, page 3.) Thus he discarded such impossible but commonplace notions such as interfertility of human beings with humanoid alien races, civilizations possessing flying machines but no ground transport, bladed weapons and advanced gunnery coexisting in the same society, and faster than light travel.
De Camp did, however, underestimate the staggering impediments to even sub-light interstellar travel, assuming it would both be achieved quickly and soon develop into a relatively routine and comfortable system of commerce and travel linking nearby star-systems, much as sailing ships linked the early modern nations of Earth. He also assumed the parallel and convergent evolution of life on other worlds into types of higher multicellular lifeforms similar to those of Earth, and the ubiquity of intelligent life; thus his alien planets have both animal and plant life, with at least one species of animal life usually having achieved intelligence, and these alien intelligent species are in the main recognizably mammalian or reptilian.
The constraints adopted have definite implications on the stories told. An Earthman may fall in love with and wed an alien princess like Burroughs' John Carter of Mars does, but unlike Carter will never be able to found a dynasty. Nor will he be able to flit from Earth to the stars and back; an interstellar voyage takes months of subjective time and many years in objective time - as dictated by the time dilation of the Theory of relativity - rendering any decision to leave his own stellar system a difficult one, fraught with the consequences of being cut off from his friends, family and native culture for decades, during which they will age or develop much more than he will himself. De Camp somewhat mitigates the problem by postulating the development of longevity treatments that extend human lifespans to two centuries. Nonetheless, the effect is that space travel primarily attracts marginal and unattached members of society such as adventurers, entrepreneurs, con-men, utopian idealists, emigrants, and various admixtures thereof – or official representatives such as explorers, diplomats, and bureaucrats. Sterling, selfless heroes are in short supply.
The relative isolation of each star system from the others effectively precludes interstellar warfare, and the practical limitation of even extended lifespans limits the area of effective routine contact to nearby star systems. Within this region an Interplanetary Council regulates relations between the various civilizations.
Star systems and planets The main planets hosting intelligent life and their stars are Earth and Mars (Sol), Osiris, Isis and Thoth (Procyon), Krishna and Vishnu (Tau Ceti), Ormazd (Lalande 21185), and Kukulkan (Epsilon Eridani). These are the Terran designations; the local ones are rarely revealed. All are named for Terran gods because de Camp assumes that Terrans will have carried their penchant for naming planets after deities to other star systems, with each planetary system being named for a different pantheon – Egyptian for Procyon, Hindu for Tau Ceti, Persian for Lalande 21185, and Mesoamerican for Epsilon Eridani. (There is some confusion regarding the last of these; in addition to Kukulkan, another planet, Thor, is also stated to be a planet of Epsilon Eridani, though Thor belongs to a different pantheon from Kukulkan.) Some other planets are also occasionally mentioned in the series, and their inhabitants sometimes seen.
Terrans and the dinosaur-like natives of the planet Osiris are the main space-faring peoples; a third, the small, furry and bisexual natives of Thoth, a neighboring planet to Osiris, is dependent on Osirian technology. Pre-technological races include the humanoid inhabitants of Krishna and Ormazd, the ape-like and centaur-like inhabitants of Vishnu, and the multi-legged inhabitants of Thor. The dinosauroids of Kukulkan have steam-based technology.
Earth has Brazil as the most powerful nation after World War III greatly weakened the United States and destroyed the Soviet Union. Terran space travel is monopolized by the Brazilian-dominated Viagens Interplanetarias government agency. The planet is overpopulated and governed by a World Federation; Terrans have colonized Thor and Kukulkan, straining relations with the native inhabitants, and are responsible for maintaining a technological embargo against the primitive planets of Krishna and Vishnu in the Tau Ceti system.
Ganesha, in the same star system as Krishna, is occasionally described as inhabited, but its natives are otherwise never mentioned, and it is never visited in the series. In the short story "The Colorful Character," it is stated that no complete biological survey has ever been made of the planet.
Isis, in the same star system as Osiris, is inhabited by a trunked and multi-legged species described as resembling a cross between an elephant and a dachshund. Isidians are only occasionally encountered in the series.
Krishna, the setting for most of the stories, is a world similar to Earth, though its humanoid natives tend to be more impulsive and volatile. Their planet is drier than Earth, having no ocean or continents as such, but rather a worldwide landmass dotted with numerous seas and lakes. As a result, much of its area is composed of broad desert and steppe regions inhabited by nomads who periodically overwhelm and destroy the civilizations of the better-watered and more settled regions. Thus Krishnan civilization, while older than that of Earth by tens of thousands of years, has never progressed to a technological stage, having been forced to continually rebuild itself in the wake of repeated disasters. In the region of the Triple Seas, the planet's largest drainage area and the setting of all but one of the Krishna stories, the most recent disaster occurred over a thousand years prior to the contact era, when the Kalwmian Empire was destroyed and partially overrun by the Varastou people. At the time of the stories the Varastou nations themselves are similarly threatened by the nomads of Qaath. The presence of the Terrans with their superior technology complicates the situation. Despite the much-resented technological blockade, the local nations are beginning to develop their own technology after the Terran example, even as Terran culture undermines its customs and institutions. For instance, a railway network is slowly spreading around the Triple Seas, though the trains are pulled by elephantine local beasts rather than powered engines. The premier example of Krishnan adaptation is the island nation of Sotaspé, whose prince has established a patent system to encourage innovation.
Kukulkan is resource-poor, which along with the innate conservatism of its dinosauroid inhabitants inhibits its venerably ancient civilization from developing technologically. The natives do make limited use of steam power. It is partial colonized by Terrans, and there is periodic friction between the native states and Terran colonies.
Mars is a dry world with a thin atmosphere whose inhabitants, described as short and insect-like, are mentioned but not seen in the stories.
Ormazd is a world whose humanoid natives' unique biological traits have encouraged the development of hive societies similar to those of the social insects of Earth. Each is centered around a single ruling queen who alone can bear young, with a handful of males forming her harem and a host of sterile workers who make up the bulk of the population and perform all other societal roles. Contact with Terrans disrupts this system and leads to its overthrow.
Osiris is an arid world whose dinosauroid inhabitants are characterized as both sentimental and rapaciously capitalistic; they are also possessed of mind-controlling powers, generally referred to as "telepathic pseudohypnosis," against which other intelligent species must take special precautions.
Thor is another world subject to partial Terran colonization, which its bird-like natives resent and contest.
Thoth, in the same star system as Osiris, is a wet planet whose small, furry and bisexual natives are amoral and anarchic.
Vishnu, in the same star system as Krishna, is lush, tropical, and populated by two different intelligent species, both barbaric primitives in culture; the ape-like Romeli and the centaur-like Dzlieri.
Stories