Terra Ignota is a quartet of science fiction and philosophical novels by the American author Ada Palmer. The series consists of Too Like the Lightning (2016), Seven Surrenders (2017), The Will to Battle (2017), and Perhaps the Stars (2021). After three centuries of a global near-utopia, a minor crime and a miracle child begin to unravel the social system and lead the world to technologically advanced total war. The first three books cover the events leading up to the war and the final book covers the war itself. The novels have won several awards, including a 2017 Compton Crook Award. The first novel was a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the series as a whole was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series.
Setting Set in the year 2454, the Earth of Terra Ignota has seen several centuries of near-total peace and prosperity. Technology is very advanced. Food can be synthesized. The workweek is 20 hours, but vocateurs, or vokers, voluntarily work much more because they love what they do. Everyone is publicly gender neutral, using they/them pronouns. Families are no longer nuclear, but are organized into co-housing collectives called bash'houses. Religion is legally restricted to private counseling relationships or sanctuary reservations. Surveillance is universal; individuals are equipped with personal tracker devices which allow for telecommunication and record a person's whereabouts (as the name suggests), but these can be switched off. Criminals are sentenced to indentured servitude to repay their debt to society; there is no death penalty. This peace and plenty is delicately maintained by the relationships among a small cadre of world leaders.
However, there are still tensions among political groups, such as distribution of land, citizens, and income. The question of "set-sets", people whose nervous systems have been rewired to interface with computers, has caused riots in the recent past. Nurturists are people who believe that set-set creation is cruel and should be banned, since they are cultivated as non-consenting children and are not able to change, grow, or interface normally with life.
Hives Following the invention of flying cars and a series of religious wars known as the Church Wars, the 22nd century saw the end of the geographic nation state. Replacing this was a series of Universal Laws and a group of Hives, non-geographical nations with voluntary citizenship. Each Hive has its own legal system, government, language, manner of dress, and capital city. By the year 2454, there are seven Hives, as well as three groups of Hiveless. All minors are Graylaw Hiveless until they pass their Adult Competency Exam and declare an allegiance. Bash'houses can include people from multiple Hives or all from the same Hive.
+GroupCapital CityHive LanguageGovernmental StructureNotesThe HumanistsBuenos AiresSpanishFlexible-Constitution DemocracyPower is proportional to the amount of the vote received. For example, in times of crisis, power concentrates in a president, who might have more than half the voting power, whereas in more stable times it might be spread among a ruling council.
Humanists believe in the power of individual achievement, and were formed by the merger of the sport-dedicated Olympic Hive and theater-dedicated World Stage.
Humanists wear individualised boots, whose soles can imprint their individual signature on the ground when they step. Colors: Rainbow.The CousinsCasablancaEnglishBoard of Trustees and Suggestion BoxOriginally an international group of volunteers who provided welcoming accommodations to travelers, the Cousins continue to be a community of good Samaritans, their chair being responsible for the Servicer program, and their laws banning the use of recreational drugs and prostitution. Most are Nurturists who oppose the creation of set-sets. The poorest of the Hives. Cousins wear a wrap. Mycroft assigns all Cousins except Carlyle 'she' pronouns. Colors: Blue and white.Masonic EmpireAlexandriaMasonic neo-LatinNonhereditary absolute monarchyLegend says that the Masonic Empire is descended from Masonic lodges, and the air of mystery gives the Imperium an aura of strength. The successor is kept absolutely secret as is the Oath of Office. Each Emperor can add or change three words of the Oath during their reign. Masons wear suits, frequently with different coloured arms or armbands to symbolise status. GordianIngolstadtGermanBrain Bash' and corporate BoardThe Gordian corporation was named for the sword which cut through the mythical knot. It slowly merged with the Brillist Institute, an academic institution founded by revolutionary psychologist Adolf Richter Brill. The leadership of Gordian is chosen by the institute.
Gordians wear sweaters with patterns that indicate their personality traits. Colors: Black, red, gold.EuropeBrusselsFrenchNational Parliamentary DemocracyThe EU of the series represents those who still value ethnic/national identity, even beyond the European continent. Colors: Blue and gold.MitsubishiTōgenkyō (in Indonesia)None (Japanese)Shareholder Democracy (Corporate Timocracy)Mitsubishi members value land ownership, and are allocated additional shares based on ownership of land, apartments, or factories. The Greenpeace Hive controlled most of the world's wild areas before their merger with Mitsubishi. Indonesia was chosen as the location of the capital as a compromise between the Hive's three major nation-strats, Japan, Korea, and China. Mitsubishis wear clothing that changes with the season. Colors: Red, white, green.UtopiaLuna City (on the Moon)None (English/U-speak)Overlapping "Constellations" of working groups/teamsFull of genius vocateurs who invent things constantly, Utopia is the richest of the Hives. Utopians wear coats and visors of Griffincloth, a digital material that is programmed to display an alternative view of the world behind it based on the interests of the wearer; for example, as though the surroundings were a space station. When a Utopian dies every Utopian coat turns to static for as many seconds as the dead lost years.
The Universal Free Alliance Senate All the Hives and Hiveless participate in the global Universal Free Alliance Senate, headquartered in the world capital of Romanova. A large section of its Universal Law Code is presented in chapter five of The Will To Battle. The Senate is composed of two hundred Senators, including representatives from the Hiveless (who can veto) and Minors (who can speak but not vote).
The Senate can send Orders to Alliance departments including the court, the Sensayers' Conclave, the Censor's Office, the Commissioner General and their police, the Housing Board, and the Archive.
The Six-Hive Transport System The Six-Hive Transport System is a global network of flying cars, the primary mode of transportation in the series. They are fast enough to circle the globe in less than 4.2 hours, made possible by Cartesian set-sets. Mukta was the prototype car made in 2073 and now resides in the Saneer-Weeksbooth home.
Utopia operates its own car system, separate to the primary one used in the series. The Utopian system is slightly slower than the primary one, but has 100% fewer accidents.
Hiveless Since Hive citizenship is voluntary, it must also be possible to be a member of no hive. As such, there are a set of minimum laws that govern all humanity known as the Black Laws. These laws primarily prohibit actions that will result in significant loss of human life or destruction of natural resources, harm a minor, or deprive an individual of the ability to call for help via trackers. Blacklaw Tribunes, the representatives of those without a Hive, have a veto power on any new Black Laws proposed. An additional set of Consensus Laws, known as Gray Laws, reflect reasonable laws frequently recommended to preserve common peace, and ban destructive behaviours such as violence, theft, and exploitation. These laws apply to Minors and those without mental facilities to give informed consent to opt out. Above these is a set of Character Laws known as White Laws, which are used by those that believe that restrictive laws are conducive to moral behaviour, and ban recreational substances and violence, and certain sexual activities. Any adult not a member of a Hive can choose which set of laws they wish to follow and be protected by.
GroupCapital CityNotesBlacklaw HivelessHobbestownAll humans must follow the eight Universal Laws. Blacklaw Hiveless choose to follow no more. Hobbestown also holds Eight Customs a.k.a. Natural Laws. Further, it's expected that before committing any serious action, a Blacklaw will consult the Rumormonger, who is the best informed person in the city, for advice. Blacklaws wear a black sash.Graylaw HivelessBy default, all Minors are Graylaws until they pass their Adult Competency Exam and choose otherwise. Graylaws follow the Black Laws, plus an additional set of "Consensus Laws".
Graylaws wear a gray sash.Whitelaw HivelessWhitelaw Hiveless follow all Black Laws and Gray Laws, plus an additional set of "Characters Laws". Whitelaws wear a white sash.
Style and influence The series is science-fiction, but is written as a history and memoir, with significant sections of philosophical, religious, and political treatise.
Each book starts with an in-fiction internal title page of authorizations, disclaimers and trigger warnings. Palmer explained in an interview that French books of the Ancien Régime period listed the authorities having approved them for censorship purposes, and that such lists provide insights as to the preoccupations and priorities of the society in which they were published.
The majority of the chapters are written in a neo-Enlightenment style, because an influential in-fiction subculture has revived 18th century European clothing, society, and language. Palmer felt there is a particular "emotional experience" when one reads this kind of book, and so adopted the style herself, to further the revival of the eighteenth century in the futuristic world of the series. Palmer has stated that "a number of the major themes come from Enlightenment literature: whether humans have the ability to rationally remake their world for the better, whether gender and morality are artificial or innate, whether Providence is a useful way to understand the world and if so what ethics we can develop to go with it." European philosophers such as Voltaire, Thomas Hobbes, and the Marquis de Sade are significant to the text and its characters. Additional influence can be felt from Greek epics such as The Iliad and The Odyssey, such as extended metaphor and Mycroft's own odyssey in the Mediterranean Sea during Perhaps the Stars.
The primary, and unreliable, narrator of the series is Mycroft Canner, a member of the Servicer program for convicted but paroled criminals. Many of the events are described from Mycroft's point of view, but he also describes some events that he was not directly present for, but which have been relayed to him by others, or which he witnessed through another character's tracker; he also admits to imagining some scenes, in keeping with the intimate narrative voice used throughout the novel. There are occasional "interludes" by other narrators and sections which have been added by later in-universe editors and revisers, such as Sniper's chapter in Seven Surrenders. Beginning in the third book, Mycroft's grasp of reality significantly loosens and he begins to relay dialogue between himself, his imagined reader, and historical or fictional persons.