💾 Archived View for soviet.circumlunar.space › markov › schismatrix-notes › 00-prologue.gmi captured on 2023-06-14 at 14:31:16. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Prologue

Attention Conservation Notice: Personal reading notes intended to prompt the author to finish reading the book.*

Summary

We meet Abelard Lindsay. Lindsay is living in the *Mare Serenitatis Circumlunar Corporate Republic* ("Republic") which, as the name suggests, is a colony orbiting Earth's moon. He is under house arrest after displeasing the Mechanist-friendly existing aristocratic regime. Lindsay founded and participates in the Preservationist movement. The Preservationists are rebelling against those currently in power.

The conflict between the Shapers and the Mechanists is introduced. This conflict occurs elsewhere in the galaxy; it is not isolated to the Republic. It has ideological and practical aspects. Mechanists augment their bodies with technology. Shapers augment their bodies with genetic modification and psychological practices.

At the end of the prologue, Lindsay is involved in a further act of rebellion. He is exiled from the Republic.``{=html}

Notes

Philip Constantine is Lindsay's best friend and fellow Preservationist. He is allowed to stay in the Republic because he maintains essential infrastructure in the Republic.

Commentary

For my taste, this feels a bit overwrought. Chapter 1 is much more satisfying than the Prologue.