Talk:Childe Cycle

Like to help

I've got some input on this, based on personal communication with Dickson, back in the days when I was 1/3rd of the Exotic Irregulars. I'm new here. How does one go about editing this in and identifying the source. (goodston@well.com)

See WP:FOOT or Help:Footnotes for information on how to use footnotes. I would guess you'd say something like "Personal interview with Gordon R. Dickson by <insert name> here" for the reference. crazyeddie 04:38, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Younger worlds list

from my copy of final encyclopedia, for inclusion in the article later. crazyeddie 11:00, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

• Fomalhaut
  • Dorsai - Dorsai (military courage)

• Altair
  • Dunnin's World - Fishermen

• Alpha Centauri
  • Newton - Hard Sciences
  • Cassida - Technocrats

• Sol
  • Venus - Hard Science
  • Old Earth
  • Mars

• Procyon
  • Mara
  • Kultis - Extoic
  • Ste. Marie - Farmers, Religious
  • Coby - Mining

• Sirius
  • New Earth
  • Freiland

• Epsilon Eridani
  • Association - Friendly (Religious)
  • Harmony- Friendly (Religious)

• Tau Ceti
  • Ceta - Merchants, business

Not sure this was added elsewhere -- The (dead) body of Paul Formain in Necromancer is animated by the mind of Donal Graeme who has returned through time to start the break-up of the human race. [It becomes clear that Donal is doing a _lot_ behind the scenes in many of the books!]

Working on the article

I'm working on fleshing out the article and, hopefully, adding entries for the red-linked books. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please leave them here or on my talk page. -- Fan1967 17:46, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Things to check

• Given the book-selling nature of their occupation, the Childe Cycle focuses mainly on their exploits, to the extent that the Cycle is sometimes called the "Dorsai series". This sounds a little like a veiled criticism of the book.
• I changed the bit which said the Exotics were "pacifistic" into "peaceful". I think it's a mistake to think the Exotics were pacifists. It's been some years since I read the books, but there is one where an Exotic (Mentor, I beleive) tells a Dorsai that the reason why they avoided physical conflict -- or contracted others to deal with it -- was that they felt it distracted them from their intellectual exploits. I think it was in Tactics of Mistake.
• I would remove the word "fanaticism" from the description of the Friendlies. In Soldier, Ask Not, Dickson is clearly sympathetic towards them, and tries to convince the reader that the fanatics were not representative of the whole Friendly culture (contrast Jamethon Black with Tam Olyn!) Although I wouldn't word it as crudely as Friendlies can be true faith-holders, or they can be fanatics. The difference, according to the Cycle, is that true faith-holders are guided by their faith, while fanatics use their faith to justify their actions.
• I also wonder where the following came from. The Friendly homeworlds experience continual sectarian civil war. I don't recall reading this, though it could have been in one of the later books which I haven't read. FilipeS

• Comments:

1. I'd say lose the first phrase. Maybe something more like, "Due to their prominence in the series".
2. Needs rewording entirely. They're not pacifists, just don't engage in violence themselves. True pacifists, or even truly peaceful people, don't hire mercenaries.
3. Again, some rewording necessary. The Friendlies as a culture are not fanatics, but fanatacism is present, like the guy who kills Tam Olyn's brother-in-law.
4. That line might have been mine, and is overstated. There are references in Final Encyclopedia (and I think in a couple of the earlier books) to regular doctrinal squabbles, but "civil war" is definitely wrong. Fan-1967 00:02, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
5. Even 'peaceful' might not be an accurate description of the Exotics. Towards the end of 'Soldier, Ask Not' Padma, the Exotic, says "We hire soldiers to fight for us not because of some moral commandment, but because our emotional perspective is lost if we become involved." [[User:fudgerider|fudgerider] 7-August-2024 — Preceding undated comment added 18:15, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

Dorsai!

Added a separate page for the existing book. It's been a while since I've read it and I don't have a copy, so someone should probably go over and check/expand the page. --T. Mazzei 20:54, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Potential sources

I've collected several sources that might be useful for article improvements, in case anyone else gets to it before I do. Schazjmd (talk) 23:42, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

References

Thanks, that's great. I added two of them to article. Another only mentioned the Childe Cycle in passing (Morris), and I couldn't get access to the full text of three of the remaining three, but this should be fine. Ideally I or someone should go through and add sources for text in the article. Except for stuff that's only in the essay in "Steel Brother", which isn't readily available, sigh. Dan Bloch (talk) 06:23, 5 December 2022 (UTC)