The D-virus (I'm sorry, my books are upstairs and I'm sore from running 5 miles) on that planet...I wonder if it was Volescu that designed it, because I remember reading the Ender series and someone said that whoever designed it must've had some kind of sick humor. I dunno.
Also...in one of the Shadow books, Bean wondered if his story would ever be told. I hope someone writes his book...The Giant. I don't know.
Sorry, I'm obviously not thinking clearly, and I apologize for the poor syntactical structures.
Creepy office space guy: "Um....yeaaaah."
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
Heck, I thought the whole Shadow series WAS Bean's book. It was meant to be a joke between me and the reader ...
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
And does anybody really want more of Volescu? There are so many like him in the real world ... not so much a villain as an amoral guy who doesn't care who gets hurt on his way to greatness. Is he interesting enough to use him again?
I just don't want to do the kind of series where the same five people do EVERYTHING.
Posted by Verai (Member # 7507) on :
I think one could manage to mold that concept into something interesting.
One thing I noticed is that (I apologize for my spelling), Volescu and Viralomi both start with "V" - I had considered Volescu a main character, which would violate the rule of naming two main characters with the same first letter.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
We know from Children of the Mind that the Descolada was designed by an alien race. Volescu could not have had anything to do with it because, it infected and killed or altered all life on Lusitania long before Volescu was born.
And no, we don't need more Volescu. I'm not sure why so many Enderverse fans want everything to be connected in a very small circle of characters and events. Isn't it better to let OSC expand the story, rather than have every problem be solved by going 'outside', and have every genetic problem to a product of Volescu, or have every Chinese person in the future be a descendent of Han Tzu, etc.?
[ April 04, 2005, 01:03 AM: Message edited by: neo-dragon ]
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
Yeah, that would be almost as bad as, say, one character named Peter and another one Petra. Posted by Verai (Member # 7507) on :
Dang, I missed the most obvious one ever.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Well it's not like he knew that the story would progress in such a way that Peter and Petra would both be major characters, way back when he named them in Ender's Game. I know that you're just teasing though Posted by Syrjay (Member # 7706) on :
spoilers - read at your own risk
quote: We know from Children of the Mind that the Descolada was designed by an alien race.
I was wondering if OSC would go with the idea that Bean is alien and so are his children. This leads us to Achilles II being alien and creating the D-train virus. I hope not though as I do not like having one group of people be the catalyst to all major actions. It was a hard enough for me to take Peter marrying Petra and having children. Dink, Achilles, Bean, and Peter all loved this one woman. Helen of Troy had nothing on her!
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
quote: We know from Children of the Mind that the Descolada was designed by an alien race.
Actually, we don't know that they designed it any more than we designed our own pheremones, brain waves, or languages.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Well, they are the source of it, in any case.
Posted by Nomolos (Member # 7703) on :
I think it would be cool to see Ender and Bean join up and have to hunt for Archilles II.
Maybe get in a battle in space with him or something..
That could be a side plot maybe...
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote: We know from Children of the Mind that the Descolada was designed by an alien race. Volescu could not have had anything to do with it because, it infected and killed or altered all life on Lusitania long before Volescu was born.
No, we don't. We know the descolada was designed by a race that seemed incredibly alien, but which we never actually saw in the books. We also don't really know the timeframe of the descolada, although the piggies' histories certainly suggest that it had been at least a thousand years.
And to be honest, I found Volescu way more interesting than Achilles, because -- despite the way Card describes his own character, above -- Volescu comes off as a bit of a mad visionary. He wants to improve the human race, after all, and has convinced himself that this should be done regardless of their own opinions on the subject. This is a bit less pedestrian than Achilles' own motivation, which was mainly insecurity.
I'm not particularly interested in learning that the descoladores are in fact products of Volescu's genius -- as Card points out, it seems odd to make every single event in the galaxy a product of the same handful of people -- but I think it's exactly the kind of project he'd engage in. And I'm sure he would have been fascinated enough by it to assist. And since the odds of his stumbling across them are vanishingly small, it wouldn't be unreasonable to make him their creator.
[ April 04, 2005, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by TrapperKeeper (Member # 7680) on :
No, I'd feel best if volescu dropped of the face of the fictitous Earth.
It would be too much of a coincidence, even for a Sci-Fi book, if these same characters keep coming together and effecting each others lives even 3,000 years in the future.
Not only that, but it would just make me as a reader groan to see his name come up in an Ender book and would require much less imagination than designing an entirely new alien culture which the Humans have to negotiate a relationship with.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Well, I've been thinking about this, and I wonder if it wouldn't in fact be rather interesting to have a human-designed culture -- especially a culture designed by someone hoping to better humanity -- wind up being the one truly varelse and alien culture encountered by humans. Posted by TrapperKeeper (Member # 7680) on :
Fine. As long as Volescu isnt the one responsible. Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
quote:We know the descolada was designed by a race that seemed incredibly alien, but which we never actually saw in the books. We also don't really know the time frame of the descolada, although the piggies' histories certainly suggest that it had been at least a thousand years.
We are given a sort of time line when Ela talks to Andrew about when she thinks her natural disaster must have occurred. True, that's not fixed, but I think there's a lot of things in the books that point to significantly longer than 1000 years. The fact that all the piggies across the planet have this similar culture based on radical change would suggest that it's been a while since that change, the number of forests and tress and stories of battles. The one thing that supports the 1000 year range is the mention of a story that still exists simply through aural tradition that probably refers to the coming of the disease. The one thing is though, that there's no record of fossils that any human finds that are unnatural and thus become noticed. True, there's not a lot of digging and doubtful that there's any archaeologists, but even if just digging for a house, or in the mines that are referenced in Speaker, there's no mention of fossils of other creatures.
I agree that's it's possible that it came in the last 3000 years though I guess.
Hobbes Posted by Sid Meier (Member # 6965) on :
*************SPOILER****************
quote: No, I'd feel best if volescu dropped of the face of the fictitous Earth.
HE WAS! He was sent on a colony ship remember? at the end of SotG. Since the IF new he'ld still be useful in studying alien fauna. What makes you not think that as he travels from world to world studying fauna that Starways congress gets him and creates the path OCD thingy.
Posted by TrapperKeeper (Member # 7680) on :
Hmm. Thats right. Good call Sid. Well, maybe the idea is starting to grow on me. Perhaps he would have a hand in it. Like perhaps you see a hand in some of the battle school grads who were shipped off to various colony worlds that adopted their way of life.
Maybe volescue succeeded in creating such an advanced form of intelligent life that its no longer human at all. And I still would hope that volescu would be long gone and all they find is the remains of that ship.
Posted by FormerlyEmpty (Member # 7717) on :
MAYBE: 1) Volescu had nothing to do with the D-virus for many reasons, the most important of which is I said so. 2) Bean was really J. Edgar Hoover... it could happen. 3) Petra got soo much play does that make her a whore, or just attractive and awesome? 4) Children aren't the future. Maybe we die right now. Hey I just said MAYBE.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Oh, yeah, I never figured he'd be alive to see the results.
Posted by Suri-cool (Member # 7599) on :
Well I love making connections between books, but I just hate Valescu. Pardon the spelling. I just like to wring his throat like Bean was gonna do.
Posted by riddleperson (Member # 4092) on :
NOOO, I don't want anymore of V-Villain. I was dreading it, actually. I think of the silliest things during running.
Yeah, I admit I'm an oblivious person. Not that I don't appreciate sublety.
I want to see Bean meet Ender's family on Lusitania. Or something. (again, no subtlety at all. i'm not even sure i spelled that right.)
Posted by CRash (Member # 7754) on :
I don't think Volescu is necessary for another book. He's done quite enough, in my opinion. Besides, he's boring now. We've got him all villained-out. I like having new characters to consider.
And I'd also go with riddleperson on wanting to see Bean meet Ender's family. But not immediately after CotM. Give it a few years. It would just be so sad if, after travelling in space for hundreds of years, separated from everything and everyone, Bean misses Ender by a mere couple of days. Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"He's done quite enough, in my opinion. Besides, he's boring now. We've got him all villained-out."
See, I found him boring before. As the long-dead parent of a dangerous alien race of ideologues, I find him somewhat intriguing. Posted by CRash (Member # 7754) on :
Hmm...interesting point, but I'd replace "somewhat intriguing" with "a horribly strange and bizarre coincidence". Call me a sf freak, but the more utterly unknown alien races, the better. Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Yeah, I'm also wondering what Petra looks like. Is she really hot, or is it just that she's smarter than all the guys that makes her irresistable. Or is it that she's the only girl they know.
Also, I think it would be cool if Bean and Ender meet up as adults, but instead of joining forces they arm wrestle....to the death! No? OK.
Posted by Sid Meier (Member # 6965) on :
Yay I had a good idea yay! Posted by Avin (Member # 7751) on :
You know, from pretty much the moment I heard about a crossover novel between the Shadow series and the Speaker series, I had a few different theories, which SOTG pretty much strengthened.
My primary idea was that Bean or his descendents either created the Descolada themselves, since Bean raised his kids to think they had no hope coming from Volescu's attempt to find a cure, and so started doing experiments themselves, or found the Descoladores if they truly were an alien species all BEFORE the events of Speaker for the Dead. They may or may not have had part in spreading the Descolada to other planets. I was not assuming Bean's children would necessarily value human or other alien life, because if Bean died while his kids were still somewhat young, maybe they would not have had those values instilled and therefore become angry at the curse they suffer because of humanity's experiments.
The idea of Volescu having to do with anything never occurred to me until I read this thread. I suppose I assumed he essentially dropped out of the story at the end of SOTG.
Posted by zyrs (Member # 9897) on :
I have my own theories on how contact is made in a crossover book.
***warning - spoilers for Children of the mind***
While Peter and Wang Mu are on the ship getting the Little Doctor disabled Peter tells Bobby Sands that if the ansibles are connected again they will give instantaneous starflight to Starways Congress and bring all ships on route to their destination.
*** warning - spoilers for Shadow of the Giant*** As Bean is taking off with the children they know have Anton's key turned, he chides Hyrum for giving the ship an ansible connection.
My theory is that one of the ansible connections that Jane dances along is very long.
Posted by Libbie (Member # 9529) on :
Not that I ever have any problems with discussing Card's books, but...what's with all the forum necromancy today?
Posted by BlueWizard (Member # 9389) on :
The Descaladaros are not known to any one in the Hundred Worlds. The Descalado Planet is a long way away, and it would not be practical for any one from the Hundred World to travel there. So, I see no connection to Volescu.
However, I think it is VERY VERY likely that Volescu's research lead to the genetic alteration of the people of Path.
It seems Starways Congress has done enough research into the problem of Anton's key to have figured out how to turn it and eliminate the problems that Bean suffered. But, it is likely they don't know how to cure Bean's problem. I do however think that if Bean's children ever meet the people of Lusitania, they will be able to travel 'Outside' and create a genetic modification that will cure Bean's kids. Sadly, it will all be far too late for Bean.
Just a thought.
Steve/bboyminn
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
Yeah, I say nix on Volescu creating it. Heck, I say nix on any more of him period. I don't even know if we should include his "research" when you talk about Path. He seems to me to not be as smart as he would like us to believe. Mostly he seemed to dance on other people's research. If his field hadn't been illegal, I doubt he would have been at the "cutting edge" of it.
Posted by BlueWizard (Member # 9389) on :
DDaysh,
keep in mind that it is 3,000 years later. Voldescu is dead and long gone, but his research probably started the ball rolling toward controlling Anton's Key, and 3,000 years or nearly so would have taken that research a long way.
In essense, it seems that the people of Path have had Anton's Key turned but without the extreme negative aspects that Bean and his children suffered. In addition, genetic engineering has advanced to the point where Star Congress was also able to add the 'God-spoken' compulsion to the mix in order to keep the 'God-spoken' under control.
I just seem too much of a coincidences that 3,000 years later there is a planet made up almost entirely of people of exceptional intelligence, and who also have other Star Congress convenient genetic aspects.
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We know the descolada was designed by a race that seemed incredibly alien, but which we never actually saw in the books. We also don't really know the timeframe of the descolada, although the piggies' histories certainly suggest that it had been at least a thousand years.![[Party]](graemlins/party.gif)
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