Treason

St Martins; Reissue edition (March 1990)
Author	Orson Scott Card
Publisher	St. Martin's Press
Publication date	1988
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-312-92109-8

A Planet Called Treason, a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card, was originally published in 1979 by St Martin's Press and Dell Publishing Co. After being heavily revised, the book was republished in 1988 under the title Treason by St. Martin's Press. The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... In political geography and international politics, a country is a political division of a geographical entity, a sovereign territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation and government. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Some notable science fiction novels, in alphabetical order by title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke 334 by Thomas M. Disch An Age by Brian Aldiss The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Headquartered in the legendary Flatiron Building in New York City, St. ... See also: 1978 in literature, other events of 1979, 1980 in literature, list of years in literature. ... ISBN-13 represented as EAN-13 bar code (in this case ISBN 978-3-16-148410-0) The International Standard Book Number, ISBN, is a unique[1] commercial book identifier barcode. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 362 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (500 × 827 pixel, file size: 704 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This image is of a book cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned either by the artist who created the cover or... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Headquartered in the legendary Flatiron Building in New York City, St. ... See also: 1987 in literature, other events of 1988, 1989 in literature, list of years in literature. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... ISBN-13 represented as EAN-13 bar code (in this case ISBN 978-3-16-148410-0) The International Standard Book Number, ISBN, is a unique[1] commercial book identifier barcode. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ...

Plot summary

The premise of this work of science fiction is the banishment to the seemingly metal-poor planet Treason of a group of people who attempted to create rule by an intellectual elite. The novel centers on the descendants of these anti-democratic thinkers who remain imprisoned on the planet. Through the ages, these descendants have formed nations which warred and allied with one another to gain advantages over their rivals in the race to build a starship. Due to the metal-deficiency on Treason, nations are forced to obtain it through a system of barter using teleportation devices known as Ambassadors. See Exile (disambiguation) for other meanings. ... Democracy is a form of government under which the power to alter the laws and structures of government lies, ultimately, with the citizenry. ... One of the most influential doctrines in history is that all humans are divided into groups called nations. ... Look up war in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Barter is a type of trade in which goods or services are exchanged for other goods and/or services; no money is involved in the transaction. ... Teleportation is the movement of objects or elementary particles from one place to another, more or less instantaneously, without traveling through space. ...

The protagonist of the book is Lanik Mueller, heir apparent to the Mueller family kingdom. The Muellers, through generations of eugenics, have the ability to heal at an accelerated speed and regrow body parts naturally. The dark side to the Mueller nation is that, in order to obtain iron and other metals, they trade organs and body parts, which are harvested from radical regeneratives ("rads"). Radical regeneratives are people whose bodies can't distinguish between health and injury, and so grow extra appendages as well as organs of the opposite sex; although this is a normal phase for most Muellers at the age of puberty, the bodies of radical regeneratives never outgrow it. A protagonist is the main figure of a piece of literature or drama and has the main part or role. ... Contrasting with heir presumptive, an heir apparent is one who cannot be prevented from inheriting by the birth of any other person. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Standard atomic weight 55. ... In biology, an organ (Latin: organum, instrument, tool) is a group of tissues that perform a specific function or group of functions. ... An appendage is, in general, an external body part that projects from the body, or a natural prolongation or projection from a part of any organism. ... Puberty refers to the process of physical changes by which a childs body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. ...

After it is discovered that Lanik is a radical regenerative, Lanik's father must essentially banish him from the kingdom, so as to avoid sending him to the "pens", a place where radical regeneratives are kept in order to harvest their body parts; exile also functions to get Lanik out of the eye of the Mueller public, as well as to prevent harm from coming to Lanik's supposed younger brother Dinte. The banishment comes in the form of sending Lanik as an emissary and spy to the Nkumai, a rival nation. Due to his radical regenerative body, Lanik has grown breasts, which makes him appear to be a woman. Using this subterfuge, he poses as an ambassador from the matriarchal nation of Bird in order to discover what the Nkumai are trading in exchange for their abundant metals, which have allowed them to dominate their region militarily. Emissary was the first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. ... SPY may refer to: SPY (spiders), ticker symbol for Standard & Poors Depository Receipts SPY (magazine), a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps SPY (Ivory Coast), airport code for San Pédro, Côte dIvoire SPY (Ship Planning Yard), a U.S. Navy acronym SPY, short for MOWAG SPY, a... okay that is all ... An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ... ... Pretorian Guards, Roman Soldiers A military or military force generally refers to a permanent, professional and structured force of soldiers or guerrillas trained exclusively for the purpose of warfare. ...

This mission is only the beginning of the adventure for Lanik, who discovers the secrets of the most powerful nations and at the same time gains additional abilities to save his people and determine the fate of his planet.

Regions of the planet

Map of Treason

Lanik travels to many of the regions of the planet Treason throughout the book, and discovers that those residing in different regions have different powers or capabilities. He first passes through the land of the Ku Kuei while on his way to Nkumai, learning that they can control the flow of time in a bubble extending out from themselves. When he comes to the land of Schwartz, he discovers that the people there are able to form rock to their will, as well as take energy from the sun. Lanik learns both of these skills and uses them to kill the "illuders" from Anderson. The illuders, as Lanik calls them, have the ability to appear to be anything they wish, clouding the minds of those around them to their will. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 592 pixelsFull resolution (1654 × 1224 pixel, file size: 999 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This work is copyrighted and unlicensed. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 592 pixelsFull resolution (1654 × 1224 pixel, file size: 999 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This work is copyrighted and unlicensed. ...

The regions of Treason are named after each of the banished inhabitants. The occupations of the founders are listed (where known). The regions are (alphabetically): Allison (theology), Anderson (leader of the rebellion, politics), Arvea, Bird (socialite), Boccini, Brian, Britton (historian), Cramer, Da Silva, Cummings, Dark, Drew (dream interpretation), Duan, Dyal, Epson, Garvin, Gill, Goldstein, Grant, Hanks (psychology), Helper, Hess, Holt, Hooker, Hunter, Huntington, Israel, Jones, Ku Kuei (philosopher), Lardner, Leishman, Ling, Mancowicz, Martin, McRae, Moatfort, Mueller (geneticist), Nkumai (theoretical physicist), Olaen, Phillips, Porter, Robles, Rogers, Ryan, Schmidt, Schwartz (geologist), Sill, Singer, Stanley, Stradling, Tan'ani, Tellerman (actor), The League, Underwood (botanist), Van Horn, Wankier, Williams, Wizer, Wong, Wood and Wynn. Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A historian is an individual who studies history and who writes on history. ... Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. ... Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhē, spirit, soul; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is an academic / applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior of humans and animals. ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... A geneticist is a scientist who studies genetics, the science of heredity and variation of organisms. ... Theoretical physics attempts to understand the world by making a model of reality, used for rationalizing, explaining, predicting physical phenomena through a physical theory. There are three types of theories in physics; mainstream theories, proposed theories and fringe theories. ... The Geologist by Carl Spitzweg A geologist is a contributor to the science of geology, studying the physical structure and processes of the Earth and planets of the solar system (see planetary geology). ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Botany is the scientific study of plant life. ...

Important characters

• Lanik Mueller - main character, heir apparent of the Mueller throne
• Ensel Mueller - Lanik's father, king of Mueller
• Dinte Mueller - Lanik's brother, later he was impersonated by a second Lanik Mueller (regrown from a loose organ) who had learned the powers of the "illuders"
• Ruva (Mueller) - Ensel's wife
• Saranna (Mueller) - Lanik's love
• Mwabao Mawa (Nkumai) - de facto ruler of the Nkumai, later found to be an "illuder"
• Helmut (Schwartz) - Lanik's friend who discovers him dying in Schwartz, offering him help and curing him of his radical regenerative state
• Glain (Britton) - a man Lanik lives with for about a year
• Vran (Britton) - Glain's wife
• Lord Barton (Britton) - a Lord in Britton who helps Lanik learn of the "illuders"
• Percy Barton (Britton) - Lord Barton's "son", actually an "illuder"
• Man-Who-Fell-on-His-Ass (Ku Kuei) - The first of the Ku Kuei Lanik met.
• Man-Who-Knows-It-All (Ku Kuei) - A Ku Kuei who taught Lanik and Saranna how to control time.