Shaper/Mechanist
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The Shaper/Mechanist universe is the setting for a series of science fiction short stories (and the novel Schismatrix) written by the author Bruce Sterling. The stories combined cover approximately 350 years of future history, for the period ranging from A.D. 2200-2550. (Note: All years given are taken from "A Shaper/Mechanist Chronology" in the book Schismatrix Plus, which includes all the Shaper/Mechanist material.)
The stories deal with a posthuman society spread across the solar system -- primarily in fragile orbiting colonies around planetary bodies like the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn. The Earth and its inhabitants have been abandoned by these citizens of the so-called Schismatrix, and no communication is performed or attempted with them. Humanity has largely polarized into two competing factions:
The Shapers attempt to push the limits by manipulating the human body itself, through genetic modification and highly specialized psychological training. The Shapers are aristocratic, placing heavy emphasis on "gene-lines" -- to be "unplanned" (i.e., born) is considered a serious disadvantage. Their methods could best be described as "organic".
In contrast, the Mechanists have disdain for the Shapers' methods and instead prefer to use cybernetic augmentation, advanced computer software, technical expertise, and drugs to achieve their goals. Some Mechanists even go as far as to become "wireheads" -- individuals with no corporeal body who are simply manifested as computer simulations.
This uneasy duality is transformed and complicated by the arrival of the Investors, lizardlike aliens that perform trade with both factions (who consequently compete for the aliens' favor).
The works, listed by original publication date, title, "future timeframe", and a brief summary:
- 1982, Swarm (2248) -- Shaper lieutenant Simon Afriel joins a fellow researcher in an interstellar embassy: a planetoid inhabited by a colony of insect-like aliens. Afriel is a notable character because he also has "cameo" appearances in "Twenty Evocations" and Schismatrix, making him one of only two characters in the canon to appear in more than one story. This was also Sterling's first "officially" published short story.
- 1982, Spider Rose (2283) -- An ancient Mechanist in the fringes of the solar system buys something new from the Investors: a pet.
- 1982, Cicada Queen (2354) -- A Shaper named Landau orchestrates politics inside Czarina-Kluster, a colony orbiting Jupiter. Shaper Wellspring is featured, who also has a minor role in Schismatrix.
- 1984, Sunken Gardens (2554) -- Individuals from various factions compete in a test of terraforming skills in a crater on the Martian surface.
- 1984, Twenty Evocations (originally published as "Life in the Shaper/Mechanist Era: Twenty Evocations"; approx. 2220-2400) -- An experimental story; fragments from the life of a Shaper named Nikolai Leng.
- 1985, Schismatrix (2215-2386) -- Chronicles the life of a renegade Shaper diplomat named Abelard Lindsay, as he struggles politically with his former ally Philip Constantine.