[*** DISCLAIMER: THIS POST HAS SPOILERS FOR MY NEXT NOVEL. STOP READING NOW IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED ***]
This is a continuing series of posts about the writing of my novel, Starveyors. You can start at the beginning and catch up at your own pace, or just read on and try to figure it all out on your own. There’s a link list for these posts on the blog’s sidebar to your right.
The Silicants
Silicants are the sentient androids first introduced in the Space Western short stories in Tales From Ocherva and again in the Starforgers novel. There were no references to the Silicants in Starstrikers. That’s because near the start of the Great War, they rebelled against their human creators and were banished to a far away world where they were largely forgotten in light of fighting the war. There were still robots in the Alliance, but they were not sentient.
I will be writing a planetary novel about the Silicant world in a few years and it will deal with what happened to the Silicants. It is set in the time of Starstrikers and will feature some of the characters from that novel. It will be called XiniX.
Suffice it to say, that the Silicants have evolved and when they re-enter the Alliance as members in good standing, they look and act much differently than they did in the early days of the Alliance. Starveyors takes place a thousand years after Starforgers and in that time, most of it in exile, the Silicants have changed.
They are no longer the metal androids they once were. They are more fluid and alive than hard and lifeless. They are also more complex as characters. Their personalities are more developed and are not exactly like their human creators. They are truly their own species of sentient silicon.
Vomisa
Vomisa is the diplomat from XiniX. She represents the Silicant interests in the Alliance and she is an accomplished politician. She makes her presence known at the end of the first quatrain when the second diplomat team heads to Voton. Vomisa has a red tint to her eyes and hair. She looks vaguely like a human female, but the similarities end the closer you get to her. She has silvery skin that seems to flow like a fluid and she is dressed in flowing, silken robes. Silicants look very different now. They seem to be alive, yet they are still capable of that hollow, doll-like stare that makes you wonder if they have a soul.
Vomisa is under orders to ensure that the peace talks do not fail. She following directions from the Silicant leader himself – Seventy-three.
Seventy-three
Seventy-three is the spiritual and political leader of XiniX. He is part savior, part ruler and somewhat God-like. We don’t see him much until the final act, but we see how the other Silicants adore and respect him. I haven’t fully fleshed him out yet, no pun intended, so expect this character to morph in ways that I need during the writing. I don’t want to imply that the Silicants view him as a god, but sometimes their behavior will make the reader wonder.
Seventy-three is white or clear in color. His eyes are white, his hair is white and he wears white robes and tunics. I know, I’m really messing with religious icons here. ;-) But he’s not a god, I swear.
Saibot
Saibot was first introduced as a sympathetic Silicant in service of President Constantine in Starforgers. He returns in this novel and it still someone that the audience can relate to and root for. He’s an archeologist and he’s gathering clues to the existence of the super intelligent race that inhabited the galaxy before humans. Saibot has spent his life trying to understand the Ancients and he had been to many worlds in and out of the Alliance and Empire, in his travels.
Saibot finds clues that lead him to believe that the planetary moon of Ocherva is somehow more important to the Ancients than any other planet. Ocherva is where the silicant is mined that gives Silicants a consciousness. It transforms non-alive circuits into living beings. Nobody is quite sure how this happens, even after hundreds of years of studying the phenomena.
Saibot has blue tones in his hair, eyes and skin. Not quite Votainion blue, but close enough to let him move about in Votainion space without being bothered.
Eighty-eight
Eighty-eight stands in Saibot’s way on Ocherva. He is in charge of making sure the mining continued without interruptions. Eighty-eight has been on Ocherva longer than anyone, Silicant or human. He’s all black, with red eyes and he’s more than a bit of a bad ass. Eighty-eight is like my Pepper character. Someone who we rarely get to know personally, but always seems to be instigating trouble. In this case, he’s opposing Saibot’s search for clues on Ocherva.
All the Silicants seem to defer to the will of Seventy-three, except for Eighty-eight. He pretty much does whatever he wants to do. He’s the only truly gray Silicant character. Sometimes his needs line up with the good guys, sometimes they don’t.
That’s all the Silicant characters I have in this novel. There may be a need to create others, but I doubt it. Next time I’ll show you parts of my outline.