In Teixcalaanli, the word for city is the word for world is the word for empire (I couldn’t help but think there once was a dream that was Rome, but Teixcalaan is very definitely not modelled on the Roman empire beyond this one similarity). Should they ever turn acquisitive eyes on Lsel space (guess what’s going to happen, folks), there can be no resisting the force they will bring to bear.
Teixcalaan is an expanding empire with an enormous fleet. She has a lifelong love of Teixcalaan and is so very excited to go to the City.Īt the same time, she’s intimately aware of the threat they pose to Stationer way of life. Thankfully, this plays out rather more Machineries of Empire than Dollhouse – the imagos are separate personalities, not an imprint that dominates their new host – because I quickly grew to love Mahit Dzmare.
The integration process prevents you from being swept away by the weight of their experience and the strength of their convictions, your imago giving you knowledge, perspective and instinctive responses that you haven’t yet had time to acquire for yourself. If we are the sum of our memories, how do you remain yourself if you inherit someone else’s memories?įorget the pressure of tradition: this is having your (professional, not biological) predecessors directly in your head, telling you what they would do. Mahit and Yskandr are intended to form a composite, and a key question of the narrative is the extent to which this newly-compiled person remains an individual.
I loved the imago concept immediately: a fully sentient personality within Mahit’s consciousness, capable of conversing and at times exercising physical control over their now-shared body. While he has successfully kept the ever-expanding empire out of Stationer space, this older copy of his personality has no idea how he did it. Yskandr Aghavn was the first Ambassador to Teixcalaan, selected – and mistrusted – for his affinity for Teixcalaanli culture. It is a privilege to inherit and continue a respected imago line, as well as an obligation to do it justice.īut new Ambassador Mahit Dzmare carries a freshly-installed imago that’s fifteen years out of date. Embedded in their brains, they carry imago machines, the recorded memories of one or more Stationers, carefully selected for psychological compatibility and integrated over time with judicious psychotherapy. Its people know mining, space flight, and unusual technology. Lsel Station is a small independent state that thrives on natural resources and control of two jump gates. Tackling themes of identity, colonialism, civilisation and ambition, it’s a heady mix of intimate character work and sweeping world-building. I’ve been excited to pick up Arkady Martine’s debut ever since Aliette de Bodard enthused about it at our SciFiMonth round table last year. When Teixcalaan requests a new ambassador from Lsel Station and refuses to say why, the Council assume the worst.
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