The Neighbors: The Ai-Naidar

Say 'EYE N-EYE-dahr' (rhymes with 'Eye! My car!')

In my tenure as an alien anthropologist, I have uncovered some difficult cultures, some restrictive ones, some opulent ones. Kherishdar, the empire inhabited by the feline-reminiscent Ai-Naidar, is the pinnacle of them all. This caste and status-bound society is so rigid that to outsiders it seems that it must regularly throttle love, joy and wealth; stomp on opportunity; and bar individuals from rising from wherever they are, while giving them plenty of opportunities to fall.

Somehow, though, it doesn't work that way. Kherishdar produces people who are philosophically consistent, prosperous and content, who together have sustained an empire that spans several worlds and several thousand years without much more than a few ripples of discontent. The system works for the Ai-Naidar and when I visit I'm always trying to figure out why.

Of all the settings I've created, Kherishdar inspires the most ambivalence. People love it... people are horrified by it. It's not very human. But it has a kind of magnetism that keeps drawing me back.

Timeline

Serean and the Fall of Houses
Ardith and the Colonization
The Twinned Exception
The Aphorisms and Admonishments

Projects Involving the Ai-Naidar

Short Fiction: The Aphorisms of Kherishdar
Short Fiction: The Admonishments of Kherishdar (in progress)
Novel: Black Blossom (in progress)

Images