Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle
"Golden Witchbreed" is a science fiction novel by Mary Gentle, published in 1983. The story follows Lynne de Lisle Christie, an empath and government envoy sent to the undeveloped planet of Orthe, where she navigates a complex and feudal culture marked by distrust and curiosity toward her human existence. As she embarks on a tour requested by the local leader, TAn Suthai Telestre, Christie encounters significant resistance from Ortheans, who associate her with the Golden Witchbreed, a long-extinct race that once enslaved them. Throughout her journey, she faces multiple assassination attempts and grapples with her perception of the Ortheans amid their technological disdain and deep-rooted societal divisions.
Christie's interactions with various factions, including the fenborn and northern barbarians, reveal the rich tapestry of Orthean life but also highlight her struggle to connect meaningfully with its inhabitants. Personal relationships, particularly with her lover Sethin Falkyr Talkul, further complicate her quest for understanding, as loyalty and truth become elusive concepts. Ultimately, Christie's time on Orthe leaves her with fragmented experiences and a few treasured memories, particularly of a native game that underscores the importance of social dynamics within the culture. The novel invites readers to explore themes of empathy, cultural dissonance, and the search for identity in a world fraught with historical baggage.
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Golden Witchbreed
First published: 1983
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—alien civilization
Time of work: Indeterminate future
Locale: The planet Orthe
The Plot
In Mary Gentle’s Golden Witchbreed (1983), Lynne de Lisle Christie is an empath hired by the Extra Terrestrial department of her government as an envoy to introduce her society to that of an undeveloped planet called Orthe. She experiences at first hand the mixture of curiosity and distrust evinced by the natives and shares in their complex, feudal culture.
When TAn Suthai Telestre (also known as Suthafiori, the flower of the South), the Crown of the Southlands of Orthe, requests that she tour the countryside, visiting the Hundred Thousand households composing the populace, she discovers the deep hatred that some Ortheans bear for the technological advances of the Dominion. She survives numerous assassination attempts against her as well as a murder contract intended to discredit her. The Ortheans apparently associate her and her kind with a long-dead race of technologically advanced aliens, the Golden Witchbreed, who held the Ortheans in slavery until an infertility virus destroyed their race. Caught in a civilization she longs to understand but cannot trust, Christie struggles to redefine her perceptions in line with the Orthean point of view.
Close friends such as Talmar Haltern nre nsuth Bethru-elen, Achil Maric Salathiel, and amari Ruric Orhlandis seem to accept her humanness with equanimity, although the physical differences between humans and Ortheans are striking. Close encounters with the fenborn, a swamp-dwelling native of Orthe, the northern barbarians, and the Kel Harantish (the last remnant of the Golden Witchbreed overlords) present the wide scope of Orthean existence but never seem to answer the basic question that underlies all of Christie’s adventures: Are they like us? Even Christie’s native lover, Sethin Falkyr Talkul, does not attempt to bridge the wide chasm that separates the two societies. It is only an exchange of memories with the oldest living Orthean, the Hexenmeister, that breaks through Christie’s expectations of what is normal and what is human.
Her expectation of being protected and cherished by her lover Falkyr is dashed when he chooses to support his treacherous uncle rather than help her escape when she isimprisoned by the feudal lord of Roehmonde, Verek Howice Falkul. She is falsely accused of being one of theoverlords, the Golden Witchbreed, but Falkyr cares less for the truth than for retaining his loyalties to the telestre. Her expectation of loyalty among friends is removed when Ruric, commander of Suthafioris army, implicates Christie in the murder of another lord, Kanta Andrethe.
By the time Christie’s term of service ends, she has not come any closer to a concise understanding of who the Ortheans are. She has only a handful of memories and the knowledge of how to play ochmir, a native game that emphasizes relationships and influences among groups of people.