Books - Norstrilia

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Norstrilia is the only novel published by Paul Linebarger under the pseudonym Cordwainer Smith, which he used for his science-fiction works (though several related short stories were once packaged together as a short novel "The Quest of the Three Worlds").

Plot

Setting

The central character of Norstrilia is an inhabitant of a planet known as "Old North Australia", or simply "Norstrilia"; this is the only location in the Instrumentality of Mankind fictional universe (in which Cordwainer set many of his short stories) to produce the precious immortality drug "stroon", which indefinitely delays aging in humans. Stroon (or the "Santaclara drug") is a substance harvested from the huge diseased sheep the Norstrilians raise, and which has the curious property of being resistant to all attempts at artificial synthesis by the most advanced science of the period. Since the Norstrilians have an effective monopoly, stroon sells for astronomical prices, and Norstrilia is fabulously wealthy (wealthier than any other single planet). To safeguard their archaic way of life (resembling Australian ranchers with a British cultural inheritance), the Norstrilians are forced to develop the most advanced defense force and weaponry known (see Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons); to protect their culture, imports from other worlds are taxed at rates exceeding 20 million per cent, reducing what would be a staggering fortune on another planet to humble penury on Norstrilia itself. Since stroon permits what is practically immortality, they are also forced to cull their young in order to prevent overpopulation (only those children who pass the tests of the "Garden of Death" enter adulthood).

Events

The protagonist, Rod McBan the 151st, is the last male descendant of one of the oldest Norstrialian families, and is heir to one of the best ranches. As last scion, he has been spared the culling three times, though he is generally considered unfit, as he is unable to communicate telepathically like normal Norstrilians. After his last test — which he finally passes with the aid of a Lord of the Instrumentality and his own freak telepathic talents — he learns that a former friend of his, who suffers from an allergy of sorts to stroon and so is condemned to live a mere 150 years or so, seeks to kill him under the pretext that the test was biased and administered unfairly. To escape from his dilemma, McBan manages to earn a huge fortune in a night by following a plan masterminded by an ancient computer (with certain more-or-less illegal quasi-military capabilities) which was passed down to McBan by an ancestor. He is thought by some to have "bought Old Earth" (the original planet from which mankind sprang), though the reality of his convoluted financial deals and investments is considerably more complex. McBan leaves Norstrilia for Earth, where his immense and unprecedented fortune makes him a magnet for all manner of agents; after a series of travels among the "underpeople" (genetically modified and heavily trained animals who resemble humans in thought and action, used as slaves and servants by humans and generally despised by them), he meets their leader, E'Telekeli, an experimental bird with enormous psychic powers. In exchange for most of Rod's immense fortune (to be used to establish a foundation to further the Underpeople's goals), he sends Rod safely and quickly back to Norstrilia, after arranging that Rod's telepathic disability be fixed, and for a psychological remedy for Rod's enemy's bitterness about his short life.

Several of Smith's most famous characters — Lord Jestocost of the Instrumentality and C'mell — play a prominent role in Norstrilia.

Publication history

Before being published in a single novel in 1975, Norstrilia had portions published as The Planet Buyer in 1964, and as The Underpeople in 1968.

Reference

Nostrilia, 1975. Cordwainer Smith, Ballantine Books, SBN 345-24366-8-150

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