In this case, not the Left, Islamists, or the far-Right.
Thousands of years ago, the Starry Empire used a self-conceived loophole in the scourge of slavery without risking domination by AI-- genetically engineer humans for a particular type of service and then deem them no longer to be fully human.
Militants were one of the sub-set humans designed by the Transgeneticists, in this case to be elite soldiers for the Starry Empire. As with most of the other subset human types, the exist under an agreement known as the Blue Compromise, which was devised after a prolonged civil war between the subset humans and the natural born (everyone else). The agreement allows the subsets a degree of self-actualization in return for service.
I judge it more analogous to serfdom than slavery.
For Militants, this means service in the Brigades once they are of age. If called to service, they must do so however the Starry Empire requires. Obedience is a virtue encoded into their genetic makeup. Indeed, the principals of being a proper Militant were laid out in The Code, which was imprinted into their genes. Acting against The Code is like a betrayal to the self.
Only 2 rebellions have occurred (the first being at the end of the Third Age which triggered a dark age), and soon after contact with Earthers which was orchestrated by the Starry Empire to cull the Militant ranks and to weaken the clan structure. Known as the OathBreaker Rebellion, the consequences of that rebellion continue to reverberate within Militant society and with how they are perceived by the Starry Empire.
Militants have their own home world, Zorn. In the Third Age, when the Transgeneticists remade the people, they were not much different than other humans in the Starry Empire. The men were reengineered into soldiers but differences in how this manifested in the male population eventually led to a split into two major groups: The service orders which operated under a clan system and who sent men to the Brigades and the religious orders whose mission was to ensure that Militants remained true to their purpose. Both groups are subdivided. The service orders have high, emergent, low, minor, and clan-less/outcast. The religious orders have two major wings—a military/political faction headed by the Marshals and a temple-based group overseen by the Eternals; both of these wings are highly hierarchal.
Workers are a separate subset class who serve throughout the Starry Empire. They exist on Zorn to support the Militants so that the Militants may most effectively serve the Starry Empire. Workers have less agency, and though they do have separate lives and their own culture, they are closer to the status of slaves.
At the opening of Star Horizon, tension has been growing between all of these groups. Recent contact with Earth ships has put fire to smoldering conflicts from the introduction of foreign ideas. Mixing between the ranks has crept into social life. Dancing and non-sanctioned music have become forms of youthful rebellion. Others have become more devout. The Starry Empire has been carefully managed for thousands of years, the introduction of new technologies restricted, and Earth represents a new, impactful chaotic variable that has yet to be fully addressed.
The females of Zorn were banished to a fate worse than all of the others—the Starry Empire wanted their elite soldiers to be immune from any desire to harm women. To protect the women of the Empire, the females of Zorn were sacrificed. Militants were to be an all-male culture, and the women became breeders, stripped of intelligence. The Husbands were engineered to care for them. Overtime, genetic anomalies have crept into the population causing self-aware breeders (misfires) to be born. This has added to the growing cultural tension on the planet. An underground resistance movement known as The Station seeks to undo the genetic rape of the female population as well as to gain full autonomy.
For a Militant, there are 2 key transitions as they mature:
1) Ascension, ritually passing into manhood where all childhood/preadult indulges are expected to be let go
2) 13, when a child becomes an elder boy. There is a tension when at the cusp of becoming an elder boy. A Militant boy may still feel like a child, but he must project a certain level of maturity, and he loses many freedoms as part of the transition. The cutting of a boy’s hair is part of the transition to make visible what must happen internally (letting go of certain attachments).
Militants are in the end “product”. From the perspective of the natural born, they are “manufactured” and there are expectations that Militants perform at the highest level of their specs. No exceptions.
From the Militant perspective, even when they deny they are anything but Militant, they still see themselves as human even though it cannot be admitted or spoken about except in ways that are seditious.
The second ascension is when an elder boy becomes a man. He is branded on his forehead with the holy X to signify his adherence and devotion to The Code. At that point, he is eligible to serve in the Brigades. Misbehavior is punished much more severely. Duty. Responsibility. That becomes their reason for existing.
To live is to fight is to die.
A mantra that captures the essence of a Militant’s life.
Another found in the temples has equal weight: To See is Death.
The absolute statement of truth is meant to convey that life is only possible within an illusion. To seek understanding beyond the illusion is a form of self-erasure. But for the protagonist, it has an implied corollary—that death is necessary for rebirth—to see is to die and to be reborn in a new way.
Tattoos are the most popular form of self-expression; most of them are honor brands either from service in the Brigades or through winning tournaments/competitions. Other common tattoos are related to clan affiliation or friendship/bonding. Decorative tattoos are permissible but for a Militant there must be meaning behind it for them to wear it on their body.
By design and by habit, Militants are fit—whether a runner’s/swimmer’s build to athletic to bodybuilder muscular—they typically wear skin-hugging bodysuits which accentuates the look of their fitness.
The Militant culture exists with complex political, social and sexual dynamics.
Star Horizon opens on Zorn, in its capital city, a place of monuments, brutalist and classical architecture, heroic arches, gates and statues. It sits in a vast caldera and rises into the surrounding mountains.
And where I pick up the story, it’s ready to explode.
