Tartarus: Not a Vacation Hotspot!

To continue with the comparison I was making between Cytherea and Tartarus, Tartarus is one heck of a harsh planet---not a place you'd want to live, or even visit! Its surface is cold, bleak, barren---Tartarus is a frozen world bereft of sunlight and hostile to all but a few forms of life which have been able to adapt to the frigid temperatures. In order to survive upon their adopted planet, Tartarians have suffered much. Over the centuries, they've learned to patiently endure whatever must be endured, without complaint. They adhere to a strict code of honor which stresses fulfillment of duty and loyalty to their Law. Children are brought up from infancy to obey their parents in all matters. Almost from birth, they are trained in both mental and physical disciplines, meant to insure survival.

Children must study the Law, learn to fast and meditate, and practice Rahn-tzl, a particularly-athletic form of martial art. In addition, Tartarians are taught to be stoic, to repress even the least sign of their emotions---unless for some reason they find it appropriate to reveal their feelings ( usually anger! ) They make no real music---after all music evokes emotional responses!---and their surroundings, though beautiful, are spartan. Comfort means little to them; they sit and sleep on the polished-stone floors, as if they still lived in the caves and caverns their ancient ancestors dwelled in!

To Outworlders, Tartarians appear to be cold, humorless automatons. They aren't exactly fun to be around. No jokes, no smiles, no touching! No wonder they're generally not well-liked! Their way of life may seem unnecessarily harsh, but it has meant survival for their race. The sparsely-populated planet has no civil war, no poverty, no divorce---and very little crime. On Tartarus, the punishment for serious transgressions is either exile or death---neither one a terribly  pleasant prospect!

Yet as my stories reveal, beneath the veneer of a peaceful, highly-civilized society lies an undercurrent of political intrigue, conspiracy, pride, arrogance, and the lust for power and vengeance. Sound at all familiar?

Food for thought?

MRTighe