Changes: Belle Epoque

Revision as of 22:10, 1 August 2019

The "Belle Epoque" refers to a period in the future history of the overall Revelation Space universe. The era was considered the pinnacle of economic, social, cultural, technological and scientific development of the Demarchist colony on the planet Yellowstone, as well as its vicinity (particularly the Glitter Band of orbital habitats).

The Belle Epoque of Yellowstone and Yellowstone Demarchists was cut short by the outbreak of the mysterious Melding Plague, a nanotechnological disease that severely damaged and affected a myriad of advanced technologies in Yellowstone's settlements, such as the famous metropolis of Chasm City on the planet's surface, or the vast majority of orbital habitats, turning the Glitter Band into the Rust Belt.

The outbreak of the Melding Plague in 2510 and its devastating technological and social aftermath form the endpoint of Belle Epoque and the beginning of the post-Melding Plague era of the human-settled Epsilon Eridani system.

Timeline of events

TBA

Notable figures of the period

Voi family - descendants of Demarchist co-founder and early leader Sandra Voi, specifically those who settled on Yellowstone
Lorean Sylveste - the father and grandfather of later famed scientists, Calvin Sylveste and Dan Sylveste, respectively
Jane Aumonier - Supreme Prefect of the Panoply, during a certain timespan around the middle of the Belle Epoque (ca 2427 and earlier)
Tom Dreyfus - a notable prefect, serving for many years under Supreme Prefect Aumonier
Roland Childe - interactive maze and puzzle designer, amateur archaeologist and collector
Dr. Trintignant - infamous for research into the cyberniticisation of the human body

Stories set in this era

A Prefect Dreyfus Emergency novel series - main setting
- Aurora Rising (2007)
- Open and Shut (2018) - short story
- Elysium Fire (2018)
Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days novella anthology
- Diamond Dogs (2003) - pre-Plague Chasm City features in the early chapters

In turn, the novels of the Inhibitor trilogy, the standalone novel Chasm City and many of the later-set short stories cover the post-Belle Epoque, post-Plague era of Yellowstone and Chasm City.

Historical allusion

The Belle Epoque is an apparent Demarchist revival of an existing term from Earth history, (La) Belle Époque. This moniker is frequently used to describe the period in the history of France, between 1871 (the end of the Franco-Prussian War) and 1914 (the outbreak of the First World War), when the French Third Republic experienced an almost unprecedented period of peace, economic prosperity and expansion, and a flourishing of the arts and public life. The mostly Francophone-descended Demarchist leadership intended the revived use of the term as a generally flattering comparison of Yellowstone's period of prosperity to a period of prosperity from older Earth history.

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 **''[[Elysium Fire]]'' (2018)
 *''[[Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days]]'' novella anthology
-** ''[[Diamond Dogs]]'' - pre-Plague Chasm City features in the early chapters
+** ''[[Diamond Dogs]]'' (2003) - pre-Plague Chasm City features in the early chapters
 In turn, the novels of the [[:Category:Inhibitor trilogy|Inhibitor trilogy]], the standalone novel ''[[Chasm City (novel)|Chasm City]]'' and many of the later-set short stories cover the post-''Belle Epoque'', post-Plague era of Yellowstone and Chasm City.