The Inundationists were a political faction which arose on Resurgam during Dan Sylveste's expedition there.
Beyond opposition to Sylveste's control of the colony, the Inundationists favoured taking steps to terraform the planet—potentially destroying the archaeological evidence that the expedition was originally intended to uncover.
Under the leadership of Nils Girardieau, Inundationists took over Resurgam and imprisoned Dan Sylveste. Later, an extreme wing of this faction calling itself True Path split from the Inundationists and started a guerilla war against Girardieu's government. The True Path insurrection continued until the Nostalgia for Infinity arrived in orbit.
The planet was destroyed by the Inhibitors a few short decades later.
Notes[]
- Their name translates to "Flooders", from "inundiate (with water or liquid)". The name hints at the long-term goal of the Inundationists to gradually abandon the expedition's original purpose and transition the colony from a scientific one to a Demarchist settler colony, after first conducting a large-scale terraforming effort on the habitable but lifeless Resurgam.
- The symbol of this political movement is described in Chapter Five of Revelation Space as a "Hokusai wave" - a reference to Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), and his most famous work, The Great Wave off Kanagawa. The symbol seems to be in line with their name and their pro-terraforming intentions with Resurgam.