Imperial Radch
Stub: This is a total braindump! Feel free to rearrange and sort things out. |
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Imperial Radch |
| Abbreviation(s): | Radch |
| Creator: | Ann Leckie |
| Date(s): | 2013 - 2015 |
| Medium: | Novels originally in English |
| Country of Origin: | United States of America |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Imperial Radch is a trilogy of military science fiction novels by Ann Leckie with an active fandom. It is sometimes also referred to as the Ancillary Justice or Ancillary series after the names of its individual novels: Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy.
There are also, to date, two standalone novels which take place in the same universe: Provenance and Translation State.
The trilogy follows the story of Breq, the last remnant of a destroyed artificial intelligence who once took the form of a massive military spaceship with hundreds of ancillary human bodies, in her quest for revenge. Its expansive worldbuilding around the futuristic empire in which it is set has been influential on many subsequent works in the genre, such as Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire.
Gender in the Imperial Radch Universe
Imperial Radch is also notable for its use of she/her pronouns as the default pronouns for all characters in its narration, in conversation with The Left Hand of Darkness which famously used he/him to refer to ambiguously gendered characters. As in The Left Hand of Darkness, this pronoun usage is Watsonian—the first-person narrator of both texts uses she/her or he/him pronouns, respectively, due to the cultural frame of reference in which they understand gender, rather than because those pronouns reflect an absolute truth about the individuals with whom they interact—but unlike The Left Hand of Darkness, the characters in Imperial Radch are not genderless, at least not in a post-humanist sense. Instead, Radchaai characters have genders like any other humans,[1] but do not mark gender at all linguistically, and care less about gender socially than other human cultures in the trilogy.[2] There remain debates in the fandom about the nature of Radchaai gender, however.
Creator's Opinions on Fandom
Leckie is herself a fan who was active in several SFF fandoms,[3] and she has a positive relationship with the Imperial Radch fandom. She frequently interacts with fans on Tumblr.
Characters and Pairings
Popular Characters
- Breq a.k.a. Justice of Toren One Esk Nineteen
- Seivarden Vendaai
- Mercy of Kalr
- Athoek Station
- Awn Elming
- Skaaiat Awer
- Lieutenant Tisarwat
- Zeiat and Dlique
- Gem of Sphene
Popular Pairings
- Breq/Seivarden
- Breq/Mercy of Kalr
- Breq/Seivarden/Mercy of Kalr
- Breq/Awn
- Awn/Skaaiat
- Breq/Gem of Sphene
- Gem of Sphene/Zeiat
Activities
This article or section needs expansion. |
While relatively small in size, the fandom has maintained a steady level of fic- and, to a lesser extent, fanart-related activity since the 2015 publication of the trilogy's final installment. Imperial Radch is a perennial Yuletide fandom and it often makes an appearance in other multi-fandom gift exchanges.
Fanworks
Fanfic
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanart
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. it would be awesome to have examples from places other than tumblr |
- Breq and Seivarden by Jasmine J. Batista
- Anaander Mianaai - current age: 13. Current mood: Smug as fuck. by pilot-star
- Anaander Mianaai, the Lord of the Radch by Blue Delliquanti
- It's the fleet captain! by echoparading
- Finally got around to some Inktobering! by quarksparrow
- sphene is p theatrical for an ancillary by Meredith Alden Lewis
- And then I fell to pieces. by J Doyle
Fanvids
- "Ancillary Justice" book trailer, a vid by bironic that caught the attention of Ann Leckie and subsequently went viral[4]
Memes and Text Posts
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. this fandom has a ton of great memes and jokes, some of which have gone viral |
imagine being told the person you’re hopelessly in love with is actually your childhood family car and also it’s on a mission to assassinate the President and also it never liked you
Impact on Other Fandoms
Crossovers and fusions with other fandoms are popular. For example, two of the most-bookmarked and most-kudosed fics in the Imperial Radch AO3 tag are, respectively, an MCU fusion[5] and a crossover with The Murderbot Diaries, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Middleman, and Star Wars.[6]
Resources
- flower-of-justice, an Imperial Radch Dreamwidth community (inactive since 2017)
- Imperial Radch on Archive of Our Own
References
- ^ Ancillary Justice, chapter 7: "I used to wonder how Radchaai reproduced, if they were all the same gender." "They're not. And they reproduce like anyone else."
- ^ Ann Leckie (archive link): "I don't think I've ever said that Radchaai are gender neutral--just that they really don't care about anyone's gender, and don't mark it socially or linguistically. So, they're humans, and as such come in all sorts of genders, and they know gender exists, but it's not really a thing they care much about. They care about it, maybe, as much as we care about hair color."
- ^ Misc. News: Ancillary Mercy, Ancillary Justice (Subterranean edition): "I was an active member of a CJ Cherryh fan community under the name hautdesert, and I still count the folks in that community among my friends. Before that I was also–this is perhaps a bit less obvious, and a bit more random–the proprietor of a Peter Gabriel fansite, and during that period I went under the name 'Eve.'" Blog post by Ann Leckie. Jan 19, 2015. (archive link)
- ^ Dreamwidth post by bironic (archive link): "Ann Leckie retweeted/reblogged/posted about the "Ancillary Justice" book trailer (!). ETA: Uh and then --> Metafilter --> Tor.com?! What is happening."
- ^ Reanimation of the Corpse Soldier by nwhepcat, a Stucky fic that had 700 kudos and 203 bookmarks as of May 16, 2023
- ^ Handshake Protocol by st_aurafina, a gen fic with 432 kudos and 73 bookmarks as of May 16, 2023