Red Rising by Brown
Ref: Pierce Brown (2014). Red Rising. Hodder Paperback.
___________________________________________________________________________
Summary
___________________________________________________________________________
Color System
The Color system of the Society originally was a caste system created by early humans on Earth to create order when first colonizing the Moon. It is also a form of social hierarchy improved upon by the early Golds during their conquering of the Solar System. It divides Humanity into fourteen distinct "Colors."
Originally the "Colors" were native Earth human beings who simply wore colored clothes that denoted their position. After conquering Earth the founding Golds of "The Society" used genetic engineering to cause members of each Color to have hair and eyes to match their caste.
Beyond the coloring, the genetic structure of their bodies was modified to allow them to be more adept at performing their denoted tasks. Examples are Red's (miners) being smaller and squat, Obsidian's (fighters) being large and with 8, 5 or 4 fingers per hand, and Gold's (conquerors and explorers) having bone 5 times stronger than an average man. Every person's vocation is dictated entirely by their Color.
As part of the genetic engineering of the hierarchy, low Colors have significantly shorter pregnancies than pre-Color humans. Labor is induced for low Colors after a maximum of 5m of gestation through the use of catalysts, sedatives, or nucleic’s. Only Golds and Obsidians experience full 9m pregnancies with natural births.
In addition to the genetic engineering that gives individuals the pigment to match their castes, a certain amount of social engineering exists in an attempt to prevent the desire for social mobility. Obsidians (for example) believe Golds to be literal gods, helping to ensure their loyalty to their masters. While Reds are socially engineered to be heterosexual, family oriented, and marry and breed by age 14-16 in order to maintain and increase their labor population.
“The Gray soldiers prowl the cities ensuring order, ensuring obedience to the hierarchy. The Whites arbitrate their justice and push their philosophy. Pinks pleasure and serve in highColor homes. Silvers count and manipulate currency and logistics. Yellows study the medicines and sciences. Greens develop technology. Blues navigate the stars. Coppers run the beauracracy. Every Color has a purpose. Every Color props up the Golds.”
High Colors
Golds: Rulers of society.
Peerless Scarred: The apex Golds who have completed The Institute above the Graduates and the Shamed. They are held in the highest esteem among Golds.
Silvers: Financiers and businessmen.
Whites: Clergy and judges.
Justices: The monastic whites who, after spending their life training in a monastery, have become the spirit of justice. They oversee many of the Gold ritual functions.
Coppers: Administration, lawyers, and bureaucrats.
Mid Colors
Blues: Bridge crew of starships and pilots.
Yellows: Doctors and researchers.
Greens: Programmers and technicians.
Violets: Artisans and other creatives.
Carvers: Violets who are capable of altering and creating life via surgery and genetic engineering. Trained in the Grove, they are given hallucinogenic medication, and then told to carve the things they saw. Notable Carvers include Mickey, the man who carved Darrow into a Gold.
Oranges: Mechanics and Engineers
Master Makers: Highly intelligent Oranges who specialize in multiple different fields of engineering. Notable Master Makers include Glirastes, the man who helped Darrow use the Storm Gods.
Grays: Regular soldiers and police.
Lurchers: These are the elite special forces comprised of highly trained Grays.
Low Colors
Brown: Servants, cooks, janitors.
Obsidians: Elite soldiers and bodyguards.
Stained: Obsidians who have passed a "Trial of the Stained" and are used as elite body guards and special forces by Golds. Physical specimens, they are bred and trained in the art of killing. Notable Stained include Ragnar Volarus and Volsung Fá.
Pinks: Pleasure slaves and social functionaries.
Roses of the Garden: The rarest and most valuable Pinks, extensively trained in the art of the human body and mind during their tenure in the Garden. Highly expensive and valuable. Notable Roses include Matteo, Theodora, and the Duke of Hands.
Reds: Manual laborers and miners.
High Reds: Reds who do not work underground in the mines like the low Reds, but hold the low-level positions above ground. They fill positions such as street cleaners, farmers, and janitors
___________________________________________________________________________
1 Darrow is a Red Helldiver mining Helium on subterranean Mars in order to terraform the planet in preparation for the arrival of future humans
“I look at him for a moment. Words are a weapon stronger than he knows. And songs are even greater. The words wake the mind. The melody wakes the heart. I come from a people of song and dance. I don’t need him to tell me the power of words. But I smile nonetheless.”
___________________________________________________________________________
2 Darrow and his wife are caught returning from a fully terraformed Martian surface. His wife chooses death as her punishment. Darrow is subsequently killed after burying her body, an illegal act
“The measure of a man is what he does when he has power.”
“I live for the dream that my children will be born free. That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.' 'I live for you,' I say sadly. She kisses my cheek. 'Then you must live for more.”
“Funny how a single word can change everything in your life.” "It is not funny at all. Steel is power. Money is power. But of all the things in all the worlds, words are power.”
“Promises are just chains," she rasps. "Both are meant for breaking.”
“My love, my love
Remember the cries
When winter died for spring skies
They roared and roared
But we grabbed our seed
And sowed a song
Against their greed
And
Down in the vale
Hear the reaper swing, the reaper swing
the reaper swing
Down in the vale
Hear the reaper sing
A tale of winter done
My son, my son
Remember the chains
When gold ruled with iron reins
We roared and roared
And twisted and screamed
For ours, a vale
of better dreams”
___________________________________________________________________________
3 Darrow is rescued by an insurgency group bent on removing the Golds from Power. Darrow is “Carved” by a Violet into a Gold
“I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war.”
“Man cannot be freed by the same injustice that enslaved it.”
“Look into yourself, Darrow, and you’ll realize that you are a good man who will have to do bad things.".... “See. That’s what I don’t get. If I am a good man, then why do I want to do bad things?”
“It is the hottest fire that forms the sternest steel.”
“The fleas would jump and jump to heights unknown. Then a man came along and upturned a glass jar over the fleas. The fleas jumped and hit the top of the jar and could go no farther. Then the man removed the jar and yet the fleas did not jump higher than they had grown accustomed, because they believed there to still be a glass ceiling.”
“She will not come back, but her beauty, her voice, will echo until the end of time. She believed in something beyond herself, and her death gave her voice power it didn't have in life.”
“Dreamers like your wife are limited, little Helldiver.” She makes sure I don’t speak. “Understand that. The only power they have is in death. The harder they die, the louder their voice, the deeper the echoes. But your wife served her purpose.”
“Now look around,” I say quietly. “There are no Golds here. I’m a Red. You’re a Red. We are all Reds till one of us gets enough power. Then we get rights. Then we make our own law.” I lean back and raise my voice. “That is the point of all this. To make you terrified of a world where you do not rule. Security and justice aren’t given. They are made by the strong.”
“They create goods to grant us a semblance of liberty. If violence is the Gold sport, manipulation is their art form.”
___________________________________________________________________________
4 Darrow attends the Gold’s institute
“You do not follow me because I am the strongest. Pax is. You do not follow me because I am the brightest. Mustang is. You follow me because you do not know where you are going. I do.”
“Love and war are two different battlefields.”
“Society has three stages: Savagery, Ascendance, Decadence. The great rise because of Savagery. They rule in Ascendance. They fall because of their own Decadence."
“Demokracy, the Noble Lie - the idea that men are brothers and are created equal."
"Even the nations of Earth grew jealous of one another. The United States of America exacted this idea of equality through force. And when the nations united, the Americans were surprised to find that they were disliked! The Masses are jealous! How wonderful a dream it would be if all men were created equal! But we are not.”
“It is against the Noble Lie that we fight. But as I said before, as I say to you now, there is another evil against which we war. It is a more pernicious evil. It is a subversive, slow evil. It is not a wildfire. It is a cancer. And that cancer is Decadence. Our society has passed from Savagery to Ascendance. But like our spiritual ancestors, the Romans, we too can fall into Decadence.”
“Life is the most effective school ever created. Once upon a time they made children bow their heads and read books. It would take ages to get anything across." He taps his head. "But we have widgets and datapads now, and we Golds have the lower Colors to do our research. We need not study chemistry or physics. We have computers and others to do that. What we must study is humanity. In order to rule, ours must be the study of political, psychological, and behavioral science - how desperate human beings react to one another, how packs form, how armies function, how things fall apart and why. You could learn this nowhere else but here.”
“All ears yearn for a voice to lead them through darkness.”
“Martyrs, you see, are like bees. Their only power comes in death. How many of you would sacrifice yourself not to kill, but merely hurt your enemy?”
“Power must be claimed. Wealth won. Rule, dominion, empire purchased with blood. You scarless children deserve nothing. You do not know pain. You do not know what your forefathers sacrificed to place you on these heights. But soon, you will.”
“The Peerless Scarred know that dark deeds are carried through life. They cannot be outrun. They must be worn if one is to rule. This is their first lesson.”
“I see why Demokracy is illegal. First comes yelling. Frustration. Indecision. Disagreements. Ideas.”
___________________________________________________________________________