Monday, February 8, 2021

Pulp Fantasy Library: The Unforsaken Hiero

I'm a huge fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, particularly of the fantasy (or science fantasy) kind, which probably explains why Gamma World remains one of my favorite RPGs of all time. There's something incredibly powerful about the idea of adventuring amidst the ruins of a more advanced but now collapsed civilization. That power is, I've argued, foundational to the appeal of most fantasy, whose stories generally take place in a fallen era. Everything from Greek mythology to Middle-earth's Third Age to the time before the rise of the Sons of Aryas is a reflection of this near-universal desire to do great deeds amidst the wreck of the past. 

One of the first books of this genre I remember reading was Sterling Lanier's Hiero's Journey, first published in 1973. I simply adored it and, once I found a copy of my own, I re-read it on a regular basis. Consequently, when its sequel, The Unforsaken Hiero, unexpectedly appeared on a bookstore shelf in mid-1983, I immediately seized a copy and tore into its pages. I could not wait to learn about the further adventures of warrior-priest Hiero Desteen and his companions, Klootz, a "morse," (mutant moose) and Gorm, a mutant bear. I had every expectation that this novel would be every bit as good as its predecessor.

I wish I could say that that was the case. However, compared to Hiero's Journey, The Unforsaken Hiero is, if not exactly a failure, far from an unqualified success. It's probably not helped by the fact that it was set up as the middle book of a trilogy that never happened. I don't know the details of what happened or why Lanier didn't write another book about Hiero, only that he did not and that, as a result, The Unforsaken Hiero feels both uneven and unfinished, as if the author had simply run out of steam before he could provide a satisfying – or even adequate – conclusion to his narrative. 

The novel chronicles Hiero's trek southward from his native Metz Republic in Kanda toward the Kingdom of D'alwah on the coast of the Lantik Ocean. D'alwah is the home of Luchare, Hiero's new bride, whom he had rescued in the previous novel and whose father is its ruler. Likewise, D'alwah is a more sophisticated society, a little closer to the world that existed before "the Death," the ancient holocaust that had toppled the previous civilization. More important still, the kingdom is nearer to the strongholds of the Brotherhood of the Unclean, a group of humans who seek to reclaim the knowledge of the time before the Death in order to gain power over the more primitive societies that grew up in its wake. Hiero's goal is not only to learn more about the Unclean but to seek out allies against them, a role for which D'alwah is particularly well suited, especially now that he is the son-in-law of its king.

The pacing and the dialog seem somehow off, though pinpointing precisely how is hard to say. Part of it, I think, is that Lanier seems simultaneously quite keen to show off more aspects of his setting – which is mostly welcome – while at the same time only sketching it in the most vague ways. For example, the Kingdom of D'alwah, despite being an important part of both the story and the overall setting, isn't well described beyond being a feudal-ish kingdom that's retained some bits of more advanced technology. The same could be said of many of the book's newer characters, such as King Danyale himself, who's mostly a cipher. I'd have liked to have learned more about D'alwah and its people, if only to contrast them with Hiero's own people, the Metz.

Nevertheless, Lanier excels at depicting the weird and dangerous wilderness of the post-Death world. It's filled with all manner of strange creatures and, while reading this, it's hard not to imagine what it would be like to run a Gamma World campaign set in a world like this. Indeed, one of the things that always bugged me about Gamma World was how unorganized it seemed to be, without any large states or organizations beyond the Cryptic Alliances. Were I ever to referee a GW campaign, I'd surely steal a few ideas from Lanier about both the larger world and what it's like in the wilds beyond the settlements of mankind. So, while The Unforsaken Hiero is nowhere near as good as its remarkable predecessor, it's not wholly without merit. I found my passion for post-apocalyptic science fantasy reignited by re-reading it and suspect it's a topic to which I'll return again in the near future.

7 comments:

  1. The 4th edition of GAMMA WORLD had a whole campaign area with nation-states and city-states, many based on cryptic alliances, but definitely not all.

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    1. 4e GW is one I skipped. Perhaps I should rectify that situation.

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    2. 4e is a very good edition, one of my favorites. You can get a rather cheap POD copy from dtrpg too.

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  2. Lanier is well-known in publishing and scifi circles as being the man most responsible for getting Herbert's Dune published - and for being fired by the publishing house Chilton for his troubles. He was also pretty skilled miniature sculptor who earned a living through commission work for some time.

    He doesn't seem to have written (or at least published) anything past 1986, and his last novels were released in 1983 (including both Unforsaken Hiero and Menace Under Marswood, which was a good but light read that might be categorized as YA these days - much like Foster's Pip & Flinx books are). He was never a prolific author but everything I've read by him was a pleasure, and I heartily recommend his series of humorous "Ffellowes" short stories.

    I note that Goodman Games had a good bio post about him over here, including mention of his contacts with JRR Tolkein and Gary Gygax.

    https://goodman-games.com/blog/2020/12/19/adventures-in-fiction-sterling-e-lanier-3/

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    1. I did know about Lanier's role in seeing Dune published and for that alone he is assured of a place in my heart.

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    2. It's certainly more than enough to excuse him the minor sin of not finishing the Hiero trilogy for us, yes. :)

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  3. A friend's Gamma World was game was actually quite a fun hard science game (for example radiation just killed you it didn't mutate you; mutations were the result of lab escaped artificial rDNA viruses from experiments before the Fall). Often with societies attempting to rebuild, but disrupted by the discovery of surviving caches of the far superior oldtech. We [collectively since there were about thirty active players in various groups in various locations] had begun to get some inkling into the reasons for the Fall (and the talon that the Galactic Federation had had in it), when sadly his best friend died and he lost interest in running it any more (as it was now haunted by a ghost). [Something I can well understand.]

    I think it does vastly improve the game to have various re-established societies in it (often with some distorted echo of pre-Fall mores). I feel the lack of historical interaction between these societies when they do expand into each other means that anything can happen).

    I only think the gonzo split world works for the 7th edition, where the reason for the gonzo juxtaposition of everything, was, according to Red Sails in the Sunset turning on the LHC and making a patchwork earth of different disconnected realities (sort of like Rifts, but less organised).

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