#Ancillary Justice spoilers

[injustice-of-toren]

I read Translation State a while ago and the Ancillary trilogy a while before, but I've been thinking: was I supposed to know when Zeiat showed up after Dlique's death that they were the same person?

I feel like knowing that would have made the whole Zeiat getting a commemorative funeral medal with Dlique's name on it a lot funnier.

So here's a poll:

[rotationalsymmetry]

I can't stop seeing Anaandar Mianaai's multiple bodies and split selfhood as representing the concept of a government, a body that is composed of multiple individuals and competing factions and yet has to act as one and yet often does in fact act against itself. And yet also, at the same time, often doesn't act against itself as much as the people under the government need it to. Breq is never confused about the reform Mianaai bring on her side. She knows that's not how things work.

And she has no "ok but I need to support..." because Awn is dead and nothing else matters.

[yennefer]

on the last 100 pages of ancillary justice and this book is... A Lot.

[rjalker]

eheheehehehe

[ID: An edited version of a vintage drawing, originally showing a wife and two children hiding behind a door with knives, waiting for the husband. The drawing now has two wives and six children, with six husbands. Above and below, the image is labeled, "Anaander Mianaai". End ID.]

[crouchabout]

[i'm 2/3s through ancillary mercy - spoilers for imperial radch]

i've been wondering about the title of the second book, which seemed counterintuitive because the majority of it is spent with mercy of kalr and its relationships with other characters are explored quite a bit - yet the book is called ancillary sword, and it's the third book that's called ancillary mercy. that's weird, right? in ancillary sword, the only significant sword is atagaris, which isn't as major of a character as kalr. besides, kalr doesn't have ancillaries - except when you consider it speaks through humans as if they were ancillaries.

anyway, thinking of events in the first and second book, my only guess is that each book is named for the ship that becomes separated from its humans. separated from itself. which. well. hnnnnnggggg

[the-little-ugly-fuckling]

has anyone read the sequels to ancillary justice? does seivarden ever come back as a main character because i’m over halfway through ancillary sword and she’s barely there and it’s killing me

[whisperofthewaves]

this is the 3rd time I read that scene with the emperor of radch and leutenant awn on justice of torren, and maybe it's because this time it's audio, but man did it hit me

[a-queer-little-wombat]

TBH, the whole storyline for Seivarden in Ancillary Justice, particularly the part that happens between Garsedd and when Breq rescues her from hyothermia, feels FAR more realistic than a story where she gets thawed out and goes to save the universe.

Because linguistic drift IS real and it WOULD be crippling [1], and the culture and class shock Seivarden experiences IS real and we can see it happen with real people who try to go back to the cultures they've moved away from or when they shift from one class to another (in any direction, but especially down, like Seivarden does). Not only is Seivarden experiencing all of that, her entire status is in limbo and uncertain.

On top of all that, she wasn't getting treatment for the massive amount of mental trauma that happened immediately prior to being shoved into an escape pod!

Seivarden is entirely understandably a mental mess, who imprints on the person who literally saves her from death.

of all the fun characters in imperial radch for some reason the one who has been stuck in my brain the most is Seivarden. what is UP with her. I need to see inside her brain so bad. she got dragged off the street by a mysterious stranger who inexplicably knew her name and spent like a week waiting to run away from her and buy more drugs but then she was like. no actually, instead i think i will be sticking to you like a barnacle forever, thanks.

she was also frozen for 1000 years and it's not like the book doesn't acknowledge that but???? she woke up after being frozen for a thousand years and this is a remarkably small deal relative to the main plot. "spaceship captain loses her ship and gets shoved into an escape pod and wakes up a thousand years later" could absolutely be its own whole story, where the spaceship captain then goes on to save the world or something, except instead of saving the world seivarden got addicted to drugs and this is just all happening in the background of breq's own saving-the-world-adjacent adventure.

i mean for goodness sake she was frozen for a thousand years and then got dragged off the street by the one person in the galaxy who knew her a thousand years ago and is still alive. what kind of luck is THAT. she decided she was gonna stick to breq like a barnacle forever before she even knew that. (i mean, arguably you could put that point in a lot of different places, but to me the bridge scene and the picking-her-up-from-jail scene in AJ are both strong candidates.) i NEED to go find some good seivarden POV fic because i need to know what is going on in her HEAD.

[iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid]

finished ancillary justice and i'm halfway through ancillary sword now and i just gotta say i am fully obsessed with the fact that this entire rift in their political system has been caused by the fact that their supreme ruler has her mind split between multiple semi-independent bodies so that when she commits an unspeakable act of mass violence you get one half of her going (rightfully) oh god what have i done, we need to change the way we do things so nothing like this ever happens again, while the other half digs their heels in and insists they were in the right all along. absolutely BALLER analogy for the human condition. insane

[mothshrub]

Anaander Mianaai spotting more splintered Anaander Mianaais out in the wild

[reddy-reads]

Ancillary Gender: Pronouns and personhood in Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

When I started this, my memories of the Ancillary Justice series (technically the series is “the Imperial Radch series”) were vague. The protagonist (and narrator) had once been an AI that controlled a spaceship and a crew of human bodies, but she had been reduced to just one body. She used she/her pronouns for everyone. 

Now I have reread Ancillary Justice and the sequels Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy. I’m pleased to say that a) the books hold up, and b) there was a lot I’d either missed or forgotten.

Protagonist and narrator Breq was once the troop-carrier Justice of Toren. The Justice of Toren AI controlled not only its own ship-body but many human bodies (called ancillaries) that made up an important portion of its crew. She was thousands of years old and a troop-carrier for the interstellar empire known as the Radch. (The ships have wormhole drives, which allow for faster-than-light but not instantaneous travel.) At the start of Ancillary Justice, the ship Justice of Toren has been greatly reduced and now exists in one, single, human body. She goes by Breq. 

[SPOILER NOTE:  I refer to things that happen in all 3 books, and I quote some passages. Spoilers through book 3 ahoy!]

Some context about the book’s style, Breq, and the Radch

Breq/Justice of Toren is the book’s narrator, and she refers to everyone around her (almost) exclusively as “she.” Sometimes in dialogue, characters will be referred to as “he” and “him,” and in those circumstances Breq usually copies the use of “he/him” in conversation; even then, the narration (Breq’s true thoughts) refers to all characters as “she.” This makes for a deliberate disorientation for the reader; the effect (for me) is persistent but still allows for understanding. It makes Breq’s POV alien in a way that is appropriate for someone who used to be a ship, who isn’t totally human. 

At least, that’s what I thought: that the use of “she” for everyone was because Breq was originally an AI, the ship Justice of Toren. (As an aside, it felt doubly appropriate since ships and other vessels are traditionally referred to as she.) But on my recent reread, I realized that I was mistaken. This is not a Breq-the-ship matter; it’s a product of the culture that created Breq, the Radch. Another character comments on Breq’s misapplication of pronouns: “You certainly Radchaai. [...] The gender thing is a giveaway, though. Only a Radchaai would misgender people the way you do.” (The culture is called the Radch, and the adjective form is Radchaai.) 

Breq is of the Radch, and her cultural background colors the narrative. It made it hard for me to get a grip on what the Radch was like in general. (If there is such a thing as in general; the Radch is an empire spanning a multitude of solar systems and an unending hunger to ‘assimilate’ as many cultures as it touches.) The best mental image I got of “the Radch” was when Breq sets foot in a Radch port: “I saw them all, suddenly, for just a moment, through non-Radchaai eyes, an eddying crowd of unnervingly ambiguously gendered people. I saw all the features that would mark gender for non-Radchaai [...] Short hair or long [...] Thick-bodied or thin-, faces delicate-featured or coarse-, with cosmetics or none. [...] All of this matched randomly with bodies curving at breast and hip or not [...] for an instant I despaired of choosing the right pronouns, the right terms of address. But I didn’t need to do that here.” 

In Radch-controlled space, people are “she.” This is regardless of their anatomy. (In response to the earlier comment about her tendency to misgender people, Breq says, “I can’t see under your clothes. And even if I could, that’s not always a reliable indicator.”) The dominant language in Radch-controlled space only has “she” and “it” pronouns; other languages have different pronouns that vary with gender and age and all sorts of factors, which is a challenge for a thoroughly Radch-created character. 

(At this point, I want to emphasize that the Radch are not admirable or tempting to emulate in any way. They are intensely hierarchical, they’re imperialistic, and they have a casual attitude towards using violence to snuff out any spirit of dissent. This is not at all an ‘uwu queer utopia that has ascended beyond conceptions of gender.’) 

Oh, and as far as reproduction goes, we do get this: “‘I used to wonder how Radchaai reproduced, if they were all the same gender.’ / ‘They’re not. And they reproduce like anyone else. [...] They go to the medic [...] and have their contraceptive implants deactivated. Or they use a tank. Or they have surgery so they can carry a pregnancy. Or they hire someone to carry it.’” Which says Something about Rachaai’s idea of how ‘everyone else’ reproduces (or at least Breq’s perception of Radchaai perception of… you get the idea.)

Pronouns and personhood (What is a person again?)

So that’s a little background about the setting, the Radch, and Breq. Next I want to circle back to my original topic: pronouns and personhood. This started as I was contemplating the differences and similarities between several series: the Discworld series (Terry Pratchett), the Murderbot Diaries (Martha Wells), and Ancillary Justice (and its sequels) by Ann Leckie. All these series have characters who are a) not human and b) do not use “she/her” or “he/him” pronouns. Although these characters are not human, they still felt, to me, like “people.” 

What did I mean by “people?” Honestly, I’m still not sure! But I have a sense that “to be treated like a person” involves being treated with respect. “People” have thoughts, opinions, and comfort that are treated with consideration. They have an inner life and volition. (I am aware that this is vague, but I am just a rando on the internet and not, like, a philosopher. I’m working with what I’ve got.)

Inside and outside the world

Before we can dive back into pronouns and personhood in Ancillary Justice and its sequels, I want to distinguish between in-universe and out-of-universe understandings of personhood. The story—the author and reader outside the story’s events—understand from the outset that Breq is a person. She has an inner life. We (the reader) care about her inner life, her goals, her plans… She’s the narrator of the whole series! This, to me, is a surefire indication that from an out-of-universe perspective she is unquestionably a person. 

But in-universe—from the perspective of other characters—the question of Breq’s personhood is more… complication. In fact, in-universe, personhood is not a binary function of person/not-person. Instead, whether someone/something counts as “a person” exists along a sliding scale. Several factors affect an entity’s place along the scale. 1) Are they human? 2) How Radchaai are they? 3) How scary are they? As already discussed, within the Radch (in the dominant Radchaai language), all “people” are “she.” Over the course of the series, in-universe understandings of personhood start to shift. 

The importance of being human

Being a “person” is not as simple as having a human body. 

Breq herself has a line in book one: “I’m not human, but my body is.” 

Breq, as we know her, inhabits a human body, but history matters. Breq was once ship-AI Justice of Toren, “it.” Justice of Toren controlled thousands of ancillaries. An ancillary is a human body (with some hardware installed to allow an AI to control it), but an ancillary is “it.” To regular human people (Radchaai citizens), ships and other AIs are not people, and ancillaries are just subunits of AIs. Ships are it (not people), and their it-ness spills over into their human bodies.

To be Rachaai is to be civilized: What language reveals

Perhaps it is not surprising that, for the Rachaai, being a person is not so simple as having a human body. The citizens of the Radch are already used to thinking of other humans as existing on a sliding scale of person to not-person. To a great extent—within the Radch—whether or not someone is a full person is tied to how “Rachaai” they are. 

Let us return, briefly, to the perception of gender within Rachaai space. In the Radch, people are “she.” Regardless of anatomy, age, or social standing, people are “she.” (Non-people, such as the Justice of Toren are “it.”) In the dominant language of the Radch, the only pronouns are “she” or “it.” 

But if gender is something of a vacuous category in the Radch, what is not is “citizenship.” Many characters throughout the series address each other as “citizen.” It becomes clear early on that “citizenship” is very important in Radch space. If an individual is a citizen, they are a person with rights and protections. If a human is not a citizen, their life is worth little, and they are easily, casually killed. A significant—ominous, even—quirk of the Radchaai language is that to be Radchaai is to be civilized; they are the same word. (Radch space is very bleak for anyone who can’t or doesn’t conform to Radch expectations.) 

The second book, Ancillary Sword, leans heavily into the civilized-uncivilized theme. A particularly repugnant character refers to some of her indentured workers as though they are animals: “the workers on the estate near my country house let loose with all sorts of uncivilized noises that I’m assured are authentic exotic musical survival from the days of their ancestors. I’m told it’s quite nearly a museum display.” (As an aside, this reminded me very strongly of how certain natural history museums have or used to have exhibits of non-western cultures right alongside the exotic animals and relics of bygone eras like fossils.)

To hear a character refer to singing so dismissively is jarring. Breq loves songs. She has had an affinity for singing even since she was Justice of Toren. Songs are art; they can be sung for beauty, for enjoyment, in ritual and custom, to convey a sentiment, and used in communication. But if you’re not quite civilized, you’re not quite a person… if you’re not a person, then doesn’t that mean you’re a little bit of an animal? An animal doesn’t really sing a song; it makes noises. 

To be a person in the Radch, one must be Rachaai. Yet to be Rachaai is not sufficient in and of itself. Justice of Toren is thoroughly of the Radch; Mercy of Kalr is of the Radch; Athoek Station is of the Radch. Yet despite being created by and for the Radch and being imbued with a Rachaai worldview (at least as far as Breq’s struggle with non-she pronouns goes), they are not Rachaai. How could they be? They are AIs. For the average Rachaai citizen, they cannot be “people.” 

If all else fails, be scary

But still the question of personhood is not so simple as a combination of "are you human?" and "are you civilized?" Power is another important factor the calculation of personhood in the Radch. Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy present us with two interesting examples of how these three factors interact: the Presgar and the Gem of Sphene.

Gem of Sphene is a Notai ship; it’s an AI-controlled ship dating from before the Empire of the Radch was founded. It’s neither human nor Rachaai, although its only physical presence in Rachaai space is through one of its ancillaries. (The ancillary is subsequently addressed simply as “Sphene.”) Breq pushes for this ancillary to be treated with some level of respect (to be treated like a Rachaai citizen), and her power means that this wish is granted. To my recollection, Sphene’s presence doesn’t provide much illumination on personhood in the Radch, but Breq has an interesting exchange with Sphene about pronouns. Breq begins by addressing Sphene: 

“‘Tell me, does it bother you to be referred to as it?’ ‘Why would it?’/I [Breq] gestured ambivalence. ‘It troubles some of my crew to hear you referred to as it, when you’re treated like a person. And I call you Cousin and they wouldn’t dream of ever using it for me. Though technically that would be correct.’ ‘And does it bother you to be called she?’ [...] ‘No,’ I admitted. ‘I supposed I’ve gotten used to being called by whatever pronoun seems appropriate to the speaker. I have to admit, I’d take offense if one of my crew called me it. But mostly because I know they’d think of it as an insult.’” 

Although it’s tangential to our personhood conversation, I couldn’t bring myself to omit it entirely because of the view into Breq’s perspective on her own “she/her” pronouns. Breq doesn’t think of herself as “she” because of some internal she-ness, but out of custom and habit and because of the importance the Radch places on “she” rather than “it.” At the same time, Breq doesn’t feel misgendered by the application of “she,” either. It’s also telling that the only one who even thinks to ask if Breq is bothered by being called “she” is another AI. Good stuff! 

(This is consistent with the way Breq refers to ancillaries and ships in other scenes. Breq herself refers to individual ancillaries as “it.” I had to dig through my copy of Ancillary Sword (the second book) to see how Breq refers to ships—she refers to them mostly by name or as “Ship” (capitalized, as due a title or name), but when pressed she refers to ships as “it.”)

On to the Presgar. The Presgar are a non-human alien species. They don’t put in a personal appearance in the series, but they are discussed. Their shadow looms long and ominous. They are the boogeymen of the Imperial Radch and are reminiscent of conceptions of the Fey. They’re inhuman, powerful, and their interests and decisions seem to be made according to some logic or reason that escapes humans. Humanity—by which I do mean the Radch—has a treaty with the Presgar that has been in place long enough that few Rachaai remember the time before the treaty. Breq, as a thousands-of-years-old ship, remembers, and alludes to human ships being captured and pulled apart. Breq gives the impression that these investigations by the Presgar, though invariably fatal to the human crews aboard, were motivated more by curiosity or boredom than any particular malice. 

The Presgar are scary. And although they are not human and not Rachaai, they are treated with respect—or at least with fear, which is close enough in poor light. The Rachaai are mindful of the Presgar’s wishes and the comfort of the Presgar’s ambassadors. (The Presgar’s ambassadors are humans who were raised by the Presgar, and they’re invariably weird.) 

When one of the Presgar ambassadors is killed accidentally on a Rachaai station, the Rachaai bigwigs of that station (including Breq) immediately begin formal Rachaai mourning customs. The rationale is that—although they don’t know the Presgar’s own mourning customs—if they can show that they responded appropriately and respectfully to the death of the Presgar ambassador, perhaps the Presgar will not take offense (followed by taking revenge). In contrast, when ancillaries of Rachaai ships are killed, the bodies are merely disposed of. A dead ambassador is a person; a dead ancillary is waste. 

The Presgar are treated as people (non-human people) because they’re scary. But gunships with platoons of ancillary soldiers aren’t? The AI that controls all the built spaces of a space station—from the doors to the temperature to the airlocks and maintenance and medical bots—isn’t scary? No. Although AIs like Mercy of Kalr and Athoek Station are powerful, their power is invisible. AIs don’t threaten Rachaai citizens. (They do threaten uncivilized humans during imperial expansions, of course, but that doesn’t count.) The Radch built its AIs. They serve the Radch. It’s even reasonable to believe that, as the creators of such AIs, the Radch understands every “thought” and process of the AIs. So they can’t be scary, can’t be threats… until, of course, they are.

All things strive

Of course, what I haven’t said so far is that in the series, the Rachaai conception of who/what “counts” as a person is challenged. Specifically, at the end of the series, Breq, Sphene, Station, and Mercy of Kalr—all AIs—declare themselves to be a new species with their own (freshly-established) government. The Radch’s treaty with the Presgar has certain terms about how humans treat non-human, sentient species, and Breq and the others are able to invoke these terms to protect themselves. The Presgar are such a frightening presence that the Radch retreats. By invoking the scary power of the Presgar, AIs are able to win recognition for their own personhood.

In Ancillary Justice and its accompanying series, personhood is not a simple matter of “human or not.” Humanity and citizenship are entwining factors in what makes someone a person, but in the end how powerful (read: scary) an entity is can trump the other two factors. In the traditional Rachaai conception, a person is “she,” but a person can also be “he” or even—after three books’ worth of growth—“it.” 

==

Afterword: I thought this was going to be a short blog post I could bang out in a day, and it ballooned pretty dramatically. What do you think? What did I miss? What did I leave out? (I am certain that there are many things in both categories!) 

Other topics I would have liked to explore: 

As far as the “are you a human” test goes, how much of “this is a human” is defined just by numbers? What about the personhood of entities that only ever inhabited a human body? What about someone born human who goes on to inhabit multiple human bodies? I can sense some Ship of Theseus stuff. 

Anaander’s existence poses interesting contrasts to Breq. To the Radch, she is inarguably a person. But whereas over the course of the series, Breq goes from “not a person” to “more of a person” in the in-universe perception, I’d say that Anaander goes from “a person” to “is this a person” in the reader’s perception. 

Even more than Anaander, I’d love to spend more time with Tisarwat. I really loved the development of this character, especially the final dialogue exchange she has with Breq about her eyes. (That one gave me SO MANY feels.)

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading. I’m also planning to tackle Murderbot and the Discworld, but the way this section has ballooned out of control has intimidated me a bit. But I also can’t let it go, so maybe I’ll see you in a few months when I’ve finished compiling my book passing thoughts about those two beloved series.

[burningdarkfire]

Ahdkdhs ancillary justice sg? 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

HI YES thank you for asking about this one because i do love the concept and i think i could love writing it. if only i wrote it

(ask me about my WIPs!)

caleb-as-breq and essek-as-seivarden, focused mostly in the major time jump that happens in AJ (trying to keep it ambiguous for the sake of spoilers) and what happens to their relationship during that time, with many things of course shifted to the left to allow for a particularly critical role sort of flavouring

it's still a very early draft, because i quickly intimidated myself out of working on this project (😂) but i do hope to return to it someday!

here's a snippet:

Essek watched Caleb sleep.

Correctives had been applied all over his body, though most of them were hidden now under the heavy blanket. The temperature in the medical tent of the outpost was certainly warmer than outside, but it was still cold—Essek had kept his coat and sat now, hunched and miserable, to the alternating bemusement or disapproval of the two nurses that checked in once an hour.

"He won't wake for another few days." This was the disapproving one. The outpost belonged to the Dynasty—her ears were pointed and her skin a deep amethyst—but her accent was so thick Essek could hardly understand her. "You ought to be in bed yourself."

He ought to, perhaps. But Essek had always had a little trouble with ought.

[glitterarygetsit]

Ancillary Justice spoilers:

Anaander Mianaai? Anaander me and I?! EIN ANDER ME AND I?!??

…

…

…

ANOTHER ME AND I?!!!?!?!

[rjalker]

for a moment I was like "but why does she have both legs" and then I remembered it's because she hasn't lost one yet, that's why.

[delta-orionis]

Tuesday again no problem 2/20/24

listening

I got into listening to the podcast The Worst of All Possible Worlds recently, and their episode on Neuromancer made me feel very validated.

They echoed the same sentiments that I feel: Neuromancer is a very strange book with a meandering, hard to follow plot, that can be weirdly racist and misogynistic at times. However, there’s a reason it’s regarded as a cyberpunk classic, and there are concepts and scenes from the book that are genuinely compelling; for this reason I can’t bring myself to fully hate the book. It wasn’t fun to read but I’m glad I read it.

The rest of this podcast is about whatever random media the hosts feel like talking about, and I’m kind of a sucker for shows where hosts just have genuine conversations about why they like or dislike a thing. This show has been filling that niche for me recently.

reading

I’m continuing to slowly work my way through Ancillary Justice. I’m still not very far into the book, but I’m already starting to become quite fond of the main character and her peculiar interest in music.

watching

I rewatched this video essay about Rain World’s lore the other day, because my brain continues to chew on the lore of this game and I kind of wanted a refresher on the bigger plot.

Some people have already pointed out that some of the points in this video aren’t 100% accurate to the lore, and I disagree with some of the conclusions it draws, but it does a good job of giving a general overview of the game’s story. I think if you’re interested in learning about Rain World’s lore, this is a good place to start (but be wary of spoilers).

playing

Mostly Rain World. I haven’t played much this past week, but I did find time to throw a singularity bomb at Five Pebbles, so that was fun.

making

Still working on my Five Pebbles plushie.

I started on his cloak. I still need to finish his arms and sew everything together. I put some wire in him so he will be poseable, but the wire keeps sticking through one of his legs so I might need to add some more stuffing there. Trial and error!

I also posted some Rain World worldbuilding ideas a few days ago. Nothing too complicated, just some brainstorming and sketches for a hypothetical creature.

…

This coming week will be extremely busy for me so I’m not sure if I’ll have much to report, but idk, I guess we’ll see.

[arayaz]

I am reading The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie and it is AWESOME. My thoughts below the cut (spoilers)

Super fun world premise!

The narration is amazing.

Trans main character let’s gooooo

Ancillary Justice vibes with the two alternating timeframes gradually leading to both climaxes

I love how everyone has an actual individual personality. Like I can just feel Eolo and how he thinks, on some just intuitive level. And the same for the different gods and such.

It showcases such knowledge of anthropology and linguistics it’s hard to believe Ann Leckie never worked as either!

Anyway yeah, I love it so far