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Horseclans is a science fiction series by Robert Adams, set in a North America that had been thrown back to a medieval level by a full-scale nuclear war. ==Background== The books mainly concern the doings of the "Horseclans", a nomadic people originating from the "Sea of Grass"—the Great Plains from present-day southern Canada to central Texas, and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, post-apocalyptically. The Horseclansmen were portrayed as fierce, noble and often gifted with telepathy, which came in handy for their dealings with their horses and "cats"—sabertoothed tigers that had been revived by scientific means in the years before the nuclear war. Some people, including the Horseclans' founder and mentor-figure, Milo Morai, were "Undying"—effectively immortal or at least unaging and almost impossible to kill by means other than suffocation, drowning and decapitation. The Undying were also sterile, which was a source of anguish for some of them. The known Undying were: * Milo (who did not know his own age due to amnesia caused by a head wound in 1936), * Bookermann (once a German cavalry officer), * Mara (an Ehleen noblewoman who marries Milo), * Aldora (an orphaned Ehleen girl taken in by one of the Horseclans), * Demetrios (the Ehleen High Lord and the only Undying to perish during the course of the books), * Drehkos (Nobleman of Morguhn involved in the Great Rebellion), * Tim and Giliahna (the children of a Horseclans chief) and * Neeka (an Ehleen physician who later also marries Milo). In addition, Bookerman mentions two other Undying, one of whom he claims is dead.〔Book 13, Horses of the North, Chapter XII〕 Although not among the Undying, two other major characters are extremely long-lived, Hari Krooguh being almost two hundred years old when last mentioned in the books and Bili Morguhn, aka Bili the Axe, remaining active until his death from bear-inflicted injuries at the age of almost a century. In addition, both Hari and Bili possess extraordinarily strong mental powers of telekinesis and illusion (as does Aldora). The Horseclans looked down on "dirtmen", or farmers, and by extension all non-nomads, although they later resettled on the east coast. Many "Dirtman" communities were descended from odd, out-of-the-mainstream groups of Americans, and often had religious beliefs that were unpleasant at best. The main civilization in North America during most of the books is that of the "Ehleens"—a conglomeration of Greek-speaking Mediterranean peoples who had invaded the eastern half of North America and set up kingdoms. The main Ehleen kingdom, Kenooryos Ehlas (New Greece), was dominated by a thoroughly corrupt, debased version of the Greek Orthodox Church, and the conduct of whose rulers was, in some ways, also reminiscent of Hellenistic kings. Other peoples the Horseclans dealt with were "Ganiks", "Mehrikans", and "Ahrmenee". The "Ganiks" were degraded descendants of hippie communes, whose religion of "Orghanikonservashun" (organic-conservation) forbade them to eat animal meat (but not human meat; Ganiks were enthusiastic cannibals), bathe, or hot-work metal (due to the pollution caused by burning coal). "Mehrikans" were descendants of present-day Americans. "Ahrmenee" were descendants of present-day Armenians living in the Appalachian Mountains. In a similar fashion to the world of Robert E Howard's Conan and of Jack London novels, civilization is seen as having a softening and corrupting influence in comparison to the hardy Ahrmenee and the Horseclans, although not to the extent that they outweigh the peace and prosperity that Milo and others work towards. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Horseclans」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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