The Noon Universe (Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The universe is named after Noon: 22nd Century, chronologically the first novel from the series and referring to humanity reaching its noon in the 22nd century.
According to Arkady Strugatsky, the brothers at first did not make a conscious effort to create a fictional universe. Rather, they reused characters and settings from prior works whenever they found it convenient. It was only later that they began drawing on common themes and plot threads from various novels to create newer works.
Description The victory of communism and the advance of technological progress on the Earth of the Noon Universe has resulted in an overabundance of resources and eliminated the need for most types of manual labor.
Mankind is capable of near-instantaneous interstellar travel. Earth's social organization is presumably communist and can be described as a highly technologically advanced anarchistic meritocracy. There is no state structure, no institutionalized coercion, no police etc., yet the society's functioning is safeguarded by raising everyone as responsible individuals, with the guidance of a set of High Councils accepted by everyone in each particular field of activity.
The main governing body is the World Council, which is composed of the brightest scientists, historians, doctors and teachers. Local matters are handled by the regional versions of the council. Planetary councils are present on each Earth colony (such as in Rainbow) as well, but "colony" in this context refers to a planet that was not home to any sentient life before the arrival of Terran settlers. In the Noon Universe, Earth has never attempted to seize permanent control over any other civilization.
There is the COMCON (COMmission for CONtacts) in charge of contacts with aliens and the secret service COMCON-2 for clandestine operations.
Sentient races The universe is populated by a number of sentient races. Some of them are humanoid, and others are so alien that humanity did not realise for decades that they were sentient. Several sentient races maintain diplomatic relations with Earth's society. Many planets in the Noon Universe are inhabited by races identical to humans in all but minor genetic differences. It has been speculated that they were humans who wound up on other worlds by the manipulations of the Wanderers (as Beetle in the Anthill shows, that is hardly unprecedented).
The Wanderers are the most mysterious race in the Noon Universe. Technologically advanced and highly secretive, the Wanderers are suspected of manipulating sentient beings throughout Noon Universe for their own purposes. While those purposes remain unclear, it is hinted that they try to "progress" various sentient beings, including the human race.
The following sentient species are depicted: Ark Megaforms (негуманоиды Ковчега), Garrotian Snails (слизни Гарроты), Golovans (Голованы, sentient dogs), Humans, Ludens (людены, who are superhumans), Leoniders (леонидяне) Tagorians (тагоряне) Wanderers (Странники, a superrace).
Other possibly-sentient species that are mentioned in the books are septoids (see Noon: 22nd Century) whose sentience is not really confirmed, semi-sentient prehistoric molluscs katapumoridako (see The Time Wanderers) and the unidentified sentient creature killed by Pol Gnedykh in the Kroox solar system (Noon: 22nd Century).
Progressors
One of the controversial occupations in the Noon Universe is that of the progressors, agents embedded in less-advanced humanoid civilizations in order to accelerate their development or to resolve their problems. Progressors' methods range from rescuing local scientists and artists to overthrowing local governments. Konstantin Šindelář, the Czech translator of the Strugatsky brothers' works (among others) and the biographer of the Strugatsky brothers consider the phenomenon of "progressorship" to be one of the major concepts introduced into the social science fiction by Strugatskis.Šindelář, Konstantin, Братья Стругацкие : феномен прогрессорства в мире Полудня, Новая русистика, 2011, vol. 4, issue 2, pp. 29-41Скаландис А. Братья Стругацкие. — М. : АСТ, 2008. — 702 pp. — ISBN 978-5-17-052684-0, p. 53 Progressorship is a considerable element in the novels Beetle in the Anthill in which the term was first introduced and The Waves Extinguish the Wind, but literary critics agree that the idea, although unnamed, may be found in the 1962 novel Escape Attempt and that a number of subsequent novels, notably Hard to Be a God, deal with progressorship.Миры братьев Стругацких. Энциклопедия. М—Я / Сост. В. Борисов. — М., СПб. : АСТ; Terra Fantastica, 1999. — 560 с.Володихин Д. М., Прашкевич Г. М. Братья Стругацкие. Мечты о несбывшемся. — М. : Молодая гвардия, 2012. — 350 с
COMCON-2 suspected that the Wanderers act as progressors with respect to the Earth and try to counteract them; this is discussed, e.g., in The Waves Extinguish the Wind.
Works These works by the Strugatsky brothers are set in the Noon Universe (listed chronologically):
Noon: 22nd Century (Полдень. XXII век, first published 1961) Escape Attempt (Попытка к бегству) Far Rainbow (Далекая Радуга) Hard to Be a God (Трудно быть богом) Disquiet (Беспокойство) – the initial variant of the Snail on the Slope (Улитка на склоне)Despite having a similar plot Disquiet and Snail on the Slope are completely different works with different ideas and characters. The former is set in the Noon Universe and features some well-known characters like Leonid Gorbovsky, the latter has no connection to other books about Noon Universe. Prisoners of Power (The Inhabited Island) (Обитаемый остров) Space Mowgli (Малыш) The Kid from Hell (Парень из преисподней) Beetle in the Anthill (Жук в муравейнике) The Time Wanderers (Волны гасят ветер)
There are loose connections to early stories The Land of Crimson Clouds ("Страна багровых туч"), The Way to Amalthea ("Путь на Амальтею"), Space Apprentice ("Стажеры"), The Final Circle of Paradise (through Ivan Zhilin), Ispytanie SKIBR, Chastnye predpolozheniya, mainly through Bykovs family.
In the early 1990s, the Strugatsky brothers began writing what they intended to be a final Noon Universe novel. It would have tied up some of the plot threads that were left unresolved in previous novels. However, after the death of Arkady Strugatsky, the surviving brother, Boris, felt that he could not bring himself to finish the novel. The book would have been named White Ferz (). "Ferz" or "Vizier" is the Russian masculine term for the queen in chess. The Strugatsky brothers planned the book as a direct sequel of Prisoners of Power following the story of infiltration of the progressor Maxim Kammerer into the elite of the Island Empire.Борис Стругацкий. Комментарии к пройденному (журнальный вариант) (archived link)
In the late 1990s, a series of fiction by notable Russian sci-fi writers, titled , was published in Russia with an endorsement of Boris Strugatsky. The pieces in the series build upon Strugatsky brothers' ideas and works, and many of them are set in the Noon Universe.Время учеников, FantLab In particular, Aleksandr Lukyanov wrote the novel , author's vision of what the novel White Ferz could have been.Александр Лукьянов «Черная Пешка», FantLab More various Strugatsky fanfics were published later.Свободные фантазии на тему миров Стругацких, FantLab
From 1996 to 2015, there was a re-release of all Noon Universe novels as part of the series. This re-release is accompanied with introductory articles written by literary critics from the perspective of Noon Universe historians looking back on the events of the said novels several decades later, as well as with the excerpts of Boris Strugatsky's memoirs Comments on the Past.Миры братьев Стругацких FantLab
Major personalities Lev Abalkin (Абалкин, Лев) Leonid Gorbovsky (Горбовcкий, Леонид) Maxim Kammerer (Каммерер, Максим) Gennady Komov (Комов, Геннадий) Rudolf Sikorski (Сикорски, Рудольф) Maya Glumova (Глумова, Майя)
Planets
Ark (Ковчег): described in Space Mowgli; a barren world very similar to Earth in all aspects except the biosphere, which is unbelievably poor. For example, the oceans of the planet are empty (no fish, no algae, no mammals) but are quite suitable for protein life. The planet was chosen by progressors as a refuge and a new home for the population of Pant, a planet in danger of a global natural catastrophe. The name was given after the biblical Ark built by Noah. Initial plans were to gradually change the biosphere of Ark to make it more similar to the Pantian one and then to transfer all Pantians to their new home. Considering the low technological advancement level of Pantians, they should not have noticed anything at all. However, the plan was canceled when the non-humanoid native civilization of Ark (Megaforms) was discovered. It is nowhere stated in Strugatsky's books whether the "Ark Project" (started in 2160 AD) was ever completed and how. The local civilization of Ark is nearly as enigmatic as the Wanderers. An official contact with them was never established although the Ark Megaforms employed a human agent to communicate with progressors working on the surface of Ark. The agent was Piere "The Kid" Semyonov, a 13-year-old human whose parents died in 2147 when their spaceship "Pilgrim" was shot down by Wanderers' satellite. Although Megaforms negotiated (through their agent) to drive progressors away from their home world, no further attempt to share technologies or cultural developments was registered. Arkanar (Арканар): The capital of the Arkanar kingdom on an unnamed planet, the setting of the novel Hard to Be a God. The society is in the state of a feudal system. In some critical works on Strygatskys the planet is sometimes called Aurora, suggested by critic . There is a detailed description of Aurora based on the novel and Strugatskys's interviews written by biologist, popular scientist and science fiction writer Sergey Yastrebov.Сергей ЯСТРЕБОВ, Черное зеркало Земли К вопросу о глобальной истории планеты Аврора Blue sands planet: the planet visited by the spaceship Taimyr, which returned in 2117. Earth (Земля). Garrota (Гаррота): the home planet of Garrotian snails (слизни Гарроты), a non-humanoid alien race that took humans and their technology for a product of their own imagination. The planet is briefly mentioned in Space Mowgli, and no further information about either the race or the planet is available. Giganda (Гиганда): a planet populated by humans, the native planet of the protagonist from The Kid from Hell. For a long time, the two superpowers of the planet, Alai Duchy and the Empire, were drawn into a total war conflict that has been ended only when Earth's progressors started an undercover anti-war activity in 2177 AD. One of the planet's natives, a teenager elite troops cadet of the Alai Duchy was taken to Earth and introduced to its advanced society. Despite repeated efforts to integrate him, he failed to adjust. He then chose to be returned to Giganda. Discovered in 2136 AD.