Ousters
Encyclopedia
In Dan Simmons
' Hyperion
universe, Ousters are the branch of humanity that left the Worldweb and the Hegemony, and chose instead to travel among the stars, adapting away from planetary life and the influence of the TechnoCore
.
From time to time, the Ousters clash with the Hegemony at the edges of Hegemony space, and are generally considered to be the Hegemony's "prime bogeymen" and "interstellar barbarians". In truth, the Ousters are extremely civilized and have evolved far beyond the scope of the Hegemony's imagining. They possess superior technology and their "comet forts and can cities" actually resemble pristine old-Earth countryside, replete with waterfalls, fields, giant tree cities, etc.
The Ousters have twelve 'swarms', or migration clusters consisting of thousands of ships ranging from single-person to massive habitation structures. Many Ousters live outside of the swarms, though, instead cultivating orbital forest rings around distant stars.
The Ousters loathe the TechnoCore
and refuse to make use of Farcaster
s, instead relying upon the Hawking drive for interstellar travel.
The Ousters have a strong ecological sensibility. Their society has learned the lessons of the destruction of Old Earth, and decided that terraforming
is the wrong path. Rather than altering existing planets to suit humans, the Ousters alter themselves to fit the environment. Thus the Ousters come in a huge variety of appearances and forms.
In The Fall of Hyperion, it is revealed that the Templars
are in league with the Ousters in their opposition to the TechnoCore
and the Hegemony. The government of God's Grove, the Templar homeworld, prepares to greet an incoming fleet of Ousters they believe are participating in a coordinated invasion of the Hegemony. Unfortunately, the fleet inbound to God's Grove proves to be a TechnoCore fleet disguised as Ousters, and the planet is attacked and largely destroyed.
However, subsequent to the events of The Fall of Hyperion, Templars relocated to Ouster colonies where they are found in The Rise of Endymion
. These colonies experienced the "Shared Moment" of humanity that ensued during the death of Aenea. In the short story "Orphans of the Helix
", Templars are found living in an Ouster colony several centuries after the events of the Hyperion Cantos.
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....
' Hyperion
Hyperion Cantos
The Hyperion Cantos is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. Set in the far future, and focusing more on plot and story development than technical detail, it falls into the soft science fiction category...
universe, Ousters are the branch of humanity that left the Worldweb and the Hegemony, and chose instead to travel among the stars, adapting away from planetary life and the influence of the TechnoCore
Technocore
The TechnoCore is the 'race' of post-singularity Artificial Intelligences in Dan Simmons' sci-fi novel Hyperion. The Core consists of a grid of AIs hidden throughout human space, residing in "datasphere" networks, hidden underground computers, and other hidden locations...
.
From time to time, the Ousters clash with the Hegemony at the edges of Hegemony space, and are generally considered to be the Hegemony's "prime bogeymen" and "interstellar barbarians". In truth, the Ousters are extremely civilized and have evolved far beyond the scope of the Hegemony's imagining. They possess superior technology and their "comet forts and can cities" actually resemble pristine old-Earth countryside, replete with waterfalls, fields, giant tree cities, etc.
The Ousters have twelve 'swarms', or migration clusters consisting of thousands of ships ranging from single-person to massive habitation structures. Many Ousters live outside of the swarms, though, instead cultivating orbital forest rings around distant stars.
The Ousters loathe the TechnoCore
Technocore
The TechnoCore is the 'race' of post-singularity Artificial Intelligences in Dan Simmons' sci-fi novel Hyperion. The Core consists of a grid of AIs hidden throughout human space, residing in "datasphere" networks, hidden underground computers, and other hidden locations...
and refuse to make use of Farcaster
Farcaster
A farcaster is an instantaneous transportation device in the fictional Hyperion universe. Farcasters allow two points separated by a vast distance to be brought together at a Farcaster Portal. The Farcaster network connects hundreds of planets of the Hegemony of Man into their WorldWeb...
s, instead relying upon the Hawking drive for interstellar travel.
The Ousters have a strong ecological sensibility. Their society has learned the lessons of the destruction of Old Earth, and decided that terraforming
Terraforming
Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...
is the wrong path. Rather than altering existing planets to suit humans, the Ousters alter themselves to fit the environment. Thus the Ousters come in a huge variety of appearances and forms.
In The Fall of Hyperion, it is revealed that the Templars
Templars (Hyperion Cantos)
The Templars are a religious and political group in Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos, appearing in the novels Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion....
are in league with the Ousters in their opposition to the TechnoCore
Technocore
The TechnoCore is the 'race' of post-singularity Artificial Intelligences in Dan Simmons' sci-fi novel Hyperion. The Core consists of a grid of AIs hidden throughout human space, residing in "datasphere" networks, hidden underground computers, and other hidden locations...
and the Hegemony. The government of God's Grove, the Templar homeworld, prepares to greet an incoming fleet of Ousters they believe are participating in a coordinated invasion of the Hegemony. Unfortunately, the fleet inbound to God's Grove proves to be a TechnoCore fleet disguised as Ousters, and the planet is attacked and largely destroyed.
However, subsequent to the events of The Fall of Hyperion, Templars relocated to Ouster colonies where they are found in The Rise of Endymion
The Rise of Endymion
The Rise of Endymion is a 1997 science fiction novel by Dan Simmons. It is the fourth and final novel in his Hyperion Cantos fictional universe...
. These colonies experienced the "Shared Moment" of humanity that ensued during the death of Aenea. In the short story "Orphans of the Helix
Orphans of the Helix
"Orphans of the Helix" is a 46-page short story by Dan Simmons set in his Hyperion Cantos fictional universe...
", Templars are found living in an Ouster colony several centuries after the events of the Hyperion Cantos.