The Noon Universe

**The Noon Universe** (Russian: ир олудн, lit. "World of Noon") is a science-fiction shared universe based on the ten books written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, setting within the namesake universe, where communism became successful and became the *de jure* established political ideology on Earth.

The name comes from the book Noon: 22nd Century, which is the first book in the *Noon Universe* series chronologically.

However, due to Arkady's death in 1991, the eleventh and final work of the series, The White Queen, the planned sequel for Prisoners of Power, was never completed nor released.

## Background

The Strugatsky Brothers first made no intentional attempt to build a fictitious universe, according to Arkady. Instead, they re-used locations and characters from earlier works wherever it was practical. They didn't start using recurring themes and storylines from other novels to generate additional works until much later, which is how the Noon Universe came to be as a well-established, interwoven series.

## The Noon Universe's Description

The victory of communism and the advancement of technology on the Earth of the Noon Universe in an alternate 20th century have led to an abundance of resources and abolished the necessity for the majority of physical work.

Interstellar travel is possible for humans to complete in almost real time. The social structure on Earth is apparently communist and may be characterised as a highly developed anarchistic meritocracy. The operation of the society is protected despite the lack of a state framework and institutionalised coercion (no police, etc.), and is under the direction of a group of High Councils that are recognised by all participants in each specific field of endeavour.

The Progressors, who embed themselves in less developed humanoid civilizations to speed up their growth or cure their issues, are one of the controversial occupations. Methods used by progressors include toppling local governments and rescuing local scientists and artists.

The World Council, which is the major governing body, is made up of the best historians, scientists, physicians, and educators. Regional councils are in charge of handling local issues. Although "colony" in this sense refers to a planet that wasn't home to any sentient species until Terran immigrants arrived, there are planetary councils on every Earth colony (for example, Rainbow). Earth has never sought to conquer another civilisation for all time in the Noon Universe.

Several intelligent races can be found across the universe. While some of them resemble humans, others are so strange that it took decades for people to recognise they were sentient. The civilisation of Earth is in diplomatic contact with a number of sentient races. In the Noon Universe, species that are nearly genetically identical to humans live on many different worlds. But for unknown reasons, it has been hypothesised that they were humans who ended up in other planets as a result of the Wanderers' manipulations.

The Wanderers are the Noon Universe's most enigmatic race. A technologically superior and intensely covert race, they are accused of controlling sentient beings across the Noon Universe for their own ends. Although while their exact intentions are still unknown, it is implied that they aim to "advance" a variety of sentient entities, including the human race.

## Works

### Main Novels

The following novels constitutes the entirety of the Noon Universe canon.

Noon: 22nd CenturyEscape AttemptFar RainbowHard to Be a GodDisquietPrisoners of PowerSpace MowgliThe Kid from HellBeetle in the AnthillThe Time Wanderers

## Characters

* Lev Abalkin
* Leonid Gorbovsky
* Maxim Kammerer
* Gennady Komov
* Rudolf Sikorski
* Maya Glumova
* Andrei Sokolov
* Alexei Leonov

## References

1. ↑ Givens, John (October 2011). "The Strugatsky Brothers and Russian Science Fiction: Editor's Introduction". *Russian Studies in Literature*. **47** (4): 3–6. doi:10.2753%2FRSL1061-1975470400 ISSN: 1061-1975 S2CID:194160128