Governmental
Advisements
Understanding military forays between Karhide and Orgoreyn
The relationship between the Kingdom of Karhide and the Nation of Orgoreyn is best understood as a rivalry, as a cold war rather than actual fighting and war. Both nations have a strong border against each others, but genuine war and military advancements are rare and often do not happen as this is not common underneath both Karhidish and Orgoreyn cultures.
Nature of the Conflict
The conflict is primarily fought in the realms of politics and information, rather than on the battlefield: War is uncommon and is rarely ever used. The only battle there is, is debate and battle with words.
Espionage: Each nation constantly works to learn the secrets and plans of the other. Orgoreyn, being a collective government, is highly organized in this area, while Karhide relies more on personal networks and passing along information from person to person.
Official Report on Gethens readiness to collaborate with Terrans
Transcripted Version→ Gethen & Terran Compatibility and Readiness
Report by: Ekumen
Content & Mission:
→ An analysis of the Gethenian society and its readiness to engage with the Terran Society
→ Mission: To determine with Gethen (Planet Winter) has reached the sociocultural maturity needed to participate in the engagement to do an Ekumenical exchange and interact with the Terran Society. This report is based on first hand experience and observations gathered by Genly Ai, who is from the Terran Society.
Concept 1: Gethenian Civilization
Separated Nations: The division of the two→ Karhide & Orgoreyn
Report on Karhide
→ Its kingdome is ruled by a monarch that solely relies on family ties. This nation focuses on loyalty, independence, and individual freedom. Their political power relies on the code of shifgrethor and trust.
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The arrival of the Envoy caught a small amount of suspicion as it could be a threat his throne and political power
Report on Orgoreyn
→ Built on bureaucracy and totalitarianism. This nation has a highly organized system and focuses on unity and togetherness, but is heavily controlled through surveillance and secret, creating a system of mistrust. The leaders controlling this nation are driven by internal power and uses secret police to maintain control.
Concept 2: Psychological Characteristics
Gethenians highly value honor. Restrain, and relational truth. If they are ready or decide to engage with the Terran society, it will on depend on the patience, respect, and trust that is put by both parties.
2.1- Biological Factors
→ Gethenians are known to be ambisexual and androgynous. They only adopt male or female sexual characteristic during their monthly phase, Kemmer. Entering Kemmer allows them to develop their sex and the set genitals that are suited to their role and allow them to conceive a child. Gethenians can have incest if they choose to kemmer with their siblings. This cycle averages around 26 to 28 days. For 21 or 22 days the individual is omer, sexually inactive. Around the 18th day, hormonal changes are initiated by the smell or touch of their partner, this stage is called secher. Thorhamen stage, establishes the sex of the gethenians and cannot be changed throughout the rest of the kemmering cycle. Lastly, Thokemmer, it lasts around 2-5 days and their sexual drive is at its peak, if the female is able to conceive, she shall have the hormones of a female in order to carry the baby, if not they will return back to somer. This physiology elimates gender roles and social hierarchies that produces a degree of social equality that cannot be compared to the Terran society. Additionally, it allows Gethenians to have a deeper emotional equality and low level of sexual harassment and sexual assaults.
→ The lack of gender identity from the Terranian, Genly Ai, makes the Gethenians view him as a pervert or an oddity. As they can kemmer whenever they want and their social norms and forced gender roles are not balanced as the Gethenian society is.
2.2- Communication Patterns
→Gethenian speech is indirect and played with social meaning, that could lead to misunderstands and can seem evasive or opaque. They rarely get straight to the point. The absence of fixed gender means they cannot relate to Terran fixed genders. An element of Gethenian communication is shifgrethor. They use this to save face and navigate social interactions without confrontation. They may one thing but mean a whole other thing, expecting the listener to understand what they want. As with the Terran society, the way they talk to each other is direct and and explicit to what they want.
Concept 3- Attitude towards change
→ Upon Genly Ai’s arrival, both nations, Karhide and Orgoreyn, acted in a curios and anxious manner. This suggest that although Gethenians understand that their are other beings that exist within the world, it can be believed that this topic will require the need of education, patience, and trust from the Terrans, which could lead the Gethenians to fully trust them.
Concept 4- Compare and Contrast of Gethen and Terran
4.1- the compatibility between the two
Gender Identity→
Gethen: They have no forced gender roles, no hierarchies, and are fluid with parenthood. Because any individual can become pregnant, the burden and and responsibilities are shared equally. Additionally the absence of fixed gender removes the societal divisions hierarchies. There are not gender-based labor and are judged on their merits as a human, not as their sex.
Terran: They have fixed gender, a two-gender system that informed their every social interaction. Genly Ai, has a hard time understanding Gethenians as his brain is wired to force them into a man or woman category.
Compatibility→ Challenging, full effort should be upon the Terran society as they could be considered perverts for their sex and can be disrespectful.
Power and conflict→
Gethen:hierarchical power structures don’t exist. The primary source of social and political power in Karhide is shifgrethor, pride. They avoid war.
Terran: Hierarchical power is placed as gender roles exist. They are found to be competitive.
Compatibility→ can be complementary as Gethen can show and model a nonviolent government and possibly change the way Terran society runs.
Communication Style→
Gethen: Indirect, relational, doesn’t get straight to the point.
Terran: Direct, Explicit, transparent, straight to the point.
Compatibility→ Low; Their communications can lead to misunderstanding, BUT with training and the help of Terrans, it could work out.
Technology→
Gethen: Slow innovations
Terran: Fast advancement
Compatibility→ Low; might interfere with Terran’s advanced innovations.
Conclusion→
Gethen is harsh, slow, suspicious, secretive, but they are loyal, respectful, and profound. They are very aware of what they ar doing, and they might not be ready for political integration with the Terran society, but they are spiritually and ethically ready. If there is patience, respect, and trust with both Gethen and Terran societies, Gethan can be encouraged to engage with the Terran society.
Official Report on Terrans readiness to collaborate with Gethens
Genly Ai initially struggles to understand Gethenian life. As a Terran his beliefs on gender and how society should run greatly influenced him when he was studying Gethenians. Because Gethenians are androgynous they rid the gender division that is a great factor of life on Terra. This greatly confuses Genly and causes him to make biased assumptions that aren't a correct interpretation of Gethenian behavior and ways of living. Over time, his friendship with Estraven helped him broaden his perspective which allowed him to see beyond the binary notions of Male and Female. Ong Tot Oppong, the first Terran to explore Gethen, on the other hand was non-judgemental from the beginning of her journey. In this quote, “Yet you cannot think of a Gethenian as ‘it’. They are not neuters. They are potentials, or integrals. Lacking the Karhidish ‘human pronoun’ used for a person in somer…” (Le Guin 101), her open-mindedness helped her study and understand Gethenian societal norms better allowing her to connect with Gethenians in a way that Genly couldn't. Ong Tot Oppong was able to keep an unbiased opinion when writing her notes about kemmering which served as a guide for future travelers.
With both of their experiences it becomes clear that the Ekumen cannot fully motivate Gethen to unite with them solely using politics. They must be willing to learn about Gethenian culture and see the world through their eyes. If Terrans are unable to put their beliefs aside to consider another' s perspective they will not be able to unite with Gethenians. This is not an impossible task but it fully depends on the cooperation of Terran residents.