Titanide (Gaea trilogy)

The Titanide is a fictional species featured in the Gaea trilogy, a series of three science fiction novels by John Varley. In the novels the Titanides are important secondary characters and we learn much about their biology, physiology and psychological makeup. They are an artificial lifeform, created by the intelligence which controls the great wheel-shaped habitat in which they live. Since the wheel is actually a living creature itself, both it and the intelligence controlling it are known as Gaea.

=In "Titan"=

In the first novel of the series the Titanides are introduced as centaurs, having the appearance of naked human torsos attached to a horse-like body. The first Titanide encountered is described as "about 30cm taller than Cirocco" who is about 180 cm tall. They communicate in song rather than with words. Only Cirocco Jones, the heroine of the novels, is able to communicate with them, due to some ability she has mysteriously gained while unconscious. The Titanides are engaged in a war with another humanoid species known as Angels, who are heavily modified to allow them to fly in the low gravity and dense atmosphere of the Gaea world. The normally calm, peaceful Titanides become enraged and bloodthirsty when the Angels appear, and the Angels appear also to be overcome by bloodlust. The fights are carried out with any available object used as a weapon.

At the end of the novel the Titanides are re-born from the soil when Cirocco persuades the intelligence known as Gaea to stop the war. The hatred between Angels and Titanides was part of their programming when Gaea originally created them to entertain her. She designed both species from examples in Earth movies and television broadcasts.

=In "Wizard"=

The second novel goes deeper into the nature of the Titanides. Cirocco Jones has become the Wizard, Gaea's agent among the species of the Wheel. In an ironic joke, Gaea has arranged the Titanide's reproductive biology so that the species will die out unless Cirocco is alive to activate the eggs they produce with her saliva.

Here the Titanides are described as approximately 3 metres tall at the tops of their human heads. Although their horse bodies are likened to the Percheron, their hooves are cloven like those of a goat, giving them extra grip to climb steep slopes. They are brightly colored, some being pure colors, others striped. In addition, they adorn their bodies with jewels and flowers. Many of the Titanides speak human languages, typically English, and form close relationships with different humans.

All Titanides have breasts like human women and can give birth from the rear vagina of their horse body. All have a large horse-like penis. Titanides are classified as male or female based on the human-like sexual organs at the base of the torso. Because of these arrangements, a Titanide may have up to four "parents".

This novel also introduces the Titanides elaborate naming scheme. The "given name" is usually that of a musical instrument. The names in the novel tend to be obscure, such as Valiha or Serpent. The last part of the name is the "chord" name, similar to a human clan name. This is typically a musical form or genre, such as Symphony or "Rock-n-roll". The middle component of the name describes the individual's parentage. These use the names of the Greek musical modes (Aeolian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian) coupled with the words "solo", "duet", "trio" or "quartet" to describe the number of parents the individual has, and the ways in which genetic material is transferred between them.

Titanides are born able to function independently, although they still suckle milk from their mother. They are able to talk, having been in communication with their mother during gestation. The "egg" from which they are born is a partially cybernetic entity containing pre-programmed knowledge. Their bodies grow around the "egg" which becomes part of the brain, and also allows the new individual to communicate with the mother's brain. One of the first things a newborn Titanide will do is make a musical instrument from whatever materials are available. This becomes their talisman.

=In "Demon"=

The Titanides become Cirocco Jones's powerful allies in the fight to dethrone Gaea. They are much stronger than a human, have faster reflexes, and have the ability to sense evil in people and administer summary justice dispassionately. They are also obsessed with the game of soccer, which they play whenever the opportunity arises.

It is revealed that they are not vertebrates, but instead have a cartilaginous skeleton, like sharks. This gives them great flexibility. They also have exquisite muscle control, so that a human may ride the back of a Titanide at full gallop, but feel as though he or she is at rest. However, riding a Titanide is something reserved for a select few whom the Titanide favors. Humans who are harboring bad thoughts, or who are disturbed in some way, are shunned by Titanides, even if they were once close friends. The Titanides are forgiving, however, and welcome back their friends once the disturbance has been purged.

Titanides do not sleep, in the human sense, but instead enter a state of dreamlike meditation during which they may produce artworks without being conscious of the act.

Titanide society

Most Titanides lived originally in the region of the Wheel known as Hyperion. This is a region of permanent daylight (the wheel has alternating regions of night and day around the circumference). The main habitation, Titantown, is under, around, and in the branches of a giant tree. Since basic sustenance is always available in Gaea, thanks to various food plants and animals, the Titanides concentrate on producing artworks, songs, and useful craft objects. Bodily decoration is another of their obsessions. They have no Leaders except for Cirocco, the Wizard, whom they will follow anywhere she asks. Some Titanides have Wisdom which they will share with others if it pleases them.

One hazard of associating with Titanides is that, like horses, they defecate anywhere they happen to be. Fortunately their dung is not obnoxious and is brightly colored. Most rooms have a shovel and trashcan handy in a corner.

A second, smaller population of Titanides lives in another daylight region, known as Crius. The individuals in this population are smaller than the Hyperion Titanides, being described as "modelled on the Shetland Pony", but they are similarly loyal to Cirocco, and rely on her for their reproduction. In this and other regions, they eventually cross-breed with human immigrants, producing bizarre hybrids having both human and horse-like legs.

Reproduction

Titanides come in two sexes, male and female. Both sexes have a rear vagina and uterus, and a large penis in the position where a horse's penis would be. Both sexes also possess humanoid breasts and can thus give birth to and suckle young.

Male Titanides have a frontal penis analogous to a human penis, and female Titanides have a frontal vagina. While sexual intercourse using the horse organs is indulged in casually between individuals of all sexes, so-called frontal intercourse is reserved for intimate relationships. The product of frontal intercourse is always a small, spherical egg a few centimetres in diameter. These eggs are often kept as keepsakes or mementos of special occasions. They are sterile unless first treated with the Wizard's saliva.

An egg which has been made fertile can be implanted in a rear vagina and "quickened" by rear intercourse. After that, the egg will develop into a young Titanide.

All Titanides can have eggs implanted. The Titanide who receives the egg is called the "hindmother". The Titanide who quickens the egg is called the "hindfather". The Titanides whose original act of intercourse produced the egg are the "foremother" and "forefather".

There is special case: a female Titanide may use semen from her ventral penis to produce an egg, transferring it by hand. If the egg is made fertile, she may then implant it in herself and quicken it with the same source of semen. The resulting offspring is a clone of the mother. Semen from the ventral penis can only produce an egg in the same individual who produces the semen. This is the so-called "Aeolian Solo" method of reproduction.

The naming of the different modes of reproduction is arbitrary but follows a logical scheme. Aeolian modes have all female participants, and one female is both "foremother" and "forefather". Lydian modes consist of one female and up to three males. Mixolydian modes have two females, and one or two males. Phrygian modes, of which there is only one, have three females and one male. Various prefixes and modifiers are used as well. If the foremother in a Lydian or Mixolydian mode produces the egg using her own ventral sperm, the prefix "hypo-" is applied. If the hindmother is also the hindfather in a Lydian or Mixolydian mode, the prefix "locri-" is applied. The unmodified mode name is used when the foremother is also the hindmother. When another participant is the hindmother, the modifier "Sharped" is applied. More complex combinations have modifiers like "Double Sharped" and "Double Flatted".

The combinations in which Titanides may reproduce are as follows:

Duets

Only two individuals are involved. They may be two females, or one male and one female.

In the first case the process begins like the Aeolian Solo, but then either individual may become the hindmother. If the foremother is the hindmother, then the other partner quickens the egg. If the other individual is the hindmother, either partner may quicken the egg. These are the three Aeolian duets.

In the second case there is a male forefather and female foremother, but either individual may become the hindmother, and the hindmother may or may not also be the hindfather. This gives rise to six possible "Lydian duets".

Trios

Besides the Aeolian Trio, where all the parents are female, there are six Lydian trio combinations where two partners are male and one female, and seven Mixolydian trios where two partners are female and one male.

Quartets

There is one Lydian quartet (three males and one female). There is also one Phrygian quartet of three females and one male. In between there are two possible Mixolydian quartets of two males and two females.

Examples of Titanide names

*Valiha (Aeolian Solo) Madrigal
*Serpent (Double-Flatted Mixolydian Trio) Madrigal, Valiha's offspring.
*Phase Shifter (Double-Sharped Lydian Trio) Rock'n'Roll
*Tambura (Sharped Lydian Trio) Rock'n'Roll, offspring of Phase Shifter, Valiha and Serpent.
*Viola (Hypolydian Duet) Toccata
*Virginal (Mixolydian Quartet) Mazurka