History Literature / Foreigner1994

* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: A not-quite-fluent professional translator between humans and the alien atevi says, in the atevi language, "pregnant calendar" when she means "urgent meeting", and [[spoiler:"disintegrate and abase your weapons" when she means "surrender and throw down your weapons"]].

* TactfulTranslation: A central trope of the Foreigner verse, where Bren's tact and diplomacy has resulted in him being the paidhi, the only one allowed to translate between the humans and the aliens, even when he is no longer the only person who can speak to the aliens. He also has not only to make the translation ''politer'', but ''understandable'', as humans are constantly using terms atevi cannot possibly understand (eg, a wish for a "friendly" relationship must become a wish for a "peaceful" relationship because atevi languages don't have that concept).

** The atevi can't understand the concept of friendship, but have their own biologically-based, hierarchical system of loyalty called man'chi.
** If an atevi contracts with the [[MurderInc Assassin's Guild]] to kill someone, the target is informed of the fact ahead of time. If, in spite of the warning, the target is killed, it isn't considered to be murder.
** The atevi view some aspects of human society this way. As an example, [[spoiler: when Bren's fiancée unexpectedly breaks up their longer long distance relationship and marries another man, Bren's atevi bodyguard considers it to be an unthinkable betrayal]].

* InterspeciesRomance: DoubleSubverted with Bren and Jago, since Jago is incapable of understanding what romance is. [[spoiler:They still end up sleeping together.]]

* TactfulTranslation: A central trope of the Foreigner verse, where Bren's tact and diplomacy has resulted in him being the paidhi, the only one allowed to translate between the humans and the aliens, even when he is no longer the only person who can speak to the aliens.

* TokenHuman: Bren Cammeron. Being a diplomat who's the only human allowed off the human enclave of Mospheira, he spends most of his time in the company of the alien atevi.

* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Atevi are completely incapable of feeling any emotion involving affection, since their brains are wired differently than humans. Having no common point of reference, they can't even ''understand'' it. The closest translation they have for "like" in the sense of affection is "like" in the sense of "I really like salads".

** The reverse also applies, since the atevi feel an emotion unknown to humans, ''man'chi''. Humans can ''sort'' of understand it, since it's sort of like loyalty and sort of like a flocking instinct, but humans can never fully understand it, never grasp it at a gut/intuitive level, and never ''ever'' actually feel it.

** Cajeiri the 8 year old kid of Tabini is obsessed with Human Culture, and can speak fluently several languages. This is not however a good thing as Cajeiri has difficulty relating to his own kind, becauae he is going through the atevi equivalent of puberty.

** The atevi can't understand the concept of friendship, but have their own biologically-based, heirarchical system of loyalty called man'chi.

Bren Cameron has the job of the ''paidhi'', the sole point of contact between the human LostColony on the island of Mospheira and the [[RubberForeheadAliens alien]] atevi on whose planet the humans are living. While Bren enjoys being a diplomat/translator/linguist/xenologist, it's not what you'd call an exciting job. Some excitement is added when the ''aiji'', the head of the atevi government, gives him a handgun as a gift, even though it's highly illegal for a human to posses a gun.

Bren Cameron has the job of the ''paidhi'', the sole point of contact between the human LostColony on the island of Mospheira and the [[RubberForeheadAliens alien]] atevi on whose planet the humans are living. While Bren enjoys being a diplomat/translator/linguist/xenologist, it's not what you'd call an exciting job. Some excitement is added when the ''aiji'', the head of the atevi government, gives him a handgun as a gift, even though it's highly illegal for a human to posses a gun. It then gets ''much'' more exciting when, two weeks later, an assassin breaks into his apartment and he's forced to use the handgun in self defense. The attack leaves Bren baffled, since although there are plenty of conservative atevi who hate humans enough to want him dead, the conservative atevi have ''always'' hated humans, but no one has tried to have the ''paidhi'' killed in the nearly two hundred years that the office has existed. And thus begins Creator/CJCherryh's book series on inter-species politics and intrigue.

[[folder:Detailed background story]]

Two hundred years later, there are two factions of the descendants of the original humans, and tensions between the factions have reached the breaking point. One faction builds jerry-rigged landing vessels and use them to land on the planet on the island of Mospheira, while the other faction takes the refueled ''Phoenix'' off into space, intent on finding long lost Earth. The humans who landed make contact with the atevi (who were just entering their Steam Age) and the humans and atevi seem to be getting on well. However, [[FirstContactFauxPas each species makes the mistaken assumption that the other species has the same general form of government and interpersonal power structures as they do]], leading to lots of misunderstandings. Twenty years worth of misunderstandings lead to the War of the Landing, which almost wipes out the LostColony. Fortunately, the leader of the largest atevi government struck a deal with the colony, which came to be known as the Treaty. According to the treaty:

[[/folder]]

-> ''For the rock band, see Music/{{Foreigner|Band}}''

* ChekhovsGunman: In ''Inheritor'', [[spoiler: Rejiri, "the boy from Dur"]] begins as a minor nuisance and distraction. Near the end of the book, he suddenly gains everyone's undivided attention when he notes that, [[spoiler: as a resident of the isle of Dur, he knows the currents in the Strait of Mospheira and can predict where Yolanda-paidhi will wind up when she tries to cross it]].

** Atevi numerology is much more complex and wide-ranging than the human equivalent, since one of the more popular schools of atevi numerology includes "FasterThanLightTravel is impossible". Humans had to avoid revealing that they arrived in the atevi's star system via {{Hyperspace}} since that would have pissed off so many atevi it might have lead to another war, ''that's'' how seriously atevi take their numerology.

-> ''For the rock band, see Music/{{Foreigner}}''

* SpotOfTea: Any meeting with atevi, whether for business or socialization, is probably going to involve drinking some form of herbal tea. Unfortunately for Bren, many atevi herbs are poisonous to humans, so he has to be careful about what he drinks.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Relatively high on the hardness scale, with the only exception to currently understood physics being the existence of FasterThanLightTravel. In spite of the existence of FTL travel, there is no [[SubspaceAnsible faster than light communication]] or sensors.

The [[FasterThanLightTravel Faster Than Light]] starship ''Phoenix'' is sent off to construct a self-sustaining SpaceStation, carrying as passengers the civilians who will build and then operator the station. However, while travelling through {{Hyperspace}} a should-be-impossible accident happens, sending the ship a ''much'' further distance than should have been possible, so far that no known star is visible through the telescopes. With the little fuel they have left they travel to the nearest star system which might have a life bearing planet. While the system does have a life bearing planet, it's already inhabited by the sentient atevi, so the humans stay in space, living in a SpaceStation they build in orbit around the atevi's planet.

** Cajeiri the 8 year old kid of Tabini is obsessed with Human Culture, and can speak fluently several languages. This is not however a good thing as Cajeiri has difficulty relating to his own kind.

Two hundred years later, there are two factions of the descendants of the original humans, and tensions between the factions have reached the breaking point. One faction builds jerry-rigged landing vessels and use them to land on the planet on the island of Mospheira, while the other faction takes the refueled ''Phoenix'' off into space, intent on finding long lost Earth. The humans who landed make contact with the atevi (who were just entering their Steam Age) and the humans and atevi seem to be getting on well. However, [[FirstContactFauxPas each species makes the mistaken assumption that the other species has the same general former of government and interpersonal power structures as they do]], leading to lots of misunderstandings. Twenty years worth of misunderstandings lead to the War of the Landing, which almost wipes out the LostColony. Fortunately, the leader of the largest atevi government struck a deal with the colony, which came to be known as the Treaty. According to the treaty:

Two hundred years later, there are two factions of the descendants of the original humans, and tensions between the factions have reached the breaking point. One faction builds jerry-rigged landing vessels and use them to land on the planet on the island of Mospheira, while the other faction takes the refueled ''Phoenix'' off into space, intent on finding long lost Earth. The humans who landed make contact with the atevi (who were just entering their Steam Age) and the humans and atevi seem to be getting on well. However, [[FirstContactFauxPas each species makes the mistaken assumption that the other species has the exact same sort of government and power structures as they do]], leading to lots of misunderstandings. Twenty years worth of misunderstandings lead to the War of the Landing, which almost wipes out the LostColony. Fortunately, the leader of the largest atevi government struck a deal with the colony, which came to be known as the Treaty. According to the treaty:

Two hundred years later, there are two factions of the descendants of the original humans, and tensions between the factions have reached the breaking point. One faction builds jerry-rigged landing vessels and use them to land on the planet on the island of Mospheira, while the other faction takes the refueled ''Phoenix'' off into space, intent on finding long lost Earth. The humans who landed make contact with the atevi (who were just entering their Steam Age) and the humans and atevi seem to be getting on well. However, each species makes the mistaken assumption that the other species has the exact same sort of government and power structures as they do, leading to lots of misunderstandings. Twenty years worth of misunderstandings lead to the War of the Landing, which almost wipes out the LostColony. Fortunately, the leader of the largest atevi government struck a deal with the colony, which came to be known as the Treaty. According to the treaty: