The upheaval which marked the end
of the immense Vanadium Era stemmed from a personal decision by Valim
Poand, Noad of Vyanth. He made up his mind to free all his
city's slaves.
Slavery was already milder in
Vyanth than in elsewhere, with more rights and more customary protection
for the slaves; but this latest enlightened move by the ruler of the
most powerful city of Syoom astonished the civilized world, rousing deep
emotions which resonated with the day/night cycle, bringing the longest
of eras to an end at last.
For two days, 17 hours and 42
minutes (the Chromium Era) Syoom was poised in front of several forking
paths of history. Then, inspired by
events in Vyanth, the great slave revolt broke out in the other
cities. It lasted 31 days (the Manganese Era), during which long-buried habits
of thought and of feeling re-surfaced and mingled with the new world
situation.
At the cost of much havoc
and loss of life the slaves won their freedom everywhere; the
consequent elation, spilling from people's minds into the atmosphere, brought on the next era,
the 26th.
The Iron Era lasted
18,940 Uranian days (64.8 Earth years). Many city regimes were
founded in a reaction against the carefree irresponsibility and colourful individualism
of the Vanadium Era, blaming its lack of
social conscience for the advent of slavery. Stern revolutionaries founded
oppressively reforming governments, communist in the totalitarian sense. In some cases
the new slavery of ideology was as bad if not worse than the older,
simpler variety.
Conditions on the giant planet,
however, are fortunately not conducive to the survival of this kind of
regime. Reality is liable to break in upon the dreams of
ideologues. The Iron Era went down in a welter of muddled crises,
and more natural Uranian habits were reasserted.
>> The Cobalt Era
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