In The Star Legation, the time context
is at a point where the alien races are aware of each other, but the
Interstellar Union has not yet come into existence. Several of the
races have peaceful relations, some communication, and the beginnings
of a trade relationship—these include the Humans, Reln, and Erwani.
However, the Omul and Erwani hate each other, and the Krissethi and
Chiraktis have been fighting wars over territory ever since they
discovered they were neighbors. In this environment, it is difficult
to believe that any of these cultures would share languages, but the
Humans and Reln devised a language they could all speak, known as
“Universal.” The Reln sent probes out to the other territories
with information about the language, hoping to prepare the way in the
future for diplomacy. I saw this effort as being somewhat similar to
what NASA did with the Voyager probes, where they used two golden
records to record sounds of Earth and greetings in 55 different
languages. The Solar Echoes universe is farther into the future, so
conveying an entire language to other alien races through a space
probe did not seem unreasonable. How each alien race received this
information, however, testifies to their values and personality...
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