The Gray Prince

The conflict central to the plot arises from opposing claims to the land of the Alouan on the Uaia continent, with one side (the Uldras) asserting a right derived from original tenancy and the other (the Land Barons or "Outkers") a right based on the strength and determination to defend established property ownership, even if the property in question was originally stolen. Exploring the theme of barbarism versus civilisation, Vance would ultimately seem to argue that a societal mean is the most preferable of all possible worlds. The society of Szintarre has become over-civilised and proves too weak to defend itself when the erjins that the rights-obsessed city-dwellers hypocritically keep as slaves rise up against them. On the other hand, the Land Barons, who are in effect settled reavers and are rustic and quaint in comparison with urbane Szintarre society, nonetheless bring the benefits of civilisation (basic healthcare, education, reliable sources of drinking water, etc.) to the Uldras, curbing their more violent and barbarous customs, while otherwise allowing them to continue their traditional way of life unhindered.

Jean-François Jamoul divides the narratives found in the novels of Jack Vance into two possible categories: the bildungsroman ("le roman de formation et d'expérience") and the initiatory journey ("le voyage initiatique"), citing Emphyrio, the Durdane trilogy, the Demon Princes series, and Maske: Thaery as examples of the former and the Tschai series as an example of the latter.^[2] The Gray Prince might be said to include the two different kinds of narrative within the same novel, with the same character as the protagonist of each. That character is Elvo Glissam, an independently wealthy young man, who arrives on Koryphon and in Szintarre becomes involved in one of the various political groups campaigning for the rights of the planet's natives. At a soirée, he accepts an invitation from Schaine Madduc, the daughter of a Land Baron, to visit her father's domain in the Alouan. On the way, their aircraft is shot down and the party embarks upon an arduous trek across the wilderness, during which they are attacked by both Uldra tribesmen and wild erjins. Glissam, an urbanite who has previously lived a life of ease, comes face to face with death and gains experience of life in the raw. Glissam meets the challenges and gives a good account of himself, but ultimately he refuses to relinquish the political beliefs that civilised society has inculcated in him. His initiatory journey takes place when he joins a quest to the Palga plateau undertaken by Gerd Jemasze, a Land Baron whose domain borders the Madducs', and Kurgech, a shaman of the Ao tribe resident on the Madducs' Morningswake estate. Jemasze and Kurgech are seeking the answer as to why Schaine's father, Uther, was murdered shortly after visiting the Palga and what was the secret, or "joke" as he referred to it, he discovered when he was there. The journey, which they make in one of the Wind Runners' sail wagons, takes them to a sacred forest. There, Kurgech engages in a battle of magic against the Wind Runner priests, assisted by Jemasze, but this is an initiatory test that the civilised Glissam fails: the Wind Runners are easily able to manipulate his thoughts by telepathic magic, until Jemasze breaks the spell for him. The three manage to escape and at the edge of the Palga plateau, bordering the Morningswake estate, they discover a hidden erjin temple carved from the solid rock. Here, Glissam fails yet again: under attack by the erjins, he despairs and allows himself to be shot, almost bringing disaster upon his two companions, who nonetheless manage to save him and bring him back to Morningswake. Uther Madduc's "joke" is that the erjins are not wild beasts but sentient beings and therefore have an earlier and better claim to the land than the Uldras, although by the same logic the only rightful owners of the planet are the indigenous morphotes.

The planet Koryphon is part of Jack Vance's overarching Gaean Reach science-fiction setting, which he defines in the Prologue to The Gray Prince as follows: "the Gaean Reach encompasses a perceptible fraction of the galaxy. Trade routes thread space like capillaries in living tissue; thousands of worlds have been colonized, each different from every other, each working its specific change upon those men who live there. Never has the human race been less homogenous."^[3] The planet has two continents, Uaia to the north and Szintarre to the south, separated by the Persimmon Sea. The littoral of Uaia, known as the Alouan, is inhabited by the Uldras, consisting of various tribes, some of which signed the so-called Submission Treaties with the Land Barons two hundred years prior to the timeframe of the novel, while the others retained their own lands, known as the Retent. Szintarre is a long, narrow island, whose capital, Olanje, is a sophisticated, fashionable resort for Outkers ("out-worlders" in general) and also the seat of the planet's single organ of government, the Mull, which sits in Holrude House. The Mull is disdained by the Land Barons, who see it as "an organ for the production of inconsequential sophistry."^[4] The Retent Uldras, led by the Gray Prince, attempt to manipulate the Mull as a means of evicting the Land Barons, but otherwise reject all centralised authority. The Wind Runners of the Palga Plateau of the Uaia continent are ignorant of the very existence of the Mull.

As Jacques Chambon observes, the dialogue in almost all Vance's novels is understood to be an often approximate translation of a fictional language.^[5] We are given a glimpse of one such alien future language in the Prologue to The Gray Prince, where, in a footnote, the term Land Baron is said to be an unsatisfactory translation of "eng'sharatz (literally: the revered master of a large domain)".^[6] Elsewhere, one of the characters employs the term "weldewiste", which is explained in a footnote—also providing a metafictional rationale of Vance's own xenological approach—as "a word from the lexicon of social anthropology, to sum up a complicated idea comprising the attitude with which an individual confronts his environment [...] his character and personality from the purview of comparative culture."^[7] Other examples of "untranslatable" concepts that form part of the phenomenology of the alien cultures of Koryphon are the Uldra word "aurau" ("said of a tribesman afflicted with revulsion against civilized restrictions, and sometimes of a caged animal yearning for freedom")^[8] and "Sarai", the geographical name for the Windrunners' plateau, but suggestive of "a limitless expanse, horizon to horizon, of land or water, lacking all impediments or obstacle to travel and projecting an irresistible urgency to be on the way, to travel toward a known or unknown destination."^[9]

• Schaine Madduc: daughter of land baron Uther Madduc, owner of the Morningswake domain. At the beginning of the novel she returns to Koryphon after an absence of five years, having been sent off-world to a school on the planet Tanquil by her father in order to nip in the bud an amorous relationship with Jorjol, an Uldra servant. During the course of the story she becomes attracted to the suave off-world Elvo Glissam, who rejects land baron society on principle, but ultimately she rejects him when she realises that she is too attached to the Morningswake domain and the way of life and privileges that come with it.
• Kelse Madduc: brother of Schaine Madduc and heir to the Morningswake domain. Five years prior to the opening of the novel, Kelse is mauled by a "native" erjin, losing an arm and a leg, which are replaced by prosthetic limbs. A rigid traditionalist, he organises the land barons into an association to counter political interference on the part of the planet's nominal government, the Mull, and to suppress the Uldra uprising.
• Gerd Jemasze: owner of the Suaniset domain, which borders Morningswake; a taciturn, self-reliant, strong and resourceful hero in the mould of Adam Reith (the protagonist of Vance's Tschai series). Jemasze safely guides Schaine, Kelse and Elvo Glissam across the perilous Alouan wilderness after their flyer is shot down by the Uldras and later undertakes an expedition to the Palga plateau to discover the mystery behind the murder of Uther Madduc.
• Elvo Glissam: a native of the planet Diamantha, he is now independently wealthy thanks to a lottery win. Arriving on Koryphon, he becomes involved in the Society for Emancipation of the Erjins. Falling in love with Schaine Madduc, he accepts her invitation to visit Morningswake, but gets more than he bargained for when their flyer is shot down, stranding them in the wilderness. Hoping to impress Schaine, he joins Gerd Jemasze and Kurgech on their journey to the Palga and barely escapes with his life.
• Jorjol: an Uldra orphan, originally of the Garganche tribe, who grew up with Schaine and Kelse Madduc on the Morningswake estate. Nicknamed Muffin in childhood, he is now the self-styled Gray Prince, a "messiah" who aims to unite the various Uldra tribes so that they might destroy the land barons and reclaim their ancestral lands. Consumed by resentment at his menial status within the Madduc household, he was responsible for Kelse's mauling in that he could have prevented it. Obsessed with possessing Schaine, he tries to kidnap her, but is thwarted by Gerd Jemasze.
• Valtrina Darabesq: aunt of Schaine and Kelse Madduc, society hostess in Olanje, the capital of Szintarre. Her famous parties at the Villa Mirasol are the setting for gatherings of Olanje's various groups dedicated to "liberation" of the Uldras.
• Glinth Isbane: Szintarre celebrity and secretary of the Society for a Free Szintarre.
• Reyona Werlas-Madduc: housekeeper at Morningswake, third cousin to Schaine and Kelse.
• Hermina Lingolet: cook at Morningswake, second cousin to Schaine and Kelse.
• Kurgech: shaman of the Ao tribe of Uldras resident on the Morningswake Domain. He accompanies Gerd Jemasze and Elvo Glissam on the mission to the Palga plateau and engages in a battle of magic with the Wind-runner priests of the Aluban forest.
• Julio Tanch: Uldra of the Ao tribe, head stockman on the Morningswake Domain.
• Lilo Stenbaren: baron of the Doradus Domain.
• Moffamides: treacherous Wind-runner priest from the No. 2 Depot at the edge of the Palga, supplier of "fiaps" (protective fetishes). Hypnotised by Kurgech using an Uldra "crazy-box", he leads Gerd Jemasze, Elvo Glissam and the Ao shaman to the secret erjin temple.
• Adare Jemasze: younger brother of Gerd.
• Ervan Collode: bombastic land baron who joins the expedition force to quell the uprising of the Retent Uldra tribes.
• Erris Sammatzen: Chairman of the Mull, the organ of all the folk of Koryphon, which sits at Holrude House. He aims to reconstruct the Domains and return the land to the Uldras.
• Adelys Lam, Thaddios Tarr, Julias Metheyr: members of the Mull, they are taken to the erjin temple, where they are confronted with conclusive evidence that their erjin domestics are in fact sentient and therefore slaves.
• Old Erjin: chief of the erjins, telepathically controls the erjin uprising in Szintarre.