Translation State

The Imperial Radch trilogy takes place in and around the Radch, a massive human empire stretching across galaxies in the far future. In the Radch, gender is not a culturally understood concept, and all people use one pronoun: she/her. Ann Leckie’s works draw on many existing science fiction traditions, especially with regard to gender. The single pronoun culture of the Radch harkens back to Ursula K. Le Guin’s groundbreaking novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, which takes place in a world where everyone uses he/him and everyone’s sex is in flux.

The Radch is ruled by Anaander Mianaai, a despotic emperor with thousands of cloned bodies that all share the same consciousness. There are human cultures outside of the Radch, but all of them are under constant threat of violent annexation. Humans are also in contact with three alien species: the amphibious Geck; the furry, many-legged Rrrrrr; and the violent and incomprehensible Presger. The Radch communicates with the Presger through Presger Translators. Presger Translators look human but are not; their behavior is often unsettling because the Presger made them. The only reason the Presger do not destroy humans is because of a diplomatic treaty.

The Radchaai people have developed artificially intelligent spaceships and space stations. These ships have AI consciousness implanted not just into the ship’s mainframe but also into human bodies called ancillaries—former humans taken prisoner whose consciousnesses are forcibly wiped to make way for AIs. The Imperial Radch trilogy is told from the perspective of Breq, an AI ship who, after a disaster, now exists only in a single ancillary body. Breq’s primary objective is to kill Anaander Mianaai to get revenge for the disaster that destroyed the rest of her bodies and the only human she loved. Breq does not succeed in killing Anaander Mianaai. However, the emperor’s consciousness begins to fragment under the weight of so many clone bodies, sending the Radch into civil war. The outcome of this fragmentation remains uncertain in the Imperial Radch trilogy and in Translation State.

At the end of the Imperial Radch trilogy, Breq and several other ships (including Sphene) petition for AIs to be considered a new Significant Species under the Presger Treaty. They form their own society, the Republic of Two Systems. That treaty negotiation forms part of the background for Translation State.