The Stationers have imagos, impressions of the memories of former people in their same positions. Mahit is hiding her own cultural legacy and heritage from the Teixcalaanli, who would find it at best distasteful and at worst an opportunity for exploitation. “We do have poetry out on Lsel, you know.” I’m sure that on your station you are an extremely educated person.” This, of course, is followed by a “But.” But of course Mahit couldn’t possibly know all the things she needs to keep up. Early on, Mahit’s liaison, Three Seagrass, says: “I don’t at all mean to be disparaging. Everyone knows the histories, and everyone can recite the poetry in which history is captured, such that letters are encrypted based on cyphers developed from the most popular modern poet in the City.Īnd, of course, any “barbarian” from beyond the City (the Empire/the world) can’t be expected to follow all that weight of history, all the legacy of that literature.
Over the course of Teixcalaanli history, Emperors have been overthrown by formidable warriors and generals, who then go on to write the histories that they became ruler not through popular acclaim (though that is a necessary formal step), but because the stars themselves ordained it. (The Emperor Mahit meets during Memory of Empire is a man, but other genders can be Emperor as well.) Teixcalaan is ruled by an Emperor who has the weight of divine blessing about him, but also the acclaim of the people-or he finds himself replaced. Once a planet has become part of their Empire, they revolve around the City, because it is the center of all things that matter.
They have a long history of conquering world after world, such that their word for the concepts of their central planet (“the City”), their Empire, and the world itself are all one and the same. Teixcalaan is a vast Empire, with a distinctly Aztec-inspired flare, whose culture has expanded even the reach of their own government. They want to maintain control of that gate and their own sovereignty. What we know is this: Lsel Station (the Stationers) is on the outskirts of the galaxy, sitting at a jump gate. There’s no real sense of how the universe came to be the way it is in A Memory Called Empire -but the narrative never really needs to give us one.
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