Secrets of the IPX

cover art by Gino D'Achille

I own a copy of the first DAW printing of Star King from September 1978. On page 22 Lugo Teehalt asks, "You are not of the IPX?"

Sadly, "IPX" was a typographical error. Google Books currently has two of the more recent editions of The Star King online and they both have "IPX" corrected to "IPCC".

Spatterlight Press edition

The IPCC is the Interworld Police Coordinating Company, which plays an important role in Vance's entire 5 book Demon Princes saga.

cover art by Edmund Emshwiller

Most editions of the Star King story have been printed with the title "The Star King", including the original 1963 printing in Galaxy magazine and the Spatterlight Press edition.

The IPX

in another Reality: Secrets of Ghnarumen

For decades I have had fantasies about a secretive IPX that was lurking within Vance's Oikumene. Last year, I blogged about bringing Vance's Zodiac Control into the Demon Princes saga.

I like to imagine that Zodiac Control is a secretive part of the Institute. Similarly, I imagine that within the Asimov Reality the IPX was a special services branch of the IPCC. I also like to imagine that Vance's books have been used by Interventionists as a clandestine means to provide the Editor with information about past Realities.

tryp'At Overseers

tryp'At
In the Exodemic Fictional Universe, Overseers are the "police" who watch over Earth and who try to prevent Interventionists from causing havoc.

According to Gohrlay, the IPX can be roughly translated as "inter-Reality Parnich Xilath". IPX was a term used in the Ekcolir Reality to refer to the team that worked to make sure that tryp'At Overseers would be in place to watch over Earth in the Final Reality.

source

"Parnich" can be translated into English as "ethics enforcer". The term 'parnich' implies enforcement of the Huaoshy Rules of Intervention. The word "xiplath" is a technical term that has no direct equivalent in English, but it means roughly "cultural engineer". Thus, "inter-Reality Parnich Xilath" means "those who engineer new Realities in accordance with the Rules of Intervention".

In some sense, the IPX and Zodiac Control were adversaries. The agents of Zodiac Control worked to make sure that humans would inherit planet Earth and be able to spread among the stars. The IPX worked to make sure that Earth's humans were properly constrained by the Rules of Intervention.

The Roben Report

Reconstruction of novels from the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Henry Van Dongen, Karl Stephan
and Rafael De Soto (click image to enlarge)

Gohrlay's analogue in the Ekcolir Reality (Roben) was a fan of science fiction.  In the Ekcolir Reality, science fiction was used as a way to prepare Earthlings for First Contact with the Fru'wu.

Special thanks to Miranda Hedman (www.mirish.deviantart.com) for the DeviantArt stock photograph "Black Cat 9 - stock" that I used to create the blue "sedronite" who is in the image shown to the left.

Among the authors in the Ekcolir Reality who published information about alien visitors to Earth was Thomas Iwedon, himself the son of an Asterothrope and an Ek'col. An edition of his Miners of Earth was published along with The Repair of Time by Joan Brunner.

Joan Brunner in the Ekcolir Reality was the analogue of John Brunner in the Final Reality. In The Repair of Time, Joan provided an account of how Trysta and Grean collaborated to create the Trysta-Grean Pact, a peace accord that allowed them to work together and create the Final Reality.

Reconstruction of novels from the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Edward Valigursky,
Edmund Emshwiller and Brian Lewis.

Other important stories that were published by Joan Brunner in the Ekcolir Reality included The tryp'At Overseers and Agent of Zodiac.

Reconstruction of novels from the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Edmund Emshwiller,
Edward Valigursky and Ed again.

Working in collaboration with Isaac Asimov, Joan also wrote Threshold of Eternity, a sequel to The End of Eternity. In Threshold of Eternity, Joan provided an account of how the Foundation Reality was terminated. As told in that account, Andrew Harlan was captured by Overseers in the 20th century of the Foundation Reality. However, Trysta Iwedon was protected by a personal temporal field generator and she was able to cross over into the next Reality.

Another writer of the Ekcolir Reality who provided insight into the Secret History of Humanity was Betty Chandler. In her Overseers of Nicotiana, Betty explained how nicotine could be used to help humans use the Bimanoid Interface.

 The Hidden Centuries

As described to me by Gohrlay, in Agent of Zodiac, there was a stunning last page revelation. The story's protagonist (Overseer Yoseña, a member of the IPX) turns out to be a clone of Svahr (who is the mysterious titular Agent of Zodiac Control).

Next: Ending the Ekcolir Reality -the roots of European history- the Mosivite/Etruscan cultural boundary and Trysta's adventures in the late Mesolithic.

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