Assignment Nor'Dyren is a science fiction novel that was written by Sydney J. Van Scyoc. I enjoyed this novel both as an adventure story and as an allegorical exploration of an important question about human society: why do some humans seem to put their energies into creative endeavors rather than reproduction?

Nor'Dyren is a world where a human-like alien species has a more structured social system than is the case for human society. When humans arrive on Nor'Dyren, they discover that there are three specialized types of Nor'Dyrenese:

• Allegon- specialized for performing services like cooking, raising children, selling goods.
• Berregon- specialized for production of goods; heavy manual labor, factory work.
• Gonnegon- specialized for administration and supervision.

This three-way division of labor does not seem to be working because nobody on Nor'Dyren knows how to repair broken machines and nobody ever creates anything new. Archeological investigation reveals that the world Nor'Dyren has been in decline for 200 years from its cultural and technological apex.

Much of the story has a mystery theme and depicts the attempt of two humans to discover what went wrong and what changed on Nor'Dyren 200 years earlier.

Eventually, the humans who are visiting Nor'Dyren discover that up until 200 years previously, there were four distinct groups of Nor'Dyrenese. The fourth group (Qattagon) had been specialized to perform all of the creative work of Nor'Dyrenese society and was very artistic. However, the Qattagon had gotten too wild and radical and had come into conflict with the Gonnegon. This conflict ended when the administrative Gonnegon engineered the Qattagon out of the social system. This was possible because the Qattagon were not capable of reproducing. Qattagon were the offspring of crosses between members of the other three groups:

• Allegon mating with Allegon produces Allegon.
• Berregon mating with Berregon produces Berregon.
• Gonnegon mating with Gonnegon produces Gonnegon.
• Qattagon- not fertile.
• Allegon mating with Berregon or Gonnegon produces Qattagon.
• Berregon mating with Gonnegon produces Qattagon.

To engineer Qattagon out of the society, the administrators decreed that members of each of the other three groups could only mate with other members of their own group. Under this imposed rule, none of the artistic hybrid Qattagon were born any more.

The reason that the Qattagon had gotten out of control and become a problem for Nor'Dyren was because the balance between the four groups had been engineered to be appropriate for worlds that were part of a large interstellar empire. But in the distant past, that empire had collapsed, leaving the planet Nor'Dyren isolated and unable to absorb the full force of the creativity of its Qattagon.

Assignment Nor'Dyren is a pleasant mystery novel set on an interesting alien world, but it can also lead the reader to think about some issues that are important on Earth.

The most interesting technical issue raised by this book concerns genetic engineering. The Allegon, Berregon, Gonnegon and Qattagon appear to be the result of genetic engineering, four specialized variations of the original species, rationally designed so as to form a stable social system. On Earth, humans now have the technology for genetically modifying our own species. We are also starting to explore space and confronting the problem of how to deal with the social changes that come with science and technology. Is any naturally-evolved human-like species biologically suited for dealing with the challenges of science, technology and space exploration? Is it inevitable that in order to survive its "technological adolescence", any species must get involved with genetically modifying itself?

A major social issue raised by this book is the relationship between creativity and human homosexuality. The possibility of a link between homosexuality and creativity has been a matter of debate for many years [1],[2].

Some view the idea of a link between creativity and homosexuality as a myth [3] while at the same time taking note of the impact that homosexuals have on society:

"Any individual that truly appreciates the arts cannot help but appreciate the contributions of homosexual artists to the field. It appears that the link between homosexuality and creativity is less a function of genetic selection, and more a product of societal pressures and approvals."

Research into possible differences in the brain that might be linked to homosexuality continues at a slow pace and remains fairly primitive [4],[5].

The hypothesis that human homosexuality can be associated with certain behavioral traits such as creativity remains a topic for further research, but Assignment Nor'Dyren explores this issue in the context of an alien culture where creativity was purposefully invested in members of the society who were not reproductively active.

Book DetailsEdit

• Assignment Nor'Dyren (1973) Avon Books. ISBN 0-380-17160-0.