The Prince of Liars story
A man tells a tale of having visited an advanced alien civilization on a distant planet, leaving his interlocutor to wonder if the man is telling the truth or whether the story is nothing but a tissue of lies.
21 total · 5 major · 16 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| covert alien observers | major | Gnostes recounted of how he became an agent of the aliens from the Blue World and was sent periodically to Earth to make reports on the state of humanity. |
| extraterrestrial being | major | A novelty of the story concerns Gnostes visiting the men of Allos aliens on their "Blue World" home planet. |
| metaphysics | major | The story is framed as a dialog between a relativist and a skeptical Newtonian with the relativist advancing challenges to the Newtonian world view. |
| the desire for vengeance | major | Much was made of Gnostes wanting to avenge his love interest Thora's killing at the hands of Prah. |
| theory of relativity | major | The story is framed as a dialog between a relativist and a skeptical Newtonian. To convince the Newtonian, he relativist Dr. Smead told a tale, and it is left for the reader to judge the veracity of the story, of having experienced time dilation on a journey to the Sirius star system. |
| anti-gravity technology | minor | Gnostes was astonished to discover that his alien hosts had mastered this technology, which they used to propel their spacecraft and also create an environment aboard their vessel with the same gravity as Earth. |
| antiscience in society | minor | Gnostes spoke of how a new religion cropped up and suppressed any scientific knowledge at odds with its creed, resulting in a millennium long dark age. |
| coping with the death of a lover | minor | Dr. Smead pined over a woman he'd loved, hinting that it was the ancient priestess Thora. |
| death ray | minor | Gnostes described how Thora and Prah "seemed to shrivel up and disappear" when a death ray was turned on them. |
| domed city | minor | Gnostes observed the cities of the Blue World to be covered with heavy glass domes. |