Gethen

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Gethen is the fictional planet where the action develops in the science fiction novel "The Left Hand of Darkness", by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Gethen appears to have a surface gravity more or less similar to Earth and a human-compatible atmosphere (the Earth envoy sent there shows no sign of discomfort).

Gethen's axis is not tilted (as is the case with Earth), but a relatively high orbital eccentricity produces global seasons. At the time of the story, Gethen is in the midst of an Ice Age (some local scientists believe it is near the end). The poles and a large portion of the land around them are permanently covered with glaciers, and even in the inhabited areas the climate can be extremely cold. In some places it is impossible to travel in winter, since the snow covers all roads. A summer day at 30 degrees Celsius is compared (by a Gethenian) to being inside a furnace.

Gethenians are physically and culturally adapted to cold; they tend to be of robust build and short stature, and they are familiar with the caloric yield of many different types of food. (The physical adaptations might be a product of genetic manipulation by the Hain, the species that "seeded" many worlds in the Ekumen with humanoid lifeforms.)

The inhabitants of Gethen are androgynes, biologically hermaphroditic humans; for approximately three weeks of each month they are biologically neuter, and for the remaining week are male or female, as determined by pheromonal negotiation with an interested sex partner. Thus each individual can both sire and bear children.

[edit] Gethen's calendar and timekeeping

Gethen orbits its primary star once every 0.96 Earth years (8401 Earth hours). The planet rotates around its axis in 23.08 earth hours, so a Gethenian year consists of 364 local days.

The only natural satellite of the planet revolves around it in 26 local days, which constitutes a month. The year is divided into 14 of these lunar months. By fortunate coincidence, the deviation between this lunisolar calendar and the true solar year is small enough to require a correction only once every 200 years. Thus the days are synchronized with the moon phase every month.

Each day in a month has a unique name. Days are not grouped in weeks, but the month is evenly divided in two halves of 13 days each (the names of the days in the second half are derived regularly from those of the first half).

Gethenians further divide each day into ten parts or "hours", the first one starting at noon.

A very curious concept of dating is employed in Gethen, though this is only explained briefly in the book: the years are not numbered sequentially in increasing order, but the current year is always referred to as "year one", and the others are counted as years before or after this standpoint. Historical records employ well-known events to mark (fixed) past dates.

[edit] Cartography

Gethen has four continents and an archipelago. Two of the continents, Orgoreyn and Karhide, are connected. The action of the novel takes place here. Map. The other continents are Sith and the Antarctic continent, Perunter. The planet is covered with ice everywhere beyond 45 degrees, and often down to 30 degrees.