Guardians of Selfhood
Names: Guardians of SelfhoodGuardiansthe clansGuardian shotgunGuardians movementclanGuardian terroristsJohansson's GuardiansGuardian movementGuardian villagesGuardianclan warriors
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 3 (TWO)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 3The Guardians claim to protect humanity from the Starflyer alien, which they say manipulates the government.
- Ch 5The Guardians of Selfhood shot down the last communications satellites over Far Away long ago.
- Ch 5The Guardians of Selfhood roam Far Away at will and are reputed to be well armed and prone to violence.
- Ch 5Seven clans on Far Away form the Guardians of Selfhood, who believe they stand between the Starflyer and human ruin.
- Ch 7An underground group campaigning against the Starflyer, which it claims secretly manipulates the Commonwealth's political classes.
- Ch 7Their message used a computer-generated politician as spokesman, and was shotgunned across the unisphere from a node in Hemeleum.
- Ch 7The Guardians sent a propaganda 'shotgun' message opposing the starship; Mark found it sensible and wondered why the Senate held no vote.
- Ch 7They target Halgarths because the dynasty backs the Marie Celeste Research Institute; April was chosen by a search program as naive and isolated.
- Ch 7They are the Serious Crimes Directorate's long-running unsolved case, having evaded capture for about 130 years.
- Ch 8Xenophobic, violent group who repeatedly attack the Institute's landline and believe it transported the Starflyer into the Commonwealth.
- Ch 13The Guardians are a clan-based resistance on Far Away fighting the Starflyer and the Institute; this raiding party of eighty is among their largest in years.
- Ch 13Clans who sabotage the supply road and are sworn to destroy the Institute and the alien arkship.
- Ch 13An obscure paramilitary political group on Far Away that believes the Commonwealth is manipulated by an alien; suspected of attacking the Second Chance.
- Ch 17The Guardians of Selfhood claim to fight the Starflyer's agents and, in their message, blame the Starflyer for releasing the Dyson aliens.
- Ch 17The Guardians urge people to oppose the government's three-scoutship plan and demand an armada of battleships instead.
- Ch 22Group following Johansson's conspiracy theories about the Primes, whose views Kareem repeats.
- Ch 23The Guardians' spokesman claims the Dyson aliens are about to invade the Commonwealth through Hell's Gateway and that navy defenses are inadequate.
- Ch 23The Guardians are portrayed by Columbia as conspiracy fanatics whose only physical damage has been on Far Away, which the Halgarths can afford.
- Ch 23The Guardians campaign against the Starflyer through its agents the Research Institute, with the Halgarth family as secondary targets, operating from Far Away.
- Ch 23The Guardians were formed to help Johansson steal money in the Las Vegas heist and conceal his lifestyle; Paula plans to contact them.
- Ch 24The Guardians are Far Away clans led by Bradley Johansson who believe in the Starflyer, an alien secretly corrupting humanity, and are being hunted by a navy branch.
- Ch 24Oscar regards the Guardians as nutters who believe President Doi is an alien agent.
- Ch 25Dudley says the Guardians come from Far Away, near Dyson Alpha.
Book 2: Judas Unchained
- Ch 1The Guardians sent a shotgun message denouncing President Elaine Doi as a Starflyer agent, and run sophisticated identity-theft operations against rich Halgarths.
- Ch 2The Guardians ran the Mars project through a front, shipping sealed instrument packages via UFN Science Agency transports for its first twelve years.
- Ch 3The Guardians have run an operation on Mars for twenty years, using the Arabia Terra station to relay data back to Earth.
- Ch 3Navy intelligence's diagnostics on the Martian equipment found only what looked like standard environmental sensors.
- Ch 4Official Armstrong City sources dismiss the Guardians as scabby mountain bandits; some locals suspect them of attacks on the Institute.
- Ch 4The Guardians believe in the Starflyer; Mellanie asked them for help against it and for their plans.
- Ch 5The Guardians of Selfhood are a cult who claimed an alien was running the government; Mellanie says they were right.
- Ch 10The Guardians suspect Illuminatus is where many Starflyer agents are wetwired, and hope Myo exposing a cell helps them.
- Ch 14The Guardians with Samantha stole a JCB trailblazer to cut through forest to the d-sink shelters.
- Ch 14Guardians built the pyramid station network, which generates a huge force field anchored in rock and five rotating air blades; initialization used four percent of power.
- Ch 14The Guardians knock out the maser cannons and pass through the gateway to Half Way with almost no resistance.
- Ch 18Guardians smuggle weapons technology through a gateway in First Foot Fall Plaza and use marked hidden roads to cross the grass at speed.
- Ch 18The Guardians blew up all five major river crossings on Highway One; the Starflyer's amphibious convoy crossed rivers anyway under ambush.
- Ch 18Guardian convoys on Highway One use head-on collision tactics with armored suits and Loko trucks to smash through Institute roadblocks.
- Ch 19The Guardians manipulate the storm through manipulator stations, channeling it east through Trevathan Gulf until it becomes a self-sustaining, uncontrollable force: their planet's revenge.
Connections
- has memberAdam Elvin
- led byBradley Johanssonfounder
- has memberKazimir McFoster
- includesMcFoster clan
- has memberAlberto Rasanto
- enemy ofMarie Celeste Research Institute
- has memberBruce McFoster
- has memberScott McFoster
- has memberStig McSobel
- led byAdam Elvin
- has memberKieran McSobel
- has memberMarisa McFoster
- has memberBjou McSobel
- has memberJenny McNowak
- has memberGareth
- ally ofBradley JohanssonAdam supplies equipment to Johansson's cause
- createdLambeth Interplanetary Societyfront organization
- has memberFrancis RowdenHogan's unproven theory
- related toAdam Elvinworks for them from time to time, not a member
- has memberOlwen McOnna
- ally ofOzzie Fernandez Isaacprovided political cover
- related toMortonMorton and his squad could spearhead alongside the Guardians
- has memberRosamund McKratz
- has memberJamas McPeierls
- ally ofPaula Myotravels with them in pursuit of the Starflyer
- has memberBradley Johansson
- created byBradley Johansson
- has memberAlic Hogan
- led byStig McSobel
- has memberKeely McSobel
- ally ofWilson Kime
- has memberLedro
- enemy ofPaula Myo
- has memberJudson McKratz
- has memberSamantha
- has memberAndria McNowak
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 7Guardians of Selfhood shotgun the unisphere
A message with Halgarth's certificate is shotgunned to billions of e-butlers, claiming the Starflyer engineered the Dyson Pair mission and urging citizens to demand it be stopped.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Interview with April Halgarth
Renne and Tarlo interview April at the beach cottage on Nzega, learning how Alberto Rasanto seduced and drugged her and how the Guardians used a memory edit and hack to steal her certificate.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Tarlo voices doubts about the Guardians case
Outside, Tarlo suggests the Guardians' long luck is unnatural and may involve memory edits used on the Directorate; Renne dismisses it, and they bet ten dollars on whether forensics will find a clue.
- Book 1 · Ch 13Raid preparations at Rock Dee
Clans arm and equip eighty fighters and Charlemagne warhorses. Harvey advises caution, and Bruce pressures Kazimir into promising to bed Andria after the raid.
- Book 1 · Ch 13Raiding party departs
An hour after nightfall the eighty fighters leave Rock Dee, descend StOmer's southern side into the lowlands, and by daybreak are hidden in the forest.
- Book 1 · Ch 17Guardians of Selfhood broadcast
The Guardians' spokesman blames the Starflyer for freeing the Dyson aliens and urges citizens to demand an armada and vigilance against Starflyer agents.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Mars lead revealed
Renne reports that the data McFoster collected came from a Guardians-linked remote station on Mars, active for twenty years, whose purpose remains unknown.
- Book 2 · Ch 14Guardians seize the aerodrome
Stig enters the deserted aerodrome, loads software, opens the gate, and the Guardians begin fitting bombs to blimpbots for an attack on 3F Plaza.
- Book 2 · Ch 14Pyramid station activation
Guardians activate a new pyramid station, producing a base force field and rotating air blades, using four percent of power.
- Book 2 · Ch 14Guardians pass through the gateway
The Guardians destroy the maser cannons and send a drone and their trucks through the gateway to Half Way, with suspiciously little opposition.
- Book 2 · Ch 15Blimpbot attack on 3F Plaza
As the Institute escorts a capsule truck toward the gateway, Stig launches the blimpbot attack in the rain; the first blimpbot is shredded by Institute fire while releasing chaff and drones.
- Book 2 · Ch 15Institute breaks through 3F Plaza
Institute Cruisers and bulldozers cross the rubble of Market Wall, drive trucks through the gateway, and bring the Starflyer out and away. Guardians cannot stop them, leaving an ambush at the gateway to trap Adam.
- Book 2 · Ch 18Chase along Highway One
Adam's party follows radio news of Bradley's pursuit of the Starflyer; Guardians destroyed the bridges, ambushes occur, and Institute reinforcements slow Bradley.
- Book 2 · Ch 18Convoy smashes Institute blockade
Guardians' Loko trucks and the Cat ram through four Land Rover Cruisers blocking Highway One; Stig drives through the burning gap and the Cat survives.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Wilson's signal reaches the cave
The Guardians receive Wilson's carrier signal and storm data, and begin phasing in the manipulator stations to amplify the storm.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Zone killer strike on the convoy
Zone killers destroy most of the Starflyer convoy and a stretch of road, but the MANN truck and seventeen Cruisers survive. Cruisers then slaughter the charging Guardian horses and riders.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Wilson watches the storm
Wilson, dying atop Mount Herculaneum, watches the Guardians channel the storm east until it becomes a vast self-sustaining dust storm sweeping over the High Desert.