Saula (fictional planet)

Saula is a fictional planet described in "An Attempt to Escape" ("Попытка к бегству") by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so-called Noon Universe and presents a world in an early feudalistic stage (opposite to e.g. late feudalism of Arkanar). The planet was named after Saul (Savel) Repnin, one of the space explorers who discovered it in 2141 AD.

Saula is the second planet (out of four) of EN-7031 solar system, about one and a half times further from its sun than Earth is from ours. The day and night cycle on Saula lasts 28 hours, its mass is about 1.1 of Earth, which means that acceleration of gravity is roughly equal to 10.8 m/s². It has three (!) moons (natural satellites). There are only two continents on Saula: the bigger one on equator and the smaller one close to a pole (it's not specified which one in the book).

The native intelligent species of Saula are humans which are genetically identical to those of Earth. The society of these people is mostly feudal and ritual-based, although some elements still resemble the ancient slave-owning regime. The only country described in "An Attempt to Escape" doesn't have a name or, at least, it was never mentioned. Apparently it's a monarchy with "Great and mighty Cliff, glaring battle, with a foot in Heaven, living until the end of machines" (an approximate translation by Vadim, the interpreter of the expedition that discovered Saula) in chief. The last part has to do with the so-called "everlasting machines" (see below) and symbolizes eternity. It is also mentioned that "Great and mighty Cliff" (the minimum shortening of the king's title) is eager to star a conquest on other lands which suggests that there are other countries on the equatorial continent.

As already stated, the inhabitants of Saula are physically identical to homo sapiens but some aspects of their psychology is different, for example, the tone of voice appropriate for giving orders is the same with which Earthlings plead and complain (citing Anton, the third member of the expedition, "as if someone stepped on a kitten"). Another strange fact is that they are shocked by any drawn picture (probably that's cultural). The language people in the land of Great and mighty Cliff use is similar to Japanese.

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