The Foundation Series: An Overview
Argumentation
The first story is located on Trantor, the capital planet of the 12,000-year-old Galactic Empire. While the rule gives the appearance of stability, beneath this facade, a slow decline is underway. The main character, Hari Seldon, a mathematician, has developed psychohistory, which applies mathematical principles to large populations, allowing for long-term predictable outcomes.
Seldon discovers a horrifying truth about the Empire’s decline. His findings are considered treasonous and attract the attention of the Public Safety Commission—the effective rulers of the Empire. This leads to his arrest, along with a young mathematician, Gaal Dornick, who has just arrived on Trantor.
At trial, Seldon reveals his discoveries made through psychohistory, such as the collapse of the Empire in 500 years, followed by a 30,000-year period of barbarism.
Seldon proposes an alternative to this future. While the collapse is unavoidable, he believes the period of interregnum could be shortened to only 1,000 years. This plan requires a large group of people to develop a compendium of all human knowledge, dubbed the Encyclopedia Galactica.
The still-skeptical commission, eager to make Seldon a martyr, offers him the option of execution for treason or exile with his “encyclopedic” group to the remote planet Terminus. There, he would carry out the plan under an imperial decree, barred from returning to Trantor.
The Encyclopedists
The second story, “The Encyclopedists,” takes place 50 years after the events of “Argumentation.” Terminus faces the first of many “Seldon Crises.” Lacking mineral wealth, the people of the Foundation are cut off from the rest of the Empire following the breakdown of law and order in the outer regions of the galaxy and the declaration of independence by neighboring planets.
Terminus is caught in a dispute between four planetary systems that have descended into barbarism and see Terminus’s location as a strategic advantage. The Board of Trustees of the Encyclopedia Galactica Foundation, composed of scientists with no political or military training, are incapable of handling the situation, distracted by their work on the Encyclopedia. However, the Mayor of Terminus, Salvor Hardin, perceives the threat and quickly devises a solution to play the four kingdoms against each other.
Hardin’s plan succeeds, and then Seldon’s image appears in the “Time Vault,” acknowledging that the “Seldon Crisis” has been averted. Seldon reveals that the election was planned and that the Encyclopedia was a distraction to further the overall plan.
Hardin uses this revelation to stage a bloodless coup, taking over the Board of Trustees.
The Mayors
The third story, “The Mayors,” takes place three decades after “The Encyclopedists.” The Foundation’s scientific understanding has given it unusual influence over neighboring planetary systems, and control is exercised through an artificial religion called scientism. This allows the Foundation to share the benefits of advanced technology while maintaining its scientific secrets. Maintenance technicians from Terminus, called priests, are trained in the basic operation of technology but remain ignorant of fundamental scientific knowledge. Thus, the Foundation suppresses unscientific rebellions and relocates the knowledge that has reduced the rest of the periphery of the galaxy to barbarism.
Salvor Hardin, Mayor of Terminus, is the ruler of the Foundation. Wienis, Prince Regent of Anacreon, plans to overthrow the Foundation’s power. His plans are encouraged when he acquires an abandoned Imperial cruiser and demands compensation from the Foundation.
Hardin sees through Wienis’s plans and arranges for the vessel to be repaired, incorporating some modifications. Hardin then incites Wienis’s people on Anacreon with accusations of blasphemy, leading to a rebellion that results in direct control of the four kingdoms.
Hari Seldon once again confirms the predicted actions via the “Time Vault,” while warning that scientism, while sufficient to defend against immediate threats, will not be enough to expand the Foundation’s influence beyond its nearest barbarian neighbors.
The Traders
The fourth story, “The Traders,” continues 55 years after “The Mayors.” The story follows Ponyets Limmer, a trader sent to Askone to recover Eskel Gorov. Askone’s trade with the Foundation has declined due to fear of control through scientism. Eskel Gorov awaits execution for violating trade laws by attempting to acquire Foundation technology.
Askone’s leaders are adamant about not accepting any Foundation technology, but when offered gold in exchange for the prisoner, they readily accept. During Ponyets’s presentation of the “gold,” Pherl, an aspiring leader in Askone’s government, is persuaded to accept technology that can transmute base metals. Unbeknownst to Pherl, his transaction with Foundation technology is recorded and later used as blackmail, allowing Ponyets to exchange his cargo of technology for tin, a resource the Foundation needs.
Pherl is forced to accept Foundation technology and strives to make it acceptable among the Askone people.
The Merchant Princes
The story session; “merchant princes” occurs only twenty years after “merchants”.
The Foundation has expanded through the use of scientism and the economy. Three ships of the Foundation have gone near the Republic of a nation suspicious of technological development. Trader Hober Mallow is sent to reveal information about its technology and expects to find the missing vessels. While inKorell, ‘s leader Asper Argo Commdore for the purchase of Foundation technology. Mallow> still has some vestiges of the Empire, as Atomic handguns. However, it also notes the decrepit condition of the Republic and the lack of modern technology.
On his return to Terminus, is considered a traitor for not disseminating scientism to Korell, although an unlikely development Mallow who erases gains you a choice for mayor.
When Korell goes to war against the Foundation, Mallow is not acting against the Korellians dissent and waits until the shortage of products offered by the Foundation allows the Foundation to almost win.