The Man of Gold
core novel 1984 Tekumel
Record
| First published | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.76 (282 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780879979409 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Man of Gold, published by M.A.R. Barker in 1984, opens the Tekumel novels, set in the same densely imagined secondary world the author had spent decades developing, originally as the setting for his Empire of the Petal Throne role-playing game. The novel follows Harsan, a foundling raised among the non-human Pe Choi rather than within any human clan, as he attempts to build a place for himself in Tsolyani society despite lacking the clan ties and social standing that would normally be considered essential to survival there. Harsan's efforts to establish himself and find belonging in a society built around intricate clan and caste structures unfold against the richly detailed backdrop of Tekumel's invented cultures, languages, and religions, the product of the setting's long private development before ever reaching print.
Where it sits
- Universe: Tekumel
- Series: Tekumel core; position 1 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: M.A.R. Barker
Notes
- From the series record (Tekumel): Five novels set on the invented world of Tekumel, originally developed by the author as a role-playing setting decades before the first novel appeared; the final three novels were published after the author's 2000 death from manuscripts he had completed.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Tekumel: position 1 of 5: next Flamesong (1985)
Sources
← Tekumel dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.