Summacum

"He seeks to unite the Drivers and Summacums against Valdec."
-- Description of Asen-Ger's mission, Booklet 011, Planet of the Lodge Masters

Summacum (plural: Summacums; German: Summacum, plural: Summacums) is the supreme rank within the Driver hierarchy -- the title held by the most intellectually accomplished and politically authoritative Lodge Masters in the civilization of Die Terranauten. A Summacum is not merely a Lodge Master of exceptional PSI ability; the rank denotes membership in the governing elite of Driver society, carrying seats on the Council of Lodge Masters on the planet Zoe and authority over Driver-wide policy, science, and diplomacy. The rank appears across at least 22 of the saga's 99 booklets, and named Summacums number among the most consequential figures in the series.

Definition and Meaning

The term "Summacum" derives from the Latin summa cum (laude) -- "with highest distinction" -- reflecting the rank's association with supreme intellectual and psionic achievement. In the caste system of the Terran Star Empire, the Summacums constituted both a rank and a social caste: a class of individuals recognized for their exceptional intelligence, scientific expertise, and PSI abilities. As Booklet 020 describes them, Summacums are "a now-defunct caste known for their high intelligence and scientific expertise." Booklet 023 defines them more starkly as "individuals with high intelligence quotients, formerly a distinct caste."

This dual nature -- rank and caste simultaneously -- distinguishes the Summacum from all other designations in the saga. While a Lodge Master earns the title through demonstrated command of a Driver Lodge, and a Queen receives her title through the Gray Guard hierarchy, a Summacum's standing rests on the convergence of intellectual brilliance, psionic power, and political authority. Not every Lodge Master can become a Summacum, but every Summacum is, or was, a Lodge Master of the highest caliber.

Role and Responsibilities

Political Governance

The primary institutional function of Summacums is governance of Driver society through the Council of Lodge Masters on Zoe. The Council convened in the Grottos of B'ai Ching and exercised authority over Driver political, legal, and social affairs. Summacums debated policy, issued ultimatums to external powers, and represented the Drivers in negotiations with the Council of Corporations.

When Hadersen Wells arrives at the Kaiser House in Berlin to demand the release of Asen-Ger and David terGorden (Booklet 009), he comes not as an individual but as "a Summacum and representative of the Council of Zoe," leading "a delegation of Summacums." This diplomatic function -- speaking with the collective authority of the Driver elite -- is the Summacum's most visible political role.

Scientific Leadership

Many Summacums serve as the saga's foremost scientists and researchers. Summacum Homan directs the Kaiser Force transmitter experiments that cause the Oxyd catastrophe (Booklets 019-021). Summacum Jorgez serves as chief scientist at the Dead Spaces prison, conducting experiments on imprisoned Drivers (Booklet 009). Summacum Alberti works in the Kaiser Laboratories on the Moon (Booklet 021). Summacum Dottore Cunning contributes to Project Yggdrasil. Summacum Lauder serves as lead scientist of the Kaiser Corporation. Lannister Chron, a former Summacum, is described as a "Kaiser Force expert" (Booklet 099).

The prefix "Summacum Dottore" -- used for characters like Summacum Dottore Cunning and Dottore Keller -- appears to denote an academic or scientific sub-rank, distinguishing Summacums who hold doctoral-level expertise in specific fields.

The associated role of Summacum-Berater (Summacum Consultant) indicates that Summacums also served in formal advisory capacities, lending their expertise to institutions and leaders beyond the Driver community.

Military and Strategic Command

While Summacums are not primarily military figures, their authority extends to wartime leadership. Summacum Muhlherr leads the Driver forces in the Noman uprising on Earth, personally commanding his Driver Lodge in the assault on the Kaiser Corporation's transmitter in Berlin (Booklet 023). Summacum Homan authorizes the construction of a Kaiser Gate to contain the asteroid Oxyd (Booklet 021) and directs the fleet of ships sent on the suicide mission. Asen-Ger, as a Summacum and co-founder of the Terranauts, serves as the strategic mind behind many of the resistance's military campaigns across decades of conflict.

Mentorship and Cultural Authority

Summacums hold an implicit authority as keepers of Driver tradition and knowledge. Summacum Cader, a philosopher, lent his name to the Year of Philosophy (2424 A.D.), indicating the cultural reverence accorded to Summacums of distinguished intellectual achievement. The PSI Academy of Porto Novo on Zoe trained "the most famous Lodge Masters of humanity," and the Summacums of Porto Novo were the apex of this educational tradition.

Requirements and Attainment

The saga does not describe a formal investiture ceremony for the Summacum rank, but the consistent attributes of known Summacums allow the requirements to be inferred:

Exceptional PSI Ability

All Summacums are Drivers of extraordinary psionic power. Asen-Ger demonstrates telepathy, illusion projection, consciousness extraction, and the ability to coordinate Super-Lodges across interstellar distances. Summacum Muhlherr uses his Driver Lodge's mental powers to create illusions in combat. Even Summacums who work primarily as scientists -- such as Homan and Alberti -- are identified as members of the Driver caste, implying baseline PSI competence.

Intellectual Distinction

The Summacum rank is consistently associated with exceptional intelligence. Booklets 006, 023, 030, and 038 all define Summacums as "individuals with exceptional intelligence," "high intelligence quotients," or simply "highly intelligent individuals." The rank's Latin-derived name reinforces this association with academic distinction. Summacums who serve as scientists -- Homan, Jorgez, Alberti, Lauder, Dottore Cunning -- embody this intellectual requirement most visibly.

Lodge Master Standing

A Summacum is always a Lodge Master or a former Lodge Master. Asen-Ger is "Lodge Master and Summacum." Summacum Muhlherr is "a Summacum and Lodge Master." Hadersen Wells holds both titles simultaneously. The Lodge Master page states explicitly: "a Summacum is always a Lodge Master of exceptional standing, but not every Lodge Master attains the rank of Summacum."

Political Recognition

Membership in the Council of Lodge Masters appears to be the institutional marker of Summacum status. Jose Javage and Gram Ashmit are both described as "a Summacum who is part of the Council of Lodge Masters." The Council's recognition -- whether through election, nomination, or acclamation -- appears to be the formal mechanism by which a Lodge Master becomes a Summacum.

Named Summacums

The saga identifies the following named individuals as holding or having held the Summacum rank:

Asen-Ger (Ansgar Asenger)

The most prominent Summacum in the saga, appearing in 40 of 99 booklets. Co-founder of the Terranauts, mentor to David terGorden, and son of a Dragon Rider from the Sealed Land on Adzharis. His career spans the full arc of the saga: from undercover operative within the Kaiser Corporation to prisoner of the Moon Dungeons, from castaway on Rorqual to deputy chairman of the Driver Council on Sarym. He is described as "Lodge Master and Summacum of the Terranauts" in multiple booklets (030, 050, 053, 057, 058, 060). In the later saga, he is sometimes referred to as a "former Summacum" (Booklets 029, 058, 060), reflecting the dissolution of the institutional framework that granted the title after Zoe's destruction.

Hadersen Wells

Lodge Master of the GDANSK, later the MILAN and GARIBALDI. A Summacum who serves as the political voice of the Council of Zoe. He leads a Summacum delegation to the Kaiser House in Berlin to demand the release of Asen-Ger and David terGorden from Max von Valdec (Booklet 009). He investigates the Transmitter Tree on Onyx (Booklet 027) and is killed by a poisonous thorn on the planet Glimmer (Booklet 055). His death represents one of the saga's most significant losses of Summacum leadership.

Summacum Homan

A scientist working for the Kaiser Corporation who conducts the Oxyd experiment using Kaiser Force (Booklet 019). He is described as "ambitious and ruthless, prioritizing research above all else." He directs the effort to contain the Oxyd catastrophe from his research ship (Booklets 020-021), authorizes the construction of a Kaiser Gate, and orders ships on suicide missions against the asteroid. His deputy is Owen Meier, a "Chief Engineer and former Summacum," and he is monitored by Walter Becker, a Kontroll-Manag assigned by Valdec to oversee him -- reflecting the Council's distrust of even its most capable scientists. Summacum Homan's reckless experiments with Kaiser Force trigger one of the saga's most devastating crises.

Summacum Muhlherr

A Summacum and Lodge Master who leads the Drivers in the ill-fated uprising on Earth (Booklet 023). He commands a Driver Lodge that uses mental powers to create combat illusions, coordinates the assault on the Kaiser Corporation's transmitter in Berlin alongside Nobody and Hanstein, and is killed in the final attack when Cosmoral Fay Gray leads the Gray Guard counterattack. His death exemplifies the tragic fate of Summacums who chose direct military action against Valdec's overwhelming forces.

Summacum Moes

The only Lodge Master on Io, Jupiter's moon, and the leader of the secret Terranaut base there. He is initially mistrustful of Cantos, the Genessaner alien who arrives seeking to warn humanity about the dangers of Kaiser Force (Booklet 020). His isolation on Io -- far from the destroyed civilization of Zoe -- makes him a representative of the scattered, suspicious remnants of Summacum authority in the post-Zoe era.

Summacum Jorgez

The chief scientist at the Dead Spaces prison in Berlin. He objects to Valdec's order to transfer imprisoned Drivers to Luna, wanting to continue his experiments on Llewellyn 709 (Booklet 009). His role illustrates a dark dimension of Summacum expertise: the willingness of some to experiment on their own kind in the service of corporate science.

Summacum Alberti

A scientist working at the Kaiser Laboratories on the Moon. He helps Brak Shakram escape from the laboratories during the Oxyd crisis (Booklet 021), informing him of the impending catastrophe and providing a path to freedom. His motivations appear complex: the glossary notes he may have been "under the influence of a drug." He is killed by Shakram during the escape. Alberti represents Summacums caught between institutional loyalty and conscience during the saga's darkest hours.

Summacum Lauder

The lead scientist of the Kaiser Corporation, imprisoned on Luna alongside Queen Quendolain and the TERRA I crew after the Oxyd experiments. When Quendolain regains her enhanced PSI powers, she influences Lauder and his team, leading a breakout attempt (Booklet 020). His fate after the failed escape is unclear.

Jose Javage

A Summacum on Zoe who meets with David terGorden and Asen-Ger to discuss the political situation and the possibility of negotiations with Pankaldi (Booklet 011). He is described as "a Summacum who is part of the Council of Lodge Masters."

Gram Ashmit / Etchmund Crieger

A figure who infiltrates the Summacums on Zoe under the identity of Gram Ashmit. He is in truth the Shadow agent Etchmund Crieger, who betrays David terGorden's location and the existence of the Yggdrasil Seeds to Cosmoral Jaschini (Booklet 011). His infiltration of the Summacum circle demonstrates the vulnerability of even the highest Driver leadership to Council espionage.

Altainen

A Summacum described as "pessimistic about the Great Festival" (Booklet 002). He represents the cautious, conservative wing of Summacum opinion during the early crisis.

Owen Meier

Chief Engineer and "former Summacum" who works as deputy to Summacum Homan during the Oxyd experiments (Booklet 019). His designation as "former Summacum" (Ex-Summacum) suggests that the rank could be lost or relinquished -- whether through political demotion, voluntary resignation, or the collapse of the institutional framework that granted it.

Summacum Dottore Cunning

One of the scientists working on Project Yggdrasil, the initiative connected to the cultivation and study of the primeval tree Yggdrasil and its mistletoe blossoms.

Summacum Cader

A philosopher of such renown that the year 2424 A.D. was named the Year of Philosophy (German: Jahr der Philosophie) in his honor. His legacy represents the intellectual and cultural dimension of the Summacum tradition.

Lannister Chron

A "former Summacum and Kaiser Force expert" banished to Pluto by Queen Tian (Booklet 099). By the saga's final chapter, Chron is a broken figure, exiled and lovesick, collecting detectors on a frozen world. He discovers a green leaf on one detector -- the first sign of the ecological transformation that will sweep across the solar system. His designation as "former Summacum" reinforces the rank's extinction as an active institution by the saga's end.

Summacum Ortun

A name referenced in the glossary in connection with a type of wine, suggesting either a Summacum who lent his name to a product or a geographical designation.

The Council of Lodge Masters (Summacum Council)

The Council of Lodge Masters (German: Rat der Logenmeister) on Zoe served as the supreme governing body of Driver society. The Summacums who held seats on this Council constituted the effective government of the Driver caste -- a parallel political authority to the Council of Corporations on Earth.

Structure and Location

The Council convened in the Grottos of B'ai Ching, an extensive subterranean cave system on Zoe that also served as the focal point for the Super-Lodge's collective PSI operations. The city of Porto Novo -- described in the glossary as "the city of the Summacums on Zoe" -- served as the political and cultural capital of the Summacum community. The PSI Academy of Porto Novo trained the Lodge Masters who would rise to Summacum status.

Functions

The Council's documented activities include:

• Diplomacy: Issuing ultimatums to the Council of Corporations (Booklet 009), demanding the release of imprisoned Drivers, and negotiating with corporate representatives like Pankaldi (Booklet 011).
• Policy: Debating the Driver response to existential threats, including the question of whether to reveal the location of the Yggdrasil Seeds to secure a treaty (Booklet 011).
• Defense: Coordinating the Super-Lodge that generated the PSI-Shield defending Zoe against orbital bombardment (Booklet 012).
• Intelligence: Receiving delegations and assessing threats -- though the infiltration of Gram Ashmit/Etchmund Crieger proved the Council's counterintelligence was inadequate.
• Adjudication: Exercising jurisdiction over Driver legal matters, as when Hadersen Wells demands that Asen-Ger and David terGorden be released to "the jurisdiction of the Council of Zoe" (Booklet 009).

Destruction

The Council was effectively annihilated with the destruction of Zoe in Booklet 012. When Valdec's Kaiser Force transmitter destabilized the sun Spilter, causing it to go nova, the planet and everything on it -- including the Grottos of B'ai Ching, the city of Porto Novo, and the institutional heart of the Summacum system -- was consumed. The captured Drivers who survived were systematically stripped of their PSI abilities, and the few Summacums who escaped (Asen-Ger, Hadersen Wells, and a handful of others) became fugitives and resistance leaders rather than members of a governing body.

Reconstitution

The Council was later reconstituted in diminished form as the Driver Council on Sarym, with Asen-Ger serving as deputy chairman (Booklet 070). This successor body managed the crisis of the Silent Drivers and oversaw the resettlement of the surviving Driver community, but it operated under radically different circumstances -- without the institutional prestige, the physical infrastructure, or the political leverage that the original Council of Lodge Masters on Zoe had commanded.

Historical Context

The Golden Age: Pre-Saga (before 2499)

Before the events of Die Terranauten, the Summacums occupied the apex of a privileged social order. As the governing elite of the Driver caste -- the caste upon which all interstellar commerce, colonization, and communication depended -- they wielded enormous political and economic leverage. From their seat in Porto Novo on Zoe, they negotiated with the Council of Corporations from a position of considerable strength. The PSI Academy of Porto Novo produced generation after generation of Lodge Masters, the most distinguished of whom rose to Summacum status.

The Year of Philosophy (2424 A.D.), named after Summacum Cader, suggests a period in which Summacum intellectual achievement was celebrated and institutionalized. The existence of sub-ranks such as "Summacum Dottore" and advisory roles such as "Summacum-Berater" (Summacum Consultant) indicates a sophisticated internal hierarchy within the Summacum community.

However, this privilege bred resentment. The Council of Corporations -- particularly the Kaiser Corporation under Max von Valdec -- chafed under its dependency on the Drivers and their Summacum leadership. The Summacum Uprising (German: Summacum-Aufstand), an event during the Zoe Crisis, represents an early fracture in the relationship between the Summacums and the corporate order. The glossary describes it as "an event during the Zoe Crisis that led Valdec to secure the loyalty of his scientists" -- suggesting that some Summacums rebelled against corporate authority, and that Valdec responded by binding his remaining scientific elite more tightly to his regime through incentives, threats, or both.

The Crisis and Fall of Zoe (2499-2500)

The saga opens with the Summacum order under existential threat. Llewellyn 709's galaxy-wide PSI call (Booklet 001) forces the Summacums to choose between institutional caution and revolutionary action. When the Driver fleet arrives on Zoe (Booklet 005), the Summacums are described as "a caste on Zoe" -- and the Lodge Masters are found "unwilling to take a stand." This institutional paralysis forces individual Summacums like Ari marTheos, Hadersen Wells, and Asen-Ger to act on their own initiative.

The fall of Zoe (Booklet 012) destroys the Summacum order as an institution. The Council of Lodge Masters is annihilated, Porto Novo is consumed, and the Grottos of B'ai Ching are lost. The surviving Summacums scatter: Asen-Ger flees to Rorqual, Hadersen Wells continues operating from various ships, and others are captured and stripped of their PSI abilities.

The Diaspora (2500-2502)

In the aftermath of Zoe's destruction, Summacums appear in radically diminished circumstances. Summacum Moes leads the isolated Terranaut base on Io (Booklet 020), suspicious of strangers and cut off from the wider Driver community. Summacum Homan serves the Kaiser Corporation as a research director, conducting the very Kaiser Force experiments that threaten to destroy the solar system (Booklets 019-021). Summacum Muhlherr fights and dies alongside Nomans in the failed uprising on Earth (Booklet 023).

The designation "Ex-Summacum" and "former Summacum" begins to appear, reflecting the dissolution of the institutional framework that granted the title. Owen Meier is a "former Summacum" working under Homan (Booklet 019). Asen-Ger is described as a "former Summacum" in several mid-saga booklets (029, 058, 060).

Summacums in Valdec's Service

A significant number of Summacums served Valdec's Kaiser Corporation as scientists and researchers, creating a tension at the heart of the rank's identity. Summacum Homan, Summacum Jorgez, Summacum Alberti, Summacum Lauder, and Summacum Dottore Cunning all worked within corporate institutions. Valdec assigned Kontroll-Manags -- specifically Walter Becker and others described as "Valdec's overseer, watching over the former Summacums" -- to monitor these scientists, reflecting both their indispensability and his distrust.

The Summacum Uprising during the Zoe Crisis represented the breaking point: some Summacum scientists rebelled, and Valdec responded by tightening control over those who remained. By the time of the Oxyd experiments (Booklets 019-021), Summacums like Homan operated under constant surveillance, their brilliance exploited but their loyalty never fully trusted.

The Late Saga and Extinction of the Rank (2502-2504)

By the saga's later booklets, the Summacum rank has effectively ceased to exist as a living institution. Asen-Ger serves as deputy chairman of the Driver Council on Sarym (Booklet 070), but his authority derives from his personal stature and Terranaut leadership rather than from Summacum status. Lannister Chron, a "former Summacum and Kaiser Force expert," lives in banishment on Pluto (Booklet 099), a relic of a vanished order.

The Summacum rank's extinction mirrors the broader transformation of Driver civilization across the saga. The hierarchical, caste-based system that produced the Summacums -- with its academies, councils, and privileges -- gives way to a more egalitarian, coalition-based order. The final booklet's Lodge formation on a transformed Earth and the galaxy-wide PSI call that the Entities acknowledge (Booklet 099) point toward a new model of Driver organization that transcends the old ranks entirely.

Themes

Intellect and Power

The Summacum rank embodies the saga's exploration of the relationship between intellectual distinction and political authority. In the pre-saga era, the Summacums' intelligence and PSI abilities granted them governance over a galactic caste. But intelligence alone proved insufficient to prevent catastrophe: the Council of Lodge Masters' institutional paralysis on Zoe, the Summacum scientists' complicity in Kaiser Force research, and the infiltration of the Council by Shadow agents all demonstrate that intellectual superiority does not guarantee wise governance.

The Scientist's Dilemma

The Summacums who serve the Kaiser Corporation face a version of the scientist's dilemma that runs throughout science fiction: the tension between the pursuit of knowledge and responsibility for its consequences. Summacum Homan pushes forward with Kaiser Force experiments that endanger the entire solar system. Summacum Jorgez wants to experiment on imprisoned Drivers. Summacum Alberti helps a prisoner escape but may himself be under the influence of drugs. These characters illustrate the moral costs of placing intellectual brilliance in the service of institutional power without ethical constraint.

Institutional Failure and Individual Courage

The destruction of the Summacum order as an institution forces individuals to choose between collaboration and resistance. The Council's failure to act decisively against Valdec's aggression contrasts sharply with the individual courage of Summacums like Asen-Ger, Hadersen Wells, and Summacum Muhlherr, who take personal risks that the institution would not. The saga's implicit argument is that ranks and titles matter less than the willingness to act when action is required.

The Former Caste

The recurring description of Summacums as a "former caste" or "now-defunct caste" carries a note of elegy. The Summacum order represented the pinnacle of Driver civilization -- its intellectual achievement, its political authority, its cultural prestige. Its destruction is not merely a political event but the extinction of a way of life. The scattered "Ex-Summacums" and "former Summacums" of the later saga are living relics, carrying the knowledge and values of a world that no longer exists.

Key Appearances

Related Concepts

• Lodge Master -- The rank from which Summacums are elevated; every Summacum is or was a Lodge Master
• Drivers -- The PSI-gifted caste from which all Summacums are drawn
• Council of Lodge Masters -- The governing body of Driver society, composed of Summacums
• Driver Council -- The successor governing body on Sarym, reconstituted after Zoe's destruction
• Super-Lodge -- The collective psionic entity formed by multiple lodges; Summacums serve as focal points
• Zoe -- The destroyed homeworld of the Summacums and seat of their Council
• Porto Novo -- The city of the Summacums on Zoe
• PSI Academy of Porto Novo -- The institution that trained the Lodge Masters who rose to Summacum rank
• Grottos of B'ai Ching -- The subterranean cave system where the Council convened
• Terranauts -- The resistance movement co-founded and led by Summacums like Asen-Ger
• Kaiser Corporation -- The corporate entity that employed many Summacum scientists
• Kaiser Force -- The technology developed by Summacum scientists that threatened the galaxy
• Summacum Uprising -- A historical rebellion by Summacums during the Zoe Crisis
• PSI Powers -- The psionic abilities that, combined with intellectual distinction, qualify individuals for the rank
• Mistletoe Blossoms -- The organic amplifiers essential for Driver and Summacum PSI operations
• Space II -- The alternate dimension that Summacums, as Lodge Masters, navigate
• Silent Drivers -- Former Drivers stripped of their PSI abilities after Zoe's fall; many were former Summacums
• Driver Lodge -- The psychic collective that every Summacum once commanded

The Summacum rank is referenced across at least 22 of the saga's 99 booklets. It represents the intellectual and political apex of Driver civilization -- the convergence of psionic power, scientific brilliance, and governing authority that made the Drivers the most consequential caste in the Terran Star Empire. The destruction of Zoe and the scattering of the Summacum order is the saga's darkest illustration of what is lost when institutional privilege fails to defend itself against ruthless power.