Tuesday 24 November 2015

Civil And Military Authorities

The Avalonian civil and military authorities are:

the High Wyvan of the Great Khruath of Avalon;
the President of the Parliament of Man;
the First and Second Marchwardens of the Lauran System.

Although Avalon is part of the Domain of Ythri, the High Wyvan of Ythri has no authority to order the Avalonians to cease resistance to the Terran Empire. The Avalonian High Wyvan advises a Terran Admiral:

"'Ythrian practice is not Terran...The worlds of the Domain are tied to each other principally by vows of mutual fidelity. That our fellows are no longer able to help us does not give them the right to order that we cease defending ourselves. If anything, deathpride requires that we continue to fight for what help it might afford them.'"
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 582.

On Avalon itself, Khruath and Parliament vote to continue resistance after the defeat of the rest of the Domain. Somewhere in the text, although I can't find it right now, the High Wyvan of Ythri calls on Avalon to yield for the good of the Domain but that is all that he can do. Avalon is better equipped to resist because some of its human citizens apply the Terran principle of centralized military command but Marchwarden Daniel Holm also invokes the Ythrian concept of "'Deathpride...'" (p. 566)

The novel ends with the Terran War over and Avalon still in the Domain:

"Snowpeaks flamed. The sun stood up in a shout of light.
"High is heaven and holy." (p. 662)

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