Wednesday 29 June 2016

Faerie Alliances

Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword (London, 1977).

This "Faerie" is not a single realm ruled by Auberon but several realms, including Alfheim and Trollheim. In their coming war against the elves, the trolls' allies will be:

most goblin tribes;
demons of Baikal;
Shen of Cathay;
Oni of Cipangu;
Moorish imps;
werewolves;
vampires;
ghouls;
dwarf thralls -

- whereas the elves might be helped only by some goblins and dwarves and the Sidhe. However, trollish spies have ascertained that the Sidhe will fight only if they are attacked, which the trolls will not do this time.

As with the Merseians of the Roidhunate, accurate military intelligence would disclose that the trolls use each truce only to prepare for the next war "'...while the elves loafed and intrigued among themselves and took their pleasure.'" (p. 91) It would be necessary to act on such intelligence, with a preemptive strike, permanently depriving the trolls of the ability to wage war. I do not like to talk about extermination. In the Technic History, the Merseians on Dennitza are proof that not all of their race serve the Roidhun.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I agree that wise leaders would have made sure about getting the information needed about the trolls preparations for renewed war with the elves. But I don't think it would have been necessary for them to exterminate the trolls. In fact, any attempt to do so would provoke intervention from Jotunheim, which would in turn provoke the Aesir. Defeating the trolls and forcing a new king of the trolls to accept defeat would be enough.

Dennitza? I have wondered if some of the Merseians who settled there descended from those who were among the losers in the power struggles leading to the unification of Merseia and the rise of the Roidhunate. They might have included Merseians who objected to the ideology of racial supremacy we see in the Roidhunate.

Sean