Tuesday 20 September 2016

A History

The nineteen-installment Polesotechnic League series within Poul Anderson's Technic Future History begins with the exploration of the planet Gray/Avalon by Ythrians and human beings and ends with the joint colonization of the Coronan continent on Avalon by human beings and Ythrians. (Ythrians employed human beings for the exploration whereas the human David Falkayn founded the Avalonian colony and invited Ythrians to join it.)

Before the League period, human beings began to explore space in "The Saturn Game" and made first contact with Ythri in "Wings of Victory." Thus, the pre-League and League periods total twenty one works. After the League, the History covers:

the Time of Troubles, leading to the founding of the Terran Empire (1 work);
the early Empire (1);
the Terran War on Avalon (1);
the lifetime of Dominic Flandry (15);
the post-Imperial period, which subdivides as -

the Long Night (1);
the Allied Planets (2);
civilizations in several spiral arms (1).

Total: 43 works.

Shortly after the Terran War on Avalon, an Avalonian Ythrian compiles The Earth Book Of Stormgate, which collects one of the two pre-League installments and eleven of the nineteen League installments together with new introductions and an afterword written from an Ythrian perspective.

This summary demonstrates that the Technic History is distinguished by its impressive length, diversity and unity.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

While it is true most of THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND focuses on the Empire's attempt to conquer the planet Avalon, it's inaccurate to call it the "Terran War on Avalon." The Avalon CAMPAIGN was only part of a larger war with the Domain of Ythri, which the Empire WON. The conflict is more correctly called the Ythrian War (from the Imperial POV) or the "Terran War" (from the Ythrian POV).

Sean