Does this story fit in with the Terran civil war into which it has been retconned?
How do the Merseians interfere in the civil war?
More generally, how often do the Merseians nearly destroy the Terran Empire during Dominic Flandry's lifetime?
Is there an end to the questions that can be asked about Anderson's History of Technic Civilization?
The answer to that last question is "No."
10 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I''l propose some answers to your questions here. No, the first version of "Warriors From Nowhere" would not fit in with the civil war which broke out inside the Empire soon after Josip's death. Because the first form of the story makes no mention of a civil war or that the reigning Emperor was a usurper. If Anderson had chosen to have Josip being succeeded by an elderly kinsman with grandchildren the story would have been easier to fit in. I would have preferred that because it would have meant the principle of legitimacy had been successfully upheld.
I can think of several ways the Merseians could have intervened in the post-Josip civil war: giving money or military assistance to Hans rivals, egging on barbarians to raid and harass the Empire (as we see happening in Sector Spica), using the confusion of the civil war to either activate or infiltrate deep cover agents, etc.
And we see the Merseians trying to destroy or at least reduce the Empire to being the Roidhun's vassal a minimum four times in Flandry's lifetime: the Starkad affair, trying to trigger a Muslim style jihad using an invented religion on Aeneas, scheming to provoke Dennitza to rebel against the Empire (and get at least another civil war, to weaken it), and the astonishing attempt to PLACE a deep cover Merseian agent on the throne. To say nothing of other clashes, both major and minor, such as the Empire thwarting Merseia's attempt to seize Jihannath.
And of course there was so much more going on in and out of the Empire, such as THE PLAGUE OF MASTERS. So, I agree with you, there is no end to the questions that could be asked about the Technic series.
Sean
Sean,
What did Aycharaych hope to achieve through the Ardazirho?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Dang, I forgot to include the Syrax/Vixen crisis in my list of major attempts at trouble making by Merseia! Yes, Aycharaych was again trying to weaken the Empire by having the Ardazirho attack it and to enable Merseia to seize the Syrax cluster. And we know Aycharaych's deepest reason for that was to keep Merseia and willing to "defer" to Chereion (ironically, a planet Aycharaych deceived Merseia into thinking was still occupied by his extinct race). So I should have listed at least FIVE major Merseian inspired crises in Flandry's life time.
And I rather like that BOLD cover painting for "The Ambassadors Of Flesh" by PLANET STORIES.
Sean
A well-made SFnal universe should have an infinity of stories and questions. The real universe does, after all!
Dear Mr. Stirling,
I absolutely agree! We certainly see that in the "sub-creations" (to use Tolkien's word) of Anderson in his Technic Civilization stories and Tolkien's Middle Earth mythos.
And, I'm you get plenty of comments, questions, speculations, etc., from fans of your Emberverse, Nantucket, Draka, THE GENERAL books, etc.
Sean
One of the reasons it's good to use historical examples (but carefully) in your worldbuilding is that it avoids the "sameness" that can creep in when everything's the outcome of your own imagination.
There's an old SF writer's joke that worldbuilding is good occupational therapy for lunatics who think they're God.
All:
Sandra Miesel quoted PA as saying or writing (in a personal communication), "Perfect consistency is possible only to God Himself, and a close study of Scripture will show that He doesn't always make it."
David,
Yes and PA says that in his article on future histories.
Paul.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
A good reason and a good joke too! In fact, I'm almost sure I read somewhere of PA saying world building is good therapy for persons afflicted with delusions of divinity.
Sean
Kaor, David!
I agree! And Paul beat me to saying you can find that in PA's article about future histories.
Sean
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