they orbit 61 Virginis, which is 27.9 light years from Sol, therefore, with time dilation, reachable at near light speeds;
the principle Maian town is Landfall where there are Kith offices and native silvercane with a cinnamon-like odor;
the Terrestrial upper class family, Tersis, acquired large holdings on the humanly uninhabitable Morgana in the pioneering period and still draws income from valuable Morganan biochemicals;
Freelady Nivala Tersis, traveling out in the Kith ship Eagle and returning in the Fleetwing, is the first of her family ever to inspect their Morganan property, although everyone she knew on Earth will be old or dead when she returns decades later;
traveling from Maia to collect Nivala, Kenri Shaun lands at Rodan Spacefield and takes the slideway into Northport;
the transparent tube of the slideway protects him from hot, green, poisonous rain;
in Northport, the Far Frontier Hotel is kept clean by machines but also made shabby by its plantationer clientele.
And that is all the information to be gleaned about the planetary system of 61 Virginis although it is more than I had expected. Poul Anderson created this system only as a setting for the first meeting between Kenri and Nivala.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm rereading Chapter 21 of STARFARERS, Anderson's revision of "Ghetto," and one point I recall about the Far Frontier Hotel on the planet Morgana is that the rough and isolated lives of the plantationer clientele was what made them lacking in social graces. Which is hardly surprising, considering that Morgana is humanly uninhabitable, resulting in a very small human population living there. I think a really large population would be necessary for there to be much incentive and need for people to smooth off their rough edges.
Sean
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