Sunday 18 February 2018

Ythri II

(Poul Anderson's "Wings of Victory" is not on the cover but is inside.)

Ythri has come a long way:

in "Wings of Victory," a spaceship of the Grand Survey discovers a planet inhabited by a species whose cultures are either Stone Age or Iron Age;

in The People Of The Wind, a space fleet of the Terran Empire defeats fleets of the Domain of Ythri and approaches the heavily defended home star, Quetlan.

We note that:

the High Wyvan of Ythri is called "Trauvay" as was an abode of the Ythrians in the Hesperian islands on Avalon (see here);

Admiral Cajal displays some moral sensibility:

"'I myself would appeal an order to open fire. Were it too draconian, I would resign. But His Majesty has many admirals.'"
-Poul Anderson, The People Of The Wind IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 437-662 AT p. 575.

Individual morality will not be allowed to deflect Imperial might.

2 comments:

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

I what you meant in the last sentence was "...DEFLECT Imperial might." Also, recall what Stirling said the RESPONSIBLE thing to do once one's "walls" had been "breached" was to surrender, because if you insisted on fighting on despite the likelihood of losing, all bets were off and the guilt falls on those who refused to surrender.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Change made.