"Rigel caught Flandry's eye, a beacon amidst the great enemy's dominions. The Taurian Sector lay in that direction, fronting the Wilderness beyond which dwelt the Merseians." (p. 348)
So maybe there are barbarians in the Wilderness between the Empire and the Roidhunate? See Beyond Taurus. As an eccentric teacher at Bentham Grammar School once said, "Difficult things have simple explanations. Discuss."
Flandry was nineteen when he was with Persis d'Io on Starkad. In A Knight..., their son is twenty-seven so that Flandry is now about forty-six or -seven. We can keep track of the leading characters' biographies although we are not told any year dates. Flandry's birth in 3000 is an arbitrary assumption - which does make calculating subsequent dates easier.
A Knight... brings out the difficulty of attributing motives to others at a distance. The Gospodar of Dennitza is resisting the Imperial decree to disband the Dennitzan militia but does it follow that he is preparing for secession? His niece was sold into slavery on Terra but did the Terrans know her status? Who benefits from mutual misunderstandings within the Empire? A knight of ghosts and shadows...
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree about how dates can only be approximate in all but one of the Technic stories. But I argued for dating Flandry's birth to AD 3100, not 3000. Yes, I realize you ares simply going by the dates given by Miesel, whose Chronology was adopted by Baen Books. But, as you know, I was not satisfied by it and proposed a massive revision.
And that "Wilderness" probably meant a buffer zone between the Empire and Merseia of unclaimed stars neither power had occupied, for one reason or another. There could be any number of barbarians in that Wilderness.
Ad astra! Sean
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