The Kirkasanter Graydal describes Daven Laure, a Ranger of the Commonalty, as "'...a king's man...'" (p. 726) Maybe that is her nearest cultural equivalent? And maybe some of the governments that hire the services of the Commonalty are monarchical? I do not anticipate monarchies that far in the future but, as Greg Bear wrote:
"..give me no spaceships in feudal settings...unless, of course, you are Poul Anderson, but you are most likely not."
-Greg Bear, "Tomorrow Through The Past" IN SFWA Bulletin (Fall, 1979), pp. 38-41 AT pp. 40-41.
Laure points out that the Kirkasanters' ancestors might have set out not from Homeland/Earth but from "'...one of the first colonies.'" (p. 728) Too right. An Aenean was involved in the exploration of Gray/Avalon.
The Kirkasanters' advantages make it:
"...not too surprising that they leaped in a single lifetime from the first moon rockets to the first hyperdrive craft..." (p. 730)
But we should be able to do that, assuming that hyperdrive craft are possible, of course. (Poul Anderson's mother was alive for both Kitty Hawk and the first Moon landing.)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I remember that bit about "king's mawn." To me, it made think of more prosaic things as detectives, investigators, police.
And I anticipate all kinds of gov'ts existing among humans in the far future. Monarchies, republics, oligarchies, despotisms, totalitarian regimes, etc. Because that is what actual human history has shown us--and I see no reason to expect otherwise in the future. I do not in the least believe human history moves in some mystic, ineluctable fashion to only one kind of gov't.
After all, in the Technic stories we see the republican Commonwealth collapsing and being replaced by the monarchical Empire.
And in THE HIGH CRUSADE, Anderson does give us space ships in feudal settings--and makes it SEEM plausible that it could really happen.
The mere fact the Kirkasanters KNEW a FTL drive was possible would help enormously in their efforts to rediscover the hyperdrive. WE don't have that advantage, all that we have, as of now, are some speculations from scientists like Alcubierre on how a FTL drive might be possible. Such speculations still need to be shown as workable in actual engineering.
Ad astra! Sean
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