Wednesday 29 December 2021

Two Historical Cycles

 

Twice during Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization, civilization collapses but is rebuilt.

In the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of the 43 installments
"The Star Plunderer": The Solar Commonwealth has collapsed but Manuel Argos proclaims the Terran Empire.

"Sargasso of Lost Starships": The Empire annexes inhabited planets.

The People Of The Wind: The Empire clashes with the Domain of Ythri and fails to annex Avalon.

Next comes the Flandry period.

In the 40th, 41st and 42nd installments
"A Tragedy of Errors": The Empire has fallen but Roan Tom builds interstellar alliances.

"The Night Face": An interstellar alliance contacts an isolated planet.

"The Sharing of Flesh": The Allied Planets recivilize isolated planets.

Next comes the Commonalty period.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I think we see mention in "A Tragedy of Errors," of the Allied Planets interdicting Gwydion, the planet we see in THE NIGHT FACE, from all off planet travelers. Because that was thought the most humane way of limiting harm to the residents of Gwydion, given the peculiar mutation they came to suffer.

Happy New Year! Sean