Saturday, 10 September 2022

Aycharaych's Influence

Dominic Flandry encounters Aycharaych:

on Alfzar, the capital planet of the Betelgeusean System;
in the Crystal Moon in Jovian orbit;
on a proto-planet in the Sky Cave nebula;
on Talwin;
on Chereion.

These five encounters are recounted in three of the eight instalments of the Captain Flandry series. However, Aycharaych's influence permeates the longer Flandry period. He is first mentioned in the second Young Flandry novel, A Circus Of Hells, appears without Flandry in The Day Of Their Return, is mentioned just as a telepath in "The Game of Glory" and is last mentioned in the coda to the Flandry series, The Game Of Empire. Although Aycharaych's service to Merseia and probably also his life end in the last Captain Flandry instalment, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, we know that a much longer story could have been told - and that he might have returned.

3 comments:

S.M. Stirling said...

One thing I've wondered about is why Aycharaych didn't use cloning and in vitro fertilization and so forth to revive his species. Given the records preserved on Cherion, surely there's enough genetic info available, and the planet's automated maintenance systems seem more than up to it.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Yet another reason why we needed an Aycharaych novel. There could be reasons why, even if Aycharaych was able to repopulate Chereion, he decided/preferred not to.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, to Both!

A novel focusing on Aycharaych would go into the emotional/psychological reasons why he did not use the methods outlined by Stirling.

Ad astra! Sean