Maeloch Says...

In Poul Anderson's Mirkheim, the various characters express (just about) every possible political opinion on the planet, Hermes. In Poul and Karen Anderson's Roma Mater, we read the diverse opinions of different sections of society in the city-state of Ys. Maeloch the fisher sounds off in a tavern in the Fishtail:

"'Aye, even down under the cliffs we hear as how some magnates, Soren Cartagi of the Timbermen foremost, mislike the way [the King]'d link us back to Rome. I say, when a storm is rising, break out your sheet anchor and make fast the rode.'" (p. 392)

A storm is rising. Imperial civil war continues and the Gods of Ys are troubled. As in several of Anderson's sf novels, there is a strong sense of living in troubled times. Ysan/Roman troubled times lead eventually to us! Troubled times in Technic civilization lead eventually to the multiple interstellar civilizations shown in the concluding Technic History instalment, "Starfog." Historical fiction and future history.