Erannath says:
"'As an Avalonian, I am naturally familiar with humans, but of a rather special sort. Being on Aeneas, I am taking the opportunity to become acquainted, however superficially, with a few more.'" (p. 138)
Ivar Frederiksen thinks that Erannath must be spying for the Domain of Ythri. We will later learn that in fact this Avalonian Ythrian is spying for both Domain and Empire. But becoming acquainted does not differ from spying.
Human Avalonians are indeed of a rather special sort but so must be all human beings who have adapted to an extrasolar planetary environment:
"Folk were mainly human, but it was unlikely that many had seen Mother Terra. The planets where they were born and bred had marked them. Residents of Imhotep were necessarily muscular and never fat."
-Poul Anderson, The Game of Empire IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 189-453 AT CHAPTER ONE, p. 197.
"'...the crew seem to be human. We have no record of their anthropometric type, but they don't look as odd as people do after several generations on some planets I could name.'"
-Poul Anderson, "Starfog" IN Flandry's Legacy, pp. 709-794 AT p. 715.
"We know that other branches of humanity have their distinctive ways, and hear rumors of yet stranger ones."
-ibid., p. 718.
In Larry Niven's Known Space future history series, Jinxians are short, wide and jet black because they lived for generations in high gravity under Sirius.
There are strong links between The Day Of Their Return and "Starfog." Also, Talwin has turned out to be a strong link between three instalments of the Technic History.
2 comments:
Humans have limited -physical- adaptations to local environments, but no -behavioral- ones.
Eg., Innuit are short and stocky; you lose heat less quickly that way. But they don't have fur, they make warm clothes instead.
And as far as behaviors go, they're not different from any other human group.
Kaor, Paul!
Humans, to a limited degree, will probably physically change and adapt to different planets. As we see in THE GAME OF EMPIRE Imhotepans adapted to a high gravity planet by becoming stockier and more muscular. But behaviorally, they are no different from all other humans.
Ad astra! Sean
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