the beginning of the end of the Polesotechnic League;
the two-stage colonization of Avalon;
the Time of Troubles;
the early Terran Empire;
the Terran-Ythrian War, particularly its effects on Avalon.
This volume is the bridge between League and Empire. Before it, the League fills most of Volumes I and II. After it, the Flandry period of the Empire stretches from the beginning of Volume IV to the mid-point of Volume VII, exactly half of the Saga! The Technic History was not written to any system or plan and is the better for that.
Addendum: See combox and here.
14 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree the accidental, ad hoc appearances of how events and their consequences develop in the Technic series is a big reason why these stories feel so real. And I would trace that back to Anderson's impulsive mentioning of "Polesotechnarch van Rijn" in THE PLAGUE OF MASTERS.
We don't really see much about how the Time of Troubles affected the Sphere of space covered by Technic civilization after the Polesotechnic League collapsed around AD 2601.* Except that memory of the Troubles was regarded with horror by many worlds. But we do see a bit of the tail end of the Troubles in "The Star Plunderer/Collar of Iron."
Ad astra! Sean
*I took this date from my revision of Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Technic Civilization. Interested readers might want to look up the article I wrote about that.
See Addendum to the post.
Kaor, Paul!
Many thanks for linking this blog post to my article about Miesel's Chronology.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Because of your kindness about linking my article on Miesel's Chronology to this blog post, I reviewed both versions and discovered a dismaying oversight I made. I forgot to include this date and comment between 3100 and 3119: "3112 Battle of Mirzan, Alarri invasion crushed by the Navy." I hope you don't mind me asking that you include this in the revised version of my article.
This goes back to what I read about the Alarri after Cerdic told Flandry in "Tiger By The Tail" after that tribe fled from the Scothans: "Flandry harked back. He had been a boy then, but he well remembered the news accounts of the fleets that swept across the marches with nuclear fire and energy sword. The Battle of Mirzan had been touch and go for a while, till a Navy task force smashed the gathered enemy strength" (revised version of "Tiger," page 5 of AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE, Gregg Press, 1979).
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Sure. I have spotted your comment and request just before turning in so will not act on it right now but probably sometime tomorrow.
Paul.
Sean,
Done. Please check that it has been done satisfactorily.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
You did, many thanks! Also, just to be pedantically thorough, I'll quote here what the original version of "Tiger" said here: "Flandry thought back. He had been a boy then, but he had, of course, avidly followed the news accounts of the terrible fleets that swept in over the marches and attacked Vega itself. Only the hardest fighting at the Battle of Mirzan had broken the Alarri" (AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE, Chilton Books, 1965, page 4). I also made the assumption Flandry was 12 Terran years old at the time of the Alarri invasion.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Feeling frustrated, discovering more errors I made in revising my article on Miesel's Chronology of the Technic stories.
Somehow, I dated "The Master Key" to 3478! It should be 2478.
Just as bad, I dated Falkayn"s discovery of Mirkheim to 2843, when it should be 2483.
I hope you don't mind making these corrections.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I will get onto this shortly.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Many thanks.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I have made the right changes, I think. Please check and confirm.
Paul.
Kaor,. Paul!
You did, many thanks. Stirling has repeatedly warned we are never going to correct all the errors we make in whatever we write. But some effort should be made correcting bloopers.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I agree. Those changes were necessary.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
They were, and this reminded me of the struggles JRRT Tolkien had trying to correct the hordes of errors which crept into THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Efforts continued after his death by authorized editors appointed by Christopher Tolkien.
Ad astra! Sean
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