quantum theory is three centuries old, space travel two;
the Interhuman language is spoken;
Earth, ruled by a Protector, exploits its extra-solar colonies;
there is a secret revolutionary Fellowship of Independence on Krasna in the Tau Ceti system;
Krasnans are swamp-ranchers, fishers, miners, loggers or trappers;
there are also colonies on Sarai in the Capellan system and on Rama, the third planet of Washington 5584;
new colonies are quarantined for thirty years;
the title of Protector has been seized by successive generals;
Terrestrial society is divided into technics and commons;
technics are of different ranks;
the highest ranking technics do no productive work;
one technic family, the Maclarens, draws its income from kelp beds;
the highest commons are heavily taxed;
the lower commons barely survive;
in theory, the technics serve but do not pay;
the Astronautical Guild assigns a technic, a commoner, a Sarain Buddhist and a Krasnan revolutionary to the Southern Cross.
Thus, a rich social background for a hard sf novel.
9 comments:
Hi, Paul!
A few thoughts comes to mind. I noted an inconsistency on one point in THE ENEMY STARS when compared to "The Ways of Love." The former has generals successively seizing the Protectorate. The latter says the Protectorate had been ruled by the same dynasty for three centuries. Apologies if this was a spoiler!
While Maclaren comes of a wealthy family in the highest Technic ranks, I think it's only fair to point out his father was an old fashioned sort who actually believed in serving and insisted on his son doing so as well. So, not all aristocrats in THE ENEMY STARS were decadent.
Sean
Such inconsistencies can be ironed out. The overtly incompatible statements are attributed to different characters who may be exaggerating or historically mistaken. People say incompatible things about events in our timeline.
Hi, Paul!
Still, it was an inconsistency. But not one that would spoil the works mentioned. It's just the kind of thing SF fans, Anderson fans in this case, like to argue about. (Smiles)
Sean
I have reread carefully. Maclaren says, "...what grip the Dynasty has on a man whose fathers served it these past three hundred years." (p. 133) That is just the sort of thing that people say in conversation. Someone else might respond, "Well, the Protectorate for the past three centuries but not the present Dynasty..." to which Maclaren might reply, "Oh, of course not."
Hi, Paul!
And the problem which troubled many loyal to the ruling dynasty in "The Ways of Love" was fear that long term contact with the non human Arvelians would unleash a flood of new ideas, innovations, and changes which would inevitably shake or undermine the dynasty. One real world example being the last ruling dynasty of China, the Ch'ing. At first China tried to simply cut itself off from the West but, when that failed, the later Ch'ing tried to reform and modernize, even tho that meant undermining its own base of support. An effort which failed and threw China into decades or warlordism, war, and the tyranny of the Chinese Communists.
Sean
So they should not have resisted change and Western influence in the first place. I hope that humanity moves beyond such regimes soon.
Hi, Psul!
I agree! Courage and hope, leavened with some caution is far better than fear. Strive to keep what what is good and true while being open to new ideas.
Sean
The way I would put it is that one of the most important things for making a culture superior is the attitude that "Those heathen barbarian foreigners, might know something worth learning".
Kaor, Jim!
Well, that is one way of putting it! (Smiles) And many Chinese regarded all non-Han with contempt, denying anything could be learned from "foreign devil barbarians."
Ad astra! Sean
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