Life Details

In Poul Anderson's works, close attention even to the seemingly minor details always yields interesting results. Thus, merely listing Merseian names disclosed:

(i) the Wilwidh system of a personal name followed by a nickname;

(ii) the fact that the nickname can change;

(iii) the still surviving Lafdiguan system with the syllable "hu" between first and second names;

(iv) yet another alternative system that seems to be simply a personal name followed by a surname;

(v) a man with two names, Anglic and Eriau, possibly because he was born in the Roidhunate.

I would have completely forgotten (v) if I had not scoured the texts for Merseian names. There are other examples of inter-species interaction, e.g.:

(a) Terran-derived tea is grown throughout the Roidhunate (the British might comment that, in that case, Terra has half conquered them already!);

(b) "Before [Djana] flashed the image of a Merseian Christ, armed and shining, neither compassionate nor cruel but the Messiah of a new day...She hadn't heard of any such belief among them. Maybe they had no need of redemption; maybe they were God's chosen..."
- Poul Anderson, Young Flandry (New York, 2010), p. 298.

There is no such belief among them. Their deity, "the God," is neither immanent nor incarnate but wholly transcendent. Thus, "...the image of a Merseian Christ..." is a synthesis between Djana's Christianity and Ydwyr's Merseianity. What might some of the human beings living within the Roidhunate believe? Djana does on an emotional level what Fr Axor, a Wodenite, does on an academic level, conceives of the idea of a non-human incarnation - and Axor may have made some progress in his researches by the end of The Game Of Empire.

Morruchan Long-Ax, Hand of the Vach Dathyr, receives David Falkayn, representing the Polesotechnic League, in the audience chamber of Castle Afon. Centuries later, Brechdan Ironrede, Hand of the Vach Ynvory and Protector of the Roidhun's Grand Council, receives Mark Hauksberg and Max Abrams, representing the Terran Empire, in the audience chamber of Castle Afon. The castle is now the primary residence of the Roidhun who, by law, is always of the Vach Urdiolch. Thus, the castle has changed hands - as well as Hands. The League has fallen; Merseia has been unified; Terra and Merseia have become empires. This is one occasion when we know for certain that characters living in different periods have stood in the same place.