"early 4th millennium ...The Empire and Merseia wear each other out."
-Sandra Miesel, CHRONOLOGY OF TECHNIC CIVILIZATION IN Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), pp. 795-804 AT p. 803.
The Terran Empire was already worn out and losing the will to live so how did it nevertheless manage to wear out the expansionist Merseian Roidhunate? Anderson shows us the moment when the Merseians lost hope, and it was within Dominic Flandry's lifetime.
The Merseian-backed Magnusson Rebellion has just been thwarted. On the Roidhun's Grand Council, Odhar the Curt counsels:
"'Console yourselves with the thought that we invested little treasure or effort in the venture. Our net loss is minor.'" (p. 447)
So the racial supremacists of Old Wilwidh need consolation? The Protector of the Council responds:
"'Except for hope,' Tachwyr mumbled. He drew his robe close about him; the room felt chill. 'I dreamed that I would live to behold -' He straightened. 'By adversity, the God tempers the steel of the Race. Let us get on with our quest.'" (ibid.)
When Magnusson's rising was announced, Tachwyr had thought that, after years of misery:
"This is the day when victory begins." (p. 268)
Now, he mumbles, feels chill and loses hope. This is the turning point for Merseia.
1 comment:
Hi, Paul!
Yes, I had noticed when reading THE GAME OF EMPIRE Tachwyr the Dark's discouraged reply to Odhar. And I can see how this remark of his, after the thwarting and discrediting of Magnusson's Merseian engineered revolt, could be seen as when the racial supremacists dominating the Roidhunate began losing hope in their repellent ideology. My caveat here being that after expressing discouragement Tachwyr immediately added "By adversity, the God tempers the steel of the Race. Let us get on with our quest." So, it would still be necessary for the Empire to resist these racial supremacists.
And while we see over and over in the stories statements about how weak willed, short sighted, decacent, etc., the Empire is, nonetheless I think we should not exaggerate them (while at the same time not minimizing them too much). It did, after all, resist and thwart Merseia for centuries. Recall what Brechdan Ironrede himself said to his son in ENSIGN FLANDY about how the Empire still had shrewd, brave, and devoted men (and guided by a history longer than that of Merseia). These determined and resolute men (of whom we see, after all, only a few in the stories) would be doing their utmost to preserve the Empire. And Brechdan himself cautioned his son on the UNWISDOM of forcing the Empire into a situation where it would fight with the UTMOST determination.
One of my favorite examples from real history of the folly of driving an old but still powerful realm to desperation was the Persian Shah Chosroes II's attempt to conquer the Eastern Roman Empire. After stunning early successes, a great Emperor, Heraclius, came to the throne and began counter attacks and invasions of Persia proper which finally broke the Persians.
The fact that this long war so exhausted both powers that they were too enfeebled to quickly crush jihadist Islam when it burst out of the Arabian peninsula was something no one could have predicted. But, as we know, it inspired Aycharaych and the Merseians to attempt something similar in THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN.
Sean
Post a Comment