Coya's Idea

David Falkayn thinks that, after the Babur War, he:

"'...should be quite content to settle down on Earth...'"
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p.262.

Coya replies:

"'You won't. Nor will I. If nothing else, it's no world for Juanita and Nicky. You don't imagine the war will cleanse it, do you? No, the rot can only grow worse. We're getting the hell out while we still can.'" (ibid.)

He wonders, "'Hermes -'" but concludes, "'We'll see. It's a big universe.'" (ibid.)

This is the first hint of the colonization of Avalon and the idea originated with Coya. Nicholas Falkayn is the great-grandson of Nicholas van Rijn and the father of Nathaniel Falkayn who will be born on Avalon. Nat stars not in a substantial novel but in a Boy's Life short story. A future history series can and should incorporate different kinds of writing. For example, the Terran Empire is the setting both for space opera action-adventure fiction and for serious theoretical discussion of the decline of civilizations.

David and Coya also have a granddaughter who is older than Nat because it is she who names Avalon before the colonists go there.