Polesotechnic Problems

Poul Anderson's "Lodestar" has a short introductory section and a longer main section. The introductory section brilliantly focuses two of the Polesotechnic League's several problems through the single planet, Tametha.

One problem, (i) League merchants arming backward races, has already been introduced in "Margin of Profit" and "A Little Knowledge."

A longer term problem, (ii) the enmity of an alien race, was introduced in "Day of Burning."

(iii) Cartels, will not be introduced until the next installment, Mirkheim.

"Lodestar" shows (iv) the exploitation of a primitive race and also mentions (v) the plight of aspiring races that cannot afford to buy their way into Technic Civilization.

Further, Falkayn links problems (iv) and (v): any race that does start to accumulate capital will all too easily be robbed by someone already established. He even mentions, "'...the few monopolists we've got.'" (David Falkayn: Star Trader, p. 638) Thus, (iii) cartels are not far away.

The reader might not appreciate the ingenuity in Anderson's introduction of a partial solution to (v). In fact, it is not explained at first and has to be reread. Falkayn seeks a secret source of wealth to enrich the poorer planets. He jokes about a van Rijn isotope, then reflects that it would more appropriately be a super-isotope, then spots the nebular remnant of a supernova, then (although we are not told this until later) reflects that the core of a sufficiently massive planet of a star that had supernova'ed might survive the explosion coated in supermetals.