...And An SM Stirling Hero

Now let's compare and contrast van Rijn and Valland here with SM Stirling's Sir Nigel Loring. Sir Nigel is both a baronet and an SAS officer. Thus, he combines inherited social status with considerable physical and mental abilities. He is mostly conservative. Conservatism is a virtue after the Change whether or not it was before! (Controversial: let's not go there this time.)

The post-Changes villains are not those who aim to preserve the status quo but those who seek to impose (their idea of) an older social order with themselves as the new aristocracy. This would happen and has to be dealt with. It will be a very long time before society can return to a "level playing field" with equality of opportunity. What will the further future be like? Stirling does show us the further future of the Draka timeline - a genetically unlevel playing field. The Change universe should do better than the Draka Final Society but will we be shown its further future? In any case, many volumes stretch ahead...