In Poul Anderson's "Memory," after the fall of an unnamed interstellar Empire, the Hegemony, the Republic, the Libertarian League, the Royal Brotherhood, the High Earls of Morlan and several other civilizations spreading into space contend to build their idea of the New Empire.
In Anderson's Technic History, after the Fall of the Terran Empire, the Allied Planets recivilize some isolated planets and human civilizations eventually spread through several spiral arms.
In Anderson's "Flight to Forever," a multi-species Second Empire is built.
Interstellar empires seem impressive but we know them. We read about them in old sf mags. One James Blish story has six fallen empires older than man. See here.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And, if my memory is correct, one point I read of in FOUNDATION AND EARTH was that a major human character, given the power to make a choice for the human race, made a choice designed to keep options OPEN for mankind. Including the option for mankind NOT to morph together into a hive mind.
And the Terran Empire was already a multi species commonwealth. Heck, even the Merseian Roidhunate was multi-species, even if non Merseians were compelled to accept an inferior legal status.
And interstellar realms can take more forms than just the Imperial: there can be federations, confederations, commonwealths, etc. Drake/Stirling's THE GENERAL series takes place on the planet Bellevue, long after a Terran Federation had fallen.
Sean
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