Adzel On Earth
China
Lancaster will kick off with a Gala the previous Sunday, Feb 11, although, that weekend, I hope to be on retreat at Throssel Hole Buddhist Priory. See here.
Why do I mention these matters here? Because, among the International Brotherhood of Beings Who Are Fans Of Poul Anderson, both Chinese New Year and Buddhism remind us of Adzel.
When Nicholas van Rijn founded his first trade pioneer crew, we had already met the characters, van Rijn, David Falkayn and Adzel and had also read references to the planets, Hermes, Woden and Cynthia.The xenologist of the Olga, Vaughn Webner, had studied the trade-route cultures of Cynthia and James Ching knew of:
"...treetop highways under the golden-red sun of Cynthia!" (p. 183) (For full reference, see here.)
(Cynthia must have been discovered very early.)
This assumes that we have read the Technic History in the chronological order of fictitious events. Anyone reading the series in the order of its publication would notice that the references to inhabited planets were carefully written into stories set earlier but written later. In fact, "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson," about the Wodenite Adzel's student days on Earth, is an expansion of a passage in "The Trouble Twisters," that story about the founding of the trade pioneer crew.
Adzel, an alien convert to Buddhism who plays the dragon in Chinese New Year processions and Fafner in Siegfried, is a culturally significant character.
13 comments:
Just for fun I tried to locate a possible real life equivalent to Adzels home star system. We know only that it is an F5-star in the Regulus sector. That places it (probably) in constellation Leo. And it just so happens that there is one F5 star in the (relative) vicinity of Regulus (33 LY), namely the star 89 Leo, roughly 86 LY from Sol.
As for Cynthia, the homeworld Chee-Lan, we don't have to guess, because Poul Anderson told us that it is Omicron 2 Eridani, also known as 40 Eridani located 16,3 LY from Sol in the constellation Eridanus. But a fun little factoid is that there is another well known sci-fi character, although temperamentally much closer to Adzel than to Chee-Lan originating from the same star system. Many nerdy credit points to you if you can tell who it is (without Googling)! :)
Johan,
No idea.
Paul.
The sophont in question is... Mr Spock.
Although it has never been stated outright in any episode of any incarnation of Star Trek, in one episode of the prequel Enterprise it was stated that the planet Vulcan was 16,3 LY from Earth. It was earlier confirmed by the series creator Gene Rodenberry that the planet Vulcan orbits 40 Eridanus A (it is apparently a tripple star system).
As you said, Cynthia was probably discovered very early on after the invention of the hyperdrive, because as distances go in the technic civlization universe it is virtually next door to Sol. With hyperdrive speeds attained at the time of SATAN'S WORLD, I'd guesstimate the travel time from Sol to 40 Eridani to just above 24 hours. Probably longer early on in technic history, but still nothing to make bold explorers quake in their boots.
Johan,
Galactographical comparisons between future histories are very interesting.
Paul.
Kaor, Johan!
Very fascinating comments about possible real world analogs for the home stars of Axel and Chee Lan!
And I had guessed Mr. Spock was the other SF character you had in mind! And I'm not even a STAR TREK fan!
Thanks! Sean
Thank you Sean! You are now the owner of a great many nerdy credits - congrats! :)
Indeed Paul. It would seem 40 Eridani is a system much used in fiction, probably because it is relatively close to Sol and, having a K-class sun (A) it could conceivably have earth-like planets. Plus the BC stellar twins would make for a fascinating sky! Apart from Star Trek, it seems it is the star of the planet Richese in the Dune universe.
I you don't mind the question - what does Kaor mean?
Johan
Johan,
"Kaor" means "Hail/Greetings/Hello" etc in the language of Mars/Barsoom in Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter series.
Paul.
Kaor, Johan!
See what Paul said about my use of that term from Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom stories. It's one of my quirks and peculiarities that I took a fancy to that Barsoomian greeting and use it so often online. (Smiles)
Sean
"Kaor" also gives assent, like "Aye!" When a court judgment is proclaimed. "No longer may John Carter be Prince of Helium! Indtead let him be - Jeddak of Jeddaks, Warlord of Barsoom!" (Emperor of Emperors, Warlord of Mars), the assembly stands, raises swords and shouts, "Kaor!"
Thank you Paul, most enlightening!
I did read and enjoy A PRINCESS OF MARS a few years back and as a kid I was addicted to the John Carter comics (they were appropiate for kids back then :)).
Johan
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, in different contexts, "Kaor" also meant "aye," "yes," "I/we agree"!
Sean
"40 Eridani is a system much used in fiction"
Including "Project Hail Mary" which was published after this blog post.
In the story it has a planet with properties consistent with what is inferred about candidate exoplanet 40 Eridani A b
Kaor, Jim!
IIRC, I've already came across mention of 40 Eridani in PROJECT HAIL MARY.
Ad astra! Sean
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