Three groups:
time travelers supervised by Poul Anderson's Time Patrol;
the crew of the USS Enterprise;
James Blish's Okies -
- must not affect or alter the cultures that they encounter whereas companies in Poul Anderson's Polesotechnic League have no such scruples:
"'Kingdoms come and go, none last more'n a few generations, but a bloodline is forever.'
"Her words confirmed what Falkayn had already gathered. It bespoke an ingrained clannishness that worried him. If the attitude was instinctive, this was a poor world in which to set up operations. But if it could be altered - if the Ikranankans could be made to feel loyalty toward something larger than a cluster of families -"
-Poul Anderson, "The Trouble Twisters" IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 77-208 AT pp. 111-112.
The prevailing, environmentally determined, demonology expresses and reinforces a paranoia that impedes free trade whereas more conventional seasonal religions are easier to deal with. In the eventual agreement, Adzel will ensure that Buddhist missionaries are allowed access to Ikrananka.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteI agree, interstellar trade and contact with new ideas should, in time, lead the Ikranankans to becoming less fearful and paranoid. Which means their society would become more stable.
Sean