A peak of radiation from the planet Dathyna's massive, metal-rich, irregularly variable sun, which probably condensed near a recent supernova, destroyed civilization but produced a killer mutation which exterminated the parent race, appropriated its technology and now threatens the Polesotechnic League.
-copied from here.
Dathyna suffers Global Warming:
snows melt;
oceans rise;
coasts and low lands are flooded;
tropics are scorched, becoming savanna or desert -
and worse:
protons, electrons, mesons and X-ray quanta arrive;
the magnetosphere glows with synchroton radiation;
the upper atmosphere glows with secondaries;
many organisms die quickly;
others follow;
the ecology crumbles;
there are many mutations;
croplands become dustbowls;
orchards die;
sea plants become scum;
forests parch and burn;
new diseases emerge;
population shrinks;
enterprises are abandoned;
knowledge is lost;
barbarism grows;
there is a favorable mutation - herbivores become territorial hunters, the Shenna.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
One of the most interesting parts of SATAN'S WORLD was where Chee Lan did some archaeological studies of Dathyna, of how changes in its sun affected the planet and the intelligent race which had evolved there. I have wondered if any of the Old Shenn had managed to escape to space, fleeing the mutated version of their species which was exterminating them.
Sean
Kaor, Sean!
SATAN'S WORLD was my first Poul Anderson book; I remember my mother bringing it to me as a present from grocery shopping, presumably found on a paperback rack at the supermarket. I also remember wondering about the Old Dathynans. Evidently they, not the Shenna, developed space travel and the hyperdrive. I can just imagine a Shenn engineer, but it's hard to imagine a Shenn scientist, spending years of his time studying higher mathematics, noting anomalous results, synthesizing various ideas, and coming with a theory that revolutionizes the Shenn understanding of physics, and makes faster than light travel possible.
So if they developed the hyperdrive, and some of them used it to flee their home planet, which was undergoing ecological catastrophe and perhaps already being conquered by the Shenna, where did they go? Did they successfully colonize another planet somewhere suitable for their species? The novel tells us that if any escaped to space, they did not come back seeking revenge. Did they invent the hyperdrive and build a spaceship or several, but then, with their society collapsing, not attempt colonization? (Having a minimal interstellar spacecraft is one thing; building one or many such spacecraft big enough to carry a substantial number of refugees and all that they would need to colonize a new planet might be something else.)
Like the real world, the Technic future history of Poul Anderson has its unsolved mysteries.
Best Regards,
Nicholas
Kaor, Nichoals!
VERY interesting comments by you! I had not gone as far as you had with these speculations. That is, the reason why, since the Old Dathnans were most likely the ones who discovered FTL on that planet, we see no mention of them elsewhere in the Technic History was because not ENOUGH of them, if any, escaped their home world to preserve their race and culture. I had vaguely thought NONE had escaped, that all of the Old Shenn were exterminated or turned into castrated slaves by the New Race (how Stirlingian, reminiscent of the Draka, that sounds!). Or did Old Shenn survivors, flee REALLY far, thousands of light years, to seek a new home?
And I'm very interested to know SATAN'S WORLD was the very first book by Poul Anderson you read. For me, around age 14, that was the Chilton Books edition of AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE. But it was enough to make me become a fan of PA!
Regards! Sean
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