"...had not the attempt at control created two mighty factions..." (p. 54)
Grand Duchess Sandra of Hermes also asks whether the independent companies are not:
"...mere fossils of an earlier, freer age?" (p. 55)
So did an attempt to control the Polesotechnic League transform the realms of great merchants living like ancient kings into big corporations? Surely that is not possible?
Mirkheim concludes the Polesotechnic League sub-series of the Technic History series but also introduces much new information. See Old And New In Mirkheim. Similarly, The Game Of Empire concludes the Dominic Flandry period of the Technic History but introduces new information. See:
The Zacharians
Dakotia
Continuing Characters And Retro-Continuity
Erik Magnusson
This is the richest of future histories.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
The independent companies were either small firms or larger ones still run by a single man. Iow, companies which not gone "public" and become de facto controlled by boards of trustees or directors. Problem is, it was necessary for many firms to change like this if they were to survive. But that also exposed them to either control by the state (on Earth) or to increased risk of abuse off Earth (the Seven).
I think what was lacking was a larger socio/political system which could protect everybody. Something the gov'ts of individual planets could not do. Another reason why the rise of the Terran Empire made SENSE.
Sean
Sean,
I find a massive cultural difference between great merchants living like ancient kings and the corporations that we see in MIRKHEIM. However, your explanation that generations have passed and that financial arrangements have changed makes sense. In the passage I quoted, Anderson made it sound as if the merchants like "ancient kings" and the corporations were contemporaneous. There was a lot of history of the League before van Rijn was even born.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
In a way, even during his life time, the extravagant flamboyance of Old Nick was becoming passe to the younger generation. Old Nick's mode of life was probably more common when more of the companies of the League were still run by a single man in the earlier years of the League.
Sean
Sean,
A good insight.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Thanks! And the more bureaucratic setup we see in many companies of the League in MIRKHEIM would have, as one result, a preference for leaders who would not be flamboyant, not live extravagantly or exuberantly, etc. Japanese style "salarymen," if you like
Sean
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