"Decentralized and flexible, nomadic overlordship was well suited to the needs of interstellar government; the empire worked. For glory, wealth and protection - most especially to gain the elbow room which Kandemirian civilization required in ever greater quantities, for space traffic as well as for the gigantic planetary estates of its chieftains - the empire must expand. Ferzhakan dreamed of ultimate hegemony over this entire spiral arm."
-After Doomsday, CHAPTER SIX, p. 64.
"Combat is a means to an end - the hegemony of our race. And that in turn is but a means to the highest end of all - absolute freedom for our race, to make of the galaxy what they will."
-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 1-192 AT CHAPTER THREE, p. 27.
(Our end should be absolute individual and collective freedom for beings of every race.)
"'What they have in mind for their far future is a set of autonomous Merseian-ruled regions. The race, not the nation, counts with them."
-op. cit., CHAPTER NINE, p. 83.
...And Like Greater Terra
"...our proconsuls are not meddlesome. They respect ancient usage. The subject peoples gain protection and share in the prosperity of an ever-widening free trade sphere. We do not drain their wealth. If anything, they live better than the average Kandemirian."
-After Doomsday, CHAPTER SEVEN, p. 78.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And the Terran Empire had far more modest ambitions than the Roidhunate. It was content to expand only up to a point and then stop. Merseia, as we know, had far vaster aspirations!
Sean
Sean,
I have added a further quote from ENSIGN FLANDRY since I published this post.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I noticed, the bit from Chapter Nine of ENSIGN FLANDRY. And I recall how Commander Abrams then commented that made the Roidhunate far more dangerous than simple Imperialists like the Terrans, who only wanted to be top dogs and admitted other races had an equal right to exist.
Sean
Still no email notifications of blog comments coming through. We just have to check the blog.
Kaor, Paul!
I noticed, and it's puzzling me. And I do check the blog for new comments. And it could have been worse. There was a time when my combox remarks simply disappeared for no reason even Ketlan could figure out after I uploaded them.
Sean
Post a Comment