Friday 31 May 2019

Three Stages

There are three stages in the colonization of Avalon.

To avoid possible friction at the beginning, human beings and Ythrians settle on different islands in the Hesperian archipelago. Thus, Nat Falkayn sees Ythrians rarely and then only because they have business with his father or grandfather.

When the two races move to the Coronan continent, they divide up the territories between them. Ythrians live by hunting and ranching, not by farming - so, when the Stormgate Choth grows, it exchanges prairie for the Andromedas/Weathermother. Such deals are arranged between the Parliament of Man and the Great Khruath of the Ythrians. It is good to read juvenile sf where such matters are decided peacefully instead of by invasion and conquest. Jack Birnam's family, sea ranchers living on the coast five hundred kilometers west of the Andromedas, rarely see an Ythrian and might be unfamiliar with the details of choth organization, like the role of a "Wyvan." When Stormgate holds the Weathermother, human beings will no longer have free access to the Andromeda mountains, not because of any inter-species segregation but simply because land allocated for habitation, hunting and ranching cannot simultaneously be used for unrestricted hiking, camping, climbing etc. At this early stage, the two races do not overlap much because they are too busy adapting themselves to the new world.

The third stage, planetary integration, is shown in The People Of The Wind. Choths receive human beings into membership. The tallest building in the human city of Centauri is the Nest, a tavern for ornithoids, with a gravshaft to the roof for human beings who have not brought flying gear. Both species eat from mixed menus.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I have also seen mention of how Ythrians found it more difficult to colonize other planets than was the case for humans. I can see why: a planet with a gravity significantly higher than that of Ythri would be harder to fly in. In fact, planets with gravities more than a few percent higher might be impossible for Yhtrians to fly on. And there must have been other difficulties which didn't affect humans much or at all. Such problems would help account for the slow expansion of the Domain.

Sean