The Domain of Ythri is bound "...by vows of mutual fidelity..." (p. 582), not by imperial rule. Ythri has no authority to order Avalon to surrender to Terra.
Admiral Cajal to the First Marchwarden of the Lauran System and the High Wyvan of the Great Khruath of Avalon:
"'...you're up against Imperial Terra, which thinks in terms of centuries and reigns over thousands of planets.'" (ibid.)
Thousands of planets! See "Lord of a Thousand Suns."
"Centuries" would be far too short a time scale for "thousands of planets" but Technic civilization has FTL.
"'Resistance will buy you nothing except the devastation of your homes, the death of thousands or millions. Have they been consulted?'" (ibid.)
Would they have been consulted if they had been Imperial subjects? Cajal probably expects a "No" or a prevarication but:
"'Yes'...Khruath and Parliament voted again. A majority favors holding on.'" (pp. 582-583)
We know that the Khruath vote fully represents the Ythrian and human members of all Avalonian choths. Parliaments are not as directly representative as Khruaths but, for what it is worth, the Great Khruath and the Parliament of Man agree whereas Imperial subjects have not voted on whether to annex Avalon.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Your last paragraph touches on an interesting point: why don't we see some kind of legislative body for Anderson's Terran Empire in these stories? An All-Empire Congress or an Imperial Parliament. After all, we do see mention of how many of the human colonies of the Empire had their own legislatures, such as Dennitza or Aeneas. I also recall Kossara Vymezal mentioning how the inner Empire had congresses in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS (and that many of these bodies had become powerless or inert). Was the idea of an Imperial parliament not being mentioned in his stories simply an oversight by Anderson?
The idea of an interstellar parliament is not totally unknown in science fiction. E.g., Jerry Pournelle had his Empire of Man in the Co-Dominium timeline having a Parliament in the two Moties books co-authored with Larry Niven. With powers and functions roughly similar to those of the UK Parliament.
One of the conclusions I drew from rereading Alexis de Tocqueville's THE OLD REGIME AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION a few months ago was thinking the fatal mistake for the old Monarchy was letting the Estates General fall into disuse after 1614. However frustrating it would be trying to deal with 400 or 500 politicians, the Estates would have served a useful purpose: helping the Crown to stay in TOUCH with its own people. The King and his ministers would have a better idea of how their ideas and policies were regarded by Frenchmen, and the Three Orders would have had a say in formulating those policies. That alone might have prevented the hideous Revolution which started in 1789.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Another thought I had was to realize how DAUNTING the logistics of an Imperial Parliament would be. The Empire is repeatedly said to have 100,000 worlds with formalized relations with the Imperium. Even if delegates to an Imperial Parliament from these worlds is limited to one, that still means 100,000 MPs, which is far too large to be practical. Also, we see mention of how most worlds of the Empire were autonomous in most respects, running their own affairs according to their own laws. And that probably satisfied most people.
Sean
Sean,
I think that that is the answer to why there is no Imperial Parliament or equivalent. Terra as an individual planet must not only be the site of the Imperial government but also have its own planetary government to administer the public affairs of its massive population.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with your comments. Terra. the PLANET, along with the other worlds of the Empire, had its own planetary gov't for running strictly planetary affairs. We see the EMPIRE largely in its extra-planetary sphere: focusing on foreign affairs, military defense, and certain matters relating to taxes, finance and trade where uniformity was necessary.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
We see a possible hint of the PLANETARY government of Terra during the Imperial era in Chapter III of A STONE IN HEAVEN. Mention was made of "weather control" decreeing a fine Spring day. That could be interpreted as being one of the agencies of Terra's planetary gov't. It would not really make sense, given all its other worries, for the Imperium to directly concern itself with the weather.
Sean
A state that size -couldn't- be tightly centralized; the lack of an interstellar equivalent of radio would also militate against that. The travel times to the more distant parts of the Empire would be fairly long, comparable to oceanic voyages in the late age of sail on Earth.
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