Flandry's career in Intelligence;
his son by Persis d'Io.
A third outcome of Flandry's encounters with Max Abrams and others on Starkad was his eventual marriage to Abrams' daughter, Miriam, but that does not happen until the last installment of the Flandry series which is also the fifth last installment of the Technic History.
Ensign Flandry is also crucial for a fourth reason. In terms of the chronological order of fictitious events, it is the first occasion on which we see the Merseian Roidhunate menacing the Terran Empire. However, this interstellar conflict has been very well prepared for:
the Merseians are rescued but resentful in "Day of Burning" and still resentful in Mirkheim and their Roidhunate is remote but growing in The People Of The Wind;
the Terran Empire is proclaimed in "The Star Plunderer," annexes Ansa and defeats the Black Nebulans in "Sargasso of Lost Starships" and fails to annex Avalon in The People Of The Wind.
Given that both the planet Avalon and the trader team which rescues Merseia have their own complicated earlier histories, we have yet again demonstrated the future historical unity and interconnectedness of Poul Anderson's Technic History. Regular readers will think of connections that I have not indicated here.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Did you mean either A STONE IN HEAVEN or THE GAME OF EMPIRE as the "last" installment of the Flandry saga showing us how he and Miriam married? I would argue GAME is more accurate, because we see Flandry and Miriam cameoing in that story. They agreed to marry in STONE and we see them as married in GAME.
And the Roidhunate did not have to make itself the enemy of the Empire. Terra was more than willing to come to friendly terms with it, back when it was still growing and had not yet reached the stars claimed by the Empire.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I meant GAME.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I thought so. And in THE GAME OF EMPIRE we even see Tachwyr the Dark momentarily wondering if it would have been better if Merseia had not made itself the enemy of the Empire.
Ad astra! Sean
The dominant society on Meresia was run by aristocratic warrior types deeply invested in their sense of pride, and then accustomed to being ‘bosscats’ on their home planet, and then they had their noses rubbed in their own insignificance. It’s not surprising that they would be obsessed with turning the tables.
The Chinese are still smarting over stuff from the 19th century, when something equivalent happened to them and they found out that their ancient culture and the status of the Middle Kingdom didn’t mean bugger-all to some Dundee pirate with a hold full of opium, a Colt revolver on one hip and a cutlass on the other, and an Armstrong gun in the bows of his ship.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree with this analysis of the dominant culture of Merseia. But it was foolish of them. The Polestotechnic League was not trying to shove the Merseian equivalent of opium down their throats, after all. If it hadn't been for the League Merseia would have been lucky if the Valederay supernova merely reduced them to savagery, rather than extinction. Yes, I know, people will often behave irrationally!
It was China's bad luck that she was entering a period of dynastic decline in the early 1800's. That made it very difficult to handle those Dundee pirates!
Ad astra! Sean
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