Hloch And "Esau"

Each of the twelve works collected in The Earth Book Of Stormgate is enhanced by the Ythrian Hloch's Introduction to it. Within the Earth Book, "Birthright"/"Esau" displays three narrative layers:

Hloch's Introduction;

Dalmady's framing conversation with van Rijn;

Dalmady's adventure on Suleiman, which is the story proper - and is also, with "Lodestar," a prequel to Mirkheim.

Hloch tells us that:

this story is included in the Earth Book because it shows something of Polesotechnic League philosophy and practice at a time when they were becoming archaic, even obsolete;

Dalmady soared high for many years after this incident (that a few could soar high whereas many others could not becomes an issue in "Lodestar" and Mirkheim);

some of Dalmady's children came to Avalon with Falkayn (new information created by Anderson when compiling the Earth Book);

Dalmady's daughter, Judith, wrote the story for the periodical, Morgana (more new information, explaining how an event on Suleiman is known on Avalon and also giving us a feel for life on Avalon).