They Also Serve Who Only Appear Once Or Twice

Poul Anderson creates powerful effects in few words. Thus, although the backbone of the Polesotechnic League period is provided by Nicholas van Rijn, who appears in ten installments, and also by his protege, David Falkayn, who appears in seven (overlap: four), there is also a cast of important characters who, by comparison, hardly appear at all.

For example, Coya Conyon/Falkayn first appears in "Lodestar," which Anderson's Afterword describes as the ending of the saga so ave atque vale Coya - except that she does appear just once more in the later-written sequel, Mirkheim. Thus, two appearances by Coya  - and there might have been only one. Other members of Falkayn's family appear just once each, and briefly, in Mirkheim.

Falkayn's and Coya's son, Nicholas, born near the end of Mirkheim, speaks as an adult and parent only once, in the short story, "Wingless." Nicholas' son, Nat, stars in that story but is never seen again.

However, all of these characters and others contribute to a future history series that is much more than just a van Rijn series plus a Falkayn series.