Wednesday, 2 December 2020

Interstellar Politics

The Day Of Their Return
, 9.

The presence of Erannath makes Ivar speculate:

Might Ythri help Sector Alpha Crucis to become independent of Terra and even to join the Domain?

Might Merseia help?

Answers:

The Domain of Ythri, which is expanding in the direction away from the Terran Empire, has no interest in splitting the Empire;

Merseia would help any plan to divide and weaken the Empire. (The Germans let Lenin into Russia.)

However, what Ivar does not know is that:

a Merseian agent, Aycharaych, is masterminding a plan not only to split Aeneas from the Empire but also to launch an Aenean jihad across the Empire;

the Empire and the Domain are cooperating against the Merseian threat.

Consequently:

no help from Yhtri;

no acceptable "help" from Merseia.

Ivar and his people stay with the Empire - but there are other outcomes elsewhere in the Technic History.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Yes, for most of THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN Ivar showed himself to be pathetically naive about the facts of political life in the known galaxy.

Given its loose and decentralized political and military set up, I wonder how large the Domain of Ythri could become before it simply disintegrated? Truthfully, I don't think the Domain was much more than 100 light years in diameter in Flandry's time.

Yes, alarmed by the rise of a Roidhnuate dominated by an aggressive and racist idelogy, the Domain would be a natural ally of the Empire in the "cold war" with Merseia. And downright hostile to schemes for splitting the Empire apart.

Your comment about Lenin reminded me of Churchill's all too apt comment that the Germans recklessly INJECTED Comrade Vladimir and his cronies into Russia like a plague bacillus.

Another I had was to think that jihads, being UNPREDICTABLE, could go in all directions. I can well imagine Aycharaych being pleased at a Cosmenosist Jihad not only convulsing and shattering the Empire, but also devastating the Domain.

Ad astra! Sean