Saturday, 31 July 2021

Kenri Shaun And The Wind

The wind intervenes twice more in Starfarers, 21.

"Through rising winds, Kenri heard Oms:..." (p. 203)

Oms is a Terrestrial aristocrat who boasts of exploiting Kenri's people, the Kith.

When Kenri has withdrawn from his proposed marriage into the Terrestrial aristocracy:

"The time felt long before he was back in Kith Town. There he walked in empty streets, breathing the cold night wind of Earth." (p. 205)

And that is the end of this rich chapter of Starfarers.

The Dominancy sounds on the rocks. Its treasury is low and its response is not to curtail its own extravagance but to increase taxes intolerably. Starfarers will return to an Earth without a Dominancy.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

The Dominancy was on the rocks! It had reached such an extreme stage of decadence that I don't think it could have lasted more than one more century. A combination of internal decay and attack from rivals like the Radiant of Jupiter probably brought it down.

But the examples of Nivala and her uncle shows us not all Star Frees were decadent.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

Nivala's uncle was not personally decadent but he did want to increase the exploitation.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I know, but Col. fromCanda was still an able, strong willed, obviously energetic man, unlike his decadent grandson. He was simply wrong about the means chosen for handling the problems of the Dominancy.

Ad astra! Sean